Heaven Cannot Wait

by Matrim

Dedicated to Lady7 *bows* Doomo arigato gozaimasu and to my father, who
always loved a good story



***********
Part 3b


    As everyone’s attention was drawn elsewhere, the four remaining members of
Dir en Grey slipped away quickly from their table. They made it out of the
door in record time and it took the others only five seconds to realize that
they were gone. There was a very bad amount of swearing, before things
settled down and went back to normal.
    Outside of the bar, four very drunk jrockers, who currently trying to
forget what happened in the bar, walked down the sidewalk singing a very bad
version of Forever Love.
    Kaoru cleared his throat but Die began before him anyway, “Forever love—“
    Kaoru frowned and whacked Die in the stomach and the other guitarist began
coughing. “I’m not ready yet!!” He cleared his throat again. “Forever
love!”
    “My Kaoru is so talented!!” Toshiya hung on Kaoru and the guitarist
smirked up at his koi. Toshiya gave him a rather sloppy kiss and Shinya
snorted.
    “Sure, he’s as talented as a block of tofu singing—“
    “Urusai!!” Toshiya yelled at the drummer. He winced as Die pulled him
away from the bassist with a glare.
    “Forever cream!!” Die sang and Shinya blinked.
    “Die-chan? I think you have the wrong words.” Die ignored him and petted
Shinya’s short hair in reponse.
    “Cream for our coffee!!” Kaoru continued.
    “Now I know that’s not the words to the song.” Shinya protested. Kaoru
rolled his eyes and turned his attention toward the younger man.
    “It is so!!” Kaoru yelled and Die glared at him.
    “Don’t yell at him!!”
    “I’ll yell at whoever I fucking want to!!!”
    “Go ahead, try it again and I’ll kill you!!!” Die lunged for Kaoru’s
throat but Kaoru danced away, laughing at him. Toshiya giggled and stuck
his tongue out at the other guitarist. Shinya frowned and tried to keep the
peace as he held Die back by his shirt. Die sneered at Kaoru, “Oh, yeah, I
forgot. You’re already dead.”
    Kaoru froze at those words and then began to shake. “Oh….oh, shit. Oh,
yeah….” He leaned against Toshiya and the bassist held him, unsurely. “I’m
going to fucking die!!!”
    Die frowned. “Hey, hey…what’s…what’s up? Why are you all depressed now?”
    Kaoru wailed, “Don’t you understand?! Don’t you remember?!! Back in the
bar, Sugizo, Ryu, and J and Takuro and Hisashi and whoever the hell else was
there—they saw hide!!! And they know he’s not a cosplayer as well you and I
know he’s not a cosplayer!! I’m going to die!!!!!!!!!”
    Die’s jaw dropped, Shinya gasped and Toshiya froze then grabbed Kaoru by
his collar and shook him. “Don’t you dare say that!! It’s not true!!
You’re still alive!! Don’t you think that if hide was in trouble, you’d be
dead by now?!” Kaoru sniffled.
    A few people on the street stopped and stared at them and yelled back,
“Shut up!!! Keep it quiet!”
    “Easy for them to say, they’ll still be alive tomorrow morning!!” Kaoru
muttered.
    Toshiya growled and backhanded Kaoru. The guitarist fell against the bike
rack near the sidewalk. He looked up at his koi, confused. “Don’t you say
that!! You’re not going to die!! Baka!! Are you that willing to leave me?
You’re such a wuss!!” Kaoru continued staring at Toshiya as he sobbed a
little and bent to gather Kaoru in an embrace. “How can you give up so
quickly? Kaoru….you went through so much more than this…even before hide
came to be your guardian angel. Remember what you told me when you wanted
us to be a couple? When I was with Hakuei and seeing Kirito on the side and
I didn’t know how to get out of it? You said that nothing could keep us
apart, not Hakuei, not Kirito, not death and not even if hide came down
personally to say that he was going to be your new boyfriend. And I knew
how much you had a crush on him before. So….now it’s almost the same thing
except that hide isn’t saying that, but death is threatening to take you as
her new lover. Well, the only thing I can say is that I won’t let that
happen. You promised me. And I’m going to make sure that you don’t go back
on that.”
    Kaoru blinked, sure that the alcohol in Toshiya’s blood was making him more
open then he had ever been in the entire time they had ever been together.
That and he had just been backhanded by the person he thought was one of the
most gentle people in the world. He quickly decided to take that back.
“Totchi….Totchi….I…”
    “Forget it,” the other man said. “C’mon, get up. We’re all going home.”
Toshiya quickly swept his tears away and dragged Kaoru up.
    Again, four very drunk jrockers (who damn well knew they were drunk but
were trying not to let everyone know that but failing) walked miserably back
to Kaoru’s apartment. Toshiya said nothing but cast sorrowful glances in
Kaoru’s direction. Kaoru looked like he had seen his own death, while
Shinya and Die looked very nervous. Die didn’t mean to bring up the idea of
the Kaoru dying again but he couldn’t take back what he said.
“Kaoru….what’s going to happen now?” Die asked.
    “He did say that only if anyone told her that he’d be in trouble,” Kaoru
said, trying to sound reassuring. He used the pronoun ‘her’ as if saying
her name would alert her as to what was really going on here. The others
stared at him, uncertainty painted on their features.
    Shinya ran his fingers through his hair absently as if he was thinking.
“Oh.” Was all he said and after a while, he finally added, with a concerned
look, “What if she already knows?”
    Toshiya rounded on him, furiously, “You didn’t already tell her, did you?!
Shinya, are you insane?!!”
    Shinya’s eyes narrowed, “Of course I didn’t tell her! Are you fucking
crazy?!” He closed his eyes, calmed himself then said, “She knows when
we’re in trouble, Toshiya. She can sense our distress signals. I think she
already does know.”
    Toshiya’s jaw clenched as Kaoru stared at the sidewalk under his feet, lost
in his thoughts. What’s going to happen now? He looked at Toshiya. What
will Manami do? What will happen to hide? What will happen to me? Before
he knew it, Toshiya had him in an embrace. He whispered fiercely into
Kaoru’s ear. “I told you, nothing will happen to you. “Please don’t look at
me like that.”
    “Totchi, how can you be so sure? What if hide is punished?”
    “We’ll find a way to help him.”
    “What if I die?”
    “Bakayarou…I told you I won’t let you.” Toshiya growled.
    “I just hope that nothing makes you eat those words.” Kaoru told him.
    “And I just hope someone prevents me from killing you myself for daring to
utter those words.” Toshiya returned. “And no more talk of death or
anything depressing unless you want to be singing in a soprano.”
    With that, everyone kept their mouths shut.


