Pieces of Sunlight - Part 1
Title: Pieces of Sunlight
Author: Shattered Tenshi
Rating: G (rating will change in future chapters)
Fandom: JE
Genre: General (mainly)
Pairing: Taisuke-centric, actual pairings will come eventually
Warnings: None for now, but well, eventual shounen-ai.
Disclaimer: Not mine. This is fiction. Even though I pulled out a whole lot of facts/tidbits to put into the fic, it's still fiction. I never claimed or will claim it to be anything else.
Notes: For Taisuke's 22nd Birthday and 11th Anniversary in the Jimusho. 25 more days until Taisuke's birthday!!
Pieces of Sunlight
By Shattered Tenshi
Part 1
1998, November 8th (1)
Taisuke hugged his knees closed to his chest as his eyes darted around, looking at all the boys that were around him. Some were talking to each other, but most of them were studying each other, trying to figure out just what kind of people were at the audition.
To be honest, Taisuke was still trying to figure who exactly sent in his resume to Johnny's Jimusho. (2) He had been surprised when he received a letter to tell him to show up at an audition, and when he asked his parents, they weren’t sure who sent the resume either. (Actually, it wasn’t until later they realized a friend of his mother sent it in.)
He still ended up at the audition though, obviously. His parents thought it would be a good experience for him, and he decided he wanted to try as well. He didn't hate dancing or singing, and he had watched Johnny's boys, both debuted and not, on his television numerous times, watching them shine as if so far out of reach from him. Now that Taisuke had a chance to try his hand at shining like that, he wanted to do his best.
Taisuke turned his attention back to the boys around him. The noise level seemed to have gone up, but it was probably because introductory interviews were over and everyone was fidgeting, wondering what was coming up next.
Not the shortest among the large amount of boys - he was already 155cm (3) - Taisuke was certain he was one of the younger ones of the bunch though. He wasn't sure if the other boys would pay attention to him, but used to being surrounded by his brothers, Taisuke was feeling more alone that ever and wanted to talk to someone.
He studied the boy on his left, then the boy on his right, trying to figure out which one of them seemed kinder and perhaps would talk to him and keep him company. He somewhat remembered their names from the introductions, but he struggled inwardly to speak out loud. Taisuke wasn't the type to open his mouth unless it was someone he knew well after all.
That's when someone up at the front of the room called for their attention, breaking into Taisuke's trail of thoughts. "Ah, the dancing part..." he murmured to himself. He hoped the dance won't be too complicated and he would do well.
By the end of the dance section, Taisuke had Can Do! Can Go! (4) repeating in his mind over and over again as he tried to regain his breath from doing the choreography so many times. There were two more groups that needed to dance, so he took the chance to go out to the hallway and made his way towards the vending machine he remembered passing by when the boys were led into the rehearsal room.
To be honest, he was sulking. Memorizing dance moves had been a lot harder than he had thought it would be and the dance instructor had actually yelled at him. Should he go home? Taisuke was pretty sure he wouldn't make the cut now. Remembering how his mother had been encouraging him before he left the house though, just maybe, he'll stay for the rest of the audition. He might be able to do something that would change the opinions of the judges on him.
Nibbling on his lip, Taisuke furrowed his eyebrows together as he stared at the collection of drinks, trying to decide on what he wanted to drink. (He wasn't going to think about failing the audition now.) "...apple juice is good..." he mumbled as he pushed one coin, two coins, and just before he managed to push the third coin into the machine, the coin slipped and dropped on to the ground, rolling away from him. "Ah!"
Another hand reached the coin before Taisuke did though. "Here you go."
Taisuke blinked at the small boy before him before giving the other a smile. "Thank you!" He took the coin from the other and pushed it in. A few seconds later, he heard his can of juice fall out. "You're getting something too...?" he asked the other boy shyly as he took out his can from the opening of the machine.
"Un," the boy replied and quickly placed in his coins and chose a bottle of water. There was a short moment of silence before the other asked, "You...were doing pretty good at the dancing part."
"Eh?" Taisuke blinked, not expecting a compliment from the other. "You were watching me...? I messed up so badly though and got yelled out..." (5)
The boy nodded slowly, a light blush covering his cheeks. "I still think you picked up quickly afterwards. I'm not good at dancing, so I was watching everyone to see how they do it..."
Taisuke gulped down some juice before leaning a little closer to study the other boy. "Are you good at singing then?"
The boy shook his head. "Actually, I never knew I was coming to this audition..." He tugged on his narrow-ended sweatpants. "I don't exactly want to be here." (6)
Taisuke tilted his head. "Do you not know who sent in the resume for you too?"
Shaking his head, the boy replied, "I have an idea, but I was supposed to be going to baseball practice, and I ended up here..."
"Ehhh..." That made Taisuke felt curious about all the other boys inside the room. Did they all come here willingly or not? Did they want to shine like all the other Johnnys or not? It was hard to tell by just looking. They all looked the same, yet different.
"I'm Kamenashi Kazuya..." The boy gave Taisuke a shy smile.
"...Fujigaya Taisuke!" Taisuke stuck out his hand for the other to shake, deciding he shouldn't be shy.
"Good luck, Fujigaya-kun," Kamenashi said, shaking Taisuke's hand.
