rabenhorst (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rabenhorst) wrote2007-05-31 02:50 am
rabenhorst) wrote2007-05-31 02:50 am
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Title: A Story Of How Kaoru Joined La:Sadie’s
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fonulyn
Rating: PG
Pairing: Kaoru and Die
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the persons mentioned in this nor have any connections with them. I do not get any money from this, and it's written solely for entertainment purposes meaning no harm.
Comments: It's Die’s pov. Kaoru is a bit of an asshole xD The title isn’t really a title, but since I couldn’t come up with anything I just called it that^^ I’ve ignored quite a lot facts and I’m not sure if the ones I decided to keep are real either. So just read it like it is; a fiction^^
A Story Of How Kaoru Joined La:Sadie’s
When I went to school, there was this one boy I always admired, Kaoru. He was a year older than me, and I could safely say that he was the most popular boy ever. Everyone loved him, or tried to be his friend in hopes of getting some of the attention that so naturally landed on him wherever he went. He played guitar in a band, and that increased his fame and popularity even more. I was one of his greatest fans at first. Of course I knew that he was a spoiled brat, but who would want to think badly of his idol. So I practically ignored the fact that he was probably as much an idiot as he was popular.
But as I said, I was a fan. I started to play guitar myself, dropping all my other hobbies. I practiced until my fingers bled, and the ultimate dream was to be like him. Whenever I was in the same room with him, I had to glance at him every now and then to make sure he didn’t disappear. I was pretty much obsessed at one point. And I was eagerly waiting for an opportunity to speak with him, to tell him he was my hero.
One day Kaoru was standing near the school’s doors alone, without his friends. So I took the chance and went to talk to him. I was nervous, and my voice sounded odd. “Uhm, sorry to bother you but I wanted to say that I admire your guitar playing. I play guitar myself, too.” He turned to gaze at me and I felt like I was pierced by his sharp eyes. I was beginning to regret ever saying anything. “And you think that you will become a rich and famous rock star? Not in a million years.” His voice was soft, but so full of malice that it made me shiver. He turned to leave, but I felt I had to defend my honour somehow. “No, that’s not…” I started, yelling louder than I intended. But when he turned back to look at me again I fell silent in a second.
“Listen, kid, I don’t have the time to listen to losers like you. Beat it.” He turned his back to me again and I was furious. I bit my lip and clenched my fists, but I knew that it wouldn’t be wise to attack someone in the middle of the school-day. Especially if the one I was about to beat up was the most popular guy in the whole town. So I used my common sense and withdrew from the situation. But in my mind I made a promise to myself. I would show that drop-dead gorgeous – I mean, show that cocky and arrogant fucker what I could do. One day I’d be a star, playing in a popular band, and he’d be in the audience and mourn the fame he never got to taste.
***
When I joined my first real, serious band I felt like I’d achieved something great in my life. Of course we only had gigs as an opening act for some other small bands, or maybe as the headline in the small places if we agreed to play for free. The band didn’t last for very long however. We didn’t quite get along with each other, and so we split up.
My real career in the music business - if you can say that - started when a friend of mine, Kyo, called me and told me that they were forming a band and needed a guitarist. I had nothing else I’d done rather than played, so I gladly agreed to join them. Again, my life had settled itself and I was ready to reach for the stars.
***
I had a habit of getting a cup of coffee every Saturday in the cafeteria near my apartment. When I walked in like so many times before I saw a familiar figure standing in the line waiting for the woman to take his order. I hadn’t seen Kaoru since he finished school, but I recognized him instantly when I saw him. His hair was just as long as I remembered, and seeing him still made me feel odd. But the sharpness in his eyes had softened a little. He seemed to be much less selfish, and the over-confidence wasn’t so overwhelming. I had no idea if he remembered me at all, but I got the sudden urge to talk to him.
I approached him carefully. I don’t know if I was afraid that he’d bite me or kill me, but somehow it felt to me that I shouldn’t go near him carelessly. He noticed me when I was standing right in front of him. “Kaoru-san.” I greeted quite politely. He looked me in the eye and raised his left eyebrow inquiringly. I took the hint. “I don’t know if you remember me, but we went to the same school.” He nodded. “You’re the Ando-kid, aren’t you?” I was surprised how soft his voice was. I felt quite hypnotized and only managed to nod a little.
