A/N: Ohayou gozaimasu (Good morning) everybody! I am sooo, sooo sorry it has taken me so long to update - but here is a new chapter! (At last. gaku) Since I have whiplash I can't always write when or as much as I would like, I get horrible headaches and so on, but now I'm starting to feel better again. :) From now on I will try my best to update at least once a week, because I know how unbearable it must be for you all to wait for the next chapter. (he he)
So from now on I will update once a weekend. But if I should get a chapter ready sooner than that I will of course publish before the weekend. No probs. (And sorry this particular chapter is so dull! There will be more suspense in the next one, promise!)
Homecoming
¤¤¤37 HOURS RUNNING¤¤¤
There was no one around, so Yuki felt it safe to kiss his husband once he was allowed into the private room to see him. "Shujin..." (Husband...) Shuichi was just waking up, and his eyelids fluttered somewhat as he tried to peer up at the novelist. It took him a few minutes to focus his gaze. Then an exhausted smile curled his lips. "Yuki... you came."
The novelist gave the sleepyhead's nose a squeeze. "Of course I did, baka (moron). Did you think I would just leave you here?"
Shu blushed. "I didn't know what to think, what with the nurses and the doctors all coming and going and I couldn't understand a word they were saying to me..."
He turned his face away in a vain attempt to hide the fact that he was ashamed of himself.
"Sou ka." (That so.) He got up and began to collect his husband's few possessions. "What do you say we get you released and get you out of this hell-hole?"
"Sounds like a suggestion I can't say no to," Shuichi muttered bitterly as the door to his private room opened and the nurse from the day before entered.
"¤¤Good afternoon,¤¤" she said with a pleasant smile and came to a stop at the vocalist's bedside.
He blinked up at her in bewilderment. "E? Nanda?" (Huh? What?)
Yuki demonstratively shook his head in resignation. "And they managed to make you sing an entire song in almost flawless English? Yokatta ne! (Good for them!)"
The vocalist immediately began to pout like a sourpuss. "Uruse yo. Baka janai." (Shut up. I'm not an idiot.)
Yuki chuckled spitefully, but gave Shu-chan a look of utter and unconditional love that would erase all misunderstandings. It was so much fun to tease Shuichi – he always got so mad, and he still didn't understand the jokes most of the time, not even after having them elaborately explained to him. Turning to the nurse, he said, "¤¤When is doctor come? I need get my husband released so I can take him home.¤¤"
A crease brought the young woman's eyebrows closer together as she frowned at him. "¤¤Excuse me? 'Husband'? Didn't you say he was your brother? Or did I misinterpret—¤¤"
Yuki started. "¤¤What? I say 'husband'? I mean brother. Gomen-nasai, my English not good. What with doctor? He come soon for releasal?¤¤"
Shuichi obviously noticed the new tension in him. Fuck, he thought, he's getting too damned good at reading me. "Eiri... daijoubu?" (Eiri... are you all right?)
"Hai," he replied swiftly to not worry his lover.
The nurse still seemed a bit uncertain and hesitant, but a few seconds later her features brightened with another beaming smile – so clearly flirting with Yuki that he almost broke into a nervous sweat – and she turned back towards the door. "¤¤I'll go get the doctor right now. Normally you have to wait an hour or so, but... I'm making an exception for you since you're so cute with your little brother.¤¤" She winked at him, and was gone.
Yuki swallowed hard. "Boy am I glad we're gonna be out of here soon, 'cause I don't know how much longer I could take that woman's flirty manner." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Funny thing is... not because I'm attracted to her and want to sleep with her – which was usually the case before I got involved with you, you know – but because she scares the shit out of me. I guess women don't have the same kind of power over me anymore."
Shuichi sat up in the bed and grabbed Yuki's arm. Pulling the novelist's hand up to his mouth, he murmured with his lips to his skin: "I sure hope no other men make you feel that way, either."
Yuki smiled down at the tousle-haired vocalist. "Nope, no one but you, baka."
¤¤¤38 HOURS RUNNING¤¤¤
Touma awoke to a strange soundtrack that seemed vaguely familiar and which came with an unmistakable aching in his temples. His head felt as if it was twice its normal size and about to explode any minute. Moaning in pain, he tried to move to one side in the bed.