Kamenashi's grip was quite firm, a little surprising considering the size of the other, but Taisuke figured it was because of baseball. Kamenashi did mention he was supposed to be going to practice after all. "Good luck to you too!"
They went back to the rehearsal room together, but ended up going in opposite directions, and Taisuke never got a chance to talk to Kamenashi again during the audition.
The next part turned out to be self-appeal time, and Taisuke didn't hesitate and chose to roller skate. Luckily for him, his parents had guessed that there would be a self-appeal time and he had actually brought his pair of skates with him. (7)
When he skating in the middle of the room, Taisuke tried not to pay attention to the other boys, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel his heart swell a little with happiness when he heard some boys whispering about how he was pretty good on skates.
His confidence immediately faltered though when the boy after him started to do backflips, somersaults and more. (8) The boy ended up sitting beside him and Taisuke couldn't help but shuffle over and whispered, "You were amazing! How'd you do all those backflips?" Not to mention the boy was shorter than him, so it made him look even more amazing. (9)
The other boy turned to him and gave Taisuke a bashful smile. "I really like acrobatics."
"Ehh...you should teach me how to backflip!"
"You should teach me how to rollerskate then," the boy grinned.
"Okay!" Taisuke beamed. "Promise?" he lifted his pinky finger for the other to see.
The other blinked before nodding his head. "Promise!" Curling his pinky finger around Taisuke's, he swung their fingers lightly.
When the instructor announced that the numbers of the boys who were accepted into Johnny's Jimusho were being written on the white board, Taisuke became completely distracted and felt his mood completely falling down into a pit when his own number, 31, wasn’t on it.
Lips tugging downwards, Taisuke took off his badge and went up to the staff member who was still writing and asked, "Those who weren't chosen...can go home now, right?"
The staff member turned around and Taisuke suddenly felt like he was being studied and inspected by the other. "Ah, just stay! It'd be a shame if you went back." (10)
Taisuke blinked, "Eh?"
Way too surprised about what happened, it wasn't until he got back home that Taisuke remembered that he forgot to ask the boy who promised to teach him how to backflip what his name was.
1998, late November
Taisuke was tired, completely tired. Searching through his bag, it took him a few moments before he found the towel that his mother had prepared for him. He quickly wiped his face of the sweat as he decided in his mind that dancing really was hard after all.
They apparently had to backdance for a concert (11) very soon, so the rehearsal had been quite compacted. Taisuke wondered if all rehearsals would be like this in the future.
When he felt a sudden weight on his shoulder, Taisuke jumped a little and spun around. "Ah...!"
The other boy - it was the one who was really good at acrobatics - took his hand off Taisuke's shoulder and waved at him. "Hey!"
"You were accepted too!" Taisuke exclaimed.
"So were you," the boy said with a small grin.
Taisuke turned a light pink and scratched his cheek sheepishly. "It was...some sort of miracle that I'm here, really."
The boy tilted his head. "Mh? What do you mean-" Then he realized something. "Ah, I didn't introduce myself yet, right? I'm Tsukada Ryouichi! What about you?" He offered Taisuke his hand.
Taisuke suddenly felt shy for a moment before shaking Tsukada's hand. "It's Fujigaya Taisuke. Nice to meet you." He pulled back in surprise when Tsukada suddenly leaned in closer. "W-what is it?"
"How old are you?"
"Eleven," Taisuke replied as they remained in the position - Tsukada leaning in, Taisuke leaning backwards.
Tsukada stood back up straight and let go of Taisuke's hand. "Oh, me too! I'm turning twelve soon though, in two weeks or so."
"You're just older than me by a year then!" For some reason, Taisuke felt happy because everyone around him seemed older than him, though he was sure there were others around the same age as him. He just hadn't gotten around to finding and talking to them yet. Soon though, soon he'll find them and make more friends. (Not that he minded friends that were older than him, but it was always easier starting with people around his age or younger.)
"Yea!" Tsukada gave Taisuke a shy grin. "We're not close to each other in the formations, but um, you want to walk to the station together later on, after practice?"
Before Taisuke could say anything in addition to nodding his head, the instructor was already announcing that break was over. "I'll talk to you later then!" Tsukada exclaimed.
Taisuke nodded his head and gave the other boy an excited wave before putting away his towel and headed back towards his spot within the formation.
By the end of practice, Taisuke didn't want to move at all. Even though he was considered a sporty boy and played basketball, it still didn't change the fact that dance practices were tiring.
Eventually though, of course, he had to move and it was Tsukada who ended up coming up to him again. "Ready?" the other boy asked.
Wiping away the last of his sweat, Taisuke nodded quickly, "Let's go!"
Bags in hand, they left the room but stopped in curiosity when he heard some commotion behind them. He shared a confused look with Tsukada. Turning around, he quickly spotted the reason for all the excited whisperings.
"T-Tsukada-kun! I-it's Imai Tsubasa-kun over there!" (12) Taisuke's cheeks turned a light pink as his voice went up a few pitches in his excitement.
"Eh, really!?" Tsukada spun around as well, eyes wide. Tsubasa had quickly disappeared down the hallway though, probably hurrying to get somewhere.
Shaking a little maybe from the excitement - ever since he got into the Jimusho, he paid a lot more attention to his senpai-tachi though he already knew them before and learned to admire them - Taisuke reached out to grab Tsukada's wrist and whispered, "Tsukada-kun? When do you think we can be like him? Standing on the stage in the spotlight? Holding a mic? Doing a con-"
Tsukada grabbed Taisuke's hand instead, squeezing tightly. "Don't worry, Fujigaya-kun. We'll make it one day, soon. Maybe even together."
