WARNINGS: minor coarse language, confrontation

Within only a few minutes the photographer had come back to the group, still with that big camera around his neck, and a held out a stack of photos to Kai before leaving again. Starting with the girls, he handed them out one-by-one so that all ten photos were distributed to everyone. Aoi laughed when he noticed Reita looking slightly off balance behind Kira, and he pointed out that fact to Kai, Ruki and Uruha, who laughed as well. Reita, as per normal that night, wasn't paying attention because he was too busy heartily chatting with Kira. The girls were so excited to be getting their group photo that they could only stare in sheer delight at them, even looking at each other's despite being all the same. They had to laugh and point at each other's photos at how funny and cute the guys looked – much different to their magazine photo shoots. Kikyo giggled and looked up at Kai.

"Kawaii desu ne! Arigatou! This photo is great, the perfect souvenir! Oh I know we keep saying it but we really can't wait to see you again next weekend!"

Ai, Megumi, Kira and Mika smiled to each other again and then to the guys before looking at the photos again. Of course it was cool to be getting a group picture, but they hadn't expected the guys to want copies as well – maybe Aoi and the others really did think of them as friends, and it wasn't just words? If that was the case, perhaps they had Mika to thank for catching Ruki's eye? Each girl was mainly looking at their favourite guy in the photo who they were standing with, not really paying much attention to the others. And Mika was stunned by how nice Ruki was and smiling at the pose he took with her – all this attention she was getting from him was great, but why was he? With that they carefully put the photos into their tote bags for safe keeping – the photos would be going straight into frames once they got home. Finally Ruki spoke up as he slipped his photo into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Dou itashimashte, at least you are leaving with some kind of present now. And considering you've already got some of our merchandise from today, this is something a bit different".

The guys laughed at Ruki, until they noticed something behind the girls. Kai was the one to raise a hand and wave. The girls turned around to see a large guy in the 'One Night Stand' shirt and with short, thick, black hair coming towards them. To the girls he appeared to be the head of staff because he certainly looked the part. The guy went straight to Kai and handed over a small stack of what looked like cards.

"These are the passes you asked for. Sorry it took so long".

"Ah daijoubu ne!"

Kai grinned and grasped them in both hands as he bowed a thankyou. The other guys also bowed slightly to thank him. The girls were surprised at how deep the guys voice was, but they smiled and bowed politely to him, too scared to speak as he nodded briefly and left the group. Kai laughed shortly at the girl's expressions – he knew what they were thinking as he absentmindedly shuffled the cards.

"Don't be scared of him. He's just a bit grumpy … it's to do with our next Tour. But anyway, please take these. We'll make sure that our guards know your coming, so all you have to do is show these cards to them if they stop you. Just make sure to write your names on them".

He handed the cards out one at a time to the girls, making sure there were five – he was being very particular about ensuring the girls all had passes but he had promised their manager they would be looked after. The passes were very conspicuous looking things that could be spotted a mile away. They were slightly smaller than a CD-cover booklet, the background picture was a washed out photo of the band in their 'Silly God' Disco' outfits. The bands logo 'the GazettE' was printed across the middle with 'Backstage' in smaller print underneath. There was also a white rectangular space along the bottom presumably for names to be written. The girls were just as in awe of the passes as they had been with the group photo, but the guys weren't as interested because the passes were familiar to them. Uruha looked over Kikyo's shoulder while she looked at it.

"Ah I remember those. They are the old staff badges from our 'Nameless Liberty' Final. Sakai-san must have still had some lying around …"

Mika looked at Uruha as he spoke and looked surprised at him.

"Oh these are from your final concert at Budoukan? Wow, that was a while ago! I guess it's lucky there was a few still around for us to use next weekend".

Her friends nodded in agreement. It was lucky for that reason, but also because they got another souvenir. Then Uruha's face scrunched up while he looked at himself in particular.

"That's an awful photo of me. Not only was I getting over a cold but the studio was freezing too … makes it hard to pose in shorts".

Kira squinted at the photo on her pass, because it was so washed out, and looked at Uruha.

"Aww, were you sick that day, Uruha-san? That's all right; you still look very awesome in that outfit! Besides, I'm sure all of you have bad-photo moments sometimes".

The others laughed before Reita had something to say as he looked at Kira's pass.

"Hmm … yeah I must say you did look like shit that day … but it's your own fault for designing that outfit! You just have to show off your legs!"

No sooner had Reita said this but he received a hard punch to the forearm from an embarrassed Uruha. Reita flinched and then laughed it off.