There was someone else lying beside him, and for a confused moment he thought he was back in Eiri's apartment during the days that he had comforted the novelist. When they all thought Shindou-san was dead. But when his eyes cleared a bit, so did his head. He was no longer in Eiri's apartment – they weren't even in Japan anymore – but in New York.
The person next to him was of course Yuji.
Ohh... I think I had a little too much to drink last night..., he thought, ashamed of himself. Carefully sitting up, he added, Hope I didn't behave badly or anything. I'm not really used to drinking.
The other man stirred when Touma got out of the bed. Opened one eye and peered up at him. "Oh... good morning," he mumbled sleepily.
"Good morning," Touma replied with a cold smile. "Sleep well?"
"Hmm... yeah, I think so. Although I'm not sure... How did we end up here? We didn't get naked or anything, did we?"
Touma flinched. Almost immediately his chest began to ache and feel so tight that he almost could not breathe. "Gee, I sure hope not!" he said with a little too much force. "Did we? No, we didn't. We're still fully dressed, both of us, and bearing in mind that we were both quite tipsy last night..."
"Tipsy?" Yuji laughed out loud. "I would say that we were a little bit more than tipsy, tomo! (pal)"
Touma lowered his gaze with embarrassment. "Yeah, guess so... Anyway, I should probably get going... Maybe the others are wondering where I am, and I wouldn't want to get them worried."
Yuji instantly rushed out of bed and grabbed his wrist to stop him from leaving. "No. Please stay just a little longer. I'm having so much fun with you, I haven't had this much fun in years! I would hate for you to leave now when we're finally getting to know each other. Please... just stay one more day."
Touma hesitated. His instinct was to decline and return to Eiri – he had been away from him for far too long already – but there was something about his new friend that made him reluctant to leave. He too was having fun, and he did like Yuji's company...
The smile on his lips broadened almost unnoticably, but became slightly more genuine. "Okay, I'll stay."
Even though the nurse had promised them a doctor would come to release Shuichi right away they still had to wait for more than an hour. It pissed him off, but he knew that he should not be angry with them. This was a hospital, and a hospital tended to have more than one patient at once. So when Dr. Green finally showed up, all stressed and preoccupied, Yuki forced himself to remain calm and speak in a low, friendly tone of voice. But on the inside he just wanted to punch the bastard and ask him what the hell took him so long.
When they finally were allowed to leave, the novelist set off at a quick pace towards the exit. After a while he noticed that Shuichi was not following. He turned back and tried his best not to yell and shout when he called to his husband. "Shuichi! Iku zo!" (Shuichi! Let's go now!)
The vocalist, who was standing approximately fifteen feet further down the corridor looking lost and confused, glanced up at Yuki with an inquiring look in his tired eyes. But he did not move.
Impatiently shifting his feet, Yuki cast a glance at their surroundings. People were staring at them. This was not good. They could not draw too much attention to themselves or they would be in big trouble. I need to get him out of here ASAP, he thought.
He noticed that the young nurse from earlier was looking at him from the nurses' station. Feeling uncomfortable, he cleared his throat awkwardly and called anew: "Shuichi!"
This time the singer reacted and came shuffling up the corridor toward him. Finally!
The nurse was staring at him even more intensely now, and that disturbing frown was back on her forehead. Eventually he could not take her glare anymore. "¤¤What?¤¤" he asked unpleasantly, no longer giving a damn about being polite.
She shrugged and looked down. "¤¤Nothing. Just thought it was funny, that name you're calling him. Because, you know, two days ago when you had him admitted to detox you said his name was Shiro, not Shuichi. That makes me think maybe the rest you told me wasn't true, either...¤¤"
Yuki flinched. Kuso. (Damn.) He had completely forgotten about Shu's cover name. What would he do now? Was it too late to save their asses, or would Aizawa find them?
"¤¤Er... excuse me, I not follow,¤¤" he said slowly, trying to deceive her into believing that he was a stupid tourist. Then it hit him. "¤¤'Shuichi' not name, it is Japanese for 'come here' or 'follow me'. He was not following, so...¤¤"
He saw that he was winning her back over. Good.
