Kimi dake o
Fire Angel

Disclaimer: No, I don’t own Hyde and I don’t own Gackt. I most certainly don’t own Mana either. Nor L’Arc~en~ciel. Pity that. Pity all of that. :) There’s a lot of things I don’t own, this computer not included. This computer, in an odd juxtaposition, is mine.

Author’s Note: This wonderful piece of art (in my own opinion obviously) is a slashy piece between Gackt and Hyde. Okay, not slashy, just plain slash. It’s as simple as that. Its title means ‘only you’ and is taken straight from a Gackt song: ‘Kimi ga Matte iru kara’. Which is an awesome song by the way. But back to what I was saying, it’s a parallel narrative and therefore may get some people confused. So as a clue: Hyde talks first! And then they swap after that. But if you know anything about either one of them this should be a cinch for you. :) Well, enjoy! Any comments can be e-mailed to ruinfea@hotmail.com :ob  Ciao!

 

I must admit that when he asked me to be a part of his movie I was sort of surprised. Okay, more than that. Really surprised.  

I mean, we’d met before, but only once or twice, and even then we’d never really talked. Sort of a “hi, nice to meet you, bye,” moment. If you’d asked me about him my standardised answer would have been: “Oh yeah, him, I’ve heard of him. Actually, we might’ve met… I can’t remember, sorry. I like his new song though.”

Well, now you can ask me about him and your standardised answer will be floating dangerously between admiration and a dreamy recount of the time we spent together. (And it’ll be hanging precariously on the edge of fantasy as well. My imagination has a habit of carrying me away into the clouds.) Every second word will be his name. And every other word will be me describing something funny he did once.

I swear I can hardly think of anything else. Or anyone else.

Isn’t that awful? I mean, I’m married, I have a kid. And yet I spend all my time dreaming about this other man.

Tell me, God… is that wrong?

~*~ 

I think we’d met each other seven years before or something. So when I called him and asked him to be a part of my movie, well, he sounded more than surprised. The time we’d met before, that one time, it was only sort of a brief introduction by a mutual friend.

“Hey, you’re my friend, and you’re my friend. Shake hands and then I’ll whisk one of you away to meet someone else.” That’s what it was like. Which was a pity because his warm eyes and smile imprinted themselves on my mind. And didn’t leave.

When I saw him on television two weeks later I was surprised to see him fronting a band. Such a good one at that. And gradually his voice that became imprinted on my mind too; so rich and smooth and clear and… and perfect, really. I’ve never heard a voice so wonderful. Not even my own, and I’ve always fancied myself a pretty reasonable singer.

So who else was I going to call? I needed a vampire, someone sexy and smouldering, and yet with a somewhat eternal, childish look about them. I don’t know how, but somehow, he encompasses all these things. It’s an ethereal beauty really. (Man, I wish I knew his secret!) Such ethereal perfection befits him, however. Sometimes he acts like my older brother, sometimes like a little kid who needs to be taken care of. It’s bizarre and yet I love that about him.

I just love him. Full stop.

Which is a little confusing to me. I mean, I’ve kissed other men before, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, kind of cool really, but… love? Love for another man… it’s something I don’t really understand. And yet I’m feeling it, for him…

It would be so much easier if he had been born a woman. So much fucking easier.

~*~

I said yes. I don’t know why, I’m not an actor. Hell, I’m not even a singer but a bizarre twist of fate (being that I wanted to be an artist only I’m colour blid) led me to choose music as a profession. Apparently I’m good at it. Well, Tet-chan says I am. But then, I think his music is three times as good as mine so there you go.

Maybe it was the hope that, because he was starring in it too, well, okay yes I admit that I was thinking this… perhaps one thing would just lead to another and… Or maybe there’d be some sort of semi-homo-erotic scene and we could get our groove on. I don’t know. But there was definitely a part of me that was hoping that. More than hoping. Praying, really.

As it was, anyway, I got to kiss his forehead. Oh yay, go me, crusty old vampire kisses young, handsome man on the forehead, and doesn’t even go in for a proper snog.

What the Hell is wrong with me? I should’ve just grabbed him and ravished him. I don’t see why I didn’t, now.

I’m so pathetic.

