Chapter 10 - The Practice
The music stopped playing and everyone's eyes were focused on you and the vocalist
behind you. A drumstick flew past you and hit Ruki who made a squeal and rubbed the spot
where the drumstick had hit him.
"Oh look what the cat dragged in" a black-haired man with a guitar grinned and the
honeybrown-haired guitarist joined him.
"Why if it isn't a chibi" he grinned and the two men high-fived. A sudden outburst
behing them made you all jump at least two feet into the air.
"Where the hell were you? We were all worried sick! You just don't show up, neither you
even call us to say you're gonna be a little late. We had to start without you. You have
no idea how pissed off I am at the moment. Your actions are inexcusable. Where the hell
were you anyway???" the drummer ranted without even breathing and when he stopped, his
face was red from the lack of oxygen and he took a deep breath. The fury in his eyes
hadn't completely left, though. He was staring at Ruki who was shifting on his feet and
kept staring at his shoes.
"Gomen. I was just helping a friend and it took a bit longer than I thought it would.
But I'm here, aren't I? So can we start?" he mumbled and dared to look up at the drummer
who was now relaxed and gave a smile.
"Yeah, sure. Pardon my rudeness, but who is she?" he asked Ruki again but looking at you
meanwhile.
"Shes the friend I was just telling you about. I thought I'd bring her here-"
"She's not a fangirl, right?" the honeybrown-haired guitarist cut in, looking a little
worried.
"No, Uruha, she's not a fangirl. Not that I am aware of, at least" Ruki scratched his
head and laughed at the man who still looked worried as he glanced at you.
"No need to worry, I do like your music and am a girl, but fangirlism isn't me" you
laugh at his expression which softened as soon as you finished your sentence. "Haynes
Miyake" you introduce yourself to everyone and smile.
"I'm Kai" the drummer smiled back. "And that's Uruha. The other dumb-looking one over
there is Aoi" he continued, ignoring Aoi's protest for being called dumb. "And that's
Reita" he finished and the blond man with a bandana covering his nose waved to
you.
"You're cute" Uruha stated as he took a step closer and sniffed your hair. "And you
smell pretty, too"
"Uruha, would you stop harassing the poor girl? You'll scare her like that. Please
excuse my friend" Kai apologized, knocking Uruha on the head with his second drumstick.
Uruha let out a yelp and retreated, frowing at Kai.
"I'm not offended. And I haven't been sniffed before either" you giggle at Uruha's
pouting.
"OI, can she stay for the practice then?" Ruki yelled out, probably from being ignored
for such a long time.
"If everyone agrees, sure, why not. Everyone agreeing raise your hand" Kai asked,
looking around and raising his hand. Everyone's hands were up in the air (Aoi had both
hands up even) so Kai smiled and turned back to you. "That's seddled then, you're free
to stay, Haynes-san. Feel free to sit on the couch and don't hesitate to ask if there's
anything you might need. Everyone, let's get back to work!" he shouted and walked back
to his drums. "Where's my other drumstick?"
"You threw that at me, remember?" Ruki handed the drumstick to Kai. "You know, if you
wouldn't constantly throw them at me, you would't lose them so much either."
"Yes, but you were late" Kai defended himself and looked at the rest of the band. "Where
were we before he decided to join us?"
"I believe we were in the middle of 'The Social Riot Machines'" Reita answered, checking
if his bass was tuned right.
"Oh yes. OK, let's start from the beginning" Kai cheered and clicked his drumsticks
together a sign for everyone to start.
You spent the following hour watching the band play. They were completely focused on
their playing and not a single chord went wrong. Everyone was doing their own thing
while playing - Aoi was spinning, Uruha was taking the maximum out of his guitar and a
smile never left Kai's face while he banged the drums. Reita grinned when Aoi and Uruha
played with their backs together and Ruki... Let's just say he was seriously flirting
with his mic-pole.
"OK, let's take a short break, we'll start again in 10 minutes" Kai decided after a
while and everyone scattered away, probably to have a smoke outside. Ruki flopped down
on the couch next to you.
"Everything's OK?" he asked.
"Hai, everything's fine. It's much more fun than I thought. Your friends are fun to be
around" you smile back at him and he returns the smile.
"Yes, I think they like you too."
"So, why didn't you go out for a smoke?" you ask him and he frowned at the
question.
"Why should I have if you would be left here alone? I'm a bit tired too so I wanted to
just sit down."
"Yeah, I saw what you did to that poor mic-pole" you joked and laughed when Ruki turned
his face away to prevent you from seeing the blush on his face.
"That's just for the show purpose only" he stuttered. "It's not like I do it with a
streetlight when walking on the street."
"I suppose. But fangirls would love it" you giggle at the blush that seems to be only
deepening on Ruki's cheeks. "Ahh, don't blush that much, I'm only joking."
