Track 01 - BathRoom

WARNINGS: Minor arguments

--------------------

The girls listened in awe at Ruki's last speech for the end of the concert - however they squirmed a little bit as his remark about wanting to 'give them more pleasure'. Mika especially went red-faced. Megumi, Ai, Kira and Kikyo started laughing at her embarrassment while Ai and Kira poked her sides. They were jumping up and down with the rest of the fans, also clapping during Ruki's break in the speech. By the time the guys were ready to do their last jump together, the girls only just realised as they held hands and jumped too. All of them raised their hands above their head and clapped as the guys waved and walked off. Kira was screaming and cheering so loudly that Mika and Kikyo both poked her sides. Kira squealed and cupped her hands in her armpits with a fake shocked look on her face.

"Owie~! Kira your voice is really loud you know~! Your louder than the rest of the audience~!" Mika said, giving Kira's arm a light slap before smiling up at the stage and rising to her toes, "I can't believe it's over already ... I just wish we could repeat this night over and over again. However, without your loud voice in our ears, Kira".

"Sorry sorry, I'm just so happy. Best concert ever~!! They're so cool, I'm so glad I found out about them" Kira said stamping her feet and clapping rapidly, "And it's also great that we're all here together~! Would have been lonely without you guys. And didn't Reita look so cool~! I love his 'Regret' outfit~!"

"Well we all know Mika loved the concert, she certainly got a lot of attention from Ruki. It's a shame he didn't kiss her hand though", Ai said as she teased Mika and tickled the poor girls sides, which made Mika squirm, "I just wish Aoi could have come closer to our side of the stage more often. Kikyo, I'm sure you were enjoying the view from your spot?"

"Duh, who wouldn't enjoy watching Uruha from this close to the front of the stage? It felt like I was this far away from him", Kikyo said excitedly as she held up her hands to show a distance of about a foot, before glancing down to make sure her bag was stuff there, "Anyway I guess we'd better gather our stuff. People are starting to leave and I doubt we're allowed to stick around and help clean up ..."

"I think it was just great in general to see another concert. And lucky for us we're part of the fan club. We're fans with extra privileges, wouldn't you agree?" Megumi said sticking her tongue out with a cute face before ducking down to yank her bag out from under the seat, "And by that I mean Mika gets a little bit of fan-service right in front of her, much to some Ruki-fans annoyance".

Megumi said just to tease Mika ... again. Ai, Kira and Kikyo all made 'ooo'ing sounds at what Megumi said. Mika blushed but tried to defend herself by making a face at her friends in turn. Just as Ai and Kira now bent down to pick up their bags, Mika was about to do the same when she looked up at an official staff member on the stage. He actually came running over to them and carefully lid off the edge of the extended stage. Kira looked up as she crouched on the ground getting her bag underneath the chair and so was Ai. Kikyo happened to look over at the time and made a very confused face. Megumi was too busy watching the rest of the audience leaving until Ai back-handed her forearm softly. When the official had all the girls attention, they listened as he whispered to them.

"Invited back-stage by the Gazette? Themselves?" Ai asked herself as she followed the others as they ducked underneath the railing and Megumi turned around to 'shh' her.

Ai was standing in a little daze until she felt herself being pulled along by Megumi and then pushed from behind by Mika. Kira and Kikyo were right on Mika's heels ... quite literally. They felt like they were in a dream - they as five regular fans were about to meet their most favourite Visual Rock band in Japan. And all it took was one staff member to say that Ruki had requested it himself. Megumi was so impatient and itching to meet Kai, so was her excuse to drag Ai along. Of course Ai was out of it because she was going to see Aoi face-to-face. Mika was also shoving Ai along because she had a chance to meet the one person who had sun to her, to also thank him for the flower. Kira had the feeling she was just going to spout gibberish if she tried to speak to Reita so she quickly tried to compose herself. And Kikyo was almost floating along behind the others at the thought of seeing Uruha up close.

The girls were quickly led by the official, past the extended stage and around the side-edge to a door that lead down to the under-ground function room where the after-party was to be held. The whole way down the girls knew that every step was a step closer to every fans dream. As the official had said, the band never invited fans back-stage to see them. In fact fans ought to feel really blessed if they even received an autograph in person by one of them. So right at this moment as the rest of the audience were heading out of the dome, they were going to the bands after-party as special guests. This was something their parents were never going to believe ...

* * *
"Good job everybody~!!" all the staff cheered, patting each other's backs and shaking hands.

