Title: Tainted Gold
By: Aina Song
Fandom(s): Gundam Wing/Gravitation
Genre: Yaoi
Rating: NC-17
Warning(s): Language; Angst; Saap; Song Lyrics; Rumored Death; Slight OOC.
Pairing(s): To be revealed as story develops. (Trust me, you'll appreciate it better that way.)
Reviews: Yes, please.
Author's Note: Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money.
Teaser: The pain of broken promises is not so easily mended…
Chapter One - Belong to Another
Touko de me o hikarasete
Mezameru mono-tachi matte iru
Yoru no jouheki sasowarete
Utsurisumu mure no nukegara ni
Deguchi no nai
Shougeki ni taeru tsumori nara
Kuzureru hodo
Itsuwaru o misete
Ima mo todokanu hikari no yukue
Azayaka ni mau omoi o egakou
Michibiku kotoba ga koboreteshimawanu you ni
Utsuru toki o osorenai de
Deguchi no nai
Kuzureochiru
Umarekawari no anata yo
Hitori hohoemanai de hitomi o irodoru
Nozonda sekai ga totsuzen hai ni natte mo
Kiseki wa mada megurikuru
Todokanu hikari no yukue
Azayaka ni mau omoi o egakou
Michibiku kotoba ga koboreteshimawanu you ni
Utsuru toki o osorenai de
Sotto dakishimete zutto tsukamaete
Motto kokoro made kowasu you ni
- "Sleepless Beauty"
~o~
"Mr. Seguchi? Mr. Seguchi."
After a moment, the young blond looked up. The doctor, a middle-aged man whose name he'll likely forget after the day was out, offered Touma an encouraging smile. "You're clear to go in, now."
"Tell me," he pleaded with forced calm. "How is he?"
"Aside from some emotional trauma, he's just fine."
"No physical harm? No bodily damage?"
"After the boy finally calmed down enough to let us have a look at him, it was simple to determine that nothing of the sort had been inflicted upon him."
"And you're quite sure," Touma insisted.
The doctor nodded.
The blond youth followed along a quiet corridor, pausing before a door and waiting until the doctor allowed him the privacy to go in. Taking a slow breath, he let himself into the room and closed the door behind him. As he had requested, it was a small room with only the one bed, but was comfortably spacious for its size and had a window with a full view of the park across the street from the building.
He stood a moment with the door behind him, eyes falling upon the single bed and the blankets thereof gathered together in a small mound. Finally he let his feet take him across the room, sitting himself in a modest chair that had been set by the bedside.
"Eiri…"
The mound shifted, and after another minute a mop of beautiful golden hair peeked out from beneath them. The head rolled on its side, and stark yellow eyes cast their fearful gaze upon him. "M-Mister Seguchi?"
"Yes, Eiri," he answered solemnly. "I haven't left you."
"I-I'm sorry, Mister Seguchi." The younger blond pleaded, looking as though he would cry again. "I didn't mean to… I d-didn't want-"
"No," Touma gently argued. "I told you before, Eiri. It wasn't your fault. You only reacted on instinct, to keep from getting hurt."
"But I never-"
"I know." He sat forth in his chair, carefully placing a hand to his young friend's shoulder. "And I'm sorry."
"You?" The boy's other hand slipped out from beneath the covers, lightly capturing Touma's fingers with his own. "But you didn't do anything."
Touma turned his aqua-blue gaze aside. "Eiri… It was by my recommendation that you even met that man in the first place. I should've known better than to let you get so close to him, without first checking into him."
"I-I liked him, Touma."
He turned back, offering a kind smile his heart did not echo. "I know you did, Eiri. And, like you, I thought he was honest enough to return those feelings."
"But…" And the younger blond's stark yellow eyes began to fill again with tears, "I still like him. He was never like that before. I-I don't want him to be…"
Touma Seguchi quickly gathered the young boy into his embrace, whispering for the better part of the next hour words to sooth the adolescent's mournful guilt. When his fiancée arrived some time later by virtue of a specially-hired jet, Eiri had at last fallen asleep. Touma greeted her at the door, explained everything in as much detail as he dared and then, after humbly apologizing once more, left her to visit with her brother.
~o~
"Hey, here's an interesting question. If you could drop everything and start a completely different life for yourself, what would you do?"
"That is an interesting question. Who are you asking?"
"All of us. C'mon, we're drunk enough. But I absolutely refuse to go first."
There was an exchanging of glances, until finally one quietly answered, "I think I would've liked to return to a life of study. But wishing that only makes me want to regret why my studies were interrupted in the first place, and that is something I cannot do."
"I agree."
"Same here."
"I think the point is to pick out a new life for yourself from this day forward," another put in.
"This coming from the guy who never knew anything outside paramilitarism," the first smirked. "What would you like to do differently?"
"I'm doing it. Protecting the world honestly and out in the open, instead of secretly and against the law."
"You would say that."
"That's what you get for asking," a fourth laughed in that quiet way of his.
"Shut up," the first commanded as he reached for the third bottle of brandy they had been passing around. "I suppose you're going to give me the same answer he did, right?"
"Actually, no. I'd like to try living in Africa for a while."
"Why, so the lions there can eat off your hand if you get too close? I can see you daring that."
"You're one to talk," the second spoke again. "Out of morbid curiosity, what would your answer to the question be?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
With a smirk, the first turned to a fifth member of their circle. "Q? You haven't answered yet. What about you?"
After a moment of thinking, the last replied, "I'd like to break into the music business. Maybe see Japan's pop culture, and witness how it's done there."
The first gave a wide grin, turning back to the others. "And there you have it. We'd start in on the music together."
Beside him, the last stared. "You'd really come with me?"
"Shame on you for thinking I wouldn't, Q. Hey, but we'd need new names for ourselves. Got one in mind?"
"Well… I've always liked the name-"
~o~
"Touma?"
He slowly came awake, blinking his eyes open. Standing before him was a slender brunette, his fiancée. "Mika."
The woman gave an exhausted smile, "You fell asleep in the recliner again?"
The blond looked down upon himself, concluding that her words were true. "I'm afraid so," he answered, looking up again. "I thought you would've preferred to spend the night at the hospital with Eiri."
"I would have, but the staff there insisted they had no room for me."
Touma stood, a slight frown beginning to crease his brow. "Shall I make a few calls for you?"
"No," she shrugged. "With the state Eiri is in, I think they might be right. Mind if I crash in the guest room instead?"
"Feel free. Give me another minute, and I'll help you bring in your things."
So she claimed one room, and he another. Such had been and would always be their arrangement. For, though they were engaged to marry, they were not in love. Half a year before, they had met. Soon they had become friends, and he had tried very hard not to betray her trust in him. And so, when nearly a month ago Mika's father had decided to arrange for her to be married to a man she knew she could never care for, she had come to Touma.
And Touma, a man whose secret heart was always kinder than even Mika would ever guess, had devised a plan to help. He, himself, would declare her his fiancée, and Mika's father would have no choice but to call off the other engagement. He provided Mika with a home of her own with a guest room for him, and in his home there was always a room available for her. When necessary, they would play out their roles as a happy couple to her father. Any other time, they both were free to live out their lives as they wished.
The single price to be paid for the brilliance of this plan… Touma would eventually need to give Mika a child. She was the daughter of a traditional family, and as the eldest it was she who would be expected to provide an heir to the Uesugi shrine.
Touma had been vastly relieved that Mika had agreed to wait some time for that part. She was not ready to become a mother, she had said. But, though Touma had agreed that fatherhood could wait, that had not been his most pressing reason.
Touma Seguchi's heart had and would always belong to another…
