To the flamers: Gomen for giving a bad summary. But, when did I ever say that it wasn't canon? Of course, I never said it was either. And besides that, there's no need to freak over the possibility that Shuichi might have been straight once. Yeah, he had to learn to deal with being gay, so that means he didn't know before.
To shien: Hai, hai. I do understand the importance of canon, and I do have a tendency of breaking up pairs that I don't like, but only if I don't like one of the characters (and I really have to not like them). No, it's not exactly an AU, because it's not an alternate universe situation, but more an alternate plot line/adding in my own plot sort of thing. I did add in a new character, which I never did say was an actual character in the series. (And I hope that clears some of your questions as well, mirai_aria).
Nico-chan, Ki-chan, it's good to have friends like you two. ^-^ You're always good to bounce ideas off of... of course then you also know what'll happen. But those better have been honest reviews or I'll throw you on the FBS!
~ Note: All flames will be donated to Nicolaya's FBSA (the Flaming Bamboo Stick Association for Poor Pyros)
Part One :: Pika-Pika, Hikaru!
-----------------------------------
"Yuki! Yuki! Yuki! Yuki!" Shuichi screeched as he pounded on the apartment door. Once again Yuki had thrown him outside for being obnoxious. "YukiYukiYuki!!" Gomen nasai!(1)"
He continued pounding on the door and calling out Yuki's name. There was no answer, and he was sure that Yuki had probably decided to go to bed or work on his newest novel. With that realization, he began to punch the door more slowly until he just settled for bumping his head on the door frame.
"Yu-uki..." he whimpered. "Don't be so mean to me..."
He could hear the solid "click" as the door was unlocked from the inside. He snapped upright and jumped back. The door opened slowly. Shuichi bit his lip in anticipation, shifting from foot to foot as Yuki appeared from behind the door.
He bowed deeply, shutting his eyes tightly and scrunching up his face, awaiting Yuki's words.
"Gomen nasai."
"Baka.(2)"
"Huh?" Shuichi stood up straight again.
As usual, a cold reply. Was he really that big of an idiot?
"Honto ni sumimasen(3), Yuki."
Yuki's right eye twitched and he frowned. Shuichi gave his best smile.
Yuki didn't say anything to him, and, instead growled and threw Shuichi's coat and shoes at him. Shuichi lost his balance and fell back on his ass. Yuki turned away and slammed the door behind him. Shuichi gasped and threw himself the door. He frantically clawed at the closed, and now re-locked, door, calling desperately for Yuki.
"Jeez, you're so cruel, Yuki! It's so dark out! You can't leave me out here!" Shuichi complained, watching the door expectantly. There was still nothing. His face fell. "You're not coming back, are you, Yuki? Of course not! YOU'RE ALWAYS SO MEAN TO ME!"
There was a silence after that as Shuichi resumed staring at the door. Yuki wouldn't be back. He was on his own until morning. IT was the weekly routine. Whenever Shuichi was feeling especially down or annoyed, he ended up annoying Yuki and was kicked out.
"Fine then, Yuki!" He gathered up his belongings, stopped only to stick his tongue out at the door and stormed off. "At least Hiro will let me stay at his place. I'd get sick out here."
He grinned, then chuckled.
"Then when Yuki sees me in the morning he wouldn't really show any remorse to me," Shuichi declared out loud. "He'd just make some smart-assed comment about what an idiot I am for getting myself sick! Then he'd ignore me and go back to work." He paused and grinned. "But if I were really lucky he'd make some sort of a sweet gesture, like taking me in his arms and holding me close... maybe even give me a little kiss! He hasn't done that for a while."
"Either get on the elevator or move out of the way!" a deep man's voice came from behind him.
Shuichi looked behind himself slowly to give the man a blank stare. He shook his head and lazily wiped the drool from his mouth. He hadn't even noticed he'd reached the elevator yet, or that he was drooling. He grinned at the man, half apologetically and half like an idiot as he imagined all of the kind and loving things Yuki could do to him. All were pleasing, until the frightful image of Yuki wit ha whip* flashed in his mind. He let out a yelp and jumped out of the man's way.
"Young man, are you on drugs?" the man asked, eyeing him suspiciously, "And why are you dressed like that? Are you a prostitute?! You'll find you have no business here! Now get lost before I have the manager call the police!"
"Ee(4)..." Shuichi stared at the man blankly for a moment, before his expression filled with confusion and hurt. "Prostitute?!"
"Oh, come on, Shuichi. It couldn't have been that bad," Suguru said softly, sighing heavily.
All eyes fell on Shuichi. They were at a restaurant: Hiroshi, Suguru, Sakano, K and Shuichi, where he had found them after not being able to get a hold of Hiroshi at his home phone. Now Shuichi was just slumped over his end of the table, sulking like his world was about to end.
