Shadows of The Heart
Chapter Six
Yuki woke up to the sound of something hitting the floor with a loud crash. "What the fuck?" he wondered, flinging the covers off of his naked body. His feet hit the floor and some emotion had claimed him. Annoyance. That was the first feeling he had early in the morning. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, yet was one he had come accustom to over the years after… He shook the thought away as he quickly put on a pair of black slacks. He grumbled as he somewhat fumbled towards the strange sounds that had to be caused by some invader. That feeling quickly pushing towards angry as he noted his once neat kitchen had been destroyed by something pink. He tried to restrain his irritability at the sight of the complete mess. Pots had fallen from the top cabinets, and looking over to the little idiot there seem be an explosion of flour. The only thing recognizable underneath the white dust was an adorable little brat whose face was covered in flour and who was clinging to a wet red rag.
"Sorry," he stated as he nervously smile, unsure of Yuki's reaction. The reporter let out a slight growl. "I'm sorry Ryo…I just…,"
"Ryo?" Yuki questioned looking slightly confused. He didn't know if he ever get used to that name, actually he really didn't like it.
"Yeah, I thought you were okay with it." He replied hesitantly.
"I guess it is alright," Yuki ran a hand through his blonde strands, "It is way too early for this. I need my damn cigarettes." He began to search for them trudging through the living room.
"Sorry, I really just wanted to make breakfast, but I was having trouble reaching the top shelf and…," The pink brat tried to explain still standing in the kitchen.
"Shut up," Yuki snarled as he came back with his cigarettes he slammed on hand on the counter next to the man and then leaned closer to the boy causing redness to show where the flour had miss his face. The blonde wiped away some of the flour and then his lips hovered over the young man's. "You really are cute. I don't typically go for boys, but…" his lips touched claimed dominance over Shuichi's. The pink haired man responded immediately trying to taste more of Yuki. The kiss was too short for both men, especially Shuichi who found himself gazing up at golden eyes to see lust lingering in his expression, but in a flash it turned to angry.
"Now I think you should get out of my kitchen now!" Yuki demanded. The boy quickly threw down the wet rag he had been holding and retreated to the living room. The reporter sighed. He pulled a cigarette out of the packet, then quickly found a lighter in the kitchen. Taking a deep breath of nicotine, he reflected over his situation. He wasn't sure what he was going to do. The boy was already proving to be a nuisance. He could just have sex with the boy then send him on his way. It is what he wanted. Wasn't it? Though, he was still curious about Tohma's connection to the young man, and something inside of him actually liked to keep the boy around for more than a one night stand, though he wasn't sure why.
"Can't believe we are actually going through with this," Suguru complained leaning back in a metal-folding chair. He was completely annoyed by the whole situation. Shuichi made a decision without there approval as usual and he was going through it. Sigh, this was a difficult job they were taking on. He did agree of course, only after it was too late to back down on the decision. Now he was stuck figuring out a way to get floor plans for this place.
Hiro pulled out a chair after giving Suguru reassuring pat on the back, "Still fuming about him deciding to go ahead and do this without our permission?" The other man didn't say anything just continued to write down a list of things he had to do just to get the floor plans. "I believe even you are ready to get out of this business to become the top keyboardist, better than Tohma." The green headed man stopped a moment to look up at Hiro, and smile lightly. "Just as I figured, besides this will be a challenge for you. You were complaining about how easy the jobs had been lately."
"Yeah, but just count on that idiot to pick something at this level of difficultly," he complained with a frown, "and guess who gets to do most of the work? Me."
"Hey! I work too."
"No, the only time you're helping is when there is a girl around, then you might be useful. Other than that you only managed to keep Shuichi from getting into too much trouble."
"And that isn't a lot of work?" the long haired man asked slightly offended that his partner believed he did no work.
There was a slight pause, before Suguru said anything, "Good point." Hiro burst out into laughter.
The sun shone brightly over a woman sitting at white café table. Her hair in pigtails, and she wore a serious expression of determination which faded at the sight of a man coming near her. She seemed confused only for a moment as the man in a baseball cap and sunglasses came closer to view, "Ryuichi?" the name feel off her lips in wonderment.