************

    hide arrived in Kaoru’s apartment, weary, depressed and pissed. He was
about to throw himself on the couch and fall asleep to forget but something
stopped him. He gulped, fidgeted a little with the hem of his ripped apron
then blurted out, “Look—Manami-sama—I can explain!!” She sat on Kaoru’s
couch, legs crossed in full angel regalia, her wings making her a little
more intimidating than usual. She remained silent as he went on. “I—I
didn’t expect them to be at the bar! I was just having fun! I tried not to
let them see me! I really tried!! It’s hard being me, dammit! Whereas,
you know—you haven’t been around for twenty years!! Two years isn’t enough
for me! Everyone remembers me!!” he thought for a minute . They would
still remember him twenty years from now. He sat next to her on the couch.
“Please, Manami-sama, please don’t tell me Kaoru will die for this! Please
don’t tell me I’ll die—again—for this. It was an accident! I swear to
God!”
    She looked up at him with sad eyes and handed him a pristine white
envelope. “Gomenasai, hide-san,” she said softly.
    He stared at her, speechless. She looked ahead, avoiding his gaze, pale
hands twisting nervously in her lap. He turned over the envelope and opened
it gently as if mishandling would cause it to explode. He slipped the white
message out, read the intricate gold calligraphy and looked up at her in
shock. “You can’t mean—“
    “I didn’t write it!!” Manami told him, fists clenching at her sides.
    “I thought….” hide said, weakly.
    Manami shifted to face him. “It’s not your fault, hide-san.”
    He shook his head. “It is my fault!! Don’t make excuses for me! I knew
the rules and I broke them and now we all have to pay the price!” He stood
and would’ve thrown things around but it wasn’t his apartment so instead, he
just paced angrily. “Goddammit! How the hell is Kaoru going to pull this
off? It was hard before and now--? That Sugi and the others saw me?!
We’re all fucking dead!!”
    She stood, “We are not dead!”
    He raised an eyebrow at her.
    She glared at him, “You know what I mean! And we are going to get through
this! Have a little more faith in Kaoru. He’s part of a rare breed of
guitarists!! They’re stubborn and they don’t die easy! Trust me!!” She
began to pace the room. Hide sat on the couch and couldn’t stand the
silence that had fallen between them so he said. “Watch it with those, you
might knock down a picture or something” She gave him a scathing look and
moved closer and took his hands.
    “Just….just try to keep him and yourself out of trouble, alright? No more
going out to drink.”
    “I didn’t know they’d be there,” he answered truthfully, trying not to
sound like a a kid who just had his hand caught in the cookie jar. “I mean
I haven’t been in that bar for ages. Even when I was alive. The last time
I visited that particular bar was…” he trailed off, trying to remember.
Manami watched with amusement then she shook his hands to get his attention
back. “Anyways, I haven’t been there in ages.”
    “True but you should know that other people than you do go to bars. And
you shouldn’t be drinking anyway, it’s bad for you. And for Kaoru, look
what happened tonight.”
    “Ah, Manami-sama, you’re bringing up an argument that many have tried to
use on me which has never worked,” He said with an impish smile. “And
learn to take your own advice, what angel was sent to earth recently and she
spent most of that time drinking and flirting with a mortal?” He lifted her
hands, stood then stepped back and soon they were dancing to a silent song.
    “Ah, yes, but who was drunk enough to stand up on his chair in the middle
of bar, his hair bright enough to be seen by NASA satellites and ask about
virgin sacrifices?” He spun her narrowly missing getting hit by her huge
wings.
    “Touche. I have been doing nothing but work for the two weeks I’ve been
here. Whereas you—when you had no wings did nothing but have fun! I liked
you when you didn’t have your wings. You were more fun to hang around
with!”
    “Bah!!” Manami stuck her tongue out at him. “It was because of me you got
here so quickly. If I didn’t, you’d be hanging around for twenty years,
moping.” She stepped away from him. “Now, remember what I said and keep
out of trouble!! The last thing you need is to get drunk again and have
someone very close to you, see you and actually touch you to see if you’re
alive!!!”

