notes:

this story was co-authored by my good friend midori-chan (you can find her on www.livejournal.com under the username "soujiro_seta" or here on ff.net with the user number 342176), who agreed to allow me to edit and post it. the general rule is that she handled ryuichi while i took yuki. i've tried to do a seamless edit so that it sounds like one person's writing, but i've never done anything like this before, heh… so you'll all have to let me know how i did.

standard disclaimer: no, of course i don't own gravitation. if i did, i'd be a lot richer than i am right now. don't sue me.

that being said, please enjoy the first chapter of  "faith" ^^

-vethia

--------------------------------------

Faith

            The cheerful knock at the door was startling, to say the least. Until that sound, the only thing to break the silence in the sparse Tokyo apartment had been the tap-tap-tap of fingers against a keyboard. Deep golden-green eyes looked up from their work with annoyance, frowning at the interruption. Hesitating only a moment, the man who owned them decided to remove his reading glasses before answering the door. As soon as he saw who was behind it, he was very glad he had.

            Within seconds, the interrupted novelist's vision was obscured by a mess of bright pink plush fur. "Guess who?" the childish voice rang out excitedly.

            "Hello, Sakuma-san."

            The man at the door twisted his voice into a high-pitched caricature. "It's not Sakuma-san!! It's… KUMAGOROU!!"

            Beneath the pink fur, the owner of the apartment raised a single eyebrow. "Is it, now? My mistake. Hello, Kumagorou." He was rewarded momentarily by a fleeting glimpse of his hallway as one plush pink paw was removed just long enough to wave.

            "Hiiiiii!" the stuffed rabbit returned, quickly covering his eyes again. "Hey, where's Ryuichi-kun?"

            The writer figured it would be easier to play along. "I haven't… seen Sakuma-san," he replied carefully. The Kumagorou-voice wondered aloud, "Hum… where could he be?" Still muffled behind pink paws, the man answered dryly, "I really couldn't say."

            "Here I am!" caroled a voice whose exuberance rivaled that of the earlier knock. As quickly as they had appeared, the pink balls of fluff were removed, resolving themselves into the paws of Sakuma Ryuichi's plush bunny friend, Kumagorou.

            With a soft sigh, Yuki Eiri, famous Japanese novelist, closed the door to his apartment. "Hello, Sakuma-san." He was still at a loss to explain why Nittle Grasper's lead singer was prancing around his house. While it was true that Sakuma-san was friends with Eiri's lover Shuichi—as well as a professional rival—it was only Eiri in the apartment at the moment. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Sakuma-san from hopping in with a big grin. "Hi!!"

            Seeing that the singer planned to make himself at home, Eiri turned and strode over to the couch, sinking down and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "What are you doing here…?" His tone was neither accusatory nor angry, just… tired. Without looking at Ryuichi, he lit up and sucked in a puff of smoke.

            "Na, I wanted to come over!" Sakuma-san practically bounced over to Eiri's seat, peering at the lighter.  "SHUU-CHAN!" he exclaimed, face lighting up at the sight of the picture stuck to the side of the incendiary device.

            Eiri quickly stuffed the lighter back into his pocket with a gruff "…I see." The singer grinned as if sharing some private joke, then perched on the edge of the couch, staring rather curiously at the walls. After a few moments of gazing at the floor, blowing faint smoke clouds, the writer inquired with a slightly bitter tone, "Did Tohma send you? To 'check up' on me?"

            Ryuichi grinned. "Tohma would do his own dirty work if he wanted to 'check up' on you…" With an inane laugh, he lifted one of Kumagorou's paws, waving it in the air.

            "Hnh. I suppose you're right." Eiri took another long drag off his cigarette. "Then why are you here…? I'm not known as good company."

            The singer adjusted his headband, pushing the unruly brown bangs out of his eyes. "Kumagorou told me to," he replied, as if this explained everything. he even pointed to K-chan for emphasis.

            "…Oh. I see." Yuki turned his gaze to Kumagorou for a moment, as if studying the plush pink face, then stood rather abruptly and moved to the window, snuffing out the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray on his way.