"Kumagorou came to play with Saki," He cheerfully claimed removing the sunglasses and ball cap.
"I barely recognize you under that ugly baseball cap and those huge sunglasses." She snarled as now her confusion was clearly gone, "Would you please have a seat." She indicated the chair in front of her and waited for him to sit down before saying anything else. "I don't think it is so wise for you to see her." Calmly the dreadful words came out of her mouth. Ryuichi didn't get angry, but just frowned in a childish way.
"I see, you wish to keep Kumagorou's playmate away."
"Don't act like a child! You are a grown man who has fathered a child of his own!" She slammed her hands on the white café table, glaring at him.
Ryuichi sighed, "Why must you take the fun out of everything?" he played with the sunglasses, twirling them around as he spoke.
"Because your kind of fun usually isn't fun for me!" She leaned back into the chair with a deep breathe. "It doesn't matter. You are not going to see her. You are a thief and I won't have Saki brought into that world in any way possible."
"There was a time when you used to shine in that world with me." He gazed into her eyes and she felt a wave of an old familiar wonderful feeling. She quickly shook it off, crossing her arms.
"Yeah well…I don't even know why you are here yet!"
"I'm here on a request of a friend."
"That boy! Your lover, right?" She snapped, years of emotion taking over. She couldn't help but recall the painful moments of the old days. Back when she was not only Ryuichi's lover but his partner in crime as well.
"Ryuichi, why do you have to help this boy out? He seems to be doing just fine on his own. They already had done two very successful jobs."
"He shines like me and I..."
"Don't tell me that you love him!" tears began to fall from her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself.
"I do, but he doesn't shine for me." She looked at him in shock.
"But still you have to do this, after all we have been through and promising that we would have a nice house and a family."
"I promised that to you, but I didn't say I'd be part of it. I could never have a life like that. It doesn't sound shiny to me!" He was breaking back into his childish antics, which broke her completely.
"Why is my heart a game to you?"
"He is just a friend if you are referring to Shuichi." Ryuichi stated firmly breaking her painful revisiting of the past.
"But you do have a male lover don't you?"
"My daughter, I want to see her." He finally quit any signs of acting like a child and a serious expression of determination was on his face.
"You won't…I can't risk you breaking her heart too."
"You either let me see her, or I'll see her on my own time." He stated turning around to leave, "I'll give you a week to decide to let me see her on your terms, before I enforce my own. For now I have other business to deal with."
Noriko looked at him in disbelief as he retreated calmly.
Taki slammed the door to his editor's office as he exited towards his car. He was pissed! Yuki was probably without doubt working on some scandal that would once again make his paper the top seller again. He, Taki Aizawa had nothing to go against it. This was causing his editor was more than a little irritation at his paper being outshone again.
The dark haired man pressed the button to his car. Then slipped in and began to turn on the ignition when his phone let out a musical number. He looked at the name and number that had appeared on the screen: Ken. He flipped it open, "Hello, I hope you got good news for me." He listened intently, a smile crossed his face, "Really, I see well…thank you." He hung up the phone, "Well, this is interesting development, Yuki in a club. This is not a common thing, it has been a while since I have been clubbing myself. I wonder what could have kept Yuki Eiri at a club past closing time?"
On a table below in the basement large mansion was nothing but weapons, K had just put his last pistol down when he heard his beautiful Judy calling him. "Claude!" Her sweet voice carried from above the stairs, "Sakura has finished dinner, darling,"
"I'm coming," He called back then headed towards her direction. When he met her at the top of the stairs he gave her a big grin and kiss on her cheek, "So dear, how was your day?"
"Oh... boring as usual," she waved as if nothing happened, "The director was a bit of pain, and I didn't get to threaten anyone today. I miss teasing Shuichi and the boys." She pouted.
"I suppose we can visit them unexpectedly considering this is their last job. That will shock them, the both of us together." K grinned widely at the idea.
Judy flipped a loose strand then clapped her hands, "Sounds delightful to me, except it being the last job," She sighed, "That is dreadful news, I am going to miss them after all."