Down in the function room the 'One Night Stand' after party was in full swing. In a matter of seconds, dozens of bottles of champagne were cracked open and glasses spread around to every single member of staff that had gathered in the function room. The room was alive was chattering people, who were seated on long tables with food and drinks, and a separate table with a row of chairs on one side for the guys - which was where they were all lounging right now. They had gone straight back to their dressing room after saying their goodbyes to the fans - just to refresh their make-up and look a little more presentable rather than dripping with sweat. Aoi was on the end with his Asahi beer and teasing Kai beside him who was content with an Apple Juice. Reita was also guzzling a bottle of dry Asahi and seemed to be getting just a little drunk. Ruki on the other hand was cradling a glass of sake in one hand and busy talking to Uruha who had his best friend, a Chandon Champaign.

"Hey Ruki that reminds me. You came last off stage; you'd disappeared behind us just as we were walking off", Kai suddenly pipped up as he was now getting sick of Aoi teasing him about his drink and leaned forward to glance around Reita, "Where did you go? And you never said anything in the change rooms? Does it have something to do with that girl in the audience?"

"We're not on about that again are we? Okay he really must be sick, he's never been this hung-up on one random girl in the audience", Reita said throwing his hand up in the air in an obviously slowly-getting-drunk manner before staring at Ruki, "Again I ask, what is with you? Before the concert you were normal ... enough. Then as the concert goes along you get weirder and weirder-er".

Ruki had his arms crossed on the table in front of him with one hand up holding the glass of sake to his mouth. He just stared at Reita after what the bass-player said - did he just say 'weirder-er'? That's not even a word.

"Reita put that bottle down before you hurt yourself. And I haven't been acting weird, I just came to a sudden realisation", Ruki said as he took a small sip from his glass and gently put it down as he pushed it away a little with his fingers and stared at the table, "I want to find out what it is about her that I can't stop looking at her. As I said, I had no idea I'd see her in the front row tonight ... so I've invited her and her friends to our after-party".

Aoi, Kai, Reita and Uruha just stared at their lead singer for a second.

"You did what now? I hope you realise that if anyone finds out, the fans will expect us to invite all of them backstage from now on?" Uruha said, turning in his seat to face the un-fazed Ruki beside him, "So I hope the first thing you warn them is that they're to not say a word?"

"Oh give it a rest, you weren't worried when I walked into the convenience store this afternoon, so how is this any different? I think Ruki knows what he's doing so lets just see how it goes", Aoi said waving a hand at Uruha to shut-up before taking a quick sip of his beer, "Lets just let him flirt with his new girlfriend and if it turns bad, THEN we'll say 'we told you so' ..."

Ruki just looked daggers at Aoi, and the older guitarist just raised both eyebrows and sat back hiding behind Kai. Soon enough the staff member, who Ruki had asked to bring the five girls to the function room, came through the main door and glanced around the function room. He spied the band sitting at their table and he walked across to speak to Ruki. The girls couldn't be seen yet but they were probably told to wait outside in the hall.

"Sumi masen, Ruki-san ... I believe you requested the five girls from the front row to join you at your table?" he asked, bowing slightly before gesturing to the double doors, "They are waiting just outside, should I direct them over to you?"

Ruki was again staring down at the table when the staff member came in. He didn't move his head but just looked up at the staff member who addressed him. He followed where the man was pointing to the doors and nodded with a little smile. Uruha, Reita, Kai and Aoi watched as the man nodded as well before briskly walking away to call the girls inside. Ruki just picked up his glass and took another sip - to the others he probably looked really moody or cranky, like he hadn't slept. But truthfully he was deep in thought - things going through his head were bugging him. It was when the man gestured for the girls to go straight to the bands table that he looked eyes with 'that girl' for probably the up-tenth time that night. As the girls got closer, the guys noticed them growing increasingly giddy and nervous. Uruha was polite and smiled with a nod to them. Reita raised his bottle to them also with a smile. Aoi noticed Ai and smiled - the girl he'd asked for directions. Kai sat forward with a bright smile, which made Megumi's heart skip a beat.

"This is certainly a first for us, we've never had any fans backstage with us before. Welcome to the Gazette" he said, looking around to each of the girls in turn before standing up and gesturing at the five seats opposite the guys, "But your lucky to be in the middle of our after party, so you get to sit with us and eat".

