[Arashi Fanfic] Blue - Chapter 9
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The words in dark teal are Hikari's, and not mine.
"Aiba-kun!"
Aiba was about to step into his car, when he heard a familiar voice call out. Turning around, he saw a gloomy Yamapi walking towards him.
"Hey, Yamapi. What's up?"
The younger man looked as though he was going to punch Aiba, with a fist pulled up to his face. Shakily, Yamapi restrained himself, and set the hand down, much to Aiba's confusion.
"Sometimes I really wonder." Yamapi said, through gritted teeth. "I really do wonder if you love her."
Aiba frowned. "Love…who?"
Yamapi gave an unamused, almost disgusted chuckle. "Love who, you ask. How could you?"
Realisation hit Aiba, as confusion gave way to guilt. "Where…where is she?"
"So you really haven't called her, all this time?"
Aiba looked down, guilt-ridden. He, along with the rest of the Arashi guys, were so wrapped up in the case, Aiba had completely forgotten about Yuuki. He hated to admit it, but when Hikari came back, the feelings he thought he had gotten over returned also. And now that she's in danger…
"You're a bloody idiot. Moron."
"I know." Aiba replied quietly. "Where…is she? How is she?"
"I should never have let her go." Yamapi didn't answer his questions. "She would have been much happier with me."
"Is she…is she still in Japan?"
"Is she still in Japan?" Yamapi couldn't help but mock Aiba. "Would I be here if Yuuki was still in Japan? Would I be here, talking to you, if Yuuki was still in Japan?"
Two pairs of footsteps echoed through the carpark, and they were not Aiba and Yamapi's. The owners of the moving feet were laughing, sharing a joke of some kind-their laughter resonated in the empty space. A glance towards the source of the noise, and it was the Ohmiya pair, walking towards them.
"Hey, Yamapi!" Nino shouted, "How's it going?"
"Fine. Just fine." He turned back to Aiba. "Yuuki left two months ago. If I were you, I'd at least give her a call." With that, he turned back to Nino, and waved a goodbye.
"What was that about?" Nino asked Aiba, once the Ohmiya pair caught up with their bandmate.
Aiba's sunken face was hastily replaced with a cheerful one. "Nothing," he replied. "We just ran into each other. That's all."
But the change in Aiba's expression was not unnoticed. Ohno furrowed his brows, and Nino tipped his head in thought, as they watched Aiba drive away in his white Porsche.
The fight between Kytana and Jun ended up being, in an odd way, a good distraction for the group. Hikari had something different to focus on, and attention was diverted, momentarily, to the princess and the investigator. It wasn't long before the issue-Jun's jealousy over Kytana's partnership with Jonathon, a fellow lawyer and investigator-was resolved, once and hopefully for all, and the wedding was back on again. That was one problem solved: but the bigger problem still remained.
The case was far from over: in fact, it can be safely said, that things just got started. The investigation was brought back to the Johnny's building, now that they had pinpointed the mastermind. Things were as normal as could be, but a general feeling of uneasiness remained, at least within Arashi. Kytana didn't reveal much to the others after the last meeting in Sho's house, mainly because she had almost nothing on Kuri Nakamura, and judging from Sora's reaction, whatever dirt she found could not be shared with the others, especially with Sho.
Which left the rest of the guys-Jun, Nino, Ohno and Aiba- in a rather strange predicament. Kytana refused to tell anyone, apart from Jonathon and Johnny, anything related to the case, not even her fiancee. Nino and Ohno carried on as usual, and tried to act as normal as possible under the current circumstances. Aiba, on the other hand, had more on his mind. He was worried about Sho, and Hikari; but more than anything his mind was on Yuuki. It was as though the girl disappeared from the face of the earth: his messages, phone calls, and endless emails weren't answered, to say the least; whenever he tried to track her down by his means, he'd hit wall after brick wall. Nothing got him through to her, which got him more worried than ever. Something was wrong, yet he couldn't put his finger on it.
Yuuki left two months ago.
