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Heaven Cannot Wait hide&Kaoru by Matrim Email: matrim _ no _ aijin @ yahoo dot com
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Comments: O.o The beginning's not quite so good because I apparently misplaced the handwritten bits ;_; I solemnly swear that I shall finish every single fanfic I have started and every fanfic that I ever thought of. Yes. Indeed. I have a few people holding me to my word. X_X If you see random Japanese sprinkled around, I’m so very sorry-I was trying to wean myself off of that. ^^: Thank you to everyone who's ever been kind enough to send a comment. I'm sorry for not emailing you all back like I should but thanks ^^: For spending more than five minutes of your lives and possibly all night in some cases reading my strange crack-pot ideas. Various credits and what not: Yazawa Ai for the Para-Kiss charas, Arashi and Isabella. Metallica for the comment about arms falling off. By the way, just in case some of you don't know yet *^^* the italics are meant to be thoughts. Italics in things such as : : these, areeeee--mind speech and crap *^^* If it feels a little unedited, it's because I have misplaced the editing. I thought I saved it but apparently not @_@ Sorry for that m(-_-)m Thanks again to Midori Kunoichi for Kazuhide and all the lovely pictures she sent ^_^ Dedicated to Alex, who keeps waiting for Kaoru to kick the bucket.
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Friday, August 11 8:00 am
"Alright, the instructions should be coming today in the mail so don't go anywhere--not for a second. If you need us, the phone numbers are on the refrigerator door and you know the address of the studio. And if you need Manami for anything, just scream." Kaoru instructed. hide waved at him lazily from his place on his couch, as he watched television. Toshiya hummed as he began to get everything ready, shoving important papers in Kaoru's bag and even went so far as to place the bag strap over the other man's shoulder. Kaoru squeaked and nearly toppled over had it not been for Toshiya saving him at the last moment. He giggled and hide snickered, but Kaoru ignored it all. "If you want Mana's cell phone, call Kazuhide. Her number is also written on the refrigerator for your convenience." "You know..." hide piped up dryly. "If I didn't know you as well as I do, Kaoru-kun, I'd say that you were afraid of Mana." Was it his imagination or did Kaoru pale just a little? The guitarist sputtered and shook. "I am not!! Besides, there is absolutely nothing to be scared about!” “Then why are you freaking out?” hide asked simply, trying to keep the impish smile off of his face. You’re helping Kaoru. Not teasing him. Helping him. H-E-L-P-I-N-G. He surveyed Kaoru for a few moments then shrugged, Aw, hell, he can stand a few jibes at his manhood. It’s not like he’s gonna fall into pieces. “After all, it’s only Mana. Mana, who wears a dress every day and it’s not just a fashion statement, it’s life. Not Kaoru, who has to ask his boyfriend what shirt matches what pants. Mana, who controls his band members with a whip. Not Kaoru, whose bandmates laugh and call him cute when he glares. Petite looking Mana, who could instill fear into the hearts of men and win the adoration of women just by being-“ “Alright, alright, I get the point-shut up.” Kaoru snapped and hide snickered. “And I’m not scared. I’m nervous. There’s a difference.” hide snickered. “Uh huh. Sure.” He popped up from the couch, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet before he settled down and patted Kaoru’s head gently. “Kaoru, you’re worrying too much. I’m not as irresponsible as you think I am. I can’t be. C’mon, now. I was the guitarist for Yoshiki’s band and I had a few side projects of my own-I couldn’t be too irresponsible, now could I?” “No,” Kaoru replied, looking sheepish and sounding like a child. hide smiled with fondness and patted Kaoru’s head again. “So no worries. This is a trifle. I’ll get Mana’s message and all, grab the money, buy the ring and hand it over to Kazuhide. Simple stuff, ne?” “Uh huh.” Kaoru murmured and hide chuckled again, reaching over for Kaoru’s bag. He placed it on Kaoru’s shoulder and began moving him to the door. “But-“ “Ah, no ‘buts’, Kaoru. Run along. Toshiya’s waiting for you and you have a band to torture.” “Yes, hide.” “And don’t call every hour to check on me, you have better things to do. You have an album to think about.” “Yes, hide.” “Mata na!” hide called after him, watching as Totchi giggled and began pulling Kaoru down the hall and toward the elevators. He closed the door behind him and locked it just in case Kaoru had the urge to come barreling down the hallway and continuing with his strange lecture of responsibility. He stood staring at the door for a few more moments and on a whim, turned and went straight to the phone and unplugged it just so he wouldn’t be called every single hour. “See…the problem with you, Kaoru-chan…” He murmured to thin air as he went to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. “…is that you’re a worrier. Heaven should’ve given you two Toshiya’s but you probably wouldn’t be a very good leader for Dir en Grey. You’d most likely be stuck in bed all day being taken advantage of by that nymphomaniac side of Totchi.” There was a strange spluttering type of noise in his head and hide straightened from peering into the refrigerator. “Ah, so you heard that, did you?” :Of course, I heard that!! You’d have to be dead not to hear that!!!: hide cocked his head to the side. “You know…if I wasn’t your angel, I’d kinda be upset with that logic of yours.” :hide. Get. Back. To. Work.: “What work? I’m not your housemaid. I wear the apron in the house but that doesn’t make me your housemaid. And if you’re talking about Mana’s errand, I told you to RELAX. RELAX. Nice five letter word in English. It means to make lax or loose; to make less close, firm, rigid, tense or the like-“ :HIDE!: “To make less severe or rigorous…” hide thought for a few moments, reaching into the refrigerator for some ham to chew on. “Ano…what else? To relieve from attention or effort..oh, yes, that works quite well in this case. To relieve from constipation; to loosen-speaking of which, Kaoru-kun, how is your bowel movement-“ :HIDEEEEE!!: That mindcall was so loud, hide almost dropped his ham and fell to the floor. “Mou…damn kids. I’m dead not deaf. Why does only Shinya get that?” He sighed, “I was only kidding. And I’m your angel, I’m supposed to be concerned about these health issues of yours. In any case, get off my back and go to work. If you bother me with something trivial, rest assured that I will drop everything I’m doing to go over there and lay the smack down on your candy ass.” There was silence in his head (except for his own thoughts of course) until finally a thought came back to him. :Been watching too much American wrestling, have we?: “Lay off. The Rock demands his due respect. ‘Sides you don’t have anything else to watch here-ever since Die made that transition to western wrestling, that’s ALL you have to watch here. I don’t believe Toshiya watches this with you. And no, I don’t want to hear the theory about half-naked sweaty men running around and groping each other inappropriately while they kick the shit out of each other, ‘cause it’s not happening. It’s just not sexy to watch but their speeches are entertaining.” :Killjoy.: “Didn’t know you liked your men big and hulky. Better not let Toshiya hear that.” hide went back to rooting around the refrigerator and began to pull out things to make a sandwich as well as some of Kaoru’s hidden chocolate supply. Why his human kept candy in there, he would never know. It always made it hard to bite down on the candy when it was like that. “Now….you shut up and focus on your work. You’re only going to make yourself come down with a medical condition which I don’t need because no human of mine will end up in the hospital like Yoshiki.” And with that being said, hide shut down the connection between him and Kaoru-enough so that he wouldn’t hear Kaoru’s bitching, but not so much that he couldn’t hear a scream of terror for him if necessary. hide gathered his food, sat in front of the tv and resigned himself to a very long day and tried not to think about the rest of the week.