Slowly turning to look at Tsukada, Taisuke's then lips tugged upwards. "Un. Un, maybe even together."
1999, January 4th (13)
Despite the loud music blasting from the speakers and hearing the audience scream for them (or really, for his senpai-tachi), Taisuke was not feeling the excitement at all. Running around, he could almost feel the tears stinging his eyes. (14) Why was this happening? The stage of Yokohama Arena can't even compare to Tokyo Dome's stage where Kinki Kids had their concert, yet he was feeling lost here too! (15)
Taisuke looked around frantically. Where was he supposed to be right now? There were one too many songs for him to memorize, and as a beginner, he felt totally uneasy. Even right before the concert started, he could only stare at the mirror as he tried to recall the choreography.
"This way!"
Taisuke whipped his head around when he heard a voice whisper to him, despite all the screaming around him. That's when he spotted a small boy, waving at him. Blinking, Taisuke decided the best thing to do was to follow the other.
When he went up to the other, the boy whispered, "This song is ending soon, and you're probably over there when the music changes, okay?"
Looking at the other with wide eyes, Taisuke could only nod his head and quickly headed towards that spot. It wasn't until later that he remembered he didn’t thank the other boy.
It was why at the end of the concert, Taisuke pushed through all the other Juniors and tried to find the boy who helped him. He suddenly felt shy when he finally spotted the other. "U-um..."
"Mh?" The boy turned around. "Oh, it's you."
"Thank you for helping me!" Taisuke quickly bowed down. "If it weren't for you..."
"No problem. I'm still pretty new myself," the boy admitted. "I understand the feeling of being lost on stage."
Nibbling on his lip, Taisuke said hesitantly, "I'm Fujigaya Taisuke. You?"
The boy smiled. "I'm Goseki Koichi. Nice to meet you, Fujigaya-kun."
Taisuke beamed, proud to be actually the one who introduced himself first (16), and shook Goseki's hand firmly. "T-thank you again! I hope for the next concert...I won't need your help again..."
Goseki laughed. "Maybe the next time, I'll need help from you instead."
Smiling at the other bashfully, Taisuke wondered in the back of his mind whether Goseki was younger or older than him, considering the other was much shorter than him. (17)
1999, mid-April
Taisuke flicked the bowtie around his neck and made a face. He had never done a photoshoot for a pamphlet before, but he really believed that a suit and a bowtie wasn't the best thing to wear for it. (18)
From the mirror, Taisuke noticed Nakamaru passing by behind him. Making another face, he groaned to himself, "Why does Nakamaru-kun get to wear just a plain white button-down shirt!?" He tugged on his bowtie yet again.
"You know him?"
Taisuke looked up and saw from the mirrow Tsukada standing behind him. "You mean Nakamaru-kun?" Tsukada nodded. "Ah, we did a photoshoot with Akanishi-kun near the beginning of the year. It was for Myojo." (19)
"Nh~" Tsukada made a humming sound. "I remember seeing him at the audition."
"I don't remember everyone," Taisuke said, "but yea, both Nakamaru-kun and Akanishi-kun were at that audition."
Tsukada glanced over at Taisuke's items. "Eh, you have a map? What's it for?"
Taisuke blushed lightly. "Oh that? It's a map to my new house. We moved houses today. I left my old house this morning and I'll be heading to my new house after work! 'kaachan was afraid I'd get lost or something..."
Eyes widening, Tsukada exclaimed, "Really? That's so cool! Have you been to your new house before?"
"Once, but I guess since we moved in now, it'll be sparkling clean by the time I get back!"
Tsukada laughed. "Tell me how you like your new house the next time we meet!"
"I will!"
When Taisuke stepped into his new house though, he immediately made a face and wondered what he should tell Tsukada after all. A lie or the truth?
"It's so dirty!" he exclaimed underneath his breath. Taking off his shoes, Taisuke weaved his way around the boxes lying in the hallway. "'kaachan? I’m back!"
"Ah, Taisuke!" Taisuke heard his mother's voice. "Come into the dining room!"
Sliding his bag off his back, Taisuke wondered if he should tip-toe around the boxes instead. He wasn’t sure which boxes had fragile items after all. Once he got to the dining room, he was surprised to see several take-out menus lying on the table.
His mother gave him an apologetic look. "Dinner will have to be take-out tonight. I've been too busy to actually cook. You want to call Yuusuke down and you two can choose what we eat tonight?"
It wasn't hard to recognize the tired look on his mother's face so Taisuke shook his head. "We don't mind! I'll bring the menus up to Yuusuke's room so we'll have the food here by the time 'touchan gets back!" He quickly gathered up the papers and moved as quickly as he could with the boxes around towards upstairs to find his younger brother.
When dinner ended, Taisuke was surprised to hear his parents telling him and his brothers to say. "Since we moved houses and everything is still a mess right now," his father started, "why don't we discuss as a family where the rest of the furniture and things should go?" (20)
"Unless you have homework to do for tomorrow," his mother added, but Taisuke quickly shook his head.
"I want to help! This includes Ryosuke, right?" Taisuke wrapped an arm around his youngest brother. He may be young, but he's still part of the family!
