2006, 1st week of February

Inoue Mao was at her weekly lunch date with her friend, Yamada Yu.

"So, what happened?" Yu asked.

"With what?" Mao said, feigning ignorance as she ate her food. 

"With your sleep over at Matsumoto-san's!" Yu exclaimed. 

"SHH! Yu! Someone might hear you!" Mao almost choked on her food as she tried to restrain her friend who was obviously excited about the conversation. 

"Well? So what happened?" Yu pressed on. 

"Nothing. I got there then we slept." Mao said as she averted your eyes.

"You know Mao-chan, you have a tell whenever you lie." Yu said. 

"A what?"

"A tell. Like a signal. You look somewhere else whenever you say something that's untrue." Yu looked straight on at Mao as if she could read everything that's going on in Mao's mind. 

Mao sighed at the truth of what her friend says. She was aware that she averts her eyes whenever she lies, but it's a reflex she can't seem to control even if she wants to. "Okay, well it is kind of true nothing THAT significant happened, but something did happen." 

"What was it?!" Yu grinned excitedly.

"His sister was not there when we arrived. She left before we came so it was just me and Jun." Mao tried to sound as non-chalant as she could possibly be. 

"WHAAAAT?!" Yu exclaimed. 

"Yu! Seriously, keep your voice down!" Mao shushed her friend that was practically jumping off her seat in surprise. 

"So wait it was just you and Matsumoto-san? No one else was there? At all? And nothing happened?" Yu jabbed questions consecutively. 

"What did you want to happen?" Mao looked at her friend incredulously. "And don't say something weird!" 

"I'm not going to say anything weird." Yu laughed. 

"You looked like you were. But anyways, yeah it was just us two. It was a little awkward anyway so we didn't have that much of a conversation. He just asked me to sleep on his bed while he slept on the couch and that was it." Mao said.

"That was it? How about when you guys woke up? You didn't talk?" Yu interrogated.

Mao shook her head. "No. We said goodnight to each other at around 4:30 am and I barely slept so I woke up at around 6. He was still sleeping on the couch so I just gathered my things, wrote a note and left." 

"What?! Mao-chan!" Yu groaned. "You could've woken him up or waited for him to wake up, you know? Atleast get a little bit of conversation there! I told you that was your chance to clear up your feelings!" 

"There was nothing for us to talk about, and seriously, stop saying that we have things to clear up between us." Mao said with finality as she sipped her drink.

"There you go again." Yu sighed.

"What?"

"You're running away from your feelings for Matsumoto Jun." Yu said.

"No, I'm not. And I have no feelings for him." Mao uttered, closing her eyes momentarily to stop herself from looking elsewhere. 

"Mao, we've been friends for years. I see how you look at him." Yu said to her friend after a few seconds had passed.

"I look at him how?" Mao asked.

"Like he's the sun." Yu simply said. "Your face lights up whenever you talk to him, even when the two of you are bickering. I've only seen you with him for a couple of hours at WOMB, but that was enough to convince me that there is something more than friendship between the two of you. And honestly, I think Matsumoto-san has already realized that. You're the only one that's denying it to yourself." 

"Stop it, Yu. You were probably drunk that night and seeing things that aren't there." Mao shook her head as she laughed at what Yu just said. 

"No, I wasn't drunk. Everyone else could see it. You're the only one who doesn't. Or maybe you do see it, but you're just not admitting it to yourself." Yu gave her friend a knowing look. 

When Mao didn't say anything, Yu continued her litany. "You know, Mao-chan. It's alright to not be level-headed for once. You don't have to overthink everything, especially matters of the heart. It's as simple as admitting to yourself that you do like him romantically, then maybe you can take a step towards that path. It's so evident that Matsumoto-san feels the same way, if not more, towards you. You just refuse to acknowledge it." 

Mao was feeling uncomfortable at the pressure of admission that Yu was presenting to her. 

Mao gave up with a sigh. "It's not that simple."

"Oh but it is! You have to stop denying your feelings to yourself. You might implode you know?" Yu chuckled. "Or atleast admit it to one person if you'd like. Just so you can take all those emotions off your chest."

Mao gulped before she spoke. It was hard for her to say what she was feeling outright. But Yu was right, she does need to confide in someone.

"Fine. But I'm only saying this once because you wouldn't stop pestering me." Mao chuckled.

Yu grinned as she nodded vigorously. "I'm all ears!"

"I do like Jun-kun in that way, as you would put it. I think I've known for a while and you're right I just didn't want to admit it." Mao started. "I think I liked him even when we were filming Hana Yori Dango, which was funny you know? Because I did not like him at all at first, even as a friend. When I met him for the first time at the 4th floor of TBS he was rude when I greeted him. I happily greeted him, and all I got back was a cold 'Ah. Hi.' and then he walked away." Mao smiled at the memory.

