by Nika

There is a little comedy in here, maybe lightening up the mood of the fic a
little.
Thank you for overwhelming responses, since I wasn't too surte about it
when I started out the first part.
*masses of endorphins are in her blood*
And always read Puka-chan's comments...she points out the vital parts in my
stories.
Why did they decide to get an artificial bassist?
Why is Kyo so reluctant?
You're really good, Puka. Maybe this story will turn out to be long...
After "Let me count the ways in which I dislike you" I'm only hoping it
will be shorter than that.
I probably will take some time out on the weekend, since I have to attend
some x-mas parties...
Enjoy!

 

PART 4

Kyo hears a voice telling him something.
He wonders, who might be there in his apartment with him and cracks open
one of his eyes.
"It's 7.30, we should get up", the voice nags.
Pieces of the meeting with the cyborg break into Kyo's consciousness and he
gathers up into a sitting position.
"Morning?", he inquires but hears his alarm pestering away in his own room.
Not willing to get everything into his brain before a cup of tea he storms
to the little clock and nearly trashes it under his tight grip, sighing:
"Much better!" when it finally gives in.
Then he stands up, realizing he had slept beside the man-made guy and feels
a little sick. "Just kill me now..." he bangs his head against his
alarm-clock, when he notices water running in the bath-room.
"Fine, at least he can take care of the morning routine himself. And, why
the hell am I talking to myself?"
Waiting for Toshiya to get ready, he makes some tea, finding only some
stale toast in the fridge, deciding he hasn't got enough cash to get decent
breakfast, Kyo puts it on the table.
The water stops and Kyo mentally gets ready for his own morning routine,
half undressing on the way to the bath-room, discarding his pajama wherever
he goes, humming a small tune to himself. He meets Toshiya at the door, the
latter wearing absolutely nothing except his skin.
"Uwah!!" Kyo squeaks, backing a few steps, against a wall. "To..Toshiya!!
Don't run around naked! It's not modest!"
"I don't know what I should wear...", the cyborg defends himself.
"Wear a towel at least, damn it!" Kyo covers his eyes, blushing hotly,
"We'll get some clothes later, okay? Just wear what you wore yesterday!"
"Okay", the cyborg wanders into his small room unashamed and leaves Kyo
alone in the tiny corridor.
Still disbelieving how his morning turns out into a catastrophe, the
morning routine is just a little annoying. And when he is dressed, heading
towards the kitchen, he hopes, that Toshiya is dressed and ready. Much to
his surprise that happens to be the case.
"Better, much better. You can't just run around naked in front of
strangers, Toshiya", Kyo, the replacement father, scolds his little child
again, and Toshiya nodes like a good little boy.
"It won't happen again", the cyborg affirms, making the singer wish again
that he had never agreed to let the man-machine live with him.
"Okay, now dig in", Kyo gestures to the stale bread and the little rest of
some blueberry-jam.
"Dig into what?"
"Eat something. Kaoru won't let us take a break for a while", Kyo speaks
from experience.
"Oh, I'm not very hungry," Toshiya denies politely.
Kyo rolls his eyes and shakes his head: "Not this polite stuff again. Eat,
okay? Later you will grateful for every bite, believe me."
His new band-mate nods and takes one of the slices and spreads jam on it,
much to Kyo's relief. He gets a cup of tea and hands another to the bassist.
"I'm Kyo, by the way. I guess I never told you my name, ne?"
"No, you did not", Toshiya carefully takes a tiny sip from his hot tea
"Kyo-san, I will remember that from now on."
Aw, don't be polite, just call me Kyo or Kyo-kun, if you have to be so formal."
"Kyo-kun."
"Alright, and now eat!"
After two slices of bread, leaving his mouth dry, he glances at his watch
and curses. His eyes shoot up to the other man: "Come on, we have to leave
NOW!"
In a hurry, Kyo slips into a jacket and his shoes, before he realizes, that
Toshiya has nothing to keep him warm outside. Panicking he grabs one of his
scarves and a random jacket, too small actually, but yet enough to warm the
bassist in the meantime.
"You really need your own clothes", Kyo hastily locks the door behind them
and then starts to jog down the stairs, yelling: "Follow me! We have to run
for the train!"
Equipped with longer legs and a man-made endurance, Toshiya runs beside him
with ease, while they run through the many people on their way to work. Kyo
is not very polite indeed, as he rambos his way through, every now and then
hearing a "Sorry." behind him.
He could at least sound out of breath, shoots through Kyo's head, as he
hauls some coins out of his pocket to pay for Toshiya's ticket, when they
finally enter the station.
He inserts the coins, grabs the ticket from the small slot and works out