“So what did you want to say?” His voice woke me up and I realized that I’d been quiet for a long moment. “I just wanted to say hi.” He snorted at me and returned to read the menu that was attached to the table. “You said it. Goodbye.” It was clear that he wanted me to go away, but I was glued to my place. “So, Kaoru-san, do you still play in a band?” I was rewarded with an angry glance. “No.”
“Oh.” It was all I could come up with. Clever me. “Well, I’m in this band called La:Sadie’s, and we have a quite big gig tomorrow night.” He didn’t reply, or show in any way that he’d heard my words. I shrugged and decided to keep on talking. “We’ve been relatively busy lately and…” “Listen…” He cut me off in the middle of my sentence. “…I’d really appreciate if you could leave me alone and wouldn’t try to tear all my wounds open again. Thank you.” With that he turned around and walked away from me.
***
We were doing fine as a band. Everything functioned, if not perfectly, at least quite good. We were pretty sure La:Sadie’s would make it big. We would ‘take over the world’ some day. Or that’s what we thought. One morning I arrived late at the practice. When I stepped in to the room I realized that there was something wrong. The atmosphere was depressing and I couldn’t see our other guitarist Shio anywhere. No one even seemed to notice my arrival. “Morning.” I tried to gain their attention. Partly I was successful, since both Kyo and Shinya mumbled a silent ‘good morning’ to me.
I was beginning to get greatly confused, so I decided to get straight to the point. “Is there something wrong? Where’s Shio, he should be here by now.” Kisaki raised his voice but didn’t even look at me. “He won’t come.” I frowned at that information. “What do you mean he won’t come? Is he sick?” “By saying that he won’t come I mean that he won’t come. Ever. He quitted.” I was stunned. At least. Maybe petrified would be more accurate word for that moment. What would happen to our band, to our careers?
Kisaki stated that it would be no point for us to practice that day, since we were all upset and angry even. We agreed to all go home and come back next morning, at nine as usual. We really needed to hold on the routine of practices. With or without a second guitarist.
***
That day I saw Kaoru sitting in the corner table at the back of the bar. I hadn’t seen him after the day in the cafeteria. He had some crumpled sheets of music in front of him and he seemed to be working with them. I couldn’t resist the urge to go talk to him, tell him again how I now had a band, how I’d become much more than he ever gave me credit for. But somehow my victory had already started to fade. Being an ass and mocking a person who’s just lost his meaning of life wasn’t my idea of having fun. Still, I headed towards him and soon found myself standing in front of his table. I didn’t say a word, and it took a while before he raised his gaze a little and noticed me.
“What? Did you come to laugh at me? Make fun of a man who thought that he could be something. Go on. Laugh all you want, I don’t care.” Suddenly all the menace melted away from me. I looked at his bowed head and skinny shoulders and I didn’t want to shove my victory into his face. Somehow, I just wanted to protect him from the cruel world, take care of him as much as I could. “No.” He raised his head when he heard my voice. “I didn’t come here to make fun of you, believe me or not. Actually…” A wild idea came into my mind and I continued, not minding what the consequences might have been. The worst thing he could do was to say ‘no’. “My band is soon going to be one guitarist short. Are you interested?” I saw a glint lit in his eyes, but in a moment it was covered when his face darkened in anger. “You have the fucking nerve! First you say you’re not going to make fun of me and then you do it! Straight with that fucking innocent expression! Well, fuck you. I’m not going to give you any more reasons to laugh.”
I panicked a little, I have to admit. I felt like I was losing something important before I even got it. Suddenly I wanted to have this man in the band more than anything, so I hurried to explain. “No, no, goddammit! Let me finish. You are an awesome and gifted guitarist, and I honestly thing that we need you if we want to make it big.” His anger seemed to fade a little, and he cocked his head. “So, whaddya say?” “This isn’t some ‘be-kind-to-losers –week’ trick, is it?” I smiled at him brightly, trying to use all of my charm. “Never! Never could I try to fool you.” Then I quickly scrabbled my address and phone number into a small and crumpled piece of paper I found from my pocket. “Here, take this. You can think of it for, let’s say, a week. Then tell me your decision.” He took the paper and smiled slightly nodding. I couldn’t believe my luck! That bastard actually smiled at me!
