One Bad Week
Chapter 21: Thursday, Part IV
Unlocking the front door and bursting into the house, Shuichi hoped against hope that Yuki might somehow be there waiting for him.
"Yuki!" he yelled out. "Yuki?"
Stumbling in behind him, Tatsuha sighed. "No one home but us."
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Shuichi snorted. "Make yourself useful and go to sleep."
"How is that going to be useful?" the teen asked, dropping heavily onto the couch.
"It'll get you out of my hair." Shuichi muttered, heading to the bedroom to retrieve his phone.
"What?"
"Nothing!" the singer chirped.
Picking up his rejuvenated cell phone, Shuichi flipped it open and saw several missed calls and a new message waiting for him. Grabbing a towel from the closet, he dialed into his voice mail and listened.
"Shuichi, it's Yuki…"
Listening to the message, Shuichi couldn't agree more with his lover and quickly dialed Yuki's number. It rang only once before the blond picked up.
"Shuichi?"
"Oh, Yuki!" the singer felt tears stinging the back of his eyes just hearing his lover's voice.
"Are you okay? Where are you?" Yuki said, worry apparent in his voice.
Shuichi smiled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
"I'm okay. I'm at the house with Tatsuha." he replied, a few sniffles sneaking out. "I…I have to tell you something, Yuki. It's going to sound really unbelievable though…"
"I already know about the ring." Yuki said. "As a matter of fact, I have Kara and the ring box here with me."
Relief flooded over the pop star and his knees gave out. Crumbling to the floor, Shuichi couldn't stop a sob from escaping his throat.
"Shu? Are you alright? What happened?"
"N-nothing. Nothing. I'm just. Oh, God, you have no idea how glad I am to hear that." he said, trying not to cry more.
"Stay put." Yuki said. "We're on our way to the house now and this'll all be over with."
Shuichi nodded his head. Remembering that Yuki couldn't see him, he replied, "Okay, Yuki. I love you."
Yuki hesitated for a second, "You too." he finally replied.
Shuichi smiled and closed his eyes. "Hurry." he whispered.
"I will."
Closing the phone, the teen allowed himself a few brief minutes of quiet crying before he finally stood up. Hope flooded into him and Shuichi drank it up like a dying man in the desert. Heading into the shower, he couldn't help but start to hum.
Finally, it was all going to be over with.
Meanwhile
"I can't believe we actually caught a lucky break!" Kara exclaimed, trailing behind a near running Yuki.
"Yeah, well, don't jinx it." Yuki huffed. "You said your car should be close by. We can be back at the apartment and get this damn thing over with in the next hour."
Despite his own words about jinxing things, Yuki couldn't help but allow himself a bit of relief. With Shuichi safely back at the apartment, there was little that could possibly happen to stop this disaster now.
"Hey! Yuki!"
Pausing at the familiar voice, the author looked behind him. Seeing a familiar figure running towards them, Yuki slowed down until he caught up.
"Man, funny running into you down here." Hiro said. "Where's Shuichi? I brought him something back and…"
Stopping to actually look at the blond, Hiro whistled. "Man, you look like hell. What happened?"
Finally spotting Kara heading to unlock a nearby car, the author motioned for the guitarist to follow. He had a feeling the red head was going to be needed once they finally got back to Shuichi.
"Get in the car, Hiro." Yuki said as they drew close to his waiting car. "I'll explain on the way."
Meanwhile…
"Have you found him yet?"
Looking up from his cell phone, Tohma saw Ryuichi hopping towards his desk. He sighed. He had hoped the singer would stay sleeping for a little bit longer.
"Not yet, Ryuichi." Tohma said, forming a smile. "But I'm afraid I have someone else I need to track down now as well. It seems Tatsuha's gone missing."
"But…but Tatsuha's can take care of himself!" Ryuichi cried. "Akira's so small and people always get the wrong idea about him and try to squash him and…"
"Ryuichi."
The brunet stopped his rambling and glared at the NG president.
"Fine!" he huffed. "I'll go find Akira myself! You look for Tatsuha and when you find him, he can come help me look!"
Tohma sighed. This was exactly what he had been hoping to avoid.
"I'm sure that Akira is perfectly fine where ever he is, Ryuichi. You said he was a smart bug and like I told you earlier, I think he's with Shuichi."
"Then I should be out looking for Shuichi!" the singer exclaimed. "Thanks Tohma! I had almost forgotten about that!"
The blond was about to object when he realized that it may not be a bad idea having another set of eyes trying to hunt down the missing Bad Luck singer. Ryuichi was surprisingly good at finding people and despite his odd personality, the man could handle himself just fine.
"Alright." Tohma said, standing up from his desk. "But I'm coming with you. If we do find Shuichi, I need to call Yuki immediately."
