Talkies: Hmm… Methinks this story will end lamely… I'll do my best though, so that it will turn out to satisfy the minds of all pathetic little monkey humans out there. THANKS SOOO MUCH TO THOSE MONKEYS WHO HAVE REVIEWED SO FAR!!! *smilies* You made me feel really happy, and motivated me to work and write this chapter so quickly (quickly…?). Also, I tried to make this chapter longer…
Disclaimer: I already say disclaimer in ze firrst chapter. Maki Murakami ownz Gravitation.
Warnings: Shounen-ai. (YAAY)
The Interestin' lil AdventureIn the morning, Shuichi was woken up by a quiet knocking at the door. He yawned softly and cracked one eye open very slightly. He saw… two men in black uniforms and black sunglasses handing Yuki a very curious looking package…
Shuichi snuffled softly, loud enough for the people at the door to hear him. Certain that the people at the door were convinced he was asleep, Shuichi extended the ear that wasn't on the pillow to hear what they were whispering about. He had to expand it to nearly 20 times its original size before he could catch anything, and kept increasing the range for the best outcome…
"… an' this is the info needed to access the … so far the results're good, but y'need t' include a bi' more drama for the maxim'm results, not t' mention … an' try to kill some'n off, at the end o' this 'un, 'cause No.21 and No.49 say that that will put th' final touch on c'mplete control of the people's m –"
One of the people in black slowly turned around, after feeling a strange sensation on his back, and found a large, skin-coloured thing in his face. After staring at it for some while, he slowly turned back to his colleague and Yuki, who had only just noticed his absence from the discussion. Shuichi quickly withdrew his ear while he had the chance.
"Wot's tha'?" the man asked, pointing towards where the pink thing had been.
"Wha'?" said his partner.
"God, will you two stop with the stupid accents, PLEASE?! We're in discussion here!!" Yuki shrieked hysterically, "You don't need to use those stupid voices for cover when you speak to me!!! AND SECONDLY they're not at all convincing!! I don't know why you two incompetent idiots were given the task to delivering these highly confidential documents to me!!! I'M ALREADY PRESSED FOR TIME AND NEARLY DEAD FROM LACK OF SLEEP, I SHOULDN'T NEED TO DEAL WITH THIS KIND OF STUPIDITY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!!! GET OUT!!!!!!!" Yuki slammed the apartment's door the in faces of the two men, and slinked away with the package and into the study, muttering to himself. Shuichi could hear whimpering coming from outside the apartment's door. He could just make out what they were saying (without his ears extended):
"I dink 'e broog my gnose."(1)
"Min-geh doo."(2)
Shuichi closed his eyes as he stretched luxuriously and proceeded to climb out of his makeshift bed and head off towards the cupboard where his clothes were kept. He had woken up surprising early (for Shuichi) and had oodles of time before Hiro came to pick him up for work. Dressing quietly, so as not to disturb Yuki in the next room, he slipped into some pants and a T-shirt, running his hands through his hair briefly before skipping off to the kitchen. He began preparing 'breakfast'. Humming to himself cheerily, he began adding various ingredients to the frying pan…
Yuki was labouring studiously on his laptop in his study when he smelt an interesting odour… Trying not to retch, Yuki rose up out of his chair so fast that he hit thighs on the edge of the desk. The pain helped to make his temper rise exponentially. Cursing under his breath, he hobbled out of his study (looking around at the wreckage… "What the hell happened here, and why didn't I notice before…?" He muttered to himself, thinking that he must remember to interrogate Shuichi about the matter later) and shuffled as fast as possible to the kitchen. Arriving shortly after Shuichi had laid two helpings of the food on the table, Yuki glared piercingly at the steaming heap on the plate that was set at his place on the table. Yuki fixed his death glare on the face that had been steadily reducing the amount of teeth visible as soon as Yuki had tramped into the room with a murderous look on his face.
"What is that?" Shuichi flinched as the mental barb hit him.
"Ow…" Shuichi glowered at Yuki. "Breakfast." He stated clearly.
