"Noriko! Answer me! What is it?!"
Noriko's eyes sealed onto the blood spots on the floor. Her heart nearly stopped.
"Hiro...can I call you back?" she asked small.
"What is it? Is it Ryuichi?"
"I'm sorry Hiro," she breathed, and then hung up the phone. She knew exactly what had happened. Marching to the bathroom door, she banged on it with her fist, ignoring the sobbing cries inside the room.
"Ryuichi, open up!" she hollered, trying the doorknob, only to find it locked. "Now!"
No movement occurred.
"Hiro just called and said Suguru was in the hospital! He tried to kill himself, any idea why?!!"
Her voice had never been louder.
"If you don't open this fucking door, I'm going to break it down! You can't remember anything can you? Well, I can tell you exactly what you did!"
"No one needs to tell me!" Ryuichi cried from the other side. "I already know! I remembered, okay?! You won't understand Noriko! I told you to go home!"
She pounded on the door again. "Ryuichi, don't you understand?! You can be put in jail for this! Suguru's underage! If he reports it, you're fucked!"
Suddenly, the door was jolted open and before Noriko knew it, Ryuichi had her pinned to the wall, face in the most terrifying glare that the world never would have thought that would be worn on the angelic face of Ryuichi Sakuma.
"I messed up, you don't need to keep going with it! So I had a few drinks and thought it was Tohma! Fucking sue me! I cared for Tohma a lot and my mind wouldn't give in to the fact that he was gone, so I went to the next best thing! Satisfied?!"
Noriko whimpered, trying to loosen Ryuichi's grip against her shoulders.
"You...knew it was Suguru?"
"So what if I did?" he asked, half growling.
Noriko gasped. "No! Ryuichi, you wouldn't do that!"
Ryuichi let her go. "Wouldn't I? Care to challenge me?"
"But...you...you wouldn't be crying if it wasn't an accident! I'm sorry I yelled at you, but this is serious! Suguru's in the hospital. I don't know exactly what he did, but this disturbed him! Ryu-chan, I love you, everyone loves you, but you can't keep drinking your problems away! I know you loved Tohma and the fight before he died tore you up, but I can't see you slip again! We're the only ones left, we need to stick together!"
Ryuichi turned. His back faced to Noriko. He gave a throated chuckle.
"You mean that from Nittle Grasper's point of view, don't you?"
"Well..."
"Forget it. There's no Grasper without Tohma, I've said that before. He may have been the last to join us, but he was still important."
Noriko hesitantly, but comfortingly, laid her hand on his shoulder. "I know that Ryuichi. Tohma...he was my best friend. We all are going to miss him, but you can't kill the pain with what you're doing! For the past few nights you've been doing nothing but drinking! Please don't continue that Ryuichi, I don't want to see you behind bars."
Ryuichi's half naked form walked forth, back into the bathroom.
"Don't hide the fact Noriko. You're right; I'm already looking at that sort of future. The media is sure going to love that. 'Nittle Grasper vocalist, in prison for the raping of a minor while under the influence of alcohol'."
"Ryu-chan, it doesn't have to be that way! I'll talk with Suguru. I'll find out what really happened."
Ryuichi leaned over to shut the water off. "Don't bother. The police will tell you once he rats me out and come here to slip handcuffs on me."
______________
Noriko never went down to see Suguru. She thought it best if Suguru talks when he feels it's necessary.
From what she gathered, the hospital didn't even know of his rape, otherwise, Hiro would have told her straight off. She continued to stay with Ryuichi and watch over him with love and care so he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
"If only I knew the truth," Ryuichi whispered later on, dressed in red sweats and a blue zip up sweatshirt, "about Tohma, I mean. No one's ever going to know whether he committed suicide or was murdered. If he did commit suicide, it's my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at him about the lyrics. I guess I was just so bent on beating Shuichi in the competition..."
Noriko sat closely beside him, resting her hand on his lap. "You have to stop blaming yourself. Tohma wouldn't want you doing that. There's nothing that's left to be done. Let him rest in peace, okay?"
Ryuichi exhaled loudly and twiddled his thumbs. "How can I let him rest when I can't even let myself rest? Oh god, not only am I a rapist, I'm a murderer!"
