Author's Note
To blueberry : You are welcome. Yes poor Ryuichi; I didn't mean to do that really. But like you mentioned, Tatsuha was bound to snap sometime. I could not have him kill Ryuichi or anything. And there was the fact that he hadn't initiated any sexual contact with Ryuichi yet. Coupled with his anger, frustration and drunkeness, it seemed like the only logical thing for him to do. And it moves the plot forward, which is an essential part of this story.
Yes, I am glad that Ryuichi is back to normal too. You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that; I missed adorable little Ryu-chan too. And yes, Ryuichi has always had Tatsuha's heart. The oblivious singer doesn't realize it though. I'm so cruel to poor Tatsuha. But then again, sacrifices have to be made. At least Ryuichi will finally be able to meet up with Tohma, Eiri, Shuichi, K and Noriko, right?
To sweetsally : Well, the double update was my late birthday present to my other faithful reviewer, blueberry. But thank you anyway. Oh and I have already changed the rating to M, I forgot to do it when I updated this story. Haha. I am quite a forgetful person; I only remember things at the last minute.
I too am glad that Ryuichi is back to normal. Like I told blueberry, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that. I missed adorable little Ryu-chan too. But I couldn't have cute Ryu-chan at the beginning of the story, for obvious reasons, so cold and cool Ryuichi had to do.
When is Ryuichi going to meet Tohma and the gang, huh? Well, if I'm not wrong, Ryuichi will meet Tohma, K, Shuichi, Eiri and Noriko in the chapter after this, which will come out on Saturday. I have already written it. And it will be a happy and fluffy reunion; for the most part. Haha, I don't want to reveal too much. It's one of my favourite scenes in this story.
Warnings: Use of vulgarities, gender bender, crossdressing(?), possibility of characters being out of character, slight AU
Disclaimer: Gravitation and its characters do not belong to me, but Maki Murakami. I do, however, own Amanda, Jeffrey, Kate, Miss Star, Bianca, Mirai, Dean and Lionel Dream.
Notes for this chapter: A certain scene in this chapter may not make much sense, but I promise it will all be clarified in later chapters.
Tatsuha stopped his car outside his house, grabbing the roll of bandages and getting out, waiting for Amanda and Ryuichi to do so before he locked the car doors and proceeded to stride towards the door, unlocking it with his keys and leading his two companions into his house.
"Here," The black haired man handed the roll of bandages to Amanda. "You can use my bedroom."
"Okay!" Amanda grinned brightly as she took the bandages from Tatsuha, before grabbing Ryuichi's hand and dragging the singer to Tatsuha's bedroom.
When they were both inside, the blonde turned to close and lock the bedroom door, before turning to Ryuichi with a smile. "Alright, Ryu-chan. Off with the shirt."
Ryuichi casually shrugged off his shirt, before turning to Amanda, who was unrolling the bandages carefully. "What now, Amanda-chan?"
Amanda faced Ryuichi with a reassuring smile. "This may feel weird Ryuichi, but I'm going to have to touch your breasts, okay?"
Ryuichi nodded, and the girl came to stand behind the singer. "Oh and you have to pay close attention, because I'm afraid you're going to have to do this yourself when you get back to Japan."
Ryuichi stared in surprise. "How did you know I was going back to Japan?"
Amanda merely winked in return. "Well, why else would you want to bind your chest for?"
Ryuichi smiled. "True," the singer giggled. "Amanda-chan's so smart, na no da!"
Amanda grinned. "You know it!"
Ryuichi grinned back. He paused for a moment as a thought occurred to him. "Ne Amanda-chan, will I still be able to hug people without them knowing that I'm female now?"
Amanda pondered the question for a moment, before grinning. "Well, you should be able to! I mean, your breasts are quite small, Ryu-chan!" She giggled. "No offence. But just in case, I'll make sure to bind them tight, but not too tight or you won't be able to breathe!"
Ryuichi glared playfully at his friend. "You're so mean, Amanda-chan!" He pouted. "Tatsuha said the same thing."
Amanda's eyes widened at this. "He did? That's so rude of him!" She frowned. "How could a guy say such a thing to a girl?"
Ryuichi blinked. "I'm not really a girl, na no da." The singer smiled awkwardly. "I just turned female a few days ago."
Amanda blinked. "Oh."
The blonde patted her friend on the shoulder, "Hey, don't look so sad. Like I said, I'm not going to question on why you did it or anything," she smiled. "Guy or girl, you're still my friend and idol."
"To tell you the truth, I don't really care whether you're a girl or a guy. You're still Ryuichi to me."
