III
The next morning was blurry as if it were nothing short of a dream. Gackt found Anita still next to him. He was pleased to be able to wake up and just have her there. He got up slowly and cautiously trying now to awaken her. His first thought was to make breakfast. He got out eggs, bacon, sausage and pancake mix. Cooking them all at the same time he could smell them and almost feel them going down his throat to his empty tummy. Anita came in stretching her arms to the ceiling.
“Mornin’ baby,” she said in her raspy voice.
“Oh, good morning. I didn’t wake you did I?” he hoped.
“As long as I get some of that, I wouldn’t care if you set me on fire to wake me up,” she laughed.
“Oh Anita, don’t think such things,” he said giving her a warm kiss on her lips.
“After spending fifteen years cooking for someone else, it’s nice for someone to cook for me,” Anita smiled, “Thank you so much,” she said giving him a kiss. She sat down while he fixed their plates and placed them on the table. They began to eat quickly.
“I’m gonna take a shower and head out after eatin’,” she told Gackt.
“Where will you be heading out to?” Gackt asked.
“Nowhere, Mr. Nosy,” she said.
Gackt rolled his eyes in a playful way.
“I need to take one as well,” Gackt stated.
“Would you like to go first, honey?” Anita offered.
“Well, why don’t we just take one together?” Gackt suggested. Anita choked on her orange juice and placed a hand over her heart. “Are you serious?!” she asked in surprise.
“Well, why not?” he asked almost offended.
“I’m not sayin’ no, suga, I’m just curious as to why you would want to,” she laughed.
“. . .” Gackt was blank, “I have really good shampoo,” he began already making her laugh, “I have to make sure that people who use my shower don’t waste it,” he assured.
“Okay, okay, you win,” she said. She got up and grabbed his hand and guided him to the bathroom. She got a few towels fro them and shut the bathroom door behind her. She threw the towels down and began to get undressed quickly.
“Shower, or bath?” Gackt asked.
“Shower,” she requested.
Gackt turned the shower to make very warm water present. Without Gackt knowing, she jumped in the shower while he turned away from the shower, just missing her. He smiled at her nervousness and got undressed himself. He was cold and shivering. He quickly jumped into the shower as well. Anita’s eyes became large. Gackt had already begun washing himself with a newly opened bar of soap. Anita swallowed and her mouth began to slowly drop to her neck. Gackt opened his eyes after cleansing himself all over to see Anita’s frightening look.
“What’s wrong?” Gackt asked her worried as ever.
“I’ve . . . “ she stuttered, “I’ve just . . . I’ve just never really observed you before . . .” she said sluggishly then grabbing his ribs and rubbing her thumbs over him gently, her fingernails gently scratching him, “You’re . . . flawless,” she said to him lightly feeling his stomach.
Gackt got chills. He had been touched like this by friends, family, students and even teachers but not by Anita. With Anita it felt different. He wasn’t sure what he like about it so much by the knew that he liked it.
It finally registered to Gackt’s mind that the look Anita had given him wasn’t shock. It wasn’t fright. It was lust.
“Boy, you’re hot!” she laughed and grabbed the soap from Gackt and began to cleanse herself. He watched her and realized truly that she is a woman and he is a man. He gave her a hug and held her for a while. Of course, she laughed.
“What happened to you, honey,” she teased.
Tears began to fall down his face. He held her head close to his chest and kissed her head.
“I love you, Anita,” he said lifting up her chin. He kissed her softly.
“I love you too, baby,” she said to him flicking his nose. When Anita would do this, Gackt would flinch about four times reminding her of a puppy she once took care of. She did this to him often. Gackt was always caught by surprise.
“I want to make sure I don’t take advantage of your shampoo,” she laughed handing the bottle to him, “Will you?” she demanded more than questioned. He did as she said and began to wash her hair. When hers was washed, she began to wash his.
“Anita?” Gackt called.
“Mm?”
“Really, where do you have to go?” he asked childishly.
“You need to know everything don’t you?” she said sternly, “I’m meeting with Brenda. She says she needs to talk to someone other than that man of hers or else she’ll go crazy if she hears anything more about sports.”
“Oh, I see,” Gackt drifted bluely.
“Rinse,” she conveyed, “What’s the matter, baby?”
“Oh, nothing,” Gackt implied.
“I think I know you better than that, Gackt, now tell me,” she demanded.
“I just . . .” he hesitated, “I was feeling a little stingy and wanted to spend the rest of the day with you,” he said smiling and hoping that he wasn’t sounding rude.
“I am a bit tired now,” she communicated, “I may tell her I’ll meet her in a couple uh’ hours,” she added.
Gackt grinned. He didn’t like to keep Anita from other activities but her knew he really wanted her to stay, even if just for a small while. They both stepped out of the shower and dried themselves off with the small towels.