Yuki said nothing.
"Food you eat in the morning, 'cause you're hungry after the night…" Shuichi said helpfully, misunderstanding Yuki's silence.
"I know what breakfast is, IDIOT, I just don't have a lot of confidence in your cooking skills. It smells disgusting."
Shuichi pouted. "It does not! Try it, it's fine!"
Yuki gave the food another deep look of repulsion and very gradually sat down in his chair. His gaze again flicked back to Shuichi, who had begun to dig in, apparently enjoying the food.
"What is it?" This time Shuichi mentally dodged the mental barb and stuck his mental tongue in the mental face of Yuki. Yuki eyebrow twitched.
"It's fried rice! With egg, vegetables, soy sauce…" Shuichi withered under Yuki's hawk-like glare. "What?! It's perfectly edible! What's your problem Yuki!?" Shuichi huffed in annoyance.
"I'll tell you what's wrong with it." Yuki picked up the fork with effort, dug it into the mess on his plate, brought it up to his mouth and tried to swallow it without letting it touch his tongue. He failed miserably. Vainly struggling to swallow the food, Yuki's needle-sharp eyes once more found their pink-haired target.
"It's utterly revolting." Yuki spat out, before his face turned grey, and he hastened to the bathroom to be violently sick in the sink.
Shuichi bolted down what was left on his plate and, figuring Yuki would not be finishing his own breakfast, wolfed down the food on Yuki's plate as well. Assuming (correctly) that Yuki would not be all that pleased with him, and would be wanting to question him about the damage done to his study entrance, Shuichi quickly gathered up the things he would need for work today and rocketed out of the room. He paused at the door for a millisecond to shout, while struggling into his shoes, "G'BYEYUKIHAVEANICEDAY" before snapping the door shut.
Shuichi skidded up to the lift, and pressed the down button frantically. "God, hurry hurry hurry…" Shuichi pleaded as the lift took forever to respond to Shuichi's pressing of the button.
Unable to wait any longer, he yelled "I HATE YOU!!" at the metal doors before darting to the staircase and practically rolling the whole way, a blur to the few people who he passed on the way down. He arrived slightly out of breath at the ground floor, where he startled several old women entering the building when he landed at their feet. Dishevelled, and slightly out of it, he said "Haave a riice mornigng, laadiesh" before stumbling off awkwardly, swaying from side to side now and then.
"Young 'uns, these days…" Tutted one of them.
"Full of energy, though." Croaked the other one, "Shake that ass!" She shouted tremulously. The other one cackled. Shuichi's eyes widened with fear, and he quickened his pace to an astonishing, most probably record-breaking speed. He slammed into Hiro outside the building, who had just arrived and had been waiting patiently, minding his own business.
Hiro extracted himself from underneath Shuichi and lifted himself up from the ground, rubbing his bruised limbs and grimacing.
"God Shuichi, what the hell –" Hiro froze and stared at the limp body on the ground.
"Shuichi, are you… alive…?"
Shuichi slowly lifted his head. "Whaassa" he said, looking about himself in confusion. "Yuskiwassandgryycausicooksshbreakksjfsst."(3) He said confidently, his eyes going in and out of focus as he stared at Hiro's face. "Ollldssscaaarrllywomaannnss…"(4) he shuddered, and then said clearly, "I thsink ai'm gooingtoa be sickkk." Hiro hurriedly escorted him over to the nearest bushes.
"What happened, Shu?" Hiro asked concernedly as he watched Shuichi throw up what looked to be matter that had come out of the compost bin.
"Well," Shuichi panted, apparently finished cleaning out the contents of his stomach (which was probably a good thing, because he would have become violently ill when the effects of his cooking set in a few hours later), "I…" Shuichi paled and looked around frantically, "Quick, get on the bike, quick! I'll tell you when we're heading away from here!!!"
Hiro helped Shuichi onto the back of his motorbike, started the engine and speeded away on the road in the direction of the N.G. building.
Hiroshi waited for Shuichi to begin explaining. Shuichi being was surprisingly quiet. Then he heard a sniffle. Hiro sighed.