-Wednesday-

    “I can’t take it anymore!”
    Kaoru and Toshiya looked up and saw Die, standing there with his face in
his hands. “Daijyoubu, Die-kun?”
    Die shook his head but didn’t remove his hands from his face. “No. No. I
am not okay.”
    Kaoru frowned and looked at Shinya, who looked like he was holding back
laughter. He nodded at the drummer and Shinya explained, “He wants to go to
a bar. He usually goes to one after we record…especially hellish days like
this. It’s either that or…” he trailed off and looked at Die, who was
peeking at him from behind his hands. Shinya laughed and went on, “It’s
either that or have sex but I’m not horny all the time so he has to make do
with drinking.”
    “My Shinya doesn’t want me anymore,” Die faked a sob and Shinya rolled his
eyes. Kaoru’s eyes widened and Toshiya tried not to laugh as Die got on his
knees in front of Shinya’s drumset. “Shin-chan….please….let me back in
bed…”
    “Urusai!!” Kyo said. “We don’t have to hear this!!”
    Die went on, “I promise I’ll be good.”
    Shinya sighed and shook his head. “No. I let you back in bed and next
thing I know, I’m awake again with you trying to get into my pajamas. How
the hell do you expect me to get a good night’s sleep?” Die sniffled and
Shinya looked at Kaoru. “Can we please go to a bar?”
    Kaoru sighed and looked at hide, who looked as uncomfortable as Die in the
control room. He saw Kaoru look at him and he smiled. He grabbed a
microphone and said into it, “Hikaru?”
    “Hai?”
    “I know you can hear what’s going on…so…do you know a bar that no one else
knows or has forgotten about enough not to go there?”
    hide looked like he was deep in thought and then said, “Hai.”
    “Oh, good. Well, Die, we could go there, if you like.”
    Die and Shinya looked up at Kaoru hopefully. “Are you sure?”
    “Yeah….you won’t get in trouble?”
    Kaoru looked at hide, who looked a little uncertain and nodded.
    “Shiawase!!!” Die removed his guitar and placed it in his case, grabbed
Shinya’s arm and began to dance with him around the room. The others began
laughing and Die stopped in front of Kyo to ask, “You’re coming too, right?”
    Kyo was about to shake his head until Toshiya said, “Ah, c’mon, we need
someone sober to drive us home. And someone to keep an eye on us.”
    Die stopped dancing with Shinya and hugged Kyo from behind. Shinya fell
and sat on an amp, a little dizzy. “Please, Kyo-chan….come and have fun
with us!!”
    Kyo stared at Die, who rested his chin on Kyo’s shoulder and tried to look
cute. “Don’t call me Kyo-chan—“
Kaoru helped Shinya up and the drummer snatched Kyo out of his koi’s grasp
and cuddled him. “He’s sorry. He didn’t mean it.” He batted his eyelashes
at his vocalist. Kyo began to laugh just as Toshiya came over and hugged
him as well, making a Kyo sandwich.
“I’ll be good…”
    Kyo began to laugh harder. “Oh, God, oh no……don’t go on…I don’t want hear
the rest!!”
    Kaoru and Die eyed each other and they formed a group hug. “I’m going to
kill you.” Die said in a perfect imitation. Kaoru tried not to lose it as
he filled in, “If you don’t come that is.”
    Kyo shook his head, trying not to laugh too hard. “No…I told you, don’t
say it. You’re not going to blow my head off like raspberry jam, are you?”
The rest of Dir en Grey began laughing.
    “Only if you don’t come with us.” Toshiya said, squeezing Kyo harder,
making the vocalist squeak a little in pain. “Besides you missed hide
asking for virgin sacrifices.”
    “And they still owe me some!!” came a voice from the door. The entire Dir
en grey huddle broke and looked over at hide.
    Toshiya giggled again. “Oh, no problem. We’ll just give you Kyo.”
    Kyo glared at him and stepped on his foot, hard.
    “Itai!! Kyo!!”
    “Are we going to go or not?” Die asked.
    “Hai!”
    “Iku!!” hide said cheerfully.

