a Day in our Life { chapter 3 }
I swear HanDan2 is going to be the DEATH of me. It's like...Makino and Domyouji's pride is seriously ticking me off. I'm like 'UGH, JUST KISS AND MAKE UP' *dead* The drama is like...UGH i can't take it. lol. I can't stop watching, but I can't take the drama....*sob* ANYWAY, let's get to some pre-HanDan times with my story, ne? lol. And, by the way, Andrea, you'll like this chapter because two people you're petty fond of show up. =p
C h a p t e r T h r e e
It only took the rising sun to seriously alter Naomi's mood. The alarm clock beeped all of 3 times before a hand slammed the top and the owner of said hand shot upright in her hotel bed. No, she hadn't slept that night. While Loretta snored the night away, Naomi was up staring at the cieling, thinking about the week to come and all it held. Her tension level had hit max that night, and that is what kept her awake.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood.
"I didn't sleep." She put her hands on her hips, "I don't feel tired AT ALL. What is wrong with me? I'm excited, yeah, but---"
"Shut-up."
Naomi's mouth snapped shut and she looked down at the motionless lump that lie hidden beneath a thick, beige comforter.
"You can't possibly be awake right now..."
"I am, and you need to be too." Naomi grinned and climbed onto the bed, tugging at the comforter, "Ohayou, Loretta!"
The lump groaned and stirred only slightly. Naomi tugged more at the comforter, "Come on. We have to get up."
"Go away."
"Loretta." Naomi put her hands on her hips.
"Go AWAY."
Naomi let out a breath and leaned on top of the lump, her chin rested in her hands, "Somebody's grumpy. But if that somebody would get up and get some breakfast, then maybe they'd feel--"
"Oh FINE!"
Loretta shot up, ripping the comforter off and sending Naomi falling off the bed. She hit the floor with a resounding thud. She grimaced and pulled her legs up to her chest, holding her hands against the back of her head.
"That hurt...that really really hurt..."
"It's your own damn fault." Loretta grumbled, "Waking me up at 9."
"But the expo starts at 12." Naomi sat up, still holding the back of her head with one hand.
"We didn't have to get up until 10:30!" Loretta climbed off the bed and started towards the bathroom.
Naomi opened her mouth to protest, but Loretta dissappeared into the bathroom before she had the chance and slammed the door. Though still in pain, the girl grinned broadly and stood up from the floor.
"She's up. I'm up. And I'm so hyper I don't know what to do with myself." She found herself giggling at that last part.
Naomi made her way over to the sliding glass doors against the far wall and pulled them open, then stepped out onto the balcony. She inhaled deeply, then let out a long breath and leaned over the balcony railing, looking down at the busy Tokyo streets below her.
~ . A . M . N . O . S . ~
He made a mad dash towards the glass double doors of the Johnny's and Associates building, basketball under his arm and his hand outstretched so he could easily push it open.
Almost there...
"Masaki!"
Aiba came to a halt and let out a sigh, his head bent Ugh...
The boy turned on his heel and looked up at the tall, light-haired bespectacled man who was approaching him. In his hand he held a yellow piece of paper with black kanji symbols all over it. Aiba let out a breath.
"Masaki-kun, what does this say?" He pointed to one line at the top of the page.
Aiba looked at the line and squinted a little.
"Opening Ceremony rehearsals at 9 in Japan."
The manager stared at Aiba for a few minutes, a look of complete defeat on his face, "TODAY, Masaki, it says Opening Ceremony rehearsals at 9 TODAY!"
(Aiba misread the Kanji. In his hurry to go outside, he mistook the symbol for 'today' [今日] and read it as 'Japan' [日本])
Aiba jumped back a little, "Sorry, Mitsumi-sensei."
Mitsumi let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead, "I-It's fine, Masaki-kun. You can't go outside is the point. The expo is today and you have to rehearse for the Final Time performance."