"Shuichi, tell me what happened."
"Nothing." He mumbled.
"Shuichi." There was a threatening note in his tone of voice.
"Nothing." The answer was quieter, less defiant.
Hiro slowed the bike and pulled to the side of the road, next to a small café. "Come on, I'll get you something. You can tell me over breakfast."
Shuichi paled again, "Maybe I'll pass… I might be sick again…" Shuichi met eyes met Hiro's stare. "Okay, okay, I'll come… Sheesh…"
Shuichi got off the bike and followed Hiro into the café. They both sat down at a table, and Shuichi stared out of the window while Hiro ordered something for himself. He turned to face Shuichi.
"I ordered you a drink, as well. Right, Shuichi, we're not leaving until you tell me what's up, and, believe me, K won't be all that happy if we're not at work in twenty minutes, so you better talk fast." He folded his hands beneath his chin and looked expectantly at Shuichi. Shuichi finally surrendered.
"Fine, I'll tell you…" He muttered.
"Success!" Hiro shouted triumphantly.
Shuichi glared at him. "Do you want to hear or not?" Hiro nodded and gestured for him to continue.
"Well, I cooked breakfast this morning and Yuki kept insulting me about it."
Hiro waited.
"Oh, and also I was nearly sexually assaulted by two old women…"
Hiro strummed his fingers on the table.
Shuichi began to look increasingly nervous, and stated to edge along his seat towards the isle. Hiro's arm was a blur as he grabbed onto Shuichi's wrist. Shuichi froze.
"Are you saying," Hiro said softly, "That is what all this fuss is about?"
"Well," Shuichi rushed, "I mean, Yuki was saying my cooking was really yucky when it was all right and when he tasted it he went and threw up in the sink but I think he might have just been faking it to be mean and he was all really weird last night like he didn't come out of his study for hours and when I … accidentally blew up half the wall he didn't notice because he was chatting to some one on the computer about a kidnapping an' an' this morning he was talking to two men in black who delivered some mysterious package and he broke their noses and… um…" Shuichi diverted his gaze upwards as he tried to think of anything he'd missed out. Hiro's eyes were bulging slightly.
"This Yuki guy seems really dangerous to be around, Shuichi," Hiro said after a moment of thought, releasing Shuichi's wrist from the vice-like grip he had caught it with. "It sounds as though he has a really violent, explosive temper."
Shuichi glared at him. "Don't talk about Yuki like that!"
"Shuichi, you were just complaining how he was being really mean to you, and now you're telling me to shut up about him? I mean, you just said that he broke two guys' noses – "
"Yes, yes," Shuichi waved his hand impatiently, "All that doesn't matter. What really matters is what Yuki is up to, with all these strange things going on – "
Shuichi was interrupted by a loud, grating sound. Hiro's grinding teeth, to be exact.
"SHUICHI, if 'ALL THAT' doesn't matter, then what the hell were you crying about?!"
Shuichi gave Hiro a wounded look. "He hurt my feelings."
Hiro grabbed Shuichi by the arm and dragged him out of the café, ignoring the loudly protesting boy(5) and not bothering to even collect the food he ordered. He set down Shuichi onto the seat of the bike none too gently, and climbed on. While adjusting his helmet he answered the question he knew was halfway out of Shuichi's mouth already.
"Wh – "
"Because we need to get to work, and that was a complete waste of time. You really can be an idiot, Shuichi."
Shuichi sulked for the rest of the ride.
+++++++
They arrived at work around 10 minutes later.
"Whew," breathed Hiro, "We made it, with time to spare… another day we get to live…" He immediately shut his mouth when K came into view.
"Well, you got here early. Well done." He sounded slightly disappointed. "All we need to do today is discuss the lyrics for the new single we're making, and then, depending on how long we take, you can have the rest of the day off." He sounded even more disappointed.
Hiro and Shuichi followed K into the office room, where Suguru and Sakano were already waiting. Sakano shut the door behind them.