**********

Wednesday evening, 10:00 pm

    Kaoru looked over at Die and blearily stared at the cans on the table.
“And this will be a castle?”
    “What are you talking about?! It is a castle!!” Die fumed, placed an arm
around Kaoru’s shoulders and pulled him back then gestured at it. “Can’t
you see it?”
    “Doesn’t look like any castle I know!”
    hide rested his chin on Kaoru’s shoulder and squinted at the beer can
sculpture. “Is it a European castle, Die-kun?”
    Die smiled, “Hai!! Hai!! Exactly!!” Shinya finished a can of beer and
gently placed it on a stack of two cans, making it look a little more than
pile of beer cans and more like a castle (if you had a good imagination).
    Kyo snorted, “It looks like a pile of trash to me.” Die, hide, Shinya and
Kaoru looked over at the vocalist and began yelling at him.
    “Of course, it’s a castle!! How can it not look like a castle?!” Die
ranted.
    “Can’t you see the maiden in distress at the top tower?!” hide asked. Kyo
began laughing and shook his head. Hide frowned and motioned at Toshiya,
who took a toothpick and rubber band and a strip of a pink stained napkin.
He tied the rubber band around the toothpick and handed it to hide. “Here.”
He tried to place it on the top but his hands were a bit unsteady so
Shinya took it away from him.
    “You’re going to destroy all the hard work and me and Die put into it!!”
Shinya scolded.
    “What are you talking about?! Half those beer cans are mine!!” hide
replied and Shinya only sniffed and place the toothpick maiden on one of the
beer can castle towers. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have a can
castle.”
    “Look! It’s the maiden in distress!!” Kaoru said, trying to break up
their argument. Hide was supposed to be arguing with him, not with Shinya.
Hide and Shinya turned back to the sculpture and once again frowned at a
laughing Kyo. “What shall we name her?”
    “Hikaru!” Toshiya and Die said.
    “hideko hime!!” Shinya offered.
    Hide eyed Kyo then said, “Manami-sama.”
    Kyo froze and frowned.
    Kaoru began giggling. “Okay, her name will be Hikaru hideko hime
Manami-sama.”
    Toshiya laughed harder, “Oh, wait, she needs a braid and crown.”
    “If you give her a braid and a crown, she’ll fall off the castle tower!”
Die replied. “Then you’re going to ruin it and me and Shinya will have to
spend forever putting it back the way it was.”
    hide laughed, “Well…we need a dragon and a knight who will save Hikaru
hideko hime Manami-sama.”
    Kyo shook his head and sat up in his chair. “All of you are too drunk for
your own good. You have a toothpick on a pile of cans.”
    “I’ll be the dragon!!” Toshiya said and scooted his chair over to the
other side of the table. He stole the hat off of Kaoru’s head as he did so,
stood up and posed to show off that flattering thigh angle and proclaimed,
“I’ll be the super kawaii kissing hat dragon.” Kyo, hide, Shinya, and Die
looked up at the bassist and began laughing. Toshiya frowned. “And what’s
so funny about that?”
    Kaoru stared at his koi’s legs, “I don’t see anything funny about that.”
    “So what are you going to do, kissing dragon-san?” Die asked, with a faint
laugh.
    “I shall steal away Hikaru hideko-what’s-her-name, take over the castle and
seduce the purple haired castle musician.” Toshiya licked his lips and
reached over to the toothpick (Hikaru hideko—yeah, you get it..^^;;;) just
as Die screamed in a fake girly voice.
    “No!! No! A dragon is trying to kidnap me!!” Kyo shook his head and put
it down on the table, pretending that he was not here and that he was not
hearing this.
    “Hey, don’t forget to mention that I’m super kawaii—“
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah….just steal the toothpick princess, will you?” hide
asked and the rest of the table (except for Kyo) began laughing again.
Toshiya stuck his tongue out at hide and gently took the toothpick out of
the beer can tower. Meanwhile, Kaoru speared a napkin strip with a
toothpick to make it look like a cape and handed it to hide. “Now what
shall we name the hero?”
    “Warumono!!” Die said instantly. If it were any other time, Kyo would’ve
cheered but he only groaned in response.
    “Chibi Usa—“ Toshiya tossed in.
    “Kyo-chan!!” Kaoru and Shinya tossed in.
    hide smirked and in a fake voice cried out, “I’ll save you!!”
    Die giggled, “And who are you?” he made the girl toothpick call out.
    “I am Warumono Chibi Usa Kyochan!! I’ll save you!!!” hide took the
toothpick and poked Toshiya in the leg with it.
    “Itai!!”
    The others began giggling just as Kyo raised his head with a groan. “Stop
picking on me!!!” He rolled his eyes and sighed then blinked. “Oh no…guys,
maybe we should go…”
    “Naze? Don’t you want to see Warumono-san save the princess?” Die asked
and Kyo shook his head at both questions.
    “It’s because Sugizo’s here with Glay and some of the members of Spread
Beaver,” Kyo said calmly. Everyone looked over at Kyo, who pointed and all
five multicolored heads turned that way. And it was true. Sugizo, Ryu
(appointed designated driver), Chirolyn, Kiyoshi, Hisashi and Teru.
    “Shit!!”
    “Crap!!”
    “Can’t we get drunk without getting in trouble?!!”
    “My castle!!!”
    “Just leave it, guys, we have to get out of here!!!” Kaoru told them and
Die sniffled at his sculpture. Shinya smiled sympathetically, just as
Toshiya jumped off the seat. “Now…we crawl, find another exit and break for
freedom….”
    “Kaoru-san!!” Hisashi called.
    “I didn’t hear that—did you hear that?” Kaoru asked hide.
    “Hear what? I heard nothing!”
    A hand came down on Kaoru’s shoulder, preventing him from following his
friends to freedom and he had to hiss at them to get their attention. The
other five turned around. Kyo made a trademark face, Die gulped, Shinya
froze, Toshiya gasped and hide turned back around. Kaoru turned to see
Sugizo smiling a very unkind smile at him. “Leaving so soon, Kaoru-kun?
And last night, you left before you could explain Hikaru to us and without
saying goodbye. How very rude.”
    Kaoru bowed apologetically, “Gomenasai, Sugizo-san,” he began to take a
step backward to leave but Sugizo’s grip on his shoulder, turned into a grip
on his shirt and the older man forced him back into the chair he had been
sitting in. Kaoru sent a pleading look to his bandmates and his angel.
Hide cringed and took a step forward and the rest of Dir en grey followed
his lead and they went back to their table a lot less happier than before.


