First and Last 03
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Sakurai Sho/Ohno Satoshi
Genre: AU, Angst, and a bit of fluff.
Disclaimer: The boys are of their own free selves.
Summary: He was and always will be his first and last love.
Satoshi's first reaction was to refuse, but the look in Sho's eyes stopped him from protesting. It was obvious that Sho thought he'd refuse, and it's much too obvious that he wasn't going to allow him to. Not so much as a twitch or look passed his features as he thought grimly. Alright, fine. If he's so decided on prolonging our agony then so be it.
"Very well, Sho." With cool grace and dignity, Satoshi stood up and headed for the door. "We'll start our tour with the design and photo studios, and the ateliers. Then we'll return here so I could show you the offices."
The strained silence between them remained unbroken as he led the way down the hall. His stride was brisk, his expression closed. When they stopped inside the elevator, Satoshi determinedly focused on the lighted panel of buttons as he impatiently counted tthe floors mentally on their way down.
"So." Sho started quietly as he leaned back on the wall. "How have you been?"
The sudden sound of his voice, cutting across the thick silence, surprised Satoshi and his gaze immediately turned to Sho. He had suspected sarcasm but his face was expressionless. he cocked his head and shrugged before turning back to the elevator panel.
"I'm fine." He murmurred coldly and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
When the elevator stopped at the lobby, Satoshi led the way down a corridor and out the back entrance, to the covered walkway that connected the main building to the rest of the complex. The rain had slowed down, a veil of moisture blurring the landscape around them. Only their footsteps and the steady fall of water on the roof filled the air.
"Have you been staying in Kyoto since you left college?" Sho asked as they neared the first of the studios.
"Yes. We have another one in Okinawa but Yui-chan preferred to live in Kyoto. She said that it's to keep me away from the ocean and the fishes."
From the corner of his eye, Satoshi could see Sho frown at the mention of his wife. Sho was angry. He could feel it surround them in red hot waves. But why? What right did he have to be angry? Satoshi hadn't been the unfaithful one. Sho's attitude made his anger and resentment burn even brighter.
"So." he said coldly and glanced up at Sho. "How is Horikita...I mean, Sakurai Maki-san?"
"I wouldn't know." Sho replied shortly. "We divorced a few years back."
The unexpected answer sent a weird sensation rushing through Satoshi. He didn't know if he was happy or apalled to know that Sho was single. Even though he had stopped loving him a long time ago, he had always hated the thought of his being married to Horikita.
All of his life, Horikita Maki has been a thorn at his side. They were neighbors when they were younger. he had tried to keep his patience from breaking but for some reason, it seemed that she made it her personal goal to irritate the life out of him. That or make his life a living hell. Horikita Maki despised him and he had never understood why.
He met Maki because their parents were friends. Dark hair and dark eyes, Maki was stunning. She came from a very rich family and never lacked attention or material possessions. Yet everything Satoshi had, Maki wanted for her own -- toys, clothes, grades, friends -- it didn't even matter that he was a boy and she was a girl. Once Maki had discovered that he was bisexual, she began seducing his boyfriends as well. If any man had ever shown interest in him, Maki would make him a target regardless of her own current relationship. When Sho left him he had been stunned and deeply hurt, but somehow he wasn't surprised when he found that it was all because of Maki.
"I see. I'm sorry. I didn't know." he murmured insincerely as they arrived to the first of the enormous buildings.
"Don't be. It was a disaster."
Noting the strange tone in Sho's voice, Satoshi looked up as the other man reached around him to open the door but the other's face was set in that cold unreadable mask he never forgot and knew that the conversation was over.
Forget it. He admonished himself. Why do you care? It's none of your business anyway.
They made a quick tour of the whole place. He showed Sho the different studios, design offices and ateliers, and introduced him to some of their best designers and models before going full circle back to the main office building. Satoshi walked him through all of the departments, from legal to marketing, finally ending back up at the executive offices on the 10th floor.