"Iite! Okay, okay, I won't say anymore! Geez, your very sensitive about your thighs, aren't you?"

Then Aoi reached over and clapped a hand over Reita's mouth.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. We'd better go now … I think the staff would like to go home. They've been busy for the last week with organising tonight's show, so I think they want sleep".

Aoi, for the most part, said this in a hushed voice because he'd noticed the staff nearby starting to get fidgety. He let go of Reita and looked at the girls to whisper.

"Plus we need to get Reita into bed soon, before he decides to start dancing or something".

The girls laughed at him and, because he'd heard, Reita made a face behind Aoi's back, but quickly relaxed his face when Aoi looked at him. He then turned Reita around as he ushered the woozy bassist towards the exit. More laughs came from the girls and slipped the passes into their tote bags as well and they followed close behind, with Ruki, Uruha and Kai in tow. The staff noticed the group making their move and they too headed for the exit. One guy, whom the girls recognised as 'Hiro', was waiting just out in the passage ready to guide them back to the main hall. While the staff headed off to the left in the opposite direction, the guys said a quick goodbye to their guests. Aoi shook their hands politely much to Ai's silent delight, and he waited for Reita to give Kira an unexpected but friendly hug, before he dragged the drunkard away after the staff. Kira took a moment to realise what Reita had done before she blushed and giggled at the floor.

Kai and Uruha bowed and also shook their hands politely before following the others – Megumi and Kikyo thought they wouldn't want to wash their hands again, but that was just gross. Lastly Ruki reached out, like he was going to shake Mika's hand, but instead he lifted it up so he could kiss it softly before smiling shyly at her. Mika blushed and lowered her head timidly but kept her eyes on him – she'd never had her hand kissed before. The other girls looked at each other and at Ruki and Mika – had those two forgotten their surroundings already? He seemed to hesitate for a moment, still holding Mika's hand and staring at her, until he heard the others calling him. He snapped out of his daze and let her hand go before waving as he backed away. Mika shyly waved back at him until finally he turned and walked quicker to catch up with his band mates. Once Ruki was out of sight, Kikyo, who was closest, poked Mika's side and she jumped in surprise because she was still watching after him.

"What?!"

Mika whispered harshly under her breath. Ai, Megumi and Kira laughed at her and Kikyo shook her head.

"Nothing … come on, we have to leave".

Mika signed shortly and followed behind the others with Hiro up front leading them. Once Mika couldn't help but look behind her, wishfully thinking that Ruki would be right there, but only pouted when she saw the passage was empty. Within a few minutes Hiro had taken them right back the way they'd come and back into the main hall. The girls were in awe with how eerily quiet the atmosphere was – the stage was almost skeletal with no fancy lighting and music coming from it, the floor was completely clear of chairs so they could walk clear across the floor to the main exit. Coming out into the foyer, all merchandise tables were gone and there was of course no one in sight inside or out – putting into account that it was almost around midnight. Hiro unlocked one of the glass double-doors and stepped back to allow the girls to leave.

"How did you get to the venue? Will you be alright from here?"

He wanted to make sure the girls were all right before locking up. While Mika, Kikyo and Megumi took hold of Kira to guide her away, Ai turned to Hiro and nodded with a smile.

"It's okay, we drove here. We aren't parked far away. Arigatou".

Hiro and Ai bowed to each other politely, then Hiro locked up the front and disappeared back into the main hall while Ai turned to run and catch up with the others. The girls had half expected to run into people and/or fans outside when they left, but again considering the time of night, there was not a soul around, except for the low humming of light traffic on the nearby highway. Just once they turned to look back at the Dome and the only sign of life were the lights still on in the foyer – it was silly to think they'd see the guys one more time before they left but girls can dream, can't they? During the walk Ai giggled and clapped her hands, startling Kira and Megumi either side of her, and Mika and Kikyo behind them, feeling like it was safe to talk about what had just happened.

"Hey, seeing we're on a weekend, why don't we crash at Kira's place? Then in the morning we can pinch each other to make sure we're not dreaming. I don't know about you … but I'm going to have some nice dreams tonight …"

Ai sighed dreamily and cupped her hands to her face. Kikyo laughed at her and poked her side.

"Yes, I must say you were getting along very well with Aoi-san! I could see you two were keeping to yourselves a lot, and he even remembered you from this afternoon, I'm impressed".

"That's probably only because he remembered Kira and Megumi making idiots of themselves by trying to prove he 'looking like Aoi from the GazettE'."

