NOTE TO SELF:  FIND OUT AYAKA'S LAST NAME.

Disclaimer:  Thanks to the great and wonderful X Japan for inspiration on the titles of each of my chapters, though sadly I can't claim anything about them or the rights of Gravitation.

Drain

The ice in her cola had melted some time ago, but she was completely unaware of her untouched drink along with the amount of time that had passed.  Ever since she arrived at the hotel she had been waiting alone at the bar, her hands folded in her lap.  Her innocent beauty was sweet and eye catching, as the poise and proper manners she showed to those with she chatted.  People out of town would ask her name and what a pretty thing like her would be doing all alone.  Being asked so many times, her answer was becoming routine.

"I'm Ayaka," she would start, bowing her head slightly, long silky strands of brown hair tumbling over her tiny shoulders covered by a green sweater over a plaid dress.  "I'm waiting for my boyfriend."  Why she wished it could end there, she was sometimes sucked into conversations over herself or the overwhelming city that was Tokyo.

She was hoping Hiro would appear soon.  Strangers weren't that much a hassle to her; after all, she was practically the nice hostess daughter from a respectable family in Kyoto.  It was the gentleman who tried to pick her up that was becoming a bother.  Holding her own with brush-offs, she wondered how long it would take before she had to get absolutely nasty with the nighttime crowd.  Wouldn't they like to know that her boyfriend, as she put it simply, was the guitarist of one of Japan's most popular J-Rock bands?  The two of them together could raise an eyebrow or two, but that was only with the people they knew.  They did well keeping their relationship relatively hush-hush from the public, unlike their friends Shuichi and Eiri, who were thrown into the media blitz once they were discovered as lovers.

Ayaka turned her eyes away from the entrance of the bar and swirled the straw in her drink, remembering how only months ago she was dreaming about the rest of her life with her arranged fiancée: the handsome romance writer Yuki Eiri.  Though she didn't admit it to Hiro, she sometimes still dreamed of him.  It was a bit hard to completely let go of him.  She didn't really know him, only the one that wrote such burning stories that kept her enthralled for hours on end.  Her fantasies never anticipated a rejection from the man.  While he did accept to marry her once, she knew it was only because Eiri was trying to distance himself away from Shuichi, who she wanted to hate because of the natural connection with the blond, but couldn't, even regretting later on for slapping him in the face when she found out they were involved.  She was ready to be a rival for Eiri's affection, but that was only in words.  There wasn't anyway she could ever win, and with that, she slowly learned to stop thinking her future would revolve around Yuki Eiri.

Thanks to Hiro that was possible.  He clearly showed interest in her from the beginning when they met, and he continued doing so even when she tried to become close to Eiri.  Her feeling for him grew and she was actually glad when he won the bet she made with him about selling a million records just for the chance to date her.  They talked on the phone for long periods of time and spent as much time as they could together before he went away on tours.  Now that he was back home, she wanted to be with him but he wasn't here.  With Hiro's apartment being fumigated, she couldn't surprise him at his place and had to settle for the hotel.  It wasn't that she didn't know what room he was in.  She did.  She knew he surely would be there by now.  Ayaka just couldn't bring herself to bother him after returning from an exhausting tour.  She hoped that Tohma relayed her message to him at the airport that she was coming to see him.  Waiting all night in the bar was something she did not want to do.  She was itching to see him.

"Ayaka!" called a voice over the incoming crowd.  Trying to contain her excitement, she gripped the bar's edge and swiveled in her seat just as Hiro rushed to the seat next to her.  "I'm so sorry that I kept you waiting for so long."

"It's okay," her light voice assured.

"I was going to come and find you right away after dropping my bags off in my room," he continued, "but I fell asleep."

"I can see that," she commented with a giggle, her hand reaching up to comb through his bed hair.

"Didn't remember to change my clothes either," he laughed with her, straightening his shirt.

After fixing his wild long hair, her hand gently rested on top of his.  A smile came on her face.  All those people she spoke to before would never have guessed this was the boyfriend of whom she spoke at the looks of him, but she didn't care.  Seeing his happy yet somewhat sleepy face made her glad.  "Don't worry about it," she said, removing her hand and placing it back in her lap.

"You know, I'd kiss you if you weren't so nervous about public displays of affection," he joked.

"Maybe it is for the best.  Who knows what else might not be up to par with you," she quipped in return, receiving a smirk from the young man.  "Do you have to stay here long?"

"No, my apartment should be ready after tomorrow, so we should have some place private to go soon" he answered, taking a sip from her soda, immediately putting it back down the cherry wood finish of the bar with a look of disgust.  "This is flat!  How long have you been waiting down here again?"

"Not long," she played off with a sarcastic tone.  "I expected this might just happen with you.  I thought maybe Shindou-san might be with you.  Since I don't see him bouncing off the walls, I'm guessing he went home."