"¤¤Oh, I see!¤¤" she beamed, and laughed. "¤¤You got me confused there for a minute. Guess I shouldn't try to interpret a language I know nothing about. My apologies, sir.¤¤"
"Iie. (Don't worry about it.) ¤¤If I come back to New York, I call you,¤¤" he lied to definitely get her on their side in case Aizawa would ever come seeking them there.
She seemed pleased with the fake promise and bid them fairwell.
Shuichi bowed courteously and muttered an almost inaudible "Sayonara" when they passed her on their way to the glass doors. Outside the hospital, he took Yuki's hand in his. "I am so happy I finally get to leave this fucking place," he said gloomily. "I thought I'd never come back to Japan... never knew I loved that country so much... But now I realize that I belong there and nowhere else. There's no other place in the world I'd ever wish to be. But I guess that's because you're there, Yuki. It wouldn't really matter where I was as long as you were there with me. Although, right now Japan seems like some sort of paradise on earth..."
Yuki squeezed his hand encouragingly. "Ore mo aishiteru, Shu-chan no koto. Za, hoteru ni kaerimasen ka?" (I love you too, Shu-chan. What do you say we go back to the hotel?)
"Aa." (Yeah.)
The cab driver and the people in the hotel lobby looked at Shuichi's cuts and bruises and all seemed to agree that he was some sort of gang member and kept a distinct distance to him. Yuki would have liked to punch them all in their good-for-nothing faces, but he restrained himself and escorted his lover to the elevators.
Outside the suite reserved for him, Shu and Touma, he stopped and fumbled for the card key.
Shuichi squirmed restlessly. "I think I'm about to have another abstinence attack," he meowled pitifully and hugged himself.
Yuki put an arm around him.
He found the key.
"Don't worry, Shu. It'll all be alright. You'll soon have something else on your mind, trust me."
He opened the door with a loud BANG! to announce their arrival to the people waiting in the gloom. With Shuichi on his left, he reached out his free hand and touched the light switch.
"SURPRIIIIIIISE!"
The young vocalist jumped back in fright before he realized that the people shouting were his friends from back home. When he recognized the small crowd, he exhaled in a deep sigh of relief and put a hand to his chest. "Damn, you scared me!" he accused them weakly. He looked around at the familiar faces. "What are you all doing here?"
A beaming, over-enthusiastic Ryuichi jumped out at them holding a huge homemade banner saying 'OKAERI NASAI SYUUITI-KUN!' (Welcome home Shuichi-kun!) He happily waved it in front of his kouhai's face, laughing his trademark childish laughter.
Yuki had to give him credit for even spelling Shu's name correctly. It was no secret that Ryuichi sucked at spelling. He'd never even bothered to learn how to write properly, but used only simple kana, and his handwriting was awful.
A tear glimmered in Shuichi's left eye. "You... you did all this for me, Sakuma-san?" he stuttered with emotion.
Ryuichi immediately became teary-eyed himself. "Of course I did, Shuichi! I am so glad you're alive! I was devastated when I thought you were dead!"
"Yeah, I can second that!" Fujisaki snorted, his arms crossed defiantly over his chest.
Shuichi gave Fujisaki a weird look. His exhausted eyes were red, and his eyelids looked as if they were extremely heavy to hold up. "Okaaay... good for you, Suguru." He thoughtfully fingered the banner. "You were worried about me, Sakuma-san?"
Ryuichi gave a squeal and threw his arms around Shuichi. He squeezed him hard against his body. "I was worried to death! When I heard that they had pronounced you dead... I just cried and cried, and Touma was almost heartbroken because I cried so much..."
Shuichi pulled away slightly so he could look his senpai in the eyes. "Stop it! Now you're gonna make me cry, too!"
"No, you stop it!" Ryuichi retorted. "Now you're gonna make me cry!"
"You already are!"
"I know! Stop it!"
Yuki massaged his eyes and thought, You will not explode, you will not explode, you will not explode... Calm down, breathe, calm down.
