Rating: PG-13-Minor swearing this chapter.

Parings: Aizawa/Shuichi, ShuichixYuki, Hiro/Ayaka and Tohma/Yuki.

Summary: Shuichi angst. Hiro meets with Tohma and Tatsuha and begins a plan that may cause a lot of havoc. Little bits with Taki and Ken.


"Shit! Shuichi! Wait up!" Hiro was trying to catch up with the figure ahead of him, but to no avail. Once Shuichi started running, it was almost impossible to catch him.

/I knew I shouldn't have told him! Fuck!/

Suddenly Shuichi slipped and fell on his ass. Hiro took this time to catch up to the boy and grabbed him by the wrist before he could run away again.

"Let me go Hiro! Now!" The pink-haired boy was pulling with all his might, which caused Hiro to only tighten his grip.

"NO!! Calm down now Shuichi!"

"Why didn't you tell me! You knew along, didn't you!?" Shuichi was now facing Hiro, tears streaming down his face. The other teen flinched at the accusation but held his ground.

"I wanted to, Dammit! But, I knew you'd act like this! I wanted to wait until you could accept it!"

"I'm not a child Hiro! I'm not!" Yet, he knew that was exactly what he was. That was exactly what Yuki had always thought of him as well. Slowly, he let his hands drop to his sides. Hiro reached out as if to touch him but thought better of it.

"Come on, let's go home."


Taki laid down on his bed, feeling utterly amazed at what had happened. "I almost kissed him." He started laughing to himself unable to contain what he was feeling. It was something between joy and pure self-loathing.

"Why the hell couldn't I just carry though?" Oh, how the mighty had fallen. He couldn't even put the moves on the kid without getting all bent out of shape. Yet, it had also been a victory in a way.

Shuichi had let him get away with the blatant come on. Could that mean that on some level the kid wanted him? It was a delicious thought, one that he wanted to be true. Which was why he was now looking forward to running into his rival again. This time alone, and without any distractions.


That morning, Hiro found Shuichi locked in the bathroom. After two hours of trying to convince the boy to come out, he finally gave up and headed off to work. Maybe he, Sakano and Noriko could get something done on their own. But, when he got off his bike, he found there were two people waiting for him. One was Yuki's brother and the other was Tohma Seguchi, his boss.

"Uh, Seguchi-san… I, I'm sorry about Shuichi, but he can't come in today…"

/Shit!! That sounded so stupid!/

"Oh, that's too bad. He's still feeling down?" The president merely smiled at Hiro kindly, as if he hadn't just been horribly rude and inarticulate.

"You blabbed about Ayaka and Aniki, didn't you?" Tatsuha was smirking, as if he knew everything.

"How?"

"Because, that's the only thing that could make that little, pink-haired moron not come in today." Before Hiro could retort though, Tohma stepped between them, his hands out in a calming position.

"We aren't here to discuss that." Tohma turned his gaze to Hiro and dropped the smile, becoming dead-serious. "Nakano-san, I need you to come with us for today. We have something to discuss. It would be in your best interest to hear us out." Hiro's eyes narrowed as he felt suspicion sinking in.

"What? It can't be discussed right here?"

"No. It is a private matter." Hiro began to walk past them, feeling annoyed. He wasn't going to let himself be jerked around. And he wasn't going to take part in some conspiracy. If only that damn Tatsuha would stop blocking his way.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to get out of my way. I don't want to be involved with your crap."

"Too bad. I figured you'd be interested in this. It has something to do with a little lady who comes from Kyoto." Hiro paused, knowing he was in some deep, deep shit if he even conceived of going with them. He didn't know how he knew this, he just knew that neither of these men could be trusted. But, as had been the case lately, his desires were winning over his common sense.

"Okay. Let's go."


"I understand sacho. Yes… Thank you. I understand." Sakano hung up the phone and shakily turned to Noriko, who was lounging around, obviously bored out of her mind.

"Well? What is it this time?"

"Seguchi-san said that Nakano-san and Shindou-san wont be coming in today. What do you want to do?" Noriko rolled her eyes, disgusted by the fact that she was working with two flakes, who obviously didn't appreciate her.