*****
Looking at Satoshi through narrowed eyes, Sho noted his cold demeanor and the stiffness in how he held his shoulders and how his jaw clenched. All afternoon he had sensed the hostility behind his clipped tones and it baffled and confused him. What was going on? He was the one dumped by Satoshi. Where did he get off putting on that martyred air?
After introducing Sho to two of the Vice Presidents, Satoshi ushered him into a large room furnished with a long polished cherry wood table surrounded by more than a dozen cushioned chairs.
"And this is our conference room." Satoshi said in his cool, distant voice.
"Very nice." He commented. Then, sliding Satoshi an insinuating look, he added, "The whole setup is. But then, it's no more than I expected. We both know you've always had an eye out for the best, haven't we?"
For the first time in hours, Satoshi's facade of indifference slipped and he blinked, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Goaded beyond endurance, Sho ignored his question and asked snidely. "Tell me Satoshi, whatever happened to to Ikuta Toma?"
Satoshi looked at him blankly, puzzled by his question and tone. It took him several seconds to figure out who he was talking about. "Ikuta Toma? The Ikuta Toma that went to the same college as us? I have no idea."
Sho threw his head back and laughed a hard, cold, pitying laugh that it made Satoshi's hair stand on end. "Poor Toma. Sho he didn't meet your expectations either. Neither of us knew how important money was for you."
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" He demanded in a voice on edge and laced with anger.
"All of this!" Sho indicated the facilities with a sweep of a hand. "When you latched onto the Matsumotos, you really hit the Jackpot didn't you Satoshi? Money, position, all the finer things in life. My god! You must have really wanted them badly to marry a woman old enough to be your mother. But it all worked out perfectly, didn't it? Matsumoto Yui had the grace to kick the proverbial bucket and leave everything to you while you're still young and beautiful. Looks like seducing older women really does have it's perks."
The crack of Satoshi's open palm on his face sounded like a rifle shot. The force of the blow sent his head snapping to the side crisply. It took him only a second to recover. His muttered curse seared the air, and an angry fire burned in his eyes as he made a move toward Satoshi.
*****
The unleashed fury that emanated from Sho would have had most people, men and women, shaking in fear but Satoshi was in too much of a rage to worry about someone else's anger. He stood his ground. His face pale, his body shaking with fury, he glared up at Sho.
"Is that what you think?! That I married an old woman for her money?!" He spat out, his voice trembling with the force of his emotions. He laughed derisively and shook his head. The look he gave Sho was filled with scorn. "Matsumoto Yui? Old? Come with me. I want to show you something."
Without waiting to see if he would follow, Satoshi marched out of the conference room and down the hall to the oak door which bore his name in discreet gold letters. Impatiently, he flung it open and stalked inside, going immediately to the dark oak desk that sat before the glass wall.
Sho followed her into the room and closed the door. Lingering anger still evident in his face, but mixed with it was a measure of curiosity and caution. Sho advanced across the room slowly, his eyes narrowing as he watched Satoshi snatch up a framed picture from his desk.
Satoshi whirled around and stalked toward Sho, meeting him halfway. His face was set and his lips were a rigid white line. He shoved the photo into Sho's hand and spat out through gritted teeth. "Here. This is the old woman I married. This picture of Yui was taken only a couple of months before her death. It was her birthday. She had just turned 29 that time. You're the same age, even share the same damn birthday. Is that what you consider old?"
*****
Staring down at the picture, Sho felt his chest tighten painfully, his breathing became shallow. He had to supress the urge to hurl the damn thing at the nearest surface. The face that smiled back at him was that of a beautiful, sexy young woman. Long, sexily styled black hair, and a smile that shone from her eyes that twinkled mischievously. Sensuous pouty lips tempted and beckoned, and Sho felt a burning rage as he wondered how many times Matsumoto Yui looked at Satoshi that way.
Clenching his jaw, he pushed the picture back into Satoshi's hands. "Fine. So Matsumoto wasn't old. She was still rich. Can you deny that you left Ikuta Toma because you found someone richer? The same way you chose Toma over me?"