“Oh, I don’t feel like doing anything right now,” she moaned.
“You don’t have to,” Gackt moaned mimicking her, “You don’t even have to walk,” he stated in an optimistic voice, then swooping her off her feet, carrying Anita down the hall to his bedroom. She snickered the entire time. He laid her gently upon the bed and cuddled her bare body to his. He smelled her hair.
“You smell like me now,” he giggled in her ear. He heard her laugh through he sighs. Gackt felt a true blessed feeling. He was so chipper to have Anita there without his biological family tearing it up by telling her to clean, cook, scrub, sweep, shine, fix, wash or dust something or telling Gackt to leave because it would make them more happy.
Gackt heard a knock on the door but he didn’t want to leave Anita alone. He was afraid of what would happen if he did. He always had to answer the door though. He always expected an emergency when someone knocked on his door or called him more than once on his cell phone.
“Go answer the door, Anita,” Gackt mumbled.
“It’s your house,” she said, “You answer it.”
Gackt forced himself out of bed and dragged his feet to the door and answered it rubbing his eyes. He knew it would be bright and he was correct. He squinted to see a woman looking down at a clipboard with a package under her arm in a tan uniform with a mid brown ponytail feeding through a black hat.
“Mr. Gah . . .ck . . .t?” she said then looked up from the clipboard.
“Oh!. . .” she said looking away from him, “I have a um,” she coughed, “Small package for you, I mean not . . .” she handed him a pen and the clipboard still looking away from him. Gackt’s face turned beet red at her embarrassment. He his the bottom half of himself behind the door and signed his name on the paper he was given. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten he was naked. He handed it back to the young woman and took the package from her. He beamed.
“Have a nice day,” he said quietly but clearly.
“I did, I mean, I will,” she said chuckling as she left.
He shut the door and sighed out of chagrin. He looked at the package wondering who it was from. He looked at the name. It said, Ms. Hsu on the package. The name Gackt didn’t recognize. He figured it would’ve been a package for his biological family. He decided to open it anyways. Anita flew out all clothed and grabbed her purse.
“I gotta go, love you,” she kissed him and flew out the door.
“Wait!” but Gackt was too late and wasn’t ready to run out naked in daylight.
He got a knife from the silverware drawer and cut the tape from the package gently. He lifted the flaps and pulled out a black trench coat.
“How did . . .?” He then remembered the woman on the bus. The one who became angry with him. He wondered how she’d gotten his address. Gackt heard another knock on the door. He rushed to the door and opened it.
“Hi! I came by to . . .” Jason stared at the middle of Gackt’s body and tilted his head to the side still staring. Gackt shut the door quickly, “Dammit!” he whispered, running quickly to his bedroom. He put on a pair of blue jeans as fast as he could manage. His heart was beating quickly and he wasn’t sure why he thought Jason would think differently of him. He answered the door and looked down at the cream tile.
“May I have some?” Jason asked with a smirk.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, get in here,” he pulled Jason in and closed the door softly.
“I have to be as work in 30 minutes,” Jason said.
“Then why did you come over?” Gackt asked sassily, “I don’t think any of your clothes or anything is over here, Jason,” Gackt said looking around.
“Oh, are you talking to me?” Jason asked, “My name isn’t Jason Hayashi. . . It’s Yoshiki Hayashi!” he said proudly holding a paper to Gackt’s face.
“What’s this?” Gackt asked.
“Just all the legal mumbo-jumbo.”
“That’s why you came over?” Gackt asked annoyed.
“Aren’t you happy for me?” Yoshiki said with a hurt look on his face, “Why are you being so mean?”
“I’m sorry, I’m just tired,” Gackt stated.
“Well, sleep,” Yoshiki said bluntly, “Well, off to bag groceries.” He gave Gackt a gentle kiss and hug and left out the door.