"That's okay, Tohma!" the brunet yelled, running towards the door. "I'll call you when I find Shuichi and then you can call Yuki! Kumagoro and I work faster alone!"
The NG president started around the desk to follow when his cell phone went off. Seeing the caller id, however, he decided to stop.
"Hello?"
And meanwhile again…
Stepping out of the shower, Shuichi took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. It felt so damn good to be at home. Wiping the steam from the mirror, the singer began brushing his teeth as he thought about the past week. Accident after accident after miserable experience.
Well, not all of it was miserable. He'd had fun in the closet at the mall with Yuki, after all. A bright blush worked its way onto his cheeks as he remembered the steamy encounter with his lover. It was definitely a bright spot on this cloudy hell of a week. Once he was done, Shuichi padded to the bedroom and rummaged through the sacks on the floor, amused that he hadn't even had time to put his things away from the mall yet. Fishing out a pair of jeans and a large orange hoodie, the teen dressed quickly. He didn't know why he was putting a hoodie on. It was a little too warm for such things. But it was soft and comforting and that's all he needed right now he realized before heading back to the bathroom.
Man, I look like hell.
Sighing as he inspected all his wounds, Shuichi pulled some gauze out from the medicine cabinet and began to re-wrap his hand. This caused him to remember Tatsuha and he slipped into the living room to make sure the brunet hadn't taken off. Tohma would kill him if the idiot was roaming around town drunk right now.
"Mm….Ryuichi…"
Hearing the breathy voice made Shuichi roll his eyes and he peeked around the corner to the living room. Tatsuha was deep asleep, one arm and leg dangling off the couch and a bit of drool beginning to creep from his open mouth. Shuichi grinned when he saw Akira flopped out on top of the couch, obviously having fallen back asleep.
Well, at least he wouldn't have to worry about Tatsuha for a little while. The teen seemed to have drank enough beer to take down a small bear. Humming to himself as he entered the kitchen, Shuichi thought about giving Yuki a call to see how far away he was.
Nyah. He sounded pretty worried. Knowing Yuki, he'd be here any minute.
Pouring a glass of water and grabbing a banana, Shuichi allowed himself to be drawn back into the mundane aspects of life for a moment. He needed to check the mail. He needed to put his clothes away. He really needed to buy a box of hair dye…
A loud explosion interrupted any other domestic thoughts Shuichi might have had, starling the singer and causing him to dive behind the counter.
Oh, God, now what?!
"Oh, Shuichi!"
Recognizing the voice, the singer stood up and glared at the kitchen door.
He really, really needed to kill K…
Gun shots rang out a minute later and the singer dove to the floor once again. Damn but that man was insane. The kitchen door burst open a moment later, revealing the tall blond, decked out with several guns.
"Alright Shindou, give it up!" K said with an evil laugh. "I have strict orders to take your trouble making ass back to the boss. So we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."
Glancing over the counter, Shuichi considered his options. He could either give up and go quietly with the gun toting lunatic or make a break for it and hope Yuki arrived before K caught him.
Seeing the particularly evil grin the blond was wearing, Shuichi decided it was probably safer to dive into a tank full of hungry sharks than go with either of his other options.
"Look!" the singer cried, standing up suddenly and pointing behind K. "A huge roll of bubble wrap!"
Confused, K did exactly what Shuichi hoped and turned around. The moment he did, the singer made a break for it, slipping around the larger man and running as fast as he could towards the bedroom. Slamming the door behind him, Shuichi frantically searched the room for an escape.
"Hey!" K shouted, watching the singer fly down the hall. Turning with a grin, he cocked the gun in his hands. "So. Hard way it is."
It was less than two minutes later before K retuned to the living, a screaming tied up singer flung over his shoulder. Really, if Shuichi hadn't wanted to make it a challenge, he should have headed for the door.
Too bad all he could think was how Yuki had told him not to leave the apartment.
"Damn it, K! Put me down! Yuki's suppose to be here any minute with the ring box and I don't have time for this!"
The blond snorted. "It'll be a cold day in hell before that frigid bastard proposes, Shuichi."
Realizing the man had no idea what was going on, Shuichi struggled even harder against the ropes.
"Noooo! You don't understand! He.."
"Quiet!" K yelled. "Do I really need to gag your ass too?"
Shuichi let out a frustrated growl. As they walked past the couch, he couldn't help but be amazed that Tatsuha was still asleep.
"Tatsuha! Wake up! Get up and do something you idiot!"
Walking over to the new hole in the wall, K grabbed the awaiting ladder and grinned.
"Sorry. No one can help you now." he said with a hearty laugh.
"Taaattsssuuuhaaaaaa!"
As K pulled the helicopter out of auto pilot and took off, Tatsuha rolled over in his sleep and sighed happily.
"Ahhhh, the air feels good here Ryuichi…"