"Don't sulk, Shuichi," Hiroshi told him, nibbling on a stick of Pocky. "It's not like this is the very first time Yuki's ever thrown you out. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you go back in an hour that Yuki will probably let you come back in."
Shuichi tilted his head to look at them all sadly. They were silent and remained focused on the sulking Shuichi. He suddenly perked up, lunged across the table, knocking Sakano and Suguru over in the process, and snatched the chocolate Pocky from Hiroshi's mouth and began to snack on it happily.
"Hai!(5) Yuki's funny that way!" Shuichi declared, staring at Hiroshi from his spot on the table. Grumbling, Sakano and Suguru pulled themselves up. "He'll be like: "You're such an idiot, Shuichi! But you're so kawaii(6)!!", ne?"
"Ano...(7)" He received several blank stares.
"Nee(8), Shindou-kun's(9) acting unusual," Sakano whispered to K.
K grinned and pulled out him magnum from its holster.
"Stop these insane mood swings! You're acting like you're on drugs!"
Shuichi looked over as the gun was pointed at him and whimpered. The other three backed away and sighed heavily. Again with K and his attempt at fixing something with his gun.
"I'm not a prostitute!" Shuichi screeched with a catty tone. He glared, hissed, then smacked the gun from K's hand and grasped his collar, shaking him roughly. "I'm not! Do you hear me?! I'm not like that! Only Yuki! Yuki! Yu-uki!"
"If you go around dressed like that, someone might mistake you. Dressed in so little and carrying your shoes and jacket..." Suguru thought out loud. Shuichi stopped shaking K and glared at Suguru. Suguru simply grinned and waved his hands. "Not that you look like you're one, Shuichi. I didn't mean to insinuate that!"
"I don't even understand what's going on," Sakano sighed.
"Just look away and pretend you don't know them," Hiroshi advised.
"Un.(10)"
They both looked away from the group and hid their faces.
"So cruel!" Shuichi whimpered, letting go of a confused K and dragging himself back to his original seat. "I'm not even allowed to imagine my kawaii Yuki being kind to me..."
K blinked. "When did I...?"
"Shindou-san, you should be more focused," Suguru scolded lightly. "We have a performance tomorrow."
"You're awfully calm about being this close to a deadline. Especially since we're not too prepared," Sakano observed, taking his seat as K did. "Fujisaki-san?"
He smiled half-heartedly and rested his chin upon his hands. "It's eating away at me on the inside."
"Aa, sou desu.(11)"
"Nee~ miagete~ konna ni hiroi yozora da-kara..." the faint voice reached Shuichi's ears. Someone, a woman, was singing. "Sou~ sugu ni-i wakaru you-ou ni seiippai kagayaku kara hayaku, fu-ru mu-un wo sagashite..."*
"Masaka...(12)"
"Oi(13), Shuichi," Hiroshi called out to him. "What's wrong?"
"Shuichi?" the others questioned when he didn't respond.
"Iie(14). Nan da(15)," he mumbled, looking to Hiroshi with a strange expression. He smiled brightly. "Nan. Demo. Nai.(16)"
He blinked as he noticed that they were now staring above him, past him. It took a moment for things to sink in. There was someone standing behind him. Someone with a powerful and somewhat icy demeanor.
"Yuki?!" Shuichi exclaimed as he spun around in his seat. Yes, it was him. "Yuki, you came... for me...?"
Yuki looked down at Shuichi with an expression softer than his usual. Shuichi's bottom lip trembled and his eyes shone with tears. Two hours had to have passed, and Yuki had come looking for him. It was the first time Yuki had ever come looking for him after kicking him out.
Maybe Yuki was finally warming up to him; he was finally opening up to him in public view. His fantasies were coming true.
"Yuki!" he cried, throwing himself into his koibito. "You came for me, Yuki."
"Shu-chan," Yuki said softly, wrapping him arms around Shuichi and held him close. "I'm sorry I kicked you out. You're not sick, are you?"
"Yuki cares for Shuichi," Hiroshi commented quietly. The others leaned back, crossed their arms and nodded in agreement. "He has changed a bit since he returned from America. Though some others things haven't changed."
There was more nodding.
"No, Yuki. I'm okay," Shuichi replied. He nuzzled himself into Yuki's warm body. "I just want to go home and go to bed. It's so late."
"Just don't be late for the performance, Shindou-kun," Sakano warned.
Once again K had his magnum out and pointed it at Shuichi.
"You're not going to be late," K said with a smile. "Or I'll be forced to pull the trigger."
"He won't be late," Yuki promised as he let Shuichi gather his belongings. "He'll even be an hour early."