Tatsuha's words echoed in Ryuichi's mind. The singer brushed them away, deciding to think about them some other time. Ryuichi grinned. "Thank you Amanda-chan!"
Amanda giggled. "No need to thank me, Ryu-chan. We're friends right?"
Ryuichi nodded eagerly. "That's right, na no da!"
Amanda gave a bright grin before returning to the task at hand. "Alright, Ryu-chan. Lift your arms."
The singer complied, and the blonde gently grabbed a hold of the other 'girl's' breasts, pushing them up and to the side. "Am I hurting you?"
Ryuichi shook his head, though his face was a little red. It was just uncomfortable; having another person touch him in such an intimate way. Even if it was another woman, Ryuichi had been a man once. "I'm fine."
Amanda nodded. Holding up the breasts with one hand, she used the other to wrap the bandages around Ryuichi's chest. Ryuichi inhaled sharply, and Amanda stopped at the movement. "What's wrong? Is it too tight?"
The singer nodded, and the blonde pulled back the bandages a little before wrapping them again in a different position and a little less tight. "Is this okay?"
Ryuichi smiled. "It's much better, na no da."
Amanda smiled back, and using safety pins from her pocket, she secured the bandages around the singer's chest, patting them down a little, causing Ryuichi to flush a light red. She took a pair of scissors out from her pocket to cut away the excess bandages. "Alright Ryu-chan, I'm done. You can put on your shirt back now."
Ryuichi donned his shirt. When he was done, Amanda stepped back and admired her handiwork. She grinned. "Perfect."
Ushering the brunette towards the bathroom, the blonde pointed to the mirror. "Have a look."
Ryuichi stared at his reflection in the mirror, smiling at the sight of his now flat chest. He heard a rustle, and suddenly a phone was held in front of him. The vocalist blinked as a finger pressed a button and the phone's dark screen vanished to reveal a picture of him before the operation.
Surprised, the singer turned to his friend. "You have a picture of me as your wallpaper?"
Amanda grinned. "Yup! You're hot, you know?"
Ryuichi blushed at the compliment. "Thanks..."
Amanda resisted the urge to squeal. "You're looking so adorable Ryu-chan I really want to hug you right now!"
"But anyway, look," Amanda held the phone beside the singer's face as she turned Ryuichi to face the mirror. "Don't you look exactly the same as you did back then?"
Taking hold of the device, Ryuichi looked at the picture in Amanda's phone. In the picture, the singer was leaning forward, a smirk on his handsome face and a microphone to his lips as he stared at the photographer with narrowed blue eyes. He wore a coat with a complicated yet extravagant design covered with grey, splashed with white, and striped with black, and a necklace bearing three fangs was hung around his neck. Ryuichi remembered wearing the outfit when he posed for the photographer in that particular photo shoot, in a picture that was to be included in the latest and upcoming Nittle Grasper DVD back then.
The singer closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them to reveal narrowed blue orbs. Plastering a smirk onto his face, Ryuichi leaned back leisurely against the sink, stretching an arm behind his head while the other held Amanda's phone beside his face.
Ryuichi raised an eyebrow at the stunned blonde, smirking, baritone voice drawling in a sexy tone. "How do I look?"
At Ryuichi's words, Amanda shook herself out of her reverie. She stared at the picture of Ryuichi in her phone, before turning her gaze to the real one standing in front of her, posing and smirking sexily.
"I...uh....um..." The normally talkative blonde sputtered incoherently.
Ryuichi grinned teasingly. He drawled. "What, cat got your tongue?"
Amanda swallowed. The blonde could only stare in awe at the sexy singer. "You're fucking hot."
"Is that so?" Feeling evil, the brunette abandoned his position against the sink, approaching the frozen girl. Raising a hand, Ryuichi gently cupped the blonde's cheek, murmuring softly against her lips. "Would you like to kiss me, Amanda?"
"Don't tempt me, Ryuichi." The blonde looked away, green eyes shadowed.
Ryuichi raised a questioning eyebrow at Amanda's dark tone. "Amanda? What-"
The singer was cut off as a mouth descended on his lips. The brunette gasped in surprise and a tongue entered his mouth, hungrily exploring his caverns.
There was a low growl, and Ryuichi found himself pushed against the wall as Amanda kissed him forcefully. The blond grinded harshly against him, and Ryuichi's eyes widened as he felt the presence of something that was not supposed to be there.
Ryuichi tore away, panting harshly, face flushed. He stared at Amanda, blue eyes wide. "Amanda...what...how..."
Sighing, the blonde ran a hand through her hair, green eyes staring at Ryuichi solemnly. "I'm sorry."