"I kept my distance from him, thinking that he was not the kind of person I could be friends with. But as the filming progressed, and we did all these scenes together, I got to know him more and I had so much fun spending time with him. The friendly-flirting started about three months into filming. At first I thought he was just being his playful self, but even I noticed that he wasn't like that with other females at the shoot, so I felt a little special in that aspect. You also have to add to the fact that everyone teases us so much, and have been saying that we look good together. I really think that was what enforced whatever I was feeling. But now that I do know I have feelings for him and people are starting to notice, and tabloids have been reporting that we are probably dating, which we are really not might I add, I just feel so scared." 

"Scared of what?" Yu asked.

"Of everything. He's an idol for christ sakes. A very famous one at that. Everyone is engulfed in the storm that is ARASHI and liking someone that belongs to that group makes me feel really afraid. Also, if what you're saying is true about how Jun feels about me too, how can we even make it work? We're both so busy with our careers, having a relationship is just an added commitment that neither of us could handle. And getting back to what you think he feels for me, is that even possible? Have you seen him? Have you seen ME? I look so plain, and he looks so...so....so not plain." Mao trailed as she stopped herself from describing Matsumoto Jun as uneqivocally handsome. 

"Mao-chan! You're rambling!" Yu said as she suppressed a laugh. "You're saying all these things that are so far ahead in the future when you haven't even taken a single step towards being with Matsumoto-san. Forget a step, you're not even a nudge into that direction of being with him. And what's with this calling yourself plain looking? Do you not see yourself in the mirror everyday? I think I have to buy you a new one because the one you have at home seems to not be serving its actual purpose."

"You're only saying that because you're my best friend." Mao mumbled.

"No, I'm not! You have to have confidence in yourself. You're a talented actress! You're kind, you're nice, you're so caring, and you're beautiful! Get it into that head of yours!" Yu exclaimed. "And honestly, Matsumoto-san might be the luckiest guy out there if you guys got together. He won't find someone like you twice in a lifetime."

"Thanks, Yu-chan." Mao smiled sheepishly. "But you know, it does feel nice to finally tell someone about all these emotions that I have. I felt so suffocated by it all, especially since the tabloids about me and Jun-kun came out. I just felt like everyone was ganging up on me to admit something I can't even admit to myself. But it's nice to finally be able to say my feelings out loud. Guess I'm not going to implode now right?" Mao laughed, pertaining to what Yu told her about imploding a few minutes ago. 

"You won't." Yu laughed. 

 

-

 

Matsumoto Jun was at the breakroom with his fellow ARASHI members. They had a meeting regarding their upcoming concerts in Japan, Taipei, and Korea and are currently taking a break. 

"So Jun, how was your weekend?" Aiba asked as he sat beside the couch where Jun was sitting. 

"My weekend was fine. What about it?" Jun replied. 

"You tell me. I heard it was more than fine." Aiba smirked. Nino and Sho were also walking towards to where the two of them were seated.

"What are you talking about?" Jun raised his eyebrows, irritated at Aiba for beating around the bush with whatever he wants to say.

"A little bird told Aiba that you were at WOMB on the 28th, partying it up with your Hana Yori Dango friends and a certain model named Yamada Yu." Nino said as he and Sho slumped on another sofa across from Aiba and Jun.

"The bird told Aiba and now you know this too?" Jun looked at them questioningly.

"Well, Aiba told us obviously. There are no secrets with ARASHI." Sho laughed.

Jun chuckled. "I should've known." 

Suddenly, the door burst open with the arrival of their leader, Ohno Satoshi.

"Hey, what's with the huddle? Let me in on that." Ohno said as he dragged a chair to where the other four were seated.

"We're interrogating Jun-kun about his weekend." Sho answered.

"Ooh. I heard about that. Go on then, share it to the group." Ohno snickered. 

"I had dinner with Shota, Ton-ton, and Shun, then we bumped into Aki and Megumi who were waiting for Yamada Yu" Jun shared. 

"Nice of you to purposely leave out a name." Nino grinned.

"Huh?" Jun looked at Nino, feigning confusion.

"The little bird said Inoue Mao-chan was also with the 7 of you at WOMB." Aiba said.

"Seriously, Aiba. I want the name of that little bird. He or She seems to be a very good source." Jun chuckled.

Aiba shook his head. "No, I'm not revealing my sources. Anyway, come off it. Tell the rest of the story." 

"We honestly sound like a bunch of gossipy old men." Sho laughed.

"We are! Not that we're THAT old, but we are gossipy men" Nino chuckled. "Go on, Jun!"

Jun rolled his eyes at the four men that were waiting for his every word. "Well, Mao-chan was at WOMB waiting for the girls and Yamada-san invited us to go with them to meet her, so we did. We just drank and had fun. Mao-chan was actually having a late celebration for her birthday. By the way, did you guys know her birthday was on the January of 9th?"

All four men nodded.

"And none of you told me this?!" Jun exclaimed.

"Eh? You didn't know?" Sho asked.

"No, I thought her birthday was on February 9." Jun replied.

"Baka." Nino laughed. "And you call yourself a friend."

Jun smiled a little with what Nino said. Friend yeah, for sure he would agree if it was any other day like before, but now, having realized his true feelings, he didn't quite like that friends was what described his relationship with Mao. He would prefer something more, if he was being totally honest. 

