Chapter 3: Uncertainty

In the darkness, a silhouette sat comfortably... it held up an inanimate object and caressed it as if it were alive. The silhouette moved closer. The silver streaks of sunlight escaped through the dusty window glass, making the person's identity vaguely recognizable.

He laughed in his low voice, holding the object in his hand, which appeared to be a doll. The doll, still and smiling, gave him comfort. Its beady eyes and red locks made it adorable. It wore a blue dress, which was nothing elegant, but emphasized the color of its hair. He caressed it, then pulled it close to his face and kissed it softly. The silence added the solemnity of this strange activity. He started to speak softly, enticingly to it...

"I've been so lonely for so long. It will not be long until we are reunited. Isn't it right? I can't wait... You can't wait any longer either... You don't admit it, but I can see right through you... I feel the same way... My doll, my inanimate companion, you shall soon come to life, embodying all pleasure... I will have you soon... It won't be long... You shall bring us together..."

He continued talking in his calm tone, promising the doll in his hand; "It won't be long..." he continued caressing it and then lay it upon his chest. His grinned widely, and then everything was still in the silence and darkness...

Shuichi opened his eyes slowly, blinking a few times, before he recognized the room he was in. He had forgotten that he was not in Yuki's apartment. He slowly sat up and stretched, feeling a slight pain on his back. He must have slept without moving all through the night...

He searched the bed beside him. He saw no trace of Hiro. The bed was made-up and the guitar lay on top of it. The chimes were all he could hear at the moment.

Shuichi got up, walked to the bathroom and washed himself. The water once more made him recall all that had transpired the night before. He felt the gloom overcoming his emotions. He tried to close his eyes and let the water wash the feeling away, but he could not dismiss the thought... He needed to call Yuki very badly.

Shuichi walked out of his room, fresh and wide-awake, but his face clearly showing the confusion inside him. He expected to find K or Hiro seated on the couch, but they weren't there. Shuichi raised a brow, and decided to check the other rooms.

He knocked each room, and not hearing any response, opened them only to find them empty...

"Where the heck is everyone?" He scratched the back of his head. He felt annoyed at the moment, but a sudden thought hit his head. He smiled widely, and ran to check K's room.

"It must be here somewhere..." Shuichi mumbled to himself as he sorted through K's bags. No doubt, he was looking for his phone. He searched thoroughly, anxious that he would recognize his phone.

A barrel of ammunition and miscellaneous, deadly weapons after, Shuichi gave up the search.

"Of all the things he could forget..." Shuichi moaned in disdain. There was no other choice, there was no phone in the apartment, which was obviously part of K's plan to keep him less distracted about Yuki... but it seemed that the more he was kept away from Yuki, the more he thought of him...

Shuichi decided to watch the television as he waited for their return. Without a phone and without knowing where they went, who knew what he could do if he got into trouble... especially since the mob was at every turn, silently, stealthily awaiting for him... Shuichi shuddered at the thought and rubbed his injured stomach.

Shuichi flipped through the channels, looking at them blankly and finding no interest in any one of them. He almost flipped through the last available channel, until he heard the news caster mention the one word he could not ignore...

"Yuki?!" Shuichi repeated as he thought he heard the news caster mention his lover's name... he frowned upon discovering that it was a weather forecast.

"Snow to come..." Shuichi repeated sadly, thinking of the snow he lived with everyday, and was now helplessly detached from.

A clanging of keys caught Shuichi's attention, and he shifted his gaze towards the door. It swung open, and K smiled widely as he held a brown bag. Hiro followed with two more, Fujisaki carrying plastic bags at each hand and Sakano grunting at the weight of a smaller plastic bag.

Before Shuichi could ask them furiously about leaving him in the apartment, K flashed his wide grin and held out a box of Pocky. Shuichi felt his anger quickly subside, "Their intentions were good anyway, right???" He thought to himself as he nibbled on a stick of strawberry pocky.

"Sorry Shuichi-kun," Sakano apologized wearily as he lay the plastic bag on the table, "We had to run and get a few stuff for our trip later. You do know that we start the filming today, right?" he smiled softly, as he wiped his head with his handkerchief.

"Huh?! Today??" the pocky in Shuichi's mouth broke, "Since when? I mean, when did they tell you??" Shuichi said as he tried to arrange his thoughts. It was so sudden, and to think, he was going to be "watched" by Mr. Miraku...