"Right, all we need to do is, taking into account that blah blah blah, blah blagh. Blah blah blah blahblah. BLAH BLAH BLABLAH?"
"Yes." Shuichi said automatically, eyes flickering open.
"GOD, THAT MUST BE A RECORD FOR THE FASTEST TIME TO FALL ASLEEP EVER." K roared. "I said did you get all that? Which of course you didn't…" K said gleefully, pointed his magnum at Shuichi's head.
"Are you going to pay attention now?"
Shuichi nodded earnestly.
"Oh… I guess that's… all right, then…" K again looked disheartened as he lowered the gun from Shuichi's head. "Back to work then..."
+++++++
"Ow… K didn't have to yell that loudly…" Shuichi grumbled as he and Hiro relaxed in the lounge half an hour later.
"I can't believe you, sometimes, Shuichi," Hiro chuckled. "I mean, really, that was about 10 seconds, tops. And twice! TWICE!! HAHAHA!!!!" Hiro laughed and laughed and laughed…
"Yeah, well, I was tired. Don't be so mean, Hiro," Shuichi sighed and rested his arms behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling.
"So, what d'you want to do for the rest of today?" Hiro inquired as he looked over the before-discussed papers disinterestedly.
"Well, I don't really want to go back to Yuki's place for a while… I was thinking – "
"SHHUUUIICHIII~~ ♥!!!!!!!"
Shuichi was unable to finish his sentence, on account of the large lump that had landed on top of him, and also because he was being tickled/huggled to death.
"HAHAHA, stop, Sakuma-san, haha, stop, I can't haha, breathe!!" Ryuichi halted only to say,
"It's Ryu-chan!! Ryu-chan!!! Say it!!" the hands went to work once more.
"HAHAHAA, Ryu-haha, RYU-CHANN~!!!!!!!"
Ryuichi didn't stop.
"HAHAHAAHHA RYU-CHA~N you said hahahaa you'd haha stop!!!! I said it!!!! I hahaha SAID IT!!!!!!!"
"Okay. I'll let you go just this once." Ryuichi ruffled Shuichi hair, and climbed off him to sit next to him on the couch. Shuichi breathed heavily, still giggling slightly as he moved to sit upright on the couch.
"So, Ryu-chan," Shuichi giggled, "What are you doing today?" Ryuichi pulled a face.
"Ryu-chan has to work on a song today. But I can do it tomorrow!! Let's play!!" Ryuichi grabbed Shuichi's hand and hauled him out of the room into an empty office and slammed the door loudly. Hiro watched them leave. He blinked. Then he blinked again. Then he got up. Then he went outside. Then he drove away on his bike.
+++++++
"Ryu-chan!! Ryu-chan!! So what're we going to play? Will you teach me more Kumagarou attacks?" Shuichi was madly frolicking around the room, knocking several chairs over, chewing on the carpet and trying to climb into the ventilation duct.
Ryuichi thought for a moment. "No." He said after a while. "I've taught you all you need to know. You are my most honoured follower in the ancient art of Kuma."
"Ryuichi~!" Shuichi's eyes were shining and sparkling, and colourful shoujo bubbles were floating around in the background. "Do you really mean that??"
Ryuichi winked. ^.~ "Sure I do! Ne ne, Shu-chaan, you doing anything for lunch? You wanna come with me to eat out?!?!?"
Shuichi didn't pause for a second. "YESYESYESYES!!!!!!! Asked out by Sakuma Ryuichiiii!!! I CAN DIE HAPPY." Shuichi proceeded to kneel down on the ground, rasing his arms up and down and worshiping his God. Ryuichi looked mildly pleased. "C'mon, Shuichi, let's go now!!"
"Uhm, Ryu-chan, it's only nine o'clock…"
"That doesn't matter!! I'm hungry!" Ryuichi went on to drag Shuichi out of the room, along the corridor, gaining shocked looks from the office workers (until they realised who it was, and hid under their desks) and out of the building.
"Shuichi, where d'you wanna go?"