~*~
Yu~ki played with the cane that came with his costume and sighed. Photo shoots were always so boring and tedious to him. The make up was always itchy around his cheeks because of all the white caked on make up and his wig was starting to get to him. Now, let’s not get anything wrong. He loved Malice Mizer and loved his bandmates-both past, present and future, it was just that photo shoots never agreed with him. He was a very handsome man, he knew that without even having his mom there to tell him about it. He had his fair share of girlfriends-it was just that whenever Yu~ki came close to a Malice Mizer shoot, he would get whisked away to a world of makeup that he barely had an idea about. He knew how to do his eyes-his eyes were important, it was just the rest of the stuff that he didn’t understand and just went along with. Hence why most of the time, he looked rather creepy in make up. It wasn’t a bad creepy per se, he liked to think it fit him but it was really starting to get hard to explain what you looked like in make up after explaining what band you were in to a potential girlfriend. And it was really hard explaining to her why you couldn’t change your ‘look’ without a) getting a serious LOOK from Mana and a sigh that preceded Kozi’s Mana lecture or b) pissing off the girl. Another thing that bothered him about photo shoots was the way he and Kozi had to fend off the photographers from taking too many unnecessary shots of Mana. Yes, Mana was vain and yes, Mana liked to take photos. But Mana was a man under all that make up (which took 2 hours to complete of course) and tended to tire easily when he was forced into his official role and told to multitask. Yet, he was too nice to say anything about himself being tired and continued to do whatever anyone told him to for the good of Malice Mizer. Long ago, the rest of Malice Mizer decided this was crap and deigned it upon themselves to save their leader from such crap. And since there were only two of them left living and one of them rather bodiless at the moment, Yu~ki and Kozi took their job very seriously. To them, Mana wasn’t Mana-sama. Mana was Mana , Mana-kun, or in Yu~ki’s case, Mana-chan. Yu~ki sighed and began to spell out his name with his cane in various different ways. “Bassist, bodyguard, elegant man extraordinaire. That’s right, Yu~ki of Malice Mizer. Saving the day in three different ways. Coming to a music shop, book store and concert venue near you.” He sighed and looked up from the floor to see Kozi coming away from the set and sitting down next to him with a heavy sigh. “What’s up?” “He won’t listen to me again.” “Is he pulling that, ‘I am Mana-sama, I can do anything’ crap again?” “I’m afraid so.” Both sighed for a moment until Yu~ki murmured, “Do you suppose it’s that time of the year again?” Kozi blinked for a few moments and crossed both arms and legs, considering this. “But, Yu~ki, Mana’s a man, I don’t think he can-“ Yu~ki rolled his eyes, “Not that, idiot.” “I know,” Kozi laughed, quietly in order not to alert Mana to what they were talking about. Both glanced to their leader, who was now firmly ensconced into posing whichever way to look his most lolita-esque. “He always gets this way when it’s his anniversary, doesn’t he?” Yu~ki sighed and rolled his eyes, pulling the cane up on his lap and looking like an irate older brother. “It’s not as if it’s the end of the world or anything. He makes it seem if nothing’s perfect, he should perform seppuku or something. I understand that it’s a big thing for him and Kazuhide, because this is the longest I’ve seen him with someone,” He carefully managed not to say girl or he’d have to perform seppuku himself. “But if he would only sit back, plan a little and let things fall as they will, he’d have A LOT more fun with it. That’s what anniversaries are supposed to be like. Fun! When you’ve been with someone for that long and you love them, an anniversary is a celebration of time. Mana makes it into a ritualistic task or something.” “Work, work, work….all the time…” Kozi agreed, “But you know work is the only thing Mana really knows. It’ll take a few more years for this love and relaxation thing to work on him. At least, we have Kazuhide on our side.” “Yes, so instead of thirty years to get Mana out of his shell, we’re down to twenty.” Yu~ki said in a deadpan voice. Kozi looked around before reaching over and whispering into Yu~ki’s ear. “Well…you never know, maybe she’ll get pregnant and the kid’ll take another ten years off of that.” “Great, so we’re down to a decade. You know,” Yu~ki began hesitantly, not wanting to revisit the issue too much but feeling like it should be said. “Kami, I think, helped a lot." "I think he did too, but we can't mention him in past tense or we'll get the whip." "You mean, I'll get the whip," Yu~ki said, darkly and gave Kozi a pointed glare. The other man snickered, doing everything but denying it as Yu~ki went on. "And you'll just stand there pretending that everything is my fault. You know if you didn't look so much like a demon with that makeup on, your ass would be mine!" "Awww...Yu~ki wants a piece of my ass~" "You only wish I wanted your ass that way," Yu~ki grumbled then stood, gathering all the aristocratic grace that a Malice Mizer member was said to possess around him like it was a cloak and lifted his chin slightly. He tapped the cane against the floor three times quietly and although it shouldn't have been heard due to the hustle and bustle of people in the photo studio, it had been. Quickly, the noise died down to near silence and everyone except Mana and the photographer turned to look at him to see what he wanted. If pressed, Yu~ki would have to admit that he didn't have that much power to make people sit up and listen, not like Mana and Kozi did or even Kami and Gackt had, so he didn't bother with it as much. He used it sparingly and when he had to, it was like an extra reserve of energy. Yu~ki cleared his throat, "Manachan?" There was a wave from Mana. Damn, he was in Lolita mode. Yu~ki cursed inwardly then took a breath to steel himself and strode forward, holding up a hand to stall the photographer from taking any more pictures. Mana stopped posing and turned with hands held up to his face as if he were praying and tilted his head curiously at Yu~ki. "Manachan," Yu~ki held out a hand, "I think it's time you stopped and took a break, ne?" Mana took a step back, bent his knees slightly and blue painted lips twitched into a frown as he shook his head. There were many people who would say that Mana never smiled so no one would be able to tell the difference between a happy Mana or a sad one. Well, Yu~ki knew better than them all and he knew Mana was extremely unhappy with this but was trying to remain an Elegant Lolita about it all. Yu~ki knew that if it were in Mana's power, he'd probably pick up the nearest light and chuck it at Yu~ki's head for suggesting something like that. But unlike Mana, Yu~ki had the Almighty on his side and would have his way whether or not Mana liked it. "Yes, it is. You're tired and you need some rest, plus you haven't even eaten lunch," And neither have Kozi and I, Yu~ki added in his head, "And it's close to two and you know we usually eat at eleven." Mana was glaring at him now but as he was still bound by his own Lolita law of silence, he could only stamp a very high platform with annoyance and strode forward. He glared at Yu~ki before grabbing him by the ear and pulling him down so he could whisper, "And who's brilliant idea is this? I'm fine!" Yu~ki pulled away from Mana, rubbing his ear and replied, "You are certainly not fine. You're tired and you're about ready to drop and Kozi and I are not going to sit here and watch this. You're going to get some food in you and then you're going to take a nap." Mana glared and Yu~ki added in a desperate whisper (before he could cackle evilly), "Please, Mana-chan, don't kill me, Kozi made me do it and we're both worried, please don't be angry because we care very much for you." Mana's eyes narrowed. Yu~ki blinked sincerely. Then he decided that he only lived once and if he was going to die now, at least he'd be surrounded by people who loved him. He tossed his cane to Kozi, bent down and grabbed Mana's legs and his arm, throwing him over his shoulder and hauled him off to the dressing room with a surprised Kozi following behind him. A growl that would've made Kyo proud came out of Mana's mouth and he began kicking and punching as Yu~ki hurried down the hall. "Itetetetetete..." Yu~ki winced and soon it became a chant just as Kozi threw open the door to the dressing room and slammed it shut. Just as the door slammed shut, Mana's voice made itself known, "I'll kill you both and I'll grind your bones and feed it to Kozi's cats if you don't put me down this instant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "He's in a fine mood this afternoon, wouldn't you say?" Kozi asked nonchalantly then flinched when Mana growled at him. Yu~ki deposited Mana on the couch and took a few wise steps back. "Did you do this?" Mana asked, pinning Kozi against the wall with his glare. "Mana-ch-chan--What makes you think I have anything to do with this?" Kozi asked, incredulously, but even before Mana could answer him, his eyes fell on Yu~ki and his eyes widened. "B--" "Yu~ki told me you that you made him do this. You always make him do your dirty work, don't you, Kozi?" "He's lying! I didn't make him do this one! He thought of it all by himself!" Mana tilted his head curiously, frown deepening then he turned to Yu~ki, "Well?" Yu~ki blinked earnestly at Mana and shook his head, "No, Mana-chan, you know I would never lie to you." "Bullshit," Kozi grumbled under his breath but fell silent when Mana arched a perfect eyebrow at him. "Hn. I'll deal with you later, Kozi." Mana replied then crossed his legs, "For now, since Yu~ki brought up the idea of lunch, someone'd better order a pizza." He gave Kozi a pointed stare and the guitarist fished his cellphone out of his elaborate costume to do so. Mana gestured for Yu~ki to come forward and patted the place on the couch next to him to get him to sit. Yu~ki glanced to the spot then took a seat as Mana bid him to and slowly began to get comfortable. Mana sat there quietly, playing with the hem of his outfit before he leaned over with a smile and whispered, "Yu~ki, I know you're lying." Yu~ki: o.o Mana continued to smile and brushed his curls off of his shoulder gently. "The reason why I let you get away with this is because Kozi makes you do all sorts of things. But don't think you can get away with this again. Despite what you may believe you're a terrible liar." He glanced to Yu~ki, "You give yourself away by trying to look innocent." He poked Yu~ki's head gently, "You always look innocent, that is--until you try to. Then you simply looked stunned." Before Yu~ki could say anything, Mana was going onto another subject. "I forgot something." "Eh?" "I forgot something." "You never forget anything." Yu~ki replied instantly. "Yes, I know and that's what's bothering me," Mana frowned, weaving lace gloved fingers through his blue and white curls. "I don't understand. I wrote everything down on my little notebook as to what I was going to do today and I remembered everything. I remembered our photoshoot, the dry cleaning, the ordering of our costumes--I checked up on Meme Moi Moitie to see if they're running smoothly, I secured us some studio time tonight, I made sure that measurements for Klaha were right...." "You didn't eat lunch, maybe that's what's bothering you?" Kozi voiced, tentatively, not sure if he was still in trouble or not. Mana, more or less ignored the tone in his voice and shook his head. "No, that's not it either. It was something very very important. What could it be?"
