Arashi Fanfic 2: "Kagami" --- Chapter 5
Author’s Notes:
No matter how many times I promise myself that I will update this fic more regularly, it never really happens… work or life gets in the way too often… so I will just write when I can and hope that I don’t drop the ball on this story.
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Title: Kagami (The Mirror)
Summary: A young woman comes back to Japan to take over the family business, and in the process, she meets the man she’s meant to be with. But is she smart enough to figure out which one he is?
Disclaimer: A fanfiction on Arashi-sama.
Rating: PG to PG-13 (just in case).
IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER/S, PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK TO TAKE YOU TO THE MAIN PAGE OF THIS FANFIC…
CHAPTER 5:
Jun had to fight back his laughter as she held her hands to her mouth in shock after what she just called him. She had fallen nicely into his trap. Well, maybe it didn’t work out exactly like he had planned but it was better than even he had anticipated.
All morning he had stayed in her apartment, eating her food and monopolizing and winning Sayako-chan over. Sayako-chan was a real charmer and he had enjoyed spending time with her, but his goal of course, was to irritate his neighbor to the point that she’d let loose that acid tongue she had for him in front of someone else. But then all morning she had pretended not to care and not to notice that he was even there.
Oh, she cared that he was there, all right. But she was not willing to actually voice out all those thoughts that made her look like she was drinking Aojiru juice every time their eyes met.
Well, she couldn’t pretend to ignore him any longer. Jun put on angry expression as he stood up and walked towards her, trying to be as intimidating as he could. He really should be angry. Calling him a poodle was a worse insult than treating him like he was just an object she was inspecting when she had commented about his looks at that restaurant. Yes, he should definitely be angry.
But he was just too happy that she was noticing him again to actually feel her insult.
That thought was so illogical that it stopped him from advancing. He was so confused that the scowl he was faking turned darker and scarier.
That was when she bolted for the door. And when someone runs away, the normal tendency is to chase after them, right? He knew he was playing into a scene from some movie but the only thought inside his head was that he didn’t want this woman who confused the hell out of him to get away. When he pulled her to face him, he saw her look of both fear and surprise. She was breathing heavily from her near escape and all he wanted to do right then was mingle his breath with hers and feel her tension and excitement change into something else. His body tightened at the thought.
“EHH?! MatsuJun?!!”
Jun blinked once. Twice. Then released her arm as he turned to face the owner of that voice.
“Sho-kun? What are you doing here?”
“I drove Morimoto-san over. The question should be, what are YOU doing here?!”
Sho’s voice came out sharper than he intended as he gazed at the woman he had been thinking about all of last night, watching her rub the arm Jun had grabbed in an unconscious gesture. He knew Jun-kun lived in the same floor, was actually shocked at the coincidence, but that didn’t explain why he was in her apartment and manhandling her. Sho took an aggressive step forward to ask Jun the same question again when a young girl, materialized from behind the two of them.
“Ano… I invited Matsumoto-san over.”
Sho felt totally out of his element. This young girl was looking at him from head to foot then back up again with eyes that seemed glazed and feverish.
Having been around her best friend and niece whenever they went Arashi crazy, she knew what was about to happen again in her apartment. Only this time it was worse because Suzana was also there.
She looked at Jun and Sho’s confused faces and uttered the only thing she could think of before Suzana and Sayako lost their control.
“I’m really, really sorry for what’s about to happen…” Her look of apology barely crossed her face when Sayako came alive.
“It’s Sakurai Sho!!! Kyaaaa!!!”
Luckily, Suzana had years of experience and maturity over the younger girl. So as a substitute for screaming Jun’s name, she opted for bursting into tears instead. Trying to hold in her fangirl persona while Sakurai-san had driven her here had been a great test of will. But now with two Arashi gods up close and personal, it was just too much…
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No one would want to work with an idol-crazy fangirl if they could help it and Suzana chanted that thought over and over into her head as Sakurai Sho sat her down in her boss’ kitchen table and Matsumoto Jun gently wrapped her hands around a glass of water. Oh God, her idols were touching her! Calm down! Calm down!
Now, how to explain her little bout of hysteria. As she drank her water, Jun and Sho’s faces loomed over hers. Thankfully, her boss came to her rescue.
“Move! You’re crowding her. Suzana doesn’t like to be crowded.”
Understanding dawned on the men’s faces and they left the two women alone as Sho was dragged by an overeager Sayako into the living room.
“Are you feeling better?” Letting the men assume Suzana had reacted because of some form of claustrophobia was such a stroke of brilliance and also such an outright lie that she frowned. Lying was becoming easier for her.
Suzana calmly sipped more water and gave a nod of agreement.
“Hai.”
“Then can you tell me what the hell was going through your mind that you didn’t even think to call me that you were bringing him over?!?” This question was hissed at Suzana as the other woman fought to control her own panic.
“It was supposed to be a surprise…”
“What!!!”