Behind the hugging two, Fujisaki was angry-red in the face and looked as if he was going through the same mantra as Yuki – or at least something very similar. It was amazing how the two of them managed to keep their feelings for each other hidden from everyone else; only this controlled display of jealousy broke through. Other than that, they seemed to be as indifferent to each other as usual. Ryuichi was as childish as ever... Fujisaki were as bitter as always...
"Look! You even learnt how to write my name in kanji! Oooh, Sakuma-saaan!"
"Oh, please..." Yuki begged, now massaging his poor, pulsating temples. Why did they always have to be so fucking annoying? Could not they just once behave like normal people?!
Shuichi cried out in happy surprise. "Hiro!"
He threw himself around the neck of his best friend, mercifully unaware of the pain in his body for a few euphoric minutes. It made Yuki smile, despite himself.
Hiro laughed and hugged the little champ. "Okaeri, Shuichi." (Welcome home, Shuichi.)
A wonderful, happy smile curled the vocalist's lips. Yuki's heart skipped a beat. He looked so happy, so genuinely happy... Since Yuki found him in the street, Shuichi had not been smiling like that. Now he seemed to be satisfied with his situation; he seemed to be at peace with himself again.
"Tada ima (Now I'm home)," he said in a low, harmonious voice.
K stepped up to him and slapped him over the head.
The vocalist's bangs blew to the side from the strong wind that the manager created with his huge hand.
"That's my boy!" the big American exclaimed, and slapped poor Shu in the back several times.
"Er... um... thanks, I guess..."
Yuki went over to the manager. "May I speak with you in private?"
K met his eyes with a dark understanding, as if he already knew what Yuki was about to ask him. "Of course. We'll go up to the roof. The wind is blowing pretty hard out there, there is absolutely zero chance of anyone eavesdropping."
"Great."
As they made to leave, Shuichi grabbed the sleeve of Eiri's shirt and stopped him. "Wait just one minute. Please..." With an apologetic smile, he looked at all his friends, and there were tears in his eyes again. "During all those awful nights I always hoped that you would come for me. That you would find me. And you did. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that, or how happy you've made me by throwing me this 'Welcome Home'-party. But I'm afraid I'm way too tired to celebrate anything right now. I've..."
He fell silent and bit his tongue.
Yuki could tell that he was reluctant to tell them the truth about just what had happened to him just yet. To provide support for his lover, he put his arm around his slender shoulders.
It's OK, he thought, you don't need to tell them. They'll understand.
Shuichi lowered his gaze and sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, I'm just too tired, that's all."
Sakuma sprang forward anew and took Shuichi's right hand in both of his. Patting it reassuringly, he said, "That doesn't matter, Shuichi. We can celebrate your homecoming any day – tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after the day after tomorrow... It's your call. We'll all be here for you when you need us, so don't worry, OK? We love you."
Shuichi snivelled. "I love you too, guys. Thank you."
Ryuichi gave his kouhai's hand a last squeeze. "Now go sleep."
Yuki began to direct Shuichi toward the bedroom, but the vocalist kicked against him violently. "No, no, no!"
The novelist stopped, stunned. "What's wrong?"
The others were watching them wide-eyed.
"I..."
My God... he's shivering!
"I don't want to be alone..."
Yuki flinched. That's why he was so reluctant to go to the bedroom? And of course he had all the right to be. Every time someone had brought him into a bedroom in the past eight months it had been to let some kinky and possibly violent guy use him.
He looked back at the others. Who did Shuichi trust enough to watch over him during his conversation with K? Because he had to speak to the manager now...
"Hiro-kun? Will you sit with Shuichi until I'm back?"
The guitarist rose from his seat immediately. "Certainly." He took Shuichi under the arm and steered their way towards the huge bedroom. "Come on, Shuichi, I'll read you a bedtime story."
"Th-thanks, Hiro. I... I..."
"It's OK, you don't have to tell me. You decide when you're ready."
The vocalist nodded.
He looked so small, so vulnerable... Yuki just wanted to hold him, kiss the pain away, tell him that everything would be all right again. Everything would go back to normal again. As soon as they killed that bastard Aizawa... everything would go back to normal.
"Oi!" (Hey!) he called after Hiro, and when the guitarist turned around to look at him he said: "Arigatou." (Thank you.)
Hiro nodded.