~*~
9:00 am - hide fell asleep
He knew that Kaoru's apartment wasn't hard to find for those who knew where to find it. He was also sure that Kaoru gave Mana the correct address and if he didn't, Mana would've found out for himself. Mana didn't particularly look like an irresponsible person but he knew the effects that stress could have on someone. After all, he had spent some time with Yoshiki and when he was really tired and stressed, his responsibility was shot to hell and someone had to kick him in bed or else. But it didn't entirely explain the current situation. "Well, hide dummie #3...if you were Mana, since I could never be Mana and never hope to be Mana--if you were Mana, where would you be and what would you be doing?" hide asked in a pondering tone then looked the hide plush in the eye. It scowled back. "Well, alright...you don't want to be Mana either since in a way, you're me but this isn't real, it's just a metaphor or something. If you were Mana, where would you be?" He asked again, completely forgetting that he was talking to a stuffed version of himself (just like many of his fans did). He brought the hide plush's mouth close to his ear and nodded. "Un....un...." He then looked at it again, playing the with little yellow jacket which was supposed to be a replica of the current clothes he was wearing. "But that doesn't make sense at all. Then again, what the hell am I asking you for? You must've been stuck in Kaoru's apartment forever." It continued to scowl. "Eh....he's not such a bad kid, which is why we're doing his dirty work for him at the moment. C'mon, then. Looks like we're going to have to check the studios around town." He made his way to the elevator and when he reached the ground floor, he stepped off of it and began to make his way to the curb for a cab. "Photographer studio or recording?" hide dummie #3 just stared. "Right." He scratched the black hair at the nape of his neck and nodded. "Photographer, it is." The hide plush seemed to look back at him with approval. "And no, you may not have a sip of beer."
~*~
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAA AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "Again!" came a hopeless sniffle. Yu~ki took a deep breath and did it again, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "Yu~ki!!!!!! It's as if you've only experienced a 1/3 of my pain!" The bassist fell back on the couch, panting and shrugged his shoulders. "Gomen...Mana-chan...I'm not...a vocalist." And if there were still considering him to do any vocal work, this would make them think twice. “How could I have forgotten?” Mana said, looking as if he was about to perform seppuku on himself and offer his guts up to Kazuhide as a sacrifice. “I mean, I was so adamant about everything being perfect for Kazuhide and I threatened too! And now…now, it’s all going to go to hell-“ “Mana-chan, it’s only been a few hours.” Yu~ki said after catching his breath and patted the guitarist’s hand in the manner that most men used on women. He didn’t stop to think about this though because he knew that his brain would stall and his entire system would stop working for ten minutes as he pondered whether or not treating a man who dressed as a woman like a woman was okay for the overall friendship. “I’m sure no one would mind a few hours. Did you say when the messenger was supposed to make his way over to their place?” “No.” Yu~ki went quiet for a moment, thinking that this definitely set back his plans of a good encouraging speech then looked to Kozi for some help. Kozi cleared his throat, set his pizza down and slid into the couch next to Mana and patted his hand just as Yu~ki did. “Well…why don’t send someone now? It’s not too late and it’ll definitely keep you from stressing out. We do have to help Klaha with his vocals today so you can’t allow yourself to lose it this early, Mana.” “I’m not losing it, Kozi,” Mana said in a tone of voice that threatened to turn Kozi into a girl if ever he brought that up again. Mana sighed and brought his hands up to his face to rub it then only stared at them as he seemed to realize he was still wearing his makeup and couldn’t do it. “But who could I find at such short notice to go delivering messages around Tokyo? I mean…” He sighed again, “I made sure that they were all busy today but completely forgot about this message thing and I didn’t think I would.” “This is what happens when you sleep overnight at the studio,” Yu~ki said idly, playing with his cane. “I told you not to do it but you’re Mana and you never listen to me.” He continued to mutter to himself until he realized that it had gone very very quiet in the dressing room and he froze. Silence among Malice Mizer members wasn’t good especially if they weren’t onstage and performing their little silent plays. He licked his lips, ignoring the bad taste of lipstick and turned to glance at his bandmates. Mana was giving him the famous Mana Lolita glare and Kozi was simply giving him the kind of stare that alerts one to how much of an idiot they made themselves into. Yu~ki did his best not to sink into his seat as Mana turned fully to face him. “Oh, yes, Yu~ki. I suppose you know everything that I need to do for this band, don’t you? You know everything scheduled for this month as well as for our show? You know exactly all of the new costumes that are being made for us as well as the costumes that need to be made to suit Klaha so it looks like he’s been with us for as long as possible? You know all of the prices for Moi Meme Moitie and you know exactly how much fabric is needed for a size small petticoat?” “No, Mana, I don’t-“ “No, Yu~ki, you don’t know, so don’t think you can tell me how to run my band. God, I love you like an older brother but sometimes you make me want to choke you!!!” Mana spat and let out a shuddering breath. Yu~ki bit his lip, instantly regretting it at the taste of more bitter lipstick, “Mana-chan, you know that I-“ “Yes, you care for me, yeah, I know and that you’re only looking after me because I don’t do a good job. I know, but sometimes, Yu~ki, sometimes, I don’t want you to care for me because nothing will get done. Don’t get me wrong, I just…it’s just stressful, okay? And I hate it when people try to tell me what to do when everything’s like this because it doesn’t make anything better.” This time it was Mana patting his hand like he was a girl and Yu~ki decided that turnabout was fairplay. Kozi played with a white curl of his wig and looked over to Yu~ki. “If you’re so concerned, maybe you should volunteer to get the message to Kaoru.” Yu~ki frowned at him and was about to argue that no, he couldn’t, he had to help them with Klaha because the man was a total basketcase working with them and only wanted to do his best when it came to Malice Mizer and sometimes locked himself in the bathroom to calm himself down whenever Yu~ki wasn’t around but Mana’s head came up and a small smile was on his face. “That’s a perfect idea, Kozi!! Yu~ki’s good at talking to people, I mean, after you of course-“ “Of course,” The other two men said at the time but in two different tones. Kozi beamed and Yu~ki muttered sullenly under his breath, shooting the guitarist a death glare when Mana wasn’t looking at him. “And I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t have anything to do today-“ “I…I was going to help with Klaha.” Yu~ki said, trying to make his voice sound forlorn and hopeless. Dammit, he hated when they did things like this to him (and nevermind that sometimes he did this with Mana to Kozi and with Kozi to Mana). “You said I could help with Klaha and listen to the tracks and help put things together.” “Yu~ki, stop that. You tried that on me once today and once is enough,” Mana grinned and Yu~ki hated it when Mana grinned like that because that meant he was going to have his way and Yu~ki didn’t want him to have his way. Not this time anyway. “And besides, I know how much you like Kazuhide and I know how much you enjoy watching me fumble through a relationship. So please, do this for me?” Mana then tilted his head, making his curls fall to the side and bounce a little. Dammit. No. Now was not the time to give in and become a gentleman about the whole thing. He had to be a modern day asshole about this! He had to say no! He had to-He had to- “Okay, Mana.” Damn. “Great!” Mana nodded and reached for his bag and pulled out his infamous notebook and a pen. “There are many things that you have to do, Yu~ki and I need you to do them before our anniversary which you should know is next week Wednesday.” Carefully, Mana began writing the words ‘What Yu~ki has to do’ on the top of the page and began to make a little outline. “Number one: You must find out where Kaoru lives and you will do this by any means possible. If you need a speed boat, I’ll make it so that you can get a speed boat. Number Two: You are to give him money by any means possible in order to buy the present for Kazuhide. Bank transfers, money orders, checks, credit cards, illegal laundering of money-I don’t care how you do it, Yu~ki, just do it.” Mana ordered and only a fool would think that Mana was kidding about the words ‘any means possible’. “Number Three: Make sure to tell him exactly what kind of present to give Kazuhide. I won’t have her receiving ampm gift certificates for her anniversary because I don’t