His mother laughed. "Of course this includes Ryosuke. Everyone will help figure out where things should go, alright?"
Taisuke cheered with his brothers and decided that this was definitely something worth telling Tsukada about. He loved it when his family did things together.
(1) - We all know by now. November 8th was the date of audition as well as the date they joined Johnny's Jimusho for the following members - Fujigaya Taisuke, Tsukada Ryouichi, Akanishi Jin, Kamenashi Kazuya, Nakamaru Yuuichi and Masuda Takahisa.
(2) - Taisuke mentioned in Popolo July 2007 that who sent an application for him was unknown, however, when he first entered and had a magazine interview early 1999, he said that his mom's friend had sent in the application. (It might have been Myojo April 1999, but I'm not completely sure.)
(3) - According to Juniors Spring Concert 1999 which they probably started putting together in April 1999, hence a 5 months difference. Let's just pretend Taisuke probably didn't grow too much within those 5 months.
(4) - Taisuke said it himself in Hyakushikiou, November 12th's episode (or 11th depending on how you name your files). The theme was dance and he said for his audition, they danced to V6's Can Do! Can Go!
(5) - I'm not lying. Taisuke said he messed up at the audition badly and got yelled at by the instructor. This was recently revealed in the special J-web serialization Tono no Inochi for Enbujou'09.
(6) - I'm sure most of you heard of this by now. Kame was supposed to be at a baseball practice but got taken to the audition instead which was why he was wearing narrow-ended pants for practice and he much preferred playing baseball over dancing and singing.
(7) - It's unsure when exactly Taisuke started to learn roller-skating, but for sure he knew how to rollerskate before entering the Jimusho. If you refer to Myojo March 2006, his special solo interview in Jr. Pop! there will be a photo of him in rollerskates when he was young. The fact that he skated during audition though is completely fiction. We can only assume there was a self-appeal corner because there always has been one from what I remember.
(8) - No, I don't know when Tsuka started to learn acrobatics, but he's epic at it, so he couldn't have started that late...? Own assumption, feel free to correct.
(9) - Tsuka at that time was only around 138cm, almost 20cm shorter than Taisuke. Again, it's based on the 99 spring concert pamphlet.
(10) - Second part to the revelation found in the special J-web serialization Tono no Inochi for Enbujou'09. Taisuke (like Jin) actually failed the audition but was told to stay. (The fact that he was no.31 was also part of the entry.) We have to thank that staff member, like seriously.
(11) - The 'upcoming' concerts were Kinki Kids (you might have heard of Kame saying the first concert he backdanced for was Kinki Kids') and the Johnny's Juniors '99 Winter concert.
(12) - On Shokura (April 2008), Taisuke said the first idol he saw in person was Tsubasa, after his first rehearsal.
(13) - According to Wiki, that was the date of the first show of that specific concert (Johnny's Juniors Winter Concert).
(14) - In the Juniors Concert pamphlet 2001, Taisuke said that when he first entered and backdanced for concerts, he felt the stage was very huge and was very nervous and uneasy since he lacked the skills and such. There were times were he was close to crying because he didn't know what to do.
(15) - December 1998 was when Kinki Kids had their first Tokyo Dome concert, starting the tradition of performing day every New Year's Eve and New Year Day. After 10 years, NewS took over that role.
(16) - Not only the personality test proved it, but Wataru also said that Tai-chan was very quiet and didn't speak at all when they first met. This was in Popolo March 2008.
(17) - Again, from that same '99 Spring concert pamphlet, Goseki was 140cm.
(18) - Yes, Taisuke wore a suit and a bowtie for the pamphlet shoot. Same with Tsuka. Same with Jin. You can check k8rgy for the scans.
(19) - Taisuke first appeared in Myojo in their April 1999 issue with Nakamaru and Akanishi. It would have been released late February, hence photoshoot/interview would have been done late January/early February.
(20) - According to Duet May 2008, Taisuke only moved once in his life, and that was when he was in Gr.6. He did not specify exactly when, so I made it at the beginning of the school year. The other facts though - leaving one house and going back to another, thought it would be clean but really dirty, decided where everything would go as a family - these are true and were mentioned in the article. The map part is fiction.
Author's Notes: I'm thinking about moving the footnotes to a different entry, since it can get extreeeeeemely long. If you prefer that, please tell me (especially since I have footnotes every chapter, just depending on how many).
Back to the story though, it's...slow. I won't deny it. This is what I've been wanting to write since last year though. XD; I've always, always wanted to write a fic that included chibi!Taisuke and the idea eventually got really epic. I started collecting information since late last year, but didn't actually write until now because I thought something so epic should be for something special.
This will NOT be finished by Taisuke's birthday which is why it was noted, this will be also for Taisuke's 11th anniversary in the Jimusho, therefore my own deadline to finish this fic is in November. I'm sorry, I'm just not the type to finish epic in 25 days. =(
A lot of research went into this (mainly reading a whole load of articles and such), but I obviously don't know everything (not to mention lazier, when it comes to reading articles outside of KisuMai) and not everything will be based on fact. Feel free to tell me if I got something wrong, especially if it's glaringly wrong. If I twisted a fact for my fic, I would mention in the footnotes. =)
Notes getting way too long, so I'll stop here.