"Not much I can do, is there? It's not like it's my band." She felt so annoyed right now that it wasn't even funny. Granted, they were still teenagers with all the issues and baggage that came with that age bracket, but this was unforgivable. "I suggest you go home today. As for me, I'm off to the spa." Getting a nice massage from a handsome, muscle-bound, young man sounded very appealing right now.

"But, Ukai-san-" She was choosing to ignore the man and was almost out the door, when she suddenly tripped on something.

"What the fuck? Ryuichi!" She looked at her fellow ex-Grasper, who had apparently been sleeping on the floor.

"Oh, uh where am I?" Ryuichi looked around, before spotting a rather angry Noriko. "Nori-chan!!" Before he could glomp her though, she smashed her fist into his head, effectively stopping the man-child. "Itai. Ohh, Nori-chan still has the best punch around."

"What are you doing here, Ryu?" She crossed her arms, knowing that it was probably about that 'thing'. But, instead a different answer came forth.

"I want to see Shuichi!" Ryuichi's eyes were sparkling, his inner light shining through. Most people mistook it for child-like innocence, but Noriko and Tohma had always seen it has a mark of Ryuichi's inner strength and purity. And while many people had seen him 'shine,' there were only a few people who could make him sparkle. It had turned out that Shuichi was one of those people.

"Why can't you ever focus on the bigger picture?" Seeing his vacant expression, Noriko just sighed to herself and quickly shut the door behind her, hoping to give the poor, sobbing Sakano some dignity. "Well, if you're looking for Shuichi, he's not here." She smirked to herself at Ryuichi's crest fallen expression. Not that she enjoyed hurting him, but he looked like a child who had been promised a trip to the zoo and was now being told that his daddy wouldn't be able to take him.

"Where is he? Is he with that mean blonde man?" Noriko thought she caught a glimpse of Ryuichi's harsher side, but shrugged it off. Unlike most people, she never tried to solve Ryuichi's complexities. After all, as he would say, 'Ryuichi is Ryuichi.'

"Mean, blonde man?" Well, she supposed that Eiri Yuki was that. Not that he was much different from Mika though.

"His boyfriend. The one Tohma likes." Now the woman flinched.

She didn't like thinking about the fucked up relationship that Tohma had gotten himself in. She had tried to talk both Tohma and Mika out of it, but both of them were too stubborn and in denial at the time to listen. It pissed her off to no end to see two people she cared about hurting so much and for such a stupid reason. But, her rage was nothing compared to the anger Ryuichi had felt. But, unlike her, Ryuichi had never been able to talk about it. He was too in awe of Tohma to ever disagree with him about something so personal.

"No, you won't be finding Shuichi there anymore. They broke up." She saw what looked like relief cross Ryuichi's face, and realized that she had to squash it. "He's taking it really, really hard though."

Ryuichi began to work his lower lip in thought, a concerned look on his face. "Say Noriko, can you tell me where he's staying? Please?"

"What are you planning?" She asked him suspiciously.

"Just tell me, now." That look on his face… Noriko knew better then to mess with him.

"Alright. I just hope you know what you're doing."


Hiro really didn't like the turn things had taken. He hated being in Tohma Seguchi's house, which felt so big, so cold and sterile, yet warm and homey. Too much like Tohma, too much like the wealthy elite his parents so desperately emulated. He needed to get this over with fast.

"So tell me, how am I supposed to help break up this wedding?" He was quieted by a piece of paper being shoved in front of his face. "What is this?"

"This, my friend is a marriage contract." Tatsuha replied as he leaned back in one of the plush chairs.

"What do you mean by a marriage contract…" Hiro trailed off as he read it. "No way! That's impossible!" Tohma smiled at the outburst.

"I assure you Nakano-san, when I'm involved, nothing's impossible."

"What's in it for you guys?" There was a tense silence.

"We merely don't wish to see Eiri get hurt. And if what we're doing benefits more than one party in the process, so be it." At that moment, Tatsuha started laughing.

"By more than one party benefiting, he's talking about himself."

"Eh?" Hiro was even more surprised to see what looked like shame cross Tohma's face.