want to sleep on the couch. I don’t sleep on couches unless it’s at the studio and I have no other choice, do you understand? And Number Four, and this is very important, Yu~ki. If you fail at getting ahold of Kaoru or anyone else that has anything to do with the man and his band, you will buy that gift yourself and you will hand it over to Kazuhide. I would really rather you not do this because I need you to be in the studio too.” He ripped off the little page neatly and handed it to Yu~ki, who stared at it with a strange sense of dread. This looked too simple. It looked so deceivingly simple. “Now get to it, Yu~ki.” “Yes, Mana.” Yu~ki sighed and moved to the mirrors and began removing his make up with the makeup remover they provided for him and watched as the white make up was cleaned away to reveal the darker more human color of skin under it. He removed top hat and wig from his head removed the rubberband from his hair to brush gently through the curls there then tied his hair back again and took off his costume carefully, letting Kozi and Mana help him out of it and put it back on it’s hanger and in its own little garment bag. He removed his left contact and cleaned it with the cleaning solution , rubbing it gently to make sure it was clean then rinsed it with storage solution and placed it in it’s respective case filled with storage solution. He then did the same with the right contact and reached for his glasses, settling them on his face then grabbed his light leather pants and pulled them on. He changed his shoes for his more comfortable boots, replaced his bracelets on his hands then slipped on a black shirt with red letters that said ‘Vampires Suck’. Mana’s mouth set in a line as he read the English text slowly and shook his head at Yu~ki but the bassist ignored him or tried to but couldn’t help it when he began grinning. It wasn’t his fault-he thought that the shirt was rather ironic and cute after the storeowner translated it for him. He tucked his phone into his bag and slung that over his shoulder and gave Mana a salute. “I’m off to save your lovelife, Mana-sama.” Mana glared and when Yu~ki turned to leave, he wasn’t surprised to feel the back of a platform pressing into his behind and shoving him out of the door. “And don’t come back until everything on that list is completed! And it damn well better be completed before Wednesday…or you can look for another job!”
~*~
“Watashi wa kowareru; tegami moyashi..hai ni naru, hai ni naru..hai ni naru…” Kaoru watched Kyo from the control booth, carefully listening to every note that Kyo sang. Watching Kyo sing was one of the more magical moments in Kaoru’s musical career, expecially when Kyo started crying when singing. Deep down, Kaoru knew that this take would be a keeper and that Kyo would have to be given some tissues and a little time to himself to come back from the world that he had immersed himself in when singing. It was all worth it provided no one mentioned it. The last time one of their newer sound engineers said something, Kyo had launched himself in full ‘KILL’ mode at him and it took the band and Inoue-san thirty minutes to separate the two but by then the poor engineer had dissolved in tears. Kaoru shook his head. He hated it when Kyo made grown men cry. He watched as Kyo looked hopelessly off into the distance then began screaming in anguish. “Aishiteiru! Aishiteiru!” Toshiya made a noise beside Kaoru and his hand tightened on the guitarist’s shoulder and Kaoru glanced up in time to see Shinya pressing some tissue into Toshiya’s other hand discreetly. Kaoru gave the bassist an encouraging smile then nearly held his breath as Kyo sang the last two ‘aishiteiru’s quietly and desperately into the microphone. There were a few more moments of silence. Then all hell broke loose. “That’s it! The last recording needed for that song!” Kaoru announced, effectively pressing stop on the mixes when needed so no one could hear his annoying voice anywhere on the album. (^^;) “Yosh! Smoke break!” Toshiya cheered. “I’m with him!” Die and Kyo said, simultaneously. Shinya blinked, pulled the microphone he used to talk with Kyo close and wondered aloud, “Wait, didn’t you just threaten me a minute ago about your throat being sore? And now you want to smoke? Isn’t that…oh, I don’t know…” Shinya said quietly then in the too manly voice he used to sound impressive and threatening (yeah, you know the one-from the Macabre video? ‘Ikuzo~’), “BAD!?” “Maa~ Shinya, let him go, he just cried his eyes out-“ “Yeah, and he’s been working for hours-“ “Yeah-“ “Ne…ne,” Kaoru said, trying to find some peace between his bandmates, “Leave Shinya alone. I think he has a right to be offended after Kyo’s comment about Shinya’s arm falling off.” Earlier that day, when they had been trying to persuade Kyo to sing Zakuro, he had addressed Shinya with a rather pissy, “My throat…HURTS. Fine. Remind me next time to ask you to play a drum solo when your fucking arm falls off.” Since then, the two who usually got along when the rest of the band wasn’t….well, weren’t getting along. Just as now, Kyo rolled his eyes and ignored Kaoru’s comment, slamming the door open as he was out into the freedom of the break room to smoke his lungs out. Die went to follow him and Toshiya was about to follow before he paused and patted Shinya’s head for a moment then looked to Kaoru. “Are you coming? You can’t tell me the tobacco itch hasn’t hit you yet.” “Well…I wanted to stay with Shinya…” Kaoru shrugged, feeling the good guy leader in him surface. He knew the drummer sometimes felt abandoned when they left him all to have a smoke and especially now since he was fighting with Kyo and Die had just picked up and left. “Go take a cigarette break, Kaoru,” Shinya said quietly, standing and grabbing his drum sticks. “But when you’re done, I want you to send Die back to me.” His hand was clenched tight around the sticks and Kaoru had a strange sense of foreboding on Die’s part. “Err…okay, Shinya,” Kaoru said and something itched in him to get out of the room as soon as possible and with that, he took Toshiya’s hand and dragged him off to the break room. As soon as he opened the door to the break room, the full scent of smoke hit them. “Die.” “I’m not going back in there, Kaoru,” Die said instantly as he turned around, holding his pack of cigarettes. Kaoru watched as Die’s hand slightly trembled as he clutched the cigarettes. The guitarist was currently pacing in front of the couch, a cloud of smoke following him as he did so. “I’m not going in there unless I can find the appropriate sacrifice for him to take it out on.” Toshiya and Kaoru exchanged a look together and shook their heads. The logical thing to do here was to tell Die that maybe he shouldn’t have sided with Kyo so quickly with his boyfriend in the room and feeling a bit miffed but another logical thing to do was not to say that when Kyo was sitting on the couch not more than a few feet away. So instead, the couple decided to stay silent and neutral just as Kyo mentioned, “Why don’t you dress yourself up in a grass skirt and offer yourself as a sacrifice?” “I would but if I told you why I don’t want to, you’d blush and complain about it being too much information.” Die shot back and continued to contribute to the pollution of the break room. He stopped only long enough to stand in front of Kaoru, who was currently lighting Toshiya’s cigarette before lighting his own and tossed the lighter to the coffee table. “Kaoru, can I ask a favor?” “Depends what the favor is.” “Can I go to the department store and pick up something for Shinya?” “Absolutely not.” “KAORU!!” Kaoru sighed, “Look. Shinya’s not someone you just can placate with some stupid gift, you have to apologize to him if you think he’s mad at you.” He took a drag of his cigarette then exhaled, letting the smoke curl around him. “And besides, knowing you-as soon as I let you go, you’ll be thirty miles out of the city in some hotel gift shop buying him who-knows-what. I know you, Ando Daisuke. When you’re out and about trying to find something for your love, you lose all track of time, location and sense. You need a babysitter.” Die sighed, exhaling a stream of smoke as he did so and threw the cigarette down into the ashtray when he realized he couldn’t just throw it on the carpet and grind it under his foot to put it out. “I don’t think he’s mad at me, Kaoru-I know he’s mad at me. I know because I have a feeling right now that he’s clutching his drumsticks and looking murderous and pretending that they’re a knife-not drumsticks.” “Then it shouldn’t worry you, right?” Toshiya asked. “I mean…they’re only drumsticks.” “Good Lord, say he’s not about to say what I think he’s about to say,” Kyo muttered. “He sticks them up-“ “ARGH!! OKAY OKAY!!!! NO!!!” Cried the rest of the Dir en Grey and their shouts died down into a few random mutters of, “Never say that again. Ever. You sicko.” And, “Jesus Christ, Die, next time say no and mean it unless you like having those things up there.” “Do you see what I mean now? Can I please get him a gift to tell him, I’m sorry?” Toshiya smirked briefly, “You know..if you didn’t do anything wrong, you shouldn’t have to apologize.” “Yes. And suffer a kick to the groin in bed? No thank you.” Kaoru rolled his eyes and sighed, “Fine, I’ll let you go but only on one condition.” “Sure, what?” “How