Pika pika! Arigato to all my reviewers! I will continue writing as you demand! I will e-mail your Pocky and Ramune Soda immediately! Well, thanks to your reviews, here is the next chapter... pretty fast, ne? Well I think so. This comes from the person who has had a 2-month case of writers block when it came to writing for my original manga collaboration with my sister. Lucky for me, my sister is too busy with college to notice and I can always use my job as an excuse... MWUHAHAHAHA!!! N-E-ways... the same rules apply for this chapter as the last... the more reviews I receive, the faster I issue my next chapter! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW THIS!!! Or else I will cry... and I'm scary when I cry... at least according to my sister. Either that or I make everyone else cry too. Enjoy this chapter, minna!

Special thanks to Impishy Nymph and Clari-chan for their reviews and responses... I appreciate your support and this chapter goes out to the both of you... enjoy!!!

More special thanks to my personal muse and soul-sis...Yui-Mag! I love you, Nee-chan!

Disclaimer: Maki Murikami is the Goddess of Gravitation. Just like I am the Goddess of Pocky & Ramune soda. I think I would rather be the Goddess of Gravitation... but first I need a Swiss bank account. Pocky and Ramune soda are a lot cheaper for me... actually it's all I can afford. sweat drop

Regular italicized writing indicates thoughts

Bold italicized writing indicates conscience


Chapter 2: Difference Between Strength and Weakness

"Sh-Shuichi?! What the hell are you doing here?" Hiro had just opened the door to find a strangely quiet, non-genki, but still pink-haired singer leaning on his doorway. The guitarist himself had just been rudely awoken by the insistent and aggravating sound of the doorbell. Hiro groaned inside his head as the most obvious answer came to mind.

Damn that Yuki! He's done it again! Even after he promised to take care of Shu. What a prick.

"Hiro..." The voice was empty without expressing anger, hurt, or sadness. It sounded... dead. The guitarist rubbed his eyes to clear them of any leftover sleep that might be clouding them. He leaned in to get a closer look at Shuichi, trying to determine the reason for the tone of voice.

"Was it Yuki-san again? Did he kick you out?" Hiro growled at the thought of his best friend being ousted onto the streets at this time of the night. His alarm clock had read 2:47am when he had gotten up to answer the doorbell. The singer still hadn't raised his head to reveal his face to Hiro.

"Hai... iie... I don't know. Did he just kick me out...? Or did I leave on my own? I don't remember anymore." Shuichi refused to meet Hiro's concerned eyes. His frail shoulders hung limply from his tiny frame, making him appear to be weighed down by an enormous burden. The guitarist reached for the singer, supporting the pink-haired boy under the shoulders. He pulled them inside and settled Shuichi on his couch.

"Do you want to stay here for awhile?" Hiro asked quietly. Shuichi finally looked up, his eyes blank and unfocused.

"Hai... until I can get my own place."

"Your own place? You mean... you're not going back?

"Iie. It's all over now. I have nothing to go back to."

Hiro inhaled sharply. This had happened many times before, but usually accompanied by hysteria and random bits of anger or depression. This time, there wasn't anything there. No feeling, no hope.

"Shuichi, what happened? What did he do or say to you to make you like this." Hiro pressed his best friend for answers. The singer just shrugged and averted his eyes to the clock on the wall, seemingly interested by it.

"I was fooling myself. My love is just a burden to him. He doesn't want or need me like I want and need him." Shuichi struggled to say the words as if they might choke him.

"I see..." Hiro waited for his friend to continue.

"I can't love him without hurting him. Now all that he wants is to run away." Shuichi spit the words out bitterly, as if they left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Run away...?"

"Hai. Yuki-san is leaving Japan, for good this time. He told me there wasn't anything left here for him. He's leaving me behind." The singer whispered the last sentence, trying not to cry while he said it.

Hiro raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar suffix that his friend had added to the writer's name. Not even at their worst fight had Shuichi used such a formal term for the cold writer. It had always been 'Yuki'- nothing more and nothing less.

"Well, don't worry about it right now... I'm sure that it'll work out one-way or another. It always does."

"I don't think so. Not this time."

The guitarist chose not to respond to this, and instead, began to prepare a bed on the couch.

"Sleep now. Think later." Hiro stated this with a 'Don't argue with me' look. Shuichi gave in and settled himself to sleep away his problems.

"Arigato Hiro. You've always been there for me, ne?"

"Hai. And I won't ever leave you behind. That promise is forever." The guitarist grinned at his friend.

"Well, 'nothing lasts forever.'" The singer quoted his former lover with a sad smile of his own. Hiro shot the pink-haired boy a sharp glance, deciding that this comment couldn't end tonight's conversation.

"So? Why wait for 'forever' when you can have now?"

"Nani?" The singer looked at his friend, his eyes unable to comprehend what he was being told.

"Why build your life on a promise for tomorrow, when all you can live is today? You can't live in the future, only in the present. So make the best of everything now, do everything you dream of doing today."

"Oh..."

"Don't hold back. If you do, you'll regret it tomorrow."

"Ah... I think I understand." The singer struggled with the word of wisdom his friend had bestowed on him.

"As long as you did your best for Yuki-san, you should have no regrets, ne Shuichi?"

"Ha-hai, Hiro."

