Disclaimers: Gravitation does not belong to me. Anyone who brings me the rights will get… I dunno, a free story???
Notes: I'M BACK!!! FINALLY! I was planning my return WAY earlier than this, but Beauty and the Beast was turning out better than my attempts at this. Also, I had a comic book to make for World History. Sorry to anyone waiting for the lemon, I just can't get it to work, so I'm writing this before I do that so other people dun have to wait.
~*The Bible of Kumagoro—Getting Closer to Your God*~
I sighed as I stared up at the ceiling, stretching my feet over the edge of the couch as I stared up at the ceiling. I was bored na no da, Kumagoro was off taking a nap somewhere and Tatsuha was always so busy working, but I couldn't complain. At least they were both there, and that was enough…I think.
Sighing again I reached up to grab the back of my couch, raising myself to lean back on my free hand and stare over the back at Tatsuha, flipping through the pages of some book, searching quickly. "Tatsuha, are you bored?" I asked, watching as he slid a piece of paper to mark his page and turned to face me, eyebrows raised slightly.
"Do I have time to be bored?" Shaking my head I fell back onto the couch, resuming my previous activity. NOTHING was on TV. Besides, I didn't want to distract Tatsuha. I didn't want him to go into the other room and leave me alone with a stupid box. Some TV wasn't better than my Tatsuha na no da!
"You must be bored out of your mind, though, huh?" Tatsuha asked as he sat down beside my head, running fingers through my hair gently. I nodded slowly and Tatsuha sighed, leaning back to stare at the ceiling as well. He looked tired, and I was aware it was mostly my fault. He was trying really hard, I could TELL, but I guess I wasn't being much more than a pain just lounging around the house and complaining.
Tohma was so busy helping to promote Bad Luck and all those boring business things he did (only at work, of course), that he couldn't possibly work in time for Nittle Grasper. That was all right, though, everyone said I needed a break and Noriko wanted more time with her family as well. However, Kumagoro and I were now subject to long periods of boredom. Most times we visited Shuichi and everyone but they were busy a lot, today included.
"Do you want to go out and do something, then?" Tatsuha asked after a while, closing his eyes and waiting for my answer. I always felt so bad when he did that, so that I almost didn't want to go sometimes. However, he looked disappointed when I said no. I couldn't see why na no da, I was just trying to be nice. I guess he just didn't think that way about it, but I wouldn't know. I can't read minds or anything!
"What about all that work you have to do na no ka?" Tatsuha blinked and looked down at me cutely, tilting his head to the side slightly. He looked so cute when he did that…not to say he wasn't always cute, but…different, I suppose.
"Come on, I'm not so overworked we can't go somewhere. I don't think anyone's cruel enough to try and do that to you." I smiled and reached over my head to take his hand in mine, he looked like he did when I first met him, except his hair was a little longer. We needed to go get it cut soon; it was starting to look a little bit like mine. We couldn't both have the same haircut, could we?
"Alright then." Tatsuha smiled and stood up, pulling me up and off the couch by my hand gently. "What do you want to go do? I know a movie's out, since you've been doing nothing other than watching TV all day, huh?" I nodded, still smiling. I was just glad to be spending time with Tatsuha; we didn't have to GO anywhere. Blinking Tatsuha looked down at his watch, eyes widening as he caught sight of the time. "Geeze, it's already four. Man, I feel so old, loosing track of time like that…" I laughed and squeezed Tatsuha's hand in reassurance.
"Don't worry about it, I loose track of time all the time and I'M not old na no da." I offered in reassurance and Tatsuha laughed, nodding his agreement.
"I guess this just means I'm in touch with my inner child, right?" I nodded happily and Tatsuha laughed again, reaching his free hand out to wrap around my waist. "So, do you want to run out and get some early dinner or something? I haven't eaten since this morning."
"Not true. You ate some snacks around lunchtime and watched TV with me for a little bit na no da. You don't have to take me out, I'm fine, you know…" Tatsuha glared at me and I shut up. His smile was immediately restored and he pulled me closer to him.
"I want to spend time with Ryuichi, too, you know." I smiled and hugged him back; I'd missed 'hanging out' with Tatsuha a lot, actually. I mean, it was great that he was living with me now, but that didn't mean we couldn't still go around and just have fun, right na no ka? "Alright, now come on. It's been a while since we visited the girls, huh?"
"Yeah!" I cheered happily, pulling away and dragging Tatsuha outside, stopping only as he stopped to lock the door. Stupid little technicalities! Although I really didn't want people breaking into my house and kidnapping Kumagoro I wanted to get there ASAP! "Hey everyone na no da!" I cheered happily as I walked inside, smiling brightly.
"Ah, Ryuichi! It's been forever!" Michiko cheered, running over to me. "Asako's working today, too, I'll be sure she can come out and say hello, too!" she cheered happily and I couldn't help but pout a little bit. I wanted to see them all, but…obviously only two of them were working today.
"Do you know when Sakura's going to be working again?" I asked as we sat down, hoping to stop by and say hi. I really missed talking to her. Michiko blinked and thought for a while. "What, do you two not talk anymore na no ka?" I asked, not wanting to hold Michiko up any longer. I was sure she had other things she should have been doing.
"I haven't seen her working recently. I'll ask Asako about it later, alright?" Michiko asked as she left, already knowing what we would want. I was glad people here knew me so well, I felt so strange around people who didn't know me, I felt like they were going out of their way for me or something. I guess it was something I should have gotten used to, being famous and all that, but I hadn't. I mean, sure, I could deal with it, but I still didn't like it.