            Ryuichi rolled over on the couch to where Eiri had been sitting...and found himself somewhat stuck in the groove between the cushions, still grinning over at the writer. "...You miss Shuu-chan now that he's on tour?"
            A muscle jumped in Eiri's jaw. Luckily, his back was to the other man, narrowed eyes gazing down at the bustle of the city. He shoved his hands in his pockets before answering--or rather, evading--the question. "Who would miss a messy, whiny, annoying idiot?"

            "Maaaa, I would—I already miss him!!!" Ryuichi burst into sobs, still stuck in the groove of Eiri-san's couch. The tall man turned, brows creasing in a slight frown. He strode over to the couch, reached one hand in, and extracted Ryuichi, setting him upright before turning away again without a word. The singer continued with a sniff as he wiped his tears on Kumagorou's ear "Shuu-chan misses you..."
            Upon hearing this, Eiri looked back sharply, eyes narrowing, expression otherwise unreadable. "How do you know?" By way of answer, Ryuichi produced a 5-inch stack of letters addressed to Yuki Eiri, decorated with hearts and stars and little chibi pictures of the intended recipient. "Tohma's been screening your mail."

            "…I see." The news about Tohma wasn't particularly pleasing to Eiri's ears, but he turned away before any displeasure could be noted, responding at last to the first declaration. "If he does, it's his own stupid fault."

            "That's unkind..." Ryuichi dropped Kumagorou rather suddenly, with a kind of wistful and strangely harrowing expression upon his face.

            "And what if it is..?" Eiri snapped. One hand reached up to brush the hair back from his eye, lingering against his forehead for a moment before dropping to his side. "Perhaps Tohma is right. He would be better off without me."

            Ryuichi brushed back his hair in the same fashion Eiri had, almost mocking him, in a sort of cynical sense. His eyes closed as he nonchalantly abandoned Kumagorou and his suddenly-lost innocence on the couch and he walked towards Eiri. "That's sad...that you have so little faith in yourself." He moved to the window where Eiri stood, gazing out into the bleak rain with a wan smile imprinted on his features. 

            The self-styled 'Yuki' watched Ryuichi out of the corner of his eye, thoughts spinning around one another in a dizzying haze. His gaze measured the man's features, noting the change in demeanor. For a moment, he seemed about to reply, but he quickly clamped down on whatever it was he was going to say. Instead he elected to pull another cigarette from his pocket, lighting it quickly and stuffing the lighter back to avoid lingering on the picture stuck to the metal.

            Ryuichi's sapphire orbs glinted dully in the artificial light of the room—there was something he wasn't telling Eiri. He tried to hide the fact that he knew something the blonde-haired man did not, but the opaqueness in his eyes could not help but betray him as he opened his mouth. One word fell silently onto the windowpane. "Shuichi..."

            The dull golden eyes flicked upwards, narrowly regarding Ryuichi. Eiri's words dripped out around the cigarette, tiny trails of ash falling unnoticed to the floor. "What about him?"

            A sick smile graced Ryuichi's face. "Everyone else from Bad Luck is back from the tour. These letters stopped coming weeks ago."

            The cigarette fell to the floor, unheeded, as Eiri swallowed in spite of himself. His eyes widened slightly, then contracted in anger. "Why... didn't anyone tell me?" Contained rage was evident in his voice; cold and banked, but anger nonetheless.

            Ryuichi didn't even bother to look at the seething man—he found it safer to stare out of the window, almost mechanically, as he spoke in a flat monotone. "I thought you said he'd be better off without you...?"

            Eiri growled silently, simultaneously acknowledging and denying Ryuichi's words. "Is he all right?"

            Strikingly cold cerulean blue eyes met the writer's, rivaling even Eiri's famous cold glare. "Seguchi-san will kill me when he finds out I told you—" The other man cut him off with a voice like a scalpel made of ice. "Tohma should learn to stay out of my business," he snarled. "Tell me what happened."

            Ryuichi twitched slightly at the piercing voice, changing drastically from his cold state to a more tired, chocolate-crowned boy. He ran a hand through his hair somewhat tentatively and leaned a little heavily upon the windowsill. 'You remember Shining Collection?"