Satoshi stared at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "Are you crazy?! I've never been out with Ikuta Toma. Don't you dare shift the blame for our breakup on me! If you recall, I was the one who got replaced!"
"Knock it off Satoshi. It's not going to work. I was waiting for you at the student lounge the night you returned from spending the weekend with Toma. I saw him carrying your suitcase."
*****
"What? That's impossible! I never..." Satoshi stopped, an arrested expression on his face as a memory from years before popped up in his mind. It had been a Sunday night. The night before he learned, in the most shocking way possible, that Sho was having an affair with Maki.
"I see you finally remembered." Sho drawled scornfully, and Satoshi blinked, coming back to the present situation slowly.
The memory of that time brought with it a bitterness and anger he hadn't known in years, swelling within him until he was trembling in rage, part of which was directed at himself. Why? Why does it still hurt after all these years?
Exerting every ounce of control he possessed, Satoshi lifted his chin and gave Sho an icy glare. "Yes, I think I do. As I recall, we had an argument and I had gone home to Tokyo to visit my father. I thought I'd give you the weekend to cool off."
"Of course. And you decided to take Toma along with you for company, I suppose."
"As I was returning Sunday night my car broke down just outside of town," he continued in a dull monotone, ignoring Sho's comment as though he had not spoken. "First I called your apartment and your mobile to see if you could pick me up, but when I got no answer I called the student lounge. Maki answered and she said she would send someone for me. That someone was Ikuta Toma."
*****
The anger seemed to ddrain out of Sho in a sudden rush, leaving him pale and shaken. Uncertainty and dread filled him as he stared at Satoshi's cold, remote features. He licked his suddently dry lips and swallowed hard. "Bu-but...Maki was waiting with me in the lounge. Sh-she would have told if you called."
Sho protested half-heartedly. But even as the words passed through his lips, Sho remembered Maki excusing herself to answer the phone in the hall, remembered that she had been gone quite a long time, remembered, with a sick sensation in the pit of his stomach, the self-satisfied expression on her face when she returned to comfort him from Satoshi's unfaithfulness. The sick sensation grew worse when he was met with Satoshi's raised brow and pointed look as the last damning memory passed through his mind. He closed his eyes tightly and groaned. His hands balling into tight fists at his side.
"My god." He said in an agonized voice. "it was Maki who told me you went away with Toma for the weekend."
"And you believed her?"
The soft, accusing question hit Sho like a steel tipped whip, and his eyes snapped open. A look of despair spread over his face as his arms flailed in helpless frustration. "When I saw you and Toma walk in together...him carrying your suitcase, I..."
"You immediately accepted that everything Maki told you as truth." Satoshi finished his sentence for him. "Why? Tell me, why Sho?Why would you take the word of a conniving, hateful bitch like Maki without even giving me the benefit of a doubt?"
Sho felt as though he was becoming completely unstrung. For a long, long time he had held on to his anger against Satoshi for what he thought he had done to him, nursing it as a defense against pain. Now, to find out that Satoshi was innocent, that the whole thing was one of Maki's vile plans, was the most devastating thing he had ever experienced. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Maki had planned the whole thing. He knoe first hand how devious and vindictive his ex-wife could be. Despair clouded Sho as he thought of the hurt she had caused, the long, lonely years away from Satoshi, years spent trying so hard to hate him. What a waste!
He looked at Satoshi, a desperate look in his eyes. "Satoshi, you have to understand. It nearly killed me when I thought you were with Toma. I was hurting so badly I didn't know what to do."
"You could have come to me Sho. You could have trusted me. Had faith in the love we had for each other." Satoshi lifted his chin and his face grew hard, his eyes narrowing with bitterness as an accusation passed his lips. "Instead, you took Maki into your bed that very same night."
His look of surprise brought a cynical little twitch to the corner of Satoshi's lips. "Oh, yes, I knew about that. You see, I came by your apartment on my way to class the next morning. Maki opened the door, wearing your shirt. Only. Your. Shirt. The same shirt I gave you for our anniversary."
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