Track 01 - BathRoom

WARNINGS: Confrontations

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Kikyo couldn't help but blush a little when Uruha insisted she try his last Brandy Purin. Surely just a thin swirl of Brandy around the edge of the glass wouldn't waver her driving ability - as Kikyo mentioned before, she was most likely driving them all home because Kira was drinking. So she leaned over the table to let Uruha carefully pour the Purin into her mouth. Mika, Kira, Megumi and Ai wouldn't help but watch like the other guys were - and they accused Mika and Ruki of flirting? Anyway Mika looked around at all the staff members as they packed up. They didn't tell the girls or guys it was time to go. She didn't really think they cared and it was also very nice of them. Megumi also gathered up the other girl's plates and hers, kindly handed them to Kai and thanked him - he really was adorable and sweet. Ai had just finished her cake and again thanked Reita for getting hers; also thanking Aoi again was recommending it. Kira meanwhile was too busy trying to keep her balance as she got her bag organised. Mika and Megumi stood ready with their hands just in case she did fall - luckily she didn't. Then Ai looked at Ruki when he said something about the Aoi cover up.

"Oh it's no problem, really. These two bimbos didn't even know it was him, even though they commented on how much he looked like himself." Ai said with a laugh as Megumi's mouth dropped open and she crossed her arms, pretending to be pissed off while Kira wasn't really paying attention as Ai continued, "But anyway, it did take me a while too, to realise it was him. I think maybe the lip-ring gave it away ..."

"Hey I knew it was him the whole time~! After all, from the moment he walked in, I kept saying how much he looked like 'Aoi from the Gazette', remember?" Megumi said as she now placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot quickly in exaggerated annoyance, "Yet you kept telling me to shut-up. You even told me I couldn't take a photo of him on my cell-phone. I did so know it was him, I have no idea what you are talking about ..."

"Sure you did Megumi ... I bet you only THOUGHT it was him. Once I saw him wearing tonight's gig t-shirt, I totally knew who he was~!" Kira said, also trying to cover up the fact she didn't know it was Aoi at first, "Oh no wait, first I thought he was part of the staff because that shirt hasn't been sold in stores yet ... THEN I realised it was Aoi-san. But seriously, we're not like other fan girls so we wouldn't have said anything~!"

Ai and Megumi just looked at her much as to say 'Shut-up, you're talking too much'. Kira bit her bottom lip and blushed as she lowered her head - she was definitely very talkative when drunk. Mika and Kikyo still couldn't believe that they had missed out on seeing Aoi out in public ... Kira, Megumi and Ai were so lucky. Especially Ai because Aoi was her favourite. But anyway, here they all were getting to meet the whole band together ... it wasn't all that bad after all. Then as the guys were talking about their practice, the girls realised how exciting it was going too be - to see all the guys again in less than a week? How cool was that~!

"Wow it's going to be so much fun, I can't wait to see you guys practice~! It'll be like seeing something developed to perfection ... if that makes sense?" Mika said the last part slowly, realising she'd just said a lot of big words in one sentence which she sometimes couldn't do so she blushed, "And we may get to meet your manager? Oh Reita-san, is he scary? Hmm I hope we haven't caused too much trouble to be able to watch all of you ..."

Mika looked happy until she began to look worried about the guys manager, not that the other girls were surprised ... Mika couldn't handle scary-looking people. Kira kept quiet till Reita started swinging her hands back and worth from being so happy-drunk. She tilted her head in confusion, but then she smiled at him. Kikyo, and Megumi started laughing first, but Ai joined in later. Mika was too much in surprise about how Reita was acting to say anything. He was out of it but it was cute, something you wouldn't expect from the tough-guy of the band. The girls then looked surprised when the guys suggested they take photos home as gifts.
Megumi smiled and held her hands behind her back, till she held up two peace signs instead. She didn't want to be no fun. Kikyo smiled as Uruha placed his hand on her shoulder. She tilted her head a little bit and did a peace sign. Kira smiled a close mouth smile as she did a peace sign with the opposite hand of the shoulder Reita's hand was above. Ai smiled and tilted her head a little bit. She was a little different and did a 'Rock On' sign like Aoi. Mika laughed and blushed a little at Ruki's pose and couldn't help but put up a peace sign and a big smile.

"Wow, thank you sooo much for the pictures~! It's okay you don't have any 'gift' gifts, because these are just perfect~! Every fan loves to have a photo with their favourite celebrity", Kikyo said with a genuinely happy smile as the photographer handed a small stack of five Polaroids, "Oh and we really can't wait to see you again next weekend. It's going to be so much fun~! We'll be well-behaved, I promise".