"Oh!" K stopped his sorting of bullets for a moment, "I guess you went to bed really early last night that you weren't able to hear about it... I'm sorry, Shuichi kun!" K tried to smile.

Shuichi frowned a moment. He couldn't imagine how Mr. Miraku would be watching his every move; he didn't want to think about it. Then again, it was going to happen... and it would be happening for the next 2 weeks...

Hiro noticed the expression on his friend's face. He looked at K, who was currently engrossed at refilling his magnum with new bullets.

"Hey K," He said calmly, "since we're leaving in an hour, why don't you give Shuichi some time to talk to Yuki? I mean, he wasn't able to call him last night, you know... plus, the conversation was cut short."

K paused a moment, magnum in hand. Everyone felt nervous at the seriousness on his face.

He could shoot at any one of them if he wanted.

K smiled, then reached into his pocket and gave Shuichi his cellphone. "It must have slipped my mind. I'm sorry again, Shuichi-kun."

Everyone sighed in relief.

Shuichi reached for his phone, wide-and-teary-eyed. He smiled back, then headed to his room to make the call in private.

Once seated on his bed, Shuichi started to dial. He placed the receiver to his ear, and heard the continuous ringing. His anticipation grew greater at each passing ring...

"Hello?" a stern voice answered.

"Yuki!" Shuichi answered happily.

"Shuichi..." the voice grew soft for a moment, then was stern once again, "how are you?"

"I'm great!" Shuichi answered, forgetting all that had happened yesterday.

"How's the weather over there?" The voice asked with disinterest. Shuichi knew that Yuki didn't care about the weather... But anything that would keep the conversation going was worth answering.

"It is pretty cold! And it makes me think of you even more." Shuichi said in a childish-yet-tender tone.

Shuichi thought he heard a soft giggle...

"I received your message..." Yuki continued, "Was there anything wrong? You sounded awful."

Shuichi paused a moment, and felt unsure whether he should tell Yuki about what had transpired.

"I just missed you... really." Shuichi smiled softly.

Yuki didn't answer, his breathing shallow and calm... it was as if he had heard that line one-too-many times.

"Yuki?" Shuichi asked, after the long pause.

No reply.

"Yuki??" Shuichi's voice grew more alarmed.

Still, silence....

"Hello??? Yuki?? Are you there? Answer me! Please... if this is a trick, it isn't funny at all!!!" But Shuichi knew that Yuki rarely played any tricks on anyone... in fact, he NEVER played tricks on anyone.

A deep voice suddenly overcame the conversation, which paralyzed Shuichi's heart for a second.

"Hello Shindou... kun... Yuki is busy at the moment..." It greeted eerily.

A click, then a monotony of beeps. Shuichi stared at the wall across him, dazed at what just happened. His mind could not understand it at all. His mouth ajar, he pulled the phone from his ear and looked at it, as he expected it to do something more. The beeps continued.

Next thing Shuichi knew, Hiro was walking into the room. His voice drifted into an echo, everything was fading. He felt himself slowly dropping and finally surrendering onto the cushion under him. Hiro ran to him, held him, and shook him... The movements of Hiro's mouth showed that he kept screaming; obviously alarmed... but the darkness blurred the vision, he could see nothing more; all he could hear was the beep... the endless beep. He felt Hiro's shakes.. He felt helpless, like a doll. And soon, he gave up... His mind drifted into the darkness, and he no longer saw nor heard anything...

"Hello? Shuichi?" Yuki called into the receiver, as silence overcame the other line.

"Shuichi??" Yuki repeated, the tone of his voice hinting panic. "Shuichi..." a click then a succession of beeps was all Yuki got in reply. He held the receiver from his ear, and was dazed for a moment. A feeling of dejavu silenced him, as he stared at the receiver in his hand.

Finally awakening from the daze, he replaced the phone on its cradle. He rested his head on his hands. He could not dismiss the grave feeling inside him. He knew there was something wrong... but he paid no heed to his heart's demands. His mind would not accept the irrationality of his dreams and the simple cut-off of a phone call. Could it all be just a coincidence? Yes, probably that was it...

"Just coincidence... Shuichi will call back soon..." Yuki wiped his face with a tissue and stared into the laptop, at the unfinished line...It all seemed incoherent, pointless at the moment. He felt restless. His mind was completely lost; he had no idea what to do... And he couldn't understand why.

