A/N: All I have really have to say is, thank you all so much for the reviews! Write me up a new one to tell me how you think the story is progressing and I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Shinobu is 20 in this fic so he is able to drink with Hiroki and Miyagi at the karaoke club. I changed his age to be older than Misaki (he's barely 18 in this fic) since Shinobu makes more appearances than Misaki who only makes a few cameos later on in the fic. And I think Shinobu being older would make him more mature but he is still his usual bold and brash self. I have also meant for Shinobu being more of a friend to Hiroki since he gives no shits that Hiroki is blind.

-Lucicelo

Chapter 7: They make me crazy...

"I can't believe you convinced me to come along with you." Hiroki said as he heard the doors in front of him slide wide open as Kana lead him inside of the grocery store. "You know I always call in for someone to carry my groceries over to my apartment right?"

Kana grinned when she said, "You have me here to make this whole experience go along so much faster so there is nothing to worry about. It's about time you left home for once, that piano is not going anywhere and you need a break."

Kana wrapped her arm around Hiroki's right arm as she swiped a basket from the pile right beside the door. She grabbed another one and handed it over to Hiroki. He accepted it without any complaint but she tried not to laugh at the frown on his face. It took some convincing on her part to get Hiroki to leave home on one of his practice days but the last time she was at his home there wasn't a lot in his fridge. She didn't want to deal with a crabby Hiroki when he didn't have any food inside of him.

Besides, she knew he enjoyed going out once in a while. Their last trip was to that theatre troupe which Hiroki had nothing but compliments to give. His heightened hearing gave him a better perspective of the actresses and he said they were a greater improvement than the last time he accompanied her to a performance. He especially enjoyed the main stars who really gave it their all and Kana saw it with her own eyes, agreeing full heartedly with him. Ever since they were kids, they always had fun where ever they went.

Kana lead Hiroki into the produce section while they both held their baskets in their free arms. Hiroki managed to keep his cane close to his body so he didn't hit anyone. He might be blind but people never took kind to him accidentally hitting them with his cane, it wasn't his fault that people didn't look where they were going. If he had to admit it, there were a few times where he tripped people on purpose and when they saw the cane they didn't say anything but he heard their crude words over his blindness.

Although, the last time Hiroki ever went to a supermarket it was with Miyagi. He had not come back with Miyagi ever since the guy dragged him to every single sample stand in the grocery store. He only ate the samples due to politeness, most of them were things Hiroki would have never willingly eat if he was given the choice. Then, there was the extra ten minutes Miyagi spent trying to look for a specific brand of shampoo which Hiroki knew would do nothing more than to make his ex-professor's hair smell decent.

He knew having Kana go with him to the store was his best option. Well, other than his parents who sometimes went to the store on their own just to give their staff back at home a break. Though, it was more for his mother to get his father out of his the house and out of his paperwork for one afternoon more than anything.

"How was your date with the guy you told me about the other day?"

Hiroki turned to her as he snapped. "It wasn't a date!"

Kana giggled when she saw his face turning bright red. "Sure it wasn't,"

"It really wasn't. He was just some new fan who took a liking to my music, that's all." Hiroki told her as she lead him to the produce section and he smelled the fragrant fruits right away. "Surprisingly, he sounded young and he actually knew a little bit about the piano so we ended up just chatting away. He's a social worker for the city."

Kana reached out for the clear bags when she said. "Really? What's his name?"

"Nowaki Kusama."

Kana arched a brow and for a second thought that the guy lied to her friend, "Are you sure that's his name?"

"I know, I felt the same way when he first told me his name after my performance but he was more than earnest to put his number on my cellphone." Hiroki added in. "I felt his business card which had indentations of his name printed on it, so his name is legitimate. Well, unless social services let's their workers had aliases for their job."

Kana said as she grabbed some peaches. "I would be surprised if they did." She smirked when she leaned close to Hiroki. "Introduce me to him, then I can tell you how handsome he is."

Hiroki scrunched up his eyebrows. "You know I don't care about appearances," He pointed to his eyes. "The fact I can't see gives me less stress in caring what people look like. I only remember you as a brat not as a full grown woman at this point" He heard her laugh. "Don't you dare laugh, Kana."

"I'm sorry but.." Kana placed her peaches into her basket. "I wonder how you imagine me today since I don't have long hair anymore and lets face it, I'm old now. I think I am getting some wrinkles in some places I don't want too."

Hiroki scoffed. "Please, I have felt your face too many times to know that you are still as young as ever. You are just like my mother, according to what my father, she is still young looking despite the fact she is already in her fifties."