***
Three days had passed since that meeting in the bar. I talked to Kyo, Shinya and Kisaki about taking Kaoru in to replace Shio, and since they all knew how good Kaoru was with his guitar they had no objections. The only thing now was to wait for Kaoru’s answer. We all had concerns, Kyo just voiced it out for all of us; “I doubt that he’ll agree to join.” But I hoped with all the might I had that a miracle would happen and we’d get him as our new guitarist.
As I already mentioned, it was three days after our meeting in which I said he’d have one week for thinking. I was at home, sitting in the living-room, watching TV and drinking beer. It was already dark outside and since it was quite cold and even raining I had wrapped myself into a large blanket. There wasn’t really anything on TV so I turned it off and just stared out of the window and listened to the drumming of rain. I couldn’t really see what was happening outside, but I felt relaxed by just staring into the darkness.
Then I heard a soft knock on my front door. At first I thought that it was my imagination doing tricks with me, but then I heard it again. Definitely a knock. I jumped up from the couch and rushed to the door intending to let the poor soul inside since he probably was soaked wet. As the door creaked open the first thing I saw was a yellow umbrella. But when the owner of that ugly umbrella lifted it a little I stood face to face with no other than Kaoru. I was surprised a bit, I admit, but I managed to stutter him the invitation to come in.
He left his shoes and umbrella beside the door before following me to the living room. Neither of us said a word, but still I felt oddly natural with him. The silence wasn’t oppressive in any way. We headed to the living-room and he seated himself into my only armchair while I decided to occupy the spot on the couch I had sat in all day. I looked at him questioningly but didn’t say a word. I just waited for him to tell why he was here. He glanced through the room and finally settled his gaze on my face. The look was so intensive that I felt a bit uneasy for a second.
“I’m in. If the offer’s still on that is.” I felt huge waves of relief flow through me after his words. I broke into a smile and laughed a little. “That’s great. We have practice tomorrow morning at nine, you can come then and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys.” He nodded and still kept on staring at me. Somehow the look he gave me made me feel warm. But I didn’t dwell on the feeling for long. Instead I tried to continue the conversation.
“Why did you come all the way here in that terrible weather? You could’ve called…” He looked a bit confused for a brief moment. “I don’t know… I guess I just wanted to…” He averted his gaze and his voice faded into a quiet mumble. My heart jumped, but since I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly I decided to ignore and try to forget the whole comment.
‘I don’t know… I guess I just wanted to… see you.’
See me?
***
The first practice with the new line-up went surprisingly smoothly. We played some covers we all knew, since Kaoru had no way to know our own songs yet. All seemed to be a bit careful with Kaoru first, I guess we all kind of feared him a little. He had this authority that practically streamed from him and made us all respect him. Gone was the arrogant and selfish spoiled brat that I had known at school, he had truly grown up during these years.
We played together for a few hours that day. When we had finished and given Kaoru some notes to memorize we all were pretty much ready to go home. We stood there quite awkwardly for a minute or two, all of us just staring at the floor. Then Kyo spoke. “So, I guess this is it. We have a band completed again. Welcome, Kaoru-san.” Kaoru bowed a little to Kyo and thanked him politely. Then the silence fell again for a moment.
This time it was Kaoru who spoke and broke the silence. “Uhm, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you something.” We all turned to look at him questioningly. “See, I… I don’t have a place to go to, I was kicked out of my apartment two days ago. I was wondering if I could stay here for the night?” My heart sped up a little and I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “You can stay at my place.” I felt that now everyone was staring at me disbelievingly, so I hurried to explain. “I have a large apartment and not much furniture and stuff either, you’d fit in fine. At least until you get a place of your own to live in.”