This was obviously a turning point for Ryuichi. Guess it fits that phrase "all good things must come to an end" Ryuichi definitely had it worse than anyone, Noriko thought. Still though, she would never give up.
_____________________
"You know, with Suguru now, I've forgotten about my own so called 'disease'," Shuichi said, flicking a card at Hiro during their boring game of Go Fish. "Everything's just stopping all of a sudden." Hiro asked for a 'three'. Shuichi gave him two of his cards.
"You said Noriko called you?"
Hiro nodded. "Yeah. She seemed kind of...tense, almost like she knew something. She did say that Suguru went over there this afternoon."
Shuichi was in full alert. "Did she?"
"Yeah, but she left."
Shuichi supported himself on his elbows. "Are you saying that Ryuichi's the one who did that to Suguru? I doubt that!"
Hiro shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know that there's more to this than meets the eye."
"Hmm...maybe I should call Yuki and let him know about all this."
Hiro scoffed immediately upon hearing that man's name. "He won't care. Don't bother. Doesn't concern him the least. He won't do shit."
Shuichi sat up. "You don't have to be an ass about it, Hiro. It was just a suggestion," he said in one of his stricter tones.
"Yeah, you also said it was a suggestion when you called to tell him about your little infection, and did he care? Of course not! Because he's a selfish bastard and you're to brainwashed to see it!" Hiro shouted unknowingly into his best friend's face, all the stress and confusion leaving his mouth in one burst of action. "Did he not jump right out and say he's glad you had it?! You call that love?!"
"At least I love someone Hiro! Unlike you who has to keep whoring around until you find a decent relationship!"
Hiro flicked the remainder of his cards at Shuichi. His eyes stone cold.
"At least what I would be in IS a relationship! Both sided, not just one! What's wrong with your brain anyway, Shuichi?! Can't you let it sink in that he doesn't give two SHITS about you?! You keep running back to him, even though the end result is still the same!"
Shuichi took the whole pile of playing cards and swung the deck over at Hiro, getting him good in the face.
"Fuck you! Who said you needed to pay attention to my life anyway?!"
In the middle of their verbal and somewhat physical fight, the phone rang, snapping both their mouths shut.
Hiro picked it up; having a feeling it was either Noriko or Ayaka. It was neither. He gave a brief sigh.
"Yes, this is he."
"Who is it?" Shuichi questioned in a low voice.
Hiro didn't answer him, just lowered his head and spoke low until the conversation ended. He clicked the power button on the cordless, but didn't hang it back up.
"Who was that?" Shuichi asked.
"The hospital," Hiro said in an equal tone. "They just told me they found out that Suguru was raped and I know who fucking did it!" he screamed, throwing the phone against the wall, smashing it into pieces.
"That's why Noriko was being so damn quiet! Put two and two together, it makes sense!"
Shuichi had never been more confused.
"Hiro..."
Hiro clenched his hands into his own hair and pulled it in sheer frustration. "That bastard!"
"What—"
"Ryuichi raped Suguru, that's why he's in the hospital, okay?!" Hiro yelled, fuming in the face.
Shuichi's mouth dropped.
"Now I'm going to find out why!"
All Shuichi could do was follow.
__________________________
It took him no longer than a few seconds to get there. When he did, Noriko and Ryuichi were in the same spot together with Ryuichi's front door was pounded on.
"Open up!"
Ryuichi immediately flinched and started to panic. Noriko didn't even have time to calm him down, for Hiro had already busted the door open and stomped in, looking like he wanted to kill someone. He wasn't far off. He took one look at Ryuichi's shaking form and had the urge to beat him until he bled.
"You...sick son of a bitch!" he screamed, yanking Ryuichi up to his feet and pinning him against the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Member of a famous band or not, that gives you NO right to rape people!" he yelled, straight in his face. His fists were so tightly clenched that they shook.
"It was an accident, Hiro!" came Noriko's sobbing, frightened voice.
"Accident my ass!" he shouted, slamming him back into the wall, then gripped a hold of his neck tightly, extracting loud cries from Noriko and Shuichi. Hiro was too busy being overly outraged that he had no idea of the deed he was committing.
"Go ahead," Ryuichi choked, only slightly resisting, "kill me."
"Hiro, stop!" Shuichi begged.
