A Game of Love - The Law of Attraction
Title: The Law of Attraction (2/?)
Pairing: NishiKato (with appearances of TegoMasu and some OC’s in some parts)
Genre: Romance
Rating: for now, PG 13
Disclaimer: purely fiction
Summary: Shige dismissed his meeting Ryo as a fleeting one. But when fate played its hand and their paths collided again, sparks started flying and the law of attraction took its toll.
a/n: this goes to all the NishiKato fans. Not your usual love fic guys, but I hope you enjoy it. . . . Read on . . . .
Chapter 2
The hotel, contrary to its emptiness earlier that morning when he had arrived, was now full of people. The restaurant, he could see, was now packed with people. So much so that he could hardly see the bar, let alone find his table.
“Our table is through here.” A deep voice drawled behind him.
Shige turned in time to recognize Ryo, before his arm was taken in a firm grasp as Ryo led the way through the maze of small dining rooms that seemed to make up most of the lower floor of the hotel, warmly inviting rooms, with only three or four tables in each, log fires burning in the hearths.
“As you can see, it’s very busy here this evening,” Ryo stepped beside a table, waiting for Shige to sit down. “I assured Minako we wouldn’t in the least mind sharing a table rather than taking one each, with all these people around waiting to be seated.”
Shige, who was slowly recovering from his bemusement, frowned at him. He had a damned cheek, assuring Minako of anything, where he was concerned. But the restaurant was indeed very busy; the people, who were lounging in the bar, were now starting to drift in to sit at their tables.
“And sharing the bill too?” Shige drawled as he finally sat down.
He glanced around. The room was illuminated by the fire and a dozen or so lit candles. Very romantic! And with a complete stranger at that. But in all honesty, Shige can’t say he was a perfect stranger because he had a feeling that Ryo was far from being that.
“That would be rude of me.” Ryo said, pouring the wine in their glasses which he must have already ordered beforehand. “And though my mother may not be very happy with me, she still brought me up as a gentleman.”
Shige noticed the slight edge in Ryo’s voice as he spoke of his mother. They must not be in good terms, he thought. Suddenly, he missed his own mother’s quiet calm and air of serenity.
“In that case, I thank you for dinner.” He accepted the invitation - albeit a fait accompli - with a gracious smile and took a sip of his wine.
Ryo watched him as he took a sip. “You look right in this place” he murmured.
Shige, aware of Ryo’s prolonged gaze put all his attention to his drink.
“I meant that as a compliment. I’ve fallen in love with the charm of this place.” Ryo drawled in a husky voice. He looked around them comfortably.
Deliberately changing the subject, he asked Ryo “Are you here on business?”
Ryo laughed softly. “This is my business, Shige. I write travel reviews,” he explained at his questioning look.
“How interesting” Shige replied, taking another sip of his wine, finding it light and dry. Just the way he likes it.
Ryo burst out laughing, uncaring of the female heads that turned his way as he did so. “You’re not a very good actor. Take my advice Shige, never take up acting - you’re lousy at it.”
“But surely it’s interesting” Shige hurriedly tried to rectify what he had obviously first said as an insult. He shook his head a little. This place, he thought, must be having a strange effect on him, if not the wine. He wasn’t usually so outspoken.
“It can be interesting” Ryo shrugged. “Although my mother keep asking me when I’m going to get a proper job!”
Shige could not imagine living with such tension between himself and the only living member of his family, his father. He preferred life to run smoothly and comfortably not to be in constant conflict with those around him. Ryo, on the other hand, gave him the impression of not giving a damn about who he upset.
“I’m sure she must be proud of you.” After all, Ryo must be good at what he did, he thought, otherwise, he would not be writing travel books still.
“And I’m damned sure that is so not right.” Ryo replied unconcernedly.
Shige took another sip of his wine. In fact, he seemed to sip rather a lot wine during the next couple of hours as they enjoyed their talk and their meal, and Ryo ordered another bottle halfway through their main course. Shige wasn’t sure if it was prudent to take another sip, but he wasn’t driving and he was enjoying himself, and he didn’t want to refuse the wine to put a dampener on their evening. Even Toby, the dog, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere again, didn’t frighten him as much as he had earlier. In fact, Toby seemed to decide he liked Shige, coming to lie on the carpeted floor at his feet.
Seeing this, Ryo murmured thoughtfully, “You’re only over five feet and yet you seem to have some sort of power over rogue males.”