his own ticket: "Do you know hoe this works?", he breathes out, pointing to
the entrance.
Toshiya glances at the people, putting in their tickets hurrying through
and receiving the tickets on the other side: "Yes, I understand."
"Good, this is your ticket", he hands the little paper object to the cyborg.
"Now hurry. See that fast train leaving from platform five? That's the one
we have to get!"
Not acting too dumb, Toshiya manages to get inside the barriers, seeking
out Kyo and following him up the stairs. The train is still there and they
make a last run for it.
Inside, Kyo flops onto one of the benches, gulping and badly out of breath:
"Yokatta!", is all he can urge out. After he has recovered a little, he
pats on the seat beside him: "Sit down." Which Toshiya does. Kyo still
fights to get his breath even: "Can't believe we actually made it. If I
only had your legs for running..." He sits up straight and looks into the
cyborg's eyes: "That doesn't mean you have to tear off you legs and give
them to me!"
"I knew that", Again the almost real fake of a smile crosses the lips.
Does he understand what humor is?
The rest of the way they remain silent, Kyo recalling the lyrics for
practice, Toshiya simply taking in new data by watching the people interact
in the train. Seeing when to use a frown or a smile, storing information
for applying it on his own accord later.
"This is it! We're there, Toshiya."
Kyo and the cyborg leave the station, head in the direction of the practice
room and Toshiya processes the way to his brain. Kyo gives some advise:
"When we come in, better not start with some polite 'Good morning" or
stuff. Just say "Hi guys", "Hello" or just "Morning", that sounds much more
natural."
He opens a heavy door and descends a small stair, before they finally enter
the assigned practice room.
It's bigger than one may expect, but dark with no windows and since it's on
the outskirts of the city it's even affordable. The equipment is decent and
their determination makes up for the rest.
Three pairs of eyes look up expectantly, but no words fall, until the
cyborg says: "Morning", and the singer has enough: "Hey, what's wrong with
you guys? Were you hoping I'm dead? Well, I'm not, so stop staring at us
like we're ghosts!"
"Kyo-kun!" Kaoru calls out, shaking his head, giving the singer an accusing
glare.
Then the bad-leader sets away his guitar and moves to Toshiya: "Welcome
again. Did you sleep well, Toshiya-kun?"
"I would say so, Kyo-kun slept with me."
All eyes shoot to the small figure of the singer, who is already strolling
down to his mic-stand. He freezes then he glares around angrily: "Hey, it's
not what you guys think. He just was kind of confused." But all the while
his face is flushing and suddenly the three men burst out into laughter.
"I can't believe it! Kyo's actually blushing!", Die calls out, before he
doubles over with laughter again.
"Shut up, Daisuke!", Kyo retorts and tries to regain his shattered dignity,
grumbling.
"Why are all of you laughing except Kyo-kun?", the man-made bassist
wonders, seeing no actual reason for that sudden outburst of emotions.
"Sorry, Toshiya-kun." Kaoru wipes away some tears of laughter, clearing his
throat before he continues: "You're right, we're here to work, not for fun."
"This statement comes from the right man", Die complains, "Finally he's
sees it for himself."
"Aw, be quiet, Die-kun", Shinya interrupts his wails, normally expanding
into hours. "Just ignore him", the drummer suggests to the blankly looking
bassist.
"I will do so," Toshiya nods and Kyo wipes his brow in desperation: "Don't
ignore him, Toshiya. Just ignore his complaints."
He leaves his mic and hisses to Shinya: "Are you nuts? You of all people
should know that he will follow orders literally", Shinya shrugs and
brushes it off, while Die pouts and crosses his arms in front of his chest.
But still, despite the little brawl between the others, Kaoru's face shines
with excitement, as he presents Toshiya with a blue bass.
"This is for you, Toshiya-kun", his voice almost squeaky, and Kyo is
reminded of a giddy school-boy. "You know what that is?"
"It's a bass."
"You know what it is for then?", the band-leaders eyes are filled with
curiosity, even Shinya seems interested.
"Of course. That's what I'm here for, right? To play the bass for your
band", the bassist explains with an easy, almost melodic voice, "Shinya
gave me all your songs and I remembered them by hard. I'm ready to play
with you anytime."
Kaoru suppresses a delighted shriek, as he bounces over to his band-mates:
"can't believe it! Did you hear that? He's just...just perfect! Shinya-kun,
your father is a genius!", he hisses, joy glittering in the words, while
Kyo rolls his eyes. Shinya just states: "He is. There are confirming
diplomas at his walls."
Then their leader straightens his appearance, clearing his throat again,
grinning to the new band-member, who gets rid of Kyo's jacket: "Then let's
practice."