in the hell does this benefit the rest of us?” Die opened his mouth to respond then shut it with a snap as he thought more about it. He bit his lip in thought then grinned and said, “If you let me go and get Shinya a gift, he won’t be…moody and stuff.” He nodded as if he thought it was the most important discovery in the world until Toshiya rolled his eyes. “The only way to Shinya out of a bad mood is if Kyo here apologizes,” There was a snort and Toshiya went on with a sigh, “But since that seems to be as possible as hide giving up beer, then well…” He trailed off and shrugged. “That’s not fair. Kaoru gets to be romantic to you all the time and when it’s my turn-“ “You’re hardly being romantic, you dork, you’re only getting him a gift because you don’t want drumsticks up your-“ “Oh, sure, fine-Kaoru’s hardly romantic either then since he’s only been doing things lately because he’s about to DIE!” Toshiya’s face fell and Kaoru put a hand to his forehead. Great, now Toshiya only thought he did those things because he was threatened and not because he really felt that way. Fucking tasks and their bad timing. And it hadn’t even been two days since Toshiya had been home and now Die wanted to ruin it for him. He leveled the God of Death glare on Die but the guitarist only grinned wickedly. Idiot. I really should have smashed him with a truck. Toshiya glanced to Kaoru, a question on his face that he couldn’t say aloud and Kaoru swallowed. Man…fucking Die. “You know I love you and even if I weren’t threatened, I would’ve done those things to prove my love for you. I mean, you know I’m not very romantic but I try my best.” “But, Kaoru…if I were angry, would you get me a gift?” And before he knew it or could even think about it, Kaoru instantly blurted out, “Of course not, we’d talk through it. You’re not a girl and even a girl would be offended if someone tried to make her forget her anger with a gift.” The room fell silent and Toshiya sighed. “What? What’d I say?” “You missed the fucking point, Kaoru.” Kyo snickered and put out his cigarette in the ashtray, stretching out on the couch to have a nice little nap. “The whole idea is not to try and make anyone forget their anger. The point is to play the game. We’ll use Die and Shinya as an example as it seems you and Toshiya have a very boring relationship-“ “Hey!” “-One: Shinya gets angry. Die runs out of the room to regroup and determine his plan of action.” (Matrim: *inserts various stick figure Die and Shinya diagrams*) Kyo’s eyes closed as he imagined it, “Two: Die gets an idea and decides to get a gift while Shinya seethes and plans how to kill Die. Three: Die runs out and gets his gift and consequently is missing the entire day. Shinya is slightly worried and wonders whether Die has either died, got lost or probably thinks of dumping him but is still angry. Four: Die comes back with said gift and goofy grin. Shinya lets him back in simply because he’s glad to see him. Five: They end up in the bedroom. ‘Nough said. Six: They show up the next day to work and Die smiles stupidly while Shinya looks smug, and while we know what happened at least we’re not worried about the tense atmosphere around us.” “But Shinya’s not even mad at Die-he’s mad at you.” Kaoru said with confusion. “No, he’s mad at Die too for taking my side and nothing rubs him worse than having someone he thought was supposed to always be on his side, taking his enemy’s side.” Kyo replied, eyes still closed to show that in five minutes, he was about to fall asleep so Kaoru had better get his shit together and grab all the answers out of the vocalist now before it was all lost in a three hour nap. Kaoru glanced to Toshiya, who was quiet and pretending to find his cigarette interesting. He didn’t ever think he played that kind of ‘game’ with Toshiya. He didn’t really like dating games while he was dating and he didn’t like playing them when he already had his boyfriend where he wanted him. Hmmm. Boring? Was he really that boring? He couldn’t be that boring, but then again, Toshiya wasn’t really someone who complained when he was unhappy unless it built up to a point where he couldn’t stay quiet anymore. “Alright, fine, Die, you can go get a gift for Shinya.” He paused to allow Die a cheer. “But I’m coming with you.” Die paused in his cheering and blinked at Kaoru, “Why? Do you want to get Toshiya a gift too?” Kaoru fidgeted with Toshiya’s sudden gaze on him and shook his head. “No, I’m coming with you to be your babysitter.” Toshiya let out a disgusted noise and put out his cigarette without a word and stormed back into the control room where Shinya was to possibly trade stories of dismembering their boyfriends. Kaoru winced and Kyo began laughing. “Ah….Kaoru, you suck.” “Shut. Up.” Kaoru grumbled and looked to Die as he put out his cigarette. “Let’s go.” “Well, if you weren’t going to get him a gift, now’s a good time to think about that.” Die said as he reached into his pocket for his sunglasses. He grabbed some money from his wallet and shoved it in his pants pocket then waited for Kaoru to put on his sunglasses too along with a hat to conceal the purple and black hair that marked him as Kaoru of Dir en grey. Die, however, seemed to have confidence that no one would recognize the red hair as belonging to someone named Die of Dir en grey. Kaoru pocketed some money from his own bag and couldn’t help but give a small smile when he heard a small snore come from their vocalist. “Actually, I was going to get him one but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.” Kaoru admitted as they both walked out of the break room and into the hallway. They made their way out of the studio with no problems which surprised Kaoru. For some strange reason, he thought that playing hookie from recording would get him killed or something then he felt foolish for expecting invisible laser beams to spring up from around the building and alerting people. They decided to walk to the department store instead of using Die’s car and wasting gas. They made their way through the double doors and stared at the directory near the escalators before opting to go from bottom to top and chose the escalators going down to browse the food section in the basement. Because as everyone knew, the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. “Sweets? He likes sweets. He especially likes ice cream.” Kaoru suggested. Die nodded thoughtfully.
~*~
“Must not get distracted. Distractions are bad. They hinder both body and mind and tend to screw up the schedule and everybody’s lives around me.” Yu~ki murmured to himself. Saying it didn’t necessarily mean that he did what he was supposed to in the same way that people who tell themselves ‘just one more drink for the road’ ended up staying until the last call and even then, they didn’t leave willingly. (Usually, they ended up being tossed out.) While Yu~ki wasn’t exactly getting drunk, he was stalling on finding Dir en grey and doing whatever it was Mana sent him out to do. Yu~ki paused in the music store and placed the CD down. He knew it was important but Mana made everything sound important and if one really thought about it- --next week Wednesday was the anniversary and that gave him a lot of time to find Dir en Grey and inform them about the mix ups, right? If he thought about it logically, he could just buy the ring himself and forget about the middle-man. Mana should’ve given him the responsibility. After all, he was a close friend and he could be trusted! He was also older and by default, wiser (he hoped). Yeah. That was a good idea. Why hadn’t Mana thought of it from the start? He blinked. Oh. Yeah. Recording. The bassist grimaced. “Distractions are bad.” He began chanting to himself once again. But that didn’t make sense to have another band do it!! Especially when that band also was recording at the same time!! We need an assistant. People to do our dirty work for us and not just us doing it. And it’s not exactly dirty work either so...But, that was how Mana was. He didn’t just trust anyone to do it. It had to be people he really knew. And despite it all, Mana knew Dir en grey. Everyone knew Dir en grey. Even if they didn’t necessarily want to know Malice Mizer. Yu~ki picked up the CD he had been looking at, paid for it at the counter then continued on his way. He hated this. He hated when his fun side started arguing with his serious side. He knew that he had to go back to the studio eventually to record his tracks again since everything got screwed up but the fun side said that he had all the time in the world and he could put it off until later and until later showed up, he could have fun. He swore that he hadn’t heard this voice since high school. Yu~ki rolled his eyes at himself then turned around and headed out of the music store. It’s not like the CDs were going to pick up and leave just because he had to do some work. He paused outside of the store. But what if the CDs weren’t there after all this was done? What would happen then? Yu~ki felt himself take a step backward and head back into the music store. The cashiers gave him the standard greeting as if he hadn’t just been in there a few moments ago. He made his way back to the place where he had been standing before and took the CD he was staring at and made his way around to get the rest. He had plenty of time.
