Shou was leaning back in his chair, enjoying Ruki's presence. They had spent a good amount of time just talking and drinking; the night was still young and neither Shou nor Ruki were in much of a rush. Ruki was trying his hardest to forget all of the things that had been troubling him the past few weeks.
Shou stood and took Ruki's hand. "Let's move to the living room where we can watch a good movie. I have Train Man, Kagen no Tsuki, Oresama, Moonchild, Azumi, Suicide Club"-
"That one is fine." Ruki let himself be guided to the couch by Shou. Shou turned on the television set and put in the DVD. As they were watching the film, Ruki paid little attention to what was on the screen. His thoughts kept drifting. Shou didn't notice Ruki's detachment because his focus was on the movie. Once the end credits began rolling, Ruki stood. "I think I should get home now."
"But why?" Shou could hear a gentle hint of sorrow in Ruki's voice. "You can stay with me here for the night if you want. I have a guest bedroom…it is about 2 AM now." In all honesty, Shou lived alone, and he hated being alone. He didn't get company all that often, and what he really wanted was a friend. He was a loner, and sure he got into trouble sometimes and had some problems, but doesn't everybody?
Ruki pulled out his cell phone and called Reita. Reita didn't answer (he was asleep) and so Ruki left a message saying he would be home the next day. Ruki hung up and Shou lead him to the guest room. It was small, but cozy and perfect for Shou's hosting needs. Shou left to go to his own room. Ruki undressed until he was only in his boxers and went to sleep.
When Ruki woke in the morning, it was early and he could smell bacon. When he made his way out to the kitchen, he found Shou making breakfast. Everything seemed normal when Shou dished out breakfast and sat down with him until Ruki took a drink of his orange juice. He looked over and noticed Shou was drinking hard liquor with his morning meal.
Afraid to say anything and upset his new pal, Ruki kept quiet, eating his meal in silence. Afterwards, he put his dishes in the sink and was about to ask if he could use Shou's shower. But Shou rose suddenly and walked up to Ruki, looking a bit distressed. "Ruki I really don't like having this problem." It came out so randomly. Ruki smiled. He knew where the best help was, and he was going to help his new friend get over his alcoholism…even if it was the last good thing he did.
On this same morning, Uruha was putting the finishing touches on his makeup. He hadn't touched a bottle of sake in three days, and even though he was aching for a drink, Uruha felt that winning over his true love was more important than the bottle.
On his was to Saga's, Uruha stopped at a local flower shop and bought a two-dozen rose bouquet. He was beginning to feel extremely nervous, something that he tended not to feel when he was drunk. Being sober had both its pros and cons.
Uruha knocked on the door with three even taps of his knuckles. When Maya answered the door, he shook his head. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" Maya's face turned from slightly confused to completely lost when he realized that Uruha looked very nice and didn't even smell of alcohol. Maya opened the door and let Uruha in, not sure of what was going on.
Maya found a vase for the roses and Uruha took the time to put them in. He left the vase of roses on the kitchen table and instead of pestering Maya about Saga's whereabouts, Uruha took a seat on the living room couch and waited patiently.
After ten minutes of silence Saga came out of his room wearing only some plaid pajama pants. He noticed the roses in the kitchen first, taking a moment to inspect them. He was about to ask Maya where these came from, since Maya was getting himself a glass of water in the kitchen, when he noticed a small card tucked in the flowers.
The card simply said, "I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" This was the most romantic thing Saga had ever had happen to him, so when he looked over and saw Uruha on the couch, he was stunned. Walking over to the couch, Saga sat next to him. "You...did this?" Saga was even more surprised when he realized he didn't smell sake.
Uruha nodded, "yes," he said quietly. His face was turning a bright red. Uruha was never this shy, but he had never tried to get someone's attention while he was sober, either.
Saga felt like there was a completely different man sitting next to him, one he could actually fall for. Of course, it never crossed his mind before, the idea of being with someone, and it made him feel nervous. The uncertainty, the spontaneity, it would surely kill him. Saga shook his head.
"I don't know," Saga said at last. A relationship? He hadn't even thought about it. "I need to think." Saga was afraid to commit, afraid to fall in love, and it was beginning to show right now. Maybe it was because his mother had passed when he was very young, and it changed the rest of the family. Maya is a homebody, Saga won't date, and their father Hyde likes sleeping with random men. It definitely tore the family apart.
"That's fine," Uruha said quietly. "You can call me after you have made up your mind. We start a tour in a few weeks." Uruha got up and calmly walked out the door. He made his way outside and realized he was shaking, but not from nervousness. He had to hold out; he couldn't be drinking sake at a time like this. Once Uruha returned to the flat, he went straight to his room for a nap. He figured if he were unconscious then he wouldn't drink.
Ruki was home now; he had brought Shou with him. Reita, Ruki and I were to be Shou's support team. Shou told us how he believed to have developed his alcoholism, and it made a lot of sense…his parents were abusive drunks and Shou never managed to finish high school because he joined a gang when he was 15. The gang turned on itself and members were killing each other when Shou left. He ran away; if any of his gang members found him they'd kill him. It has been three years since that happened. Shou's drinking was a way for the man to escape his past hell. It made sense enough to me…but we needed to figure out a way to make Shou feel safe and secure; that would make his quitting a lot easier.
There was a random knock on the door. When I answered it, there were two men at the door that I had never seen before. One was wearing a long, black trench coat and combat boots. The other was in a tight-fitting tank top and fresh blue jeans. "My name is Atsushi and this is my bother Hyde; I'm Ruki's father," he said with a polite bow. Atsushi walked in first and sat at the table. The look on his face seemed sinister; I had no idea what he was up to. Hyde was with him, and he went straight for the bedrooms. When he found Uruha's, he knocked on the door. Atsushi kicked his feet onto our kitchen table and was glaring at Ruki. "You know there's only five days, right?"
Ruki looked right back at Atsushi. "Yeah, I know the rule. Once an assassin takes a client's case, the only way the victim can survive is if he kills the client before the day of the assassination…the only thing is, you are not supposed to tell your victim when you're going to kill him. I know I'm your son and you don't want to have to do this, but geez. That's murder 101."
Atsushi let a demented smile play across his already wicked features. "You'd better find out who my client is," he said in a playful warning and left our flat. Uruha didn't answer from his room so a confused Hyde asked where he was. I wasn't enjoying this man's vibe so I said he left somewhere…Thus, Hyde departed.
Hyde wasn't very far from our flat when he ran into Satoru, whose fellow gang members had paid his bail. "Haven't seen you around before," Satoru said suddenly. He bowed in a rather western style and held his hand out. "Join me for some tea, will you darling?" A confused Hyde accepted the offer and was taken to a tea ceremony. One where evil plans would conspire and cause mayhem for all of the GazettE…