Unsure if he was being honest or sarcastic, K said,
"He'd better."
"Yuki-san's making a dangerous promise," Suguru pointed out. "K's trigger finger has been a little ichy."
"Baibai!(17)" Shuichi waved goodbye before dragging Yuki out of the restaurant.
"What are the odds that he'll keep that promise?" Sakano asked.
There was a moment of silence before the replied unanimously, "Shuichi. Not too good."
"Ten dollars says Yuki throws him out sometime in the next two nights."
"Doko ni mo, tomaranai~ mitasanai Emotion SHIKATO kimete oikose yo. Furueteru SHAI no sekai no, nuke-michi o neratte, tadoritsuku basho e - I Want New World!!"*
There wasn't a single empty seat in the audience as Shuichi finished singing the last verse of Rage Beat. Suguru finished off the song with a keyboard solo of his own. The cheers were deafening. There were numerous signs being held up by adoring fans; many for Hiroshi, and some for Suguru and Shuichi.
"Minna-san(18), arigatou gozaimashita!(19)" Shuichi called as his farewell. He waved to the crowd, as did his band members. Shuichi's face was filled with pure delight as he took in the attention. "Oyasuminasai!(20)
"Nothing like a crowd full of cute, adoring female fans," Hiroshi calmly declared once they had returned to their dressing room.
"Oi, wasn't that Ayaka-chan in the audience?" Suguru asked.
"Un." Hiroshi smiled, thinking of his girlfriend.
"I didn't see Yuki-san," Suguru pointed out. He sighed and took a seat at the table which stood in the center of the room. "He dropped you off, didn't he? Or did you walk?"
"Yuki was out there," Shuichi, who had been shockingly silent up until now, replied, taking a gulp from his water bottle, which was filled with cola. "He's just good at going unnoticed by people. I saw him, though."
"Oh..."
Hiroshi sighed and took a seat next to Suguru. There was a slight smile on his face as he crossed his arms and stared at Shuichi.
"Ano... Hiro, what's up with that look?" Shuichi asked, tilting his head to the side.
"We had a very special guest in the audience today," he said softly.
"We did?" Suguru sounded confused. "Tohma-san?"
"Iie." Hiroshi looked down, biting his lip. "She's someone who's a lot more important that Tohma Seguchi."
"More important than myself?"
Shock-filled faces turned to stare at The "Tohma Seguchi". He was dressed in his usual and has a bright, mocking smile on his face. Behind him stood Yuki; the sight of his koibito(21) brought a smile to Shuichi's face.
"Konban wa(22), Yuki!" Shuichi greeted excitedly. He laughed, waved his arms and jumped up and down. "Yuki!"
"Konban wa, Seguchi-san, Yuki-san," the other two greeted.
"Don't forget about me!" Noriko demanded playfully, peeking her head from around the corner. "And Ryu-chan too."
She looked to beside her, where the members of Bad Luck were unable to see. Her mouth dropped open. A mix of shock and rage was in her eyes.
"Ryuichi Sakuma! Just where do you think you're going?!" she yelled.
Tohma and Yuki sighed as they entered the room; Noriko took off to find out where Ryuichi had gotten to. Shuichi laughed and ran into Yuki's arms. Tohma took a seat at the table and began to stare intensely at Yuki.
Hiroshi decided upon striking up a conversation before Shuichi started rambling on about anything that came to mind.
"So, our next concert is going to be on Saturday?"
"Sou sa(23)," Tohma said in his soft-spoken voice. "And you'll be having an opening act as well."
Everyone, including Shuichi, looked over intently. Never before had they had an opening act, nor had it been discussed that one would be.
"Iya. No opening act," Shuichi said sternly, his eyes stony. Everyone in the room, even Yuki, had expressions of shock upon their faces. Shuichi was the last they'd have suspected to be anti-opening act.
"Why not?" Suguru questioned.
"Because I don-"
"Ano..." a curious voice came from the doorway.
"Hm?" Everyone looked up at the owner of the voice: a young woman.
"Konban wa, minna-san," she said softly, then bowed deeply. "Is this the dressing room of Bad Luck?"
She had a delicate figure. Her eyes were big and blue, her hair oddly died green, then blue and pink at the tips; it was wavy and came down just above her shoulders. She wore a sky blue peasant top with a plunging neckline and a pair of blue jeans, and a simple pair of black runners.
"That voice..." Shuichi mumbled. He pushed away from Yuki, and, silently, walked up to her. "Omae.(24)"
"Who is she?" Suguru whispered to Hiroshi.
"Our special guest," Hiroshi replied.
"Ee?"
Shuichi examined her quickly before his face broke out in a wide grin.