"Um, I don't mind, you choose… but Ryu-chan I'm not all that hung – "
Shuichi was cut off again when Ryuichi hauled him along to a fancy-looking restaurant. There was a 'closed' sign hanging on the door.
"WAAAAA RYU-CHAN'S HUNGRYYY."
"It's all right, Ryuichi," Shuichi said, trying to stop his friend's tears, "It says it opens for lunch at eleven."
"But, but, but…" Ryuichi sniffed. "I WANT IT NOOW~" Shuichi patted him on the back sympathetically.
"I know how you feel, Ryu. One time I woke up in the night and I was really hungry but I looked at the clock and it was only three o'clock, so I tried to sneak into the kitchen but I was attacked by my sister, who was studying and thought I was a burglar and she beat me up really bad and I couldn't go to school the next day because I had a broken arm because she pushed me down the stairs an' an'…" Ryuichi's eyes had gone all bubbly and bright.
"EXACTLY THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!!!!! Except for the sister part. That was Noriko-chan, who was sleeping over when we were working on a song. She beat me up so bad that I was unconscious for seven hours!!"
"Uwaa, poor Ryu-chan!!" They both clutched each other's hands and babbled on and on, until someone across the street shouted,
"Hey, is that Sakuma-san?!! It is! SAKUMA!!! OH MY GOD, AND HE'S WITH SHINDOU SHUICHI!!!!!!!"
At that point vehicles screeched to a halt, people stopped in their tracks; every head in the street turned to look where the person had been pointing… but there was nothing there. "Idiot!!" Someone yelled at the person who had shouted out, and everyone went back to whatever they were doing. Too bad they didn't bother to look up a certain tree in the park nearby.
"Gosh," whispered Ryuichi, sitting next to Shuichi on one of the highest branches, "That was close na no da. LET'S GET ICE CREAM!" The latter was shouted when Ryuichi spotted an ice cream vendor in the park nearby.
Shuichi was not in the best shape, since he had been dragged all the way here, and up the tree, and down the tree again, and had already thrown up today, and he was feeling a little unwell from all the action. Though it might just have been from the carpet he had eaten earlier.
"Ryuichi, can we rest for a little bit?" Shuichi asked as they both walked away from the ice cream man, both clutching ice creams (Ryu-chan had insisted in getting Shuichi an extra large ice cream, with five flavours, which was nothing to the size of his own).
"We can sit over there, on that bench no da." Ryuichi led Shuichi over to the seat and they both sat down. Ryuichi was consumed with the task of devouring the cold, sticky treat as fast as possible. Shuichi wasn't so eager, licking the ice cream now and then; his mind annoyingly kept conjuring up the image of his partially digested food on the ground, which didn't make the idea of eating anything all that attractive at the moment.
"Shu-chan, what's the matter?" Ryuichi had halted the process of demolishing the ice cream; though, Shuichi noted, he'd consumed more than two thirds of it already, in the space of about two minutes.
"Nothing…" Shuichi sighed, looking up at the leaves of the trees in the park. He felt Ryuichi's gaze boring into him as though something was poking him harder and harder until he got a bruise from the pressure of the…
"Um, Ryuichi…" –.–;; Shuichi watched as Ryuichi's finger went 'poik, poik, poik…'
"Ow!! Okay, Ryuichi, all right…" Ryuichi leaned in closer, as though they were discussing some kind of secret conspiracy.
"Well, I don't know if it's me or not, but Yuki seems to be acting very strange recently…" Ryuichi's face was blank. "Um, Yuki, I've been staying with him for a few days now… he's, ah, my boyfriend…"
Ryuichi clasped his hands together, "Uwaa, KAWAII~, Shu-chan has a boyfriend!!" He nudged Shuichi with his elbow, a sly look on his face. "Ne, have you kissed, Shuichiiii???" ¬_¬
"Shh!! Ryu!!" blushing furiously, Shuichi tried to quiet Ryuichi down, since they were earning some very strange looks from people nearby in the park. "That's not the point… I mean, he's being really mean, he says I can't cook!!" Ryuichi decided to go along with the subject change, though put it away in his mind to tease Shuichi about the boyfriend matter later…
Shuichi began to sniff. Ryuichi hugged him. "Don't cry, Shu-chan!! Or Ryuichi will cry too!!" As Shuichi gave no sign of stopping his tears, Ryuichi began to bawl really loudly, until Shuichi's frantic attempts to silence him prevailed.
