Disclaimer: Mayu Shinjo owns these characters and Shogakukan, Inc
Disclaimer: Mayu Shinjo owns these characters and Shogakukan, Inc. the
fiction. Twiknham has used the English
translated version of Book 2 to re-create the scenes that help tell the story. I acknowledge that the first two paragraphs
were taken directly from the book and are the property of Viz, LLC. Kelly Sue DeConnick did an excellent
translation and I couldn’t see messing that up. I gain nothing financially from this story.
Chapter 1: First Days Gone
“What’s the first thing you want to eat now that you’re free
from hospital food?” The female
reporter was struggling to hold the microphone in front of his face.
He stopped and lowered his sunglasses, looking at the camera
with a promise and a threat. “My Girl.”
Sakuya groaned as he saw that clip on the night’s news. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of what he’d
said, but for less obvious reasons.
I hope I didn’t show my hand.
When he arrived at the apartment, there was no trace of the woman he so
badly wanted to fuck. I’m sure Ralph
Grazer has his nasty little hands in her disappearance too. Slamming his fist into the wall of his empty
apartment, he slumped to the floor, glad there was no one to see him.
When he’d gathered his strength again, he stood and walked
past the alcohol cabinet straight to the refrigerator. He didn’t feel like starting a new addiction
so soon after getting off of heroin, and he knew if he started drinking, his
band mates would find him in a deplorable state. “Where are you Aine?” He
groaned. “Are you okay?”
ssssss
Aine was living her nightmares. Three weeks ago, she told Ralph Grazer that she would forsake the
man she loved, if Ralph would quit holding him prisoner and shooting him full
of heroin. She wanted to go to the
police, but he was right when he taunted her that she would be unlikely to get
anyone to believe the truth. Although
he was the person who had instigated all of the problems, he would be looked
upon as a savior for protecting the wild musician from himself. Very few people would take the word of a
slammed rock star and his lover.
Realizing she had no other real choice, she agreed to stay
with him and write lyrics for his use.
Unfortunately, her brain wasn’t stimulated by just anyone. As she sat in front of a blank piece of
paper, she began to think that she might be in trouble. Although she hadn’t known Sakuya Ookochi
when she wrote that first song, when he first stepped out of his car after
almost hitting her; it was as if her fantasy man had taken flesh.
Just thinking about Sakuya made her sigh. Although Mr. Ralph threatened to take her
nightly, he had yet to do so. His
reluctance wasn’t something she pushed though.
He had a very nasty temper and had gotten as far as stripping off her
blouse and biting her on more than one occasion. She knew that if she ever taunted him about his lack of action
behind his words, she’d be spread-eagle with the angry American pounding
between her thighs before she could recant.
So, instead of angering him, she showed the strictest respect, kneeling
in front of him whenever he entered the room, and listening to everything he
had to say without ever disagreeing.
So far it had worked, and he had left her alone. However, she hoped that some of her secrets
were still safe from Ralph. Because
tomorrow she was going to do something that would certainly rouse his ire if he
was to ever learn of it.
ssssss
The next morning, Yuki banged on his band mate’s door and
waited...and waited…and waited. Finally
grunting in frustration, he typed in the security code to shut down the
alarm. Once he heard it beep off, he
used the martial arts he’d studied as a Noh Family member to kick the door
down. Walking into the room, he was
surprised to see it looked unused.
“Sakuya…are you here?”
He walked to the liquor cabinet and opened the door, finding
a mostly full bottle of scotch and four clean crystal glasses. The kitchen had one dirty bowl in the sink
and a box of cereal on the counter. Beginning
to feel suspicious, he turned and walked towards the bedroom. Opening the door, he saw Sakuya sitting up
in bed, head in his hands.
“How bad is the damage to my door?” He didn’t look up, not a good sign about his
state of mind.
Yuki smiled and held up a hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll replace it.
Where’s Aine?” Sakuya looked up
at him and Yuki saw the same pain in Sakuya’s eyes that he’d felt when he had
divorced Maria. “Hell, forget it. We have an interview today, remember?”
Sakuya glared at him.
“Yeah. I never forget my
obligations. However,” he held up hands
that were shaking, “I’m still Jonesing pretty hard today.” He sighed.
“Do you think the camera will see it?”
Yuki shrugged. “It’s
been three weeks. I don’t know what to
tell you.” Yuki sat on the bed beside
his friend and leaned over, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his
chin on his folded hands. “Are you sure
you don’t know who did this to you?”
Sakuya grimaced and looked up at his friend. “Are you here to drive me?”
As Sakuya stood and walked to the bathroom to dress, Yuki
knew he had his answer. “Or you could
just refuse to tell me.” He stood and
walked to the door “when you’re ready to tell us what really happened, we’ll go
kick some ass for you.” He heard water
running on the other side of the room and exited to wait in the living room. Catching sight of the door, he grimaced and
pulled out his cell phone.
“Hi Lover. Will you
do something for me?” As Maria
listened, he explained about the door.
“Although I’m not too happy with your choice of violence
over patience, I’ll get it done this afternoon.” She chuckled. “And…”
He could tell she’d embarrassed herself. “I’ll show you exactly what I did tonight,
okay?”
“Yuki!” Her squeal was confirmation that she had
indeed been turned on by his retelling of his heroic ‘display’ of manliness. He chuckled and hung up the phone just as
Sakuya walked into the room.
Sakuya was straightening the collar on his sleeveless
leather shirt. “If that had anything to
do with your wife, I really don’t want to know.”
Since Sakuya looked as civil as an orange, Yuki straightened
his face and contented himself with thoughts of later.
