Author's Notes: I finally found the time to edit part 01 of this fic, it's got some minor differences from the first draft (I wrote that at 2 am). Thanks for everyone who let me know that Shuichi's sister's name is Maiko!
Warnings: Will contain some spoilers, shounen ai (duh! Its gravi!)
Disclaimer: All rights to Gravitation belong to Maki Murakami-sama, SPE Visual Works, Sony, and WOWOW.
Sabrinne: Yippee! *dances around with chocolate Yuki in hand* (Thanks Eike!)
Shuichi: I want a chocolate Yuki too! *sparkly teary eyes*
Yuki: . . .
Sabrinne: It's all mine! Hahaha!
Shuichi: Meanie!
Yuki: What kind of torture do you have in store for me this chapter?
Shuichi: *glomps on Yuki*
Sabrinne: Oh ho ho ho *twitching fox ears**~*~*~*~*~*
Part 2: The Days that Follow
Shuichi flipped over in bed again, staring at the digital clock that sat a few feet away, the faint green numbers seemed to taunt him silently. 4:12am. It was still much too early for him to get up and leave for the studio. Letting out a long breath, he ran a hand through mussed pink hair as he sat up against his pillows. Actually, tonight had been one of the better ones that he had had in the past two weeks. He usually lied awake in bed for hours as he waited for the sun to reappear on the horizon. It wasn't that he didn't feel tired or sleepy, it's was just that every time he closed his eyes he would see him. Yuki Eiri. Every night, the mesmerizing gold eyes, gentle hands, and soft, deep voice haunted him.
"Argh!" Shuichi growled as he buried his head into the pillows. There it was again, he was thinking about the last person that he wanted to remember at the moment. It feels like nothing has changed, I still agonized over him, whether we are together or not. He admitted in defeat. However, he was not going to be discouraged by this. When he had moved out of the apartment, he promised himself that he would not look back, he would get over Yuki. No matter what.
"Yosh!" Shuichi bunch his small hands into fists as he flung the covers away from his body. Swinging his legs to the ground, Shuichi stood up from the small bed and crept quietly out of the room. Since there was no way that he could sleep anymore tonight, he was going to do something useful while he was awake. Walking down the stairs to the kitchen, Shuichi poured himself a glass of water as he plopped down onto one of the chairs that were arranged around the small oak table. Taking a large swig of the liquid, he pulled out a sheet of notebook paper and a Nittle Grasper ink pen.
"Lyrics, lyrics, lyrics . . ." Shuichi mumbled under his breath as he bent down close to the piece of paper that lay on the table. K-san and Sakano-san will be so surprised tomorrow. And for once Fujisaki won't whine about the 'work' environment! He giggled as he started to scratch words onto the page painstakingly.
Several minutes later, Shuichi's forehead lay against the piece of paper; a small line of drool was dangerously close to the words that he had written on the page. His eyes had become wide and filled with tears that were dangerously close to falling. "Nothing, absolutely nothing!" He growled at the paper, as if it was at fault. Jumping up from the chair, he ripped the paper up from the table and crumpled it in his hand as he stomped around the room in frustration. He was in mid-stride when a small, sleepy voice from the dark entrance to the kitchen startled him, making him drop the small ball of mangled paper.
"Onii-chan?"
"Kyaaaa! Maiko, you scared me!" Shuichi breathed in and out loudly as he held a hand over his heart. "What are you doing up at this time of the night?"
"I could be asking you the same thing onii-chan." Maiko yawned as she padded over to Shuichi.
"Eh," Shuichi scratched the side of his head as he smiled widely. "I couldn't sleep tonight. I'm just too excited about getting back into the studio again and recording Bad Luck's second CD!" The tears of joy that was flowing down Shuichi's cheeks would have made Sakano proud.
"Really?" Maiko cocked her head to the side as she studied her older brother with narrowed eyes. Despite the happy tears and sparkly eyes, something was definitely off about Shuichi.