There was something about Yamapi's words, Aiba was sure, something in them that would betray Yuuki's whereabouts. He had never seen Yamapi so concerned or so angry about someone. But how did Yamapi know that Yuuki had left Japan, when Aiba himself didn’t? It didn't make sense. Unless Yuuki had been in touch with Yamapi…
Aiba didn't dare to think beyond that, fearing jealousy could take control over his mind. It'd tear him into pieces if Yuuki was no longer his, the thought alone was enough to send him headfirst into the bottomless pits of loss. But the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Why had Yamapi said that to him the other day? What did Yamapi know about Yuuki, that Aiba didn't?
His fist punched the steering wheel in frustration, and his foot stepped on the accelerator, hard. Aiba wanted answers, and today, he intended to get them.
Yamapi had just finished a photoshoot, and was in his dressing room, ready to leave the Jimusho building when a knock on the door placed his original plans on hold.
"Come in. It's not locked." He called out, expecting his manager or a fellow group member to be on the other side. But it wasn't. It was Aiba.
"Oh. It's you." In two quick strides, Yamapi was at the other side of the room, leaning against the wall. "What do you want?"
"Yuuki." Aiba answered. "I want to know what happened. And why she left."
"Isn't that something you can answer for yourself?" Yamapi raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, Aiba…"
"She's not the type to just leave without a reason!" Aiba was starting to lose his patience. "I just… I just don't get it, that's all."
"You don't get it? Of everyone, you're the one who doesn't get it?" Yamapi said, mockingly. "You're unbelievable."
"Come on, with everything that's been happening-"
Aiba stopped, mid-sentence. Of course they don't know what's happening. How could I have been so stupid?
Hearing this, Yamapi lost his temper. "What's been happening? The only thing I know that has happened is the Johnnys Store being blown up. But that's not reason enough for you to do what you did! You didn't fucking call her for a week, Aiba! A full week! And she knew that Sho's wife, whatever her name is-"
"Hikari." Aiba said, in a frighteningly calm yet threatening voice, "Her name is Hikari."
"Fine. Hikari. Yuuki knew she was back. Don't ask me how, she just knew. What else was Yuuki supposed to think? That you were still in love with her, not Hikari, but for some strange but good reason, you couldn't contact her?"
"But she-"
"Oh, she gave you a chance, Aiba. She gave you lots of chances. Too many, I reckon. She delayed her stay for as long as possible. You should've seen her when she left. She tried to put on a brave face, but anyone could tell. She was heartbroken. She thought you just used her, and dumped her."
"I'd never do that-"
"But you did. That's exactly what you did to Yuuki. And if she wasn't so in love with you, Aiba, I would've snatched her from you the moment I saw her sad and empty eyes." Yamapi snapped, in a fit that was very out of character. "You don't deserve her. Not a single bit."
With that, Yamapi walked out, slamming the door behind him, and leaving Aiba to reflect on his words.
Aiba remained there, still as stone, for what seemed an eternity, as Yamapi's words echoed in his head. That Yuuki left because of him. Because he didn't call her. That she was heartbroken, and thought he had wanted nothing to do with her, once Hikari was around again. The frightening thing was, to an extent, there was some truth to Yamapi's words. He didn't want to admit it, but when Hikari came back, things…did feel a little different. And knowing that Hikari was in danger…
Aiba sank down on the only chair in the room, his elbows on his knees, and his head dropped resolutely. This was too much for him to take in, in such a short period of time. Aiba needed-wanted- a distraction.
With that in mind, he marched out of the room, and wandered down the corridors of the Johnny's building. As he walked past the makeup department, Aiba saw two familiar faces coming into view. An idea struck him, and he quickly ducked inside.
Hikari was stunned. No, that wasn’t the word at all. The sight that greeted her in the jimusho’s lobby was far too amazing to put into words. There was Nino sitting on one of the plush chairs, having eyeliner applied to his cheeks by Aiba. Ohno was sitting down as well, and by the looks of it he was trying to convince Aiba to do his ‘makeup’ first. The genki man appeased him for a bit by taking out a stick of brightly coloured lipstick and using it to draw hearts on the leader’s forehead. Then he continued to draw mindless designs on the prankster’s face. After a while of this, Jun had come down from one of the upper floors and began scolding his group members for acting like children. Aiba had volunteered to paint the Hime’s toenails bright purple to make him feel better, and only when Jun swore loudly and stalked off did the party come back into full swing. And all this happened within the short span of two minutes.
