Track 01 - BathRoom

WARNINGS: Minor arguments

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The last week had just gone by so slowly that the girls couldn't take much more of waiting. On the Friday night before the Saturday morning band practice, all of the girls had again stayed at Kira's house. After all, they had agreed a week ago that her place was closer. Saturday morning finally came but Ai was not a morning person and neither was Megumi. Because Kira's twin brothers had moved out there were two spare rooms left for the girls - Ai had the bed while Mika had the floor in one room. Then in the other room Megumi had the bed while Kikyo had the floor. And of course Kira had her own bed. Kira's parents didn't mind the girls staying over, since their daughter explained what was going on. Ai was in the middle of dreaming about Aoi's guitar solo in 'Nausea & Shudder', when she felt bouncing on her bed. Then it stopped. Then it came back. Then it stopped again. Then it came back. Then it stopped. When it finally stopped, a loud scream followed.

"Wake up, Ai~! Saturday ... Aoi~!" Mika said as she rushed out of the room knowing she was going to die, "Bad Ai! Go get ready. It's 8:00 am."

Ai rolled out of bed and then ran down the hall after Mika. Meanwhile in the other spare room, Megumi rolled over and went back to sleep but Kikyo was awake and caught her waist. She then pulled Megumi's covers off and nudged her shoulder.

"Megumi come on, we can't be late~! They did say come later but this the Gazette we're talking about", Kikyo practically yelled in Megumi's ear, "They invited us to come see them practice, we'd never get another chance like this~! It'll probably be the last time we'll see them up close".

"Aww don't say that, you'll ruin the moment for Mika", Kira commented as she walking into the room Megumi and Kikyo were using, "She's got love-hearts coming out of her ears".

Kira was standing just inside the doorway of Megumi and Kikyo's room when she heard Mika sighing happily. This made Megumi laugh a little before she had Kikyo pull her off the bed. Kira left the room to check that Ai was getting ready while Megumi and Kikyo took turns in using their en-suite bathroom. Kira's brothers were really spoiled to have their own bathrooms but it was handy when Ai, Mika, Megumi and Kikyo stayed over. Kira yawned as she walked into Ai and Mika's room. She had to duck when a piece of clothing flew over her head - Ai was obviously looking for something in her over-night bag.

"Ah! Why didn't someone wake me up earlier~!? I can't find my top~!" Ai was almost crying before she suddenly pounced on the top she wanted at the bottom of her bag, "Ah! I don't have time to get ready. I'm going to look horrible~!"

"Mika was the first one to get up and then I was up when she shook my shoulder", Kira tried to defend herself as she picked up the piece of clothing that was thrown at her.

"I can't believe you didn't wake me up earlier. Ah! I really don't have time now. I've got to stop talking. I call the bathroom."

Ai ran into the en-suite bathroom she shared with Mika, slammed the door shut and could be heard rustling and banging stuff around. Kira laughed to herself as she dropped Ai's clothes back into the over-night bag before walking out. Ai was always the one to take the longest. Megumi and Kikyo were faster so she didn't worry about them. Mika and Kira ... well, they were all ready to go.

~45 minutes later~
For someone who thought she didn't have enough time, Ai actually managed to leave the bathroom looking great. Megumi and Kikyo had finished getting ready in half an hour from the time they went into their bathroom. Mika had of course been ready since about 6:30am that morning and Kira shortly after. Ai yawned as she walked down the hall and into the main lounge-room, looking around at the others - they all looked great.
Ai was wearing a pink and yellow tie-dye print dress down to her shins with a neat purple crocheted top with three-quarter sleeves over that. She just wore simple white thongs on her feet and kept her blond and black streaked hair straight. Megumi wore a shin-length white lace-embroidered dress with a short-sleeve white crocheted shall over it. She had matching white slip-on shoes and curled her hair like normal. Kikyo had a tight black and purple stripped long-sleeve top with tight black pants. She also had shiny black slip on shoes and styled her hair wavy. Kira opted for blue shorts, a black singlet and a pink short-sleeve top that laced up the front. She wore black converses with white polka dots and again styled her hair in the flicked out style like Uruha. Mika was going for a girly-punk look with red checker skirt and white short-sleeve shirt with black tie. She wore her favourite red slip-on shoes with white skulls on the front and straightened her hair. All of the girls of course had jackets, just in case. Megumi rummaged in her bag for something.