Ryuichi could only stare in disbelief. "You're a guy?" The blonde nodded. "But...how? Why?"
"I was born a guy," Amanda explained simply. "My real name's Xavier Rain."
"What? But...but you're a girl...I mean, you look like a girl to me." Ryuichi stated hesitantly.
Amanda smiled almost sadly. "I went for a sex-change operation, Ryuichi. I'm a girl now, except for a certain part of my body, which I'm sure you know what it is. I'm still...a little hesitant to remove it."
Ryuichi blushed, remembering the sensation of Amanda grinding against him. "Yeah..."
Silence engulfed the room for a moment, as Ryuichi took in the new information and Amanda waited patiently for him to do so.
"So, I guess you want to know about my past?" Ryuichi looked up, surprised, as Amanda stared at him with an unidentifiable emotion in her eyes. "The reason I wanted to become a girl."
The singer shook his head firmly, "No, Amanda. I don't. No matter what, you're my friend. It doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl." Ryuichi smiled. "Besides, you chose to respect my privacy, and so I'll choose to respect yours."
Amanda smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Ryuichi."
Ryuichi grinned in return. "No problem! I mean, we're friends, right?"
Amanda grinned back, her green eyes bright again with happiness. "Yeah!" She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about just now, I just couldn't control myself when you were so close to me."
"It's alright, na no da!" Ryuichi gave a bright smile. "It was my own fault for attempting to seduce you anyway."
Amanda grinned. "My Ryu's so kind to me!" She swooned. "I'm not worthy!"
Ryuichi giggled. "You're so silly, Amanda-chan!"
Amanda laughed, and the two friends began to exit the bathroom. They were about to make their way out of the bedroom when Ryuichi noticed the bulge in Amanda's skirt. "Ne, Amanda-chan?"
Amanda turned curiously. "Yes Ryu-chan?"
The singer turned a light red. "Um, you better do something about that first." He pointed to the evidence of Amanda's aroused state.
Amanda looked down. She blinked. "Oh." She smiled. "Alright, Ryu. But could you wait outside? This is a little private for me."
Ryuichi nodded. "Okay, na no da."
Giving the blonde a bright smile, the singer went out of the bedroom to give his friend privacy.
Jeffrey stirred, stretching his arms and legs and producing cracking sounds. The red haired man blinked open his golden eyes, his vision blurry. "Ugh...what happened?"
Images of his recent battle with K flashed into his mind, and he sat up so fast that his back made a cracking noise. "That's right, K's come to look for Sakuma with his friends. Damn, I've got to inform the Boss."
A hand automatically reached out to fumble in his pocket for his phone. Jeffrey growled in frustration when he found out the device was missing. "Damn, that bastard must have taken my phone. He must have known I'd search for it and took it away so that I'd lead him to the Boss and he could follow me with a tracking device or something."
The red haired man then commenced searching himself for K's tracking device. "Humph, idiot thinks he can fool me..." Jeffrey emptied all his pockets, taking off his jacket, unhooking his guns and even messing up his hair in his search for the object.
"I can't find it...strange..." Jeffrey murmured to himself, bewildered, golden eyes blinking as messy red hair partially covered them. After another minute of searching his body and clothes for the tiny object, the red haired man gave up.
"Oh well, I guess I overestimated him. He's not as clever and cunning as I thought after all." Jeffrey muttered to himself as he hid his darts back in his jacket and put his clothes and guns back on. When he was once again fully clothed and armed, the red haired man strolled to the door and out to his car. "I better hurry and inform the Boss of K's and his friends' presence..."
A certain long-haired, blond American was polishing his guns in his hotel room, smiling and humming to himself when he was interrupted by a beeping sound. Recognising the noise, K snapped to alertness as he pulled out the source of the alarm from his breast pocket.
Narrowed eyes stared at the tracker in his hand. A red dot was moving slowly on the green screen. K watched as it remained stationary on one spot, before it began moving again, this time at a much faster rate. K looked at the bottom left of the screen, where white words signified that its speed had shot up to 80km/h.
K smirked. "It seems that he didn't discover the location of the tracking device," he pulled out his phone, dialling a certain blond's number. "I really have to thank Shuichi for his burst of genius."
"Hello, Seguchi Tohma speaking-"
"Tohma, this is K. Get the others ready and meet me at the lobby in 3 minutes. It's time."
"Understood."
It did not take long for the blond keyboardist to do as K had commanded. In exactly 3 minutes, Shuichi, Noriko, Eiri, Tohma and K were all gathered at the lobby, waiting for K's orders.
