Disclaimer: I still don't own Gravitation. Sadly. I also don't own the lyrics to Because of you. Kelly Clarkson owns them. Sadly. If I owned these things I would be a rich person.
There he is sitting on my bed writing away in his notebook. He has been very dedicated to whatever he is writing cause he hasn't moved since he got here. Matter of fact, I don't think that he has slept a wink either. I look at my friend with a very empathetic look cause I can understand what he is going through at the moment. I mean, I may not know exactly but I do understand through him. "Hey Shuichi, why don't we go get something to eat? We can go to your favorite restaurant," I say, trying to snap him out of this stupor he is in.
"No thanks," he says without hesitation.
"Come on, Shuichi, you haven't moved in 5 days. All I am asking is for you to move for an hour tops," I say again, trying to convince him to move again.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't feel like doing anything. I really want to get this done. I have to turn it in to Tohma tomorrow. If I don't, then he is going to kill me," he says, looking up and giving me one of his half assed smiles.
"You can take an hour out of your time to come and eat with me. Besides I really think that you can use some fresh air," I say, returning his smile. Shuichi sighs as he looks back down at his notebook.
"I really don't want to go out. Why don't we order in or something?" he asks, playing with his fingers a little. I know from that exactly what he is saying. He is saying that he doesn't want to run into Yuki if we go out. Especially after Yuki threw him out for the final time. This really was the final time cause Yuki threw out everything Shuichi had there, including Shuichi himself. He changed the locks and changed his number on all his phones. He really was done with Shuichi.
"Alright, we can order something in. As long as you promise to eat something this time. Cause I don't want to go through what we did the other day. So if you promise me that you will eat then I will order something in for us," I say, showing him that I do understand. He looks up at me and nods his head.
"I promise that this time I will eat something," his violet eyes gleaming towards me when he says this.
"Good, cause if you lie to me then I will be forced to sit on you and make you eat it. And if you still don't eat it then I guess I will have to torture you until you do," I mock threatened.
"Alright, alright. I told you that I promise, what more do you want from me?" he whines out a bit. I cant help but to smile at him.
"Very well. But I don't want to hear about it later when the time comes," I say, reaching over and picking up the phone. I dial a number and order a pizza with everything on it. And a plain pepperoni one for myself. As I am doing this, I watch Shuichi continue with his song.
After I get done on the phone, I hang it up. I walk over, pick up my guitar off its stand and sit down on the chair and begin to strum out a tune that came to mind. As I am playing it it's as if the notes are guiding my fingers. I don't notice that Shuichi is watching and listening to me play.
After I am done, I look up and see my friend staring at me with his mouth wide open. I take a quick glance around myself and realize he is staring at me. "What are you staring at Shuichi?" I can't help but ask.
"OH my gosh Hiro, that is perfect for the song that I wrote," he says, looking at me as if he wants me to play it again.
"Don't you mean the one that you are writing?" I ask.
"Nope, I finished it." he says, holding the paper up to me. "Please play it again. I want to make sure that it's going to go with my lyrics," he says with a sad look in his eyes. I know whatever he is holding is something that he must have written for Yuki. I can't deny him anything so I begin to play the tune again. He looks up to the ceiling and begins to hum the lyrics to the song with the beat of my music. Wow, from the sounds of it, it really does go together perfectly. I finish up a little after Shuichi does and I look at him. His eyes are closed but I can feel the emotions rolling off him. Makes me even more curious about the lyrics of course. "Hiro, could you please record that for me so that I can put the two together?" he asks, looking at me with those pleading eyes. The ones he knows I can't resist.
"Alright, Shuichi, but I really want to read the lyrics." I say, getting up to set everything up for recording. I can see him out of the corner of my eye. He really is anxious for me to get this done. After I set it all up I then begin to record the music. Luckily, I got through it without interruptions. The door bell rang shortly afterwards. I smile at Shuichi and get up to answer the door. I pay the man at the door and bring our food over and set it on the coffee table. I open up the box and give Shuichi the eye of death, AKA the "you better eat or I will come through on what I swore I would do to you" look. He gulps and takes a piece of his pizza. He devours it like I expected him to. After he is done he takes the tape from the player and sticks it in his pocket. He grabs his lyrics and smiles at me. "I'm going to run to NG real quick. I want to get this recorded on disc for us," he says, not really giving me a chance to say much else.
"Be careful, Shuichi. Call me when you get there so that I know you made it there alright. I don't want to worry about you," I say to him as I watch him heading towards the door. He turns and looks at me. He gives me one of the cute Shuichi smiles and gives me a big hug.