~*~
They had plenty of time. The problem was that every time they thought of something good to get Shinya or Toshiya, they’d end up talking themselves out of it. Sweets were out since it wasn’t really a good peace offering. It was a good romantic gesture reserved for those who haven’t gotten in trouble with their lovers but not as a romantic gesture begging for peace and a ‘please take me back ‘cause no one else wants me like you do’ type thing. Jewelry didn’t quite work because Shinya had enough jewelry. Man-jewelry anyway. Shinya wasn’t the type to get a diamond bracelet for because you never knew if he’d just stare at you funny or put it on his dog. He had pendants of different types but that was only because Die had given to him before. It was almost like he had a necklace of apologies around his neck but he never said anything about it other than, ‘Oh, yeah, Die gave it to me.’ Now, Toshiya was the type to appreciate a diamond bracelet in theory but Kaoru wasn’t sure he’d wear it. Die accused him of being cheap and had gotten a death glare in return. Clothes didn’t work because it felt like a gift parents would get you for Christmas and Kaoru didn’t want Toshiya pissed off anymore than he was already. And Die, for all the appreciation he had for Shinya’s body, couldn’t quite recall what size the other man was and exactly what cut of clothes the man preferred when he wasn’t in front of the camera. Finally, after running around the department store numerous times, they decided to take a break at the café on the fourth floor to think of a new plan. And some gifts. And to bide their time before they inevitably had to go back and face execution from their lovers. Kaoru rested his chin in his hand and poked at his coffee cup with the spoon, ignoring the little ding noise it made. This was so ridiculous. “This is all your fault.” He said to the other guitarist, who was blatantly ignoring him and enjoying a sandwich. Kaoru resisted the urge to flick ripped up bits of his paper napkin at him and continued to poke at the coffee cup. There were so engrossed in one ignoring the other and the other trying to get the other’s attention so he could blame him, that they didn’t notice two rather interestingly dressed teenagers making their way over to them. “Excuse me.” It was said in such a polite tone that both Die and Kaoru looked away from their cup and sandwich to find themselves staring into the eyes of a very tall young lady and a punk standing next to her. It took Kaoru about half a minute to realize that the young lady standing before him was actually a young man. You didn’t last long in this business if you couldn’t realize that the woman sitting next to you, smoking a cigarette and practicing her guitar was actually a guy. There were some women who could look like men who look liked women in the business but they were a rare species and some fans only wished they were so lucky. ^^; “Um? Yes?” “You are Dir en grey’s Kaoru and Die, right?” When they both nodded, the … boy … turned to the punk next to him, whispered a few things and bowed low to both of them. Die put down his sandwich and gave a bow of the head in return just after Kaoru did the same. “Sorry to bother you but well…is it alright if we get an autograph?” It’s amazing, Kaoru thought to himself as he stared at the multi-pierced one, that no matter how badass one looks or tries to make himself-when he comes into contact with someone they really like or respect--they get shy. He felt a little funny. He couldn’t understand anyone who couldn’t admit that they felt a little..strange…after someone just subtly announced that they respected you and liked what you did. It was a huge compliment and he was pleased. He shifted a little uncomfortably in his chair as he watched Die sign a few things that the dressed up boy gave to him and then handed it to Kaoru to do the same. They handed the things back to the pair who bowed again and apologized for interrupting their meal. “No, it’s fine.” Kaoru said and watched as the pair made their way out of there with happy faces. As soon as Die finished his sandwich and Kaoru with his coffee, they stood and were about to make their way out of the department store, but a group of men dressed in strange black suits came sweeping down the aisle. People began moving out of the way out of general preservation of self. There was something oily and unwholesome about these people. Die cleared his throat and poked Kaoru. “What?” “Kaoru,” Die said in a whisper. “I think we should get moving. And now.” “Why are you whispering?” “Look, I know you won’t believe me but I swear one of those guys has his fingers-“ Whatever Die was about to say died on his lips as the group of men walked right up to them. Kaoru took a step back, accidentally stepping on Die's foot. The guitarist swore under his breath and gave a hiss of pain but he was backing away from the men, too. Maybe we're in the way, Kaoru thought. Maybe they just want to get a sandwich. Oh, God, that sounds so stupid. "Kaoru and Die of Dir en Grey…" The lead one said and Kaoru began to wonder why on earth it seemed that the shortest of a bunch of criminals always had to be the one with the mouth on them as well as be in charge. "Erm…yes?" Kaoru said and regretted it as soon as Die gave him a shove from behind. Shorty (as Kaoru now dubbed him) shifted from foot to foot, gave Kaoru a look that said he was nothing and nodded to him. "You're coming with us." "Well, we have to get back to recording so if you could please just wait until after-" he tried to bow sideways as he tried to inch around him but Shorty's henchman grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him roughly back into his previous spot. "There's no waiting. You're coming with us." And without any gentleness whatsoever, the men grabbed Kaoru and Die and began dragging them down the aisle. At first, Die put up a good fight. He was the type of guy who remembered things like self-defense and even if he didn't have a kendo stick or a sword to prove his point, he made do with fists and legs and hell, even teeth. Kaoru tried to mimick his friend to the best of his abilities but as he was a rather short thing (not as short as Shorty or Kyo but short) and he had long hair, he was an easy target. Die would've made it out of there, had it not been for him being overpowered at the last minute. Shorty swore under his breath and quickly, the group of men ran for the stairs. A few women screamed and Kaoru hoped, through the pain of being punched in the stomach, that someone was calling security who was in turn calling the cops. But would the police respond? And how fast would they take? Did authorities respond quicker to famous people being kidnapped and did he really rank up there? As the men tore out of the department store and threw Die and Kaoru into the van that had been waiting for them, Kaoru's thoughts turned to Toshiya and how worried the bassist would be. And how angry he might be when Kaoru finally returned home. Please don't worry. I'll be home soon, honestly. I didn't mean to take so long. I'll be home as soon as possible. Die shoved up against Kaoru in an effort for some sort of defense against so many suddenly dangerous and deranged individuals. "Kaoru." "Hm?" "Keep those two quiet!" someone barked from the front seat but Die being Die, ignored him. "The next time someone asks you if you're Kaoru from Dir en Grey, you say NO!" Die snapped and Kaoru would've responded but one of the men, took out a gun, turned it around and pistol whipped the guitarist on the back of the head, sending Die into unconsciousness. Kaoru stared at the man who did it and watched as he calmly put the gun away. And to his growing horror, Die was right. The man was missing fingers on his hand. Somehow, he doubted this would be anything easy like the last time that he was kidnapped. Poor Die. He always gets hurt. Kaoru kept silent and closed his eyes. Toshiya…I'll be home soon. hide … hide…I don't know if you're listening or if you can hear me, but if you're done with Mana's business, please take care of Toshiya…
~*~
Somewhere, the Almighty was laughing. And it didn't take a genius to realize that when gods or goddesses were laughing, it was generally a good sign to suck it up and run for cover. Unfortunately, being able to hear divine laughter was the same as having a two minute warning before you died. It was always too late. Because of the insidious laughter, one could attribute this as the reason why hide could not hear a single thing his human was thinking. What made it even worse was that he was too busy trying to accomplish the task appointed to him, that he didn't realize that sudden silence on the part of his human could mean more things than just the link fading in and out. What also didn't help was that, hide was currently involved in a nice conversation between hide dummie #3 and himself. “And they call Dir en Grey goth kids,” hide murmured under his breath and began fussing with hide dummie #3’s hair. He found it odd that whenever he mentioned the name Malice Mizer around any photographer, their eyes went wide and they quickly began saying things like, ‘We don’t know any Malice Mizer’ and shuffled away and the last time he asked, the door was slammed in his face. He didn’t know why this was exactly-it wasn’t as if the kids looked like they could really drink your blood or anything. Maybe Mana was just as bad as Yoshiki and had terrorized every single photographer because things weren’t as perfect as he wanted them to be. hide dwelled on this for a minute then nodded to himself. “No one could be like Yoshiki.” He said tactfully to hide dummie #3, who gave him a look that he would give someone if they had the same thing to him. He smirked then scratched the back of his head again. “I need a