Kana placed her head on Hiroki's shoulder, closing her eyes, she smiled. "Even though you will deny it, you really are a sweet person, Hiroki-kun."

Hiroki opened his mouth but then closed it when he couldn't find the right words to say. Kana was so sincere in her words that he had to repeat what she said inside of his head. At times, he was cantankerous, moody and aggravating. He never understood where she got her descriptors from when she saw him at his worst but he appreciated having her in his life. This went to his family, Miyagi and maybe even Nowaki who was getting into his life. He considered himself lucky that he had these people to support him at his lowest.

She opened her eyes, looking up, she saw Hiroki smiling. It was a slight quirk of the lips but Kana saw it so clearly but she kept it to herself. Hiroki probably already realized he was smiling and wouldn't want her to tell him that he was doing it. She reserved telling him what he was doing when she felt the need to tease him.

Hiroki commented. "It turns out one of my cousins is working at the cafe I met Nowaki in."

Lifting her head from Hiroki's shoulder, she said. "Really? Your mother's side or your father's?"

"Father's side. Surprisingly, Akito's mother agreed to let him work in his free time. Maybe she realized if he was too busy he wouldn't be tempted to go out drinking with his friends." Hiroki reached out and grabbed an orange and added pressure to check if it was ripe. "I doubt it, if someone really wants to party, they won't let work stop them."

"That's true, a couple of my co-workers do the same thing every single week where they go to the bars. We get so stressed out through the week at the hospital that we all need some sort of way to relax and have fun." Kana grabbed some persimmons and placed them in her basket. "Does your new friend like to drink? I'm only asking since most people like to decompress with a nice glass of wine at the end of the week."

Hiroki stuffed some oranges in a plastic bag. "I have no idea, it isn't like I ask everyone I barely meet if they like to drink booze." He put the bag in his basket. "Although, I'd like to think he doesn't like it that much. Maybe once in a while, he seems like the type to have a glass but not the whole bottle."

Kana nodded her head as she leaned back and took a peek at the fish section. The place was swarming with housewives who were grabbing the shrimp which was on sale, Kana shook her head, she didn't need fish that badly to battle people to get it.

"Do you really need that salmon today, Hiroki-kun?"

"Why?" Hiroki made a face when he heard the clamoring of people going to one section of the market. "There's a special today, isn't there?"

"Oh yeah." Kana tsked. "That's too bad, but we can try getting some beef or chicken if you want."

Hiroki sighed. "I can deal with some chicken I guess."

Kana's eyes widened when she saw the sign for the watermelons, she dragged Hiroki toward the watermelons. "Hiroki-kun! The watermelons are on sale today! Let's get some!"

Hiroki hurried alongside her, mentally imagining the red fruit he never grew tired of, he felt himself salivating when he thought about it.

Nowaki sighed as he rubbed his temples when he walked away from the home he just visited. He got an earful from the father who vehemently denied any abuse to his children while asking him at the same time who called them with such claims. Nowaki never disclosed the identity of the person but talked with calm and explained he was only doing a follow up. The children were not going to get taken unless there was any reason he found that they needed to be removed from the residence. Despite his explanation, the man persisted ranting about his nosy neighbors who didn't mind their own business and Nowaki fought not sighing at the usual response.

He was only there to speak and investigate the calls the office got on a daily basis, he wasn't there to take anyone away. Yet, a majority of them didn't listen when he explained his reasons and then assumed the worst possible scenario. After being there for a few years, he thought he would have grown used to having mostly negative reactions but it never got easier. The cases he had with children which were from his old orphanage were somewhat better, he was in their situation so he knew how to connect with them.

He stared at his half-eaten lunch, he suddenly didn't have the appetite to eat anymore. Usually, he would eat all of his food without a problem but with the frustration from earlier, he felt no need to eat anything. The image of the Kusama Orphanage's owner berating him when he didn't eat all of his food entered his mind. Although the man attended to countless children who went in and out of the orphanage, it seemed they had formed a bond after all those years he was there.

Nowaki sighed as he covered his lunch, when he moved it across his desk, his bento made a scratching noise at the action. He might try eating it later in the afternoon. A majority of the time, his stomach growled even if he was in a bad mood or not before he went home. So it was better to save his lukewarm lunch and reheat it later.

Tsumori patted down his leather jacket, licked his teeth with his tongue, and shuffled his own hair as he made his way to Nowaki's desk. The piano performance was a bust, all of Nowaki's attention went toward that blind piano player which he didn't tolerate. He was always near Nowaki at work so he had the upper hand in talking to his friend than some musician.

He turned a corner and he tilted his head when he saw Nowaki's forehead touching his desk. Something clicked in his mind, shaking his head, he knew exactly what was wrong with Nowaki.

