Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or the characters portrayed within it. I only own this story and a couple of characters in it :D

[By the way I don't know who the characters mentioned in your reviews are, I just made the blonde up. But keep the mental image of the guys you like in your head if that helps you like the character more ne?]

Glossary of Japanese terms

Hayaku: Quickly/hurry up

Gomen: Sorry

Nani: What

Ma: Oh well (in acceptance, sort of.)

Yosh: Right. Often said as in way of expressing determination/resolution to do something

Mina: Everybody

Hai: Yes. When said twice can be like the English, yeah yeah.

Aah: Another Japanese way of saying yes, can be  a bit rude if used when speaking formally, hence why it's used here ^_^

Okaerinasai: Welcome back/home (Polite form of Okaeri)

Gambatte: Good luck/try your best (means the same with the ne added at the end)

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And though thou notest from thy safe recess old friends burn dim, like lamps in noisome air love them for what they are; nor love them less, because to thee they are not what they were.


Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834, British Poet, Critic, Philosopher

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                                                                                                      War of Hearts

Chapter 2

Old Friends

Shuichi and Hiro arrived late at NG studios despite the mad ride to get there.

"Hayaku Hayaku Hiro! We are late!" said Shuichi as he ran through the double glass doors. He sprinted down to the end of the corridor, opened the door to the fire exit stairs and run up two sets of stairs missing as many steps as possible on the way.  Another door, another long corridor and he burst into the studio. only to be greeted by the cold metal of a magnum pressed against his forehead.

"You are late" stated the tall man in English.

"Ah, Gomen gomen K" Shuichi said, sweat drops running down his face.

"The only thing that will keep me from pressing the trigger is the lyrics to the new single" added K with a cheerful smile, this time in Japanese.

" The lyrics Shindou-kun, the lyrics!" screeched Sakano who  was sweating profusely and pulling at his short hair with trembling fingers, a horrified look on his face.

"He hasn't done them yet" Hiro calmly walked into the room and set his helmet on the table.

"Nani?!?!?" Burst the entire room and the loud cocking of a gun was heard.

"Ma, it won't be the first time we delay a song, and it certainly won't be the last. Our fans are used to it, that's what makes us Bad Luck I guess ne?" Hiro stated calmly although at this point Suguru was trying to keep a very distressed Sakano from jumping out of the window.

"That won't be necessary." Everyone turned to examine the pink haired boy who was now staring at the floor and resting his head against K's shiny weapon. He then looked up and brought his fist up and laughing maniacally "I'll write it today or you can stop calling me Shindou Shuichi second best vocalist in Japan! HAHAHAHAHA!" he announced against a backdrop of raging waves.

Everybody in the room sweat-dropped.

"We should at least practice the other songs before tomorrow night and then you can write the lyrics Shindou san. Otherwise we might not get anything done today Mr-Inspiration-won't-come-even-if-I'm-hit-around-the-head-with-it" stated Suguru calmly while looking at some scores on his keyboard.

"What are you all looking at? It's the truth"

"You didn't have to put it quite so bluntly" said a mopping Shuichi.

 "I think the boy has a point though. Even if the gig tomorrow night is not that big and we won't be the only bands playing, we still need to sound our best. If we can't give them a new song you'll at least perform the others perfectly to make up for it" K finished polishing his brand new baby and tucked it away in its holster under his arm.

"Yosh mina! Let's get to work. Gambatte ne!" cried a revived Shuichi as he whirled around the room, mike in hand.

"Hai hai," was the collective answer he got.

~*~*~*~

Beep-beep-beep-beep --- beep-beep-beep-bee- the alarm clock stopped.

"Arghh! Yeah yeah I'm up already!" The man stretched his hand and picked up the phone on the bed side table.

"Hello room service, how may I help you?" answered an overly cheerful feminine voice at the other end of the line.

"Hello good morning, could I please have some coffee sent into my room? The room number is." he swapped the phone to the other ear and turned to look at the room key holder dangling from the door lock.

"That won't be necessary sir, your room number is 307, we know because we have a system that traces phone calls back to their rooms. Your coffee will be up shortly, would you like some breakfast as well?"

"No that would be all then" said the blonde still half asleep.

"Thank you sir, have a pleasant day."

The blonde put the phone down, got up and walked straight to the bathroom.

Knock, knock, knock.

'That must be room service.' "Yeah, I'm in the shower, the door's open, just leave it on the table." He turned off the faucets, stepped out of the shower, put on the hotel's fluffy bathrobe and came out of the toilet. A smart man with gloved hands was standing in the room with his hands neatly folded in front of him. "Good morning sir" The dripping blonde reached out for his coat, pulled out his wallet and handed the man a few yen notes. "Thank you sir, have a pleasant day" he bowed and turned to leave.

"Aah."

Once he was on his own, he sat down at the table and added some cream and sugar to his coffee. He then leaned back and picked up the magazine he'd bought yesterday.

