The night of the concert featuring Night Dreams and Mirage, Hikaru followed Ryuske onto the stage, and froze. The audience stretched before them like an endless sea.
Rin nudged her from behind and whispered, "Keep moving," on the internal line.
Ryuske turned and said calmly on the same channel, "We are going to play just like always." He walked backward, eyes locked on Hikaru.
Hikaru reluctantly stepped forward and said nervously over the internal, "There are so many people, I can't see the end."
Rin laughed and asked, "Are you always staring at the back row Hikaru?"
She nodded.
Hatsuharu commented, "Now we know why the underwear always hit Hikaru when everyone else manages to dodge."
They all laughed at that. It had actually only happened a few times and usually they were aiming at Rin.
Ryuske saw Hikaru's shoulders relax a little, and with relief, he spun and walked to the front of the stage.
They took up their positions and then Ryuske gave the introduction speech welcoming the audience, and introducing Mirage.
The audience's reaction to their first song was a little cool. They were playing only their own compositions for the concert, and most of the crowd had come for Night Dreams. Mirage did have several sections of dedicated fans though, and they cheered wildly to the confusion of the rest of the audience.
Ryuske surveyed the crowd as the last strains died away and then suggested over the internal line, "Let's switch to Mirage next, and move Dancing to the intermission."
Hatsuharu hit the drums and Ryuske almost screamed, "The bright light lies!" at the crowd.
Hikaru thought a visible wave of tension rocked through the crowd. They followed with the usual smooth harmony of the next line. By the time they reached the end, the crowd was ready for the next song, and when they turned the stage over to Night Dreams, the whole crowd screamed back in unison.
Night Dreams played their first set and when they finished over an hour later, they turned the crowd back over to Mirage. Hikaru was a little nervous about following them, but the audience was in a cheerful mood and welcomed Mirage back with enthusiasm.
Mirage played their softer songs, letting the audience rest a little in a mellow mood, and then wound things back up with their last song. Night Dreams took over the stage and the music rolled like thunder across the fans.
Hikaru murmured, "Wow, will Mirage be like this someday?"
Ryuske startled her by leaning in and whispering against her ear, "We're already on our way."
When Night Dreams finished their last set and the audience screamed for an encore, Takahashi called Mirage back out, and together both bands played Akira's last song.
The audience that had been screaming and cheering dropped to a murmur as Hikaru sang, "You're just sitting there watching the sun go down, sinking into the cold ground, while snow lays all around."
They fell as silent as stone when she sang, "And you're thinking that you're all alone, in this garden of stone, you think you're all alone."
And when the bands joined back in on the chorus, it felt like the whole world took a breath at the same time, as they all sang, "This is the land of the rising sun."
It was like a magic spell between the stage and the audience. And it didn't break for Hikaru until they were leaving under the watchful eyes of Night Dreams security staff, and someone called out from the side, "Hitoshi Yuki, are you going to take Akira's place in Night Dreams?"
Hikaru froze and looked for the speaker, but Takahashi wrapped his arms around her and growled, "Don't stop, don't look, just go love."
He bundled her into the waiting limousine, and the other members of the two bands piled in behind them. It was crowded with all of them, even though there was so much room, and Takahashi asked her anxiously, "Are you going to be OK?"
She blinked in surprise, then nodded. "I'll be fine."
Ryuske crammed himself in between Hikaru and the window and said, "Damn, I never thought of that."
"What?" asked Hikaru.
Ryuske looked across her to Takahashi and asked, "Do you think we dare take her home tonight?"
Rin met Hikaru's confused gaze and shrugged. "What happened," he asked.
No one answered and Hikaru asked grumpily, "Why do you think I can't go home? Why did someone call out for onii-chan? What's going on?"
Takahashi still didn't answer right away, but finally he said, "Let's ask your manager what we should do."
Ryuske nodded and called Takeda, who was still backstage with Miri and Hatsuharu's wife where they'd been watching the concert from the wings. Kiri had only been able to watch the first hour and was off at another job across town. Ryuske was obviously frustrated by Takeda's questions as he snapped answers into the phone.
When he replied angrily, "Because they seem to have assumed it was his son onstage tonight. What if we lead reporters to her house, and they realize it's Hikaru, and they publish," he stopped mid sentence when Hikaru pulled his phone away from his ear.
She had finally grasped what was upsetting Taka-ji and Ryuske. "They will realize as soon as they look up Mirage. So what? I don't really want to lead reporters home, but if that one was so unprepared he didn't look up Mirage's info before the concert, what makes you think he's ready to follow us?" Ryuske shrugged and she continued, "And you can't blame Takeda for not understanding, he doesn't even know about how they used to hunt Yuki-ni and I when we were still in grade school."
Takahashi frowned at her with concern as Ryuske apologized and explained the situation more clearly to Takeda. "Hikaru, I'm sorry," he began.
She shook her head and ground her elbow into his side. When he winced she grinned at him and asked lightly, "Sorry you invited such an inexperienced band to play with Night Dreams tonight?"
"Never," he swore.
Ryuske told them as he hung up, "We're going out to dinner at a five star hotel, and then we're all sneaking home one at a time afterwards. Takeda said that he doesn't think most people realize Night Dreams is a local band, so anyone looking for one of you, or Akira's son will assume they can find you at the hotel in the morning when you're off guard. If anyone really even does follow us."
Rin said, "Sweet! I'm starving," and everyone laughed.
--
Kiri joined them while they were still eating. He kept looking at the members of Night Dreams with a kind of startled expression.
Hikaru was about to ask him about it when Rin stood up abruptly and said, "I'm leaving first, I'm late."
"Late for what?" Hikaru asked him curiously.
Rin flicked his long hair back and replied almost shyly, "I told Ami I wouldn't stay out all night after the concert."
Hikaru regarded him with shock. "Ami our fan, who does piercings?"
Everyone looked at Rin with surprise when he answered, "Yes."
Ryuske asked, "Have you been dating her since our concert in the park?"
Rin replied a little defensively, "She's a little different than most women, more confident. She's already been running her own business for several years, and she never acts like she assumes I'm going to cheat on her."
"Cool," Ryuske replied calmly, and ate another bite of his salad.
Hikaru silently gave Rin a thumbs up gesture, though when he'd left she murmured to Kiri, "The confidence of a queen," and he laughed.
Hatsuharu was the next to leave, and then a couple of the guys from Night Dreams.
--
When they got home, Hikaru remembered to ask Kiri about his expression when he looked at the other band's members at their table.
He pulled her close and said quietly, "Watching you eat and gossip so casually with such a famous group makes me afraid I'm going to wake up and find you're completely out of my reach one morning."
She blinked with surprise and protested, "But you work with famous people everyday Kiri."
He laughed unhappily and replied, "Not that famous!" He looked at her, saw her confusion and said more calmly, "It's on a different level Hikaru, Inline has some pretty famous people, but nothing on the level Night Dreams has been standing on for over a decade."
Hikaru frowned at him and then leaned into him and kissed him softly, and when he started to relax into her, she kissed him more deeply and started to unfasten his shirt. When he looked at her warmly, and a little surprised, she grinned at him and whispered, "Better get ready then. We're going to follow in their footsteps."
He laughed a little and then gasped when Hikaru turned him with her hands on his hips and pushed him back onto the couch. She crawled into his lap and asked, "Feel like making out with me for awhile?"
He groaned and whispered, "Gods, for a moment I forgot. Yes."
They kissed and exchanged caresses for a little while, and Hikaru whispered shyly, "Should I do that, since we can't yet?"
"Please," Kiri groaned.