"Did you get a bad house?" Tsumori leaned against the cubicle.

Nowaki didn't jump in surprise as he nodded his head and closed his eyes. "Yes...the man just didn't want to listen that I wasn't taking his children but he was making it hard for me not to write that he was being hostile with me."

Tsumori snorted. "I write every single detail so they cannot deny that they didn't yell at me when I was just there to talk. Besides, they must have done something wrong for us to be called in the first place but almost all of them assume the worst."

Nowaki placed his forehead on his desk. "It really does get tiring...I would rather work with the elderly or the disabled for a while. I love working with kids don't get me wrong but I just cannot deal with the hostile parents sometimes."

"I hear you, though didn't you say you were going to deal with some troubled kid in a few days at a school?"

Nowaki managed to nod his head while he kept his forehead on his desk. "Yes...I have dealt with more than enough kids like this in the orphanage to know what to do. The bad thing is that not all of them keep to their promises after I leave and the police are alerted to their troubles and it's usually their last chance at redemption."

Tsumori smacked his lips. "You don't have take every single case to heart you know. After a year, I stopped caring for most of the files which were dumped on my desk. It's usually the same thing over and over again." Nowaki lifted his head up from his desk as he turned to Tsumori. "What? I'm being honest here, after a while, most of the cases are simply the same."

Nowaki shook his head. "I don't think so. There is always something different in each case that makes it unique." He rubbed his temples while he fought the urge to scratch his left side, he needed to apply lotion when no one was looking.

"Hey? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Nowaki curtly responded. "I'm just really tired today, that's all."

"Oh alright." Tsumori was oblivious to Nowaki peeking at his desk drawer from the corner of his eyes. "After you have been in this job as long as me, you won't be as drained as you are today. It is practically a breeze, all of the older people in this building are lounging around if you have walked around the building in your free time."

Nowaki had seen plenty of his co-workers simply relaxing on their desks or chatting along with someone in the other desk. After so many years, Nowaki knew it was inevitable that the older workers would be more relaxed than the newbies. He had only done social work for a few years and it still felt like he just started this job more often then he would have liked.

"I guess..." Nowaki told Tsumori. "I'd like to be by myself for a bit if you don't mind. I might do some work during my lunch since I'm not so hungry right now."

Tsumori nodded his head. "Sure thing,"

"Hey Tsumori!" One of their co-workers bellowed as the blond haired man leaned back and saw a group of men motioning him to come over. "We have something exciting to tell you, you know about that girl I was going after?"

Tsumori was tempted to glare at the guy for interrupting this time with Nowaki but Nowaki was going to work anyway. "I'll see you later, alright Nowaki?"

Nowaki said. "Of course." He waited until Tsumori was out of sight as he pulled his desk drawer open and grabbed his lotion from behind his paperwork.

He poured a generous amount of his right hand as he pulled his turtleneck away with his left hand. He reached under the fabric as he massages his left side of his body. Letting out a sigh of relief, he let the lotion moisturize his skin and he felt the urge to scratch go away in an instant. He really needed to add more fabric softer to his shirts so they wouldn't irritate his skin so much.

Nowaki let his bag drop onto the floor as he stumbled inside of his small apartment. Covering his mouth when he yawned, he closed the door with his foot as he kicked off his shoes. Bending down, Nowaki got them and placed them in the small show rack he had near the door. He took off his sweater and placed it on top of his bag. He was just glad he had the day off the next day or he would practically present himself as a zombie in front of his co-workers.

He didn't turn on any lights as he went inside of the kitchen and opened the fridge. Grabbing a bottle of iced tea, he shut the fridge and uncapped the bottle before taking a gulp. He walked into his bedroom as he placed the bottle on his dresser while he turned on the lamp to bring in light into the dark room. Letting out a sigh, he took off his turtleneck and tossed it inside of the basket he kept his used laundry.

Walking inside of the adjacent bathroom, he stood in front of the mirror as he turned on the lights. A variety of burn scars appeared before his eyes, he lightly touched them with his fingertips, fascinated at the different textures of the scars compared to the rest of his body. No one other than his doctors when he was a child, had touched these scars. The orphanage had seen these scars but Nowaki told them to never touch them because his left side still hurt after he left the hospital. He was given creams and antibiotics when he was released from the hospital.

Nowaki was simply grateful he never got an infection from his burns, they got irritated from time to time but it was completely healed when he was older. The doctors did their best to heal him well enough before he released from the hospital. Although, he had to go back for skin graphs when he was a teenager, just to help him through his growth spurt. His doctors always wondered how he was able to grow so tall but Nowaki knew it had something to do with his birth parents, one of them had to be tall.