"I plan on jumping in on them from time to time anyhow."
"How wonderful of you my dear!"
"Of course my gun needs targets to practice on."
"Anyway dear, what are the details of this job of finality?"
"It is going to be a Big Show, Tohma I believe is trying to get his hands in this mess."
"Mr. Seguchi? Dear that sounds like fun. How do you plan to fight against him?"
"My darling, you and I are just as powerful as him, don't worry."
"Yes, I know but I hope you're not getting in this mess just to get practice with your weapons."
"Well, I won't know if I get any practice for sure, until we find out what exactly Tohma's doing and I have an old friend to work on that."
Yuki made breakfast and did clean up. He didn't want a chance of the brat destroying his kitchen just washing a few dishes. Walking into the living room he pulled out another cigarette just as he noticed the brat was reading a newspaper, more specifically an article on The Pink Devil that he had just wrote recently. It wasn't very long, because there wasn't much to say. It basically just said why it was believed to be The Pink Devil and what the police think they would be doing about it, which was NOTHING. He was surprise the brat could read, but what surprised him more was his curiosity about what Shuichi thought of the article.
"This Yuki Eiri is a really good writer."
"I suppose," Yuki inhaled his cigarette sitting next to the boy on the couch.
"I guess anything sounds good as long as it is about the Pink Devil considering he is totally cool."
"You mean 'she'?"
"No, 'he'. Why would he be a 'she'?"
"Because 'she' is extremely graceful and her voice though it is very similar to yours…" Shuichi tensed up. Does he know who I am? No he insists that The Pink Devil is girl. "Is a woman's."
"Well I guess your right," the pink haired man nervously rubbed his neck releasing his mistake of fighting Ryosuke on this issue. He desperately tried to think away to change the conversation. The reporter watched this with great interest. "Well look…," Shuichi pointed towards a random article but frowned as he realized what it was, "all that work and it is still gone." Somebody had burnt down the animal shelter.
"What's wrong?" Yuki gazed down at the article, "So things like that happen all the time."
"What?" Shuichi looked up at him, "How can you be so insensitive?" tears began to pour down his face. "These animals are harmless creatures and somebody just…just…,"
Eiri could feel an eye twitching, "Damn brat," he took another inhale of his cigarette trying to keep himself from strangling the man. "Fine it is a sad thing, but at least they won't have to suffer in this world anymore."
"I guess as long as they are happy whenever they are now!" Shuichi suddenly perked.
"Yeah whatever," Yuki shrugged. This brat even has mood swings like a woman. He got up deciding to grab a beer, hoping to come up with what he was going to do with this KID. Then an annoying ringing sound erupted in the living room, his phone of course. He ignored it at first heading towards the kitchen, but it kept making that irritating bring sound as he came back with her drink.
"Hey are you going to answer that?" Shuichi asked as bright violet eyes caught the sight of the handsome blonde. The pink-haired man questioned the reasons Ryosuke ignored the phone for.
"If it is important it will keep ringing," he waved it off opening his beer, and as on cue it rung again. He took a deep breathe than pick up the phone.
"This better be good."
"You always say that like I'm wasting your time when you are probably just drinking a beer and contemplating how to get rid of your latest conquest."
Eiri growled at his editor, "Whatever, what is it?" The Pink Devil watched with great interest at the man's reaction to the other person on the end of the line.
"I want you to come down right now to discuss the latest information on your story and I heard a rumor about a old thief making a reappearance."
"An old thief?"
"The one rumor to have taught the Pink Devil everything he knows."
"I see, well…I'll be there in five minutes."
"Good, see you then." Yuki hung up then turned to the brat who was now messing with his television. "Brat, it is time for you to leave." The blonde man grabbed the boy by the collar and pushed him towards the door.
"Ryo!" Shuichi began to fight back, "What the hell?"
"You need to get out of my house. I got to go to work." The pink haired man calmed down.
"Why didn't you just say so?" he questioned as he felt his collar being released.
"Well I'm saying so now, go."
"Got to practice anyway, see you tonight,"
"Who says I'm going to show up?"
