Author note: I am sooooo sorry it's takenso long - I got distracted by college, and exams, and other series (I kid you not, I've actually finished an entire Kuroshitsuji fanfic which will be posted on day). I will finish this fic one day, I promise. Also, sorry it's so short.
Warning: Contains a distinct shonen tilt. Dont like? Dont read.
Pair: Hiro and K
Disclaimer: Do i look like Maki Murakami? No, I didn't think so.


Hiro kept his promise, and worked as hard as he could. Everyone could tell he was putting in an extra effort, and the redhead's enthusiasm seemed to be infectious. Shuichi was so energised by his friend that he pulled one of his by now infamous spontaneous announcements on one of their interviews: Bad Luck was releasing a new album.

Suguru tried to kill him for that one, while Hiro spent almost twenty minutes calming Mr Sakano down. As it was Shuichi who made the announcement, they had to go through with it.

"Had it been from anyone else, we could have backed out, said it was a mistake, but nooooo…" Fujisaki's rantings continued for the next few weeks.

Naturally, Shuichi went into a writing craze, and filled up an entire notepad with ideas and lyrics. Only about half of it was any good, a surprisingly high rate for Shuichi's first attempts at songs, but the other half sent him spiralling into a minor depression, which lasted less two days, until Yuki, frustrated at the all noise his lover was making around the apartment as he tried to get past his songwriters block, firmly took the pen out of his hand and in less two minutes wrote a song for him. The fact that Yuki had actually done it to shut him up didn't bother Shuichi, and he went straight back into hyper mode.

A month passed, but Hiro was fine – he wasn't as dependant as Shuichi, and he knew that K would be back when he could. He just had to wait, so he did so patiently, knowing that stressing out wouldn't make the time go faster. The album was half completed, and comprised of songs written by the band, the writing aids in the N-G corporation (e.g. the helpful janitor who cleaned the studio), and that all important song from Yuki.

Hiro pushed his front door open, scooping up the massive pile of mail as he did so. He dumped his jacket on the arm of the chair, and started sifting through the letters.

"Bill, bill, fan mail, postcard from Yuuji," begging for a loan, no doubt "fan mail, bill, fan mail package – probably underwear," he hoped they were clean, at least "airmail, bill, fan ma- what? Airmail? K!" he dropped the others, and tore the letter open. His eager eyes scanned it, then reread it, slower, losing their brightness as they went. The paper dropped from his fingers a Hiro's knees gave way. He stared at the letter, then lay on the floor and curled into a ball, tears dripping down his cheeks.

"Oh, Claude…"

"Where is he? Hiro's never late, something's happened." Shuichi fretted. Suguru and Yuki exchanged exasperated looks. Bad Luck had agreed to meet up for drinks, and Shuichi had forced his lover to come along, claiming that the blond spent more time in the house working than anywhere else. True as it may have been, it didn't bother Yuki, but Shuichi had insisted, and all of his work was finished anyway…

"Shuichi, if you're so worried; let's just go check on him." Fujisaki pointed out. "His apartment is only a couple of blocks away." Shuichi's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and bounced down the street, the others following resignedly.

It took less than five minutes to get to the apartment block, but Hiro didn't open the door when they knocked. After a minute or so of waiting, Shuichi just let himself in.

"Hiro?" he called. No reply. Looking nervous, the singer headed into the lounge, where his gaze instantly found the figure of his friend curled on the floor, letter lying by his head. Hiro showed no signs of having seen or heard them.

Yuki sighed and leant against the doorframe, lighting up a cigarette. He shook his head, sadly, recognising the stationary. He nodded to it, and Shuichi picked it up, reading quickly.

He thrust it suddenly at Fujisaki, who nearly dropped it. Shuichi knelt next to Hiro, tugging the redhead into his arms and cradling him, allowing the guitarist to cry into his shirt.

Suguru scanned the note, then leant back against the wall, crying.

Yuki blew out a stream of smoke, shaken. They all knew that when K accepted the recap mission, this could happen, but they never expected it to. The idea of never seeing the crazy American again had seemed so far away, but now it was a reality.


TBC