That one exclamation caused the other three at the living room to look back at the two of them.
“Daijoubu, daijoubu…” She smiled and waved her hands like there was nothing wrong. Why was she feeling like she was juggling a circus act in her own home? When Sayako-chan began interrogating Sho-san the same way she did Matsumoto, she breathed a sigh of relief and faced Suzana to glare at her more effectively.
“You call this a surprise? A house-warming gift is a surprise, my father admitting he was wrong about anything is a surprise… Sakurai Sho is most definitely NOT a surprise!” All this was said in a vicious whisper as she got her own glass and filled it with water before resuming her seat.
Suzana grinned at her friend and changed the subject. “It looks to me like I just saved the day. What were you and Matsumoto-san doing, anyway?”
She had thought Suzana’s Arashi-mania would have caused her to forget that little incident. Sayako was doing a pretty good job of distracting Sho-san from asking the same questions. Letting out an irritated breath, she proceeded to tell Suzana what she had done.
Suzana’s eyes grew rounder and she covered her mouth as she laughed silently.
“His hair isn't that bad! I actually like it... and I think only MatsuJun can pull off that kind of hairstyle and make it look good. I can't even imagine my Nino with that hair. Wait a minute! This is just like that drama I was telling you about!”
“Huh? What drama?”
“You know… the one where this guy moves in and finds out that he shares his house with a girl. And they start antagonizing each other to get the other one to leave but they end up getting together instead…”
“I can never understand why you’re so engrossed in such things. And anyway, if that’s how this story should play out, what am I supposed to do about your so-called surprise?”
“Ah, but that’s where the plot thickens… it’s actually Sho-san who you’re meant to be with, but MatsuJun will play the vital role of trying to get him to realize his feelings for you by driving him mad with jealousy.” Suzana clapped her hands eagerly after coming to this realization, a dark gleam entering her eyes much to the dismay of her friend.
“Kami-sama, please just take me now while I’m still sane.” She said this after flopping her head on the kitchen table. She twisted her head so that one eye continued to stare at her delusional friend.
“Suzana, please promise me that you won’t do anything stupid. Matsumoto is my neighbor. And Sho-san is a friend. This is not like high school where you could simply go with your gut and start pairing people up. If you want to play the romantic, then just accept your boyfriend’s invitation to move in and leave my love life alone.”
“My instincts with these things are never wrong.”
“Fine. Whatever. Just don’t do anything to prove those instincts right! This isn’t high school and those two aren’t boys but grown men… accomplished men. They’re idols for god’s sake! And I’m your boss!”
Being chastised by her friend seemed to have no effect on Suzana, instead, she stuck out her tongue as she stood to bring her glass of water to the sink.
The two of them joined the others in the living room. The men were eyeing each other warily over the top of Sayako-chan’s head, but her niece was being as captivating as always and it seemed to keep Sho-san from asking all those questions.
She glanced at the others as Suzana went over to the DVD player with the finalized interview. Sayako-chan was plying Sho-san with questions about his newscaster work, and as her gaze traveled back to the screen, her eyes met Matsumoto’s. They stared at each other for a few seconds before she looked away. She felt a blush stain her cheeks as she remembered that weird sensation of his hand on her bare arm. And even with her eyes downcast, she could see him smiling at her, laughing at her.
But what she didn’t know was that Jun was doing his best to ignore her as well, and in the same way, trying to ignore his reaction at having touched her.
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“Thanks so much for having me over. Although technically it wasn’t you who gave the invitation to drop by.” Sho was with her in the kitchen, smiling warmly at her while they washed and wiped dishes.
Jun and Sayako-chan had cooked their lunch with ingredients from his own apartment. Suzana had totally forgotten about getting the takeout which was just as well since Sayako-chan had been absolutely ecstatic to help Matsumoto cook for them all. And now she and Sho-san had clean-up duty while Suzana made some calls regarding suggestions Matsumoto had over the video interview. It was pretty surprising that he had given helpful comments considering he had wanted to strangle her earlier.
“Iie, Sho-san. You’re always welcome to come visit. We’ve always been good friends and I hope you still see me that way now that I’m back in Japan.”
Sho felt his smile freeze on his face. If she was any other woman, he would have pursued her strongly enough to leave no doubt in her mind that what he wanted from her was not friendship. But then she had always had the power to rob him of his confidence. She was a year older, smarter, and so damn beautiful that even now, his college friends would often reminisce over how every single one of them had such a huge crush on her back then. But no matter how many drinks they poured into him, he would never admit he had felt the same. Because for him it had been more than a crush. And he was starting to realize that this time was no different from back then.
“Umm… Sho-san?”
“Nani?” She dried her hands on a cloth as she faced him. Her hair was tied back behind her in a low knot, with the shorter strands at the base of her neck escaping that confinement and sticking softly to her skin. Sho was lost in thought as he watched her face for traces of that little dimple that came when she smiled.