My cheeks felt a bit hot and I wondered if I had blushed. No one at least made fun of me while I was stuttering there like a moron. “Of course you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just thought…” His soft voice cut me off. “Thank you, Die-san. I’d appreciate that greatly.” I didn’t instantly realize what he said, but Kyo was already anxious to get home and he repeated the basic point. “Okay, now it’s settled. Kaoru will stay with Die. Now let’s go home. See you Wednesday morning at nine.”
***
That evening I woke up when my doorbell rang. I quickly dressed myself into a pair of baggy jeans and a large t-shirt – the first garments I managed to grab from my closet. Kaoru and I had agreed that he’d come to my place as soon he got his belongings together. Damn me for sleeping this long, I hadn’t prepared to meet him in any way. The apartment was all messy, I had forgotten to go shopping and I had never noticed how dirty the windows were. But there was nothing to be done at such a short notice, so I just hurried to the door kicking a few empty beer cans under the sofa along my way.
As I opened the door, there he was, stunning as usually. His dark hair was neatly brushed and tied from the back so it kept out of the way. He had a medium sized cardboard box in his hands and he smiled at me. “Here I am. Did I wake you up?” I shook my head fast. “No, not at all.” However, I could see in his eyes that he knew I lied. Maybe it was that I’m such a lousy liar. Or then he’d noticed my messy hair and sleepy eyes…
I opened the door wider to let him in and took the box from his hands. Someone had already helped him to pack the things into his car, now I only had to help him to get the boxes from the car into my apartment in the third floor. Although he luckily didn’t have much belongings we had to work for over an hour to get the boxes into my living-room. Finally the door slammed shut behind us carrying the last two boxes in. Not a minute too early.
He started to go through one huge box, apparently trying to find something he needed. I let my gaze trail along that perfectly sculpted figure. Then I realized how embarrassing it would be to get caught staring so I swallowed and averted my gaze. I decided that I could offer him something to drink now that we had dragged his belongings into my apartment. I tried to look as casual as possible and coughed to get his attention. “You want some tea before we start to unpack your things?” He straightened up to look me in the eye. “Sounds great.”
I tried to calm myself down while loading a small tray with two teacups and a teapot. This amazingly gorgeous guy was sitting in my living room, and he was moving in to live with me! Of course if you put it like that it sounded a bit more than it actually was, but a man has to have dreams, right? I searched desperately for cookies or something like that, the usual stuff that people eat while drinking tea. But unfortunately I had no luck and I ended up with a half eaten carrot from my fridge and an almost empty box of cereal. Okay, the tea alone had to do it.
When I came back to the living-room, Kaoru was already sitting on the couch, waiting for me to serve the tea. I seated myself beside him and started with the tea. I don’t know why, but I was very nervous, and I tried to cover it by babbling. “So, you don’t have so much stuff, do you? I mean if all you have is in those boxes. Although I didn’t see your guitar there… Do you have many guitars? I have these two I like to…”
My voice trailed off when I realized that he wasn’t listening. Instead he was staring at me with something undefined in his eyes. “Kaoru-san?” I tried to get him back on this earth, but he didn’t seem to hear me. Then he moved. I blinked. Yes, he was definitely coming at me. My eyes widened a bit and I reflexively backed off a few centimetres but he just kept on coming closer until my back hit the armrest of the couch and I was trapped. In that fraction of a second I realized that he was going to kiss me.
It’s not that I hadn’t sensed it coming. I really had. But it’s a different matter to dream about something than to have it happen to you for real. He placed his lips on mine and flicked the corner of my mouth with the tip of his tongue. I opened up to him obediently and he moved forward, exploring the insides of my mouth by running his wet tongue along every curve he found. I felt every part of my body – and with every part I mean every part – respond to his gesture. He moved crawling half on top of me and pressing his lithe form even closer. He tilted my head with his hands to gain better access and I was more than glad to allow that to him.
After a few moments he pulled back a little, breaking the kiss but remaining on my lap. I whimpered as a protest when losing the contact with that pretty mouth. “I’ve wanted to do that for quite a while now.” He smirked at me brushing his fingers through my dark hair, almost lovingly. “Hey! Does that mean that all you’ve been after is a piece of ass? I wondered why you agreed to join the band so easily.” I softened my words by brushing my lips against his slightly. He took a fistful of my hair into his grip and pulled me even closer. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Then he pressed our lips together again and I lost every interest I might have had in arguing with him about the matter.