Comments are love and much appreciated~
Part 2a
Author: Shattered Tenshi
Rating: G (rating will change in future chapters)
Fandom: JE
Genre: General (mainly)
Pairing: Taisuke-centric, actual pairings will come eventually
Warnings: None for now, but well, eventual shounen-ai.
Disclaimer: Not mine. This is fiction. Even though I pulled out a whole lot of facts/tidbits to put into the fic, it's still fiction. I never claimed or will claim it to be anything else.
Notes: For Taisuke's 22nd Birthday and 11th Anniversary in the Jimusho. 25 more days until Taisuke's birthday!!
Pieces of Sunlight
By Shattered Tenshi
Part 1
1998, November 8th (1)
Taisuke hugged his knees closed to his chest as his eyes darted around, looking at all the boys that were around him. Some were talking to each other, but most of them were studying each other, trying to figure out just what kind of people were at the audition.
To be honest, Taisuke was still trying to figure who exactly sent in his resume to Johnny's Jimusho. (2) He had been surprised when he received a letter to tell him to show up at an audition, and when he asked his parents, they weren’t sure who sent the resume either. (Actually, it wasn’t until later they realized a friend of his mother sent it in.)
He still ended up at the audition though, obviously. His parents thought it would be a good experience for him, and he decided he wanted to try as well. He didn't hate dancing or singing, and he had watched Johnny's boys, both debuted and not, on his television numerous times, watching them shine as if so far out of reach from him. Now that Taisuke had a chance to try his hand at shining like that, he wanted to do his best.
Taisuke turned his attention back to the boys around him. The noise level seemed to have gone up, but it was probably because introductory interviews were over and everyone was fidgeting, wondering what was coming up next.
Not the shortest among the large amount of boys - he was already 155cm (3) - Taisuke was certain he was one of the younger ones of the bunch though. He wasn't sure if the other boys would pay attention to him, but used to being surrounded by his brothers, Taisuke was feeling more alone that ever and wanted to talk to someone.
He studied the boy on his left, then the boy on his right, trying to figure out which one of them seemed kinder and perhaps would talk to him and keep him company. He somewhat remembered their names from the introductions, but he struggled inwardly to speak out loud. Taisuke wasn't the type to open his mouth unless it was someone he knew well after all.
That's when someone up at the front of the room called for their attention, breaking into Taisuke's trail of thoughts. "Ah, the dancing part..." he murmured to himself. He hoped the dance won't be too complicated and he would do well.
By the end of the dance section, Taisuke had Can Do! Can Go! (4) repeating in his mind over and over again as he tried to regain his breath from doing the choreography so many times. There were two more groups that needed to dance, so he took the chance to go out to the hallway and made his way towards the vending machine he remembered passing by when the boys were led into the rehearsal room.
To be honest, he was sulking. Memorizing dance moves had been a lot harder than he had thought it would be and the dance instructor had actually yelled at him. Should he go home? Taisuke was pretty sure he wouldn't make the cut now. Remembering how his mother had been encouraging him before he left the house though, just maybe, he'll stay for the rest of the audition. He might be able to do something that would change the opinions of the judges on him.
Nibbling on his lip, Taisuke furrowed his eyebrows together as he stared at the collection of drinks, trying to decide on what he wanted to drink. (He wasn't going to think about failing the audition now.) "...apple juice is good..." he mumbled as he pushed one coin, two coins, and just before he managed to push the third coin into the machine, the coin slipped and dropped on to the ground, rolling away from him. "Ah!"
Another hand reached the coin before Taisuke did though. "Here you go."
Taisuke blinked at the small boy before him before giving the other a smile. "Thank you!" He took the coin from the other and pushed it in. A few seconds later, he heard his can of juice fall out. "You're getting something too...?" he asked the other boy shyly as he took out his can from the opening of the machine.
"Un," the boy replied and quickly placed in his coins and chose a bottle of water. There was a short moment of silence before the other asked, "You...were doing pretty good at the dancing part."
"Eh?" Taisuke blinked, not expecting a compliment from the other. "You were watching me...? I messed up so badly though and got yelled out..." (5)
The boy nodded slowly, a light blush covering his cheeks. "I still think you picked up quickly afterwards. I'm not good at dancing, so I was watching everyone to see how they do it..."
Taisuke gulped down some juice before leaning a little closer to study the other boy. "Are you good at singing then?"
The boy shook his head. "Actually, I never knew I was coming to this audition..." He tugged on his narrow-ended sweatpants. "I don't exactly want to be here." (6)
Taisuke tilted his head. "Do you not know who sent in the resume for you too?"
Shaking his head, the boy replied, "I have an idea, but I was supposed to be going to baseball practice, and I ended up here..."
"Ehhh..." That made Taisuke felt curious about all the other boys inside the room. Did they all come here willingly or not? Did they want to shine like all the other Johnnys or not? It was hard to tell by just looking. They all looked the same, yet different.
"I'm Kamenashi Kazuya..." The boy gave Taisuke a shy smile.
"...Fujigaya Taisuke!" Taisuke stuck out his hand for the other to shake, deciding he shouldn't be shy.
"Good luck, Fujigaya-kun," Kamenashi said, shaking Taisuke's hand.
Kamenashi's grip was quite firm, a little surprising considering the size of the other, but Taisuke figured it was because of baseball. Kamenashi did mention he was supposed to be going to practice after all. "Good luck to you too!"