Much to their surprise, Toshiya really fits into their music-making smoothly.
The first two songs, they had been playing were a bit of a catastrophe, though.
The bassist was fervently playing his lines in the meant way, not listening
to any of the other instruments.
"Stop!" Kaoru had shouted, scowling at the man at bass intently he said:
"You got to listen to us, especially Shinya-kun's drums. Fit you bass-lines
to the actual tempo of the song, can you do that?"
"I'm sorry", the tall man had replied "I can try."
And then it just went smoothly, as if there had never been another man at
Toshiya's position. As if this bassist had been made for them, which was true.
_Being grouped in a round, Kyo faced his band-mates, studying Kaoru's face
in delighted heaven for the newly acquired addition to their band, Die in a
relaxed stance and Shinya's face concentrated, but lacking real emotion. He
wondered shortly how they must look to the cyborg, four strange Japanese
men, steering on a different road from taking up the usual roles in
society. He is deep in thought and misses his cue, but Kaoru doesn't really
mind, instead he calls out: "Let's take a break!", leaving a perplex Kyo.
"Come with us, Toshiya-kun" Die offers, before he and the band-leader go
outside for a smoke, while Kyo dives for a drink of water first.
"Okay", the artificial band-member agrees and when they are outside, he
sees them lean back on a wall and pull out their cigarettes.
"Do you smoke, Toshiya-kun?", Die asks offering one of his cigarettes to
the hesitant bassist.
"Of course he doesn't, moron!" Kaoru berates the red-head, edging him with
his elbow.
"I can try if you want me to"; the bassist states, making the two other man
exchange a mischievous look.
When Kyo joins them outside, the first he observes is his two band-mates
breathing out smoke in an exaggerated way, while the cyborg imitates them
as good as he can.
"You taught him how to smoke?", he bursts out. "Wow, he really teach him
useful stuff, don't we? How to smoke, how to crack stupid hentai jokes..."
Sarcasm gets the better of Kyo, as he buries his hands in his
jeans-pockets, while Die and Kaoru begin to giggle away.
Toshiya halts and looks at Kyo: "Should I stop?"
"Nya, it's okay now", the blond murmurs, while the other tow still try to
straighten their faces. "Hey, Kaoru?"
"Yes, Kyo-kun?", the band leader grins openly, making the singer's face
darken even more.
"Toshiya needs clothes or someone will arrest him thinking he's escaped
from a mental institution." Scrutinizing the white formless trousers and
shirt, the leader nods: "He'll need stage-clothes too." A idea lights up on
the make-up-less face.
"Oh no...!", Die sighs, already having a too correct concept of what is
coming next.
"Shopping! Practice is cancelled as of now!", Kaoru declares, making Die
wince and Kyo bury his face in his left hand.


so this leaves us for their shopping trip.
Nika



to be continued 

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