"Ryuichi!" I jumped as someone attached themselves to my neck, laughing like the idiot that I was. Tatsuha was looking at me funny but at the same time not at all surprised. "I missed you so much! So did everyone else! We didn't think you were going to come around anymore, we thought you were too busy with Tatsuha!" she cheered, looking over at Tatsuha to wink at him, smiling brightly.
"Of course not. I really missed you all na no da. You should know better Asako." Asako laughed and nodded, tucking a stray piece of hair back behind her ear. She sat down next to me and leaning back, crossing her arms behind her head and smiling happily.
"I just got off work so you guys don't mind if I join you for a while, do you?" she asked, glancing over at me. I shook my head slowly, still smiling as well. I really did miss this place. I couldn't believe it had been so long since I came by for something to eat…dessert even! "Oh…Michiko said you were looking for Sakura, right?" I nodded quickly, pulling a pen out of my pocket to write the date down. If Tatsuha wasn't busy we could BOTH run by and at least say hello. "She quit a couple weeks ago. She got a better job offer and since you two weren't coming around anymore we told her to go for it. Rieko and Shizue quit, too."
"Really?" Tatsuha asked, leaning forward to lean against the table, eyes wide. Sighing I placed my pen back in my pocket. I should have known better. Everyone was too busy to spend time with me now a days, I shouldn't have expected anything else.
"Yeah. She still drops by every once in a while, though. Every Tuesday, if I remember correctly. Yeah, I think that's it," Asako offered cheerfully, turning to smile at me. "Come on Ryuichi, cheer up. You still have Tatsuha and Kumagoro and me and all the other girls, right? Things can't be that bad." I smiled slightly and nodded. That was enough for me…it always had been.
"Yeah, don't look so upset, Ryuichi. You know me and Kumagoro can't live with a sad Ryuichi," Tatsuha offered, reaching across the table to take my hand in his, smiling slightly. I smiled in return, nodding. Tatsuha was always going to be there for me…but somewhere deep down something told me that that really wasn't enough for me.
"Ryuichi, something's been bothering you," Tatsuha offered after we left, and dully I noted that it was starting to get dark. We must have been in there a lot longer than I thought. Asako had run off home only a half hour after stopping by, afraid that she was going to be in trouble for being out so late. "You know you can tell me what it is, right?" he asked again, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning over to kiss the top of my head softly.
"It's nothing, really. I'm just really tired na no da. You know I get tired when I'm not running all over the place," I offered with my normal smile, and Tatsuha nodded, looking relieve. Why would he think that there was something wrong? Everything was just fine na no da! I mean, I'd gotten to see Michiko and Asako on op of spending time with Tatsuha, that was the BEST!
However, the next morning I wasn't so sure about that. There just seemed to be something missing as I crawled out of bed and peered outside into the dim lighting of my living room. Tatsuha was sleeping on the couch, an open book resting on his lap as Nittle Grasper music played softly in the background.
Smiling I walked over to him and sat down, leaning to rest my head on his shoulder. There was no way I was going to be able to drag him into bed without waking him, so I could stay out here with him. He was always up early doing this or that; it was kind of rare that he wasn't already doing something by the time I woke up. Then again, he had things to do…I didn't. I could sleep in as long as I wanted and no one would say a word about it. Well, Tatsuha might have, but that would only be after he finally realized what time it was. He really was bad with time.
"Morning gorgeous, you're up early," he offered sleepily, cracking an eye open to look down at me. I blinked and checked my watch, looking up back up at him in disbelief.
"It's 9, Tatsuha." He just nodded and closed his eyes again, leaning back against the couch.
"Well, that would explain it now, wouldn't it?" I nodded and pushed a piece of paper between the pages of his book and shut it gently, setting it on the floor. Gently I pushed him to lie down, laying down on top of him and closing my eyes. I felt his arms wrap around me gently and I smiled, just enjoying the feeling of being close to him. "I love this song," he offered offhandedly as we lay there, and I laughed softly.
"So do I…I miss singing, Tatsuha," I whined softly, fingers clenching around his shirt gently. "I mean…I know Tohma's WAY too busy for Nittle Grasper right now, but I want to sing again na no da." I felt Tatsuha's arms wrap tighter around me as I felt like I was going to cry. Singing was everything to me, and there was no way I could live my life without it.
"I know. I don't know what to do about it, though, Ryuichi." Sighing I opened my eyes to stare at the back of the couch, fighting my next question as best I could. However, it was the only thing I could think of…
"Tatsuha?" Tatsuha let go of me as I sat up slowly, and I stared down at him, he looked so very concerned. Tatsuha stared up at me as well and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, and I reached up to take his hand in mine gently. "I…I want to go back to America. Come with me?" I managed, a single tear escaping from my eyes as I spoke. I didn't want to leave my friends behind here, but I couldn't stay here, either. I NEEDED Tatsuha to go with me.
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I AM DONE! I am SO very sorry it took me so long to get this out, but it's DONE now! I just hadn't hit the inspiration for it until a couple days ago, but now I'm back on track.
I think I've just had one too many ideas going at a time, and I'm sorry about that everyone.
I doubt hardly anyone's going to want to read this anymore, but I can hope a few people still like my crappy old 'haven't updated in a THOUSAND years' fanfics.