* * *
The girls were eagerly waiting in the hall just outside the function room. The doors were shut but they could hear the rather loud chattering inside - there were obviously a lot of people. Kira and Kikyo were holding hands and fidgeting, continuously saying 'how cool this was'. However they froze when the staff member came back to direct them inside. Mika was the first one to follow, with Ai and Megumi close behind, followed by Kira and Kikyo last. As they headed past a small group of people standing around, Mika suddenly stopped causing the other girls to run into her.

Directly in front of them was the table where the guys were sitting. Ai looked around at the familiar faces in front of her and just stared. Mika smiled sheepishly at Ruki, planning on thanking him, if she could get over to courage to even say a word. Kikyo looked at all of them, not really believing where they were right now. Kira was trying really hard not to fidget so she kept her hands behind her back and bit her bottom lip. Megumi discretely touched a ringlet of hair - again she was wondering if her hair looked all right. Ai noticed and nudged her. Megumi was quick to drop her hand and stand still. Meg blushed and looked at the ground. Ai glanced around before noticing Aoi smiling at her. She stared at him for a few seconds and then just did a small wave and smiled. Kira looked up at Aoi and nudged Ai, smiling of course. Ai nudged Kira back. It was when Kai spoke up and gestured for them to sit that the girls spread out fast to each seat - of course you can guess who each of the girls sat across from.

"Wow do you really never have fans backstage? I might have thought one or two would be allowed to at least get autographs in person, but I guess all bands are different", Megumi said politely in commenting to Kai as she sat down across from him, "But anyway, the concert was great~! My friends and I still wish it was going but then you would never get to rest, huh?"

"Ah we can't tell you how cool this is that you've invited us to eat with you. None of us have ever been this lucky, at least not as a group", Kira said excitedly as she quickly plopped down across from Reita and kept grinning like an idiot as she looked at the bottle in Reita's hand, "Gee, I guess you really need a stiff drink after the concert, ne? Playing to such an energy-hungry audience must be heavy".

As soon as Kira said those words she realised how stupid it sounded and instantly wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Here she had a once in a lifetime chance to meet her favourite musician from her favourite band and she was making a fool of herself. Kira lowered her eyes to the table and bit the corner of her mouth out of embarrassment. Meanwhile Mika was also making a fool of herself - the poor girl couldn't look any redder in the face as she stumbled over her words to speak to Ruki.

"Ah-um ... Thank you for the flower~! It was very kind of you, Ruki-san~! I put it in my hair so it wouldn't get squashed" she said quickly, and almost loosing her balance from not watching where she was sitting on her seat, "Oh ... and thank you for singing to me. Again, it was very kind of you~! I've never been sung to before, I was really surprised ... M-My name is Mika."

Mika bowed her head a little to Ruki before sitting herself up properly on her seat across from him. She swallowed hard and kept her eyes to the table - the image of him singing to her kept repeating in her mind. Now that he was right in front of her, each time she happened to look him in the eye she blushed even more. Kikyo smiled at everyone as she sat down across from Uruha, before a young staff member offered her a drink. She smiled but declined with a shake of her head but Kira pipped up and asked for a Champaign. Knowing Kira, who had driven all of the girls to the venue, she was going to have a drink and that meant Kikyo was going to have to give everyone a ride home. She smiled at Uruha then, hoping to make good conversation.

"I think it'd be best for me to not have any drinks while my friends and I are here. Though it would be nice considering it's not often you get to socialise with a famous band", Kikyo said now glancing down the line at her friends, "Of course Kira was the one to drive us all here but if I know her, she'll have two drinks and that'll be it. I'm going to be the one to drive us home".

Kikyo seemed to be the only one not really nervous, as she just joked and talked normally to Uruha. Maybe that was because she was thinking it was all a dream and any moment she'd wake up. Kira pouted and reach behind Mika to lightly hit Kikyo's arm. Kikyo scrunched up her nose and looked at Kira who glanced away. Megumi and Mika both mad faces as if to say 'we don't know them ...' before laughing at each other. Ai was the last one to sit down across from Aoi as she made an embarrassed laugh and looked at him. She had now gotten over her shocked state of getting to meet the band - after all she realised Aoi had in fact been in her store that afternoon. Maybe it was the fact that to her he looked so cool all dressed up that made the difference.

"Please excuse my friends. As my friend Kikyo just said it's not everyday any of us get to meet a favourite celebrity face-to-face", Ai said to as she folded her hands on the table in front of her and then looked around at the other guys, "But I will say on behalf of all of us that we really enjoyed the concert tonight and we're really looking forward to seeing how you do with the 'Decomp' gig. Looks like it's going to be big".