Yuki signalled to K to come along with him and headed for the door. Only then did he realize that someone was missing. Frowning, he went out to the kitchen area.
Of course it was empty.
Then he went to the bathroom; also empty.
"Um... are you searching for something?" Fujisaki wondered carefully.
He suddenly felt anxious and giddery. "Where's Touma?"
Ryuichi started. "Oh! That's what I was going to ask you! Do you know where Touma's at? I've been trying to reach him since yesterday, but he turned off his phone..."
Yuki hit him over the head. "Idiot! I just asked you where Touma was!"
"Oh... right. I don't know. You think something happened to him?"
The novelist's hands began to shake with anger and fear. If anything had happened to his ani (older brother)...
"Oh, screw being careful!" he expelled in a spray of spit. "K-san! I want you to find Aizawa, and you better find him quick!"
K grinned mischievously. "Roger that. Just leave everything to me, I've got a few surprises up my sleeve..." He withdrew a .44 from his shoulder holster and spun it with skill in his hand. Then he left the suite.
¤¤¤40 HOURS RUNNING¤¤¤
No progress – absolutely no progress. They still had not located Shindou, so business had been down for almost two days and the customers were getting anxious... and angry. If they did not find the little shithead soon, Aizawa would be the one to pay.
In a fit of wrath he had left the flat at a dangerous pace – he had high blood pressure – to search for Shindou himself since his cronies obviously were incompetent dimwits.
Always have to do everything myself, don't I? he thought irritably. If you want something done, do it yourself, 'cos there ain't any stupid fucks unstupid enough to do it right!
"Aizawa! Boss!" Ken was shouting after him, desperately trying to keep up with his furious pace. "Wait! There's no use running around like that! We have guys searching for Yuki Eiri at this very moment—"
He spun around toward them. "I know that! But have they found him yet? No! And have they found Shindou? No! Do you know how much money I've lost these past 40 hours?"
Ken backed away in fright. "Uh, n-no..."
"Two hundred thousand dollars, Ken! That's how much I've lost! And can I afford to lose that much money, Ken?"
"N-no, sir..."
"That's right. So if I don't wanna lose another seventy-five thousand in studio time tomorrow I better find him, right? Yeah, I thought so."
He swirled around to resume his angry stroll when something across the street caught his attention.
He stopped dead, his armpits suddenly bathing in sweat.
Ken and Maa almost collided with him.
"What is it?" Maa asked worriedly.
Aizawa could not speak, so he simply pointed at the sidewalk across the street. A certain person – a person he hated and feared – was currently playing some sort of game with another man, and they were both laughing. It disgusted him.
"Seguchi Touma..."
"What is he doing here?" Maa wondered aloud.
Aizawa punched him in the face; he fell to the ground. "Idiot! What do you think he's doing here? He's here together with that fuck Yuki to collect our product! Don't you see? With his connections... we're in deep shit."
Maa rose to his feet again. He did not mention the fact that he had just been punched to the ground, probably because he was afraid that Aizawa would do it again. With one glance across the street, he said: "But that's not Yuki. Who's that he's with? I've never seen him before."
"But he's definitely Japanese," Ken put in. "Maybe... an 'associate' of his?"
"Oh, you bet!" Aizawa spat. "He's come to down me again! He's come to finish what he started when he pushed me in front of that car! But I won't let him this time... This time I will push him in front of a fucking car! I'll kill the bastard, kill him slowly, torture him... yeah. But first I'll kill Shindou and that Yuki fag in front of him, make him suffer as his little fantasy lover dies right before his eyes!"
Without knowing it, Aizawa had taken small steps closer to the laughing man across the street, and when he reached the end of his cruel promise he was halfway out into the street.
He did not hear the car coming; he did not hear the honking horn.
"Aizawa!" Maa shouted.
He jerked and slowly turned around.
Two bright lights...
SYUUITI – That's actually how his name is spelled in Kunrei-siki (pronounced Kunrei-shiki), the official Japanese romazi (romaji) system. It is of course pronounced in the same way – Shuichi. But the name written out as 'Shuichi' is according to the Hepburn system, which is more frequently used by Western people since it makes it easier to see how the words are pronounced.