Aiba let out a moan, "I've been here since 6, sensei. Can't I just get a break to play? 10 minutes, that's all I'm asking for."
"No." snapped Mitsumi, "Go ahead to the 4th training room."
Aiba let out a sigh of defeat and started towards the training rooms.
~ . A . M . N . O . S . ~
"Final Time?"
12 wakeful girls sat around a large round resturant table. Their attention was drawn to Rebecca who was explaining the details of the expo.
"After the Opening Ceremony, there's a big party where everyone gets together and can perform for the other companies. Sometimes, you even work with people from other companies. Most times, companies make their trainees rehearse for it, but the idea of it is to just wing it and see what happens. It's a chance for the trainees to be themselves before things start to get serious."
Excited murmurrs rose from the group of teens. But those murmurrs weren't murmurrs for long, as it took all of 30 seconds for their voices to rise into loud, excited chatter. At 10 in the morning, nobody wanted to hear that. Especially not the other diners in the resturant.
"Urusai!" (shut-up) Rebecca shouted over the group, "We're going to get kicked out!"
The girls obediantly lowered their voices.
"It sounds like fun." Loretta said, rapping her hands against the table a couple times, "Doesn't it?"
"Yeah." Naomi beamed. Her tension was still at max, "I can't wait for it. The only thing that worries me though is my voice...I can barely dance and sing at the same time. I struggle so much with control..."
Loretta nudged her a little, "It's fine.All you need is some practice and this expo will give you all the practice you need.
A few moments later, the girls put in their breakfast orders and chatted amongst themselves while they waited for the food to arrive. Like she always did at resturants (or whenever she had to wait for a long time), Naomi pulled out her notebook, pen, and a few colored pencils. Loretta smiled and scooted her chair closer to Naomi's and watched her draw what looked like a two piece dress suit.
"Quarter sleeves or long sleeves?"
"Quarter. Definetely."
Naomi nodded and drew the sleeves onto the v-neck suit top.
"Yeah, that looks really nice." Loretta tucked a lock of Naomi's raven hair behind her ear.
"Thanks." She said, "But I don't know what to do with this skirt..." She tapped her pen against the paper, "Above or below the knee..."
Loretta glanced up for a second to think and her eyes landed on the door as a tall, dark-haired woman walked in. She was gorgeous to say the least. Her dark hair was styled into big, bouncy curls and fell just below her shoulders. Her bangs fell down over her forehead and onto a pair of big, white framed sunglasses. She was sporting a white dress suit with light blue lines on it, creating a checkered pattern. The skirt fell just to her knees.
"Like that." Loretta pointed at the woman.
Naomi looked up at the woman, looking over her outfit, "Ah, that looks nice..."
It was only for a moment that Naomi focused on the outfit. When the woman removed her sunglasses and brushed her bangs out of her eyes, Naomi's jaw hit the floor. Her stomach churned. Her body stiffened. Everything came to a crashing halt. Their eyes met. For a moment, the woman just looked at her with kind eyes, but then, the kindness faded into shock.
"M-mom?"
~ A . M . N . O . S . ~
"BAKA!" a short, dark-haired boy delivered a thwack to Aiba's head.
"That HURT, Nino!"
"You keep doing it wrong!"
"That's not an excuse to hit me!"
"Guys! Guys! Come on, chill." Ikuta Toma stepped between the two, grabbing hold of Nino's hand as it was headed towards Aiba's head again, "Nino, I know you're irritable in the morning, but--"
Nino ripped his hand away from him, "Fine, sorry. Just tell him to do the dance right so we don't have to keep starting over!"
Aiba let out a sigh and leaned back against the wall. Ever since joining Johnny's, Aiba had always had a harder time getting down dance steps than a lot of the other juniors. It got him in trouble countless times with both his teachers and his partners.
"I'm trying, okay?" Aiba said softly, "It's not as easy for me as you and Matsujun and Toma."