Kikyo said the last part as she handed the photos around to her friends. They were all the same but at least they got to have their own copy of the group. Kikyo was looking at her with Uruha in particular, not really paying much attention to the others. Kira was laughing at how dorky Reita and her looked but she didn't really care - the two of them really were off in La-La land. Ai liked her's because she was different with her 'Rock On' sign and it was cool how she matched Aoi. Megumi was rather surprised at her picture - she thought she would look dorky but she didn't and Kai also looked very smart. Mika was still stunned at how nice Ruki was and for the pose he took with her - he really was giving her a lot of attention ... she was now wondering why.

* * *
In the usual photo-shoot the guys didn't smile much at all, but this time they thought of making an exception and pull some faces. Uruha just had the faintest smile because he was so used to keeping a straight face for shoots. Kai actually pouted his lips a little bit. Aoi actually stuck is tongue out a bit so it worked with the Rock on hand signal. Reita had his mouth scrunched up so he looked tough as he leered over his noseband. Ruki just kept to his tongue stuck into the corner of his mouth. Finally as the fifth photo was taken and the photographer waved the Polaroids around so the could develop, the guys actually laughed at each other. They loved doing silly photos, and Polaroids were always fun to take. As Kikyo passed the photos around, Ruki smiled at how many times the girls thanked them for everything. The other guys now turned to look at the girls.

"Your very welcome, ne~! We're glad you're at least leaving with some kind of present seeing we weren't expecting to have fans back-stage. And before you go..." Ruki trailed off as he saw a staff member run over to gave him the five passes for the girls, "Ah that was quick. Here, please take these otherwise you won't be let back into the dome. We'll make sure the guards know who you are so just put your names on them".

He handed them out one at a time to the girls to make sure they all had one. They were very conspicuous looking things that could be spotted a mile away. All of the passes were about the size of a CD-cover booklet - the background picture was a washed out photo of the guys in their 'Silly God Disco' outfits. Their band name logo 'The GazettE' was printed across the middle with 'Backstage Pass' in smaller print underneath. There was also a white rectangle space along the bottom for the girl's names to be written.

"Ah I remember those. These are the old staff badges from our 'Nameless Liberty' Tour. They must have not had enough badges left from this concert", Uruha said as he looked at the badge Kikyo was holding and he then coughed as he looked at himself, "Ah that's an awful photo of me ... not only was I getting over a cold but the studio was also freezing and it's hard to pose when your in shorts".

"Hmm ... yeah I must say you did look like crap that day. And it's your own fault for designing that outfit ... your just HAVE to show off your legs~!" Reita said, managing to keep a straight face as he teased Uruha and received a punch in the arm from an embarrassed Uruha, "Iite~! Okay okay, I won't say it anymore~! Geez your very sensitive about your thighs, aren't you? But I'm sure Kikyo-san doesn't mind-"

"Alright, alright, that's enough. We have to go now, guys ... I think the staff would like to go home and sleep. They've been busy for the last week with organising this gig", Aoi said, noticing the staff starting to get fidgety before turning back to the girls and whispering while gesturing at Reita, "And we need to get Reita into bed soon, because he's getting closer and closer to the ground ..."

Aoi laughed before quickly saying goodnight to Ai and shaking her hand, waiting for Reita to give Kira an unexpected (but friendly) cuddle, then Aoi wrapped Reita's arm around his neck and dragged him away. Kai sheepishly smiled at Megumi and gave her a gently handshake with a slight bow before waving goodbye. Uruha took hold of Kikyo's hand and then leaned over to give her a little peck on the cheek, saying goodbye as he pulled back to follow the others. Ruki also took Mika's hand but instead, he leaned down to kiss her hand softly and smile back at her. He seemed to hesitate for a second, still holding Mika's hand. Until he heard the other guys calling him, to which he snapped out of it and let her hand go. He backed away, waving and saying goodbye to the girls before turning to stride out through the exit of the function room. The way the guys were going lead out to the back car park where their van was waiting to take them him while the girls were to be led by a staff member back the other way to the main hall.
Funnily enough all of the guys were currently living in the same apartment. It was only temporary until after the Decomposition Tour was over. The reason for all of them sharing the one place was so that they could all be easily reached - a kind of 'lock-down'. With still alot to be finalised before the Tour started, the bands Manager wanted to make sure they were all together, in case anything had to be dealt with immediately. They guys didn't see the point in having to move to a shared apartment that was close to their management building, but at least the place they were staying at was only five minutes drive from their building. And after all it was only until the Tour started, then once it was over they were free to go back to their own places.