He took out the usual ointment that he put on before bed from behind the mirror as he put on a generous amount of his scars. Closing his eyes, he felt his skin soothing from relief. The lotion he kept at work only helped him through the day, but this ointment helped him through the night when he covered his whole body with his blankets.

"I might soak in the tub tomorrow morning..I don't think I have the energy to take a bath today." Nowaki continued on massaging the ointment on his skin. "I might go buy some new shoes, maybe, my old shoes are getting too worn down for the office."

When he was done, he placed the tube back behind the mirror, turning off the lights, he left the bathroom. He changed into some pajama bottoms and he pulled back the sheets to his bed. Checking the time on his alarm clock, he knew that he was falling asleep way too early but his eyelids were heavy. He laid on the bed as he moved onto his right side, his left side was still slick with the ointment he put on it.

The sirens wailed in the distance as Nowaki closed his eyes. He pulled the sheets up to his waist, his body molding to the softness of the bed and he was asleep a moment later.

"Kamijouuuuuuu." Miyagi whined as he held his beer to his chest and placed his hand in front of Hiroki's body. "Come sing karaoke with meee."

Hiroki lifted his white cane as he tipped his beer and took a long sip. "No. You can go make a fool out of yourself without me or ask your lover to join you."

Shinobu nodded his head as he snapped. "Yeah Miyagi, why are you not asking me to sing with you?" He stood up from his seat while Hiroki ate some chips that he found that he liked from the batch given to them by the karaoke bar. "Is my voice that awful to you?"

Miyagi put his hands up in defense while he laughed to try to appease Shinobu. "Shinobu-chin, I was only kidding. Hiroki never wants to sing with me anyway and it never hurts to ask."

Hiroki took off his sunglasses before he rolled his eyes. "Stop making dumb excuses Miyagi, I'm surprised he is supporting your shit." He heard Miyagi gasp and start whining all over again, Hiroki ate some of the snacks to block out his noise. "Hey brat, calm him the fuck down. He's being annoying."

Shinobu frowned at the name but he grabbed the back of Miyagi's shirt and pulled him down onto the seats. "Stop it. We are going to get kicked out because of you. It's no wonder Kamijou doesn't go to bars with you, you act like such a moron. Kana is a much better improvement in acting right in public."

Miyagi pouted as he draped his arms all over Shinobu. "Why are you so mean? You are supposed to be sweet to meeeee and love meeee. And we are in a private room so I can act any way I want."

The stench of booze permeated from Miyagi as Shinobu made a disgusted face, he tried not to gag. After having a drink off on his birthday with his college friends, he never wanted to drink alcohol again. He had no need for the awful headache or the vomiting which came with drinking, it was just so disgusting to him.

"You reek." Shinobu stated. "And you are drunk."

Miyagi waggled his eyebrows. "That wasn't what you said last night, you enjoyed smelling me then."

Shinobu's eyes widened as his face turned bright red. He pushed Miyagi away from him as he scooted away on the sofa to get away from him. Miyagi fell off of the sofa from the force, instead of getting mad, he burst out laughing at the embarrassed expression on Shinobu's face.

Hiroki smirked as he ate more food and drank more of his beer. "And to think, this is guy you worked so hard to get. Now you are stuck with his antics."

Shinobu glared at Hiroki when he said. "At least I have someone, unlike you."

Miyagi was about to come to Hiroki's defense but Hiroki beat him it. "Is that best insult you can give me?" Hiroki rolled his eyes as he drank more beer. "I already know people are not interested in a blind man for a lover. Hell, a majority just feel absolute pity and might spare a few minutes to talk to the poor old blind man."

Shinobu saw Miyagi give him a look of disappointment before shaking his head. He had known from the beginning that Miyagi was fond of Hiroki, well in a protective brotherly manner. Even when Miyagi was married to his late sister, he knew Miyagi was close friends with Hiroki. He even met their other friend, Kana, who Miyagi treated the same way he treated Hiroki. In a protective, loving manner, where he teased them and held them when he saw them.

Shinobu did not want to admit he was jealous of Hiroki or Kana. He would rather die than admit that he had these feelings, he was old enough to just ignore them but he couldn't help. Miyagi was still treating him like when he was married to Risako, he was being treated like a brother and not a lover. Except, they shared kisses every once in a while.

He remained in his seat as he stared at the wall with disdain. Blinking back tears, he tried ignoring Miyagi getting closer to Hiroki.

Miyagi went to Hiroki and shuffled his hair. "Yeah right, Hiroki, this coming from the guy who just had a date this week."

