We Meet Again

By Yumiko Kaze

Chapter One: Serendipity

"Miaka!"

Sleepy green eyes looked up from half done World Religions homework. "Yeah?" she called, attempting to kick herself awake. She glanced at the clock. Wow. Midnight. She was really going to have to stop procrastinating like this; this wasn't just high school anymore. This was college.

"Phone! It's Yui!" Mrs. Yuuki yelled from the living room. Miaka felt a surge of disappointment; she had really been hoping it was Taka. Ever since Miaka had started her senior year of high school and Taka had taken a scholarship to a college overseas, it seemed that she and Taka were drifting further and further apart. They wrote letters to each other constantly, talked over the phone at least once a week, and whenever Taka made it back to Tokyo to visit, it seemed as though he had never left. Most people would have said that their relationship had never been better; In Miaka's opinion, it was leaving a lot to be desired.

As she trudged down the hall to grab the phone from her mother, she frowned. How long had it been since Taka and she had actually gone out and done something fun when he'd come to visit? For as long as she could remember lately it had been strictly work, work, work, for the both of them. In short; not very romantic for a couple who had once moved heaven and earth in order to be together.

And they had been engaged for how many years now?

Three? Four? She'd lost count.

She deftly snagged the receiver from her mother's outstretched hand, "Yeah? Yui what are you doing calling me at this time of night?" Miaka was distantly aware that she had likely sounded rude, but frankly, she didn't much care. She had homework to do. And she was tired.

The tiny sarcastic bit of her brain sneered, Now whose fault is that?

Yui giggled on the other end, knowing her best friend well enough to realize Miaka wasn't really angry with her. "I'm sorry Miaka, but this is the only time I've been able to catch you all day. We were either in class or at work, and when I called around dinner time you weren't home either."

"Yeah," Miaka nodded, "I stayed late at the clinic today; I've never seen so many sick animals in one day. Dr. Jenson even had me help out in surgery since Kara is on vacation." She sighed, the after school job was great, she loved animals, and it helped her pay for her own enormous appetite. "Anyways, you don't want to hear me rant about my day, what did you call about?"

"Um, yeah, about that…" Miaka could just see Yui tilting her head and scratching her hair in the nervous fashion she always did when she was about to ask someone to do something she thought they might say no to. "I won some tickets today at the mall."

Miaka cocked her head, interested in spite of her somewhat half-dead state. "To what?"

"To an Andy Wong concert; have you heard of him? He's starting his tour for his latest CD and he's supposed to be really good. He's Chinese, I think. Do you want to go?" Yui sounded almost as if she were going to beg.

"Yeah I've heard of him. A girl I work with is what you would call 'obsessed.'" Miaka glanced down the hall towards her unfinished homework. She'd be pulling an all-nighter to get it done… but tomorrow was Saturday. Besides, it seemed like forever since she'd spent time with her best friend. "Sure."

"Great! Hey, I've got a third ticket over here, Tetsuya isn't interested in going," besides, Yui thought, it'd be rude to bring my boyfriend when Taka is overseas. "Do you think that girl you work with would like to come?"

"Yeah. You bet she would! You have no idea how much she loves that guy, Yui, seriously, you'll be her new best friend." Miaka laughed, picturing the pretty dark haired girl bouncing around the clinic when she heard the news.

"Did I mention they were backstage passes? After the show is over we get to meet the guy."

Miaka paled.

"Yui. Maybe we shouldn't bring her then."

On her end, Yui frowned, "Why not?"

"Because," Miaka explained, "The girl is going to need a straightjacket."

Well. Yui couldn't say Miaka hadn't warned her.

Of the some-odd three-thousand fans in the crowd, Ayame was most definitely the loudest.

Or maybe that was just because she was sitting right next to Yui and was screaming her lungs out. She winced as Ayame proclaimed her love to Andy Wong for what had to be the thousandth time, Glad I have two ears, 'cuz that one's shot.

It had been like that for the entire concert. Now that the show was winding down, the trio had slowly been making their way to the stage and around back. The girls were checked for any illegal items, after flashing their passes at the bodyguards and had been shown into a sitting room to wait for Andy to finish up with the last song of the night.

Yui claimed the only free space on one of the couches (the rest were covered with boxes and outfits) and so Ayame and Miaka stood, amusing themselves by poking around the room. It obviously doubled as a storage room; judging from the myriad of outfits hanging on racks, and as Miaka fingered one particularly beautiful outfit, she strained to listen to the last song, ignoring Ayame's attempts to sing along: it was a speedy one, with a beat that made your blood pump faster and lyrics that really made you believe in what the music was telling you.

Yui had been right. The man was good.

Miaka couldn't help but be somewhat excited about being able to meet such a talented man with such a beautiful voice. She had immediately fallen in love with his music. Something about it seemed to tug at her heart; it seemed so familiar. She knew she knew that voice from somewhere, and because of that, she had the odd feeling that some of the songs were especially for her. Then again, that's what a songwriter strived for wasn't it?

The seats, having been virtually free, had been in the nosebleed section, even with the titanic sized screen on stage, Miaka still had absolutely no idea what this incredible singer looked like. She had stopped a few people with Andy Wong T-shirts, hoping to see a picture, and was disappointed to find that all his pictures were either heavily shadowed or silhouettes. All the same, she felt a little apprehensive about it as well. What would this Andy guy be like in person? Weren't people like him stuck up and self-absorbed empty-headed jerks? Ayame had informed both Miaka and Yui about everything from his birthday to (shudder) what kind of underwear he wore, (how in hell did people find that out?) but she had yet to mention anything about the person behind the fame.

A techie ran by with a bundle of wires in her arms. "Thank you for being so patient. Just let him get cleaned up first and then we'll let you four have your little night out. How's that?"

Yui and Miaka smiled and thanked the girl, while Ayame bounced in excited anticipation. Miaka went back to snooping through the expensive clothes, trying to decide whether or not Andy would be a snob.

Miaka was just betting herself that he was an dumb drug addict with more good looks than he knew what to do with, when a voice snapped her out of her somewhat bitter thoughts. "Sorry I'm late," she heard the curtains rustle and Ayame squeal.

Andy smiled charmingly at the dark haired girl that, he assumed, had had far too much caffeine before being allowed backstage. Please God, don't let all three of them be like that… He had nearly gone deaf out there on the stage. He was not looking forward to having an encore experience. Glancing over at the other two, he breathed a mental sigh of relief. Two sane ones out of three wasn't bad. In fact, it was better than he usually got. "One of the techies thought it'd be funny to lock me in my dressing room with this," he produced a somewhat abused looking mop. Yui guessed it had been used to jamb a door.

Upon hearing Andy speak, Miaka had turned, still slightly more interested in the outfits than in listening to Ayame fawn over the poor singer. In the instant she had seen his face Miaka felt her heart give an odd sort of leap before hammering away at her ribs like a crazed inmate on steroids. It can't be… It it's impossible… Isn't it?

Palms sweating slightly, Miaka had taken a step foreword; she wanted to see if this apparition was real. To touch him and make certain that it wasn't just her imagination playing some cruel trick on her.

Hotohori?

AN: It's been years since I've looked at this and now that I'm done with college and everything I thought I'd go through and fix a few grammatical errors and typos. While I was at it I tweaked a couple of lines. I have a feeling later chapters may end up with more changes that this one. (Updated 7-18-10)