"I knew that" Ruki mumbled but smiled, showing he wasn't offended.
"Alright everyone, enough being lazy and let's get back to work!" Kai shouted as he
entered the room. You could see Aoi, Ruki and Uruha sticking their tongues out when Kai
wasn't looking and tried not to burst out laughing. Reita just picked up his guitar
again and grinned at the rest of the guys reactions.
The rest of the practice went smoothly. The only thing that went wrong was when Aoi
goofed off and improvised on one of the songs and Uruha joined him. Everyone else
laughed when a drumstick was thrown at their direction, not missing it's target as it
hit Aoi's head, causing the man to cry out and pout for a full 5 minutes before he was
laughing again.
"Since everyone did great today, let's just do one more song and then enough for today,
ne?" Kai spoke up after the last note of 'Hyena' died.
"YEAH!" Aoi shouted and threw his fist into the air, earning a deathglare from the
drummer. "Gomen.." he quickly muttered and hid behing Reita in case another drumstick
would fly in his way.
"Nevermind him, Haynes-san, he probably had too much sugar before" Kai sighed.
"Hey, I have an idea" Ruki spoke up. Everyone's attention, including yours, was turned
to him and he stared into your face as he let out the following words. "What about if
Miyake-san picked the last song?"
"Thats a great idea!" Kai beamed another 1000-watts smile of his and turned his
attention towards you once more." What song would you like us to play?"
"Ano... I don't know..." you stuttered and felt a major blush invading your
cheeks.
"Haynes-san, don't be embarrased. I'll try to make it easier for you to decide - what
song do you like the best?" Reita asked and gave you a reassuring smile.
"Ano..."
"Don't be shy, we're all friends here" Ruki patted your back and smiled, giving you
confidence to smile back and answer the question.
"It's 'Cassis', it's just amazingly beautiful."
"Alright, let's play it for her" Kai walked towards his drums as everyone took their
places and the opening notes were played. You felt like you were transfered elsewhere,
that song always had that effect on you. You closed your eyes and let the music carry
you. When the last note hovered off the walls, you still had your eyes closed. You could
hear the men gasping and somebody suddenly sat next to you and you were wrpped in his
arms.
"We're terribly sorry, please don't cry" Ruki's voice said and you flipped your eyes
back open to find Ruki holding you and the rest of the band looking worried.
"I'm OK, really. It's just whenever I hear that song, it has this effect on me. It's so
beautiful" you smile at the men and they seem to calm down. "It's really me who should
be apologizing for making you worried."
"Don't say that, we didn't know about the fact so when you started crying, of course we
freaked out" Aoi explained and took your hand, petting it.
"Yeah, we can't let a cute girl like you cry, can we?" Uruha added.
"Uruha..." Kai groaned and everyone started laughing again.
"OK, let's wrap this up, guys" Reita spoke up and everyone started packing their stuff
together. After they finished, they gathered around you to say goodnight.
"I hope to see you again soon" Uruha hugged you. "And you really do smell pretty."
"Give it a rest already" Kai dragged Uruha away by his collar and Uruha made a sound of
disapproval towards the drummer. "It was nice having you here, Haynes-san" Kai waved you
goodbye.
"Yeah, you should come here more often" Aoi hopped in front of you, causing you to take
a step backwards from the suprise.
"Me too, it was nice to hear you play" you smiled and waved goodbye to Reita who waved
back, smiling.
"Come on, let's go, I'll drive you home" Ruki appeared next to you and you both walked
to his car.
"I hope it wasn't boring to spend that much time with dorks like us" Ruki said as he
started the car and started driving towards your place.
"It wasn't. They're all funny and nice people" you smiled. "But why do I have the
feeling that Uruha tried to flirt with me?"
"Ano, that's because he DID try to flirt with you" Ruki laughed.
"Well, at least he wasn't humping the mic-pole like some of us did" you retorded and
laughed when Ruki blushed again. "Gomen, I didn't want to insult you."
"It's OK, none taken" Ruki replied. "We're here." And with that he pulled over in front
of your house. "Thanks for spending the day with us."
"Thanks for asking me to" you crawled out of the car and started walking towards the
front door when Ruki's voice stopped you.
"If you do't find it too enforcing than maybe we could repeat that sometime?"
You turned around and saw Ruki looking at his shoes again.
"I'd love to" you reply and wave to him as you reach the door. "Oyasumi nasai, Ruki-san."
"Oyasumi, Miyake-san. I'll be seeing you then" Ruki waves back and drives off, but not
before he sees you get inside the house safely.
you know what to do
Hope you liked the update. I really suck at goodbyes, so... Until the next chapter, ne?
PS! I L.O.V.E this piccy of Ruki. Along with the one I used in the 4th chapter of the story, these two are my favourite pics of Ruki-san
< !-- BEGIN CBOX - www.cbox.ws -->
< !-- END CBOX -->