**********


    “Konbanwa, Hikaru.” Sugizo said, his eyes practically glued on hide.
Hisashi and the others grabbed chairs and sat around the table, while Die
and Toshiya sat on either side of hide to shield him from the unwanted
company of the others. Hide nodded and said nothing. “Genki?”
    hide nodded but didn’t look at Sugizo. He stared at the table top as if it
were interesting.
    “Daijyoubuka? Is there something wrong? Can you talk?”
    “Ano…” Toshiya looked at Die and Die looked back at him. If hide spoke
now, it would all be ruined. “He can’t speak.” Die blurted out.
    Hisashi frowned. “That’s strange. He was speaking when I met him.”
Toshiya glared at Die. Die pretended he was someone and somewhere else.
    Thankfully, Kyo saved them by saying, “He has laryngitis I’m afraid.”
Hide, Die and Toshiya looked at him gratefully and they all began nodding in
agreement. “It happens when he drinks.”
    Sugizo stared at them all suspiciously then went on. “In any case,
Kiyoshi—Chirolyn, this is the hide cosplayer I was telling you about.
Hikaru-san, this is Kiyoshi and Chirolyn. I’m sure you know what bands they
are and were in.”
hide peeked up at Chirolyn and Kiyoshi who were staring at him with interest
now. He gave a shy smile but didn’t look back up. Shit. This was the
second time in a week. And he was so damn sure that no one would come to
this bar!! Someone really hated him. Why did—
    “Hikaru-san?” Toshiya stepped on hide’s foot just as Kiyoshi called hide’s
fake name and hide’s head jerked up. He glared at Toshiya, who was staring
innocently at his drink and whistling off tune. hide mentally cursed
himself and looked over at Kiyoshi. “Hikaru-san, how did you know of this
bar? hide used to come here when he wanted to ignore us sometimes and it
took us awhile to find out about it. I don’t even think really big fans of
his knew about it…”
    hide was glad that Kyo thought of that laryngitis excuse for him and tried
to gesture that he didn’t know about this bar then smiled, shrugged and gave
up. He made a motion toward his throat and held out his hands. Kiyoshi
nodded unsurely. Hide tried not to breathe a sigh of relief. Thank God, he
was a good actor. His relief faded when he met Sugizo’s eyes and decided
that the far corner was a good place to rest his eyes. “So,” Sugizo said,
breaking the silence, “How did you five meet Hikaru?”
    Kaoru looked at Shinya, who looked at Kyo then they began to speak,
hurriedly, almost running over each other, trying to answer the question.
“My cousin—“ Shinya began.
    “Kyo’s girlfriend—“ Kaoru continued.
    “—Introduced us to Hikaru, a few weeks ago.” Kyo finished. “Isn’t that
right, Hikaru?”
    hide nodded, frantically and took a long sip of beer. This was not
happening to him. No. All he had to do was close his eyes and soon he’d be
back in Heaven, in his own room, sleeping. He’d be jumping out of bed any
second….
    “He startled us to say the least,” Kaoru laughed nervously and scratched
the back of his head. “I mean, he looked so realistic.” Hide shot a glare
at Kaoru, who only smiled weakly back. Hide sighed in resignation. Aw,
well, we’re both going to hell in a hand basket, why fight it? “He’s a
really good cosplayer, ne?”
    “You’re telling me,” hide caught Sugizo, Chirolyn and Kiyoshi muttering.
He stared at them. He didn’t notice their lips moving. Wait a minute. He
closed his eyes and thought of Kaoru and began to hear:
    --damn Die and his damn craving for alcohol. I am going to fucking kill
him. I’ll smash him with a truck. Hide looked at Kaoru, who was sneaking
death looks at Die. Die was too busy staring at his can sculpture. Kaoru’s
eyes narrowed. A big truck. Hide held back a snicker. Die took a sip of
alcohol. A really big truck… hide began laughing and instantly, he thought
back at his human.
    Kaoru…no killing people. Kaoru frowned and looked at a grinning hide. His
eyes shone with hope now.
    Good!! They’re working again!! Now get the hell out of here!!
    I have a feeling I’m not wanted anymore.
    Hide!!!!
    Ok, fine. Just arrange a diversion of some sort. Knock down Die’s
sculpture, onegai? He eyed the massive can structure.
    Are you kidding me? Die would kill me!!
    He won’t remember in the morning. And what happened to the idea of you
hitting him with a truck? Kaoru looked shocked and hide tried to hide his
laughter when he noticed that Chirolyn, Kiyoshi and Sugizo were looking at
him very suspiciously. A big truck? A really big—
    hide!! Fine!! I knock over the can sculpture and you duck down and get
the hell out of here. Kaoru instructed and hide nodded. He smirked as he
heard Kaoru think of a prayer and he began to reach for his own drink and
“accidentally” misjudged his perception and knocked down Die’s can
sculpture. Toshiya jumped, Die looked like the world had ended, Shinya
winced, Kyo blinked, and the others moved out of the way as it toppled.
hide ducked underneath the table and thought of Kaoru and Toshiya’s
apartment. There was a surge of light and brilliant flash of pain but
unfortunately, nothing happened. He stared down at his hands and at himself
as if he couldn’t believe it. Great. Just great. His telepathy was
working but not his mode of transportation. Kaoru’s head appeared under the
table. Hide smiled sheepishly at him as Kaoru’s eyes narrowed, when he
noticed hide was still there. “hide!! I thought I told you to get lost!!?”
    “Um….I know you don’t mean that in an insulting way so I’m going to let
that slide. My powers aren’t working again.”
    “What?!” he hissed.
    “Telepathy’s working…it’s just…I can’t go anywhere!!”
    Kaoru moaned. “Great. Why don’t you keep trying until it actually works?”
    hide gave him a look, “Kaoru. Have ever heard the advice on if it’s not
working and it hurts, don’t do it?”
    Kaoru seemed to think for a minute. “No.”
    “Ugh…just get me out of here!!”
    “Like how?”
    “Oh, good, we’re arguing!!”
    “I really do not think this is what they meant by arguing.”
    “What they? Manami writes out all of the tasks.”
    Kaoru gave him an annoyed glare, “Whatever. I don’t think this is what she
meant.”
    hide rolled his eyes and repeated, snappily, “Get me out of here, will
you?”
    “I told you—“ Kaoru’s reply was cut short when Sugizo grabbed him by the
shirt and hauled back up.
    “You’re not feeling ill, are you, Kaoru-san? You’re not going to throw up
under the table are you?” someone asked.
    “And where did your friend go?”
    Seeing as Kaoru was being detained, it seemed like he had to find his own
way out. hide stared at Chirolyn’s boots, thinking. Okay, I’m stuck under
a table with a bunch of drunk people, five of whom know me well. It could
be worse. I could be up there. But I’m not. Talk about getting sober
fast. How the hell do I get out of here? There’s a door in the front, one
in the back and one near the bathrooms. But I can’t get out from under this
table without someone spotting me. He cursed the owners for making the
tables so far apart from one another. Before this, he thought it was
brilliant since it was spacious and it was easy to get in and out. Now he
hated it, because he couldn’t hide. He tried again to teleport but the pain
worsened and he ended up with a blinding headache. He rested his head
against the table leg.
    Suddenly, hide felt something wrap around his neck in a choke hold. hide
struggled but to no avail. It wrapped tighter around his neck. hide bit
his lip in order to keep from shouting and alerting the others of his
presence under the table. There was a flash of light, a pulling sensation
and then darkness--

The next thing he knew he was dropped, physically, in front of Kaoru and
Toshiya’s apartment door. He coughed and rubbed at his neck then blinked
when he saw a pair of black boots and tips of angel wings brushing the
floor. He raised his head and began to back away and only stopped when his
shoulders hit the wall. He gulped. “Kami!!”
    The other angel smiled sympathetically, stepped forward and handed him a
pure white envelope. “You’re really making them angry, hide-san. Please
stop, okay? We really do want you to succeed.” Kami disappeared with the
slight hint of purple mist and a twinkle.
    Hide frowned at the warm envelope in his hands. Twice in a week. Who
would’ve thought that—his thoughts were cut short when he noticed that the
envelope was getting hotter. He opened it and slid the message out, then
read it.