* * *
"Oh these are from your last concert at Budoukan? Wow, I would have thought you'd gotten rid of them by now, that was a while ago ... but as you said, at least we've got something to let us through", Mika said in a surprisingly responsible tone as she saw the passes that Ruki retrieved from the staff member, "We'll make sure to keep them safe. If it's one thing I don't want to do is loose it and miss out on seeing you guys practice".

Mika bowed as she took her pass from Ruki and then watched as her friends bowed as well when he handed them their passes. Mika put her's on her bag right away, mainly because she didn't want to loose it and make a mental note to attach a string or clip to it later. Ai smiled at her pass before handing it to Megumi to keep safe. Megumi also smiled at her pass - Kai in particular - before putting both hers and Ai's in her bag. Kikyo was actually riffling through her bag for a marker because she always believed it would come in handy. And it did this night - she found it and straight away wrote her full Kanji name in the space provided. Kira however was swaying very slightly from side-to-side as she squinted at her pass. She was following along with what Uruha and Reita were talking about.

"Aw, were you getting over a big bad cold, Uruha-kun? Don't worry about it, you still look VERY cool in that outfit~! And it's so colourful~!" Kira giggled as she got a swap in the arm from Kikyo before clearing her throat and continuing, "And any-ways, I've seen worse photos~! Besides I'm sure ALL of you have your bad-photo moments. God knows, my friends and I do~!"

Kira's friends laughed at her and nodded in agreement - every time they took photos of each other, they weren't always the best-planned ones. Anyway when it was time for the guys to leave, Kira was very surprised at the cuddle but it was cute and she returned it. Ai smiled and shook Aoi's hand before giggling as he dragged Reita off. Kira nudged Ai for getting to hold his hand before Ai nudged Kira back, meaning she got to cuddle Reita. Megumi smiled sheepishly back at Kai, and returned the hug - he really was very sweet. She also waved as he left and couldn't help but think he had a cute smile. Kikyo's face flushed a light red as Uruha kissed her cheek. She also said good-bye as he walked away. As Kikyo waved shyly with a dreamy look on her face, Kira made kissy faces at her. Kikyo dismissed them since Kira was pretty much drunk. Mika then blushed as Ruki kissed her hand. She's never had her hand kissed before.

"U-Uh thank-you again for letting us come back-stage to see you ... i-it was a lot of fun and again thank-you for the flower and for singing to me", Mika stuttered while Ruki held her hand, her hand instinctively not wanting to let go but did when he walked away, "Oh and we can't wait to see you guys next Saturday~! I'll be in the front row to cheer you on, Ruki-san~! Oh and my friends will too~!"

Mika said the last part when she suddenly got a light jab in the ribs from Kikyo, Kira, Megumi and Ai. The girls knew what Mika meant about cheering all of the guys on but they more wanted to tease her about Ruki. The four of them knew Ruki liked Mika, and they thought it was cute! The first thing they thought of was a) if anything would happen between them and if it did then b) how long it would be before Ruki and Mika made it official. Well only time would tell and Kikyo, Kira, Megumi and Ai smiled around at each other when Mika waved as Ruki left. Ai glanced up when a staff member approached.

"Ah I think that's our guide out of here. At least we won't get lost while heading back to the main hall. This place isn't as big as Budoukan but it's huge", Ai said as she shouldered her bag and waited for the others to organise themselves and the staff member also waited patiently, "Hey seeing we're all off work tomorrow, how about we crash at Kira's place. Kikyo, it's the closest from here, ne?"

"Yeah I think so. I'll probably have to get onto the Highway but it's better than weaving through back streets. Do you mind if we stay over Kira?" Kikyo said as she glanced at Kira and received an exited nod from the drunken girl, which made Mika giggle as Kikyo went on, "Alright, that's good. At least your close so now I don't have to drive each one of you slackers home tonight".

"Hey that's not very nice, we all live fairly close together~! Its just Kira's place is closer from here. And anyways, you'll have to drive Kira's SUV so your stuck any way", Megumi teased as she and the others now followed the staff member out of the function room, "Lucky for us Kira's place has spare bedrooms. Kira, it's a blessing your two older brothers moved out so now they can't annoy us and we get to take over their rooms".

Kira laughed and nodded as Mika and Kikyo both looped their arms around Kira's to keep her balance. At least Kira was the type to get over drinking a lot from the night-before. The other girls couldn't because they of course didn't drink much at all. So again they were lead through the maze of underground halls and back up a flight of stairs to the same side-door that this time lead back out to the main hall. The place was now completely empty and some stage technicians were now cleaning up the stage, but they weren't pulling it apart because of course there was still the practice the following weekend. Once the staff member had established that the girls would be able to find their way out, he bowed and let them go. The girls slowly walked through the middle of the seats and gaped at how amazing the place looked while the lights were now fully on. At least next weekend they could see it all properly.