"Megumi, do you have our passes?" Kira asked as she looped the long handle of her mini-bag over one-shoulder.

Megumi smiled as she wiped them out and quickly handed out the passes. Kira grabbed the keys as Megumi, Kikyo, Mika and Ai headed for the door. Kira's car was ready and waiting in the drive-out position - she had made sure of that the night before. Kira's house was about two doors down from a busy road so sometimes backing out wasn't the best option. She followed the others out and pressed the central-locking button to un-lock the car.

"Okay, is everyone ready to go?" she asked as she turned around to lock the front door.

The others ran to get into the car. Ai in the front passenger while Kikyo, Megumi and Mika sat in the back. Kira jumped when she turned back around to see they had all jumped in already.

"Ready~!"

* * *
Early that morning, by about 6:30 am, Kai was the first one awake, dressed and alert. He wore a nice pair of black pants, his favourite tight deep purple top, a white jacket and white scarf around his neck. His hair was just teased up a little at the back. He seemed to always be the first to bed and the first awake. Being the responsible one, naturally he had the task of spending the next half hour trying to get the others up. First one he chose to pick on was Ruki, seeing they shared a room. He approached the sprawled out body of Ruki and shook his shoulder.

"Ruki-chan ... it's after six-thirty", he said firmly, then pulling the pillow from under Ruki's head, "Your going to be late ... again".

Ruki groaned and flailed his arm a bit before pushing himself to sit up. He always looked less than glamorous in the morning - the mass of dread-locks had been tied up the night before but now hung loose over his head and a bit of leftover eyeliner streaked down his cheeks. While Ruki slowly got out of bed to have a shower, Kai walked out of their room and down the short hallway to the next room where Reita, Uruha and Aoi stayed. First thing Kai did was turn on the lights - and they were bright.

"Aoi-chan, Uru-chan, Rei-chan~! Get up, it's after six-thirty~!" he called, walking to the curtains and throwing them open.

"Alright alright, I'm UP~! I'm up ..." Aoi said loudly and then quietly, before slowly sitting up.

Aoi, being somewhat responsible ... sometimes ... got up without much resistance and lazily went into the en-suite bathroom straight away. Reita and Uruha on the other hand both threw their pillows at Kai, who caught the full force of them. He seemed to always get beaten up by the other guys, just because he looked like the quiet one.
Reita and Uruha mumbled something like "Five more minutes" and they rolled over. Kai just pulled their blankets off completely and told them to move it before leaving the room and going to make breakfast - which he always seemed to have to do as well. Uruha groaned and roughly scratched the back of his head.

"If it wasn't for the practice today, I would be in an even worse mood right now ..." he mumbled into his mattress.

"Yeah well, we can all blame Kai later on for making the practice so early in the morning", Reita added with a loud yawn before sitting up and ruffling his hair, "I've got dibs on the shower after Aoi ..."

~Half hour later~
Reita, Uruha, Aoi and Ruki came strolling out of their rooms fully dressed and looking perfect. Aoi was wearing his old 'Cockroach' outfit and his hair was in its usual crimped manner. Reita was also wearing his old 'Cockroach' outfit because he wanted to wear his 'Regret; outfit but it was being cleaned. His hair was just in his usual cockatoo look, but he didn't have the band around his nose today. Uruha replaced his favourite shorts and leg warmers with a simple pair of blue jeans, a grey singlet and a loose white business shirt over that. His hair wasn't its usual flicked out style, just straightened down with the tails over his shoulders. Ruki on the other hand came out wearing his 'Shadow VI II I' outfit - which meant the tight gold pants and baggy top with a large black jacket over it. His dreadlock were just tied up roughly at the back of his head. When Kai saw him, he just choked on his soup.

