Title: Help Elsewhere

Author: Proverbial Pumpkin

Rating: T for language

Summary: Tohma's instrument is one of his few joys in life. K stumbles into a closer relationship with Tohma and when an accident renders the keyboardist unable to play, K is there.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: New chapter- I hope you enjoy it! I'm sorry it's shorter than the last one, but it took me a while. I'm switching around a little bit with the POV's, to ensure maximum Tohma. It should be pretty obvious what's going on. Now, onwards!

Bad Luck receives hostile feedback all the time. In the pop-rock genre, we all understand that you get plenty of hate mail from fans of bands that consider themselves hard core. So when I got a message the morning of the Nittle Grasper/Bad Luck show addressed to both me and Tohma telling us to can the concert, I took it about as seriously as I did when I got an anonymous phone call telling me that NG was an undercover military camp and that Ryuichi was the spawn of Satan. Besides, it was advertised as one of the biggest concerts Tokyo would see for years: Nittle Grasper and Bad Luck, playing back to back shows at the Crescent Center. It was almost an immediate sell-out, and a guaranteed success from the start.

"Tooku de me o hikarasete mezameru monotachi matte iru-"

Routine sound check. "Get mike three down. I can't hear anything but Ryuichi."

"-Mure no nukegara ni-"

"Okay, I still can't hear Seguchi-san. Turn him up… Not his mike, you idiot, his speaker."

"Umarekawareru anato yo hitori ho-"

"No change." I took off my headset and turned on my intercom speaker. "Stop, guys. Seguchi-san, check your volume." I watched as the figure down on the stage fiddled with the controls in front of him. Then Tohma looked up to my box and held out his hands.

"Well, if it's not your volume, fix whatever it is. I can't hear you at all."

I looked at the camera screens. Down on the stage, Tohma tested his volume a moment more. "Can someone please check my speaker input?" he asked politely to the servicing minions milling about the stage. "It should be in line two." Tohma himself was pretty much caged in between his two instruments, a huge feedback speaker that was mostly for Ryuichi's benefit, and a nearly foot-high wall of wires, which Tohma himself had probably already nearly tripped over numerous times. Someone from the sound crew volunteered.

I leaned back. On the screen, I saw Tohma bend over his instrument, looking surprised. One of his chords appeared to be in the wrong plug-in, and I watched him grumble to no one in irritation as he switched it. I smiled, knowing he was mentally berating himself. Tohma had set up that instrument countless times, and sound improvements almost never had to be made on his behalf. "Nevermind, I found it," he called to the crew member. "I'm sorry."

I sat back up, as the issue seemed to be resolved. Ryuichi had moved back to the front of the stage and turned his mike back on, his childish persona gone for now. Tohma waved up at me. I put my headset back on. "Okay, guys. Try that again."

"Tooku de me o hikarasete mezameru-"

I nodded to myself during the introduction bars. Ryuichi sounded good. But on the beat of the first chorus, I heard a sharp popping noise, like two weak gunshots fired in succession. My head snapped up and I scanned the stage. My first reaction was relief- all three of them were still standing as if nothing had happened. Perhaps I had imagined it. But then I noticed Tohma had stopped playing. Just then, something sparked from the keyboard, and Tohma jumped back from it.

I flipped on my intercom and tried to talk over Ryuichi and Noriko, signaling for them to stop. "Seguchi-san, what was th-"

Suddenly, a final crack ripped through the auditorium, and I watched, horrified, as another spark erupted into a string of flashes. Ryuichi cried out and turned around just in time to see spastic flames almost two feet high shoot out from Tohma's instrument, sending Tohma careening backwards into the enormous speaker beside him. Within milliseconds, he was face-down, surrounded by the beginning of an electrical fire.

My heart stopped. Noriko screamed and practically leapt off-stage, lest her synthesizer be the next to go. Ryuichi began running across the stage, straight towards Tohma. Or at least, towards the flames behind which Tohma now lay.

As soon as he had heard the strange popping sound, Tohma's initial response had been to back off from the keyboard. Something was wrong. Ryuichi and Noriko hadn't noticed it, but Tohma could still hear the first reverberations in his ears; he definitely hadn't imagined it. Quickly, Tohma fumbled with the power switch to his synthesizer, reaching for his keyboard next. He barely got to it at all.

Tohma heard the explosion before he felt it. For a split second of panic his eyes widened at the ear-splitting crack. Then, before he even registered the sparks shooting from his cord holders, the sparks burst into flames, and Tohma felt an immense jolt run through his arm. Then he was sent flying backwards, his head reeling. He slammed hard into the speaker behind him, and the last thing he registered was Ryuichi running towards him, still holding his microphone.

K

I grabbed the speaker for my intercom. "Ryuichi, get back from there! Somebody kill the power!" But I knew it was too late. Tohma had been playing the entire tour inside a deathtrap, and the fire had already reached the wires that lay just feet away from Tohma's form. Ryuichi had skidded to a halt at my voice, and now stared in shock as a security officer ran onto the scene. I ran down from my box as well, as the ceiling sprinklers activated.

"Somebody turn those off! Ryuichi! Get the fuck back!"

I pushed my hair, now damp and clinging, out of my face as I ran onto the stage. Everyone had acted quickly- already all the stage outlets had been shut off, and the sprinklers were de-activated. Someone had retrieved a chemical fire extinguisher, and for a moment my vision of Tohma was obscured by its haze. By the time I reached him, a security officer and an on-set paramedic were already bent over his form.

The paramedic began barking orders, but all sounds and sights were tuned out from my attention. All I saw was Tohma. I'd expected blood- there was none. Only Tohma, nearly unconscious and face down, being gingerly turned over to his back. His head fell to one side, and his eyes were partially open. His breathing was quick and shallow. Watching helplessly, I understood the signs of shock.

The paramedic began cutting off Tohma's jacket and undershirt, and I was met with the overwhelming smell of charred flesh. The jacket, dusted with the unsettling white residue that had drifted from the fire extinguisher, was cast aside, exposing Tohma's bare skin. Splotches of red shaded one of his arms and his side, but it was the sight of his right forearm, the one I'd watched him try to correct his instrument settings with, which nearly made me vomit. I stood gazing at it, stunned, until another paramedic shouldered me out of the way.

I spun around, looking for Ryuichi.

I was out of breath by the time I entered Bad Luck's dressing room. Their vocalist let me in.

"Shindou-kun, we need Bad Luck to perform almost its entire repertoire tonight," I said quickly.

Shuichi gaped at me. "K-san, what's wrong?"

Hiro appeared beside him. "That could take over three hours! And…why are you wet?"

I shook my head. "I don't have time. Tohma… there's been an accident."

"What?!"

"What happened?"

I knew they were entitled to some answers, but I was in a hurry. "Listen, just plan your song list. Nittle Grasper won't be performing-"

"They've got to!" Shuichi protested.

"Will you shut up and let me talk? Ryuichi's agreed to do a solo and a couple songs with you, but then it's all Bad Luck. And your sound check's been delayed- None of you are allowed on stage until Sakano says you are, do you understand me? He'll fill you in."

Shuichi exchanged confused glances with Hiro, then looked back to me. "K-san, what's-"

"It's Tohma. Talk to Sakano… I've got to go."

"But you're our manager! Go where?!"

Author's Notes: Well, there be it. I know it was kind of disjointed, but I figured the situation would be a bit chaotic. Furthermore, I hope no one holds it against me that I don't know precisely how a rigged keyboard would explode... I had to guess.