~*~ 

When he called me back, and hesitantly said that single, fateful word: “Yes”… I think I jumped for joy for about half an hour… perhaps more. It strikes me as odd, somewhat. I’ve always been the grown up, serious one. When Mana was running around in his schoolgirl dresses and flaunting his frilly knickers, and everyone was positively pissing themselves laughing, I was the one standing there with a mere smile, only allowing the occasional snicker to emerge from my mouth. Even when he sat on me and told me to admire the beauty that is… well… him. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, because, to own the truth, I did. But at the same time I just rolled my eyes and said (in a rather muffled voice due to my position from underneath his crotch), “Mana, get the Hell off of me.”

So when he called, and said okay, he’d do it, and I could barely contain my glee… I should’ve known then for sure that something was wrong. It’s like, you baka, you’ve loved him from the beginning… and that was just another symptom. But for some reason my slow brain had trouble comprehending this. Maybe it’s because I was too busy trying not to conk said brain on the ceiling. (Having an indoor trampoline can be difficult at times when you’re happy – even when the roof of your house is getting close to ten metres high.)

It’s been that way since. I hear his voice and I’m reduced to the mentality of a child. Hell, even talking about him reduces my mentality to that of a child. That interview… God, I will never live that down. I was talking to a thirteen year old girl and we were both freaking out and shrieking because we were talking about him. I mean, really, how pathetic can I be?

Quite, obviously.

Jesus. Now I’m even talking to myself.

~*~ 

The first day on set was tense. I was trying to focus on the script, trying hard not to cry my eyes out because there weren’t any orgies or anything, and at the same time trying to listen to his careful instruction, breathing in his cologne and relishing in his closeness… and praying he wouldn’t realise I was doing just that. I felt like a kid in high school again.

The others would laugh so hard if they knew. Me? The one who has trouble finding love even for his own wife? Who spends his days on tour whinging because all he really wants to do is go rollerblading (or whatever other sport he’s got a fetish for at the time)? Oddly enough, he’s the same one who ended up falling for another man. The same one they’ve known and been friends with for such a long time.

Why is it always me who ends up doing the things they least expect?

I want to tell them, I really do. It feels wrong with them not knowing. After all, they’re like my best friends. But… I worry that Tet-chan would be hurt. Sometimes I think he has a bit of a crush on me. Okay, okay, perhaps more than that. He confessed love when he was drunk… but then again, sake does affect the thinking power of the brain… I think I confessed love for Sakura once when I was drunk, actually. And I mean, he’s a great guy…

…but who can love Sakura when…

Oh God, I’m thinking about him again and I feel like a weak, insipid child. I just want to cry. I thought I was past that crying-for-no-reason stage. (I seemed to be permanently infected with it as a child, really.) I really did think I was past it. And yet…

I just want to call you… I’m rocking my child in my arms and thinking about you.

…There’s something wrong with me.

~*~ 

I’m listening to our song and thinking of him. How lucky am I… to get to write and record a song with the one person I worship above all. (Sorry, respective Gods and Buddhas.) And every time I listen to it I just want to break down in tears. His voice is so… beautiful. So is he. Everything about him is just sheer perfection. I think I mentioned this already. But an image of him is floating around in my head and it won’t go away…

I remember one day, his wedding anniversary actually, we went snowboarding. Or, at least, we were planning to go snowboarding. We ended up sitting in my room, keeping warm, chatting. No, it’s not what you think. Sure, I was poised on the end of the bed, but he was curled up like a kitten in front of the fireplace. (Just between us, he even purred contentedly every now and then!)

I was surprised at first that he chose to spend his own wedding anniversary with me. (Even more surprised when he flopped down in his graceful way, right where he’d been standing, and decided not to go snowboarding, after all.) I was seriously hoping, in that childish and stupid way that I do, that it would possibly mean something.

But when we got accosted by a reporter later on: “And you spent most of the day in his room, is that right?” all he did was stare, calmly and coldly, as if to tell her where to go without words. I did the same, but my stare was more one of pure horror. What she was implying was exactly what I’d been hoping for all day.

~*~  

That reporter… I swear I wanted to put a fist to her head. I’d only been fantasising about the guy all day, trying to keep my emotion in check, keeping myself busy, and then she comes right out with such a ridiculous question. Both of us stared in horror, shocked at the implication. Of course, his brain was more likely on a “how dare she imply such a thing” path, whereas mine was in overload, thinking she was some sort of psychic. She tried changing her tact… but it didn’t really help. I was still feeling guilty, and he still looked visibly affronted.

“I mean… you spent most of the day in his room because… he gets sunburnt easily.”