Stop screwing around.

    He glared at it and jumped when the words flamed up, causing the note and
envelope to catch fire. He dropped it immediately as it turned into a pile
of ash. It fluttered as if stirred by a breeze and formed the something on
the bottom of the floor that looked suspiciously like words. He crept
closer. The cryptic message read:

Another angel.

    His shoulders slumped. Dammit. He shook his head and the door swung open
at his touch as he flung himself on the couch. He put an arm over his eyes
and resolved not to move from the couch until Friday.

***********


Thursday, 6:00 pm

    Kaoru stood worriedly near the couch. He stared down at hide, whose arm
was thrown over his eyes as if convincing himself that the world was an
illusion. Finally, Kaoru spoke, breaking the tense silence that descended
between them over the past few days. “Listen, you can’t stay in here
forever—“
    “Why the hell not?” came a low growl.
    “Because—what if I need you?”
    “Fine help I’d be. Angel, whose powers aren’t working properly, protecting
a human that he’s already doomed to death because of the last couple of
days. Nice idea, Kaoru, but I think I’ll just stay in. I like you alive.
I think you’d be kind of dull dead.” Hide said in a monotone. He hadn’t
moved from the couch since Wednesday and had only gotten up to go the
bathroom and eat. Nothing else.
    “Okay…we don’t have to go to a bar. They won’t see you if we’re just in
the studio. They won’t come around. Hide, it’s not good if you just stay
here. You’re supposed to be looking after me. What am I going to do
without you?”
    “You did fine without me the whole day. I am going to stay on this couch
until Friday, an hour before you’re slated to die and then we’re going to
argue. We’re going to argue terribly about anything or nothing and then I’m
going to try to kill you. If something saves you, well then, more power to
us. And if something doesn’t, well….we weren’t as careful as we thought.”
    Kaoru tried to be calm but he was slightly hopping around the couch. hide
moved his arm and stared at his human. Kaoru began to fidget. “You
can’t…that’s not…it doesn’t—“ He finally stopped hopping around, clenched
his fists as his sides and exploded, “Why the hell are you giving up like
this?! You’re supposed to take on the world with your head held high and
with no mercy!! You just can’t---you just…” Kaoru’s words failed him. He
moved hide’s legs off the couch and sat down wearily. hide eyed him with
interest. Kaoru closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the
couch.
    hide frowned then nudged Kaoru with his foot. The guitarist ignored him.
hide chewed on his lip for a second then decided to eavesdrop in Kaoru’s
mind.
    …can’t do this, if he doesn’t want to. I don’t want to die. And I don’t
want to cheat at this. And I don’t want hide to give up so easily...
doesn’t he want his wings? He can’t be fake, he’s real, he’s…hide
but…what’s wrong? And…Toshiya…
    hide nudged Kaoru with his foot again. “Oi.” The guitarist ignored him
again. Hide nudged him with his foot, just a little harder (just an inch
short of kicking him). “Oi oi!! Okite!!”
    Kaoru opened his eyes and glared at him but managed to politely reply,
“Hai?”
    “I—“ hide sat up, “Ano…Kaoru-chan, gomen ne?” Kaoru said nothing and he
went on. “I just don’t want to get you into any more trouble.”
    “You were seen, right? Doesn’t that mean we should get punished or
something?”
    “We have been punished.”
    “We have? What was it?”
    hide ran a hand through his bright pink hair. “Your last task was supposed
to be difficult. Well, because of the last two mishaps, it was made … just
a little bit harder.”
    “How harder?” Kaoru asked bluntly.
    Hide looked up, trying to think of a comparison“Your last task was supposed
to be difficult. Well, because of the last two mishaps, it was made … just
a little bit harder.”
    “How harder?” Kaoru asked bluntly.
    hide looked up, trying to think of a comparison. “Hmm. Okay, say that
your first version of your last task was as easy as basic math. The second
version of your last task is what calculus is to basic math.” Kaoru
blanched and hide tried not to laugh at his expression. “And you and I know
how well you did that in subject. Especially when you didn’t study and
would rather play.”
    “Oh, like you were any better.”
    “I was a good boy in school.”
    “Key words here: Was and in school.”
    Hide smirked. “I’m glad you’ve finally recovered your fiery spirit and
sense of humor. Keep it up and we might survive tomorrow.”
    “Your optimism kills me.”
    “Better than being pushed out of a building or being run over by a train,
or being nearly decapitated by a butcher knife, or being shot by a stray
bullet or a—“
    “Alright enough!”

