“What?” Miyu blinked at Gackt before the soloist pulled her towards her closet.
“Let’s get you ready…” A loud yelp came from Miyu.
“I-I need a shower!” Miyu claimed and Gackt paused before letting her go.
“All right- but your clothes to wear will be on the bed… I’ll be in the living room.” Miyu gave a slight nod before nearly fleeing into her bathroom. Gackt gave a slight sigh and continued over to Miyu’s closet.
Miyu quickly shut the door and turned the water on- taking a seat on the edge of the shower. Her fingers dug into the grout of the shower and her eyes closed in an attempt to slow her heightened breathing. “…fuck… fuck… this is so weird… He’s stalking me almost…” She paused slightly before getting up and locking her door. “Heh…” Miyu gave a weak smile at her actions before quickly and quietly beginning to undress. A soft knock at the door made Miyu jump enough to grab a towel- attempting to wrap it around her.
“Mi-chan, your clothes are on the bed- you’ll have to tell me more about your Sister though. I’ll be in the living room…” Miyu’s breathing heightened even more for a second.
“All right…” She shivered slightly as she heard the soloist walk away. “…creepy… but…” The woman could feel herself blushing as she quietly let the towel drop and got into the shower, the hot water running over her body. Why does he care so much like this… he doesn’t owe me anything…
Miyu stepped out of the shower about half an hour later and quickly dried off before pulling the towel tightly about her. She took a deep breath and opened the door carefully before quickly darting over to the bed and getting dressed in the clothing- biting at her lip before she dried her long hair off a bit more. She quickly got a bit more ready before finally leaving the room.
“Mi-chan… You look nice…” Miyu blushed immediately, glancing down at herself, seeing simply a dark pair of jeans with a couple of chains and a dark vest-like shirt.
“Ah… thank you Gackt-san…” Miyu nervously bit at her lip before giving a slight smile. Gackt gave a soft smile in return, standing with his arms crossed behind his back.
“Gacchan, please?” The soloist requested and Miyu blinked slightly before nodding softly.
“I-I can try…” Miyu murmured out and Gackt gave a slight nod.
“That’s all I can ask for…” The soloist pulled a couple of pictures out from behind his back in a slight movement. “So your Sister used to have long hair?” Miyu stared at Gackt with wide eyes before they narrowed.
“You went through-“
“No- I’m being completely honest when I say they were sitting on top of the guitar case…” Gackt scratched at his head slightly before Miyu gave a slight gasp- running over and grabbing the photos.
“I was supposed to scan and send them to her!” Miyu skidded to a stop at the doorway to her room, “but… we… have to go…”
“In an hour.” Gackt nodded, “Go ahead and send the files to her.” Miyu bit her lip but disappeared from Gackt’s sight- leaving the soloist to give a deep sigh and sit back down on Miyu’s couch. He gave a slight smile after a second as he heard Miyu cursing at the computer in English.
Miyu quickly fell silent- remembering the music artist in the other room. Fuck- he must think I’m an idiot… The woman quickly logged onto her computer and moved her chair over to her scanner, beginning to place the pictures on it. She quickly got done arranging the pictures and moved back to her computer- clicking on the Internet Icon and going to her e-mail as she brought up her scanner on the computer. There was a pause and a shudder before it began scanning. Miyu ignored it and went back to her e-mail page- signing in as the scanner showed her the pictures and Miyu played with a couple of the settings before scanning again- not happy with the first scan. As she pulled up a new message to Syra- the scanner came up a second time. Miyu bit at her lip before opening the scan in a new program- turning a second monitor on and moving it to that one before typing a bit on the e-mail.
‘Sorry- I forgot to send you these pictures until now. I haven’t had a chance actually. Here they are though.’
Miyu gave a deep sigh before moving back to the second monitor and playing with the picture a bit more before saving it and taking all the pictures out of the scanner and putting a new set in. As the scanner ran again, she went to her first monitor again and added the first scan as an attachment. The chair rolled across the floor as she looked at the new scan and thought before opening it in her editing program. She fiddled with the contrast and brightness for a second before saving it and adding it as an attachment to the e-mail again and sent it.
A slight smile came across Miyu’s face as she spied one of the pictures. She used her second monitor to zoom in on it. Her sister- with long brown hair at that time- was looking up at the camera with a surprised and dumb look while Miyu- her hair tied back on one side and almost white colored and an arm around the older woman’s neck, holding a peace sign up. Across Syra’s lap was her, new at the time, 5-string bass- an old ESP that could’ve been a precursor to the Bardic models. Miyu stared at the microphone in her one hand before giving a deep sigh.
“How long ago was that?” She heard Gackt ask and Miyu whirled in her chair in surprise, eyes wide. Gackt was standing in her doorway- able to see the screen perfectly- with his arms crossed.
“Um… a really long time ago…” Miyu quickly turned around and exited out of the editing program.