Ai teased Kira and Megumi by emphasising the end by gesturing talking marks with her fingers. Kira and Megumi jumped on Ai in a fake attack and then the three laughed heartily before walking on ahead, arm-in-arm. However Kikyo dropped back a bit to walk with Mika, who was lagging behind a little and looking un-naturally thoughtful – it was un-natural for Mika because she had never looked so troubled in thought.

"Hey … daijoubu?"

Kikyo asked quiet so Ai, Megumi and Kira couldn't hear. Mika looked up and began to swing her bags back and forth as she walked.

"Hmm … I don't know … just thinking …"

"What about?"

Mika looked at the ground.

"It's going to sound silly".

"Try me".

"Well … I don't know what happened here tonight. It feels like we're in an alternate universe or something. How many years have the five of us been supporting the GazettE together, been to as many of their concerts as we can, become Fan-Club members together? And now suddenly within a few hours we've met them, eaten together, got a group photo and been invited to their practice next week …"

Kikyo nodded slowly as Mika said all this – it certainly was surreal.

"And I don't mean to pull all the attention onto me, but I can't understand why Ruki-san would be so focused on me the whole night. I mean … he seemed to only want to talk to me. I know he talked to you and the others a few times, but I feel like he was more interested in talking to me".

Again Kikyo nodded and she smiled at Mika.

"Well … have you maybe thought that … he might like you? A lot?"

Mika blinked, not really knowing what to say.

"Eh? No, that can't be, we only met tonight. How could he know if he likes me in only a couple of hours?"

"Mika … people can't help what they feel. And the fact that Ruki-san is the singer and lyricist of a band only makes him more sensitive to feelings. Plus … the fact he appeared happy when he knew you would come to the practice next Saturday means something".

Mika looked at the ground again and kicked at a couple of small stones on the path. She could hear Ai, Megumi and Kira way in front as they sang along to 'Cassis' – Kira would have started that.

"And he even risked the performance tonight to get your attention … several times, I might add. I don't want to get your hopes up too early, but I have a feeling he's crushing on you, Mika. Well … maybe 'crushing' is not the right word, that's more for high school. No, I think he's hot for you".

Kikyo poked Mika's side a couple of times to emphasis 'hot' and Mika felt her face growing very red but she smiled and nudged Kikyo with her elbow.

"Anyway … much as I like the attention he gave me, he's a very hot twenty-four year old rock star with millions of adoring fans … and I'm an average twenty year old who is sometimes mistaken for a teenager … I rest my case …"

Kikyo giggled and looped her arm around Mika's.

"I really don't think he believes you're a minor, if that's what you're worried about. Hey, even Ai can look like a teenager sometimes when she puts effort into it, and she's twenty-five".

Mika just looked at Kikyo as if to say 'I'm not convinced'. Kikyo smiled.

"But the point I'm trying to make is, both Ruki-san and you are adults regardless. And the fact he had eyes on you all night means he likes what he sees. And that group photo … need I say more?"

Mika reached into her tote bag and fished around for the group photo. She pulled it out and looked at it under the orange glow of the streetlights. Kikyo pointed out Mika and Ruki.

"See? He even had his arm around you, and you're holding onto it, so you're obviously comfortable enough around him already. And by the smile on his face … to me he looks really happy".

Mika laughed softly and tipped her head to one side thoughtfully while gazing at Ruki's smiling face. Then Kikyo laughed and Mika looked at her.

"Here I am telling you not to get your hopes up too early, and yet now I'm telling you what I've noticed all night. Anyway, try to at least stay calm about it and we'll see next Saturday if my assumptions are true. If he really does like you, his face will light up when he sees you again, just watch …"

She noticed Mika's eyes seemed to widen slightly with delight as she smiled and then looked back at the photo. Kikyo could tell that Mika was now even more excited to be seeing Ruki again, but she silently hoped her assumptions about Ruki were correct; otherwise Mika would hate her for raising her hopes. Suddenly they could hear Ai, Megumi and Kira calling them to hurry up, seeing Kikyo was driving, and the two hurried their walking speed to catch up. In all the time they'd been talking, Mika and Kikyo realised they'd already come to a car park where a single SUV was parked and the others were already standing beside it, engine running and doors open ready to get in. Mika and Kikyo ran the last few meters, and Kikyo went around to the driver's side while Ai got in the front passenger and Mika, Kira and Megumi slid into the back – the five of them welcomed the warm interior. As Kikyo backed out of the spot and drove off down the road, Ai looked at her.