"Ruki~! Your not going to wear that, are you?"

While the other guys just sat straight down and started eating, Ruki suddenly paused in the middle of the kitchen and looked down at what he was wearing.

"Nani? I've worn this before and no-one cared", he said, shrugging innocently.

"You look like your going to a disco, I thought you wanted to impress Mika-chan", Kai said, sounding like a nagging parent as he gestured at Ruki's outfit, "Okay other fans like that outfit too, but are you really going to wear that when you see her?"

The other guys laughed quietly but kept eating. Ruki blushed slightly and swallowed, turning around sheepishly and slinking back to his room to change.

~Fifteen minutes later~
Finally Ruki emerged from his room just as the others were cleaning up and getting ready to leave. This time he was wearing an old photo-shoot outfit of a white suit with a black satin shirt under the jacket. The legs of the pants had threading up to the thigh so they could be loosened or tightened, same as the sleeves on the jacket. Kai saw him and gave him a bowl of soup.

"Much better, now hurry up or we will be late", he said, ushering Ruki into a chair.

Before long Ruki had finished, and was dragged out the door and bundled into their less conspicuous vehicle - a regular black car rather than a limo. It was Ruki's car but Aoi was driving ... probably not the best thing to do when they were already late ...

* * *
Kira blinked a couple of times as the other girls laughed at her. She hadn't expected them to move so quickly but what can you say, they were excited to be seeing the Gazette practice. Kira looked at her watch as she quickly walked to the driver's side - her 'Hello Kitty' watch showed just after eighty-thirty. If her calculations were correct, they were a good half-hour drive from the Dome and chances are the guys were probably already there, if not on their way. And the girls were hoping to be at the Dome in time to see them set up. At the rate they were going, everything would be done by the time they arrived. Kira huffed and threw her door open before jumping in, turned on the ignition and then slammed the door shut.

"Alright everyone, if you've left anything behind its too late to get it now. We'll be lucky to get there by nine and see them setting up to practice", Kira said as she fastened her seat belt and glanced back at Megumi, Mika, Kikyo and then Ai in the front, "Seat-belts ... or I'm not moving the car. Mika you don't want to be any later in seeing Ruki for the last time".

Mika made a high-pitched 'Oo' sound before fumbling to do her seat belt. She hated it when Kira was right - yeah sure, Ruki had sung to her and even had photos together, but Mika didn't want it to end. And she doubted any of the others wanted it to either. They wanted to stay friends with the guys - and besides, Aoi had even said they were friends. Surely this wouldn't be the last time they'd see each other? Megumi, Kikyo and Ai also did up their seat belts so Kira could finally coast out of the driveway. As Kira turned left to head for the busy main road, Ai gripped the pass that hung on a string around her neck.

"Aww I'm so excited to be watching a major band practice~!! This time I will get to see Aoi's solo's up close~! And the main hall must look really huge when there's no-one around" Ai said as she clapped excitedly and glanced back at Kikyo, "Ki-ki, you'll get to see Uruha solo's up close too~! And you also wanted to see the acoustic guitar piece as well. I wonder if he'll teach you some stuff?"

"Hmm I don't know ... I really hope so, though. To learn acoustic guitar pieces from Uruha would be so cool ..." Kikyo said with a big grin as she glanced out the window and noticed Kira was now on the Highway, "Wow, we're on the Highway already. Shouldn't be too far from here because this is the way I drove back to Kira's last weekend ... Kira, there should be a sign up ahead saying 'Turn off to Yoshiatsu'."