“I didn’t see that one… It almost looks as if you were going to perform a piece of music…” Gackt spoke quietly and Miyu bit down on her lip- eyes closed. “You played guitar with Syra?” Miyu gave a soft sigh of relief.
“You could say that… she’s actually a bass player. And that picture was just something we decided to take randomly,” Miyu turned and smiled at Gackt as her computer began shutting down, “just to make fun of Syra’s facial expressions.” There was a pause before Gackt gave a smile.
“That’s quite mean of you.”
“Yeah.” Miyu got to her feet, picking all the photographs up. “That’s why we only did it once- she nearly hit me with that bass on her lap afterwards.” A low chuckle escaped Gackt as Miyu moved to put the pictures away.
“How many times has she cut her hair?” Miyu paused as she shut the closet door.
“Probably… once in high school… a second time for college- kept it short… dyed it blond once… grew it out and it had blond tips…” Miyu paused as she caught Gackt blinking at her. “Um… sorry… ah… maybe four times- not including this one time she let it hit her shoulders before cutting it.” Miyu quickly counted on her fingers again before nodding, “Yeah- that’s right. I think she’s decided to grow it out again though…” Gackt gave a shake of his head.
“The only other person I know that likes to do that is Hyde-kun… and he’s growing his long again as well if I remember correctly.” Gackt gave a smile. “Maybe they would get along.” Miyu gave a slight snigger with a smile.
“Maybe they would.” Miyu paused before biting at her lip nervously and Gackt checked his watch.
“We still have a while before we go…” Miyu glanced towards the window to see that it was already dark outside.
“Really?” Miyu asked and Gackt gave a slight nod.
“Unless you wish Miyavi-san to bring more people than necessary and Sugizo-san to feel late and not…” Gackt gave a slight smirk, “pretty enough.” During a slight pause, Miyu gave Gackt a quick once over- making the soloist blink. “What?”
“Nothing.” Miyu quickly answered with a smile and slight blush. Gackt raised an eyebrow slightly before smiling and gesturing that Miyu should lead the way to her living room. Miyu quickly darted past Gackt and glanced back at him almost worriedly before moving over to a chair- Gackt taking up a spot on the couch.
“Ah! Sumimasen Gackt-san- do you want something to drink or anything?” Miyu looked almost horrified at herself before Gackt shook his head.
“I’m fine- you can go get yourself a drink if you want though.” Gackt gave a slight smile but Miyu shook her head.
“I’m all right…” She picked at lint on her pants leg for a second nervously.
“So what made you two split?” Gackt asked and Miyu froze slightly before staring at Gackt.
“Eh?”
“I assume that you and your Sister lived in the same place for a while… what made you two split so far?” Gackt tilted his head slightly- eyes dark with curiosity and causing Miyu to see that his eyes were gray now- instead of the earlier blue.
“Ah.” Miyu smiled in relief slightly, “Work… that’s all… She got a better job in LA and I got to come here.” Gackt gave a slight nod of understanding.
“Because more Graphic Artists are needed here and programmers go where the pay is good.” Miyu gave a nod in response.
“And LA paid better.” Miyu paused before frowning, “but… they work her like hell- threaten to fire her and think their lead programmer is God. He’s really worse than Syra… by a lot but he’s been there for a while and… eto… he’s a man on top of that…” Miyu bit at her lip for a second.
“She gets a lack of respect because she’s a woman than?” Gackt’s eyes were still dark as Miyu nodded. The soloist shook his head, “That’s not fair.”
“If they’d realize that she is a better programmer, they’d be so much better off. Like I said- programs dance for her.” Miyu smiled, “She still can’t work Photoshop really good though.” Gackt gave a slight smile in return.
“I’m not surprised- look at your job Mi-chan.” There was a slight pause. “What made you become a graphic artist?”
“Ah…Same thing that had you become a vocalist… Someone said “Here- you try” and I liked it and was good at it.” Gackt tilted his head a bit at her reference but gave a slight nod.
“I suppose that can be true in some cases… What about Syra?” Gackt raised an eyebrow as Miyu began laughing. “Ah… Did I say something incorrect?”
“No- not at all… It’s just…” Miyu shook her head, “She changed so many times that it wasn’t funny.” Miyu gave a soft giggle again, “When I first talked to her- she wanted to be a vet, then it was an unknown, then it was a geneticist, then she changed to programming video games… she had an idea in there for a bit of being a bassist for a major label but she focused more on school.” Gackt gave a slight nod.
“I can understand that…” The soloist’s voice was soft.
“She just believed that it wasn’t enough, thus why she kind of gave up. She keeps her skills up though and she plays bass for random bands that need it as long as it doesn’t conflict with her schedule.” Miyu smiled, “She’s careful about getting the younger folks hopes up about keeping her, she never matches them. If they’re punk goth- she wears blue jeans and a T-shirt, if they’re between, she’s Visual Kei, if they’re normal, she’s goth.” Gackt raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sure that’s created problems.”