Shuichi decided to behave, "Okay, I'll do my best not to cry…" Ryuichi looked at him intently, waiting for him to continue.
"So Yuki is mean to you?" He said after a while, as Shuichi had stayed silent, staring at the ground in front of him. "Why do you stay with him then?"
"Well, Yuki is my friend. He wanted me to come stay with him." Shuichi explained. "I don't want to make him angry. Though I did this morning… and he'll be angry at me for blowing up his wall…"
Ryuichi giggled. "He shouldn't be angry!! I think it's funny!!"
"You… think it's funny that I blew up a wall?"
"Yeah!!!"
"…"
"So, what's Yuki been up to? You say strange things have been going on?" Ryuichi went back to finishing his ice cream, looking at Shuichi now and then as Shuichi spoke (Shuichi's ice cream lay forgotten on the bench beside him).
"Well, I s'pose it's really none of my business…" Shuichi mumbled.
"YES IT IS!!!!" Shuichi jumped, taken aback by Ryuichi sudden outburst. "Friends should NEVER keep secrets from each other." Ryuichi nodded wisely as he ate the last part of his ice cream.
"Yeah… I guess your right…" Shuichi said hesitantly. "Well, last night, he had disappeared into his study for like five hours, and when I tried the door it was locked, so I blew a hole in it using my Kuma energy." Ryuichi nodded approvingly. "When I went inside he hadn't even noticed, and I looked over his shoulder, and saw he was talking to someone about a kidnapping or something, and he called them 'No.7'. And then this morning I was woken up when he two men in black suits came by, and they gave him a package and whispered about things that I didn't understand, about killing someone off or something." Ryuichi looked thoughtful. After a while, he said,
"How was he chatting to someone on a computer?"
"Um, there's this program thing you can use that sends instant messages…"
Ryuichi nodded reflectively. "And he called them 'No Seven'?"
"Yeah, but I think the 'no' might have been short for 'number'"
"Could be, could be…" Ryuichi stroked his chin in thought. "People in black suits came around? How early?"
"Um… around seven thirty."
"How inconsiderate!!" Ryuichi scolded fiercely, "They should have at least come at nine o'clock!! People have to sleep!!!"
"Yeah!" Shuichi agreed loudly, standing up, "I was having a really nice dream, too!!"
"Hey, Shuichi," Shuichi looked around to Ryuichi, surprised at Ryuichi's serious tone.
"Have you heard on the news? They said Yuki's books are hypnotising. He could be up to something." Shuichi looked doubtful.
"But that's just something the media said, they were just praising his writing, weren't they?"
"Shuichi, you should be careful. Maybe you shouldn't sleep there tonight." Shuichi could see where this was heading.
"But I have to! Yuki is my boyfriend, and I live with him; I don't want to hurt his feelings! Besides, I need to apologise about what happened last night… and this morning…" Ryuichi had not taken a word of it in.
"SLEEPOVER!!! SLEEEEEPOOOVEEEERR!!!!!!!" He grabbed Shuichi hands and whirled him around, singing the words at the top of his voice.
"Sleeeeeeepoooooooveeeeeeerrr~♪~♪~ ~!!!!!"
Shuichi laughed and pleaded for Ryuichi to stop, "Ryu, I'm dizzy!! …………………………. I think I'm gonna be sick…" Ryuichi ushered Shuichi over behind the seat, where he quietly threw up, for the second time that day. Ryuichi patted him on the back helpfully.
"Gomen, Shu-chan!! I go carried away…"
"S'all right…" Ryuichi still looked concerned.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine…" Shuichi breathed heavily, resting his head on his arms, which he'd placed on the upright back of the seat.