"Hey, what took you guys so long? What were you talking about?"

Mika smiled slightly out the side window as Kikyo laughed off Ai's question.

"Oh … nothing much really".

--

Meanwhile out in the back car park of the Dome, a black van the guys had initially arrived in was waiting ready to take them all home – the driver was in for a long ride, having to travel to five different residents. Kai got to the van fast and opened the side door for the others. Aoi placed a foot up on the side step as he heaved poor Reita into the back seat. The bassist mumbled something that the others couldn't understand as he slumped into the seat by the window and half curled up to go to sleep. Aoi shook his head and climbed in beside Reita while Uruha laughed at him and got in beside Aoi. Then Kai moved to sit in the middle row by the window, followed by Ruki beside him. The same driver from earlier shut the side door and went around to get behind the wheel. As the van slowly pulled out of the car park and headed for the highway, Uruha leaned over the back of Ruki's seat and poked his shoulder.

"Hey … it was your idea to invite the girls backstage to the party, and after spending time with them I admit it wasn't as bad as I first thought. They are all really nice".

Ruki leaned slightly to the right to glance at Uruha over his left shoulder. Uruha noticed Ruki was borderline grumpy again already, but couldn't hold back what he was about to say.

"But you flirting with that girl Mika, what was all that about? Why are you suddenly so interested in this girl? You were so intent on meeting her, so was it worth it?"

Aoi and Kai suddenly felt nervous because Uruha's tone was slightly accusatory, and with Ruki being somewhat moody half the night, it was likely to set him off. Both of them watched anxiously as Ruki responded.

"Yes as a matter of fact, it was worth it. Being able to talk to her face-to-face was what I'd hoped for and I'm glad she came. I wanted to know more about her but there wasn't enough time … so next weekend will be better".

Then Ruki turned halfway around in his seat to get a better stare on Uruha.

"And I was flirting? All right fine, yes I was. But what about you with that damn shot-glass?"

Suddenly Ruki looked very menacing as he seemed to be glaring at Uruha in defence – this was quite unlike him, even on his bad days. The guitarist was quite shocked at Ruki's sudden mood change that he just stared blankly at the singer, unable to say anything. Reita wasn't really paying attention but Aoi was a little nervous – after all if Ruki was in the mood to pick a fight with Uruha, he was likely to get some blows. Though in all the years he'd known Ruki, Aoi knew Ruki could never hit anyone, let alone a band mate and close friend … but he certainly looked like he was ready for an argument. Ruki was just expressing his embarrassment the wrong way and being tired from an exhausting concert wouldn't be helping. But luckily Kai saw the imminent argument and jumped in.

"Alright, alright, break it up! We're in a moving vehicle guys! Uruha stop getting under Ruki's skin!"

Kai pointed at Uruha before roughly pulling Ruki around to sit properly in his seat.

"And you! Do something about that foul mood your in, your not a child!"

Ruki sighed shortly and slouched into his seat – he knew better than to mess with Kai, especially when the drummer could be very dominant when he had to be. Kai lowered his voice to a respectable level again.

"Look Ruki … we know you've had Mika-chan on your mind all night. You seem to like her very much and your probably thinking hard about that … but don't take your frustrations out on us. You never used to be like this. We're all here to support each other, so don't shut us out".

Aoi laughed lightly to himself and reached over to pat Kai's shoulder.

"Ouch, I've never heard you speak like that before and I've never seen you frown that much either. What have you done with the real Kai?"

The drummer instantly laughed like his usual cheery self and Aoi went on.

"Okay yes, Ruki never used to be like this but we'll have to face facts here … he's finally discovered girls so our widdle Wuki is gwowing up".

Aoi barely had enough time to cross his arms over his head before a closed fist came out of nowhere and hit his arms – that had to be Ruki, after what he'd just said. It wasn't a hard hit but Aoi got the picture and decided to keep quiet … getting the singer riled up for the second time in only a couple of minutes wasn't a good thing, especially since Kai had just stopped Ruki and Uruha from fighting. When he lowered his arms to look at the singer, he saw that Ruki was embarrassed by the look on his face as he turned back around. Aoi and Uruha looked at each other with knowing smiles, and Kai shook his head at Aoi before shifting back around to look out the side window. Then Aoi felt Reita shifting beside him and turned to look at the drowsy bassist, who cleared his throat lazily to speak.