Friday, August 4 10:30 am

    It had been too cheerful to be a death day.
    The atmosphere in the studio was more relaxed than it had been for the past
week. They were remixing Die’s new song Audrey, while Toshiya and hide had
decided to pretend they were rabbits (kiss the rabbit, marry the snake? Or
marry the snake and kiss the rabbit? Oh, nevermind me. ^^;;~Mat) and were
bouncing around to the song. Kaoru and the others gave them a brief smile,
while Kaoru made sure that everything on the song was perfect. Everything
had been going perfectly until their studio was graced by the presence of a
few unexpected visitors.
    A secretary poked in the room and told Kaoru who was there. When she left
the room, they sent the rest of the techs and their producer with her. As
soon as they were alone, Dir en Grey and hide freaked. “This is seriously
fucked up! Why can’t they leave us alone?” Kyo ranted. “They should know
that if we were awkward around them at the bar and always tried to get away
from them, they should know—that we don’t want to be with them!”
    “Maybe they know that and they want to get us a time when we can’t get
away!” Die replied.
    “Argh!!” Toshiya said, disgustedly. “We don’t have to take this crap,
anymore. We are going to get away from this.”
    “Like how?” Die asked.
    Toshiya snorted and told them to stay quiet and follow him as he opened the
control room door and poked his head out, looking from one side of the hall
to the other. Die’s head appeared above his, hide’s head appeared above
Die’s while Kaoru’s appeared right under Toshiya’s, Shinya’s appeared under
Kaoru’s and Kyo being the shortest had to put up with the bottom spot.
Toshiya looked down at the three heads below him and the two above him then
gave a long suffering sigh. He scooted out into the hall, managing not trip
over Kaoru and the others and peeked out, then quickly moved back toward the
door. “Okay,” he whispered, “The main exit and entrance on this floor is
the elevator that is back that way,” He pointed to his right down the hall
and motioned backwards to say that it was around the corner. “Near the
receptionist’s or secretary or—whatever’s desk. But there is also the
emergency exit stairs which is that way.” He still pointed to his right but
this time it was in front of him. “The problem is that we can be seen. I
mean…really, who can miss a bright red head, a blue head, a pink head, a
blond head and a normal looking head on a thin body sneaking out of here?”
He smiled apologetically at Shinya, who shook his head.
    “So, why don’t we go one or two at a time then?” Kaoru asked. Toshiya and
the chain of heads turned to look down or up at him. “I mean, you know…I
don’t suspect that they would notice that, right? And if we tried to
disguise ourselves, wouldn’t that just give us away even more?”
    The others nodded. “Alright, then. Die goes with Shinya. Kaoru, you’re
with hide because hell knows you can’t take care of yourself,” He smiled
sweetly at Kaoru, ignoring the God-of-Death stare he was giving him. “And
Kyo is with me.” Toshiya decided. “So…who wants to go first?”
    No one answered.
    “Oh, c’mon! Somebody has to go first!” Toshiya whined. “Alright,
alright!!” He looked around. “Hmm…I was thinking we should draw straws but
we don’t have any straws and we have a limited time.” He reached over and
pulled a few pink hairs out of hide’s head quickly.
    “ITAI!! Toshiya!!”
    Toshiya smiled apologetically, holding up hide’s hair in front of him as if
it were a shield. “Gomenasai, hide-san but I wasn’t going to pull my hair…”
hide growled and rubbed his head as Toshiya began to measure the size of
each hair. “Okay! Alright, the person who pulls the longest hair from my
hand, gets to go first.” The others separated themselves the column of
heads and Shinya stepped forward to pull a hair. Kaoru took a hair and they
all compared.
    The first to go was Die and Shinya.
    After that was Toshiya and Kyo.
    And the last two to make an escape were the ill fated Kaoru and hide.
    Die and Shinya made their way to the staircase easily, escaping without any
hassle. Kyo and Toshiya waited five minutes left after them. Kaoru and
hide paced around for a bit and after five minutes, they began to make their
way over. They made their way over to the door quickly, opened it and
breathed a sigh of relief as they made it to the staircase with a sigh of
relief. The wind slammed the door shut and Kaoru and hide jumped then began
laughing. They thought that they were too jumpy and were jumping to
conclusions too easily.
    They continued laughing until they heard shouting in the hall and someone
running toward the door. They give each other a look that if said aloud
would translate to, “Oh, shit!” and ran down the stairs as quickly as they
could. The door opened above them and hide almost squeaked. “It’s Sugi and
J and Heath and Kiyoshi and—“
    Kaoru grabbed his hand to stop his babbling and ran down the stairs, almost
falling over the railing and down the side of the building, when he couldn’t
stop fast enough to run down the other set of stairs. “This would’ve all
been avoiding if you just chosen a different bar!!!”
    “No, no!!!” hide snapped, yanking his hand out of Kaoru’s, but still
running with him, catching up to run at his side and glare at him. “This
would’ve all been avoiding if you had just argued with me like I ordered you
to!!”
    “I don’t dance to your orders, hide!! You may be my angel and my idol but
I am not your bloody puppet!!”
    “Who said I wanted a puppet?! Especially one like you!” hide stopped
running and pushed Kaoru against the wall. Sugi and the others seeing him
be damned! He didn’t have to take this! “You think you know everything and
you think you know what you’re doing is right all the time!! You don’t know
how to have any fun! How Toshiya manages to stand you is beyond me!”
    Kaoru growled and pushed hide back as Sugi and the others stopped to watch
them fight, stunned. Toshiya, Kyo, Shinya and Die peeked up from the lower
staircase to see what was going on and blinked in shock. “Oh, like you’re a
fucking walk in the park! This is my goddamned life you’re ruining—“
    “Is that all you think about?! Yourself?! You’re so selfish! Dammit!
What about me?! I have to prove to heaven that I’m worth having around! I
don’t like this any more than you do but I’m stuck with you and I’ve tried
to make the best of it!!” hide shoved Kaoru back toward the railing and
Kaoru sneered.
    “The best of it?! The best of it?!!! You’ve been living like a king at my
apartment!! Whose apron is that you’re wearing?! Who lets you eat whatever
is in the house? Who let’s you go drinking every night?!”
    “This is Toshiya’s apron and you’re not my goddamned father, Kaoru!” hide
snapped, “If anything, I’m ten years older than you!! I could survive
perfectly well without your stupid apartment!!”
    “Shinya and Die can only take one angel in their house, hide and it’s not
you….because you don’t have your wings.” Kaoru taunted, challengingly
waving hide to try and hit him.
    hide growled, “That was cruel as well as uncalled for—“
    “hide?” Sugizo ventured.
    “What?!” hide snapped, totally forgetting about being called Hikaru and
everything else, “Can’t you see I’m the middle of something? Like kicking
his ass?!”
    Kaoru snorted and crossed his arms and leaned against the railing, “You
wouldn’t hurt me…I’m your one last ploy for salvation.”
    “God help me,” hide returned calmly then went for Kaoru’s throat. Sugizo
reached over to prevent hide from throttling the poor guitarist as Toshiya
gasped and ran up the stairs to help do the same. Sugizo managed to pull
hide back after being shoved into Kaoru hard. Hide growled but blinked and
stopped when he heard Toshiya’s terrified scream. Apparently, Sugizo had
accidentally shoved Kaoru over the railing.
    “KAORU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
    hide shoved Sugizo away from him easily and ran to reach out for Kaoru’s
hand. Things seem to slow down as Kaoru’s fingers of his right hand brushed
hide’s. hide hadn’t been fast enough and closed his hand around empty air.
Kaoru’s eyes flickered up at him, registering disbelief and fright. Toshiya
screamed once again as all the others rushed up to the railing and watched
Kaoru plummet to his death. They all looked away just about the time he hit
the ground with Toshiya sobbing, brokenheartedly and hide felt like the
world had ended. He took a look at his watch. Five seconds before 11:00.
They would never get that last task…
    He had worried for nothing…