Kira nodded but didn't say anything; she was concentrating on the road. At least there wasn't any traffic so early on a Saturday morning, so she could just focus on where to go. Of course she had driven a different way last weekend from the Superb-Mart after picking up Ai and Megumi. She'd used the back streets, but this time the Highway took her straight to the Dome. During the trip along the Highway, Mika was playing with the tasselled hem of her black velvet jacket that lay on her lap. It was a nervous twitch of hers to play with things when she was excited - and of course, she had good reason. The whole week Mika had to pinch herself just to make sure it wasn't a dream - all of them were going to see the guys for the second time in only one week. Megumi noticed Mika fidgeting with the tassels and nudged her arm with her elbow.

"Hey, what are you nervous about? Your going to see the very guy who so many girls would just KILL to meet ... I would have thought you'd be jumping around all over the place", Megumi teased as she took Mika's hands and sat them flat to stop her from fidgeting, "And he even sang to YOU out of hundreds of people in the audience. Your very lucky, you know".

"Yeah maybe, but it's the 'so many girls would kill to meet him' that scares me. I just hope we don't get attacked if we're seen with them", Mika said with a weak smile to Megumi before smoothing her hands over her jacket and looking down, "But ... at the same time, I can't help but think this isn't the last time we'll see them. Maybe it's one of those 'fate' things, but it's just a thought".

~Fifteen minutes later~
And so with no mishaps or wrong turns, Kira managed to find the Dome and get around to the back car-park. The car-park was deserted except for a couple of company vans, most likely to cart around the bands instruments, sound equipment, costumes, props and more. Once Kira parked the car, Ai, Megumi, Mika and Kikyo practically fell out of the SUV to find the back entrance while Kira locked the car. Kikyo actually found the back entrance first - it was a rather large double door with an equally large looking guard standing in front of it. He stood there because both doors were wide open to allow easy access for staff, and he was obviously assigned to not let un-authorised personnel inside. He raised a brow at the girls when they all ran up to him - a very scary looking guy, that's for sure. They all grinned up at the six-foot tall muscle-head who just stared back at them.

"Hi~!" they all said together.

"Why are you here?" the guard asked gruffly, folding his arms tightly.

"Eh..Meanie. Girls, show your passes~!" Ai said as she held up her tag with her name clearly written and the other copied her, "I believe the Gazette are expecting us to watch them practice today".

The guard stared at their passes and recognised their names from a list that had been written out by Kai himself during the week. The guard was asked to remember their names and to direct them where to go. He made a low 'mmm' sound in his throat before pointing a large hand down the corridor behind him. The girls glanced around him and down the hallway - at the end they could see rows of seats. Obviously they just had to walk down the corridor and they'd be inside the main hall. Ai smiled up at the guard before whisking past him and power walking down the hall, with the other girls close behind.

* * *
Aoi sped down the almost deserted highway from their apartment to the Dome. Ruki was in the front passenger seat and then Reita, Uruha and Kai were in the back seat. All four of them almost had their fingers digging into anything they could hold onto, for fear of Aoi's driving. Ruki slumped into his seat and held onto the handle above his door. Aoi unfortunately only had his motorcycle licence at the moment, so technically he was doing something illegal. Ruki was beginning to regret letting Aoi drive his car but Aoi knew how to manoeuvre around traffic, and because they were almost late ... again ... they had decided he was their best option.

"Aoi, slow down~! Your driving like a maniac~!" he said, wanting to smack Aoi over the head but didn't in case Aoi caused an accident, "And watch what your doing with my gear-box, it's expensive to fix a manual you know~!"

"Well you made us late anyway, it's already coming up to nine o'clock. You having to change clothes added to us being later", Aoi replied, swerving around a couple of cars and then rocketing up the exit that read 'Yoshiatsu Dome', "Don't worry we're almost there. I know what I'm doing ..."

"Aoi seriously, you'd better not get us pulled up by the police. Your driving a high-powered car without a proper licence", Uruha said, clinging to the two front seats as he leaned forward to look at Aoi, "You get caught, both you and Ruki will be fined. In fact, Ruki could be charged~!"