Gackt sighed and sat upon his couch. It was quiet. It was so quiet that Gackt could hear himself breathe. He didn’t know when Anita would be back and he was feeling lonely. He looked through the cleat glass door on the right of him. He gazed as the pool and how it glistened. Gackt felt like going somewhere so he could observe nature in another area but he was too tired to drive. When he was too tired to drive, he would ride a bus, but he did not have a bust schedule, even if he had, he’d be too tired to walk to the bust stop. He decided he would observe nature and everything else in his front yard. He got up and stepped outside in his bare feet and stepped out of the shade and into the sunlight. The sun’s rays felt radiant on his skin. His back, chest and stomach were warmed within seconds. The sunlight was relaxing to his body though irritable to his eyes. The green grass was cold on his feet and the wind blowing was cool and welcomed. In the upper left corner of his year, there was a large patch of dandelions, swaying meekly in the breeze. Gackt was disrupted by a distant ringing. He followed the noise to the middle school, Doctuore Middle School, and glanced at his watch, 3:00. They must be getting out soon, he though. He say in the grass with his legs stretched out in a V shape in front of him. He enamored watching the children scurry from school to their homes and with their friends. He could see them coming out and walking toward him. The school 10 yards away was, it seemed, almost empty. He watched them walk on the sidewalk in his direction. He saw one girl with long black hair that traveled down her face. Her head was down and she was walking quickly trying not to approach anyone. He saw another group of girls with pony tails as high as they could hang, laughing and talking on their cell phones. He saw another group of boys teasing and playfully bullying each other by punching and shoving. They all stopped in the middle of the street in front of his home. Gackt tried not to stare. The three of them began whispering between each other. Gackt began watching another student to distract himself from the other boys. He watched a short black-haired boy walking and looking at the sky and the trees. He looked like he was enjoying himself. He had a light smile on his face. It seemed as if he were observing the clouds. Holding his books tightly to him he walked still looking upward. Gackt smiled watching him and his eyes twinkled with innocence. Soon after, his smile was not present and his eyes clouded with worry.. The boy had tripped and fallen to the ground. The boys laughed hysterically but Gackt ignored them and got up. He ran to the child and helped him up. He got on his knees and brushed the child off. He looked the child in the eyes, almost in tears.
“Are you okay?” Gackt asked sincerely.
The child looked in his eyes and smile. Gackt got up off the ground and rustled the young one’s hair. He walked away slowly. He felt the warmth of someone’s hand that tugged on his arm a bit to Gackt Gackt’s attention. Gackt grinned and looked down at the small boy.
“Yes?” Gackt responded to his tugs.
“Can I sit with you?” the boy said quietly but loud enough for Gackt to ear, which wasn’t a noise at all, it seemed. Gackt gripped the child’s hand tightly and guided him to his green front yard. They both sat down quietly and the group of boys weren’t laughing anymore but back to their whispering.
“I’m Gackt,” he said to the child shaking his hand.
The young child shook his hand then said, “Hi, Gackt, you can call me whatever you want.”
Gackt sighed a laugh. “Well what is your name?” Gackt asked sweetly.
“I don’t like my real name,” the young boy stated, “I don’t want to tell.”
“I’ll figure out a name for you,” Gackt said gently patting the boy on the back. The boys were still whispering and the child was watching them whisper. “What are they doing?” Gackt asked the young one.
“I don’t know,” the boy began, “But they usually play basketball after school over there,” he finished, pointing to a basketball court up the street.
“I see,” Gackt said while watching the boys walking up to them.
“Hey dude, do you wanna play with us? We need another player,” a boy with spiky blond hair asked.
“You, would you like to play?” he said to the young child, looking him into his eyes.
“I’m You?” he asked Gackt with an adorable confused look on his face.
“Of course you’re You, and don’t you ever forget it,” Gackt said smiling.
“No, not him!” a heavier and taller kid said, “He’ll only get in the way.”
“I’m not playing unless You is on my team,” Gackt said putting his arm around You.
“It’d be and odd number,” the short red haired one said, “It wouldn’t be even.”
“Are you afraid you’ll get whooped?” Gackt said in a challenging tone. The boys laughed indicating that they game was on. “Would you like to play, You?” Gackt asked him.
“Sure!” he said ecstatically.
“Okay, well you guys can keep your things in my house,” he said heading over to the paint covered door and opening it. They all set their things on the floor carelessly and walked to the basketball course talking as they introduced themselves. Gackt went first and then You did, using the name Gackt gave him.
“I’m Ryan,” the kid with the blond spiky hair said, “this is Greg,” he said pointing to the heavier kid, “And Dakota,” he said pointing to the short red haired kid.
As they began talking about things at school while Dakota began dribbling the ball, Gackt felt warm and welcomed. He told them about the lady that delivered the package to him earlier that day. They laughed.
“What did she say about you . . . Manhood?” Ryan said then raising his eyebrows up and down.
Gackt rubbed the back of his neck, “Eh,” he said, “She had um . . .little . . .to say about it,” he coughed. They chuckled more. Gackt could feel You laughing but he wasn’t sure if he was having a fun time or not. He put his arm around You to make sure that he wasn’t feeling let out.
“How was your day, You?” he asked him, listening with all of his heart.
“It was great!” that was all he said.
They had reached the basketball courts and had officially decided that it was Dakota, Ryan and Greg against Gackt and You.
“You guys can be skins since Gackt already doesn’t have a shirt on,” Greg snickered.
You took off his shirt slowly and went to the corner of the court, folded it and went to Gackt’s side. They laughed at him since he had to fold it.
“I guess since you guys are goin’ down, you can have the ball first,” Dakota said, passing Gackt the ball.