They went back to the rehearsal room together, but ended up going in opposite directions, and Taisuke never got a chance to talk to Kamenashi again during the audition.
The next part turned out to be self-appeal time, and Taisuke didn't hesitate and chose to roller skate. Luckily for him, his parents had guessed that there would be a self-appeal time and he had actually brought his pair of skates with him. (7)
When he skating in the middle of the room, Taisuke tried not to pay attention to the other boys, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel his heart swell a little with happiness when he heard some boys whispering about how he was pretty good on skates.
His confidence immediately faltered though when the boy after him started to do backflips, somersaults and more. (8) The boy ended up sitting beside him and Taisuke couldn't help but shuffle over and whispered, "You were amazing! How'd you do all those backflips?" Not to mention the boy was shorter than him, so it made him look even more amazing. (9)
The other boy turned to him and gave Taisuke a bashful smile. "I really like acrobatics."
"Ehh...you should teach me how to backflip!"
"You should teach me how to rollerskate then," the boy grinned.
"Okay!" Taisuke beamed. "Promise?" he lifted his pinky finger for the other to see.
The other blinked before nodding his head. "Promise!" Curling his pinky finger around Taisuke's, he swung their fingers lightly.
When the instructor announced that the numbers of the boys who were accepted into Johnny's Jimusho were being written on the white board, Taisuke became completely distracted and felt his mood completely falling down into a pit when his own number, 31, wasn’t on it.
Lips tugging downwards, Taisuke took off his badge and went up to the staff member who was still writing and asked, "Those who weren't chosen...can go home now, right?"
The staff member turned around and Taisuke suddenly felt like he was being studied and inspected by the other. "Ah, just stay! It'd be a shame if you went back." (10)
Taisuke blinked, "Eh?"
Way too surprised about what happened, it wasn't until he got back home that Taisuke remembered that he forgot to ask the boy who promised to teach him how to backflip what his name was.
1998, late November
Taisuke was tired, completely tired. Searching through his bag, it took him a few moments before he found the towel that his mother had prepared for him. He quickly wiped his face of the sweat as he decided in his mind that dancing really was hard after all.
They apparently had to backdance for a concert (11) very soon, so the rehearsal had been quite compacted. Taisuke wondered if all rehearsals would be like this in the future.
When he felt a sudden weight on his shoulder, Taisuke jumped a little and spun around. "Ah...!"
The other boy - it was the one who was really good at acrobatics - took his hand off Taisuke's shoulder and waved at him. "Hey!"
"You were accepted too!" Taisuke exclaimed.
"So were you," the boy said with a small grin.
Taisuke turned a light pink and scratched his cheek sheepishly. "It was...some sort of miracle that I'm here, really."
The boy tilted his head. "Mh? What do you mean-" Then he realized something. "Ah, I didn't introduce myself yet, right? I'm Tsukada Ryouichi! What about you?" He offered Taisuke his hand.
Taisuke suddenly felt shy for a moment before shaking Tsukada's hand. "It's Fujigaya Taisuke. Nice to meet you." He pulled back in surprise when Tsukada suddenly leaned in closer. "W-what is it?"
"How old are you?"
"Eleven," Taisuke replied as they remained in the position - Tsukada leaning in, Taisuke leaning backwards.
Tsukada stood back up straight and let go of Taisuke's hand. "Oh, me too! I'm turning twelve soon though, in two weeks or so."
"You're just older than me by a year then!" For some reason, Taisuke felt happy because everyone around him seemed older than him, though he was sure there were others around the same age as him. He just hadn't gotten around to finding and talking to them yet. Soon though, soon he'll find them and make more friends. (Not that he minded friends that were older than him, but it was always easier starting with people around his age or younger.)
"Yea!" Tsukada gave Taisuke a shy grin. "We're not close to each other in the formations, but um, you want to walk to the station together later on, after practice?"
Before Taisuke could say anything in addition to nodding his head, the instructor was already announcing that break was over. "I'll talk to you later then!" Tsukada exclaimed.
Taisuke nodded his head and gave the other boy an excited wave before putting away his towel and headed back towards his spot within the formation.
By the end of practice, Taisuke didn't want to move at all. Even though he was considered a sporty boy and played basketball, it still didn't change the fact that dance practices were tiring.
Eventually though, of course, he had to move and it was Tsukada who ended up coming up to him again. "Ready?" the other boy asked.
Wiping away the last of his sweat, Taisuke nodded quickly, "Let's go!"
Bags in hand, they left the room but stopped in curiosity when he heard some commotion behind them. He shared a confused look with Tsukada. Turning around, he quickly spotted the reason for all the excited whisperings.
"T-Tsukada-kun! I-it's Imai Tsubasa-kun over there!" (12) Taisuke's cheeks turned a light pink as his voice went up a few pitches in his excitement.
"Eh, really!?" Tsukada spun around as well, eyes wide. Tsubasa had quickly disappeared down the hallway though, probably hurrying to get somewhere.
Shaking a little maybe from the excitement - ever since he got into the Jimusho, he paid a lot more attention to his senpai-tachi though he already knew them before and learned to admire them - Taisuke reached out to grab Tsukada's wrist and whispered, "Tsukada-kun? When do you think we can be like him? Standing on the stage in the spotlight? Holding a mic? Doing a con-"
Tsukada grabbed Taisuke's hand instead, squeezing tightly. "Don't worry, Fujigaya-kun. We'll make it one day, soon. Maybe even together."
