"Hey Hanamichi!"
The redhead turned around at the sound of his name being called.
"Yohei!" Hanamichi grinned as he walked towards his best-friend.
"So, how was your weekend?" the shorter young man asked.
"Um.." the dream from last night flashed in his head a moment before he answered with a forced smile "Fine. Just fine."
As they talked, they started walking towards the elevators to their office when they passed by a group of women. The women sighed as the duo passed by, but Hanamichi was oblivious as he continued chatting happily with his friend. Yohei, however gave the women a charming grin, making them giggle as they nudged at each other. Half of them were looking expectantly at the redhead to do the same but was disappointed when Hanamichi still kept on his one-sided conversation with the brunette.
Once inside the elevators, Hanamichi pressed the button that would take them to their floor when he heard Yohei give a sigh.
"What's wrong?" the redhead asked.
"You, that's what," Yohei said.
"Huh?"
Yohei scowled at the redhead. "Hanamichi, when was the last time you had a date?"
Hanamichi was surprised at the question but nevertheless went over his head to try to remember the time of his last date.
"Anoo... eight months ago... I think..."
"See what I mean? You need to get out more or you're never gonna have a life!" Yohei told him firmly.
"C'mon, Yohei! Not dating doesn't mean that I don't have a life! Besides I can't find anyone who wants to date me," Hanamichi said defending himself.
Yohei rolled his eyes as he remembered the group of beautiful young women they had passed by at the lobby just a few minutes ago. He knew that Hanamichi attracts more people of the opposite sex than he does because of his build and his striking red hair. After getting to know Hanamichi better, the ladies just could not get enough of him because of his childish charm that made the women want to keep him to cuddle and to protect and to love.
"Oh yeah, what about Mrs. Taka, our former client, who still has that crush on you?" reminded Yohei.
"Uh..."
"Or that cute girl from the 5th floor who keeps sending you gifts not only on your birthday or when you got sick, but also every Christmas, Valentine and other holidays that I can think of..."
"I...uh..."
"Or Shishiro's gorgeous cousin who jumped on you during Chistmas eve last year?" he said not stopping.
"Ok, ok! I get the point! They're just ... not my type, that's all," said Hanamichi while mentally trying to will the elevator to go faster.
"Oh, really? So what is your type of woman?" Yohei asked boring his eyes at the redhead who seemed to be concentrating on the glowing numbers of the elevator.
Hanamichi suddenly remembered the strong arms, the gentle but fiery touches and the warm embraces from his dream when the elevator doors opened.
"I'll tell you when I meet him," Hanamichi said quietly as he stepped outside and walked quickly away.
"What?" Yohei said not hearing, but Hanamichi only kept walking.
*************************************************************
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Mito-sama," greeted the secretary as he walked by.
"Ohayo gazaimasu, Kouru-san. Tell me, is the boss in yet?" Yohei asked stopping by the woman's desk.
"Yes, of course. Let me call him up to tell you that you want to see him," she said picking up the phone.
Yohei did not have to wait long before he was allowed to enter. Knocking on the door, he waited for a reply before he walked in and when he did, he was greeted by a man he had known since he was 10.
"Ohayo gozaimas, Mr. Sakuragi," Yohei greeted taking the outstretched hand of his employer.
"Knowing you, this early morning visit is not of a business nature, so please let's not be formal," the older man said, smiling.
Yohei laughed, "You got me there, uncle. I came here because I want to talk to you about Hanamichi."
"Hanamichi? Is there any problem with my son?" the Sakuragi senior asked, parental worry evident on his expression.
"No, it's nothing of a concern but ..." Yohei tried to explain but not finding the right words he just asked bluntly, "well, have you ever imagined yourself being surrounded by little Sakuragis calling you ojii-san?"
*****************************************************************
Hanamichi knocked on the door, waiting for a reply from inside before entering. He was surprised to see Yohei sitting on a couch nearby looking too pleased with himself that Hanamichi felt instantly suspicious.
"Hanamichi," his father said breaking his attention away from Yohei.
"Yes, sir?"
"When was the last time you took some time off?" Sakuragi senior asked his son.
"Well, I had this contract to do that took quite some time..." started Hanamichi but then his father suddenly cut in, "I want you to take some time off for a while. Go and enjoy yourself. Yohei will be going to Hong Kong at the end of the week and I suggest you join him to have some rest."