"Please won't you come for a sleepover?!?!?!!"
Shuichi smiled wryly, "I'll have to ask Yuki…"
"Yuki's not in charge of your life!! You tell Yuki you're sleeping over at my place."
"Okay…"
Ryuichi hugged him.
"And don't forget what I said. Be careful around Yuki, Shuichi." He whispered in Shuichi's ear. "He's up to something." He drew back and looked at Shuichi pointedly.
They began to walk slowly away from the bench, taking in the beautiful surroundings, when suddenly a scream tore threw the stillness,
"UGH!!!"
Both Ryuichi and Shuichi whirled around. The scream had sounded close to them. They spotted the person straight away. The old man looked as though he had just sat down on the bench, though immediately had jumped up again, on account of having sat on enormous, half-melted ice cream. The man was looking around wildly, obviously searching for someone to blame. Shuichi thought it would be best if they were off.
"Um, Ryuichi," He said, half-jogging in his haste to get away from the irate man, "Let's – " But Shuichi was cut off when the crazy man caught sight of them, shrieking,
"Get back here, you young whippersnappers!!!"
Ryuichi was delighted that he, a thirty-two-year old man, had been called a 'young whippersnapper'. Shuichi groaned in dismay and grabbed Ryuichi's hand, pulling him along. They ran as fast as they could, which was pretty fast, seeing as these were two hyper little bunny rabbits, bundles of energy and genkiness. Unfortunately, it turned out that the old man's craziness (this was Ryuichi's hypothesis) fuelled his energy supply, and he just managed to keep up with them. Wow. Quite an achievement, for an old man. It took quite a long time to shake him off their tails; which was surprising, because Ryuichi was a genius at disguise, strategy and in escaping from things and places, and was the most experienced and talented person to ever practice the art of Kuma. At one time during the pursuit through the park, Ryuichi astounded Shuichi with his camouflage skills, managing to blend in with a tree, while the old man passed right by him, still screaming uncontrollably. Shuichi had already scuttled up the tree like a little gangly monkey.
Shuichi stared at Ryuichi with quiet awe. Well, not all that quiet.
"Omigod Ryuichi you're so coooool!!!!!! Teach me!! Teeaaaaaaach meeeeeee!!!!!!! "
Ryuichi smiled knowingly, "You will learn, dear Shuichi, in good time. Have patience, and be content with the knowledge you have already gained."
"Yes, yes, of course I will, Sempai!!" Shuichi nodded earnestly, eyes all glittery again. Ryuichi, satisfied, glanced at his watch. He gasped, nearly giving Shuichi a heart attack when he latched onto his arm again and zoomed away, screeching, "OH MAH GOD IT'S ELEVEN O'CLOCK!!!!!!!"
Ryuichi forced Shuichi to eat three entrees, two main meals, and four helpings of desert at the restaurant, stating that 'that meanie old Yuki' didn't feed him enough. Shuichi was sick again later that day.
+++++++
It was six o'clock when Shuichi arrived outside Yuki's apartment block in Ryuichi's car. Basically all they had done for the rest of the day was muck around in the N.G. building, discussing and listening to previous songs they had recorded, setting traps for fellow workmates and blowing up a few office rooms. Tohma hadn't been very happy. Ryuichi had thought it had been hilarious, and refused to apologise to Tohma for what he said had been 'an enormously entertaining romp in the boring old workplace'. He said it would be immensely good for all of them if they all got to do that kind of stuff every day. Tohma told him to go home and rest for the rest of the week, which sounded surprising kind until Ryuichi found out that it was because he was fitting 'anti-Ryuichi' alarms all over the building, which would alert people when Ryuichi was reaching a dangerous level of hyperactiveness, and he needed Ryuichi out of the way or he would affect the alarms in their early stages when they were still being set up. Ryuichi hadn't been very happy.
Now Shuichi climbed out of Ryuichi's car, a sleek sea-blue Mercedes (with a mini-Kumagarou hanging from the rear-view mirror) and shut the door, saying beforehand "I'll be down in a minute…" Ryuichi, once again, reminded Shuichi to be cautious...