Shige gave him a sharp look, searching for some sort of hidden meaning in his comment - or one that wasn’t so hidden. There was no doubting that Ryo was male, a fact that his racing pulse had been telling him all evening, and as for rogue - he was the most unorthodox man he had ever met. He made no effort to dress for dinner, and was still wearing his denims of earlier, he had changed his black tee shirt with a green one, and still had his leather jacket on. His appearance made him much a rogue male but perhaps that wasn’t what he had meant . . . . .?
“It was exactly what I meant Shige.” Ryo said, seeming to read what was on his mind, as he reached out and clasped one of his hands with his own. “Where the hell did you come from?”
Shige swallowed hard. Ryo was clearly playing with him, he had to be. In fact, he had been wondering all evening why a man like Ryo would want to spend his evening with someone like him, but he put it down to Ryo’s boredom and there was simply no one here to share dinner with.
“Osaka, actually.” He replied, deliberately misunderstanding Ryo. He was tempted, so very tempted to go along with his flirtation.
Ryo chuckled at this and watched him. After a brief moment, he asked “Do you want to have coffee now or shall we have it after our walk?” .
Walk? What walk? He didn’t remember him mentioning something about the two of them having a walk, let alone his own agreement to the idea
“It’s a beautiful evening Shige.” Ryo continued, and still holding Shige’s hand, stood up. Shige had no choice but to stand up as well. He was feeling too mellow - from drinking too much good wine - he admitted to himself, to be bothered too much to argue a point. Besides, the night air might clear his head.
He shivered as they got outside. He turned to Ryo and said “I thought you said it was a beautiful evening.”
“Beautiful doesn’t necessarily mean warm. Here” he took off his jacket and handed it over to Shige. Shige refused but Ryo was insistent. Another refusal from Shige, and Ryo just stepped a little closer to him and draped the jacket about his shoulders, lightly grasping his arm as they walked across the forecourt into the gardens beyond.
Shige tried desperately not to react to the lightness of his touch, which wasn’t very easy when wrapped in the warmth of his jacket - the material smelled of him, a mixture of his maleness and his aftershave. It wasn’t doing anything to clear his head either. He sat down at one of the picnic tables placed around the gardens. Unfortunately for his already shaky senses, Ryo chose to sit down next to him, his eyes never leaving his face. He knew he should slip away, and yet he couldn’t seem to move away. He seemed to be held mesmerized by the darkness of his gaze. And so he used the only line of defense open to him ~ Words.
“I suppose you’re going to give the hotel a good write-up?” he hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic, but even as he said them, he knew that he did.
Ryo tilted his head to one side and asked “And just what did you mean by that?”
Shige thought, Ryo knew exactly what he meant he was just playing with him. He could feel the heat of embarrassment running up to his face as Ryo waited for his answer. He mumbled awkwardly, “I just thought that since you and Minako are close friends, . . .”
“I know what you meant Shige” Ryo drawled with amusement. “I just wondered if you would have the nerve to say it.”
This irritated Shige. His eyes flashed angrily at Ryo. “Don’t play games with me Ryo!”
“Then don’t jump to conclusions without knowing the facts. Minako is a nice woman who still loves her deceased husband.” Ryo retorted hardly.
Wonderful. Now he feels really awful. Suddenly he was feeling guilty. His sarcasm was not directed on Minako, it was directed on Ryo, but now it had backfired on him. It’s definitely the wine, he thought. He’s had too much wine.
“They are wrong conclusions Shige” Ryo murmured softly as he noticed the look of dismay on Shige’s face.
Shige tried to rectify his mistake. “In that case, I am sorry. But . . . . . . Ryo! “
One minute they were sitting side by side at the bench, and the next Ryo had pulled him to his feet, the jacket falling unheeded to the ground as he lays claim on his mouth.
Before everything could sink in, Ryo was now kissing him with a passion he had never known before. There was no other way to describe the demand of Ryo’s lips against his. No gentle caresses, no searching for a response, Ryo was simply taking. As if he was putting a brand on him.
Had he been so obvious in his attraction towards his rakish-looks? Was that the reason that Ryo had so arrogantly arranged for them to have dinner together? The reason why he was kissing him now?
Shige wrenched away from him. “That’s enough Ryo!” he told him coldly.
“We’ve barely begun Shige” Ryo replied huskily, and grasped his arm as he tried to move away.
“You’re wrong - we’ve finished!” Shige told him sharply, puling completely from his hold. “It has been a charming interlude.”
Ryo’s expression hardened. “Don’t treat me like someone you’ve picked up for the evening, Shige.”
“Then don’t treat me like someone you’ve picked up for the evening either.” Shige said heatedly, eyes flashing “Dinner was enjoyable, the conversation was fun, the whole evening was fun --- up to a point. But in the morning, I go back to my life and you return to yours. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that this is reality.”
