AN: Gravitation belongs to Maki Murakami and the song Photograph belongs to Nickelback. My English is a shit, but if you understand what I'm trying to say with this story, everything is fine.
Look at this photograph
Every time I do it makes me laugh
How did our eyes get so red?
And what the hell is on Joey's head?
Photos were spread on the bedroom's floor and bright blue eyes were looking at them with such intensity that if a bomb explodes outside the window he wouldn't care. People and faces are staring back at him, some young, others very old, but familiar faces. The hand with long and pale fingers caught one of the photos and brought close to the young face. Three teenagers were smiling in this photo. One of them still a kid, a beautiful little girl with brown hair and purple eyes was making a v with her fingers above the head of a boy with the hair the same color as the girl but with large blue eyes. With them was a blond guy, the oldest of the three, smiling and shaking his head in disapproval with this childish act.
Memories started to come.
This is where I grew up
I think the present owner fixed it up
I never knew we ever went without
The second floor is hard for sneakin' out
"Ryuichi" the scream almost brought down the house and the teenager rolled his eyes when he heard his father's voice. What now? "Come here boy. NOW!" said boy let out a sigh and looked around the room for a way to escape. He knew what his father's problem was: his grades. They were horrible. Ryuichi was humble enough to admit that if it wasn't for Tohma he'd still be in the first grade.
A sound brought the boy back from his thoughts and blue eyes looked to the closed window in time to see a little rock hit against the glass. Smiling he went to the window and opened it only to see Tohma in the garden with some other rocks in his hand.
"What are you doing here?" asked the teen to his best friend.
"Saving you, what else. I could hear your father's scream down the street. Come on, Nori-chan is waiting for us."
"Waiting? Where?" he asked again and suddenly the brunette looked over one shoulder when he heard some noises coming from the stairs. His father was coming up.
"Movie theater." Tohma answered and Ryuichi smirked. The Movie Theater was an old build where they usually run into when they want to practice some music. The acoustic inside the place was great.
"RYUICHI!" his father's scream sounded too close of his door and without think twice the boy caught his jacket and jump out the window, right on Tohma. The bedroom's door opened with a loud noise and a very angry Sakuma-san entered the room. "Ryuichi!" shouted the guy when he put his head out of the window, only to see two boys disappearing in the end of the street.
This is where I went to school
Most of the time had better things to do
Criminal record says I broke in twice
I must've done it half a dozen times
"If you want to be a great singer, you have to stop this." purple eyes locked with blue eyes and hands took away the cigarette between the rose lips.
"I was just relaxing." Ryuichi answered . How come a small girl like Noriko with only fourteen could be so responsible? She had the best grades, was in all the clubs that you could imagine and was a hell of a player. In her hands his music could gain life. She was the best piano player that he knew, after Tohma of course. The guy was a genius. A sadist, manipulator and bastard genius. Well, it wasn't a surprise that they were such a good friends.
"And skipping classes… again." Noriko said while she tried to take the cigarette's package from Ryu's pocket. "How do you expect to graduate when you are never in classes?"
"Who said that I want to graduate?" Ryuichi looked to a bird that was flying to his nest in a branch above his head. The little animal seemed so happy singing while the sun was shinning between the leafs. "You better go back to your classes. You don't want to hear a long talk about how I'm a bad influence for such a smart girl. They said that I've already corrupted Tohma…"
"You corrupted Tohma?" Noriko laughed. "Right. I think is right to say that Tohma corrupted you. You're so naïve Ryu-chan, beside everything, you're still naïve." and with that she left.
I wonder if it's too late
Should I go back and try to graduate
Life's better now than it was back then
If I was them, I wouldn't let me in
There was a photo of Noriko's graduation, but he hadn't anything about his and Tohma's graduation. Well, is a little impossible to have something when you never finished high school. He couldn't take the pressure. His family wanted him to be a doctor or something like that. He wanted to be a musician. So, in the end, he left and Tohma… Well, Tohma could be anything he wanted, but they had something in common: They had the same dream to one day be famous, have people screaming their name and with their music playing in all radio station. So Tohma left with him. The two boys packed their things, went to Tokyo and never looked back. Three years later Noriko joined them and Nittle Grasper was born.
Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say
It's time to say it
Goodbye, Goodbye
And now all he has is an old photo album spread on the floor and memories coming trough the door.
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say
It's time to say it
Goodbye, Goodbye
Maybe he should lock everything in the attic, or maybe he should send to Tohma or Noriko. Or, maybe, he should keep it and promise himself that this was the last time he looked at them. That it's time to say goodbye.