Shuichi winced as the bright light stung his eyes. Everything was blurred. He blinked a few more times, and realized that everyone was staring down at him.

"W-what's going on?" He asked softly.

"That's what we were going to ask you, Shuichi. Are you okay now?" Hiro answered.

"Y-yeah, I think I'm okay now." Shuichi rubbed his eyes and got up slowly. He noticed a jar of smelling salts in Sakano's hand.

"What happened back there?" K asked suddenly, "Weren't you talking with Yuki? Did something happen??"

Shuichi paused a moment, the memory coming back at once... still fresh in his mind.

"It's all so weird... I don't know what happened..." Shuichi shook his head.

"Tell us, Shuichi-kun." Fujisaki pressed.

"I-I..." Shuichi stuttered, "I don't know... one minute I was talking to Yuki then... then suddenly it was quiet..." Shuichi paused a moment, squinting a bit. He continued, "and then this voice... I don't know who it was. It sounded familiar and yet, I didn't recognize it at all... He told me... the voice... I- I forgot..."

Shuichi noticed as everyone's serious expression shifted to surprise.

"What exactly did it say, Shuichi kun? Can you at least try to remember?" Sakano asked once more.

"It said something like... 'Yuki is busy...' something like that..." Shuichi looked up at them, his eyes showing how he hoped that one of them could give him an explanation... something he could believe for the moment.

"Are you sure the voice wasn't familiar? I mean, it could have been Tatsuha..." K tried to ease Shuichi's sadness, although even the idea was not credible even for him.

"I know Tatsuha's voice... but this voice, it was low and full... It would have probably sounded like you, K... but there was something in that voice. It was angry... or at least, it sounded like a threat... I can't describe it! I just know that it sounds familiar yet... I can't..." Shuichi's voice started to trail off.

Hiro patted Shuichi on the back. And reassured him for a moment, "Shuichi... Maybe it was just a fault in the phone company or something..." But everyone knew how they could find no rational explanation for the event. They had no idea how they could reassure Shuichi that it was all a joke... How could they tell him that it was just a dream; that he was just imagining or hearing things? That would be a lie...

K walked to the door, looking back at Shuichi. His stern face grew soft, for the first time, he had shown sympathy... "Shuichi," He called, "You can keep your phone with you... I hope it helps... I know we'll find a solution to all this soon." And K walked out.

Sakano and Fujisaki gave Shuichi a reassuring smile, and encouraging words as well as they left the room to attend to the packing again. Although they wanted to help their lead vocalist, it was no doubt that they had to attend to the present matter...

Hiro sat by Shuichi. He could not find anything to encourage him. Afterall, how could he promise Shuichi that he can solve it? How could he know what exactly happened? In the silence, Hiro simply offered the company...

"Hiro.." Shuichi softly called.

"What is it, Shu?" Hiro looked at him, eager to hear something that would help him.

"Don't you feel... weird... around Mr. Miraku?" Shuichi asked, his tone showing uncertainty.

"Why? What is it Shu?" Hiro was surprised at Shuichi's question.

"I can't explain it Hiro... I just... I don't want to be anywhere near him. He makes my skin crawl.. I don't know why. I feel so guilty... I'm so confused!!!" Shuichi was at the brink of tears.

Hiro could not bear to see his friend cry again, as he noticed Shuichi's tear-stained cheeks the night before, his phone in hand, and clutching the blankets as if his life depended on it. He thought fast, and offered the best words of encouragement he could...

"Shuichi... until this is done... I'll watch over you." He said calmy, reassuringly. Shuichi looked up at Hiro, his eyes questioning him.

"I'll look after you, for Yuki. And besides, you're my friend. No matter what the reason... even if you can't tell me... I'll make sure he doesn't come near you. He'll have to deal with me before he does anything to you... and I'd gladly risk my life for it." Hiro smiled.

Shuichi's eyes twinkled, and he smiled. Out of the surge of emotion, he hugged Hiro with all his might. He couldn't express the joy he felt...

"Hiro... thank you..."

They arrived at the studio. Shuichi kept an eye out for Mr. Miraku. He was nowhere in sight at the moment. Hiro stood by him, and nudged him. Shuichi looked up at his friend, and saw him wink, he felt secure once more.