Feeling somewhat defeated that he didn't relieve all his stress, Hiro punched Ryuichi straight in the gut, making him topple to his knees, clutching his stomach and making little whimpers. He spat on him.
"I won't kill you, I'd rather watch you rot away in a jail cell for the rest of your life!"
He flinched with anger, desperate to kick him while he was down, but yelled loudly and punched the wall instead before barging out of the home in fury.
Noriko dashed down by her fallen band mate as soon as Hiro was out of sight.
"I'm fine!" Ryuichi said, slowly getting to his feet and not removing his hands from his stomach.
"I'm sorry Sakuma-san," Shuichi whispered, obviously not taking this as harshly as Hiro did. "He didn't have a right to do that."
Ryuichi exhaled loudly, struggling to ignore the shooting pain all over his body. "No...he did. I was a stupid moron for drinking when Suguru was in my presence and knocked out at that."
"How was he knocked out?" Shuichi inquired.
His shoulders slowly squared. He didn't have the strength to look at any of them in the eye. "Stress. He was yelling at me, struggling to tell me it wasn't my fault that Tohma died. In which it was! I beat him over the head about not having the lyrics to sing, then there's the fact of not knowing whether it was accidental death or not. And, safe to say, my life is no longer going to be normal."
Feeling horrible for his idol, Shuichi slipped his arms around his waist. Ryuichi complied. Shuichi's heart sank as his number one pop star hero sobbed on his shoulder. Shuichi didn't think of anything else, only the fact that his star was innocent. He'd fight for him, even if he did rape a minor, and his own band mate at that.
"It's alright Ryuichi, let it out. I won't allow anything happen to you. I promise."
__________________
"That sick bastard," Hiro huffed as he paraded the lighted streets of town at night, ignoring the loud cars buzzing by him. "He had no right!"
It wasn't long before his feet took him directly back to the hospital. He was more than shocked to find K and Sakano still there, and Mika as well, but that didn't change his present attitude.
"Hiro?" K questioned, standing straight after leaning against the wall.
"Did you hear?" Hiro asked, in a voice of more or less a growl.
K nodded once.
"Poor kid," chimed in Sakano, looking pitiful as ever, hanging his head low. "Who could ever do—"
"Sakuma Ryuichi, that's who!" Hiro spat, looking at no one in particular, just throwing his eyes back and forth between the both of them. "I just came from his house and had a little chat with him after I put two and two together. He even admitted it! Who knows, maybe he's even the one who killed Seguchi!"
Hiro pushed by them and marched straight to the back, not caring if he wasn't supposed to or not, he wanted to see his friend.
His face softened as he looked through the little window on the door at Suguru. He was lying down with his eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. It looked as though his lips were moving to one of their latest songs, but had tears running down his face at the same time. Hiro opened the door and entered. Suguru stopped moving altogether and stared at Hiro, half frightful.
"Hiro...?"
Suguru brushed the tears from his face quickly, pretending that they were never there.
"What do you want?"
"May I come in?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Might as well, you're already half way in."
Hiro reddened and took the seat beside him. Suguru refused to even acknowledge him.
"Are you okay?"
Suguru couldn't hold it back any longer; the sobs came into full force.
"Of course I'm not okay Hiro! Use your head, I was raped!"
Hiro struggled to stay calm for Suguru. He knew he wanted a friend right now and wouldn't give up on him.
"Okay, I'm sorry, bad choice of words. Actually, I came here...because—"
"Because you wanted to choke some information out of me, is that it?" he interrupted, staring down at his hands.
Hiro stood up and moved to the bed, sitting on the side. He used the edge of his forefinger to lift up Suguru's chin. At that exact time, two tears slid evenly down his face.
"Don't feel pity me, Nakano Hiroshi," he whispered.
Hiro shook his head. "I think you are very strong, Suguru. One of the strongest people I know. You've made such a huge impact on my life. We couldn't have gotten this far without you. I'm sorry for neglecting you before, after Tohma's death when you really needed someone."
"I just wanted to help Sakuma-san," he murmured. "He blamed my cousin's death on himself. I didn't believe it. I know they had a fight the night before, but Tohma wouldn't...he just wouldn't!"