Slowly turning to look at Tsukada, Taisuke's then lips tugged upwards. "Un. Un, maybe even together."
1999, January 4th (13)
Despite the loud music blasting from the speakers and hearing the audience scream for them (or really, for his senpai-tachi), Taisuke was not feeling the excitement at all. Running around, he could almost feel the tears stinging his eyes. (14) Why was this happening? The stage of Yokohama Arena can't even compare to Tokyo Dome's stage where Kinki Kids had their concert, yet he was feeling lost here too! (15)
Taisuke looked around frantically. Where was he supposed to be right now? There were one too many songs for him to memorize, and as a beginner, he felt totally uneasy. Even right before the concert started, he could only stare at the mirror as he tried to recall the choreography.
"This way!"
Taisuke whipped his head around when he heard a voice whisper to him, despite all the screaming around him. That's when he spotted a small boy, waving at him. Blinking, Taisuke decided the best thing to do was to follow the other.
When he went up to the other, the boy whispered, "This song is ending soon, and you're probably over there when the music changes, okay?"
Looking at the other with wide eyes, Taisuke could only nod his head and quickly headed towards that spot. It wasn't until later that he remembered he didn’t thank the other boy.
It was why at the end of the concert, Taisuke pushed through all the other Juniors and tried to find the boy who helped him. He suddenly felt shy when he finally spotted the other. "U-um..."
"Mh?" The boy turned around. "Oh, it's you."
"Thank you for helping me!" Taisuke quickly bowed down. "If it weren't for you..."
"No problem. I'm still pretty new myself," the boy admitted. "I understand the feeling of being lost on stage."
Nibbling on his lip, Taisuke said hesitantly, "I'm Fujigaya Taisuke. You?"
The boy smiled. "I'm Goseki Koichi. Nice to meet you, Fujigaya-kun."
Taisuke beamed, proud to be actually the one who introduced himself first (16), and shook Goseki's hand firmly. "T-thank you again! I hope for the next concert...I won't need your help again..."
Goseki laughed. "Maybe the next time, I'll need help from you instead."
Smiling at the other bashfully, Taisuke wondered in the back of his mind whether Goseki was younger or older than him, considering the other was much shorter than him. (17)
1999, mid-April
Taisuke flicked the bowtie around his neck and made a face. He had never done a photoshoot for a pamphlet before, but he really believed that a suit and a bowtie wasn't the best thing to wear for it. (18)
From the mirror, Taisuke noticed Nakamaru passing by behind him. Making another face, he groaned to himself, "Why does Nakamaru-kun get to wear just a plain white button-down shirt!?" He tugged on his bowtie yet again.
"You know him?"
Taisuke looked up and saw from the mirrow Tsukada standing behind him. "You mean Nakamaru-kun?" Tsukada nodded. "Ah, we did a photoshoot with Akanishi-kun near the beginning of the year. It was for Myojo." (19)
"Nh~" Tsukada made a humming sound. "I remember seeing him at the audition."
"I don't remember everyone," Taisuke said, "but yea, both Nakamaru-kun and Akanishi-kun were at that audition."
Tsukada glanced over at Taisuke's items. "Eh, you have a map? What's it for?"
Taisuke blushed lightly. "Oh that? It's a map to my new house. We moved houses today. I left my old house this morning and I'll be heading to my new house after work! 'kaachan was afraid I'd get lost or something..."
Eyes widening, Tsukada exclaimed, "Really? That's so cool! Have you been to your new house before?"
"Once, but I guess since we moved in now, it'll be sparkling clean by the time I get back!"
Tsukada laughed. "Tell me how you like your new house the next time we meet!"
"I will!"
When Taisuke stepped into his new house though, he immediately made a face and wondered what he should tell Tsukada after all. A lie or the truth?
"It's so dirty!" he exclaimed underneath his breath. Taking off his shoes, Taisuke weaved his way around the boxes lying in the hallway. "'kaachan? I’m back!"
"Ah, Taisuke!" Taisuke heard his mother's voice. "Come into the dining room!"
Sliding his bag off his back, Taisuke wondered if he should tip-toe around the boxes instead. He wasn’t sure which boxes had fragile items after all. Once he got to the dining room, he was surprised to see several take-out menus lying on the table.
His mother gave him an apologetic look. "Dinner will have to be take-out tonight. I've been too busy to actually cook. You want to call Yuusuke down and you two can choose what we eat tonight?"
It wasn't hard to recognize the tired look on his mother's face so Taisuke shook his head. "We don't mind! I'll bring the menus up to Yuusuke's room so we'll have the food here by the time 'touchan gets back!" He quickly gathered up the papers and moved as quickly as he could with the boxes around towards upstairs to find his younger brother.
When dinner ended, Taisuke was surprised to hear his parents telling him and his brothers to say. "Since we moved houses and everything is still a mess right now," his father started, "why don't we discuss as a family where the rest of the furniture and things should go?" (20)
"Unless you have homework to do for tomorrow," his mother added, but Taisuke quickly shook his head.
"I want to help! This includes Ryosuke, right?" Taisuke wrapped an arm around his youngest brother. He may be young, but he's still part of the family!