            "Of course I remember. What about it...?"

            "The song you wrote for Shuichi... It was such a hit with the general populous, Seguchi-san wanted you to write more lyrics for NG." He shot a helpless glare at Eiri. "He favours your lyrics more than mine...he just wants me to sing."

            Eiri sniffed, turning away. "Well, he can forget it. I did that for a reason; it happened once, and that's it. What does this have to do with Shuichi? Tohma didn't tell him that... did he?"

            A shake of negation was Ryuichi's reply. Hair fell over his eyes as he turned his head towards the window again, still speaking. "That's just a precursor. Tohma told Shuichi he wanted you as a lyricist, and they argued for awhile. Shuichi didn't seem to like the idea of using your relationship as a basis for making songs for NG. Tohma said he didn't care, he would do it anyway, and I—I was jealous of you. I didn't want to do anything, but I did start making lyrics for Bad Luck as a way to..." He paused, searching for words. "…a silly way of getting back at you. Some record producer wanted Bad Luck to tour around Europe for publicity of my written songs, and...Shuichi never came back."

            Eiri's first reaction was no more than a furious snarl. A few moments of tense silence filled the room. When he spoke again, it was with that same cold rage. "And of course, Tohma had no plans to consult me about any of this. Naturally." With a sharp turn, he headed for the couch, picking up the suit-jacket lying lazily across the arm. "Where was he last seen?"

            Following on Eiri's heels, Ryuichi ran to the couch and picked up Kumagorou, suddenly regaining the brightness in his cheeks. "I'm coming with you!"

            "No. You're not."

            Ryuichi nods stubbornly. "Yes, I am."

            An irritated glance was tendered to the singer. "Why do you want to come?" A smile adorned Ryuichi's face, making two kawaii circles pop out from his cheeks. "I wanna say 'hi' to Shuu-chan!"

            A roll of the golden eyes was Eiri's only reply. "I suppose you won't tell me where he is unless I let you come." It was a statement, not a question, and spoken with bland resignation.

            "Kyaaaa~~!" The writer was almost immediately attacked by a bouncing Ryuichi. "We'll have so much fun!"

            "Ooof--!" Patience wearing thin, Eiri smacked Ryuichi away, growling. " 'Fun' is not the word I would use." Straightening his jacket, he scooped the Beamer's keys from the coffee table and headed for the door, giving every impression of being indifferent to Ryuichi's decision to follow.

            Ryuichi sang a happy tune as he let go of Eiri-san to skip behind him merrily, not minding the smack. "And then with Shuu-chan, we'll have lots of fun..." He stopped for a moment of consideration, then remarked to Kumagorou, "But they might not want me around if they're together...they might want to..." The sentence trailed off as he giggled at his childish innuendo.

            Choosing to ignore this little dialogue, Eiri rolled his eyes as he locked the door, then strode down the hallway. Words were tossed over his shoulder, pitched to land just in front of Ryuichi. "Tell me where he is."

            Ryuichi grabbed the words up eagerly as if they were candy, but his reply was not quite what the other had hoped for. "Na no da~~, not until I know I'm coming with you." Eiri growled under his breath. Ryuichi was much cannier than he liked to seem, and the novelist knew it... but it wasn't terribly convenient. He reached the elevator and stepped inside, briefly considering shutting the door before the singer could board out of sheer spite, but restrained himself admirably.

            Seeming to comprehend the blonde's inner thoughts, Ryuichi grinned as he hopped inside the elevator with Eiri, Kumagorou close in tow. "Sankyuuu." He leaned against the elevator wall, smiling at Eiri for awhile before finally speaking up. "The last text message I got from him was from London."

            A curt nod greeted this information, but no more—Eiri was already planning the fastest driving route to the airport. From the elevator, it was merely a few short meters to the waiting BMW. It would be the easiest thing in the world to simply deny Ryuichi entrance to the vehicle, now that the desired information was in his possession—but for some reason, Eiri does not. Instead, he allows the car to idle, only speeding off after the dark-haired man attains a position in the passenger's seat.

            I hope I'm not getting myself into more than I can handle…