"Mr. Miraku will be arriving later," K said, "for now, let's get Bad Luck ready for the shooting..." He smiled, standing proudly and his hands resting on his hips.

Shuichi shuddered at the sound of the name. But shook his head, forcing the thought to go away...

He walked into the dressing room, and immediately they were attended to by the make-up artists. The bright light made him squint every now and then. The thick make-up made him feel queasy... he was just thankful he didn't look as silly as the time he tried applying make-up on his own.

"Even Yuki disapproved of it..." Shuichi thought.

It didn't take very long. There they were, assembled at the studio, with all the props needed. Hiro asked Shuichi, "Didn't they say that we were going to run or something? Why are we cooped up in here?" Shuichi shrugged his shoulders.

K's voice echoed from the distance, and footsteps were becoming audible. Shuichi gulped, he knew who was coming. He froze as he saw the silver shimmer at the distance.

"It's okay Shuichi..." Hiro assured him once more, his eyes set on the same person.

K stopped in front of them, and right beside him was a widely-grinning Mr. Miraku. Shuichi slowly moved behind Hiro.

"Good morning Bad Luck, it is indeed a pleasure to have you here." Miraku smiled, then shot a glance at Shuichi.

Shuichi felt Hiro's muscles tense. It was obvious Hiro finally understood the feeling.

"Okay, so this is how the filming is going to take place..." Miraku started off, explaining the details. Shuichi tried to listen, but the words only seemed to pass through his ears... by the end of the briefing, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

"Shuichi.." Hiro whispered, "You okay? I'm sure this guy's got something up his sleeve but..."

"What is it Hiro?" Shuichi looked at him in panic.

"Oh no... you weren't listening." Hiro's eyebrows slanted, "Fujisaki, you and I are going to take different shots... separately..."

"No way..." Shuichi whined. "We'll be in different sets then? Oh no..."

"Don't worry Shuichi, I'll do what I can. Until then, try to remember something... uhm... maybe Ryuichi's self defense tactics or something... you remember any???"

Shuichi nodded slowly, "Yeah, I think so... ehe... I'll go and find myself a plush toy..."

Mr. Miraku walked towards them, smiling as he usually did.

"Are you guys all set? We'll be starting soon." He glanced at Hiro, who had a stern expression on his face. He paid no attention to it, and instead, peered over Hiro's shoulder, to Shuichi who was trying hard to conceal himself.

"It is indeed a pleasure to be doing business with you..." he extended his hand, offering a handshake. He waited for Shuichi to take it.

"A pleasure it is..." Hiro smiled, and shook Miraku's hand. He thought he noticed a momentary frown on Miraku's face. Then, he smiled once more and walked away.

Shuichi stood on the set. Alone and unsure of what he was supposed to do. Apparently, the second briefing given by K made no sense either. His thoughts were cluttered, and he felt paralyzed just recalling how Hiro was in a separate set. He was interrupted from his thoughts once more, as he heard the door open, and heavy footsteps coming towards him.

"Okay, Shuichi kun, you remember what you have to do, right? Sakano looked at him.

Shuichi felt at ease... finally, he saw someone familiar.

"Uhm, it's still a little vague, Sakano kun... sorry." Shuichi sheepishly smiled.

Sakano smiled back, then started explaining.

"You see the green background, right?" he asked although not waiting for Shuichi to answer, "you just have to pretend that instead of that, you are surrounded by Sakura trees. Now, wait for the signals, they'll tell you when you're supposed to look up. And then when you do look up, you're supposed to reach for something. Then, that's it."

"All I do is reach for something???" Shuichi tilted his head.

"Yes, but that isn't the end of it, once we finish that, we'll be covering the second part of the commercial. Nothing to it, Shuichi kun! Do your best!" Sakano smiled and clapped his hands, "Oh, and Mr. Miraku may come by to check up on the filming, since I have to supervise Hiro's scene."

Shuichi's smile dissolved as Sakano walked out of the door, and Miraku came in.

"Ready, Shindou kun?" Miraku smiled at him once more.

Shuichi gulped then nodded.

Author's note: HI!! I'm so sorry for the delay. This chapter isn't that long either. Waaah! I have to work on the next one. I'll make sure the next chapter will be longer, hai hai!!! Thanks sooooo much to those who read and left comments for this fic!!! bows continuously thank you thank you thank youuuuu!!!