Author:
fonulynRating: PG
Pairing: Kaoru and Die
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the persons mentioned in this nor have any connections with them. I do not get any money from this, and it's written solely for entertainment purposes meaning no harm.
Comments: It's Die’s pov. Kaoru is a bit of an asshole xD The title isn’t really a title, but since I couldn’t come up with anything I just called it that^^ I’ve ignored quite a lot facts and I’m not sure if the ones I decided to keep are real either. So just read it like it is; a fiction^^
When I went to school, there was this one boy I always admired, Kaoru. He was a year older than me, and I could safely say that he was the most popular boy ever. Everyone loved him, or tried to be his friend in hopes of getting some of the attention that so naturally landed on him wherever he went. He played guitar in a band, and that increased his fame and popularity even more. I was one of his greatest fans at first. Of course I knew that he was a spoiled brat, but who would want to think badly of his idol. So I practically ignored the fact that he was probably as much an idiot as he was popular.
But as I said, I was a fan. I started to play guitar myself, dropping all my other hobbies. I practiced until my fingers bled, and the ultimate dream was to be like him. Whenever I was in the same room with him, I had to glance at him every now and then to make sure he didn’t disappear. I was pretty much obsessed at one point. And I was eagerly waiting for an opportunity to speak with him, to tell him he was my hero.
One day Kaoru was standing near the school’s doors alone, without his friends. So I took the chance and went to talk to him. I was nervous, and my voice sounded odd. “Uhm, sorry to bother you but I wanted to say that I admire your guitar playing. I play guitar myself, too.” He turned to gaze at me and I felt like I was pierced by his sharp eyes. I was beginning to regret ever saying anything. “And you think that you will become a rich and famous rock star? Not in a million years.” His voice was soft, but so full of malice that it made me shiver. He turned to leave, but I felt I had to defend my honour somehow. “No, that’s not…” I started, yelling louder than I intended. But when he turned back to look at me again I fell silent in a second.
“Listen, kid, I don’t have the time to listen to losers like you. Beat it.” He turned his back to me again and I was furious. I bit my lip and clenched my fists, but I knew that it wouldn’t be wise to attack someone in the middle of the school-day. Especially if the one I was about to beat up was the most popular guy in the whole town. So I used my common sense and withdrew from the situation. But in my mind I made a promise to myself. I would show that drop-dead gorgeous – I mean, show that cocky and arrogant fucker what I could do. One day I’d be a star, playing in a popular band, and he’d be in the audience and mourn the fame he never got to taste.
When I joined my first real, serious band I felt like I’d achieved something great in my life. Of course we only had gigs as an opening act for some other small bands, or maybe as the headline in the small places if we agreed to play for free. The band didn’t last for very long however. We didn’t quite get along with each other, and so we split up.
My real career in the music business - if you can say that - started when a friend of mine, Kyo, called me and told me that they were forming a band and needed a guitarist. I had nothing else I’d done rather than played, so I gladly agreed to join them. Again, my life had settled itself and I was ready to reach for the stars.
I had a habit of getting a cup of coffee every Saturday in the cafeteria near my apartment. When I walked in like so many times before I saw a familiar figure standing in the line waiting for the woman to take his order. I hadn’t seen Kaoru since he finished school, but I recognized him instantly when I saw him. His hair was just as long as I remembered, and seeing him still made me feel odd. But the sharpness in his eyes had softened a little. He seemed to be much less selfish, and the over-confidence wasn’t so overwhelming. I had no idea if he remembered me at all, but I got the sudden urge to talk to him.
I approached him carefully. I don’t know if I was afraid that he’d bite me or kill me, but somehow it felt to me that I shouldn’t go near him carelessly. He noticed me when I was standing right in front of him. “Kaoru-san.” I greeted quite politely. He looked me in the eye and raised his left eyebrow inquiringly. I took the hint. “I don’t know if you remember me, but we went to the same school.” He nodded. “You’re the Ando-kid, aren’t you?” I was surprised how soft his voice was. I felt quite hypnotized and only managed to nod a little.