His mother laughed. "Of course this includes Ryosuke. Everyone will help figure out where things should go, alright?"
Taisuke cheered with his brothers and decided that this was definitely something worth telling Tsukada about. He loved it when his family did things together.
(1) - We all know by now. November 8th was the date of audition as well as the date they joined Johnny's Jimusho for the following members - Fujigaya Taisuke, Tsukada Ryouichi, Akanishi Jin, Kamenashi Kazuya, Nakamaru Yuuichi and Masuda Takahisa.
(2) - Taisuke mentioned in Popolo July 2007 that who sent an application for him was unknown, however, when he first entered and had a magazine interview early 1999, he said that his mom's friend had sent in the application. (It might have been Myojo April 1999, but I'm not completely sure.)
(3) - According to Juniors Spring Concert 1999 which they probably started putting together in April 1999, hence a 5 months difference. Let's just pretend Taisuke probably didn't grow too much within those 5 months.
(4) - Taisuke said it himself in Hyakushikiou, November 12th's episode (or 11th depending on how you name your files). The theme was dance and he said for his audition, they danced to V6's Can Do! Can Go!
(5) - I'm not lying. Taisuke said he messed up at the audition badly and got yelled at by the instructor. This was recently revealed in the special J-web serialization Tono no Inochi for Enbujou'09.
(6) - I'm sure most of you heard of this by now. Kame was supposed to be at a baseball practice but got taken to the audition instead which was why he was wearing narrow-ended pants for practice and he much preferred playing baseball over dancing and singing.
(7) - It's unsure when exactly Taisuke started to learn roller-skating, but for sure he knew how to rollerskate before entering the Jimusho. If you refer to Myojo March 2006, his special solo interview in Jr. Pop! there will be a photo of him in rollerskates when he was young. The fact that he skated during audition though is completely fiction. We can only assume there was a self-appeal corner because there always has been one from what I remember.
(8) - No, I don't know when Tsuka started to learn acrobatics, but he's epic at it, so he couldn't have started that late...? Own assumption, feel free to correct.
(9) - Tsuka at that time was only around 138cm, almost 20cm shorter than Taisuke. Again, it's based on the 99 spring concert pamphlet.
(10) - Second part to the revelation found in the special J-web serialization Tono no Inochi for Enbujou'09. Taisuke (like Jin) actually failed the audition but was told to stay. (The fact that he was no.31 was also part of the entry.) We have to thank that staff member, like seriously.
(11) - The 'upcoming' concerts were Kinki Kids (you might have heard of Kame saying the first concert he backdanced for was Kinki Kids') and the Johnny's Juniors '99 Winter concert.
(12) - On Shokura (April 2008), Taisuke said the first idol he saw in person was Tsubasa, after his first rehearsal.
(13) - According to Wiki, that was the date of the first show of that specific concert (Johnny's Juniors Winter Concert).
(14) - In the Juniors Concert pamphlet 2001, Taisuke said that when he first entered and backdanced for concerts, he felt the stage was very huge and was very nervous and uneasy since he lacked the skills and such. There were times were he was close to crying because he didn't know what to do.
(15) - December 1998 was when Kinki Kids had their first Tokyo Dome concert, starting the tradition of performing day every New Year's Eve and New Year Day. After 10 years, NewS took over that role.
(16) - Not only the personality test proved it, but Wataru also said that Tai-chan was very quiet and didn't speak at all when they first met. This was in Popolo March 2008.
(17) - Again, from that same '99 Spring concert pamphlet, Goseki was 140cm.
(18) - Yes, Taisuke wore a suit and a bowtie for the pamphlet shoot. Same with Tsuka. Same with Jin. You can check k8rgy for the scans.
(19) - Taisuke first appeared in Myojo in their April 1999 issue with Nakamaru and Akanishi. It would have been released late February, hence photoshoot/interview would have been done late January/early February.
(20) - According to Duet May 2008, Taisuke only moved once in his life, and that was when he was in Gr.6. He did not specify exactly when, so I made it at the beginning of the school year. The other facts though - leaving one house and going back to another, thought it would be clean but really dirty, decided where everything would go as a family - these are true and were mentioned in the article. The map part is fiction.
Author's Notes: I'm thinking about moving the footnotes to a different entry, since it can get extreeeeeemely long. If you prefer that, please tell me (especially since I have footnotes every chapter, just depending on how many).
Back to the story though, it's...slow. I won't deny it. This is what I've been wanting to write since last year though. XD; I've always, always wanted to write a fic that included chibi!Taisuke and the idea eventually got really epic. I started collecting information since late last year, but didn't actually write until now because I thought something so epic should be for something special.
This will NOT be finished by Taisuke's birthday which is why it was noted, this will be also for Taisuke's 11th anniversary in the Jimusho, therefore my own deadline to finish this fic is in November. I'm sorry, I'm just not the type to finish epic in 25 days. =(
A lot of research went into this (mainly reading a whole load of articles and such), but I obviously don't know everything (not to mention lazier, when it comes to reading articles outside of KisuMai) and not everything will be based on fact. Feel free to tell me if I got something wrong, especially if it's glaringly wrong. If I twisted a fact for my fic, I would mention in the footnotes. =)
Notes getting way too long, so I'll stop here.
Comments are love and much appreciated~
Part 2a