"Yep," he said.  "Wherever Yuki-san is, you'll find Shuichi there.  Anyway, we have to catch up."

Hiro rarely brought up Eiri around her.  The topic of him usually made Hiro a bit jealous, despite her being his girl.  She herself didn't like to talk about Eiri too much around him because she still believed he was such a wonderful person and would talk about him in the highest regards.  She wouldn't want to ruin their meeting and welcomed the change of subject.  "Yes we do!" she exclaimed.  "Congratulations on the tour.  It must have been so exciting, going all over Japan, performing for the crowds.  I don't blame you for falling asleep though.  And when you guys where stuck at the airport yesterday you had to been going out of your minds with boredom and fatigue.  Shindou-san must have kept your spirits up at least."

Ayaka could see that at the mention of Shuichi's name Hiro's face went gloomy.  It wasn't like him to act in such a way.  "Well he tried," he muttered, eyes averting away form her.

"Hey," she said caringly to get his attention back on her, "what's with the face?  Did something happen?"

Hiro didn't answer her, which made her begin to really worry.  To not answer her was strange.  He liked talking to her about everything, but to fall silent meant that something had to be wrong.  "Hiro?"

"Nothing that I know of," he replied.  She was getting the impression in his tone that he really wanted to say, "Nothing I can share with you," but most likely didn't want to hurt her feelings.

She fiddled with the hem of her dress, trying to think of what to say next without prying, but couldn't help wanting to know.  "Is Shindou-san okay?"

"So he says," Hiro answered.

"You don't think so?" Ayaka asked, hoping to get Hiro to talk more.

"I don't know," he said, looking into her eyes, obviously wanting to say more.  "Something… happened, but he tells me everything is fine and I can't say that I have any reason to say otherwise."

"Something private…" Ayaka clarified.

Hiro shrugged his shoulders.  "I can't really tell you…"

"I can see that this isn't something that you think should be shared with me, especially when it comes to Shuichi," she assured as before, "but whatever it is I'm sure that it's that great friendship you have together that gives you reason to want to say otherwise."  Moving closer to him, she shook her head.  "I'll understand if you want to go see him, but maybe this is something he wants to work out for himself if he has to tell you he's fine.  Plus, he has Eiri-san."

"You're being too nice," Hiro commented, his face returning to the content face she liked.

"When it comes to you bunch, it comes with the territory," she added.  "He'll talk to you when he is ready.  Shindou-san isn't one to keep things locked up."

"I just hope he doesn't keep this locked up for the wrong reasons," he stated.  Ayaka wish she knew what he was talking about, but Hiro appeared to be letting this go for both their sakes and she couldn't dare want to stand in his way if this was his decision.  She would simply have to wait and see what happens.

But for now, she was going to be happy for the both of them.  They could drain their feelings out when the time was right.

* * *

Weddings were always extreme.  Even those who eloped went to the extreme, keeping their plans secret in order to make a union.  Aizawa Taki liked the extreme, but he wasn't one to ever consider marriage.  His life had been about one thing for the most part:  music.  He wanted to be performing on stage and meeting girls from all over the world, having a fan following that loved him and wanted more.  To settle down would limit most of that, especially if he wanted to keep those devoted to him.  However, Ma-kun was getting married in only days and he would be the best man at his wedding.  Currently he was sitting in the back of a limo, leaving the airport with the groom-to-be and their other band mate of ASK, Ken.  Ma-kun had been a complete wreck over this wedding, complaining the whole way about things that could go wrong.  However, Taki's mind had only been partially into listening to his friend ever since he bumped into Shindou Shuichi.

Thinking about it now, their conversation was silly, filled with forced words.  It was awkward.  No, it was extremely awkward.  Taki had thought about for the longest time what to say to the young man he tried to ruin.  When Bad Luck appeared on the music scene, they didn't seem like a threat, but fate had a funny way of catering against Taki.  For almost an entire year his life and career was becoming a downward spiral, mostly his own doing.  His own jealousy over Shuichi and thirst to out-do Bad Luck made him into someone he hated.  The awful things he did were unforgivable, but when he saw Shuichi, he had to apologize.  Taki's resentful behavior drove him to hire men to hurt Shuichi, forcing him to choose Bad Luck or Yuki Eiri.  He was floored when he chose Yuki Eiri, losing himself in his rage for the singer and taking pictures as a way of punishment.  Then when Yuki Eiri came after him and yet hurting Ma-kun for standing in the author's way, Taki handed over the film but vowed to ruin Eiri in return.  In the end, his jealousy was directed at the wrong person, a close personal friend of the man who signed ASK, Seguchi Tohma.  ASK was almost completely forgotten because of him.  Taki had to get his life back together, which he did thanks to his friends and professional advisement.  Hard work allowed him to be signed to a new label.  Things were on their way up, but fate once again threw a curve at him and he had to face his mistakes.