Suguru flew into Hiro, wrapping his arms around him and bawled into his chest. Hiro rested his chin on his head and rocked him gently.
"Tohma was all I had left!"
"That's not true, I'll never leave you," he soothed, brushing his fingers lightly through the boy's green hair.
"I just want to put everything behind me...Tohma, the rape, everything. I want to start over again, but I don't want to be alone."
Hiro kissed the top of his friend's head and continued to rock him. "You won't have to be. I give you my word."
Suguru looked up at him. "Hiro...?"
Hiro smiled small. "Let's get out of here."
Hiro was able to check Suguru out of the hospital, only with the strict orders by the staff that he had to be under supervision because of the rape, and Hiro would have to change the bandages on his arms at least three times a day, otherwise they would turn some sort of brownish color and stick to the wound.
It was later on in the late evening after Suguru had fallen asleep on his bed, when Hiro's cell phone rang on a low ring. He snatched it quickly and jogged into the adjacent room so he wouldn't awaken Suguru.
"Yo," he greeted.
"Nakano, it's K," the voice on the other line spoke in his usual not-so- with-it-at-the-moment voice.
"What's up?" Hiro inquired, pacing back and forth slowly across his living room floor.
"Just checking up. Tomorrow, I've requested everyone down to the studio so we could sort this mess out. This way everyone will know what everyone else knows."
Hiro frowned. "K...that seems highly unnecessary."
K hummed into the phone. "Nope. Besides, it'll give us a chance to get back together again."
"If Ryuichi shows up, you best hold me back. I won't hesitate to kill that bastard for everything his pathetic little immature life is worth."
K rolled his eyes and itched his head. "Quite right. Nakano...we'll blindfold you then."
Hiro growled. "I'm serious! This is a severe case! He should go to jail for the rape of a minor! Anyone will agree. I won't rest until he goes there. No one hurts Suguru and gets away with it."
K was rather disturbed by his attitude, but played along with it anyway.
"My, my, from the sounds of things, activities with Fujisaki getting hot and heavy, hmm?"
Hiro's eyes sprang open. "What?! I'm his friend! I'm going to stick up for him!"
"Yup, yup, you say so. Get some sleep Nakano because I want your ass down at that studio at eight sharp."
Before Hiro could object, the line went dead. Hiro flipped the lid down on his phone and tossed it onto the chair. He debated whether or not he should be in with Suguru or sleep on the couch that night. What if he needed him?
He had begun to think about what K said about things getting hot and heavy. With Suguru? Doubtful. Or was it? Hiro stopped moving and stared at the ground, feeling all the funny sensations coursing through his body, especially at his chest. He had been so overprotective of Suguru lately, even threatened to kill the leader of Grasper without even putting in a second thought, and he wouldn't think twice about making sure he ended up in jail for it.
No one else was this serious. Everyone still thought Ryuichi Sakuma was an innocent angel, even Shuichi.
Hiro walked back into his room to see Suguru wide-awake and looking back at him.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
Suguru shook his head. "No. I can't sleep. I keep thinking about Ryuichi- san. It pains me to know someone could be that confused and hurt other people in the process. I guess he misses Tohma too much."
"That's no excuse!" Hiro said, lying on his bed beside Suguru. "Just give me the words and that fucker will be behind bars."
Suguru sighed, brushing his finger lightly over the red comforter. "I...I don't know what I want. It wasn't his fault and I'm not holding so much of a grudge on him anymore. He loved my cousin and if he thought it was his fault he died, I wouldn't be surprised if he started hallucinating. I don't want Sakuma-san's reputation destroyed because of one little incident. It would be different if he did it intentionally. The media would be all over this like wildfire. Even Bad Luck will go down. At least Grasper may still have a chance. Hiro, if you say something, everything will be blown to hell. The world will know, everyone would turn their backs on me; it'll just be a mess. You mustn't do it...for me...okay?"
It took a long while and a lot of thought, but Hiro eventually agreed to his wishes.
A/n: thanks everyone for bearing through with my laziness to post lately, but don't give up on me now, because the next chapter starts a whole new ball of angst and twists, love and devotion, trust and betrayal, and much more! I've had so many reviewers in the past, where'd they all go?! *cries* Chapter 18 will be up in a few weeks or so. Please come back! ^^
Noriko's eyes sealed onto the blood spots on the floor. Her heart nearly stopped.