"Ryosuke," he whined then he brightened up, "I know where you live now!"
Yuki cringed for a moment, but than just rolled his eyes as he slammed door. Then he turned back around to grab a few things before leaving himself.
Maiko ran into her room slamming the door on her way in, tears fell down her cheeks as she flung herself on the bed. She desperately tried to muffle out the painful noise escaping her mouth, but couldn't seem to stop the sound. She couldn't stop the pain seething inside her. Why did it hurt so much today? Why did it bother her so much? So what, her brother's promise had been broken a long time ago, that they would never be separated. That was obvious considering she was crying in the bedroom of her Foster's parents and he was elsewhere.
"Honey," a soft voice could be heard from behind the door. "What's the matter?" Maiko looked up with wet eyes to see a thin woman with long black hair smiling at her sadly.
"Nothing," she quickly wiped away the tears and roughly turned away. The woman just sighed.
"It is about your brother again, isn't it? You know if…,"
"I know, but it doesn't matter…he should be here…he hasn't even tried to find me." The girl clung to a pillow.
"Dear," her foster mother sat on the soft comforts of her bed, "It's okay to miss him." She brushed a lock of Maiko's hair away, "and it is okay to be angry." The young girl gazed up at her in astonishment. "Has nobody told you that before?"
"No," she brought her legs up to her chest wrapping her arms around them, "Everybody makes excuses for him…but I don't want to be mad at him either…I just want…,"
"Him to be here, I'm sorry dear but we can't all have what we want but…just because you don't have what you want doesn't mean in time you won't have it."
"You think he'll come back for me?"
"I'm not going to make excuses for him, but understand in his mind he had a good reason." She put a hand on her shoulder, "Even if in reality it wasn't one. I'm sure when he realizes that the reason is no longer important he'll be back for you."
"Okay, well could you please leave me alone now?"
The woman gave a soft smile. "Sure," she said as she then turned towards the doorway. Maiko waited for her to leave then pulled out an old picture in her drawer. It had faded over the years, but as she stared at the picture the memory came rushing back to her.
"Shuichi, Shuichi!" She cried running towards a little boy with bright pink hair and violet eyes. She threw herself in his arms. Her brown hair flying in the wind letting loose a blue ribbon that had been in perfect bow before, "Don't let them take me, please big brother!" She was pleading as the tears began to fall onto his dirty shirt. She clung tighter, "please."
"I'll do everything I can sis, I'll make sure that nothing ever…takes you away from me." He brushed away her tears as he gazed into her beautiful eyes. "I promise."
"But big brother, Aiko says that a family wants me, but not you! They want to take me away today! What are we going to do?"
"Hiro!" Shuichi called looking up at a slightly taller boy whose hair was now down to his shoulders, "We got to do something now, got any plans?"
"Of course," with a grin he replied. Shuichi held his hand in the air and Hiro slapped it, Maiko tried but couldn't reach. The long haired boy picked her up so she could reach her big brother's hand.
After much scheming from her big brother everything had worked out. The couple had ran out with whip cream all over there and torn clothing in a rage. Maiko let out a tiny laugh at the image of the glaring couple shouting out the head of the orphanage. That lady had been a nightmare for Maiko to put up with, while Aiko most of the time had been there night in shiny armor, she often let her brother get away with his schemes. Hiro had taken a picture as a remembrance of their victory and her brother's promise. She sighed putting the photo away.
"I hope you do come back for me someday," she stated softly but her voice became firm, "but you'll still be in trouble when you do!"
Author's note: I believe I'll have to work on K's Character a little more in the later chapters. He doesn't seem as dramatic and gun happy as he could be. Anyhow thank you to my editor who is fast as usual. I hope you guys enjoy this, hope there was enough Yuki and Shuichi cuteness. I also like to note I stated a Beta/Editor forum, I noticed a lot of people making grammar mistakes as well as other things that would be helped with a Beta. I know I'm not the best with grammar, but I hope to make it easier for all to find a beta or Editor for thier story. I also hope to open up discussion about other things such as the dangers of Oringinal Characters.