"You've done well for yourself my friend," he spoke to himself in an amused tone of voice. "Well, I always knew you had it in you, you were always the clever one," he smiled while staring at the page and finished the last of his coffee.

~*~*~*~

"Yukiii!!! Why didn't you wake me up? I'm running late!" cried a blur as it stormed around the house seemingly getting ready for work.

"You would have heard the alarm clock if you hadn't been up to so late last night baka" answered the novelist flatly from his spot on the sofa.

"I was wowking on twe lywics for twe new single" a gurgling noise followed "I had a flash of inspiration late last night and wrote them down. You'll hear them at the concert tonight" shouted Shuichi from the bathroom, speech distorted somewhat since he was brushing his teeth.

"What makes you think I'm coming?"

"But Yuki I gave you the ticket ages ago and you don't have any deadlines coming up soon so I just assumed you'll." Shuichi had now made his way to the living room.

"Well then don't go making assumptions on your own/"

"But Yukiiii!"

"I've heard your untalented songs enough times as it is, I'm not your babysitter. You can't expect me to be at every single little event your band turns up to can you?" Yuki's voice was monotone, as though he wasn't paying much attention to the conversation.

"But the last time you came was at Tokyo's festival and that was months ago! Besides I've written new lyrics." the young man trailed off staring at his bare feet on the floor.

"If they are anything like the last ones you wrote I won't be missing much."

"I guess you are right" Shuichi put a hand behind his head and smiled sheepishly. The boy then walked to the sofa and gave the man sitting there a soft kiss on the lips. The kiss wasn't returned, but then again that was common, at least at daytime anyway. Shuichi walked to the door, put on his snickers and picked up his bag from the spot he'd left it when he came in from band practice last night.

"I'll see you tonight then. Don't wait up for me" he said cheerfully.

"I won't."

Shuichi left the apartment.

As the singer walked to work he thought about his relationship with the novelist.

They had been together for quite some time now. Shuichi couldn't believe Yuki had let him stay with him at the beginning, but was beginning to question the reasons. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't understand the writer. Although at first he thought he did he wasn't so sure anymore. Right after Yuki had written the lyrics for Nittle Grasper, Shuichi was convinced their relationship would only improve from there. He couldn't have been more wrong. He had got his hopes up too much and the fall had been hard to take, but he had pieced himself together and promised himself to be patient with his lover. The first few months he was content to just be by the blonde's side and genuinely believed that he could get through to him in time. Again he had been wrong. It was like charging against a concrete wall blind folded and he could never guess when he was gonna hit it.

Relationships were never easy though, especially not one with Yuki Eiri. He let out a sigh and cast his doubts aside; he had a long day ahead of him.

~*~*~*~

"I'm sorry sir, I'm afraid you can't see him if you don't have an appointment," said the woman, not even bothering to look up. The man in the grey suit smiled. "It's ok. I understand he's a busy man and you are merely doing your job Nariko san." The woman suddenly looked up, confused at the mention of her first name. The blonde pointed at her name tag pinned on her jacket as way of explanation. She was a bit surprised, she always wore it, it was company policy, but no one ever bothered to address her personally; she was just another worker in the glass fortress.

"Well since I won't be seeing him today I have the afternoon free, maybe I could take you out to lunch?" said the blonde playfully.

The lady behind the desk blushed deep scarlet and smiled coyly. "Maybe. Sorry if I sounded rude before sir, but he really is a very busy man, especially today. However, I can always ask him if he can spare five minutes for you," she was even more red now if that was possible and pretended to be looking through some papers in order to hide it.

"That would be ever so kind of you. Thank you very much."

The lady then got up, still not looking at the spruce man that had asked her out to lunch, and left her desk.

The man in grey followed her with his gaze and when he saw what door she was knocking on he quickly walked towards it.

"Excuse me sir, there is a man at the front desk." she suddenly felt as someone pushed on the door whose knob she was holding. She looked to the side and saw the tall polite man she'd been speaking to make his way into the office.

"Very nice!" said the intruder loudly.

"I'm sorry sir! He must have followed me here, I never intended to let him through without your permission!" she explained herself with a distraught voice. The man in the office got over his initial shock very quickly and smiled softly. "It's ok Nariko san. You may leave us now".

The blonde walked up to the desk, grinning, he pulled a chair out casually and sat down across from the other man, looking into his eyes. The other folded his hands on the table and stared back.

"You haven't changed one bit," he said breaking the silence.

"I could say the same about you, Seguchi-san," and they both laughed loudly.

"Okaerinasai, Hatori san."

After a few minutes of quick chit chat Tohma picked up the phone.

"Hello Nariko san, please reserve a table for two at the usual restaurant for lunch in half an hour. Cancel the rest of the afternoon appointments and if there are any important ones see if you can push them back a couple of hours."

"Yes apologies accepted, but please try to be careful, next time it may not be a friend of mine's."

"Ok, thank you."