"Hiro...can I call you back?" she asked small.
"What is it? Is it Ryuichi?"
"I'm sorry Hiro," she breathed, and then hung up the phone. She knew exactly what had happened. Marching to the bathroom door, she banged on it with her fist, ignoring the sobbing cries inside the room.
"Ryuichi, open up!" she hollered, trying the doorknob, only to find it locked. "Now!"
No movement occurred.
"Hiro just called and said Suguru was in the hospital! He tried to kill himself, any idea why?!!"
Her voice had never been louder.
"If you don't open this fucking door, I'm going to break it down! You can't remember anything can you? Well, I can tell you exactly what you did!"
"No one needs to tell me!" Ryuichi cried from the other side. "I already know! I remembered, okay?! You won't understand Noriko! I told you to go home!"
She pounded on the door again. "Ryuichi, don't you understand?! You can be put in jail for this! Suguru's underage! If he reports it, you're fucked!"
Suddenly, the door was jolted open and before Noriko knew it, Ryuichi had her pinned to the wall, face in the most terrifying glare that the world never would have thought that would be worn on the angelic face of Ryuichi Sakuma.
"I messed up, you don't need to keep going with it! So I had a few drinks and thought it was Tohma! Fucking sue me! I cared for Tohma a lot and my mind wouldn't give in to the fact that he was gone, so I went to the next best thing! Satisfied?!"
Noriko whimpered, trying to loosen Ryuichi's grip against her shoulders.
"You...knew it was Suguru?"
"So what if I did?" he asked, half growling.
Noriko gasped. "No! Ryuichi, you wouldn't do that!"
Ryuichi let her go. "Wouldn't I? Care to challenge me?"
"But...you...you wouldn't be crying if it wasn't an accident! I'm sorry I yelled at you, but this is serious! Suguru's in the hospital. I don't know exactly what he did, but this disturbed him! Ryu-chan, I love you, everyone loves you, but you can't keep drinking your problems away! I know you loved Tohma and the fight before he died tore you up, but I can't see you slip again! We're the only ones left, we need to stick together!"
Ryuichi turned. His back faced to Noriko. He gave a throated chuckle.
"You mean that from Nittle Grasper's point of view, don't you?"
"Well..."
"Forget it. There's no Grasper without Tohma, I've said that before. He may have been the last to join us, but he was still important."
Noriko hesitantly, but comfortingly, laid her hand on his shoulder. "I know that Ryuichi. Tohma...he was my best friend. We all are going to miss him, but you can't kill the pain with what you're doing! For the past few nights you've been doing nothing but drinking! Please don't continue that Ryuichi, I don't want to see you behind bars."
Ryuichi's half naked form walked forth, back into the bathroom.
"Don't hide the fact Noriko. You're right; I'm already looking at that sort of future. The media is sure going to love that. 'Nittle Grasper vocalist, in prison for the raping of a minor while under the influence of alcohol'."
"Ryu-chan, it doesn't have to be that way! I'll talk with Suguru. I'll find out what really happened."
Ryuichi leaned over to shut the water off. "Don't bother. The police will tell you once he rats me out and come here to slip handcuffs on me."
______________
Noriko never went down to see Suguru. She thought it best if Suguru talks when he feels it's necessary.
From what she gathered, the hospital didn't even know of his rape, otherwise, Hiro would have told her straight off. She continued to stay with Ryuichi and watch over him with love and care so he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.
"If only I knew the truth," Ryuichi whispered later on, dressed in red sweats and a blue zip up sweatshirt, "about Tohma, I mean. No one's ever going to know whether he committed suicide or was murdered. If he did commit suicide, it's my fault. I shouldn't have yelled at him about the lyrics. I guess I was just so bent on beating Shuichi in the competition..."
Noriko sat closely beside him, resting her hand on his lap. "You have to stop blaming yourself. Tohma wouldn't want you doing that. There's nothing that's left to be done. Let him rest in peace, okay?"
Ryuichi exhaled loudly and twiddled his thumbs. "How can I let him rest when I can't even let myself rest? Oh god, not only am I a rapist, I'm a murderer!"
