Disclaimer: Nope… still don't own it. But one day they will be mine! Bwahahahahahaha!

shifty eyes

Thanks to:

Flagger- My first reviewer and now my beta! Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Thank you.

ScreamAimAndFIRE-x- You inspired me to write faster- I blame you for my lack of sleep.

ryuchi-shuichi41- Thank you so much! Your review was wonderful!

tsubaki-dono- Sorry about the length of the prologue, I hope this is better, and the next chapter should be even longer. Not too many details in this chapter either, but I'll really get into it in the next one, now all the set up is out of the way. Thanks for your input!

Sleepless

Chapter 1:

Shuichi Shindou, lead singer of Bad Luck and pop star extraordinaire, was attempting to restack the once tidy pyramid of creamed corn. Many things had changed for Shuichi in the past six months, but his grace, or lack thereof, wasn't one of them.

Baka. Baka. Baka. (1) He repeated the word in his head, as he quickly repositioned the vegetable, hoping he could get it finished before his manager saw. Lack of sleep had taken its toll, and this was the third display he'd murdered since he'd started work- four hours ago. It was going to be a long day.

"Shuichi!" Nope, it was going to be a very, very short day because he was so about to get fired.

"H…hai?" He stammered, turning slowly, preparing himself for the impending doom.

"Did you knock something else over? You're completely useless! Is there anything you're actually good at, because I'm seriously beginning to doubt it!"

Apologizing, he thought. I'm good at apologizing. I certainly have to do it enough.

"I'm so sorry sir." Please don't fire me.

"Sorry isn't good enough!"

He could feel the tears threatening, a slight burning behind his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

"Just give me one more chance. I'll try harder, I promise." Why did he just stand there and take it? He didn't need this job. He could find another. His English was so much better than when he first came to America, he could probably find an even better one.

But as his manager gave a final threat and walked off in a huff, he knew he would not say anything, because standing up for himself was something Shuichi Shindou never did, and some things just don't change.

So he swallowed his pride, finished cleaning up, and promptly tripped into the tomatoes.

"… Kuso." (2)

Five games of computer Solitaire (which he won), and two games of chess (which he lost), Eiri Yuki was still no closer to writing (starting), his newest masterpiece. When Yuki told his editor of the latest delay, she had started yelling, then crying, then yelling again. But this only put him in a good mood for a couple of hours, and now he was back to brooding. Brooding. Not moping because he was a writer and writers brooded, damnit.

Needless to say, the lighter was back in hand, picture in sight. Even though he definitely did not miss Shuichi, he always found himself gazing at his lovers face whenever he felt like brooding -not moping.

He quickly shoved the lighter back into his pocket, disgusted with his sentimentality.

And took it back out again a few minutes later.

Shuichi spent the rest of his afternoon searching for a new job. He didn't exactly have the best of credentials, with little to no work experience, especially in America. And while lead singer in one of the most famous bands in Japan definitely counted as work experience, he couldn't exactly go around broadcasting his location. Even though Bad Luck was on hiatus and had not officially broken up, he was fairly certain Touma knew it really was, even if Hiro and Suguru refused to see it. He wasn't sure if Touma would knock him out and drag him back by force, or just kill him for his disobedience. Either way, he didn't want to find out.

First he hit the local coffee shops. Since he lived in SoHo, and there were at least four on every corner, the process took him most of the afternoon. Dozens of applications later, he'd received several, "Don't call us, we'll call you," a few "Maybe," and one "Get out of my store now before you knock something else over."

It was only after he'd given up on coffee and wandered into a small bookstore he crossed paths with fate. There, finally, when he knocked over a small rack of souvenirs, they told him he had to work there to pay it off. Not the typical method of getting a job, but Shuichi was anything but typical.

The bookstore was small, yet thriving, and carried not only new American releases, yet decent selection of imports. Shuichi scanned the bookshelves; he was supposed to familiarize himself with the layout before he started work the next day. Egypt, Russia, Italy, Japan. Japan! It had been so long since he'd read anything in his native language, and a wave of homesickness washed over him.

That's when he spotted the familiar kanji, written on the spine of a book. Yuki Eiri. Apparently the bookstore had a selection of the novelist's books. He recognized most of them, all of them, except one.

That must be his new book. The one that came out right before I… He couldn't finish the sentence. I never did get a chance to read it.

He glanced at it again. He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. But he had to. Despite his lack of involvement in creating the books (Yuki usually made him leave the room whenever he was writing) he always made a point of reading them. He needed to understand what kept the romance novelist locked up, alone, for so many hours at a time, because the words were a part of his lover, and his lover a part of him.

And there it sat. The book he never read. The part of Yuki not yet his.

He picked it up, slowly, deliberately. Did he even want this piece of Yuki anymore? Hadn't they given up for good this time?

He needed to set it back down, and walk away. This could only create more agony, and hadn't he had enough of that? It was over between them. He had been the one to leave, so why couldn't he just accept it and move on already?

It was time to let go. He would put the stupid book down, and just let go.

But he didn't.

Instead, he pulled out his wallet and walked to the register.

"And why would I care that you're translating my novels to English? It's not as if I'll be doing the translating. Now get out of my apartment."

"But this could be huge for you Yuki-sensei. And since you're not really writing anything right now, we need to do something to keep you in the public eye. That's why you're going to America. (She paused for a moment as Yuki glared). We'll hit all the big cities, do some book signings, a couple of news appearances- it'll be your biggest book promotion yet!" His eye twitched, annoyance building as he listened to Mizuki babble.

Yuki. Was. Not. Going. To. America.

"You are an editor, not a manager. Since, as you so graciously pointed out, I have no new material for you to edit, there is no reason for you to be here."

Silence.

"So leave!"

That was when Mizuki matched his glare with one of her own, and said something surprisingly un-Mizuki. "Look, when you make money, I make money. And I've found a way to make us both a great deal of it. You're going to America." (3)

Yuki wondered where he could hide the body.

Shuichi entered his apartment with a quiet sigh. It had been a long day, and his feet hurt like hell. But that wasn't his real problem at the moment. No, that was still mocking him in its bag, now sitting on the kitchen table.

He quickly walked into the bedroom, determined to ignore what he so stupidly purchased. Yet as he was brushing his teeth, preparing for bed, he discovered the novel had telekinetic powers.

It was still mocking him.

But he was Shuichi Shindou, and would not let an inanimate object get the best of him.

Except it was still on his mind as he changed into pajamas, shut off the light, and crawled into bed, alone.

He closed his eyes, but apparently that just enraged the novel, because he started thinking of it even more.

But Shuichi refused to give into temptation, rolled over, and eventually went to sleep.

To be continued…

1- Baka means idiot.

2- I've most often heard "kuso" translated as "damn."

3- I love Mizuki! She's so quiet and polite, yet she can still get Yuki to do what she wants. You don't see her very often, only a couple of times in the manga, and even less in the anime, so her character isn't well developed. Therefore, I'll be doing some development myself, and I decided to give her a bit of a bold side. For some reason I really like the idea of someone that polite yelling at Yuki.

Author's notes:

OMG there's a plot! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. As always, please review… you know you want to.