* * *
The guys really were amused by how carefree the girls were. Maybe it was just because they'd never had fans backstage before, but they seemed to be genuinely normal. Kai smiled as he listened to Megumi and thought she was a very smart person. Reita noticed Kira feel embarrassed after commenting on his drinking habits and thought it was funny so he laughed. Uruha suddenly felt less anxious about the girls being invited backstage when Kikyo began talking to him - he'd half expected her to just babble on about random things. Aoi had really only talked to Ai at the Superb-Mart for directions but he felt he had a head start in knowing her a little better. Ruki found the Mika's response quite funny and he held the back of one hand over his mouth while he laughed. He then set his glass down and leaned forward slightly to speak to her.

"It's all right you are very welcome, Mika-chan. I admit I was surprised to see you in the front vow, and directly in front of me no-less", he said with a smile, reaching up to gesture to the top of his head, meaning the flower in Mika's hair "But seeing I gave you my flower, you were easy to spot so I thought I would sing for you. I'm glad you kept it safe".

Uruha leaned back to glance over Ruki at Kai, Aoi and Reita who also returned Uruha's look - Ruki was flirting with the poor girl~! Well maybe 'flirting' was too strong a word - rather he was doing a good job of making her blush by mentioned keeping the flower safe. Well he had a smile on his face for the first time since the left the stage so they didn't spoil the moment. Ruki wanted some time to find out his sudden interest in the girl so they let him go. Ruki kept one elbow on the table and bent that arm up to rest his chin in that hand. He kept quietly talking to Mika about 'BathRoom', the song he sang to her, and asked her what she thought the lyrics meant. The other guys just went about talking to the other girls in the meantime. Just then some plates of food were brought over for all of them to pick from. Ruki straight away began taking slices of pork, chicken and vegetables while he kept talking to Mika. Uruha smiled at Kikyo as he began to take pieces of fried pork with his chop-sticks.

"Well the food is here so please help your self. Forgive us if we don't act like respectable hosts; normally the five of us eat together with no-one else around", Uruha said with a slight laugh as he blew on a steaming piece of pork and then ate it, "And on the odd occasion we do have after-parties we're generally eat separately. By the way, I never asked what your name was?"

"What Uruha means is that because we're always together doesn't mean we do everything together. After-parties we usually just wander around and talk to people but when it's just us we tend to eat together", Kai explained before smiling to Megumi and also reaching over to pick a couple of fried shrimps, "Ah Uruha's right, you weren't properly introduced. You all know us I'm sure but what's your name?"

"And when it IS just us, Kai does most of the cookin'. Though I will admit because we's so busy with the band he does need a little bit a prac-practice", Reita said talking to Kira in particular and receiving a jab in the ribs from Kai's elbow, "Oh I said that a-loud, sorry Kai ... but he is still very good and takes REAL good care of us. Hey yeah, what IS your name?"

"I personally think it's nice having fans backstage for a change. It's always just us and the staff so not much else is talked about apart from work but this way we get to hear what the fans think of us directly", Aoi said open-mindedly as he again smiled to Ai and reached in to take a few spoonfuls of steamed vegetables, "Speaking of getting to know fans, I'm sure you realise by now it was me in your store this afternoon. Now that we're face-to-face again, what's your name?"

Well, barely ten minutes into their first official meeting and the guys had already forgotten about the repercussions of what other fans would think if they found out. Aoi for the second time had run into the three girls from the Superb-Mart that day and one of them in particular he remembered talking too. Kai was really enjoying talking to fans in a relaxed environment rather than on a busy street when he was most likely in a hurry anyway. Reita had just been dying for a drink after the concert that now he really hoped he didn't look like an idiot in front of the girls, though the girl across from him seemed to have something in common with him - a social drink. It also occurred to Uruha that now the girl across from him was close enough he did actually remember seeing her in the front row with the others. On the other hand he was also thinking how terribly convenient it was there were five of them and five of the girls. Like it was fates way of telling them to lighten up and enjoy life but not loose focus on the work either. Well, whatever it was, it seemed that Ruki had already realised that - him wanting to know what it was about 'that girl' obviously went deeper ...

--------------------

NOTES:
1) Girls personalities: Each of the girls are quite different - Mika is the naive mouse, Kikyo is the charming one, Megumi is like the mother-figure, Ai is the childish adult and Kira is a care-free drunkard
2) Reita's comments: They are not typo's, I was trying to put across the impression on him being a little drunk

Please read & review :-)