SHURYU: More Than Rivals?

A/N 2013: I edited Tohma's reaction in the second half of this chapter into something I think fits his character better. As he once said in the manga, "Of coarse I know, I'm the boss after all."


Shuichi continued to stare at the characters written on the page. It was sloppy, as if quickly written, but the handwriting was familiar. That alone, should have been a dead give away but the boy was staring though the page more than directly at it. There were only a few people other than himself who preferred that particular writing style.

One person was Yuki's little bother, Tetsuha, who was just too lazy to write out the complicated characters and then there was the other option. The man who only knew one kanji character: Ryuichi Sakuma. He continued to stare at the misshapen characters when a voice shattered his thoughts.

"Some idiot left that outside for you." Shuichi looked up to see his lover. He stared blankly at the blond who only seemed to get more annoyed the longer he stared. When no words came, Yuki continued.

"So, who is it from? Sakuma?"

Shuichi silently nodded as his hand with the letter fell to his side. Yuki looked at the letter in his lover's hand intently before sighing.

"If it bothers you, throw it out."

"Yuki…" he began, as the blond crossed his arms and leaned against the nearby wall, waiting for an explanation. Even after a grunt in response, the vocalist didn't continue. Instead he seemed to be at war with himself and Yuki wasn't sure if he preferred this to the younger man's usual theatrics.

Shuichi on the other hand, tried to decide which was better; the anger Yuki was sure to display should he tell him the truth or the weight of wanting to tell someone- anyone- what had happened. The pressure built up behind his eyes in frustration. He wanted to say something- he really did!- but the words didn't form out of the miasma stewing in his chest. If he said it, it would make it real in a way...

And he wasn't sure he was ready for that...

Choking back his emotions, he looked up at Yuki, and forced a smile on his face. He crumpled up the paper and held it tightly. The wrinkles bit into his palm, grounding him.

"Nevermind."


"Yes and thank you." Hanging up the phone, Tohma Seguchi leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and sighed. He could feel a headache coming on, but in this case it couldn't be helped. Sometimes he missed the days when he was just a keyboardist in his band and not the president of a multi-million corporation. Things were much simpler then, he mused as he rested the back of his head against the fine grain leather.

There was a knock at the door. He opened his eyes and pulled himself back into a sitting position.

"Come in," he called, struggling to paste on his usual smile.

"Mr. President, sir." Sakano began, bowing to his superior. Looking up, he caught the ever smiling face of his boss and took it as a sign to continue. "You see, it's like this…"

Sitting with his hands folded and elbows on the desk, Tohma listened to Sakano's rendition of what had happened the day before, all the time silent. Picking out the relevant information from amid the panicked ramblings took an energy the young president wasn't sure he possessed, but from what he could gather, it seemed that Shindo had missed work because of something that may or may not of happened the previous day.

This was not new news to him, but he smiled and pretended that what Sakano was saying mattered.

"I see," he said when Sakano had finished. He bent his head as if in deep thought, although it was an act influenced more by his growing headache than by deep contemplation, but no one would ever know.

"Sir?" Sakano stood stock still obediently waiting for some explanation or set of orders from his employer.

Seguchi thought back on what Noriko had told him yesterday, in private, away from the ever vigilant ears of Ryuichi Sakuma. Also, he could vaguely recall thinking he saw the two vocalists together in the hallway. However, when he had turned back to look again, he was pretty sure he had only seen Shindo alone. It would add up with the concerns Noriko had expressed. She had mentioned that the two of them had disappeared for a while around the same time.

'I told him not to get involved,' he thought to himself.

"Sir?" Seguchi snapped back to reality and looked up to see an apprehensive Sakano. He must have been lost in thought longer than he realized.

"Ah, yes. I will talk to Shindo. You may go." He said with a nod.

"But Sir…"

"It's alright." He said with his trademark patented ever present smile. Tohma waited until Sakano had left before he reached over to the intercom on his desk and buzzed his secretary.

"Please forward all calls and messages to my voice mail. I do not wish to be disturbed."

"Yes sir."

Tohma turned his chair around and looked out his window at the city below, thinking. He had been sitting like this, watching the city nightlife when Noriko came in hours later.

"Hey, Tohma. You should really go home and get some rest. If you don't Ryuichi might find you here and send Kumagoro after you," she said with a laugh.

Ryuichi-no Kumagoro- would probably be popping up from the other side of his desk sometime soon, in an attempt to send him home. Ryuichi knew he was in trouble, Tohma was sure of it. And although playing the fool was one of Ryuichi's favorite pastimes, he had an uncanny ability to always know what was going on and how to mostly avoid it.

"True, true. Where is Ryuichi? I haven't seen him today." Noriko fell silent as she looked down in silent admiration of the carpet. When no one continued, Noriko leaned against the desk and hung her head in an uncharacteristic show of defeat. That got Tohma's attention immediately.

"Actually, that's what I came here to talk to you about," she said, not looking up.

"You see, Ryu hasn't been himself lately. You've noticed, haven't you?"

At his ascent, she continued, "Today, when I came this morning, I realized that I forgot something in one of the rehearsal rooms. On my way I noticed an open door, so I peaked inside. Ryu was inside, just sitting there. I don't think he even noticed me."

"What is so unusual about that?" He asked.

"That's just it! He was sitting alone in the dark listening to rehearsal tapes." She paused, looking up, imploring her friend to understand. "Bad Luck's rehearsal tapes, Tohma. Ryu's eyes, they were intense… just like when he's on stage singing."

The dread dropped into his stomach, but he tried not to let it show on his face. Noriko had a lot to think about as it was. She was married, with a family now, which meant that the responsibility of Ryuichi fell to him now. The brunette was trying at the best of times...

"You know just as well as anyone how fond he is of Shindo and his friends. I think, in some ways, they remind him of us… before we disbanded," he tried to come off as reassuring.

"Still…" It seemed Noriko would not let go of the topic so easily, "He disappeared from our meeting room, you know. And he didn't come back for a long time after. I went looking for him."

"He does that often. You know that he has a short attention span."

At Noriko's unimpressed look, Tohma let his shoulders slump.

"After we found Shindo, he seemed distant and a bit upset. He played it off well, though. I think Nakano-kun and I were the only ones to notice, but… when I said something to Ryu, he got that closed off look on his face- you know the one I mean. I'm worried, Tohma. What has he gotten himself into this time?"

"We'll soon find out, I think. Either way, let me handle it Noriko," the blonde replied, stepping around the desk to take the other keyboardist by the shoulders. He nodded once and turned her towards the door.

"But he's my friend too!" She called over her shoulder, trying to turn back around. She wasn't very successful and Tohma had little difficulty leading her to the door.

"I know. But, I'm long used to cleaning up after his messes. What's one more, hmm?"

"...you shouldn't be the one to have to say that."

"Still," he said, opening the door. "Good night, Noriko."

TO BE CONTINUED…