A/N: I'm so happy to see so many people are reading/following this story! Hearing from you all is fantastic. I hope the writing continues to satisfy your inner fangirls/fanboys! Haha.

We have a special treat this chapter... AI'S POV! If y'all like it, I might add more of it. I hope I did him justice!

Secret Guardian

-chapter sixteen-

I groaned to myself, placing my head in my hands as I leaned my elbows on the keys of the piano before me, cringing at the cacophony of notes that pressed down at the movement. A sea of music sheets surrounded me, scattered all over the piano bench, on top of the piano, and all over the floor. I had a number of new songs written, some half-finished, and had polished up some older songs that I thought held promise. I had scribbled down some ideas of what I might use as a running theme for the album, or stories that I might tell through the songs I used. There were so many things I had to think of when putting this album together. What would people be the most receptive to? Of course, the universal love song was usually a hit, but it was also so...so overdone, in my opinion. Yes, it gave you a good feeling when you listened to it, but I felt like that wasn't the only kind of music out there, so why limit myself? There was so much to choose from.

Of course, having so much to choose from was sort of my problem at the moment.

It had already been almost a full week since Shining had given me his ultimatum. If I wanted to be on track to release by the end of the month, then I had to have my songs picked and be going into the recording studio by no later than two weeks from now. Even that would be cutting it close, because who knew how many takes we'd have to do in order to get all of the instrumental pieces together? I also had to make sure I rested my voice between takes, as we wouldn't want to have it give out before I finished recording all my tracks... I sighed, tugging at my hair in frustration. There was so much to do, and so little time. And here I was, so stressed out I had to take time that I could be using to do something useful, just to try and breathe through the nerves from the fact that I had no time to waste doing just that...

"Yo, Shi-chan!"

I yelped, clutching at the fabric of my sweater over my pounding heart. I glared at Reiji as he ambled into the room with a cheshire cat grin at my moment of panic.

"Geez, don't do that to me, Rei-chan! Try knocking once in a while, will ya?"

Reiji chuckled, scooping the music sheets up from the piano bench next to me and plopping himself down in their place as he leafed through them, humming in approval as he scanned the notes.

"You're getting better all the time, Shi-chan," he said with a grin. "I'm just thinking it's too bad you'll be so busy now that you're going to be an idol yourself. Otherwise I would ask you to write me another single." He winked and ruffled my hair.

I rolled my eyes at his antics, my heart giving a dull throb as the action reminded me of Aine.

"It's not like I'm going to fall off the face of the earth, Rei-chan. I just need to release this album at the end of the month and have it top the charts," I said flippantly, like it was no big deal, even though inside I could feel the crushing pressure of the incredible expectations Shining had put on me. Fake it 'til you make it, after all, right? I gently tugged the sheets out of his hand, adding them to the stack on top of the piano. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a crap load of work yet to do if I expect to keep on track for recording in two weeks."

Reiji stared at the piano keys thoughtfully, plunking out a major chord note by note, slowly making his way up through the octaves in a halting arpeggio.

"Well...truth be told, I didn't really come here to talk to you about your idol work," he confessed as his pinky lingered on the top note of the piano, the high note slowly dimming until the last traces of it were gone. I raised a silent eyebrow at him, and when he looked over, he shot me a wistful half-smile.

"I remember why I thought you were familiar when we first met."

I froze, my fingers unconsciously clenching around the edges of my sleeves. No, this was not the time for this. I didn't have time to deal with his questions when I had so much to focus on already. I needed to focus on my music. If I threw myself into my music there was a chance I could wake Aine, and then I wouldn't have to lie to Reiji about where he went, because he could just ask the man himself.

"Oh?" I said, but the word came out sounding choked. Reiji gave me a knowing look.

"Don't play with me. I'm serious," he said with a frown that was uncharacteristic for him. "I remember you. You were the girl that Aine talked about so much...the one he said was like a little sister to him. We met once, before Aine..." he trailed off, his gaze slipping back to the keys as he hesitated on his next words. "...Before he left. I remember it now."

I hesitated before placing a hand on his arm. He looked over at me, looking a bit surprised at the sudden touch.

"Reiji... I know you must have a lot of questions right now," I said, noting the hopeful flicker in his eyes before I said, "but...I can't answer any of them right now." It was like the energy drained out of him at my words. He slumped forward, his posture folding in on itself. I felt terrible for making such a lively guy look like that, but it was true. I sighed. "Sorry, Rei-chan. I know you probably had your hopes up, but...I just need a little longer before I can clear some things up for you. Okay?"