"Out for lunch?" Hatori raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Your secretary is going to be disappointed I'm canceling with her so soon."

Tohma looked back at the man "I can see you are still a player Hatori san" he said amused.

"Always was and always will be! And quite proud of it too."

"Let's get out of here."

~*~*~*~

The restaurant was nice and quiet. "Is this table of your liking Seguchi san?" the immaculate waiter pointed at a small table at the back where they could chat away from the other diners.

"It's perfect, thank you." Tohma walked up to the table and was seated by the waiter. Hatori followed.

They were given menus and they soon ordered something light and still mineral water. They sat there for a while talking about what had happened in their lives in the last four years. Hatori spoke about his travels and Tohma explained how he got to be the president of one of the most successful music studios in Japan. The conversation flowed naturally and they soon finished their meal. The waiter came and cleared the table.

"So Hatori, what exactly brought you back?" Tohma took a sip from his glass.

"Nothing in particular, I just figured it was time I paid my country a visit after being away for so long. The world is a great place but I guess at heart I love Japan the most, " he smiled.

"Does that mean you've come back for good?"

"That I don't know, I have only been back a couple of days and am still getting used to being in Japan again, Tokyo has changed so much in so little."

"Only a couple of days? Where are you staying?"

"At a hotel down in town. I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do, I'm just taking it easy for a few days and taking it as it comes." Hatori leaned back in his seat  and took out his pack of cigarettes, "Do you mind?" Tohma negated with his head. "Not at all."

"Why don't you keep doing what you do best then? You have a special talent; it would be a pity for Japan to loose an artist such as yourself so soon after you've returned."

"I don't know Tohma, I have seen so many things. To be honest I'm quite fed up. There is so much beauty in this world, but also so much ugliness, it's a harsh place out there." he said solemnly. "But hey! At least we get to live ne?" Hatori smiled as he drew out the smoke of his cigarette.

"Maybe I will carry on taking pictures but I'll do something light-hearted, like I used to. Remember those photo shoots with Nittle Grasper back then? They sure were fun."

Tohma's face lit up as an idea played in his mind, "I think I may be able to offer you something just like that."

Hatori's eyebrows picked up, he hadn't come to ask for a job, he'd just come to see his old friend. He was curious nonetheless and so he decided to find out what the other blonde was talking about.

"I'm listening."

"There is a small NG concert tonight, why don't you come along and bring your camera with you? I'll pay for the pictures of course, I know they'll be special, the best. I have seen how good you are when you get behind a lens, you'll be doing me a great favour in all honesty." Tohma knew his friend probably didn't want to start anything so soon but it would be perfect if he could be the official photographer at the concert. He'd seen Hatori work his magic before and couldn't wait to see how much the photographer had improved during his leave.

Hatori thought it over for a few moments "Sure, anything for you Tohma but I warn you it's been a while since I did something like that."

"I believe in your skills." Tohma's characteristic smile appeared again, this was going to be very interesting indeed.

"How's Mika san by the way?" Hatori suddenly realized they'd only been speaking about business and the like, "are you still married?"

"Yes we are" Tohma's smile faltered for a split second but Hatori's trained eye didn't miss out on this detail.

Hatori smiled, "I see you still haven't got over Eiri san," he ventured before he could think properly about the implications of his statement. God he just couldn't help himself.  It was Tohma's turn to be caught off guard but he recovered his coolness soon, he should have known better than to underestimate his observant friend.

"He has someone special now, and Mika and I are doing just fine. I'm very happy he has finally found someone who can give him what he needs."

"But you regret that someone isn't you." The photographer was pushing his luck now.

"Such is life," Tohma wore a sad expression on his face. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable and couldn't understand why he'd let that slip out. Never before had the composed man spoken so truly about his feelings. He put it down to the fact that he'd been holding in for so long, never allowing his inner turmoil to show. Seeing Hatori had brought back, with revived strength, the memories of when the keyboardist and the novelist had been a lot closer. Since Hatori had been able to see through him so easily, he figured he'd allow himself to confide in someone, even if just a little.

"I'll pick you up at your hotel at seven then." Tohma took out his wallet and called the waiter over. He handed him a credit card.

"My treat Hatori san; it's good to have you back."

tbc

I don't think this fic will have any Yuki*Tohma in it, but for me it's so obvious that's what Tohma wants, does anybody agree with me? Would you like to see any other pairings develop?

Anyway, the concert is next. Wait for it! I love it. I have the next two chapters of this story down in paper already and only have to type them out.

Thank you so much to all my reviewers, I felt so stupidly happy reading your reviews, I was grinning like an idiot all day!! People at the cluster room at uni where looking at me as though I had just gone crazy. Special thanks goes to my first reviewer mirai aria, also author of the outstanding fanfic Yuki. I love your fanfic, please update soon :P I have also checked out your website, really cool!

It's my first fanfic ever so I didn't know what to expect and I'm enjoying writing it so much! I hope you all like it.