Sometimes it takes an outside force to help you finally realize things. Gravitation is strong, but some emotions are overpowering…

Stripped - by Kloudy Reignfall

Summary: As the band Nittle Grasper begins to fade into the background, new competition arises for Bad Luck. And its name is - Christina Aguilera! She and her music are having a strange effect on the Gravitation cast, bringing to light doubts and forgotten emotions. It seems like trouble, but perhaps it's just what is needed to help them finally realize…

Today's music: "Fighter" Christina Aguilera, and a bunch of other random stuff

WARNINGS: Always the same, you know, if you've read the previous chapters.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gravitation? Oh, I don't, do I? Damn. Lol oh well.

Yay, I'm sohappy! I'm posting something after such a long time!I finished it! Well, this chapter anyway. Geez, I'm so slow. Oh, but I'm so sorry to anybody who was waiting for me! I don't know what came over me, I was in a major major slump for the past few months! I wrote a couple little things, but I couldn't bring myself to work on any of my stories or anything:Sob: Anyway, here you have the elusive forth chapter of Stripped, so feel free to read (and review!) Go on!

Track Four - Fighter

The couch. What a lovely invention, Yuki thought. He'd have liked to thank the person who thought up such a comforting piece of furniture, if not for the fact that the person was likely dead by now. But really, it was a very nice thing. Always there for you when you've had a bad day, always there to comfort you with its completely inanimate cushions. Yes, Yuki was rather fond of his couch at the moment.

He unlocked the door to his apartment, stepped inside, dumped his jacket off, and slammed the door. Then he proceeded to visit his new best friend, the couch. Propping his rain-soaked feet up on the opposite armrest, Yuki leaned back and tried to melt into the pillows. No melting occurred. He remained in a solid, if slightly soggy, state. Despite his wishes, he could not become one with the pillows and they would not open up and swallow him. He lay there still, staring up at the very blank ceiling and trying desperately not to think.

This plan wasn't working either. His ever-active mind had to think of something! Whether it was of the horrid weather, the crumbly-looking stuff on his ceiling, or the queer feeling in his stomach didn't matter. But his brain would not shut down just now, not while it was reeling with so much activity.

Yuki's stomach made a funny noise. Really, the noise it made was less amused and more irritated, so perhaps the word for it should be strange. Or weird. His stomach made a peculiar noise. The noise, whatever type of noise it was, matched the feeling of his stomach. It was not at all pleasant, and yet it was not at all familiar either. Typically, Yuki's stomach was known to make angry noises and feel rather upset at times, either from unhealthy alcohol consumption or perhaps lack of food. But this was neither of those, he was sure. This was something else entirely. And this feeling was much like the feeling in the rest of his body, particularly his mind.

Shoving the topic from his train of thought, Yuki looked at the ceiling. Yes, it was… white. Maybe a light gray. And it was very… boring. He couldn't help it when his mind wandered back to the troublesome thoughts he meant to forget.

Why! Yuki thought, finally succumbing to the pull of worry, regret, and aimless anger. Why had it all happened this way? Why, why, why! Dammit, why! What had he done to deserve such a cruel twist of fate? He skillfully ignored the angel on his shoulder with its full list of reasons why he deserved no less than to burn in hell. He knew that no matter what immoral or bad things he'd done in his life, he was generally a good guy. And he'd been pretty good to Shuichi…

Ach, there was that name. That name! Oh, it drove him crazy! That boy was horrible, Yuki thought to himself. Yes, that boy was annoying, and a pain, and… and he was… bad…

The author tried to convince himself that Shuichi was evil. And that simple concept wasn't all too hard to grasp. But when it came around to the exact reason, well that was another matter. Sure, maybe the horrible boy deserved everything that came his way. But nobody deserved something without reason. And Yuki, in his logical mind, could not find the reason. Not one little reason.

This was driving him crazy. He could not go on thinking this way. Forcing himself to think of something else, anything else, he picked up the television remote and flipped through channels of meaningless nothing. He stopped on one of several music channels and suppressed an emotionally charged shudder.

As luck would have it, there was a Bad Luck music special on. From the whole 5 seconds of it that Yuki watched, he saw that it was a basic outline of the band's rise to stardom. He changed it quickly before the show brought up any matters more personal than the group's discography.

Switching off the TV and glancing around the room, Yuki decided that nothing in his house was ultimately safe to look at. Everything within sight either belonged to the pink-haired idiot or reminded the author if him. Rather angrily, he sat up and began to wonder where he last saw his two other favorite comrades, nicotine and alcohol. Realizing there was none of either left in the house, he stood wearily to find his keys.

As he stooped to pick up his discarded jacket, Yuki heard the knock on the door. Knock may not have been the appropriate word, however. The sound echoing off the wooden door was more of a disgruntled pounding. Regardless of what the sound was, there was no doubt in the author's mind that the sound was the direct product of human force. And why was there a human applying any sort of force to his door at 11:something at night?

He thought quickly of the possibilities. Who would ever come to his door? Well, Tohma for one. Mizuki also liked to grace him with surprise visits. Shuichi was an obvious choice. Perhaps Tatsuha. But Tohma knew better than to bother his brother-in-law at such an hour. His editor, presumably, had a life of her own and wouldn't consider bothering Yuki at this time of night. Shuichi… well that "knock" was definitely too aggressive to have been from the young vocalist, no matter how unhappy he'd been last time they'd seen each other. So, the only one left was Tatsuha.

He moved to open the door and then a thought struck him. Tatsuha wouldn't knock. He had a key of his own. So who…?