This was obviously a turning point for Ryuichi. Guess it fits that phrase "all good things must come to an end" Ryuichi definitely had it worse than anyone, Noriko thought. Still though, she would never give up.
_____________________
"You know, with Suguru now, I've forgotten about my own so called 'disease'," Shuichi said, flicking a card at Hiro during their boring game of Go Fish. "Everything's just stopping all of a sudden." Hiro asked for a 'three'. Shuichi gave him two of his cards.
"You said Noriko called you?"
Hiro nodded. "Yeah. She seemed kind of...tense, almost like she knew something. She did say that Suguru went over there this afternoon."
Shuichi was in full alert. "Did she?"
"Yeah, but she left."
Shuichi supported himself on his elbows. "Are you saying that Ryuichi's the one who did that to Suguru? I doubt that!"
Hiro shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know that there's more to this than meets the eye."
"Hmm...maybe I should call Yuki and let him know about all this."
Hiro scoffed immediately upon hearing that man's name. "He won't care. Don't bother. Doesn't concern him the least. He won't do shit."
Shuichi sat up. "You don't have to be an ass about it, Hiro. It was just a suggestion," he said in one of his stricter tones.
"Yeah, you also said it was a suggestion when you called to tell him about your little infection, and did he care? Of course not! Because he's a selfish bastard and you're to brainwashed to see it!" Hiro shouted unknowingly into his best friend's face, all the stress and confusion leaving his mouth in one burst of action. "Did he not jump right out and say he's glad you had it?! You call that love?!"
"At least I love someone Hiro! Unlike you who has to keep whoring around until you find a decent relationship!"
Hiro flicked the remainder of his cards at Shuichi. His eyes stone cold.
"At least what I would be in IS a relationship! Both sided, not just one! What's wrong with your brain anyway, Shuichi?! Can't you let it sink in that he doesn't give two SHITS about you?! You keep running back to him, even though the end result is still the same!"
Shuichi took the whole pile of playing cards and swung the deck over at Hiro, getting him good in the face.
"Fuck you! Who said you needed to pay attention to my life anyway?!"
In the middle of their verbal and somewhat physical fight, the phone rang, snapping both their mouths shut.
Hiro picked it up; having a feeling it was either Noriko or Ayaka. It was neither. He gave a brief sigh.
"Yes, this is he."
"Who is it?" Shuichi questioned in a low voice.
Hiro didn't answer him, just lowered his head and spoke low until the conversation ended. He clicked the power button on the cordless, but didn't hang it back up.
"Who was that?" Shuichi asked.
"The hospital," Hiro said in an equal tone. "They just told me they found out that Suguru was raped and I know who fucking did it!" he screamed, throwing the phone against the wall, smashing it into pieces.
"That's why Noriko was being so damn quiet! Put two and two together, it makes sense!"
Shuichi had never been more confused.
"Hiro..."
Hiro clenched his hands into his own hair and pulled it in sheer frustration. "That bastard!"
"What—"
"Ryuichi raped Suguru, that's why he's in the hospital, okay?!" Hiro yelled, fuming in the face.
Shuichi's mouth dropped.
"Now I'm going to find out why!"
All Shuichi could do was follow.
__________________________
It took him no longer than a few seconds to get there. When he did, Noriko and Ryuichi were in the same spot together with Ryuichi's front door was pounded on.
"Open up!"
Ryuichi immediately flinched and started to panic. Noriko didn't even have time to calm him down, for Hiro had already busted the door open and stomped in, looking like he wanted to kill someone. He wasn't far off. He took one look at Ryuichi's shaking form and had the urge to beat him until he bled.
"You...sick son of a bitch!" he screamed, yanking Ryuichi up to his feet and pinning him against the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Member of a famous band or not, that gives you NO right to rape people!" he yelled, straight in his face. His fists were so tightly clenched that they shook.
"It was an accident, Hiro!" came Noriko's sobbing, frightened voice.
"Accident my ass!" he shouted, slamming him back into the wall, then gripped a hold of his neck tightly, extracting loud cries from Noriko and Shuichi. Hiro was too busy being overly outraged that he had no idea of the deed he was committing.
"Go ahead," Ryuichi choked, only slightly resisting, "kill me."
"Hiro, stop!" Shuichi begged.