The tall American turned to the blond keyboardist. "I need a car."
Tohma smiled, "I already have one ready."
K nodded in satisfaction. He and the others then followed Tohma to the car park to a sleek black Mercedes. Eiri, Shuichi and Noriko got in at the back while Tohma took the passenger seat at the front, leaving K as the driver.
The blond took the key Tohma handed to him, pushing it into the ignition and turning it as he geared up the engine. When the car was ready, K reversed the vehicle and drove out of the car park, one hand on the wheel and the other holding the device on his hand.
The blond American looked at the moving red dot, before turning his eyes to the white letters on the top. "Hmm... eastbound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Well, that's not too far off from here. Guess I'll have to take it slow."
"Since when were you able to drive slowly?!" Shuichi exclaimed incredulously from the back.
K turned his head to the astonished pink haired singer. He vaguely registered Tohma releasing a little sigh of relief from beside him. The blond smirked. "Since I started learning how to drive. I just like to drive fast. It gives me a great rush, you know?"
Shuichi just nodded, unbelieving. K smirked.
"Besides, I have to drive slowly or he'd notice us. Then our plan would go down the drain."
It took about twenty minutes for Jeffrey to reach Tatsuha's house. The red haired man got out of his car and walked up the pathway to the door, reaching out to press the doorbell.
He frowned in annoyance when the door remained closed. Tapping his foot impatiently, he pushed the button again several times, causing the bell to produce an almost annoying array of 'ding dongs'.
Jeffrey heard an annoyed sigh, before the shuffling of footsteps as someone dragged themselves to the door. "Geez, alright, alright! I'm coming!"
The door opened, and Jeffrey found himself facing Tatsuha, who wore an annoyed expression on his face. "God, you didn't have to ring the doorbell so many times Jeffrey! Do you know how irritating that stupid bell is!?"
Jeffrey raised an eyebrow at the scowl on Tatsuha's face. "Well, someone's in a bad mood."
Tatsuha stared at him for a moment, before sighing. He ran a hand through his hair, messing up his raven locks, "Sorry Jeff, it's just that a lot of things have been happening lately. I'm kind of stressed out." The raven haired man led his visitor into his house. "Well, come in, will you?"
Jeffrey followed his best friend into his house, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "What happened, Shade?"
Tatsuha heaved a sigh, plopping down onto the couch. "The usual; I fucked up with Ryuichi," "literally" Obsidian eyes turned their gaze to the floor, guilt in their black depths. "And it was a really big mistake this time. In fact, he hates me now. He told me so himself."
Jeffrey frowned. "I see. Do you want to talk about it or anything?"
Tatsuha gave a dry laugh. "No. Just, no." He buried his head in his hands. "Fuck, I knew I shouldn't have gone to Angel's Death."
"Shade..."
Tatsuha's head shot up at the voice full of sympathy. Black eyes glared with rage at golden ones. "Don't you dare pity me, Jeffrey. You know I hate pity."
Jeffrey nodded, a little afraid of the anger in his boss's eyes.
Tatsuha glared at him for a moment longer, before sighing again. "So, Jeffrey, why are you here?"
At those words, Jeffrey was reminded of his original purpose in visiting Shade. "I've come to warn you Shade."
"Warn me?"
Jeffrey nodded, ignoring Tatsuha's disbelieving expression. "Yeah. My rival, K, just came to my house one day and demanded to see Sakuma. We fought and well, his companions joined the battle and I got hit by one of my own darts. It put me to sleep so K had to leave and well, when I woke up I immediately drove here to warn you."
"They know that Sakuma is here with you Shade. Though they don't know where-"
"HAHAHAHAHA! It's too late, J!" Tatsuha and Jeffrey both jumped up from their seats at the sound of the raucous laughter.
Jeffrey turned to face a smirking K, golden eyes wide in astonishment. "What the fuck?! K how did you-"
"Tracking device, J. Tsk, I thought you should have known."
"What the hell?! But I checked all over and I couldn't find it! Where the heck did you put it!?"
K grinned widely, winking. "In one of your guns, my friend."
"What the fuck..."
K smirked, before turning to Tatsuha. "He looks familiar..."
"So, you're Shade huh? The new Boss of Hellfire and J's new best friend?" Tatsuha nodded. "And the one who ordered J to kidnap Ryuichi?"
The black haired man nodded again. K narrowed his eyes and pulled out a gun. "This is your last chance. Hand over Ryuichi right now."
Tatsuha raised an eyebrow, smirking. "And if I refuse?"