Shuichi was too easy on him, in his opinion.  He should have wanted to kill him on sight, but was probably as shocked as he was.  When the conversation seemed too much for him to handle, he left, and was now wondering what was happening with Shuichi.  He didn't want to dwell on it much, but that awkward feeling was sticking with him.

"Taki!" shouted Ma-kun, startling him out of his thoughts.  The blonde looked upset.  "Are you even listening to me?  As my best man, you are supposed to help me out!"

Taki folded his arms over his chest and coldly stared at him with his dark black eyes.  "I've been listening to you bitch for hours," sighed Taki, unable to hold back his annoyance even with his good friend.  "Who's the bride in this wedding?"

Ken laughed, nudging Taki in the shoulder.  "You make me happy I'm not the best man sometimes."

"Sure you don't want it for a couple days?" Taki sarcastically asked.  "I could use the break."

"Would you two not do this to me?" Ma-kun shouted.  "Ingrid deserves the best and I want my best man to help me out and to get out of his dream world."

"Good Lord!" Taki exclaimed.  "I wouldn't blame the babe if she accidentally misses her flight from Germany to here because she feels smothered.  I know I thought about it…"

"Taki, don't keep calling her babe," Ma-kun reprimanded.  "You know she doesn't like that.  I know she can be a bit high maintenance at times, but I just want her wedding to be like she wants it."

Ken furrowed his brows and shook his head.  "I'm never getting married."

"I second that," Taki agreed.  "Anyway, all the arrangements have been taken care of.  I've called everyone on my end; so leave the rest up to whatever Ingrid wants to do.  So excuse me if I'm escaping to my dream world for a while."

Looking back out the window at the passing buildings, Taki could feel the stares of his friends on him.  "What?"

"You've been spacing out quite a lot," Ken commented, pushing at the brim of his black sunglasses.  "You've been doing it since the rain delay at the airport."

"He's right," Ma-kun said, finally seeming to calm down about his own problems and taking interest in him.  "Taki, something up?"

Noticing the small scar that remained on Ma-kun's forehead from where Yuki Eiri's fist once landed, a scar he himself truly deserved, Taki remembered that after everything he did and getting them swept away into his own mess that his friends were still with him and deserved the truth and not silence.  "I ran into Shindou Shuichi," he blandly said.

Everyone went silent at his announcement, staring blankly at him in what Taki could only say was disbelief, as if there thoughts were trying to register what he said and think of something to say in return.  It was making him uncomfortable.  "Look, it's nothing…"

"Nothing?" Ken repeated.

"What happened?" Ma-kun immediately followed.

"Did he do anything?"

"Was Yuki Eiri there?"

"Nothing, no and no," Taki answered quickly.  "He ran into me, we… chatted to say the least, and I apologized to him."

"Really?" Ma-kun questioned almost breathless.

Taki averted his eyes.  "Yeah, and then I left.  See… nothing."

"Are you really okay?"  Taki thought about the question from Ma-kun.  It was strange.  He wasn't even thinking about himself.  He was wondering if it was Shuichi who was okay.  He was hoping Shuichi would have cursed him out, busted him up, or anything.  Taki could only think his pink hair rival was being the bigger man yet again. 

"I'm fine," Taki answered.  "I really am."

After that, Taki could only think that his friends were being silent the rest of the way so he could freely space out again without interruption, if only for a while.

TO BE CONTINUED

Yeah for me!  Another update.  Can you believe it?  I barely can myself.  I just moved to my new place the other day.  It's 5:30PM on July 17, 2003 right now.  I don't have any cable Internet connection. L  It's driving me nuts.  I hate it and now I'm forced to wait until next week to put this up, which is when the cable guy comes to put it up for me.  I lack a lot of privacy here in my new place, which I don't like.  On the good side, my lack of Internet and not having to go to work this week because I'm still unpacking and waiting for my new bedroom furniture forced me to work on my stories as a way to keep me from being bored (and I do love the fact I'm missing stupid work).  So when I put this up that means next week will be this week…

Thank you to everyone who read my last chapter.   I didn't deserve such kindness but I'm always happy when I get it.  I know this chapter forces you to wait just a sliver longer to see what is going on with Eiri and Shuichi but I feel that I needed to put this in.  Plus all my Taki fans needed this.  ^_^  I'm glad to be of service.

REVIEW IF YOU HAVE THE TIME!  BE KIND!     PLEASE REWIND.  AND ONLY YOU CAN PUT OUT FOREST FIRES (whoa… too random…).

Oh, and on sort of a P.S note…

Once again, I don't have a beta reader so I just stick these babies up hoping for the best.  And I'm writing a FAKE fanfic, so when I put it up I hope everyone will come read it.  In my opinion it is the best I've written in a while.  And my friends and I should soon have our Utena fanfic up, so I'll let you know when to come check out all my new works.