“About earlier… when you saw Matsumoto grab me by the door…" She looked hesitantly back at him, unsure of what to say with him staring at her like that.
Snapped back into reality, he waited for her to finish that sentence. It was good manners that had kept him from asking about it when everyone seemed to have put that matter aside. He had wanted to get Jun alone so badly especially since he sensed some form of guilt from the other man. But instead, he had allowed himself to be sidetracked. He had been shocked by that first taste of jealousy at seeing Jun touching her and the anger that had soon followed, leaving him unprepared to deal with it.
“I insulted him. And although I didn’t mean to, it always ends up like that when I’m with him. He seemed like he wanted to shake some sense into me and that was when you and Suzana arrived. I did apologize, but I can’t really blame him for being angry. It’s just…”
Her eyes looked haunted as she faced him.
“It’s just… Sho-san, he reminds me of Takeo Ni-san…” As she uttered those words, she realized they were true. She suspected that Suzana had already come to the same conclusion but her older brother was another one of those topics that had a ‘Do not Disturb” sign on it. Still, she felt the strongest urge to explain herself to Sho-san, to make him understand that she had no ill will against his friend and fellow Arashi member.
Sho reached out to take her hand in his and squeeze her fingers in comfort. He felt the years slip away and it was just the two of them back at that campus café, with her across the table and him wanting so badly to pull her into his arms to give her the comfort she needed as she explained why she was leaving.
Seeing them like that was the moment when Jun realized that there must have been something between them.
Sayako-chan and Suzana had started watching one of their concerts and he gave some feedback about how they had done this or that. But his gaze had never really been that far from her or Sho.
Had they been lovers?
That thought brought him up short. Because frankly… why should he even care?
And then it hit him. He was attracted to her. She had a pull over him that he reacted to every time he was near. There was nothing wrong with that. But he wasn’t the type to poach on a friend’s girlfriend.
It was around 3pm when he finally told them he was going back to his own apartment. And that announcement brought on Sho and Suzana’s own declaration that they had to leave as well. Sayako-chan took it all in stride, her fangirl’s heart content to have spent a day with her idols.
Sho’s mood seemed to have lightened with the few minutes he had spent alone at the kitchen with her. And the edge to his voice whenever he spoke to Jun seemed to have disappeared completely. Jun was thankful for whatever explanation she had given for that incident earlier. And he felt absolute relief at having discovered why she bothered him so much. Now all he had to do was avoid her until these feelings of attraction gave way to seeing her as Sho’s potential girlfriend. She and Sho looked good together. They were such a perfect match that Jun felt pretty dense at not having noticed it sooner.
“I hope you both come to visit us again.” Sayako-chan said this eagerly as they all stood up to take their leave. Jun glanced sharply at Sayako’s aunt to gauge her reaction to this open invitation. Hopefully she’d grow to dislike him less and less, and maybe she would if he maintained as little contact as possible since he always seemed to set her off.
Sho answered Sayako-chan with a “yes” and she took that as an answer from them both.
“Who knows, maybe we’ll even bring Aiba over.” Jun teased. He was rewarded with a hug from the young girl.
“Does that mean I’m your second favorite Arashi member now?”
“Uwah! She’s already been able to psycho-analyze you for her paper and bribing her with Aiba-chan is just not fair! Sometimes I wonder where exactly I fit in with you insensitive bullies.” Sho put on his petulant face, the one fans had come to expect whenever he ended up as the butt of some other member’s jokes.
Laughing in delight, Sayako-chan answered his complaint seriously.
“Sakurai-san, you’re cool and handsome and very intelligent. You know how to act goofy when it’s needed and you always try to liven up the atmosphere and keep a balance among the members. And I really like how you phrase things, like when you relate a story or make a joke. Your word use is always fresh for me, even though you do tend to slip on some of them now and again.” She ended that with a mischievous grin.
Bending down to meet her at eye level, Sho smiled and patted her on the head, a look of such wonder in his eyes. “Sugoi, Sayako-chan… you really are a big Arashi fan! Arigatou…”
If it were possible, Sayako’s face would have split wider with her smile.
As they left, Sho offered to take Suzana home. Taking out his keys, Jun entered his own apartment, and was struck by the loneliness of his own home compared to the liveliness he just experienced next door.
Smiling to himself, he called out into the living room in a much louder voice than usual.
“Tadaima.”
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Author’s Notes:
HIATUS NOTICE FOR "KAGAMI"...
It's been over two years since I last updated this fic so I just wanted to explain my hiatus. There are two main reasons for my difficulty in writing this fic. First, I was writing it in real time for Arashi but it got too hard to keep up with their events and projects when I started it back in 2009 so I now have to come up with a new strategy in writing that story. And second, I couldn’t make up my mind who I wanted to end up with the female lead character so I was stumped as to how to continue. I first have to re-evaluate that fic before I can revive the plot. So gomen to anyone reading this... This fic is on hold.