cigarette. I don’t get paid enough for this kinda shit.” hide fiddled with his pink hair and stretched, holding hide dummie #3 high up in the air before he scooted off to the side and leaned against the wall of a building. He held the plush under an arm as he searched his pockets for his cigarettes and lighter. Once the cigarette was lit and set firmly between his lips, hide took a deep drag and then slowly breathed the smoke out. This was much better. He wasn't there for more than ten minutes when a rather tame-looking man with an odd 'vampires suck' shirt wandered into view. He had curly black hair that was tied back, glasses, leather pants and a bag flung over one shoulder. He wasn't entirely too remarkable but there was something about him that hide found suspicious and worth investigating. And since he wasn't the type to randomly call out, 'hey, you!' like some sort of hooligan, he followed the vampire man. It was a strange sight to see for anyone who was watching from above. However, it wasn't long before the vampire man turned sharply around, stared at hide and finally asked, "May I help you?" "Just going out for a walk." "You're not fooling anyone." Said the man, quietly, and hide tilted his head. If you gave this man a cane, it'd look like he'd politely hold it in front of him. This rang another bell in hide's head. "I see you casing me. You'd sooner stroll into a grave." And who used that sort of language these days? It was unnatural! It was unheard of. hide thought for a few moments then played with the plushie's hair for a few moments. He knew he saw this guy somewhere. Hmmm. He stared at him for a few seconds and slowly, things began to fall into place. Slap some white make up on this man, heavy black eye-makeup, dark lipstick… …rose petals like the idea was going out of style… ….Malice Mizer baby. But which one? Not Mana definitely or the crazy-eyed looking one. Yu~ki. That's it! "Yu~ki. Of Malice Mizer, right?" Yu~ki stared at him, then looked thoughtful for a second and instantly replied, "No." And he turned around and began to walk again. But hide was a persistent person in life and a persistent angel now and nothing was going to stop him from doing what he was supposed to do. Sure, he might have little detours now and again for some vacation time but if something was right in front of his face, he'd be a fool not to reach out and grab it and hide's mama didn't raise him to be a fool. "Why are you walking away? I know who you are." "Sir, I assure you that I'm not this Yu~ki that you speak of," Yu~ki replied but it seemed almost mechanical. Like Yu~ki had been trained to deny who he was just in case strange people meaning to do harm started stalking him and threatening to do him harm. Which hide could understand but it was nonsense when it came to him. hide couldn't do anything to hurt the man and he didn't want to hurt the man, he just wanted to talk to him. "You look like him." "Sir, there are many people on this planet and many in this country who, according to misinformed individuals, look startlingly like each other. There are also some who look very similar to persons who are assumed … dead." Yu~ki said, finally turning around to eye hide with an interesting look. hide watched him for a few moments then said, "That was a rather good speech. I didn't want to interrupt you but I know you're Yu~ki." It took an effort not to dissolve into the strange formal speech that Yu~ki had slipped into. "Trust me, I'm not out to harvest your body for organs and sell it on the jrock black market. I'm just here 'cause Kaoru wants to know what happened to the messenger." Yu~ki blinked at him for a second. "You're that-that…guy." hide waited for Yu~ki's mind to wrap around the idea of dead people not being dead and/or possibly being dead and just having a lookalike waltz around. "Kaoru's odd friend." Everything considered, hide supposed that there were worse things that Yu~ki could've called him and gave a shrug. "Yeah." "I was looking for Kaoru's apartment but everywhere I went, everyone said they didn't know or they didn't know who Dir en grey was or they just pretended they didn't speak our language." Yu~ki paused then and frowned. "You went looking for Malice Mizer?" hide nodded, "Yep. Got the same answers you did except they looked more creeped out. Anyways, let's get this over with. Why didn't the messenger come?" Yu~ki seemed to be thinking for a bit before he finally shrugged to himself. "Mana forgot. So since I'm being punished and honored at the same time, he sent me to find Kaoru, give him the money and give him instructions as to what to get Kazuhide. And I couldn't find him. But since you say you're here for Kaoru…" "Do you have the money on you?" "Not in physical form, no. I could give you a check." hide grinned and was about to say that he'd take it before he realized that this wasn't a good idea. For one thing, he couldn't cash the check if Yu~ki wrote it out to Kaoru because hide wasn't Kaoru. And it wouldn't work if Yu~ki wrote it out to him because well, technically, his alias didn't exist and his real self's bank accounts belonged to his family or his company and he could be arrested for impersonating himself. Or something like that. hide scratched his pink head. He wasn't too sure about laws but he was sure that he'd get in trouble. So to get around this and make it very easy, he had to have the check made out to someone living. "Do you have a phone?" "Sure, who doesn't?" "Can I borrow it for a second?" Yu~ki nodded and handed him his cell phone but not before opening it up and doing all sorts of things to the buttons to make it useable for other people. hide stared at it for a second, thanked him then began to dial Toshiya's cell phone. He wasn't sure if it was the correct number but when Toshiya's voice greeted him, hide relaxed. "Totchi?" "hide?" "Yes…um…is it alright if I have the messenger make a check out to you so you can cash it? I would make it in Kaoru's name or um, mine, but there's that problem I was having with my bank." hide fidgeted a bit, hoping that Yu~ki wasn't paying too much attention to the conversation at hand. He didn't have to worry though because the man seemed to be looking in his bag for something. "What bank, hide? I don't think you can even get into your old accounts, can you?" Toshiya's voice sounded a little tight. Very odd. "Exactly. So is it alright?" "I suppose." "Good." hide paused for half a second and finally gave in, "What's wrong, Toshiya?" "Kaoru." "What did the little klutz do now?" There was an odd unnatural laugh on the other side of the phone that said that the owner didn't at all feel that the current situation was something to be laughing about. "We…I…he hasn't come back from shopping with Die yet." "Shopping? What the hell is he doing shopping? Isn't he supposed to be recording? What's going on?" There was a sigh on the other line, "Shinya got pissed off at Die, I got pissed off at Kaoru, Kyo started it and Die went to buy Shinya an apology. Kaoru went with him but only to supervise him and those two haven't come back yet." hide shrugged, as if Toshiya could see it over the phone. "Well, it couldn't have been too long, right? He's got recording. I know if I had recording I wouldn't take more than a half hour shopping. At worst, an hour." "That's the problem, hide. He left four hours ago." Toshiya told him and hide took a moment to glance at the watch on his arm. It had been that long? Kaoru must've gone off shopping the same time that hide went off looking for any sign of Malice Mizer. "I know it sounds weird to worry about him but Shinya's got the same feeling too. I don't know. Well…whatever. Maybe I'm just worrying too much." "You sure you're going to be okay?" "Yeah." But the reply didn't sound very convincing. "hide, you don't sense anything out of the ordinary, do you?" hide took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to check if there was anything wrong with his human. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary and he decided that mentioning the silence would probably soothe Toshiya just a little. "The link's been fading in and out but I don't feel anything wrong." "Right." Toshiya sighed again. "Okay. Um…if there's anything wrong, I'll get ahold of you somehow. I'll see you later." hide said his goodbyes and handed the phone back to Yu~ki. "Alright, um…make the check out to Hara Toshimasa." Yu~ki nodded and did so, then handed it to the other man. hide took a look at it then folded it in half, and pocketed it. "So any present advice?" "Jewelry. No certificates. Makeup wouldn't be so bad but I don't think Mana would like that. He'd probably say something like, 'Honestly, what were they thinking of? Do they think Kazu needs to look better?!'