"You're not going to be any good tomorrow morning, if you look like you just came back from the dead." She could see the shadows under his eyes and the pallor of his skin even in the dim lights of the kitchen. Grabbing Shuichi by the collar of his pajamas, Maiko dragged him back up the stairs and tossed him into his bed. "Go to sleep, onii-chan!" She yelled at him before closing the door soundly.
Maiko stood outside Shuichi's room with a worried expression on her face. One of her hands was still wrapped around the doorknob. She considered stalking into the room again and demanding that he go work things out with Yuki Eiri but the memory of a misty morning two weeks ago prevented her from moving. She recalled the scene in front of their house; the memory of Shuichi standing at the front door, with a tear-ravaged face and haphazardly packed cases in tow.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Two weeks ago"Onii-chan?" Maiko was shocked by Shuichi's haggard appearance. Even the last time that Shuichi had come home due to some misunderstandings with Yuki Eiri, he hadn't looked like this. He had been angry and hurt, but not heartbroken like this. She knew that something was terribly wrong. "Onii-chan, what are you doing here?" She had asked quietly as she helped Shuichi move everything into the house.
"I moved out." Shuichi replied in the barest of whispers as he sank into one of the sofas in the living room.
"I gathered as much. But what happened? Is Yuki Eiri being cold to you again?" Anger was starting to grow in her as she studied the exhausted expression on her usually abnormally genki brother. She was beginning to become very tired of Yuki Eiri's attitude to her brother. As much as she appreciated the author's works, she was starting to suspect that he had no idea what love really is. In the past, she had not interfered with their relationship because she saw how happy Yuki Eiri made her brother. In fact, it was not everyday that Shindou Shuichi found something that he loved as much, if not more, than singing. But this is the last straw! Her features hardened as she grabbed a jacket and marched to the front door.
"Maiko, where are you going?" Shuichi asked with a panicky voice.
"I'm going to find Yuki Eiri and give him a piece of my mind!" She glanced back at her brother, her hands fisted at her sides. "And don't you dare try to stop me!"
"Maiko, please don't!" Shuichi cried out as he walked towards her on legs that weren't quite steady.
"Look at you, onii-chan! Look at what he's done to you!" Tears were starting to form in Maiko's eyes. "I've stood to the side long enough! He's better got a good excuse for doing this to you!"
"Please, Maiko, I'm begging you, don't go." Shuichi dropped his eyes to gaze at the hardwood floorboards. "It's not Yuki's fault, it's my own this time."
"You're always trying to protect him, stop it!" Maiko was starting to see red.
"No, it's true this time. I walked out of that apartment on my own decision. Yuki didn't do anything; I just decided that I didn't want to continue our relationship anymore. So, please Maiko, don't go see him, its over between him and me."
Maiko paused for a second as she considered his words. A few moments later, her shoulders drooped as she dropped the jacket onto the floor and walked to where Shuichi was standing. Without a word, she wrapped her arms tightly around the thin boy.
"I'm sorry, onii-chan. I'm so sorry." She whispered to him fiercely, deciding to listen to her brother's wishes. She knew that even though Shuichi might have been the one to make this decision, her brother still loved Yuki Eiri desperately. Today she wasn't going to ask anymore questions but she was still positive that Yuki Eiri was still at fault for this fiasco. Yuki Eiri! You just wait until I get my hands on you!
*~*~*~*~*~*
Maiko let her hands slip from the doorknob as she made her way back down the dark stairway to the kitchen, where a faint light was still shining. She was about to turn off all of the lights and go back to bed when a small ball of paper on the ground caught her eye. Shuichi's? She wondered as she picked it up and unfolded the mangled paper. Her eyes widened when she read the contents of the page.
Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki. The page was half-filled with that one word, repeated over and over again until the middle of the page. Shuichi had stopped there because the ink was becoming smudged from drops of moisture. Tears. Maiko's fist closed on the paper tightly as she shut off the lights and stalked back to her room. Shuichi may be able to forgive you but I won't! She decided that it was way past time for her to pay the writer a visit.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Yuki Eiri stared at the blinking cursor on his laptop's monitor emptily. His mind at the moment was as blank as the white screen in front of him. In fact, he had not written or did anything else for the past two weeks. Pushing himself away from the desk, he took the now cold cup of coffee to the kitchen. He was watching the brown liquid flow down the drain when the sound of the doorbell startled him.