* * *
Meanwhile out in the back car park of the Yoshiatsu Dome, the black van that the guys had arrived in before the concert was waiting ready to take them home. Kai got to the van first and opened the side door for the others. Aoi placed one foot on the floor of the van as he pulled poor Reita into the back seat. Reita mumbled something that the others couldn't understand as he slumped into the seat by the window and half curled up to go to sleep. Aoi shook his head and climbed in beside the bass player. Uruha laughed at Reita as he got in beside Aoi while Kai and Ruki got into the middle seats. A staff member had followed them out and he now shut the door so the driver to leave and take the guys home. As the black van slowly pulled out of the back car park and headed for the Highway, Uruha leaned over the back of Ruki's seat and poked his shoulder.

"Hey, it was all your idea to invite the girls backstage to the after-party but I admit it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The girls were really nice", he said as Ruki leaned to the right and glanced back at Uruha with another 'grumpy' look, "But you flirting with that girl Mika, what was that all about? You were so intent on meeting her, so was it worth it?"

"Yes as a matter of fact, it WAS worth it. I got to see her personality and I intend to learn more about her. Tonight wasn't enough so next weekend will be better", Ruki said with a snappy tone towards poor Uruha before he turned halfway in his seat to get a better stare on him, "And I was flirting? All right fine, yes I was. But what about you with the Brandy Purin shot-glass to Kikyo?"

Ruki looked very menacing, as he seemed to be glaring at Uruha in defence. Uruha was quite surprised at Ruki's sudden mood change that he just stared at the singer. Reita wasn't really paying attention but Aoi was a little nervous - after all if Ruki was in the mood to pick a fight was a much larger opponent like Uruha, Aoi was likely to get some blows. He was sitting right next to Uruha. But luckily Kai saw the imminent argument and jumped in.

"Alright alright, break it up we're in a moving vehicle guys~! Uruha stop getting under Ruki's skin and you, do something about that foul mood your in", Kai barked as he first pointed at Uruha and then roughly pulled Ruki to sit properly in his seat, "Ruki I know you've had Mika-chan on your mind all night but don't take out your frustration on us. You never used to be like this so just take it easy ..."

"Ouch I've never heard you speak like that before ... and I've never seen you frown before either, what have you done with the real Kai?" Aoi laughed as he reached over to pat Kai's shoulder gently in hopes it would calm him down, but he received a little laugh from the drummer instead, "Okay yes, Ruki never used to be like this but we'll have to face facts here ... his hormones are finally starting to kick -ow~!"

Aoi was just about to finish that sentence when he noticed Ruki turn around and swing his fist in Aoi's general direction. The guitarist only just had enough time to bring his arms up and cross the over his head as Ruki's fist hit his arms. It wasn't a hard hit but Aoi decided to shut up. When he lowered his arm to glance at the singer, he saw that Ruki was blushing slightly as he turned back around. Aoi realised the punch was a joke and laughed quietly to himself. Reita mumbled something again and Aoi and Uruha glanced at him - he looked asleep but he obviously wasn't ... was he?

"Hmm ... guys leave him alone ... it's obvious he's found the girl of his dreams ... just let him deal with it his own way and he'll eventually look the mood-swings", Reita said lazily as he snuggled against the window, using his arm as the pillow and Kai and Ruki now looked at Reita, "You guys should follow his lead and make strong friendships with the other girls ... you may just benefit from it ..."

With his final 'words of wisdom' Reita cleared his throat, sniffed and slouched even more in his seat to finally try and sleep. Ruki kept his gaze on Reita for a moment longer before turning back to watch the road ahead. Aoi and Uruha now looked at each other and shrugged - had Reita been asleep while he said that or was he awake long enough to hear them talking? Well what ever it was he sounded like a matchmaker and that scared them. Kai laughed quietly at the surprised looks on their faces as he too turned back around to watch out the side window. Reita may look like a rough-nut but he wasn't stupid - there was obviously a reason for meeting the five girls and Ruki had noticed it first. Kai was now curious to see where this was all going ...

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NOTES:
1) Sharing an apartment: It's highly unlikely the guys shared a place before going on their Tour, but for this story they do
2) The argument between the guys: Celebrities are human too, so I tried not to give the guys perfect characters. Certainly they have bad days too

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