"B-but, I got another client..."
"Let Takamiya take care of it," his father said in a tone that could brook no arguments.
"Otousan..." the redhead tried weakly.
"That's an order, Hanamichi," his father stated, looking at his son in the eyes.
"Yes, sir," Hanamichi reluctantly acquiesced as he bowed, before he walked out in annoyance. Once Yohei was outside his father's office he grabbed his friend by the jacket and dragged him far away from eyes of the concerned secretary.
"You set me up!" Hanamichi said angrily, letting his friend go once they were inside Yohei's office.
"So?" Yohei said calmly straightening out his suit.
"SO? SO?" Hanamichi said incredulously waving his hands in the air, "Mr. Hanson is one of our biggest client and you want me to hand him over to... to... Takamiya?!"
"Hey, Takamiya's capable enough," Yohei defended their friend, "besides an order is an order. Now go back to your office and wrap up some of your work before we take off to Hong Kong."
Yohei pushed his friend out of the office, ignoring the red-head's curses, and shut the door tightly.
Seeing that he was trapped, Hanamichi turned around to go back to his office when he came face to face with Takamiya eating a banana.
"Hey, Hanamichi, the boss wants me to take up on Mr. Hanson..."
BAM!
Moments later, Takamiya lay dazed on the floor with a bump on his forehead.
Hanamichi spun around to stomp away when he suddenly stopped and said grouchily, "Stop over by my office to get Mr. Hanson's file."
"Ok..." Takamiya managed weakly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hong Kong.
Rukawa Kaede looked over the city from the balcony of his pent-house as he sipped on his wine. The cool night breeze played with his raven hair and cooled his already pale cheeks when suddenly a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around his waist drawing him close to a smaller but warmer body.
Rukawa turned around and gave the young woman a small smile and in return she gave him a long, loving kiss.
"I think that he's right," Ming Mei said as she nuzzled at his neck, "that you were stressed out and that you need plenty of rest... and..."
"And?"
"And that you need to have a regular dose of sex every once in a while," she added cheekily.
Rukawa gave another small smile which Ming Mei has learnt to know that it was the most a person could get out of him. Rukawa looked at his girlfriend who he has known for eight years - the woman who has dedicated her life for him, leaving Hong Kong, her home and her family, to be with her Japanese boyfriend. Rukawa knew that he should be happy with his life now, having her with him and together celebrating the success of his career.
But lately it seemed to him that something in his perfect life was all wrong, especially since that vision of the statue in the ocean came to him.
"That statue looked a lot like me," Rukawa told her suddenly.
"But it surfaced, didn't it?" Ming Mei reminded him, "so that might mean that your life will turn out better."
Ming Mei kissed Rukawa on the face and when she reached his lips, they kissed tenderly until the young man dropped his head to kiss her neck. As Rukawa's lips descended to take her pale slender neck, his eyes were riveted to the glass doors leading to the inside of the pent-house and what he saw made him stop.
The room has changed.
Instead of white lights lighting the room by flourescent bulbs, the place was illuminated by soft yellow light from the candles burning inside paper lanterns and on candle stands. What was supposed to be a living room was now a bedroom with an ancient looking bed near the wall and satin covered pillows were strewn about on the floor and on the bed.
But what awed him the most was the sight of a young man walking about the room humming a tune as he played a zither he held in his hands. The person was as tall as he was, dressed in robes of the past and his long red flaming hair tied at the back in two places, swaying on his back as he continued to strum the strings of the musical instrument.
Rukawa walked towards the vision, entranced when the red-head looked up at him through the open glass doors to give him a dazzling smile.
"Kaede?"
Rukawa turned around to see where he had left Ming Mei, a puzzled expression on the young woman's face. He quickly turned back to see the young man again but when he did, the ghostly bedroom has already changed back into a modern living room and the red-head was gone.
"What's the matter?" Ming Mei asked worriedly as she walked towards Rukawa, touching his arm.
"I... I saw a man from the past..."
"Damn," the brunette muttered. Suddenly he grinned slyly, walking towards the office door of the CEO with an idea in mind.
When they broke apart Rukawa asked, "So what do think about doctor Chen's diagnosis about my lapse at the concert?"