"Kone-chan!" he squealed and tackle-hugged(glomped) her. "Kone-chan! I can't believe it's you!"
"Ee...?!" she cried.
"She is..." Hiroshi said as he stood up and walked towards them. Shuichi loosened his grip on her slightly to check out what Hiroshi was doing. "She is..."
He roughly shoved Shuichi out of the way so that he could examine this young woman. She was younger than then, by at least three years. He pinched her cheeks, then stretched them a few times. His eyes narrowed and he leaned in close.
She blinked.
Yuki glared jealously at this girl, though his face was completely emotionless. She just suddenly shows up and Shuichi loses interest in him? Tohma, on the other hand, watched Yuki's confused expression. It had taken the many years of knowing him to be able to see it.
There was something vaguely familiar about her, but Tohma paid little heed to her. He'd find out her identity soon enough.
"Not Kone-chan!" Hiroshi suddenly declared, smiling. "She's too young. You're such a baka, Shuichi."
"Ee?!" Shuichi whined, then pointed at her. "What do you mean 'she's not'?! That's my Kone-chan! I know her!"
Suguru looked around curiously. "Who's Kone-chan?"
"Iie. Iie." She smiled. "I'm not Katsui."
She giggled and the other three exchanged glances once again. Shuichi looked her over again. There was something familiar about her, but, no, this wasn't Katsui Asakura. Just a look-a-like.
Finally tired of not being answered, Suguru decided to question the stranger himself.
"Who are you?"
"Oh, my name is-"
She'd begun to respond, but the lights failed. Darkness consumed them to the point they could hardly even see a foot in front of them.
"Black out," Tohma said softly, then stood up. "We should probably stay here. They'll get the power back up soon."
"Yuki! I'm scared!" Shuichi whimpered, then threw himself in the general direction of his koi. "Hold me!"
"Ee... Shuichi."
"Hai, Hiroshi?"
"Think you could let go of me?"
"Ara..." Shuichi poked the nose of the man he had a death grip on. "Hiroshi? Why are you here?"
"You grabbed me."
The young, still nameless, woman stood at the side without moving. Yuki advanced upon them to possessively steal Shuichi away from Hiroshi. Suguru felt his way through the darkness to find the woman.
"Chotto(25), who are you?"
"I'm the keyboardist, guitarist slash lead singer of Element of Fire. We're the opening act on Saturday," she explained.
His face fell.
"Being all three... is that actually possible?" he asked.
"Hai. There's three of us who take turns, depending on the song we're performing."
"Isn't that a little... chaotic?"
"No."
"You're so talented!" Shuichi exclaimed. "Ow! Yuki! Not so tight! Itai!(26)"
"Ohh... scary darkness!" a raspy voice echoed throughout the halls. "Nee, Ojousan(27), I'm coming for you!"
She squeaked and grasped onto Suguru's arm.
"I wonder where Ayaka-chan is," Hiroshi said out loud, ignoring the voice.
"Yuki! It's a scary voice!"
"Where did it come from?" Tohma asked, looking for the possible sources of the raspy voice.
The voice came again, this time louder, closer, bolder and more menacing, though it's words didn't quite match: "Pika-pika, Hikaru-chan! Pika Pika!"
There was a small click before a small beam of light illuminated both 'Hikaru' and Suguru.
------------------------------------------
Okay, translations:
1. Gomen nasai: I'm sorry
2. Baka: Idiot/moron
3. Honto ni sumimasen: I'm really sorry
4. Ee: Uh...?/Eh...
5. Hai: Yeah
6. Kawaii: cute
7. Ano: Uh...
8. Nee: Say/Hey
9. -kun: a name suffix for males, in this case used because Shuichi's younger than Sakano
10. Un: Yes/right
11. Aa, sou desu: Oh, I see
12. Masaka: Impossible
13. Oi: Hey
14. Iie: No.
15. Nan da: It's nothing
16. Nan demo nai: It's nothing
17. Baibai: Good-bye
18. Minna: Everyone
19. Arigatou gozaimashita: Thank you
20. Oyasuminasai: Good night
21. Koibito: Lover
22. Konban wa: Good evening
23. Sou sa: That's right
24. Omae: You
25. Chotto: Hey
26. Itai: It hurts
27. Ojousan: Young miss
* Lyrics to New Future (Full Moon wo Sagashite Opening Song) and Rage Beat.
--
I know it's got to be annoying that I put so much Japanese. Gomen-ne, but I'm trying to get better at it and I tend to use fanfiction partly for the purpose of learning proper uses.
All reviews are welcomed. I'd rather brutal honesty than having it sugar coated. Just have to get used to it. Any questions? Either look up my profile for my email, or put the question in the review.
Ja ne
- Nekura