Hiroki hit Miyagi's chest with his beer bottle. "That was not a date. Why are you and Kana insisting that was a date? I just had coffee with a new fan of mine."

Miyagi snorted. "You don't just go have coffee with anyone you don't know. Especially a new fan who suddenly liked your playing."

"I had time off that day so I took the chance. Besides, Nowaki actually knows composers and wasn't bullshitting with me, I could tell by his voice." Hiroki said as he shuffled away from Miyagi. "Your brat was right, you do reek. Go to the bathroom and air yourself out."

Miyagi whined but when he saw the stern expression on Hiroki's face, he complied to his request. "Alright, just don't start singing without me." He got up and left the room in a flash but not before grabbing his cane from the sofa.

"He listens to what he says but not me," Shinobu muttered, Hiroki heard him loud and clear.

Hiroki didn't want to have to deal with Shinobu muttering about Miyagi when he said. "You do know Miyagi loves you right?" Shinobu snapped his head to Hiroki's direction. "If he didn't give a shit about you, he wouldn't be asking me and Kana for advice ever since he starting caring more for you. Besides, you know no one shows such blatant affection in public with their lover out of respect."

"B-But he is always taking your side!" Shinobu exclaimed as Hiroki placed his beer bottle on the table. "He listens to you and he never holds me unless it's to make a ridiculous joke, it's as if I'm a joke!"

"He doesn't look it, but Miyagi is a nervous wreck when he is around you. He makes those stupid jokes to brighten up the mood. After what happened to him and Risako, he doesn't have the confidence he used to before that time."

Shinobu stated. "But I didn't almost kill him like she did, she's the one who caused that accident."

Hiroki sighed. "From what your father told me at the hospital, your sister looked perfectly fine when she left the party. No one knew she was drunk when she was driving, not even Miyagi, he wouldn't have let her drive if she was intoxicated." He ate another snack from the pile in front of him. "Five years have passed already, you should forgive her and I know you miss her despite what you may say to deny it."

Shinobu pulled his legs up close to his chest. "I guess...I wasn't close to her if I remember correctly. She was always out of the house and she never took a big interest in getting to know me. But..when Miyagi came along, she changed for the better and she practically forced me to spend time with her. She was the one who made our bond happen...she caused me to hurt worse than if I never got to know her." Shinobu gritted his teeth. "She was the one who was selfish."

"Yet, you always wear her ring on a necklace right?" Hiroki said.

Shinobu's eyes widened when he asked. "How did you-"

"Your father told me you always wear her ring, you have never taken it off since the funeral." Hiroki told Shinobu. "So I am just assuming right now."

"Oh..." Shinobu rubbed his hands, he gulped then he said. "I'm sorry for the comment from earlier."

"It's fine. I'm content in my life at the moment to not really care about finding someone." Hiroki ate more snacks. "It used to bother me when I was your age but...after a while it's useless to care so much about something when there are other things to do."

Shinobu frowned. "Well that's surprising, most people would try getting together with the musician. You are pretty famous in the classical circuit aren't you?"

Hiroki snorted. "I am a pianist, I am not a pop star who struts his stuff on stage with theatrics. I would fall off the stage in the beginning of the performance because I would lose my spot, I can't see where I am going obviously." He heard Shinobu stifling a laugh. "So you do have a sense of humor."

Shinobu blushed as he took a sip of his ginger ale. "Of course I do...I am not a robot who cannot feel you know... and I thought you didn't have jokes."

Hiroki smirked. "After having to deal with Miyagi's antics I had to figure out how to counter him when he gets to be too much. I also have my cousins to thank for having an unlimited supply of jokes."

Miyagi entered the room again, smelling less like alcohol, he walked toward Shinobu and sat next to him. "So, what did I miss?"

Hiroki saw his chance when he said. "He was telling me how you still make faces at the animals at the pet stores when you are out with him."

"But they are so cute!" Miyagi defended himself. "You would do the same."

Shinobu rolled his eyes. "I have never done it and I am younger than you, Kamijou was right, you are a weirdo."

"Eh?! Why are you two attacking me? You two are supposed to love me."

"Barely," Hiroki stated while he moved his cane a few feet away from him so he wouldn't hit it with his leg. "Start drinking some water, you will get more drunk if you are not careful."

Miyagi defied him as he grabbed his beer and took a long swig. "Nope,"

"Then Takatsuki is dragging your drunk ass home, I'll take a cab." Hiroki felt for the cup of water he ordered and he started drinking it. "Better yet, leave him in a ditch that will teach him a lesson." He snickered when he heard Miyagi complaining about his behavior to Shinobu who he was sure was having fun seeing Miyagi in such distress.

TBC