Feeling somewhat defeated that he didn't relieve all his stress, Hiro punched Ryuichi straight in the gut, making him topple to his knees, clutching his stomach and making little whimpers. He spat on him.
"I won't kill you, I'd rather watch you rot away in a jail cell for the rest of your life!"
He flinched with anger, desperate to kick him while he was down, but yelled loudly and punched the wall instead before barging out of the home in fury.
Noriko dashed down by her fallen band mate as soon as Hiro was out of sight.
"I'm fine!" Ryuichi said, slowly getting to his feet and not removing his hands from his stomach.
"I'm sorry Sakuma-san," Shuichi whispered, obviously not taking this as harshly as Hiro did. "He didn't have a right to do that."
Ryuichi exhaled loudly, struggling to ignore the shooting pain all over his body. "No...he did. I was a stupid moron for drinking when Suguru was in my presence and knocked out at that."
"How was he knocked out?" Shuichi inquired.
His shoulders slowly squared. He didn't have the strength to look at any of them in the eye. "Stress. He was yelling at me, struggling to tell me it wasn't my fault that Tohma died. In which it was! I beat him over the head about not having the lyrics to sing, then there's the fact of not knowing whether it was accidental death or not. And, safe to say, my life is no longer going to be normal."
Feeling horrible for his idol, Shuichi slipped his arms around his waist. Ryuichi complied. Shuichi's heart sank as his number one pop star hero sobbed on his shoulder. Shuichi didn't think of anything else, only the fact that his star was innocent. He'd fight for him, even if he did rape a minor, and his own band mate at that.
"It's alright Ryuichi, let it out. I won't allow anything happen to you. I promise."
__________________
"That sick bastard," Hiro huffed as he paraded the lighted streets of town at night, ignoring the loud cars buzzing by him. "He had no right!"
It wasn't long before his feet took him directly back to the hospital. He was more than shocked to find K and Sakano still there, and Mika as well, but that didn't change his present attitude.
"Hiro?" K questioned, standing straight after leaning against the wall.
"Did you hear?" Hiro asked, in a voice of more or less a growl.
K nodded once.
"Poor kid," chimed in Sakano, looking pitiful as ever, hanging his head low. "Who could ever do—"
"Sakuma Ryuichi, that's who!" Hiro spat, looking at no one in particular, just throwing his eyes back and forth between the both of them. "I just came from his house and had a little chat with him after I put two and two together. He even admitted it! Who knows, maybe he's even the one who killed Seguchi!"
Hiro pushed by them and marched straight to the back, not caring if he wasn't supposed to or not, he wanted to see his friend.
His face softened as he looked through the little window on the door at Suguru. He was lying down with his eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. It looked as though his lips were moving to one of their latest songs, but had tears running down his face at the same time. Hiro opened the door and entered. Suguru stopped moving altogether and stared at Hiro, half frightful.
"Hiro...?"
Suguru brushed the tears from his face quickly, pretending that they were never there.
"What do you want?"
"May I come in?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Might as well, you're already half way in."
Hiro reddened and took the seat beside him. Suguru refused to even acknowledge him.
"Are you okay?"
Suguru couldn't hold it back any longer; the sobs came into full force.
"Of course I'm not okay Hiro! Use your head, I was raped!"
Hiro struggled to stay calm for Suguru. He knew he wanted a friend right now and wouldn't give up on him.
"Okay, I'm sorry, bad choice of words. Actually, I came here...because—"
"Because you wanted to choke some information out of me, is that it?" he interrupted, staring down at his hands.
Hiro stood up and moved to the bed, sitting on the side. He used the edge of his forefinger to lift up Suguru's chin. At that exact time, two tears slid evenly down his face.
"Don't feel pity me, Nakano Hiroshi," he whispered.
Hiro shook his head. "I think you are very strong, Suguru. One of the strongest people I know. You've made such a huge impact on my life. We couldn't have gotten this far without you. I'm sorry for neglecting you before, after Tohma's death when you really needed someone."
"I just wanted to help Sakuma-san," he murmured. "He blamed my cousin's death on himself. I didn't believe it. I know they had a fight the night before, but Tohma wouldn't...he just wouldn't!"