. It doesn't quite matter which jewelry either. And clothing would be okay but that'd be kind of hard especially if you don't know Kazu's measurements which I don't so don't ask." hide nodded. "No punk rock jewelry, I suppose?" "No, I don't think so. Wouldn't be romantic, would it?" "Hell if I know." "Right." "Right." And so, the strange business deal ended and Yu~ki went back to the safety and comfort that was Malice Mizer and hide went back to Kaoru's apartment. When he got there, he gave a knock to check if anyone was home and the door flew open, revealing a concerned looking Toshiya. As soon as he saw hide, his shoulders drooped and he let out a sigh. "Kaoru hasn't shown up, has he?" Toshiya shook his head morosely as hide edged past him into the apartment, he noticed that Toshiya wasn't alone. Kyo sat on the couch in front of the tv playing videogames while Shinya sat next to him, hugging a pillow to his chest and staring off into nothingness. Beside him sat a dog with interesting ears that leaned against his master and wagged its fluffy tail at hide. "And Die's still with him?" hide asked, looking for some confirmation among the three men. Shinya looked up sharply at the mention of Die's name and nodded, faintly, before staring off into space again. "They should've been back by now." Toshiya said, quietly and nodded as if the action calmed him. "It's past what you would call a respectable time for dinner and Inoue said that we weren't very good with two people missing especially when two out of the three left were too distracted. I mean, it's not to say that we're scrambled all the time but lately this year has bought all sorts of strange things and well, you start realizing when things go wrong." "Have you talked to Manami about this?" Shinya looked up from his trance. "She doesn't answer." hide looked to Kyo, who, surprisingly, hadn't said anything yet but after ten seconds, he decided that he'd have better look squeezing milk out of a boulder. "Did anyone call the police?" "Inoue did after I pressured him." Shinya replied, folding his arms over his chest and leaning forward as if he were involved in a very intense chess match. "But the police said there are certain procedures to follow and that the two hadn't been missing long enough to warrant any immediate action." Toshiya was nodding like one of those strange American bobble-heads again and when it seemed like he couldn't think of anything else to do with himself, he sighed and made his way over to the couch and sat down heavily. "Contrary to popular belief, famous people aren't treated too much apart from regular citizens." hide found himself oddly agreeing with the fact just a little but realized that if you weren't celebrities that the general public agreed to have as celebrities, you were rather shortchanged on justice. But the thing was that if you were a celebrity, no matter if you were approved of or not, people were always watching you and that if something suddenly did happen to you, someone would report it…wouldn't they? So he said so. This didn't raise any spirits as he had hoped it would. Shinya only nodded bleakly while Toshiya gave another sigh. Kyo didn't say anything. "Maybe you'll get a call. Did you call their cellphones?" "No one answered." They all fell into an oppressive silence and watched as Kyo, in the videogame, went through random rooms of a house and killed zombies. After a moment, Shinya's dog curled up in a ball against his human and fell asleep and began snoring. Shinya continued to stare off into space and Toshiya sat in a deceptively relaxed pose on his couch. hide set hide dummie #3 on the table and moved to the refrigerator to get a beer when the phone rang. It was so unexpected that everyone in the room jumped, even Kyo. The vocalist paused the videogame and stared expectantly at the phone and Toshiya reached with one long arm to answer the phone that sat on the end table next to the couch. "Moshi moshi? Hm…" And Toshiya fell quiet as he listened to the other side of the conversation. The bassist nodded every now and again, strangely calm and almost withdrawn. "I understand. I understand." Toshiya paused abruptly and his breath caught in his throat, something that did not go unnoticed by the other three men in the room. "I see. When did this happen?" His eyes closed and he began to breathe deeply, almost as if he were trying to keep himself calm. "And does anyone know if…?" …if they're alive? hide spoke the words in his head because he didn't like them not being said somewhere. He didn't bother to question himself on whether the words he thought were true or not because…well, one could just tell when bad news came knocking. "Alright. Thank you. Goodbye." Toshiya hung up the phone and took another deep breath. He opened his eyes and glanced from Kyo to hide to Shinya. "They went to a department store nearby. Security was called when a group of men kidnapped both Die and Kaoru. They put up a fight but they failed and they were thrown into a van. That's what the witnesses say. The police are trying to find out who did this." He gave another nod and stared down at his hands that were now being clasped tightly in his lap. "I'm sorry, Toshiya." Kyo said, softly-almost hesitantly, as if it was hard for Kyo to offer any sort of comfort. He looked slightly uncomfortable and when he reached to touch Toshiya's arm, the bassist's shoulders suddenly began to shake. "Toshiya?" "There's nothing to be sorry for, is there?" Toshiya threw back his head and began to laugh hysterically and hide felt himself moving forward. "Oh, gods…it's not like I'm even fucking surprised anymore. Every week, I'm expecting something bad to happen and it happens without fail. And every week, it gets worse and worse and worse." Kyo shot hide a worried look just as the angel reached for Toshiya's shoulders to shake him. Toshiya stood suddenly, throwing hide's arms off of him and even if the boy was just as taller than him, he was a bit scrawnier and he should not have been able to do that. "I FUCKING HATE YOU!" He screamed at the ceiling but perhaps not at the ceiling but past that-up at the sky and to heaven itself. "I HATE YOU, YOU STUPID ASSHOLE. I FUCKING HATE YOU!!" "Totchi!" "FUCKING….SHIT!! DAMN…" The man seemed as if he were running out of insults to hurl at the sky. "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!" He added and when hide tried to get him to sit back down, he shoved the angel away from him with a growl. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! NEVER NEVER! IF HE DIES, IT'S ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT AND I HOPE YOU … I HOPE…" Finally, Toshiya's shoulders slumped and he dropped heavily down onto the couch, because what could one threaten the gods with? One could threaten mass-atheism because according to some writers, belief is what keeps a god alive but mass-atheism didn't happen easily if at all really. Belief is simply transferred much like the law of thermodynamics. It's neither created nor destroyed, simply converted from one state to another. He sobbed quietly (or was that a choked laugh?) and began to rock in place. Then he stopped and stared at Shinya, who sat next to him. The drummer had remained stoic throughout the entire ordeal and the only sign that he gave that anything was wrong was, that his head was bowed and his eyes shut tight-mouth set in a tight line. hide didn't know Shinya well but the young man was expressing his outrage in his own odd quiet way. Toshiya, being Toshiya, wouldn't let this go. Like an extrovert brother in mourning, who was trying to reach out to a younger introvert brother, he reached over and poked at Shinya's shoulder in a painful looking manner. "And you! What about you? What's wrong with you? Aren't you upset too?! Aren't you pissed off? You had your life turned upside down and your lover stolen from you and hurt twice in one year?!" "Toshiya." hide said, sharply, trying to get his attention but Toshiya ignored him. "Why don't you fucking yell at them?! Stop being silent all the time!! Why can't you be normal this once?!" "Toshiya!" hide gave the man a death glare and the bassist folded his arms over his chest and looked away, panting in outrage and general hysterics. Men could be hysterical too. They just don't like to be called that as anyone with dignity would hate it. "I hate it too, you know." Shinya said, into the silence. His voice was low and quiet as always but there was an edge to it that said that if anyone dared to preach to him how to act when he was upset, he'd quickly turn them into eunuchs. "I hate that our lives have been turned upside down by the Powers That Be. I hate that someone thinks that unless I live the life they want, I'll come to a horrible end way too soon. I hate that I've been tossed into a situation that I can't handle and that I have to rely on things that are a bit too supernatural for my taste, but what would yelling do? What could it accomplish? It won't get Kaoru and Die back any sooner." "It'll make you feel better!!" Toshiya snapped. "Nothing, now, will make me feel any better unless it's Die coming through that door with his arms spread wide and smiling. 'I'm sorry, Shinya. It was a joke. It was all just a joke to see if you'd love me.' He'd say something like that. And then I'd throw something at him and then I'd hug him and Kaoru will pop up behind him." Shinya took a deep breath. "But this isn't going to happen. So I will not yell, just to make you feel better." They lapsed into another uncomfortable silence until hide cleared his throat. "I've been kidnapped before." When all three eyes turned to him, hide went on, "It was before I joined X. I was a beautician and one of the girls that I had an appointment with was involved with certain gangs and one day, she disappeared and they found her notebook with my name in it. It was the last entry. So one day, I was forced into a car and driven to some hellhole, forced into an apartment and I was questioned. And this went on for hours and hours and hours about the same girl and I had no idea who she was, only that I did her hair and makeup." hide took a sip of beer and sat on the couch next to Shinya and his sleeping puppy. "She reappeared, they got a phone call telling them they had the wrong guy and I was released." "All they did was question you?" Kyo asked. "They did more, didn't they?" "Yeah...I thought it'd be the end of me. Lots of threats of bodily harm...some bruising. Nothing too bad." Toshiya fidgeted for a bit. "So...do you think it might be the same thing? Do you think they have a chance?" "Yes." hide said, even if he wasn't sure of anything at all.
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I don't know anything.
(It was too long so I had to seperate it in different parts X_x It's like 80k)
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