Yuki was tempted to just sit back down and pretend he wasn't home. Maybe then the offensive knocker would go away. But the door was assaulted with a fresh barrage of pounding. Sighing in exasperation, he slowly walked the last couple feet to the door and pulled it cautiously open.

It was a bit of a surprise to find Hiro standing there, although he knew he should have been expecting it. Who else would come to his door the night he had a quarrel with his… lover? He'd done it once or twice before, although the circumstances had been different. But why was he here now? What the hell reason did Hiro think he had to invade Yuki's personal business? Well, he was about to get an earful.

…Or so he thought. However, the long-haired guitarist simply stood there in the open doorway, a look of contempt upon his face. But really, Yuki didn't expect anything other than that. To be truthful, Yuki hadn't expected anything. His mind was in too much disarray to function properly enough to be expectant. Though it was functioning properly enough to tell him that it wasn't usually a good thing to leave someone standing in the doorway. Therefore, the options were as thus:

a. Invite Hiroshi Nakano into his home.
b. Politely ask Hiroshi Nakano to leave immediately.
c. Act on instinct and quickly slam the door in Hiroshi Nakano's pretty face.

Choices, choices. Now, the first one didn't sound too appeasing. Neither did the last choice seem like a good idea. And, alas, Yuki didn't feel in the least like being polite, so the second option was ruled out too. That being the case, he opted for the improvisional "choice d".

With a 'politely' muttered "excuse me", Yuki attempted to slide past the solid human obstruction of his doorway, still planning to go out and get himself some smokes. But he was stopped by a very solid appendage in his way; an arm to be exact. Hiro's arm, to be even more exact. And it didn't look as if it were going to move. This was very disheartening to Yuki. He blinked at Hiro with an incredibly pathetic look on his face. He'd been going for 'menacing' but this seemed to be the only look he could muster since he got home.

Hiro tactfully ignored this look. Finally, he spoke, and when he did it was slow and deliberate. "I'm having a hard time not beating you to death. And I should. You know how many times I've warned you not to hurt Shuichi again."

This seemed to knock a little bit of Yuki's usual temper back into him. The sound of that name! Shuichi. Ugh! And before he knew it, he was nearly back to his normal bastard self, defending his actions with cold eyes and a cynical hint to his voice.

"It's not my fault. I didn't do or say anything that brat didn't deserve! If he's alone and crying it's his own damn fault!" Yuki folded his arms and turned away from Hiro, frowning, not wanting to have to look him in the face, especially when he was so unsure as to if what he'd just said was true at all. Sure, he could believe it was true, but did it really feel that way? And there it was, back to the beginning again, back to not having a reason to hate.

"It's hard for me to believe anybody could be so heartless," Hiro spat. "Shuichi never deserves any of the things you tell him! He never does anything but love you, and I never understand why, and all you do is yell at him constantly for no good reason at all."

This pissed Yuki off to no end. "No reason? What would you know? I have a reason for everything I say to that brat! I'm not the one who-"

But Hiroshi interrupted him, not being in the mood to listen to his bullshit. "My best friend is back at my house, crying his eyes out and sick too, because you don't care enough not to push him out into the rain. And he's been working like crazy this whole week, trying to get past a deadline. And then that stupid Christina chick shows up and adds even more pressure to his life. He's so afraid of her, he's been worried sick that she's going to be competition and end up taking our spot on the charts. And then he has to deal with you being such a dick and all…!"

"Hey, I-!" But Yuki didn't have a chance to protest or defend himself for several reasons. First, Hiroshi was no longer standing in the doorway; he'd turned heel and left after saying what he needed to. It would have been unnecessary for him to stay any longer, it would have just caused trouble. So he'd left. Yuki, however, was still standing in the doorway looking dumbstruck.

You see, in a rare flash of understanding, he'd just had an epiphany of sorts. He hadn't been fully listening to whatever it was Hiro had been yelling at him, just hoping that it'd be over soon. But something the boy had said sank in, albeit a little bit late. It was too bad Yuki hadn't realized this earlier, but that was the way of the world for him. Fate hates me, he thought bitterly.

So… Shuichi was afraid of this Christina whore then? What! But that didn't make any sense. Yuki very clearly recalled the pervious night. Shuichi had said… Well, what was it he'd said again? Something about Christina being beautiful, talented and perfect, wasn't it? Maybe I should have paid better attention. I guess that's what got me into this damn mess in the first place. He sighed in frustration. This was all so confusing, but now that he thought about it, what Hiro said really did make sense. Shuichi wasn't in love with this girl, he was just scared that she was going to be better than him.

Yuki laughed under his breath. He should have known that it would turn out to be something like this. Shuichi always worried about little things. Then again, so did Yuki, even if he didn't really realize it.

Rubbing his head, as if to massage his aching brain, Yuki closed and locked the front door, then trudged into the bedroom. He fell down upon his comforting bed, an invention that was even better than the couch, he decided. As he let himself fall to sleep, he resolved to head over to Hiro's house in the morning and pick up the brat. They'd have a conversation and get everything straightened out. But for now, he was far too mentally exhausted to worry himself with the finer details.

End Track Four

Yay, I'm done! But this chapter felt… a little weird. It was a little tiny bit too short too, I think. Oh well. I'll just go on to the next one, and maybe it'll be better. But I still feel that I'm a slump. So, sorry if I don't get another chapter out for a while. But hopefully I'll finish the next ones faster than this. Reviews always help speed the process along, hint hint.
Oh, and I'd like to give a big giant huge enormous thanks to all of my reviewers! 'Cuz if I didn't get any reviewers I wouldn't have a reason to write, and I really love to write, as little evidence as I show for it. So, Thank you all! You're all wonderful!
-Kloudy Reignfall