“So what did you want to say?” His voice woke me up and I realized that I’d been quiet for a long moment. “I just wanted to say hi.” He snorted at me and returned to read the menu that was attached to the table. “You said it. Goodbye.” It was clear that he wanted me to go away, but I was glued to my place. “So, Kaoru-san, do you still play in a band?” I was rewarded with an angry glance. “No.”
“Oh.” It was all I could come up with. Clever me. “Well, I’m in this band called La:Sadie’s, and we have a quite big gig tomorrow night.” He didn’t reply, or show in any way that he’d heard my words. I shrugged and decided to keep on talking. “We’ve been relatively busy lately and…” “Listen…” He cut me off in the middle of my sentence. “…I’d really appreciate if you could leave me alone and wouldn’t try to tear all my wounds open again. Thank you.” With that he turned around and walked away from me.
We were doing fine as a band. Everything functioned, if not perfectly, at least quite good. We were pretty sure La:Sadie’s would make it big. We would ‘take over the world’ some day. Or that’s what we thought. One morning I arrived late at the practice. When I stepped in to the room I realized that there was something wrong. The atmosphere was depressing and I couldn’t see our other guitarist Shio anywhere. No one even seemed to notice my arrival. “Morning.” I tried to gain their attention. Partly I was successful, since both Kyo and Shinya mumbled a silent ‘good morning’ to me.
I was beginning to get greatly confused, so I decided to get straight to the point. “Is there something wrong? Where’s Shio, he should be here by now.” Kisaki raised his voice but didn’t even look at me. “He won’t come.” I frowned at that information. “What do you mean he won’t come? Is he sick?” “By saying that he won’t come I mean that he won’t come. Ever. He quitted.” I was stunned. At least. Maybe petrified would be more accurate word for that moment. What would happen to our band, to our careers?
Kisaki stated that it would be no point for us to practice that day, since we were all upset and angry even. We agreed to all go home and come back next morning, at nine as usual. We really needed to hold on the routine of practices. With or without a second guitarist.
That day I saw Kaoru sitting in the corner table at the back of the bar. I hadn’t seen him after the day in the cafeteria. He had some crumpled sheets of music in front of him and he seemed to be working with them. I couldn’t resist the urge to go talk to him, tell him again how I now had a band, how I’d become much more than he ever gave me credit for. But somehow my victory had already started to fade. Being an ass and mocking a person who’s just lost his meaning of life wasn’t my idea of having fun. Still, I headed towards him and soon found myself standing in front of his table. I didn’t say a word, and it took a while before he raised his gaze a little and noticed me.
“What? Did you come to laugh at me? Make fun of a man who thought that he could be something. Go on. Laugh all you want, I don’t care.” Suddenly all the menace melted away from me. I looked at his bowed head and skinny shoulders and I didn’t want to shove my victory into his face. Somehow, I just wanted to protect him from the cruel world, take care of him as much as I could. “No.” He raised his head when he heard my voice. “I didn’t come here to make fun of you, believe me or not. Actually…” A wild idea came into my mind and I continued, not minding what the consequences might have been. The worst thing he could do was to say ‘no’. “My band is soon going to be one guitarist short. Are you interested?” I saw a glint lit in his eyes, but in a moment it was covered when his face darkened in anger. “You have the fucking nerve! First you say you’re not going to make fun of me and then you do it! Straight with that fucking innocent expression! Well, fuck you. I’m not going to give you any more reasons to laugh.”
I panicked a little, I have to admit. I felt like I was losing something important before I even got it. Suddenly I wanted to have this man in the band more than anything, so I hurried to explain. “No, no, goddammit! Let me finish. You are an awesome and gifted guitarist, and I honestly thing that we need you if we want to make it big.” His anger seemed to fade a little, and he cocked his head. “So, whaddya say?” “This isn’t some ‘be-kind-to-losers –week’ trick, is it?” I smiled at him brightly, trying to use all of my charm. “Never! Never could I try to fool you.” Then I quickly scrabbled my address and phone number into a small and crumpled piece of paper I found from my pocket. “Here, take this. You can think of it for, let’s say, a week. Then tell me your decision.” He took the paper and smiled slightly nodding. I couldn’t believe my luck! That bastard actually smiled at me!