Well, it’s true, he does. But sunburn wasn’t been the reason I suddenly decided not to go snowboarding, or the reason why I was feeling embarrassed. Of course, the reason for both of these things was my selfishness. Stupid me, thinking that if I locked myself away with him for the day, he wouldn’t be able to resist my charm and he’d just have to jump me.

In the end, he reversed my wishes. He resisted my charm and as a result didn’t jump me.

Dammit.

~*~  

There was another time; I remember it well. We were up at his flat, trying to write the theme song for our movie. I like thinking of it that way: our movie. Even though he gets mad at me when I say that. “It’s not our movie,” he tells me, “you wrote it.”

“And you starred in it,” I’m forced to remind him then. “And you’re co-writing the theme song.”

But he just rolls his eyes and tells me not to be so ridiculous. “‘Moon Child’ was yours, not mine,” he says again. And then goes back to playing his guitar.

He was playing on that particular day, experimenting with chords, seeing which ones would best fit our melody and harmony lines. And I was crashing around on my piano. But I wasn’t having much luck because I kept getting distracted and staring at him. Damn it all to Hell, why is he so fucking perfect?

I couldn’t handle it at the time. He was just watching me with those intense eyes, strumming the guitar with his delicate fingers, his lips curved in a perfect pout. A perfect pout that I was dying to kiss, and kiss, and kiss, and kiss… I was finding it really difficult to resist the temptation. I mean seriously, faced with this man… could you? If he was perched on a bed in front of you, lips pouted, eyes watching, as he played his guitar, frowning every now and then as he changed his chordal tact… could you have resisted? I don’t know what you’re thinking but let me answer that for you… no. You couldn’t. It’s an impossibility: physically, mentally, otherwise. You could not be faced with such an image and simply turn away. It’s more likely to start raining cats and dogs.

So did I kiss him? Surprisingly, no. What I did do, however, was moan, “How can you be a man?!”

I swear I kicked myself after I said that. How obvious do you want to be, I mean, really?! True, it’s what I was thinking at the time… he’s a man, isn’t he? But what does it matter when his smile is a sin, and his eyes are like drowning pools of water…? Why should it matter?

…Sorry, I keep getting off track. Anyway. I was kicking myself, yelling silently at myself – you stupid baka, he’s going to know for sure now…

But he just looked up at me, slight evidence of surprise in those eyes, a half-smile gracing those perfect lips. Then the smile disappeared and he looked old and sad (which was very strange because even at the age of 35 he usually looks like he’s pushing 20, and he’s never, ever sad either!). “I really don’t know,” he said in his quiet voice, before turning his attention back to his guitar.

He didn’t look at me after that.

~*~  

Superlive, 2003. I guess I should be excited, really. I’m performing with the boys for the first time in… well… a long time. We’ve got a new single coming out in a few months, and we’re returning to the stage in what is possibly the biggest event of the year. Superlive! We even get to perform two songs – some are only granted enough time for one. So after much debate, we decided on our new song (obviously) and an old favourite.

The boys are excited.

Tet-chan is jumping around like a caterpillar on marijuana. (A strange comparison, I know, but it’s pretty accurate.)

Ken-chan’s somewhere out the back having a smoke. (Big surprise there. That boy smokes way too much.)

Yuki-chan… he disappeared somewhere. I think he’s trying to pick up a pretty lady. (He’d probably kill me if he knew I called him that.)

Me… I’m wandering from dressing room to dressing room, peering into the gloomy darkness (his door will be unmarked and his lights turned down low, I know this like I know my own name), hoping and praying to Heaven to spot the tell-tale glimpse of his glowing cigarette.

I’m losing hope. Maybe he won’t show after all?

~*~ 

I nearly choke on my cigarette when I see his face staring in at me from the lightened hallway outside. His hands and nose are pressed to the glass, and he’s squinting into the darkness. He looks like a little kid, and for a minute I want to throw open the door and wrap him in my arms and…

But no, it wasn’t meant to be. He doesn’t feel like that, I know. Otherwise why would he still be married? They had a child together, even. When I heard that I think my heart broke. I feel so lonely.

It would be best if he doesn’t see me.

Slowly, slowly, I lower the glowing tip of my cigarette so it doesn’t juxtapose so harshly against the dark room. I lean further back into the shadows, feeling the tears glisten in my eyes as I do so. Dammit, I’m crying again.

His face falls. This must be the last room on his ‘to check’ list. Slowly, he pulls away from the glass and starts to walk away. He stops, glances into the darkness again, and then leaves, shoulders hunched in dejection.