"It's not important. What I need to know is, will you help us?" A million thoughts went though Hiro's head. Among them, the fact that this was so utterly wrong.

/You'll be ruining her life. She'll never forgive you. Your life will be ruined. What will my parents think? What will Shuichi think? Why me? Why me?/

But, what choice did he have, being trapped between his own desires and two devils. His desires. To help Shuichi. To help Ayaka. To hurt Eiri Yuki. "All right, I'm game. Just tell me what to do."


Most people always assumed that Ken Kurata didn't get bothered by anything. Called Ken-chan or Ken by his friends, he was always the calm and quiet one. The balance to Masaki Kimura aka Ma-kun's, mischievousness, and Taki Aizawa's touchiness. What most people didn't know was that the keyboardist was always one step away from having a heart attack.

It had always been tough with Ma-kun being a major player. It meant constantly having to protect the blonde from jealous boyfriends and vengeful girlfriends. Not to mention the bastard didn't mind flirting with older women. It had been a lot of alibis and a lot of lying through his ass over the years to protect the guitarist. And then there was Taki.

Now, Taki wasn't necessarily hard to deal with. If you weren't well acquainted with him and had done nothing to piss him off, Taki Aizawa was the most congenial person in the world. Witty, clever and charismatic, he was charming and everyone wanted to be his friend. Those who didn't know any better definitely wanted to be closer to him.

Underneath all that charm was an incredibly short fuse along with one of the most deadly egos around. Get him mad and Taki could get violent. Hurt his feelings and he'd either get really violent, or when they were younger, cry his eyes out like a little girl. It always took a lot of comforting. Ma-kun was usually the one to do this, but he often made it worse. The blonde had a need to control Taki and to tease him as well. So it fell to Ken, who was usually smart enough to know what to say.

This morning was one of those times. Ken was still bothered by that other night and he knew he had to get to Taki before Ma-kun figured out that something really was wrong with the vocalist. This morning they had no work, so he would have to go on his own. Which was perfect, as he didn't have to lie to Ma-kun.

The moment he got to the apartment, he took out his key and let himself in. They all kept keys to each other's apartments, in case of emergencies. And besides, it wouldn't do to wake Taki up himself. Taki wasn't a morning person.

Once inside, Ken headed to the kitchen and put on some coffee and began to search for some breakfast. If he was able to get some food in Taki, his mood would be a lot better. It took time to perk the other man up, especially on a day off.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Grumbled a voice from behind him. Ken turned, grimacing to himself, to meet a very drowsy looking Taki.

"Oh, I need to talk to you about something. But, maybe you should go take a shower first and wake up." Taki stared off into space, obviously not hearing him. Ken walked over to the shorter man and gave him a push. "Shower. Now."

As if finally getting the idea, Taki walked off, muttering something to himself. As Ken went back to his self-assigned chores, he was suddenly regretting this.

/Do I really want to bring up Shindou in front of him?/


Shuichi felt like he was going to puke. His head was pounding and he couldn't stop crying. "Yuki you bastard." He had kept repeating it to himself until it became a creed of sorts. It hurt so much and it wouldn't stop.

"I'm giving up. That's it. I just don't care anymore. No more Bad Luck. No more anything. I'm just going to bury myself in some hole and die." He got up slowly and found his shoes. He was still dressed in his clothes from last night, so he didn't need to change. As he trudged towards the door, hoping to find a good hole, he heard a knocking noise.

/I don't want to see anyone. I'll wait until they go away./

After a while though, it became obvious that it wasn't going to happen. In fact, the knocking had only gotten louder. He walked to it, praying for some sort of release.

/Maybe, maybe it's some robber or psychotic killer./

Shuichi opened the door and peeked through it only to be met with a light pink bunny rabbit. And behind it was a famous idol/singer. "Shuichi! Never fear! Ryu-chan is here!" It was strange, but Shuichi didn't know if he was happy to see his idol or not.


To Be Continued…

Ryuichi and Shuichi talk, causing the younger boy to realize that maybe his life isn't over. Ken drags certain truths out of Taki and finds himself regretting it. Tohma, Tatsuha and Hiro put their plan into action, but how will Yuki and Ayaka react to it?