~Barely five minutes later~
Aoi quickly slowed down as he drove up to the Dome and up around to the back car park where it was out of sight of people and/or fans. He glided up to the backstage door next to where a couple of staff members were already outside having a smoke beside the scary-looking guard. There was also another vehicle - an American SUV converted to right-hand side driving. While Reita, Uruha and Kai quickly got out of the back, a little shaken, Ruki strode around the front of the car and yoinked the car-keys out of Aoi's hand.

"Well I've learned my lesson", he said, shoving the keys into his jacket pocket, "Never be late and never let you drive my car again ..."

"I think we just ban him from the road all-together. Your lucky I didn't loose my breakfast, or you'd have to explain to the girls why I'm covered in barf", Reita said in the nicest way possible as he adjusted his vest and walked towards the double doors.

The other guys and even the staff laughed quietly - those two really did act like brothers, even if they did have minor disagreements like this. Aoi sheepishly scratched his nose as he followed the others towards the corridor. Then they all said a quick 'good morning' to the staff outside smoking before heading straight for the main hall of the stadium.
It was exactly the same as it had been last weekend, except the only people around were the staff but the girls couldn't be seen yet. It must have been their SUV parked out the back but they were obviously wandering around somewhere, waiting for the guys to arrive. Even the instruments had been left in their exact places on the stage. The guys said constant 'good mornings' to all the staff as they walked down the middle of the seats, ascending a small a flight of stairs to get onto the extended stage. Uruha quickly darted over to his guitar and patted the fingerboard like a pet, causing loud scratchy sounds to come out of the already set-up amps.

"Ah I've missed this guitar. For the past week I've had to use my old one", he said, strumming a couple of notes, amplified by the speakers.

"What's wrong with your old one? It was the very first guitar you used as a member of 'Gazette'," Kai said as he walked past the main stage to get to his platform, "I'd never get rid of my first guitar, if I was you. It's like a memento now ..."

Kai chucked to himself, when Uruha kept strumming a few notes, as he climbed up to the platform where his drum-kit sat. While Reita and Aoi played around with the frets on their guitars, also making a bit of noise through the speakers, Ruki looked over the set-list from the gig last weekend, mumbling what songs to start with. Finally he dropped the list and took the microphone, making sure it was working. He made a few random sounds before picking up his ear-piece and pushed it into his ear before attaching the sound-pack to his belt.

"Okai ... ano ... I think we will start with Filth in the Beauty. Being one of our newest songs, we should keep practicing to keep it constant", he spoke into the mic, his voice echoing through the speakers as he held his finger to the ear-piece, "Ah ... Sumimasen ... could we have the opening to 'Filth', kudasai? We'll just have Kai start count us in before you start?"

Lucky for them that they didn't have to waste time setting up - as they had been late and everything was all ready to go. Ruki was actually talking to the technician in charge of background music - the sound booth could now be seen in a cleverly hidden little room stick in the back wall of the main hall. All that could identify it was a large panel of black glass, but it was obviously see-through while in the booth. And so as Kai clicked his drumsticks together once before tapping his symbols three extra times, the song kicked with the female voices. Soon after the opening, the song flared up with a jam of guitars and drums. Because the stadium was practically empty, it echoed slightly - luckily the ceiling had the 'ridges' that Kai had talked about, that absorbed the reverberations. And seeing it was only a practice, the guys hardly moved around. Aoi, Reita and Uruha stood still while playing, Ruki also stood with one hand resting on the mic-stand but Kai was having a ball bashing away at his drums.

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NOTES:
1) Kai's early start: I imagine Kai would be the most punctual one of the group, so the thought of him having to wake the others up seems possible
2) The Guard: I doubt the Gazette's staff are this grumpy but it's funny to have at least one cranky guard
3) Aoi's driving: I doubt Aoi-kun would break the rules and drive a vehicle that he's not licenced for, but it's comical

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