K answered by firing at the raven haired man. To his surprise, Tatsuha dodged the bullet. With narrowed black eyes, the Boss of Hellfire drew a gun and shot a few times at K, who winced as two bullets got him in the shoulder.
The American growled. He took out another gun and charged forward, firing rapidly at Tatsuha, who had run to the other end of the room and drawn a sword from the wall, moving it swiftly in complicated motions to block most of K's bullets.
The two men stared at each other for a moment, panting, before Tatsuha smirked. He held a hand out to stop Jeffrey, who had taken out a gun. "This is my battle, Jeff."
The red haired man nodded reluctantly, lowering his arm. He watched as his best friend stared at his former best friend and rival with narrowed obsidian eyes.
"K, was it? You're not bad; it's been a long time since I've had such a worthy opponent. Would you care for a duel?"
K raised an eyebrow, before nodding. "Fine. But if I win you'll hand Ryuichi over."
Tatsuha shrugged, as if he did not care one bit for the proposition. "Fine by me."
The raven haired man drew another sword from the wall, and tossed it to his opponent, who caught it, staring at the golden hilt decorated with a series of unknown patterns and the sharp, gleaming silver blade curiously. "A sword duel?"
"Yeah," Tatsuha nodded, as he tossed a sword identical to K's up in the air, catching it neatly. The raven haired model raised an eyebrow. "You do know how to use one, don't you?"
K snorted. "Are you kidding me? I was practically a professional swordsman back in the old days!" He grinned. "Just ask J."
"Yeah," Jeffrey agreed, when Tatsuha turned to look at him curiously. "He was so good that even I couldn't beat him."
Tatsuha nodded, satisfied by the answer. Everyone in the organization knew how good Jeffrey was with swords. He was second only to Hellfire's Boss himself. Ironically, Jeffrey had told Tatsuha that he did not really like to use swords; he preferred his guns and darts.
"Get out of the way, Jeff." Was the only warning K got before Tatsuha raced towards him at lightning speed, thrusting his weapon towards the startled American. K barely managed to block the attack in time, and there was a loud clang as metal hit metal.
The two men jumped back. The blond smirked. "Shade, was it? Not bad; you're fast."
Tatsuha smirked back. "So are you, K."
The two swordsmen leapt away from each other, before rushing towards each other swiftly. Metal met metal as they parried with each other, blocking and dodging attacks, striking when the time was right.
Jeffrey sighed as he watched the battle from his place on the couch. Both fighters were moving so fast that even he could hardly see clearly what was going on. "I wonder how long this is going to last?"
"Though it's kind of obvious who's going to win this battle. Shade has never lost a duel of swords before, even when he was a beginner. And he's more than a pro now; I doubt even K could beat him. Or maybe they'd draw," the red haired gunman smirked. "But then again, it's Sakuma on the line, and he's not going to let go of his precious singer without a fight."
Jeffrey smiled as Tatsuha drew back for a moment, before rushing forward to attack K with his blade again. He had caught sight of a smile on his best friend's face.
"Well, at least he's happy. Come to think of it, Shade's always happy when he's fighting with a sword. I should have offered to duel with him." The red haired man sighed. "Why didn't I think of that earlier? I must be getting old..."
Author's Note: Important, please read.
Well, I just want to say that starting with this chapter, I will be updating at a pace of about once every two days, instead of once a day. This is because we are getting to the part which I have stopped writing at, and if I continue updating at my regular pace, all of my written chapters will be posted before the year is up, and then you would have to wait for a few days or a week for a new chapter to come out, and I am sure you would not want that. To give you a little comfort; the chapter after this will be quite a long one, about 5000 words I think. To give you an idea of how long, this chapter is close to 4900 words, including the Author's Notes. It originally consisted of about 3600 words.
On a side note, I have explored the settings of my account a little, and have discovered, to my surprise, that there have been 355 hits to this story, and, let's see, almost 20 hits to the chapter before this. Yet, out of those people, only two have reviewed. Why is that so? Is it because you do not like my story, but are interested in the direction in which it steers? Or is it because you are simply lazy? I really do not know. Whatever the reason is, I implore you, please review. I am a new author to this site, and I would really like to hear your opinion on what you think, and perhaps make improvements and edit later chapters story to further your reading pleasure. If you have any questions or doubts regarding the events in a chapter, you will also be able to ask them, and I will try my best to answer them without spoiling too much.
Now that I have gotten that over with, I would like to give my two reviewers, blueberry and sweetsally, a very big thank you for reviewing my story, and even continuing to review for every updated chapter. Thank you so very much. I really, really appreciate your efforts, and I hope you will enjoy reading every chapter of this story as much as I enjoy writing it~