Three days had passed since that meeting in the bar. I talked to Kyo, Shinya and Kisaki about taking Kaoru in to replace Shio, and since they all knew how good Kaoru was with his guitar they had no objections. The only thing now was to wait for Kaoru’s answer. We all had concerns, Kyo just voiced it out for all of us; “I doubt that he’ll agree to join.” But I hoped with all the might I had that a miracle would happen and we’d get him as our new guitarist.
As I already mentioned, it was three days after our meeting in which I said he’d have one week for thinking. I was at home, sitting in the living-room, watching TV and drinking beer. It was already dark outside and since it was quite cold and even raining I had wrapped myself into a large blanket. There wasn’t really anything on TV so I turned it off and just stared out of the window and listened to the drumming of rain. I couldn’t really see what was happening outside, but I felt relaxed by just staring into the darkness.
Then I heard a soft knock on my front door. At first I thought that it was my imagination doing tricks with me, but then I heard it again. Definitely a knock. I jumped up from the couch and rushed to the door intending to let the poor soul inside since he probably was soaked wet. As the door creaked open the first thing I saw was a yellow umbrella. But when the owner of that ugly umbrella lifted it a little I stood face to face with no other than Kaoru. I was surprised a bit, I admit, but I managed to stutter him the invitation to come in.
He left his shoes and umbrella beside the door before following me to the living room. Neither of us said a word, but still I felt oddly natural with him. The silence wasn’t oppressive in any way. We headed to the living-room and he seated himself into my only armchair while I decided to occupy the spot on the couch I had sat in all day. I looked at him questioningly but didn’t say a word. I just waited for him to tell why he was here. He glanced through the room and finally settled his gaze on my face. The look was so intensive that I felt a bit uneasy for a second.
“I’m in. If the offer’s still on that is.” I felt huge waves of relief flow through me after his words. I broke into a smile and laughed a little. “That’s great. We have practice tomorrow morning at nine, you can come then and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys.” He nodded and still kept on staring at me. Somehow the look he gave me made me feel warm. But I didn’t dwell on the feeling for long. Instead I tried to continue the conversation.
“Why did you come all the way here in that terrible weather? You could’ve called…” He looked a bit confused for a brief moment. “I don’t know… I guess I just wanted to…” He averted his gaze and his voice faded into a quiet mumble. My heart jumped, but since I wasn’t sure if I heard correctly I decided to ignore and try to forget the whole comment.
‘I don’t know… I guess I just wanted to… see you.’
See me?
The first practice with the new line-up went surprisingly smoothly. We played some covers we all knew, since Kaoru had no way to know our own songs yet. All seemed to be a bit careful with Kaoru first, I guess we all kind of feared him a little. He had this authority that practically streamed from him and made us all respect him. Gone was the arrogant and selfish spoiled brat that I had known at school, he had truly grown up during these years.
We played together for a few hours that day. When we had finished and given Kaoru some notes to memorize we all were pretty much ready to go home. We stood there quite awkwardly for a minute or two, all of us just staring at the floor. Then Kyo spoke. “So, I guess this is it. We have a band completed again. Welcome, Kaoru-san.” Kaoru bowed a little to Kyo and thanked him politely. Then the silence fell again for a moment.
This time it was Kaoru who spoke and broke the silence. “Uhm, I’m sorry, but I need to ask you something.” We all turned to look at him questioningly. “See, I… I don’t have a place to go to, I was kicked out of my apartment two days ago. I was wondering if I could stay here for the night?” My heart sped up a little and I said the first thing that popped into my mind. “You can stay at my place.” I felt that now everyone was staring at me disbelievingly, so I hurried to explain. “I have a large apartment and not much furniture and stuff either, you’d fit in fine. At least until you get a place of your own to live in.”
My cheeks felt a bit hot and I wondered if I had blushed. No one at least made fun of me while I was stuttering there like a moron. “Of course you don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just thought…” His soft voice cut me off. “Thank you, Die-san. I’d appreciate that greatly.” I didn’t instantly realize what he said, but Kyo was already anxious to get home and he repeated the basic point. “Okay, now it’s settled. Kaoru will stay with Die. Now let’s go home. See you Wednesday morning at nine.”