Haido-chan…

~*~  

I stare into that last room for a long time. For a moment I’m sure I see him, but then it’s gone and I know it must’ve just been a trick of the light. So I head back to our (thankfully empty) dressing room, put my head in my hands, and cry.

Where is he? I just want to talk to him… I can’t perform like this! It’s not humanly possible!

Just kill me. Please, just kill me right now…

~*~  

He’s leaving… he’s leaving. Dammit, Hyde’s leaving and I’m stuck here in this stupid, dark dressing room!

So get the fuck out!

I slide my sunglasses down over my crying eyes and make for the brightness of the hallway. Glancing left-right, left-right again. Jesus, I feel like I’m crossing the road or something. But there’s no time to think about crossing roads, baka, you’ve got to find him before it’s too late.

There are tears streaming down my face and wrecking my makeup. I’m going to look fantastic by the time I actually perform, but…

My mind’s wandering again.

Quickly, I set off down the hall, to the right. He headed that way a minute ago but he’s nowhere in sight now. I’m walking fast, almost running, checking the dressing room doors, looking for “L’Arc~en~ciel”, or “Hyde”… or even “Tetsu” so I can burst in and ask him where the Hell his band mate is.

“Utada Hikaru”… no. “Chemistry”… no. “EXILE”… uhh… no. “Morning Musume”… I certainly fucking hope not.

“Laruku”…………

Okay, I admit for a minute the abbreviation shocks me into running right past the dressing room. But a glance inside, even on my swiftly-moving feet, reveals a hunched figure sitting on a chair, face buried in hands. I don’t really know how I recognise him in that instant, but I do.

Oh. Baka. Laruku. Baka, baka, baka.

So I stop and open the door, well actually I back up about seven paces, because I’m still running, and then I open the door. He hardly looks up, not even when I utter his name.

“Tet-chan, go away,” he moans.

What?! Tet-chan?!

~*~  

Tetsu, fuck off before I kill you. Even through my deep, brotherly love, and undying respect for you as a musician, I mean that. Fuck off before I find a knife and really ram it into your back. Not just for play this time, like in that PV. I’m not in the mood to even be spoken to, let alone glomped like you’re a massive worm on dope.

And still, he says my name again. Making it a total of three times. Actually, I suppose it’s interesting he’s not using my nickname, but…

Jesus, Hideto, you think some pretty messed up things at times. Who cares what Mr. ‘I won’t fuck off even when told’ Tetsuya is calling you? The point is, he’s on your back and you’re trying to mourn because…

“Haido-chan.”

…because Gackt is standing right behind you saying your name. And has been for the last few minutes.

It was never Tet-chan at all! (I’ll apologise later.)

~*~  

He stands. Spins on his feet to stare at me. And I see that he’s crying, just like me. Wrecking his make up, just like me. Shaking like a leaf, just like me.

And before I can say anything, he’s smiling, and running, and his arms are outstretched, and he jumps, and I catch him (miraculously, I must admit that his sudden leap was a bit of a shock), and he wraps his arms around my neck and does the strangest of things.

He kisses me.

How long have I wanted him to do this for?! And suddenly he’s doing it and-

Oh. He stopped. Damn.

His eyes are inches from mine, and wide and watery and happy and…

“Gacchan,” he whispers, and kisses me again.

-the world must seriously be falling apart from under my feet because I feel like I’m floating… and for a moment that’s a scary thought and I have to wrap my arms tightly around his waist because I don’t want to fall… but he’s smiling against my lips and stroking the wispy hairs at the back of my neck, and I know he’s not scared so I don’t have to be, either.

So I kiss him back.

~*~  

When I finally manage to disengage myself, we’re both breathing as if we’ve run marathons. And smiling as if we’ve won.

“Missed me?” I ask him playfully, hoping that I won’t burst into tears and look like a complete baka. Then, of course, he looks at me and his blue eyes well up and he starts crying again. (Naturally. So now I look like a cold, insensitive bastard.)

“Of course,” he wails, pulling me back to him, burying his face in my shoulder, his whole body heaving as he breathes and sobs, breathes and sobs. “Of course I missed you, Haido-chan. I love you.”

Consider the cold, insensitive bastard plan failed.

He loves me!

“Gacchan,” I breathe softly, closing my eyes, laying my head atop his and planting a burying a small kiss amongst the coppery-brown hairs that highlight his head, “I love you too.”

“Well,” I hear Tet-chan declare from the doorway, in a mixture of exasperation and glee, “it’s about bloody time.”

 

~Fin~