"From now on, the choices he makes only fall back on him. You did your best, I think he just needs time to decide what he really wants." The longhaired brunette reached down to tousle the singer's already disheveled hair. Shuichi flashed a small, tired, and yet genuine smile for Hiro.

"Hai. I guess there's nothing more that I can do."

"All you can do now is move forward in your life... and maybe Yuki-san will decide to catch up with you after all." Hiro tried to give his friend a little hope to go to sleep with.

"Mnnn... Maybe."

"Oyasumi nasai, Shuichi."

"Oyasumi nasai."

{Next day at NG Studios}

Tohma Seguchi was more than a little shocked right now. If his psychologist had asked him at that moment how he was feeling, he would probably have told him that he was a little disappointed and very surprised. Also maybe a little pissed off. As much as he loved his brother-in-law, he couldn't help but notice how selfish Eiri was behaving.

"So you're leaving for good, Eiri? Honto-ni?"

"That's what I just said. Are you going deaf?" The writer snarled back through the phone. If they had been face to face, the author would probably have bitten the producer's head off.

"And how is Shindou-san taking this new? I'm assuming that he isn't going with you, am I correct?" On the other end, Yuki tightened his grip on the phone, wishing it were Tohma's neck instead. He had known that this subject would undoubtedly come up, but he was unprepared for how it would make him feel.

"I-iie, he wasn't invited. He'd just fuck with my head and I don't feel like dealing with his shit anymore." Instead of sounding cold and emotionless, Yuki's voice cracked as if he were unsure about what he was saying. He knew that the producer's sharp ears were sure to have picked it up.

Shit. Now Tohma is going to assume that I'm getting second thought about leaving the brat. That's all I fucking need. Damn Tohma and his persistence will probably try to follow me out of the country. If Shuichi's an overgrown cat, Tohma's a fucking bloodhound.

"...I see." The said Tohma immediately caught the variance in his brother-in- law's voice. He could pick up a fishy scent even through a phone line. Tohma the bloodhound.

"Don't bother asking where. And don't try to find out. I don't want to be bothered."

"If you say so." It was a noncommittal reply. Yuki grit his teeth in frustration, realizing that the keyboardist would never make a promise that he didn't intend to keep.

Which meant that Tohma intended to do some digging.

Which would create problems for Yuki.

Which meant that Yuki would not be left alone.

Which would ruin Yuki's plan to leave Japan behind. After all, if all of Japan followed him to the states, what was the point of leaving in the first place?

The monk-trained Yuki damned Tohma's soul to burn in hell.

"Sayonara, Seguchi-san." The writer abruptly hung up on Tohma.

On the other end, the keyboardist heard a click. He hung up as well, contemplating his next course of action. Should he let Eiri have his way, or should he pursue this further?

He smirked, not nicely.

"Iie, Eiri. This doesn't end here. Not if I have my way."

{In Yuki's apartment}

The writer lit up another cigarette. He had been chain-smoking more than ever.

Especially after a certain pink-haired singer had left his life.

More like you threw him out.

Can't you shut up for once?

Not a chance.

Figures.

So now are you feeling sorry for yourself? Poor Eiri... always the victim, aren't you?

Fuck you.

You know, you make yourself the victim. It's nobody's fault but your own.

How is that?

Instead of getting stronger with difficulty, you just get colder and bitterer. That's why you're the way you are today.

I didn't choose to be the way I am. The life pushed on me has changed me.

Shuichi didn't change, even after what life pushed on him. If anything, he just lived more. He doesn't hold hate in his heart.

The brat doesn't have enough brain cells to comprehend the wrong done to him.

Maybe, but isn't his way better than the way you live?


It's stupid and immature.

Hey, don't knock innocence. Don't you wish you could have retained yours like he did his? He copes better than you.

As in remaining stupid?

No, as in he just got stronger with what life threw at him. You, on the other had, got weaker.

I AM NOT WEAK.

Honto ni? If you're not weak, than why are you running away again?

I'm not running away. I'm leaving because I want to.

You ARE running away. And only weak people run away from their problems. The stronger ones stay and deal.

Fuck you. I said I'm not weak.

WEAKWEAKWEAKWEAKWEAKWEAK!!!

"I AM NOT WEAK, DAMMIT!" Yuki had listened to the voice long enough. He stomped over the TV and blasted the volume so that it would be difficult to hear anything else. Maybe that wasn't a good idea.

"And in the latest news, J-pop phenomenon, Shindou Shuichi and his band, Bad Luck, celebrate reaching double platinum on their newest single, 'Bird.' Here is the video image from their concert today." The shot showed Shuichi onstage, singing his heart out.

"Why do you gaze at me with those sorrowful eyes? No matter how often you turn away I can't help wanting to embrace you just one more time."

"Shu..." Yuki stared intensely at the TV screen, engraving every detail to his memory. The view changed to a full facial view. Yuki felt his breath catch at the back of his throat as the pink-haired singer flash a devilishly beautiful smile. Those eyes seemed to see right through the camera right into Yuki's eyes. Beautiful violet eyes.

You miss him. The thought wasn't a question, just a statement... a fact. Something that couldn't be argued with.

The writer felt his eyes sting unpleasantly. Dropping his hands into his hands, Yuki Eiri cried for the second time in six years.

TBC...

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