"Hey … leave him alone … he's just found the girl of his dreams so let him deal with it his own way …"

Uruha leaned forward a little to see around Aoi, and Ruki and Kai glanced over the back of their seat to look at Reita – what was he on about?

"There's no harm in making close friendships with them … "

'Them' must have obviously been referring to the girls. And with his final 'words of wisdom' Reita cleared his throat and slouched even more in his seat to try and sleep again. Ruki kept his gaze on Reita for a moment longer before turning back to watch the road ahead – selfishly he'd really only wanted to meet Mika, but perhaps meeting the other four girls as well was a good thing for the whole band. Aoi and Uruha looked at each other blankly after Reita spoke – he couldn't have been talking in his sleep, he must have been listening. But what scared them the most was it sounded like the bassist was playing matchmaker in his semi-asleep state. Kai once again shifted back around to look out the window and contemplated Reita's words – he may have been drunk for most of the party but he wasn't stupid. He'd already seemed to make fast friends with the girls; Kira especially. Then Kai glanced at Ruki.

"Hey … can I ask you something?"

Ruki looked at him and nodded.

"Well … you don't have to answer if you don't want to but … you really do like Mika-chan, don't you?"

Ruki knew this was coming, but because Kai had been polite enough to ask him nicely, unlike Uruha just blurting it out, he looked down at his lap and half shrugged.

"I don't know how to explain it, it's just a feeling I have. Like I said before there's something about her that I can't look away from".

"And do you think she may like you in return?"

Ruki wished that Kai could ask him these things away from the others to give him at least a little privacy on the subject, but chances are they would all find out eventually anyway.

"I think so … I hope so … I-I don't know! You'd think something like this wouldn't bother me so much but I tell you what, it fucking does! In the space of only a few hours my frame of mind has turned inside out and all I can think about is her … it's a wonder I could concentrate during the gig tonight".

Kai looked at Aoi and Uruha, who could only look back at him – they didn't know what to say or think. Ruki rubbed a hand firmly over his face, not caring about the make-up still on his face.

"I know I'm asking for trouble … our fans aren't going to easily forget what happened tonight, when I kept going over to her … I can only imagine what Sakai-san will be thinking".

Uruha leaned forward and touched Ruki's shoulder; he looked at Uruha.

"Ano … you may not want to hear what I have to say because of a moment ago but we're all human here. There's nothing wrong with liking someone, and I'm sure Sakai-san wouldn't condemn you for it. If our fans really do care they'll get over it".

Aoi then leaned forward to Ruki's other side and the singer turned to look at him.

"Look, we've spent years making fans happy with our music … don't you think we're all entitled to be happy as well? Sure we're happy with this awesome career …"

Aoi trailed off when Ruki laughed before continuing.

"… but we deserve to have happy relationships too. So if you think Mika-chan is the one you've been looking for … I say go for it. She hasn't rejected you so far".

"Oh shut up".

Ruki said softly but jokingly before smiling down at his lap, and Uruha and Aoi smiled at each other as they sat back into their seats. Kai smiled out his window, content that everyone seemed to be in good spirits again … well … except Reita who was currently snoring lightly. But that little chat seemed to have made Ruki feel better because the atmosphere in the van was calmer and at one point Kai glanced side-on at him to see a slight smile on his face. What Uruha and Aoi had said as a unit really made sense – they were portrayed as young, attractive and available to a huge female fan-base, and as a result, relationships for the guys were almost impossible. Though their manager had encouraged them to try and keep their personal lives secret, he knew all too well that he couldn't stop any of them from having female friends or relationships … and it definitely hadn't deterred Ruki from doing just that.

NOTES:
1) Dou itashimashite: Means basically 'You are welcome'
2) Daijoubu: This is a funny phrase, it has two uses - If you say it with a questioning tone, it's like saying 'Everything alright?' and if you say it straight or with 'desu' on the end, it's like saying 'Everything is alright'
3) Access passes: I really don't know what their backstage passes would look like so I made it up
4) Ruki's character: He sounds rather out of character in this chapter, but it's hard to imagine how he would act when he likes someone, so I tried to guess
5) Ruki's mood: When he confronts Uruha in the van, I wouldn't think he would pick a fight just like that, but he's being defensive about Mika, so thats how he appears here
6) Kai's mood: We always see Kai as a passionate drummer and he always smiles, but there are times when even Kai has had enough and then the serious side comes out. When he confronts Ruki and Uruha here, this is how I imagine he might resolve the conflict as a leader
7) Sakai-san: Is the bands manager (or one of, as far as I have heard)

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