"I will be careful, Hiro. I want to thank you for everything you have done for me. Ok, I have to leave now. I will call when I get there," he says, waving as he runs towards the door, throwing his shoes on and heading out, closing the door behind him.
After about an hour I still haven't received a phone call. Now I am getting a little worried. He should have called me by now. I can't help but to grab my helmet, keys, throw on my shoes and head out to my bike. Something just wasn't right about this whole situation. I jump on my bike and speed off towards NG. Something tells me that I need to hurry. My gut feeling telling me that I have to get to Shuichi and get to him now. I do well over 80 miles an hour to get there faster. If I get pulled over then I will come up with an excuse then. As I make the right hand turn to get to the studio I can see lights in the distance. My heart suddenly stops and falls into my stomach. I can't help but to think of the worst case scenario.
"And on that day my worst case scenario came true. There had been an accident. And Shuichi was involved. Obviously, cause that is what brought us all here today. No one knows exactly how the accident happened. So I guess it will forever be a mystery to us all. But let me just say I hope whoever is responsible gets what they deserve." With that I take a deep breath and look around the park. The church where the ceremony was going to be held was too small for the many mourning people that showed up. I look around the crowd and come across those that I know and who knew Shuichi well.
Shuichi's parents and his sister are sitting in the front. There is a man sitting next to Shuichi's mom who keeps telling her to calm herself down.
Behind them sits the whole NG Crew. Nittle Grasper members with families. Tohma and Mika. Noriko and her family. Ryuichi, who is uncomfortably still and quiet. He doesn't even have his precious bunny with him. Oh wait, that's right, he set it in the casket with Shuichi.
Next to him sits the younger brother of the Uesugi family Tatsuha. I'm glad to see that he is behaving himself here. If he wasn't I would be kicking his ass all over the place.
Next to him sits Fujisaki, K, and Sakano. Even my brother showed up, which was a surprise to me. But he knew Shuichi as well as the next person. Besides, Shuichi would have wanted him to come.
And last but not least, towards the back of the crowd leaning against a tree, stands the infamous Yuki Eiri. I can't believe that he actually showed up.
I take one good look around the crowd and then back at our little group of musicians. "Well, since that is all I can say, I think that it is time to sing Shuichi one last song. He just finished up this song on the evening that he died. He was so excited about getting it done but sad all at the same time. He wrote this song in dedication to Yuki Eiri. This was the only way that Shuichi could express his feelings to him without getting yelled at. So if everyone who is participating will please come up here," I say as I motion for those to come up to the stage.
I am keeping a close eye on Yuki, cause I swear to god if he starts to walk off I will make him quickly join Shuichi on the other side. Everyone makes their way up to the stage and prepares themselves. "This will be the last time that any member of Bad Luck will perform. I hope that you all get out of this song what I got out of it," I say, trying to hold back my own tears. I have to be strong though, for Shuichi.
As the music begins, I can feel the emotions from everyone on the stage. I know that it is asking a lot for us not to break down. After a few more beats, Ryuichi begins to sing. This is for you my friend. I hope that you get everything out of this that you were hoping to.
"I will not make the same mistakes that you did
I will not let myself
Cause my heart so much misery
I will not break the way you did,
You fell so hard
I've learned the hard way
To never let it get that far
Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid
I lose my way
And it's not too long before you point it out
I cannot cry
Because you know that's weakness in your eyes
I'm forced to fake
A smile, a laugh everyday of my life
My heart can't possibly break
When it wasn't even whole to start with
Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid
I watched you die
I heard you cry every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry in the middle of the night
For the same damn thing
Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I try my hardest just to forget everything
Because of you
I don't know how to let anyone else in
Because of you
I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty
Because of you
I am afraid
Because of you
Because of you"
There is silence when the song ends. I can sense the people around me crying. I even surprise myself when I reach up and touch my face. Tears are streaming down my cheeks like water through a river. I promised myself I wouldn't cry…but then again, who couldn't with words like these coming from him?
I look out amongst the crowd and can see the people crying as well. The one that surprises me the most would be seeing Yuki crying. No one else seems to notice except for me. At least he got what he was supposed to out of it. I hope he realizes now exactly what Shuichi was feeling. I can't help but to look up to the sky. For a brief moment I could have sworn I saw him standing there watching the whole thing. I also swear that he mumbles the words, "I'm sorry, Hiro….but thank you." After that it was gone. I merely nod once and look back at everyone.
"This concludes the ceremony. I hope that you all drive safely. We don't want to go through another one of these," I conclude, putting my guitar down for the last time. Never again will I pick it up. For if I did all I would think about is Shuichi.
The end!
A/N: I hope that you all enjoyed this. I know that it is another sad one, but you know how it is when one can help it. Please review if you read it cause I want to know what you all think.