Ryo looked at him with narrowed eyes. “And just what is your reality Shige? Is there someone already in your life? Someone you go back to tomorrow?”
Yes, his father. And there’s Yuri too. Though what they have is nothing serious, that does not mean that he would indulge in a meaningless affair with a complete stranger? And there definitely isn’t room in his life for a rogue like Nishikido Ryo.
He raised his head, meeting the angry challenge in Ryo’s expression. “Yes, there’s a man in my life.” He said curtly, silently praying for forgiveness, for not telling Ryo the exact truth since he didn’t see a need for him to know. “As I’m sure there are a lot in yours.”
“We were not talking about me!” Ryo said harshly.
“Of course not, we don’t need to anyway. Like I said, we go back to our realities tomorrow,” he replied. His anger was bordering on himself now, for allowing Ryo to get this close to him. ~ No doubt you will be returning to yours, eventually forgetting you’ve met someone named Kato Shigeaki ~ he thought, not sure that he would be successful in forgetting Ryo.
“I should get back inside now.” He said haltingly.
“Should you? Why?” Ryo was angry himself now.
Because you are disturbing me and my thought processes. You are upsetting my life. I should never have agreed to have dinner with you, he wanted to say but didn’t. Instead he replied “Because I have an early start tomorrow.”
By the time he reached his room, he was shaking so badly that he had to sit down on the bed. As he reflected on the night’s events, he wished that he had never met Ryo. He had been a fool, letting the man get to him. He realized that Ryo was flirting with him, but how far was he willing to go? As far as he allowed him to go. Shige groaned, disgusted with himself.
The sooner he leaves this hotel, the better for him. And he vowed never to set foot in this hotel again. Tomorrow he goes back home, never to see him again. Tomorrow, Yuri will be waiting for him.
Unbeknownst to Shige, he will still see Ryo, and at a place that he had never expected. How could he have possibly known that Ryo is the brother that Yuya was telling him about, and his boyfriend Yuri’s childhood friend?
+++++++++++++++++
The bell rang cheerfully, indicating the presence of someone coming into the shop. He looked up just in time to see the beaming face of his friend.
“Yuya, what brings you here? Haven’t you already got everything that you need from our shop?” he smiled at his friend.
Yuya came over and hugged him. “I missed you Shige. You were only gone for 2 days but I missed you a lot.”
“I missed you too Yuya, but if I know, you only missed me because you weren’t able to go out with Massu while I was away.” He replied with amusement.
Yuya pouted. “You’re mean. Who are you and where did my friend go?”
Shige smiled “Well, was I wrong?”
“Yes and no. I missed you because you’re my best friend, silly. Plus the fact that Massu wanted to go out yesterday but you know mother, she’ll never allow me to go out with Massu. The only reason she tolerates Massu is because he’s Ryo’s friend.”
“Ryo?” he snapped his head. Suddenly alarmed.
“Yes, Ryo. My brother. They’re childhood friends, remember? ” Yuya replied, not noticing the alarmed expression on his friend’s face.
“Err, yeah” Shige swallowed. “You did tell me about Massu and Yuri being friends with your brother but I didn’t know your brother’s name was Ryo.” Silly, he said to himself. Yuya can’t possibly be talking of Ryo. How many Ryo’s can there be? Besides the Ryo he met and Yuya have different surnames. They can’t possibly be related. He sighed and chided himself for his stupidity.
“Anyway, what brings you here?” He asked.
“Well, since Massu and I weren’t able to go out yesterday, I was thinking we could go out today instead. You know, the usual, hang out at the Karaoke, eat, drink and be merry.” Yuya giggled, anticipating the time he would see Massu again.
“You really love him, don’t you? How does it feel to be in love, Yuya?” Shige asked.
“Eh? You’re asking me? You have Yuri, don’t you?” Yuya replied, confused at his question.
“I like him. He’s fun to be with. He’s smart, we can talk about anything under the sun. I may love him a little but I’m not sure if what I feel for him is like what you have for Massu.” Shige explained.
“Hm, well, for me Massu is everything. I know Mama doesn’t like him but I don’t care. All I know is I’d die without him.” Yuya simply said, and then continued. “Anyway, can you take some time off? Can you come with us today?”
“I guess so. Yuri will be coming by this afternoon. How does 5pm sound? I’ll have to go home first so I can get your souvenirs. We’ll meet you there.”
“Fine. I’ll call Massu. See yah later.” Yuya hugged him again before walking out.
+++++++++++++++++
So I guess you can tell the difference between Ryo and Yuri, and the impact of both men on Shige’s life? Next chap, their paths meet again.