He walked through the entrance, dreading sidling into Yuki's apartment and seeing Yuki's furious expression. He climbed the stairs. He wondered what kind of punishment he would get. Shuichi was sure that Yuki would think up something particularly wicked – Yuki had a very creative, imaginative mind. Shuichi walked along the hallway. Maybe he could slip in, get his things for the sleepover, and slip out again unnoticed? He arrived outside the door. No, he had to apologise. He wouldn't feel right, otherwise. Shuichi knocked at the door.
"Yuki? It's me, um, Shuichi…" Shuichi started apprehensively at the doorknob, waiting to see it turn…
Click.
The door inched open very slowly, creaking ominously. Shuichi, with mounting fear, shuffled through the partially opened door, into the dark room beyond.
"Yu…ki…?" he cheeped, eyes wide. Shuichi jumped as the door behind him closed loudly, by itself. He winced; the sound seemed to rip through the silence in the room, like a large stone splashed into water, causing rings to spread, slowly fading, extending into the far corners… Shuichi flailed his arms wildly, screaming,
"OHMAGOSH I CAAN'T SWIIIIIMM!!!!!"
Yuki's face appeared out of the darkness, his eyes glowing.
"Hello, Shuichi…"
Shuichi by now, had collapsed onto the ground, hands around his throat,
"Can't… breathe…" he choked. One of Yuki's eyes twitched.
"Shuichi," he said gently, a forced smile on his face, "What the hell are you doing?"
Shuichi, finally realising that he was not drowning, since he was perfectly dry, breathed heavily as he scrambled up to the couch to sprawl there, exhausted from depriving himself, unintentionally, of oxygen. He looked over to where Yuki was, seeing him for the first time.
"Yukiyukiyukiyukiyyuuuuuuki!!!!!" Shuichi dropped to the ground once more, head bowed, hands clasped together, begging for forgiveness, "I'MMM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Yes, yes, it's alright, Shuichi," Shuichi head shot up, deeply shocked at this reaction, and stared at Yuki's face, while his brain processed the dialogue, searching for: sarcasm, scorn, anger, deceptiveness, and evilness. The result was 110% evilness. Unfortunately, Shuichi didn't listen to his brain a whole lot. Hardly ever, now that you mention it.
Yuki had a crazy look on his face (the result of the forced smile, twitching eye and dark patches under his eyes) 'Scary…' Shuichi thought, and shivered. He didn't dare say it out loud, for fear of being given the awful punishment.
Shuichi straightened his back slowly, sitting back on his haunches, with his hands resting on his knees. "Yuki," Shuichi said, his voice shaking slightly, as he gestured towards the light switch, "It's too dark in here, why're the lights off?"
Yuki stayed exactly where he was. "Shuichi," He said after a while, stepping forward slowly, his luminescent eyes more noticeable than ever, "you may have noticed some strange things going on lately." Shuichi gave a very small, slow, nod. "Well, now is the time to let you in on my, ah, little… scheme."
The lights flicked on.
(1) "I think he broke my nose."
(2) "Mine too."
(3) "Yuki was angry 'cause I cooked breakfast."
(4) "Old scary women…"
(5) If you can still call an 18/19-year-old male a 'boy' (18 in the manga, 19 in the anime… I think…)
CLIFF HANGERRRR *snickers laike ze horse* Is it obvious that I stole the "No. Somethingorother" thing from James Bond? Well, anyways credit goes to, er, the author of the books (Ian Fleming) for thinking up that system of organising people… or at least giving me the idea of doing it in the first place. And don't ask me why Yuki's eyes are glowing o.O I'll think of some reason… Ne ne, aren't Shu and Ryu soooo cute together?? ^.^ That's my opinion anyway, as you should be able to tell… I said I'd make the chapter longer, but did I make it too long? *chuckles* Anyways, the next chapter might take a bit of a while to come out, since I haven't exactly planned what's happening in it yet, but I'll do my best!
~Cloud7~