“Hell yeah,” Miyu giggled, “This one guy decided to call her out about it onstage like she was one of his band members. It was a normal, semi-punk band, so she was dressed almost like a mix of Tetsu-san of L’Arc~en~Ciel and Toshiya-san of Dir en Grey.” Miyu paused a second, “Well maybe a bit more gothic but anyways,” Gackt gave a soft smile at her, “He started in on her after one song, apologizing to the audience about their one band member’s poor appearance. She calmly walks up to him, bass and all and simply states, “I don’t join your group permanently- in fact, I don’t even have to be here,” and walks offstage after gathering her stuff up.” Miyu bit at her lip as she saw Gackt’s face.
“Onstage?”
“Yes, onstage.”
“The band leader?”
“Yes, she spoke to the band leader.” There was a long pause.
“I applaud her for that, I’ve seen larger artists that were stand-ins take things like that from the group that they are helping from the goodness of their heart.” Gackt gave a deep sigh, “but it must’ve messed her career up…”
“Not at all, actually,” Miyu smiled, “It boosted it when they figured out that she was a girl.” The odd look of shock and surprise on Gackt’s face made Miyu laugh again.
“Figured out?” The soloist echoed.
“Yes- figured out.” Miyu was still giggling softly.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Actually- she’s very androgynous. Probably mainly because she acts like both a guy and girl but more so the guy side on stage.” Miyu continued smiling as Gackt gave her a look of disbelief. “I’ll go get a picture- I swear.” Gackt smirked.
“We’ll see.” Miyu smiled back and disappeared into her room- returning quickly with a set of photos.
“Here.” Miyu had picked one out and gave it to Gackt. The soloist let his gaze flit across the picture and there was a dead silence for a minute. Gackt glanced across the people on stage- realizing that none of them had instruments. The first person had bright reddish-pink hair, blue eyes, and was dressed like a punk, spikes, wristbands, and chained pants. The second was also a punk but with different aspects, spiked blond hair, goggles on their head and slightly brighter punk clothing that brought their grey eyes out. The third also had blue eyes but black, layered, longer hair that had stripes of red and blue on one side and a rainbow stripe on the other. The fourth was also wearing punk-type pants, chains and spikes hanging off of them and dark hair too, layered but spiked at the same time in the back, a slightly whitened face and a couple of red feathers in their dark brown hair.
“Hmm… I know that three of them are men- but I have two guesses for her…”
“Yeah… She wasn’t feeling that well that day though.” Miyu smiled again. Gackt paused before smiling himself.
“This one.” He pointed at the last person.
“Ah… sorry- this is her.” Miyu pointed at the first person. “It’s really bad temporary dye- you can even see her roots if you look close enough… and the binding she uses for her chest… I think it was a hide or Sugizo tribute.” Gackt was staring silently at the picture. “W-what’s the matter?”
“That’s a guy.” Gackt pointed at the red-haired person.
“That’s a girl- my Sister.”
“No…” The soloist seemed to be in a state of disbelief.
“Yes.” Miyu showed him another photo of the punk/VK guyish Syra playing bass. “This one would’ve given it away, sorry.”
“No… that’s not… That… eto…” Miyu began getting worried.
“Gackt-san… are you all right?” The soloist paused for a while before nodding.
“Y-yes..”
“I’m sorry she threw you off so much…”
“It’s all right…” He handed the photo back with a partial, soft smile, “And it’s Gacchan.” Miyu blushed slightly.
“Ah… gomen…”
“It’s all right.” Gackt glanced at his watch, “I should show that picture to Miyavi actually- but we have to begin leaving.” Gackt moved to get to his feet.
“This is a copy- I can drag it along. There’s another shot in an album.” Miyu got to her feet- looking ready to go with the picture in hand.
“All right.” Gackt glanced up and down Miyu. “Don’t… you need some things?” There was a pause before Miyu simply walked over and got her wallet before suddenly jogging back into her room for her phone. She reemerged patting herself down.
“Where are they?” The woman murmured to herself before she was handed her keys by Gackt. “T-Thanks Gackt-san…”
“They were on the couch and it’s Gacchan.” The soloist gave her a smile and began towards the door.
“T-Thanks… I apologize for being so forgetful.” As Miyu spoke, she attached the keys to a chain on her pants and ran into Gackt at the end of the sentence. “Ah! I’m so sorry- I wasn’t looking- I thought that you had…” There was a short pause in Miyu sentence. “Are you…” Miyu kept watching Gackt’s face silently, “…all right?”
“Do you… dream often?” Gackt suddenly asked and Miyu looked extremely caught off guard.
“Well… um…what?” Miyu glanced towards the propped open kitchen door where Gackt was staring almost trancelike before he appeared to come out of it.
“Nevermind- it’s nothing.” He smiled, “Let’s go and don’t be so hard on yourself.” Miyu nodded, still lost and off guard and followed the soloist out the door and locked it behind herself.
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