Gackt passed the ball to You and they began playing. You was phenomenal and to Gackt’s surprise, he felt embarrassed. You made all the shots and Gackt didn’t make any. It seemed that Gackt was good at getting the ball from the opposing team and terrible at shooting where as You was the complete opposite. Very slow not being able to trick them but made all the shots when he was given the ball. They played into the evening until they were all tired. The score was 28 to 36. You and Gackt had lost.
“You’re terrible, Gackt!” Dakota laughed, “Basketball must be your worst skill,” he continued to kid.
“I don’t think so,” Gackt said, “Maybe sometime you should watch me attempt to hula hoop.”
“See you later, Gackt,” Greg said waving as the rest of them did also. You flung onto Gackt and began to sob. Greg and Ryan laughed. Gackt gave them a sinister look and they shut up pretty damn quick and stared at the tips of their shoes. He motioned for them to leave to their homes. They understood and did as Gackt wished. Gackt looked at the child dearly.
“Well,” he said looking at his watch, “It’s only six o’ clock. Would it be okay with your parents if you stayed at my house for a while?”
He shook his head no.
“Maybe you should call them and let them know where you are. I’m sure they’re very worried.”
“My mother works 8:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night,” he said wiping away his tears.
This saddened Gackt a bit. This child was all alone from the time he got home to the time he went to bed. No wonder he sobbed. He didn’t want to go home and be alone.
“Grab your shirt and let’s go,” he said to You. It started to sprinkle as You began to put his shirt back on. They walked side by side in silence. The rain suddenly began to pout and they were both beginning to get soaked. With just feet away from Gackt’s home, You ran and of course, he tripped over into a large puddle. Gackt couldn’t help but laugh. Not at You, but at the situation. A boy who hurries to get out of the rain, in the end is completely coated with water. They then scurried cautiously into the house. Gackt shut the door tightly, sighing of relief. You was shivering. Gackt took off You’s shirt, went to his hallway cabinet to get a clean towel and to his bedroom to get a small shirt for You to wear. He came to see You still shivering. He dried You off with a towel, making sure to get him where he was wet. He then put his shirt on You.
“This was the smallest I could find,” he said to him almost in an apologetic way. It was a yellow shirt that for You was large and for Gackt, well it was his tight metro shirt. Somehow the shirt seemed to fit You’s body and personality though Gackt wasn’t sure how.
“How old are you, Gackt?” You asked suddenly.
“Eighteen, and yourself?” Gackt said plopping on the couch.
“Ten,” he said, “Do you have a job?” he continued.
“Nope,” Gackt said slowly.
“How do you make money?” You asked confused then plopping on the couch next to Gackt.
“I inherited money after my grandfather passed.”
“When did that happen?” You asked.
“Two years ago,” Gackt stated.
“Do you like your life?” You asked.
“My, my, my. Big questions come out of such small children,” Gackt teased.
“I’m not that small,” You argued.
Gackt was astonished that You was so talkative. Before he hadn’t said a word and now he was bestowing Gackt with so many questions all at one time. It almost made Gackt’s head spin. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
“You didn’t answer my question, Gackt,” the boy argued.
Gackt opened one eye to glare at him. “What question?” Gackt asked.
“Do you like your life?” You reminded him.
“You . . .” Gackt began, “I love my life. Maybe more than I should. I wake up every morning and I’m so excited to know what will happen that day. Living is perfection for me,” he closed his eyes again and also tilted his head back.
You nuzzled himself in Gackt’s lap.
“Why were you so quiet earlier, You?” Gackt asked finally taking a chance since he thought if he didn’t ask then, You would ask another questions and Gackt would forget.
“I don’t like talking around them,” You said, “They’re mean to me.”
“I know they’re mean to you,” Gackt said stroking his hair, “They just don’t know what kind of person you are because you never speak. As long as I’m around, they won’t make fun of you. I don’t think it’s fair,” Gackt stated water-eyed.
“Gackt,” You said, “I’m hungry.”
“Oh!” Gackt got up quickly, “What would you like?” he asked.
“Macaroni and cheese,” You said plainly.
Gackt laughed and didn’t hesitate to make it for him. It was made in only 15 minutes. He served it to You in a blue bowl and You ate it quickly as did Gackt. Gackt wasn’t sure if he was hungry but he guessed he was. His mind was in so many different places, Anita, You, the other kids, his biological, Yoshiki and Light.
“Can I see you’re backyard?” You suddenly asked looking out of the clear sliding doors leading to it. Gackt opened the doors for him and then stepped out. There was a pool that glistened in the moonlight and a bench that swung back and fourth. To the right there was a patch of green where two trees were growing and between them was a hammock which was the first thing You ran to. Gackt chased after him and helped him in and got in himself. They swayed back and fourth and looked at the stars and Gackt began to sing to You. Again Gackt fell asleep soundlessly with You under his arm.
