AN: Xunxin here. Hope everyone liked the first chapter of my new story. Sorry about the page breaks disappearing. I'll try something new and hope that they stay this time. Here's the next installment. Sorry for the wait, I had writers block already. Please let me know what you think!

PS: Since this is an AU world, their personalities will be a little different then the normal, but I'll keep them within the normal range. I never thought about if the whole "Kitazawa" thing happened here but I'll say not and I'll try my hardest to get new chapters out ASAP for your continued enjoyment but know that I do have a life.

DISCLAIMER! DISCLAIMER! 'nough said.

Warnings: still not sure

SECRET

Chapter 2:

As Shuichi walked through the doors of the pastry shop he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting go of all his tension, stress, anger and fear. Seeing Ryo again was terrifying, he wasn't sure what to do or say but seeing Eiri again was amazing. Who would have thought that the older punk kid from his childhood would show up here in Tokyo?

"Are you okay?" Eiri asked from behind him.

Shuichi let a huge smile take over his face and turned to look at Eiri. "I'm fine, but what are you doing here? The last time I saw you, your dad was trying to get you to dye your hair black. You were causing him trouble in return, as usual." Shuichi laughed. "He wanted you to look proper for when the rest of the family arrived."

"I'm pretty sure that I flooded the shrine because of that." Eiri said with an evil smile, remembering. "Took him a month to dry it out."

Shuichi laughed and took a seat at a corner table. Eiri took a seat across from him as someone from behind the counter quickly came over to them carrying a small box.

"Yuki-san!" The pastry clerk announced excitedly. "I have your order, just as you requested sir."

"What did you order?" Shuichi asked curiously.

"Nothing special" Eiri said, shrugging it off.

"It's very special. Yuki-san is getting married!" The waiter said excitedly, clapping his hands and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Married?" Shuichi questioned, not sure he heard right. When they were younger, he remembers Eiri saying that he would probably never get married. 'Except…He did say…' Shuichi thought as a memory floated to the surface of his mind.

"Well he hasn't asked his girlfriend yet, but I'm sure she'll say yes Yuki-san!" The waiter said, still sounding excited. He failed to notice the glare that Eiri shot his way, however.

"Girlfriend?" Shuichi asked, looking from the waiter to Eiri. Utter surprise on his face and in his voice. He was trying to squash the small ball of hurt that was forming in his gut.

"Thank you Matsukoshi, but if you don't mind…" Eiri gritted out through his teeth at the waiter, giving him the look of death.

"Oh! I'm very sorry! Please excuse me!" The clerk said bowing repeatedly realizing his error and quickly walked away.

"Shuichi…look-" Eiri began wincing, but was cut off at the sudden sound of Shuichi's cell phone ringing.

Shuichi grabbed at his bag desperate for the distraction and dug through it until he found his cell. "Hello?"

"Shuichi where are you?" Hiro asked from the other end sounding worried.

"I'm fine. I really am fine. I'll be back in a few minutes okay? So leave me alone right now." Shuichi said tightly into the phone, anger replacing the hurt he previously felt. He hung up before Hiro had any chance to respond. Shuichi then threw his phone back into his bag and got up from the table. "Sorry Eiri, but I have to go back to work. Thanks so much for your help before." Shuichi hurriedly said, grabbing his stuff to leave.

"Hey, Shuichi…" Eiri called out as Shuichi practically ran out the door. "Damnit." Eiri muttered to himself as he got up to follow Shuichi out. Outside the door to the pastry shop Eiri saw Shuichi making his way down the street, "Shuichi!" Eiri called again.

"You can find me at NG Productions." Shuichi yelled back as he continued down the road.

"Since when do you work at a recording studio?" Eiri called in return, knowing perfectly well why he worked there.

"You should try listening to music once in a while." Shuichi yelled back, chuckling. Eiri almost never listened to music when they were little, only because Tohma was so into it, it drove Eiri nuts. 'Or maybe that was my fault' Shuichi thought laughing to himself.

"Not as long as that shark is in charge. Plus your lyrics probably still suck." Eiri said, more to himself.

"Hey! Tohma's not so bad and my lyrics don't suck." Shuichi said anticipating Eiri's response, and turned to continue running down the street toward NG.

Eiri chuckled to himself, "idiot." and turned to walk back into the pastry shop.

The clerk, Matsukoshi, quickly walked over as Eiri came back in, and started apologizing again at his bluntness. "I'm so sorry Yuki-san. I didn't realize you weren't ready to announce it. Your friend seemed very surprised and upset at the news."

"Of course he's upset." Eiri said aloud annoyed at the clerk and worried about Shuichi. 'Because I broke a promise.' Eiri finished the thought silently.

Pagebreak HELLO HIHIHI HELLO pagebreak

Eiri was about ten when he first met Shuichi. He had a fight with his father and ran out before he could be locked in his room for the night. Something his father loved to do in order to teach him some discipline.

When he got to the river by his house, Eiri saw a younger kid sitting there crying. Eiri guessed he must be the one who recently moved into the house a few blocks from his family shrine because no one else in this neighborhood would dare walk around with pink hair. Guess he would have to tell this new kid that he sitting his spot. "Hey." Eiri called out as he got closer.

The kid seemed to jump as the sound of Eiri's voice and looked up with a tear soaked face looking scared. "I'm sorry, I'll leave." He said in a small voice, getting ready to run.

Feeling that twinge of conscience Eiri preferred to ignore even at that age, he bit back his prepared remark. That was when he noticed the kids' scrapped knee and bruised cheek. "Are you okay?" Eiri questioned with concern. 'Why do I care again?' Eiri thought.

The kid looked down at the ground and wiped the tears that were running down his face. "I'm fine. I ran into some other kids and fell. They were making fun of me so I ran away from them but I got lost on my way home." He said still scared. "Is this your spot? I'm sorry." He apologized again.

"You mean Taki and his gang? I run into them all the time. They don't like me much either." Eiri said nonchalantly.

"Really? What do you do?" Shuichi questioned, the fear easing and being replaced by intrigue at this older kid.

"I kick their ass before they can try to kick mine. You're the new kid that moved into that old house. What's your name?" Eiri said before he thought, 'He's kind of cute for a kid.'

"Shuichi. You're not going to make fun of me are you?" Shuichi asked quietly.

Eiri kneeled down and wiped the falling tear from Shuichi's cheek. "No. And I won't let them either."

.nnnnn

Eiri walked to his car with his pastry box in hand. As he opened the car door his cell rang. Eiri quickly set down the box in the seat, pulled out his phone and answered it distractedly. "Yeah?"

"Eiri? I got your message. What's going on?" Aiko said from the other end.

"Huh?" Eiri responded before he could really think. His mind was still on Shuichi at the moment.

"Tomorrow? At five?" Aiko reminded.

"Oh! Um, I'll pick you up for dinner and tell you then. I got to go, bye." Eiri said, quickly getting off the phone. For some reason this feeling of regret was beginning to bubble. Eiri ignored it telling himself he doing the right thing and got into the car to head home.

.nnnnn

Ryo sat in his car across from NG waiting for Shuichi to walk out the doors. He's been sitting there since he followed Shuichi back to NG after he ran out of the pastry shop from talking to that blonde haired guy.

"He looked like that author." Ryo mumbled. "If so, he might try to cause some trouble."

AN: I know, it sucks. Sorry that's all I got right now. I already hit a writer's block. I'll figure it out by the next chapter, I promise. Stay tuned pls .