“Ne, Hikari-chan!” squealed Aiba once he noticed her. He brandished a brightly coloured aqua eyeliner in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other.
“Hey Aiba-chan,” she replied. “What’re you guys doing?”
“Makeup!” he exclaimed. “Aren’t I good? Nino thinks I could be a professional if I keep at it long enough! Right?”
Nino gave Hikari a look, a look that practically screamed ‘Please get me out of here before he kills me with those tweezers.’ She gave him a knowing smile.
“Maybe,” the girl said. “Why don’t you finish off with Oh-chan first? He looks a bit unfinished.”
“No, it’s ok,” Ohno told her. “I want to watch.”
Uh-oh. This did not sound good at all. Not at all.
She hesitated. “Well…ok. How about just a teeny-tiny design? Right here.” Hikari pointed to the corner of her left eye. “But very tiny.”
“Ok!” Aiba said excitedly. “What do you want? A butterfly? Sho’s initials?”
“Er…how about a shooting star. In silver, if you’ve got it.”
Sure enough, Aiba pulled out a brand-new silver eyeliner pencil. Hikari looked at Nino in alarm.
“He stole it from the makeup department,” the prankster replied simply. “Suits us fine though. It just means were won’t have to look tacky for our next set of concerts. I’ve always hated that frilly crap they make us wear.”
She sighed. “If you say so.”
For the next fifteen minutes, the lobby was as still as death. Ohno had dozed off as usual, and Nino was looking thoroughly annoyed. He had probably been forced to make sure Aiba didn’t do anything dangerous. Said person was now carefully adding the finishing touches to Hikari’s silver shooting star, and at one point Johnny came by only to see three out of his five top employees looking like clowns. He took one look at them before running in the other direction and murmuring something about stupidity.
“There,” Aiba said proudly once he finished. He handed Hikari a small mirror, no doubt one that he had also stolen from the makeup department.
“Wow! It actually looks really good,” she commented honestly. “I like it. Thanks Aiba-chan.”
He beamed at her in response.
“So does this mean that you’re done doing stupid things for today?” Nino asked him. “Because I really need my time with Oh-cha-”
Nino’s sentence was suddenly interrupted by Hikari’s phone. Ohno gave a huge snore, but did not awaken.
Hikari grinned sheepishly as she went to go take the call. Aiba glanced at her, deep in thought. She's Sho's wife now, Aiba reminded himself, before turning his attention back to Nino, much to the prankster's dismay. But Nino made no audible protest, despite his annoyance: there was something in Aiba's eyes which wasn't there before-sadness, regret…and a hint of bitterness. Sure, Aiba hid the feelings well, and his suppressed emotions would have escaped most people's notice; but Nino had spent by far the most time with Aiba, and noticed it as soon as Aiba grabbed him in the lobby. Sighing, Nino kicked Ohno, who was sleeping away in the corner, with a foot; all he got in response was a loud snore and a turn. Aiba didn't seem to notice, as he continued to attack Nino with the eyeliner pencil.
Suddenly, Hikari snapped close her phone, and ran towards the elevators.
"Oi, Hikari!" Nino called, but was completely ignored.
"Hikki-chan?" Aiba opened his mouth at the same time, but elicited no response from the young woman. She seemed intent on getting the elevators doors close, and that was all they saw of her.
As soon as Hikari was gone, the fake cheer in Aiba's eyes disappeared. Nino prodded him gently, even Ohno-who was woken by the small commotion-was looking at him with worried eyes. There was something wrong with Aiba: he wouldn't pull off tricks like this for no reason.
"Oi, Aiba," Nino asked, "Daijoubu?"
"Eh?" Aiba answered, slightly fazed, before a smile was plastered on his face. "Everything's fine yo, Nino-chan."
Just fine.
I will be posting Chapter 10 in a fortnight. Check back on 16th June.
As usual, comments are more than appreciated. =)