Remember the old arcade
Blew every dollar that we ever made
The cops hated us hangin' out
They say somebody went and burned it down
"You'll never go to Tokyo if you waste all your money in games." Tohma crossed his arms and smirked when his friend lost again to the machine. "I mean, you work hard to leave this town and be a super star, but everything you make is lost like water between your fingers."
"Are you trying to be my father?" Ryuichi asked with a scowl. "Because I already have a father, thank you very much." and went to the next machine with a fighting game. Tohma let out a exasperate sigh but put the coin in the machine anyway and started to play with his friend.
"Look out there." the blond said in the middle of the game and Ryuichi look up to see a couple of cops looking into the arcade.
"Damn! I can't even have a peaceful Friday night." Tohma gave a sympathetic look to his best friend. The city cops seem to have some kind of radar when the person in their spot was Ryuichi. Ryu's father was the police chief and this means that the guy was always on his son's tail. No wonder the boy was so rebel, with a father like Kenshin Sakuma, anyone could be a pain in the ass.
We used to listen to the radio
And sing along with every song we'd know
We said someday we'd find out how it feels
To sing to more than just the steering wheel
"It's not like you to say sorry, I was waiting on a different story. This time I'm mistaken for handing you a heart worth breaking." the hand hit against the steering wheel while the teenager sang to the top of his lungs. The car turned a corner, almost catching a dog that was crossing the street, but the boy wasn't caring, because he was still singing. In front of his eyes what he saw was a crowd singing with him. What he heard was his voice singing his own songs. He was so close, his dream was so close that he could almost touch it. Soon he would leave this town and prove to everyone that he was someone. Soon everybody would love and know the name Ryuichi Sakuma.
Kim's the first girl I kissed
I was so nervous that I nearly missed
She's had a couple of kids since then
I haven't seen her since God knows when
"I think she likes you." there was amusement in Tohma's voice while he watched his best friend blushes because of one girl.
"Fucking no!" Ryuichi answered with a hint of terror in his voice. Tohma laughed hard and drank his soda, Ryuichi was still swearing under his breath and his eyes grew bigger than usual when he saw the girl coming in his direction.
"Come on James Bond!" Tohma joked, pushing his friend right into the girl's arms. Ryuichi gave Tohma a glare but turned to the girl with a smile on his face anyway. Soon they were on the dance floor and half an hour later they were kissing in a corner. Tohma laughed again. Ryuichi was in debt with him and the blond would make sure that he payed every cent.
Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say
It's time to say it
Goodbye, Goodbye
One photo caught the men's attention. It was his first photo as a pop star. The first Nittle Grasper official photo. They where so young. Ten years younger and so much happened since then. They had some bad times, some good times, but Ryuichi liked these memories beside everything. But still was time to say goodbye.
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say
It's time to say it
Goodbye, Goodbye
"Ryuichi, what are you doing?" the voice came from the door and the singer turned to see his company.
"Remembering." said the men, looking again to the photos spread in front of him.
I miss that town
I miss their faces
You can't erase
You can't replace it
I miss it now
"Remembering what?" Tatsuha came into the room and sat beside his lover.
"My life Tatsuha, my life." and Ryuichi showed Tatsuha one photo of the Nittle Grasper when they were simply teenagers in high school, without the fame and fans screaming their names. Looking in the middle of the old photos the singer found one of his father. The only one he had. The only one he brought with him when he left his home town. He didn't see his father for almost twelve years. Maybe it was the time to come back. Afterall, he missed his town.
I can't believe it
So hard to stay
Too hard to leave it
If I could relive those days
I know the one thing that would never change
"What are you thinking?" Tatsuha asked in a low voice, afraid to break the moment that these memories created.
"My father." the seventeen year old boy was chocked. Ryuichi had a father? But how anyone didn't know about this?
"Because I never told anyone. The town where I was born never saw me as the perfect boy. I was the police chief's son and should give the example for the others kids. But I never was the perfect guy, never to my father, never to anyone. Tohma and Noriko were my only friends. People back there thought we were crazy because we wanted to be stars. We had big e impossible dreams for such a small town. So I left and never spoke about my family anymore." Ryuichi said looking straight into warm brown eyes.
Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor
It's hard to say
It's time to say it
Goodbye, Goodbye
"So... I think we have a road trip to plan, huh?" Tatsuha smiled and kissed Ryuichi's cheek.
"I think we do." answered the singer with a whisper when Tatsuha left the room.
Every memory of walking out the front door
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for
It's hard to say
It's time to say it
Goodbye, Goodbye
Soon all the photographs were back in the album, but one. The photo of the three teenagers smiling at the camera was the only one Ryuichi left behind. These were the only memories that he didn't want to say goodbye. Besides, that v above his head that Noriko was doing makes him laugh.
Look at this photograph
Every time I do it makes me laugh
Every time I do it makes me