Dropping the coffee cup into the sink, Yuki almost ran to the door. In his heart was a painful hope; a hope that the past two weeks weren't true and that Shuichi and him wasn't over. All he could hear was the loud pounding of his heart as he carefully twisted the doorknob. "Why are you back, brat?" He wanted to kick himself, as he let the words escape his lips out of sheer habit.
"Who're you calling a brat?" The voice that greeted him was not of the singer's.
Yuki felt as if someone had kicked him the stomach, Shuichi wasn't here. Shuichi wasn't coming back. He started to slam the door in the girl's face.
"No, you don't!" The girl pushed a foot in the door jam as she glared at Yuki.
Her movements reminded Yuki so much of the time that Shuichi had decided to move in with him that he let go of grip of the door, letting the girl stumble into the apartment. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Shindou Maiko." She gazed at him with narrowed eyes. So this is Yuki Eiri. She had only seen him on television before and he looked far different from those interviews. In fact, he looked almost worse than her brother. He was unshaven, his hair was mussed, and the dark circles under his eyes were beginning to resemble a raccoon's. She was suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable about the dressing down that she wanted to give him.
This is Shuichi's sister? Yuki studied the slender girl who was currently shooting daggers at him with her eyes. He had heard Shuichi talk about her briefly, but this was the first time that he was able to meet her. There was no question that Shuichi and her was related, they shared the same big blue eyes. Those eyes alone were enough for him to want to toss her out of the apartment right now.
"Get out." He said coldly gesturing towards the door.
"No." She walked up to him and poked him in the chest with one finger. "Not until I finish what I have to say to you."
"Get the hell out!" Yuki's temper was hanging by a thin thread of control as he grabbed her arm, determined to drag her out of the apartment.
"Take your hands off me, you bastard! Is this how you treated my brother? No wonder he left you!" Maiko struggled in his grasp. Looking up at the man who suddenly froze in his movements, Maiko shivered in fear as cold gleam in his eyes pinned themselves on her.
"Say what you want, and then get out." Yuki said as he released her arm and plopped down on the sofa. Lighting a cigarette, he looked at her with one eyebrow raised, waiting for her to start talking.
"All I want to know is why?" Maiko met Yuki's eyes without flinching. "Why did you have to break his heart?" She was startled when all she got as a response from Yuki was a rusty laugh.
"Go home and ask your brother 'why'." Yuki sneered at the girl. "He was the one who packed up and moved out two weeks ago."
"What did you do to him? Onii-chan loves you too much to just leave!"
"Your 'onii-chan' doesn't love me anymore. And it's a good choice on his part." Yuki replied as he rose from the sofa. "Are you done now?"
Maiko was about to reply angrily, when the look in the writer's eyes stopped the words from escaping her mouth. There was so much pain in them, that she suddenly felt horrible about coming here and making accusations. "I don't have anything left to say." She sighed as she walked to the door. "But I also came here to deliver this." She tossed the small ball of paper back at Yuki. "My brother wrote that last night. He still loves you, no matter what he or you believe."
Yuki held the ball of paper in the middle of his palm as he watched the girl walk out of the apartment and quietly close the door behind her. Looking down at the ball, he carefully unfolded the notebook paper and read the contents of the page. Afterwards, he set the paper down on the coffee table and walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Stepping into the hot spray with all of his clothes still on, he sank down to the tiled floor of the stall.
The noise from the shower masked the sounds of his sobs as the water mixed with the salty liquid that dripped from his tightly shut eyes.
TBC
Author's Notes: Do I just love angst too much? Well I promise the next chapter will be happier. ^_^;; Err . . . I hope.
Japanese Glossary:
Genki- happy, energetic
Onii-chan- older brother
Yosh- akin to 'Yes!' or "Alright!'