~present~

    hide tried to swallow his tears but he couldn’t help but let out a sob. He
really hadn’t meant for Kaoru to die. He didn’t mean any of those words he
had said. If he only had just done what he was told from the beginning or
if the task hadn’t been so damn vague!! They had been arguing right before
Kaoru died, so by all accounts and purposes, Kaoru should have survived!!
    hide reminisced about all the times he and Kaoru spent together, the
aprons, the can castle, making breakfast for Toshiya, packing Yoshiki’s
things, and the time he and Die had pissed off Yoshiki by putting him on
speaker phone. It was all because of Kaoru and he had sincerely enjoyed his
second stay on Earth. He didn’t know that he would miss the serious yet
sometimes fun younger man so much. What a difference one person makes. He
stared at the picture of Kaoru once again, memorizing it even as his eyes
blurred once again. He pretended it was the incense making the apartment
much more smoky and dark than it was already, wiping the wetness around his
eyes quickly. He clapped his hands, bowed his head and sent a wish up to
heaven for Kaoru’s soul. “Mata ne, Kaoru-chan?”
    Suddenly, there was a sound of someone stumbling out of the bedroom and
hide stood quickly as Kaoru glared at him with tired eyes. There were
bandages across his forehead and around his arms. hide could tell that his
wounds were still healing by the way he moved over to him, stiffly. Kaoru’s
voice was raspy as he asked, “What are you doing up so early?”
    hide smirked, “Practicing.”
    “Thanks for your support,” the younger man grunted and frowned at the tiny
altar, taking up residence in the corner of his living room. “And put this
away! It’s bad luck! I thought you were supposed to be making breakfast!”
    “I am making breakfast! It just needs to cool off a bit!”
    “Then what’s that burning?”
    “That’s the incense! What? You don’t like my little shrine for you?”
    “Considering the fact that I’m not dead…” Kaoru began calmly, “Of course I
don’t like it!!” He ended with a shout.
    hide laughed at him, “Oh, Kaoru, you’re so funny when you’re mad. Sit down
and relax before you give yourself an ulcer. Or you might just wake
Toshiya.”
    Kaoru grumbled and did as he asked as hide gave a cheeky grin. Yup,
messing with this one was fun.

~five seconds before 11:00, the day before~

    hide frowned. Wait. Five seconds before 11:00?! He peeked out over the
railing and began laughing hysterically. Toshiya stared at him as if he
were insane, until hide reached out, grabbed him by the shirt and forced him
to look down. Toshiya began laughing, too, and they both ran down the
stairs and out the building, into the alley way.
    Kaoru stood up from the garbage bags, occasionally swearing when he fell
down. He spotted hide and tried to rush over to him, only to trip over a
trash bag. “You!! I hate you!! You bastard!! You son of a bitch, I hate
you!!!” Kaoru struggled up once more as hide began laughing at him.
Toshiya reached out and helped Kaoru out of the trashbag mess. There was a
cut on Kaoru’s forehead and numerous other cuts on his arms. “I’ll kill
you!”
    hide sighed and took a peek at his watch, “Cut!” he said, effortlessly.
“You had five seconds! And you can stop calling me those names now, we
don’t have to fight anymore.”
    “I hate you!”
    “And I love you to death, Kaoru-chan, my little peachy pookins.” hide
smiled and blew Kaoru a kiss.
    Toshiya giggled, holding back Kaoru easily. “Chan! He called me
Kaoru-chan! What’s with that?!”
    “He called you that before. Don’t worry about it! And I call you that
sometimes, so why are you all mad?”
    “Aw, he’s just upset because he got pushed out of a building.” hide said
flippantly. “Don’t know what you’re complaining about, you’re still alive!”
    Kaoru growled as the others finally caught up to him. Die was about to
give him a friendly hug but stepped back and waved his hand, wrinkling his
nose in distaste. “I’ll hug you with happiness, after I take a bath.”
    “No respect…” Kaoru sighed. “Only Toshiya appreciates me.”
    “Actually, Kaoru, you should take a bath. Next time fall somewhere better
than on trash,” Toshiya gave a nervous smile and Kaoru gasped, in shock.
Kyo and Shinya began laughing as hide struck an anime pose.
    “Alright! Fourth task here we come!”
    “Right after we make sure this is Kaoru and not a rat pretending to be
him.”
    “Argh! No respect!!!!”
    “We love you to death, Kaoru-chan, our little peachy pookins.”
    “Good God…”

end of part 3 ^_~

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