Whole

Chapter 7

Katsuko's POV

As soon as I pulled the door closed behind me, I slapped my hand over my mouth. I couldn't believe I'd just basically begged Masato to sleep in the bed with me. I couldn't believe I'd been dumb enough to leave the house without my key, which led me here to begin with. If Masato hadn't insisted on coming with me to make sure I got home okay, I'd have been screwed.

However, now I was standing in his bedroom, in his apartment. Although I couldn't say, I was sorry about it. All night we were sneaking kisses, and I was addicted to them. I had no intention of doing anything other than curling into his neatly made bed, but I couldn't deny the happiness that bubbled knowing he'd be next to me.

He was far away from my last boyfriend, who was ultimately the main reason I took the job offer here in Japan. After what happened, I couldn't get out of the town I was living in quick enough.

I shook my head of my thoughts; I didn't want to think about him right now. I was in Japan, in a job I loved, with friends I cared about, where Ryo was, mostly, and now Masato. Even if nothing came of us, I knew he was the kind of friend everyone needed.

I stepped over to Masato's small pine wood chest of drawers and opened the top on. An array of light jackets, hoodies, and in the corner, underwear. I desperately tried to suppress the chuckle that threatened to come out as I grabbed a pair. Nothing special about them, just basic, black boxer shorts, but I felt like a naughty school girl going through her crushes things.

"You okay in there, Kat?" Masato's voice sounded from outside, making me jump.

"Yeah, fine, just need another minute." I grabbed one of their band hoodies and quickly rid myself of my clothing and throwing on the hoodie and the boxer shorts. Almost stumbling and falling on my ass as I stepped into them, I'd drank far too much for me.

"Okay, I'm good." I smiled as I opened the door to find Masato standing there with an amused look.

"You look cute in my clothes. I think you pull them off better than I do."

"Yeah...you're not getting this hoodie back, by the way." I grinned, "It's mine now."

Masato chuckled as his head shook softly, "You can keep it; I have plenty of others."

"I wasn't going to give you a choice, Mr. Hayawaka, but, I'm glad you decided not to argue with the fact."

"See, now that's not fair. I would retort using your surname, but I don't know what that is, Ryo never said."

"Same surname, doofus. His dad is my dad's brother. And if you must know, my middle name is Aria. Aria was almost my first name, but dad won the coin toss."

"Aria, I like that. Better than mine, which is David. I mean, come on."

I couldn't help but laugh; David didn't suit him at all, "I'll stick to calling you Masato."

"Please do. Anyway, I left the spare toothbrush on the sink for you; I'll grab you another glass of water."

"You're sweet, thank you." I smiled, leaning to press a kiss to his cheek before I headed into the bathroom.

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"You know, you don't need to be fully clothed..." I raised an eyebrow at Masato as he went to get into the bed dressed in a top and jogging bottoms.

"Oh, I just thought you might be more-"

"Doesn't bother me." I shrugged, "Plus, it's pretty warm in here; I'd rather not get melted by you overheating."

"Fair point." He chuckled, standing himself up and pulling the top over his head.

The sight made me gulp as my eyes took note of his slim but muscular body. There wasn't a lot of definition to them, just subtle hints and small grooves that I wanted to run my fingers over.

He put the top neatly on top of the drawers and lifted the duvet to climb in.

"So, why music?"

"Huh? I don't know; I've just always loved singing, ever since I was little. Music is what helped me learn English, mostly. With music, there are just endless possibilities with it. A simple chord or note can change the whole dynamic of the song. A basic line of lyrics can make a tune go from just a piece of music to a song that means something. Between the notes, the pitches, the chords, ranges, and the many words you can do so much with it. Katsuma and I started the band way back when we were kids, although there was some drama with our past bandmates. Then we met Ryo, who was in another band with Yoko and Sugi. We decided to meet up and jam together for fun, and well, now we're here."

"That's pretty amazing. And you have a killer voice; when Ryo first showed me one of your songs, I was pretty amazed. These days you get so many artists who sound good on record but awful live. However, the song Ryo showed me was the unmixed version of 8AM and damn. I was impressed."

"God, it seems so long ago we recorded that song. Five years actually, damn." Masato sighed as his hand found mine, taking it in his, and our fingers began dancing together.

"And now you're busy working on your third album. Crazy how things work out. I know Ryo never expected any of this back when you started. He thought you were going to be a random, metalcore band who played in Sugi's garage forever." I chuckled. I still remembered the day Ryo called me to tell me they'd been signed. I'd never known him to be so excited or happy.

"It is crazy, it's amazing though, and I honestly couldn't ask for better bandmates either. So, are your family still in America?"

"Yeah, mom, dad, and my little brother, Lucas. As dad won the battle for my name, he let mom give him his forename. His middle name is Riku. I say little; he's only two years younger than I am, though."

"Do you miss them?" He asked quietly as he lifted our hands, so they were resting on our elbows as our fingers continued playing with the others.

"Yeah, to be honest, I'm glad you lot finished the tour when you did. I was getting homesick. I have Ryo's parents, and my grandparents on dad's side here, but it's not quite the same, you know? I'm happy here, but yeah, I miss them."

"My brother lives over in settle with his wife and son. I love my little nephew to bits; I'm going out there in a few weeks to see them."

"Aw, I didn't realize you had a brother or little nephew, that's adorable. I wish I could go back, but it'll be a while yet. With them accepting our pitch, I won't be able to take any time off until we have a working prototype. Then we have to repitch it to them. It's between my team and one other, whoever stuns them with the prototype, and so on, wins the deal. Then we'll get a little time before it's all hands on deck to produce it."

"Busy then, huh?" Masato chuckled, "It's good, though, proves you're great at your job, and you have a good team."

"Yeah, they're pretty awesome. They've made settling in here a lot easier, even if Asumi is a bit crazy, and Haru likes making terrible jokes. And I mean, worse than Sugi's."

"Oh no, I refuse to believe that there is someone who can crack worse jokes than Sugi. You haven't even heard the worst of them."

"Oh, I beg to differ." I chuckled, although it was cut off as I yawned.

Masato let go of my hand as he turned on his side to face me, "Sleep."

"Sleep sounds good." I sighed softly as I shuffled onto my side, resting one of my hands under my face, closing my eyes.

"Night, Kitty Kat," Masato whispered, as I felt him move and press a kiss to my forehead before settling back down.

"Night." I hummed, and I drifted off into a blissful sleep.