Matsumoto Jun, otherwise known as Matsujun, was standing a short distance behind Nino. Nino just let out a sigh and turned to face him. Aiba let out yet another sigh and leaned his head against the wall. Everyone had been very irritable over the past week. Friends had turned against each other (his friends included) a countless number of times and all of it was seriously bothering him. In his mind, the expo needed to be over already. Great learning experience though it would be, the pre-drama was to great for the sensitive boy to deal with. Moreover....he was tired of being yelled at.
"The expo starts in 2 hours and we only have 1 hour to finish this since we have to get to the expo building early." Toma said and ran his fingers through his hair, "Can we be nice for a little while so we can get through this?"
"It's kinda bad when someone who's a year your junior becomes the voice of reason, doesn't Nino?" Matsujun said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Nino let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead, "Yeah..okay. I'm sorry, Aiba. Let's get through this together." He looked up at him, a sincere smile on his face and held out his hand, "As MAIN."
Aiba smiled and ndded, taking his hand, "As MAIN."
"And we'll be the best group at the expo!"
Aiba's grin grew larger, "Hai!"
(Note: During their Jr years, Nino, Aiba, Matsujun, and Toma were in a mini-group called MAIN. Nino was also in another mini-group called BAD, but I don't know who was in it with him.)
~ . A . M . N . O . S . ~
"I'm taking a tour break! 3 tours back to back wiped me out, you know? I only got about 2 months in between. That's why I could never get back home to you and dad. It's not like I deserted you for another man or anything."
Naomi just sat there staring straight ahead at the wall as her mother sat beside her. Her tension had hit the floor. No. It hit the basements. No no...it went staight down to the very depths of hell. That's how far down her tension had dropped.
"Mom...4 years?" She slowly faced her, "4 years."
Kisa shrugged a little and put her sunglasses atop her head, then put an arm around her daughter's shoulder, "Gomen ne, Naomi-chan. But I'm here now, right?"
"But I'm only here for a week." Naomi said, shrugging her arm off, "For the expo."
Kisa's eyes widened a little and she grinned, "Ah, you're in the expo?!"
"Yes. I'm under a talent agency. Sapphire Stone." Naomi motioned to all the girls who's jaw's had dropped when Kisa had appeared, and who's jaw's were still dropped, "These are all of my friends."
Kisa smiled softly, maternal pride all over her face. Naomi let out a sigh, "Mom, don't start..."
"Naomi, I'm so proud of you!" Kisa tightly hugged the girl, earning smiles from onlookers, "And let me guess, when you get back to New York, you'll be signed. Right?"
"Hopefully." Naomi gave up trying to fight her and hugged her back
"Well if that's the case." Kisa pulled away from her daughter and waved her hand to get a waitor's attention, "Then Okaasan will go home with you after the expo. Okay?"
If, for that one moment, life had been a cartoon, something very large and heavy would have fallen on Naomi's head, knocking the wind out of her. That certainly what the news felt like...
"E-eh?" Naomi's eyes widened, "Why? You're on tour right?"
"My last show is here in Tokyo." The waitor walked away after taking Kisa drink order and she turned to look at Naomi, a soft, motherly smile still on her face, "Then I have the option to take leave for a while. All performers need it. What makes me an acception?"
"Well..I...don't you think you should have called Dad first or something?"
"We'll work out the details when I get home, alright." Kisa took her bright red drink (made of only God knows what
Naomi let out an exasperatted sigh and leaned her head on the table I've talked to her for all of 10 minutes and she's already wiped me out. This woman...she's insane...Mom's always been a bit of an airhead. She doesn't think things out always. She goes on emotion. It's that type of personality that'll be my downfall one day...
~ . A . M . N . O . S . ~
And so ends this particular chapter. ^_^ Next chapter is when the actual expo starts and Naomi meets the boys once at a time. Who will she meet first? How? And how exactly does she end up in Arashi? 2 of those 3 questions will be answered next chapter. =p
Jaaaaaaa ne ~