"The little bird also said that you almost hit someone." Aiba mumbled. 

Jun was taken aback with what Aiba said. He was sure no one was close enough that didn't belong to their group that knew about the supposed almost scuffle. He raised his eyebrows at Aiba and the rest of the group. 

"I think I know who the little bird is." 

"Eh? You do?" Aiba asked. 

"Yes, was it a 6 foot tall bird going by the name Oguri Shun?" Jun inquired. 

Aiba shifted his gaze to avoid the look Jun was giving him. 

"That tattle-tale." Jun smirked. "How did you even get Shun to tell you this?" 

"I incidentally ran into him at NTV, so we talked a little and he shared that you guys went out on the 28th. " Aiba explained.

"What happened? Why were you about to hit someone?" Ohno asked.

"This creepy guy was hanging around Mao. He was touching her and she didn't like it, so I pulled him away from her." Jun said, feeling angry at the memory. 

"Oh so it's because of Mao-chan." Sho mused. 

"Just like a knight in shining armor." Nino snickered.

"Anyway, I took Mao-chan home with me since she was drunk, we slept, then she went home in the morning. That's it." Jun said. 

"Eh?! I didn't hear about that!" Aiba exclaimed.

"Eh?" Jun could only gape at his slip-up. He had thought Shun would've had spilled that last detail, knowing how much Shun likes to about Mao. He internally kicked himself. 

"You went home to your place with Mao-chan?! You're quick MatsuJun!" Sho teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Jun.

"Oi, oi. And you tell us nothing is going on with the two of you." Ohno said to Jun. 

Nino just looked at Jun disdainfully without any comment.

"We didn't do anything! It was as innocent as it can get, besides I would never do that to Mao-chan." Jun started. "And Nino, why the hell are you looking at me like that?" 

"Nino's just annoyed with you." Sho laughed.

"Why?" Jun asked. 

"He likes Mao-chan. Well, not in the way you're thinking, but he does find her beautiful." Ohno explained.

"Eh? How come I've never heard of this?" Jun said, feeling a little irritated. 

"Well, we don't talk about it infront of you." Aiba said. 

"Want me to arrange something for the two of you?" Jun raised his eyebrows at Nino, the dislike and irritation at his own suggestion was evident. 

"No! I only find Mao-chan really pretty. Especially her forehead." Nino exclaimed.

"You're fantasizing about her forehead?" Jun looked at Nino, with growing dislike. 

"Don't look at me like you hate me, Jun!" Nino laughed. "It was just a compliment. I still think you and Mao-chan should be together." 

"That talk again." Jun sighed.

"You know, Jun don't act as if you don't realize it by now." Ohno looked at him with a smirk. Jun hated how much their leader is so observative and inqusitive at that too. 

Jun groaned. "Fine. Fine. I'm admitting it, I like Mao-chan. Happy now?" 

All four members of Arashi gave hoots and cheered at what Jun just said.

"You four are seriously so annoying." Jun said as a smile played on his lips.

"Now, how do we turn this friendship into a relationship." Nino asked, looking at his fellow members.

"Oi, stop that. There's no chance I'm going to be in a relationship with Mao-chan." Jun said.

"Eh why not?" Aiba asked, looking every bit confused. 

"Because, it's Mao-chan." Jun simply said, as if it didn't need any further explanation.

"That's so vague." Sho whined. 

"Well, for starters, we're both in the industry. Having a relationship with a co-celebrity will just cause problems. And second, she's an actress, on top of that, a university student. You think she'll have the time for a boyfriend?" Jun asked the four men that were intently staring at him. 

"What a load of excuses. You're probably just scared Mao-chan won't reciprocate what you feel." Nino said to Jun. 

Jun felt his heart clench a little, because what Nino just said had some truth to it. You can never tell with how Mao acts if she likes him or not. 

"I think Mao-chan likes Jun too." Ohno said.

"Eh? What made you say that?" Jun asked. 

"I just have a gut feeling." Ohno replied.

"Gut feeling? That's your best bet?" Jun looked at their leader incredulously.

"Riida's gut feeling is usually on the mark, you know?" Sho said.

"Yeah, and besides we see you two at promotions and tv shows. If she didn't like you, there must be atleast some affection there, I'm guessing." Aiba supplied. 

Jun just shook his head. "Gut feelings and guesses. What a great foundation for a supposed relationship."

"Hey, matches are made with far less, you know?" Ohno said as he looked straight on at Jun. "The question is, do you want to be in a relationship with her?" 

Jun hesitated before giving a small nod. "But, guys! You have to take into consideration the fact that----"

Jun was cut off by Nino.

"Yosh! Operation Inoue Mao-MatsuJun will commence with the help of Arashi!" 

"Oi! Chotto matte!" Jun protested but was ignored as the four members of Arashi stood up and proceeded to plan whatever it is they're thinking of. 

Jun just shook his head at his four members. 

 

---

Chapter 6!! 

I think we're getting somewhere with this right? Or is it just me? HAHAHA 

Thank you for reading!

-WanderGirl