Suguru flew into Hiro, wrapping his arms around him and bawled into his chest. Hiro rested his chin on his head and rocked him gently.
"Tohma was all I had left!"
"That's not true, I'll never leave you," he soothed, brushing his fingers lightly through the boy's green hair.
"I just want to put everything behind me...Tohma, the rape, everything. I want to start over again, but I don't want to be alone."
Hiro kissed the top of his friend's head and continued to rock him. "You won't have to be. I give you my word."
Suguru looked up at him. "Hiro...?"
Hiro smiled small. "Let's get out of here."
Hiro was able to check Suguru out of the hospital, only with the strict orders by the staff that he had to be under supervision because of the rape, and Hiro would have to change the bandages on his arms at least three times a day, otherwise they would turn some sort of brownish color and stick to the wound.
It was later on in the late evening after Suguru had fallen asleep on his bed, when Hiro's cell phone rang on a low ring. He snatched it quickly and jogged into the adjacent room so he wouldn't awaken Suguru.
"Yo," he greeted.
"Nakano, it's K," the voice on the other line spoke in his usual not-so- with-it-at-the-moment voice.
"What's up?" Hiro inquired, pacing back and forth slowly across his living room floor.
"Just checking up. Tomorrow, I've requested everyone down to the studio so we could sort this mess out. This way everyone will know what everyone else knows."
Hiro frowned. "K...that seems highly unnecessary."
K hummed into the phone. "Nope. Besides, it'll give us a chance to get back together again."
"If Ryuichi shows up, you best hold me back. I won't hesitate to kill that bastard for everything his pathetic little immature life is worth."
K rolled his eyes and itched his head. "Quite right. Nakano...we'll blindfold you then."
Hiro growled. "I'm serious! This is a severe case! He should go to jail for the rape of a minor! Anyone will agree. I won't rest until he goes there. No one hurts Suguru and gets away with it."
K was rather disturbed by his attitude, but played along with it anyway.
"My, my, from the sounds of things, activities with Fujisaki getting hot and heavy, hmm?"
Hiro's eyes sprang open. "What?! I'm his friend! I'm going to stick up for him!"
"Yup, yup, you say so. Get some sleep Nakano because I want your ass down at that studio at eight sharp."
Before Hiro could object, the line went dead. Hiro flipped the lid down on his phone and tossed it onto the chair. He debated whether or not he should be in with Suguru or sleep on the couch that night. What if he needed him?
He had begun to think about what K said about things getting hot and heavy. With Suguru? Doubtful. Or was it? Hiro stopped moving and stared at the ground, feeling all the funny sensations coursing through his body, especially at his chest. He had been so overprotective of Suguru lately, even threatened to kill the leader of Grasper without even putting in a second thought, and he wouldn't think twice about making sure he ended up in jail for it.
No one else was this serious. Everyone still thought Ryuichi Sakuma was an innocent angel, even Shuichi.
Hiro walked back into his room to see Suguru wide-awake and looking back at him.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
Suguru shook his head. "No. I can't sleep. I keep thinking about Ryuichi- san. It pains me to know someone could be that confused and hurt other people in the process. I guess he misses Tohma too much."
"That's no excuse!" Hiro said, lying on his bed beside Suguru. "Just give me the words and that fucker will be behind bars."
Suguru sighed, brushing his finger lightly over the red comforter. "I...I don't know what I want. It wasn't his fault and I'm not holding so much of a grudge on him anymore. He loved my cousin and if he thought it was his fault he died, I wouldn't be surprised if he started hallucinating. I don't want Sakuma-san's reputation destroyed because of one little incident. It would be different if he did it intentionally. The media would be all over this like wildfire. Even Bad Luck will go down. At least Grasper may still have a chance. Hiro, if you say something, everything will be blown to hell. The world will know, everyone would turn their backs on me; it'll just be a mess. You mustn't do it...for me...okay?"
It took a long while and a lot of thought, but Hiro eventually agreed to his wishes.
A/n: thanks everyone for bearing through with my laziness to post lately, but don't give up on me now, because the next chapter starts a whole new ball of angst and twists, love and devotion, trust and betrayal, and much more! I've had so many reviewers in the past, where'd they all go?! *cries* Chapter 18 will be up in a few weeks or so. Please come back! ^^