Reiji took a deep breath before straightening up, offering me a lopsided grin.

"Okay. I can wait a little longer," he said, stretching his arms up over his head. "Hey, remember that time that Aine accidentally turned his hair bright green?"

I laughed, part relieved we were no longer on the topic of hard questions and part amused that he remembered that, too.

"How could I forget?" I said, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "I can picture his face now: 'How was I supposed to know bleach would work differently on blue hair!?' His hairstylist just about had an aneurysm when he had to get it fixed!" I cracked up, Reiji joining in.

We must have sat there for almost an hour, trading stories of our experiences with Aine and reminiscing about the guy he used to be. It was so easy talking to Reiji of the past, of when things were so happy. It was almost enough to make me forget the way things were now. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and soon I had to excuse myself so that I could focus on my music once more. I felt refreshed and reinvigorated to work on my songs now that I had had a good break, my mood lifted. Taking a deep breath, I stared at the few songs I had spread out in front of me. I had an idea of what I wanted to do now with the theme for my album, and I had four songs picked out already. It just needed...one more.

I was back on track.

"Just a little longer, Ai-nii," I breathed, grabbing the first composition and a fresh sheet of paper for lyrics. "I'll write music that will wake you up for good. Just you wait."

Ai frowned, finding himself unable to focus on his computer game. Glancing over at the synthesizer next to his desk, his gaze lingered on it for a moment as he wondered how Shinako was doing with her compositions. He had barely seen her at all for the rest of the week since Shining had given her his impossible task. He shook his head at the thought. No, if anyone could pull off such a fantastic feat, it would definitely be Shinako, he thought. Nevertheless, he was worried about her. He knew that she was the type of person who would push herself to the point of collapse if no one reminded her to take the time to rest. Mentally weighing the pros and cons, he sighed before standing and heading for the door. He would just continue to dwell on the idea that she wasn't taking proper care of herself until he verified whether she was or not for himself. The thought made him pause, his hand on the doorknob. Was he...worried?

No. That would be impossible, his logical mind said. He was an A.I., he couldn't feel emotions.

But then what had he felt when he was singing with Shinako on stage last week...?

Ai frowned, deciding to contemplate all these things later. He had to make sure Shinako was taking breaks and eating right. Absent-mindedly, he stopped by the kitchens and grabbed her a plate of beef stir-fry, one of her favorite dishes. He could already picture how her eyes would light up upon seeing the food. He chuckled at the thought. If there was one thing Shinako loved almost as much as music, it was food. The professor often joked she could have become a professional taste-tester if she weren't so dead-set on becoming a composer.

As Ai neared the female dorms, he could hear voices drifting out of the music room that Shinako usually used. Curious, he quietly moved closer to the open door. The sight that greeted him made him feel...odd.

Shinako sat at the piano, Ai's bandmate, Reiji, beside her. The thing that caused him to feel an odd sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, though, was the fact that she had her arm around Reiji's shoulders as they laughed together at something he had missed. His teeth grit together, and the hand that wasn't clutching the plate of food clenched into a fist. It was as though he was seeing red.

Wait. Was this...anger?

His surprise at the fact that he was actually feeling something almost made him drop the plate he was holding. He froze as he assessed himself. His systems were fully functional, but...there was something else, now. Something that he hadn't noticed there before. Was this what humans felt? Was this what the professor had wanted him to experience when he created him? It...it hurt. That couldn't be right. And, he realized, it got worse when his gaze drifted back to the sight of Shinako and Reiji, sitting so close together as they talked and laughed.

"What...is this feeling?" he whispered, clutching at his chest. He grit his teeth together, deciding there were only two ways to find out anything.

With one last glance at the couple at the piano, Ai turned on his heel and left, taking the plate of food with him. He wasn't sure he wanted Shinako to know that he was there when he couldn't even work up the courage to say hello to her after seeing her together with Reiji like that.

Ai gave a long-suffering sigh. He could always leave finding a solid conclusion for how seeing them like that had affected him until he ran further tests by himself, but it would be so much quicker if he just went to the professor. He mentally weighed the pros and cons of the two as he deposited the untouched food in the trash. As he conjured up an image of Shinako and Reiji together in his mind's eye, he was once again overwhelmed by how much it hurt. He frowned. He wasn't certain he could stand feeling that for as long as it would take to run sufficient tests on the cause of the feeling.

He supposed it would be a trip to see the professor after all, then...