That evening I woke up when my doorbell rang. I quickly dressed myself into a pair of baggy jeans and a large t-shirt – the first garments I managed to grab from my closet. Kaoru and I had agreed that he’d come to my place as soon he got his belongings together. Damn me for sleeping this long, I hadn’t prepared to meet him in any way. The apartment was all messy, I had forgotten to go shopping and I had never noticed how dirty the windows were. But there was nothing to be done at such a short notice, so I just hurried to the door kicking a few empty beer cans under the sofa along my way.
As I opened the door, there he was, stunning as usually. His dark hair was neatly brushed and tied from the back so it kept out of the way. He had a medium sized cardboard box in his hands and he smiled at me. “Here I am. Did I wake you up?” I shook my head fast. “No, not at all.” However, I could see in his eyes that he knew I lied. Maybe it was that I’m such a lousy liar. Or then he’d noticed my messy hair and sleepy eyes…
I opened the door wider to let him in and took the box from his hands. Someone had already helped him to pack the things into his car, now I only had to help him to get the boxes from the car into my apartment in the third floor. Although he luckily didn’t have much belongings we had to work for over an hour to get the boxes into my living-room. Finally the door slammed shut behind us carrying the last two boxes in. Not a minute too early.
He started to go through one huge box, apparently trying to find something he needed. I let my gaze trail along that perfectly sculpted figure. Then I realized how embarrassing it would be to get caught staring so I swallowed and averted my gaze. I decided that I could offer him something to drink now that we had dragged his belongings into my apartment. I tried to look as casual as possible and coughed to get his attention. “You want some tea before we start to unpack your things?” He straightened up to look me in the eye. “Sounds great.”
I tried to calm myself down while loading a small tray with two teacups and a teapot. This amazingly gorgeous guy was sitting in my living room, and he was moving in to live with me! Of course if you put it like that it sounded a bit more than it actually was, but a man has to have dreams, right? I searched desperately for cookies or something like that, the usual stuff that people eat while drinking tea. But unfortunately I had no luck and I ended up with a half eaten carrot from my fridge and an almost empty box of cereal. Okay, the tea alone had to do it.
When I came back to the living-room, Kaoru was already sitting on the couch, waiting for me to serve the tea. I seated myself beside him and started with the tea. I don’t know why, but I was very nervous, and I tried to cover it by babbling. “So, you don’t have so much stuff, do you? I mean if all you have is in those boxes. Although I didn’t see your guitar there… Do you have many guitars? I have these two I like to…”
My voice trailed off when I realized that he wasn’t listening. Instead he was staring at me with something undefined in his eyes. “Kaoru-san?” I tried to get him back on this earth, but he didn’t seem to hear me. Then he moved. I blinked. Yes, he was definitely coming at me. My eyes widened a bit and I reflexively backed off a few centimetres but he just kept on coming closer until my back hit the armrest of the couch and I was trapped. In that fraction of a second I realized that he was going to kiss me.
It’s not that I hadn’t sensed it coming. I really had. But it’s a different matter to dream about something than to have it happen to you for real. He placed his lips on mine and flicked the corner of my mouth with the tip of his tongue. I opened up to him obediently and he moved forward, exploring the insides of my mouth by running his wet tongue along every curve he found. I felt every part of my body – and with every part I mean every part – respond to his gesture. He moved crawling half on top of me and pressing his lithe form even closer. He tilted my head with his hands to gain better access and I was more than glad to allow that to him.
After a few moments he pulled back a little, breaking the kiss but remaining on my lap. I whimpered as a protest when losing the contact with that pretty mouth. “I’ve wanted to do that for quite a while now.” He smirked at me brushing his fingers through my dark hair, almost lovingly. “Hey! Does that mean that all you’ve been after is a piece of ass? I wondered why you agreed to join the band so easily.” I softened my words by brushing my lips against his slightly. He took a fistful of my hair into his grip and pulled me even closer. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Then he pressed our lips together again and I lost every interest I might have had in arguing with him about the matter.