Chapter 3

"Na no na no na no- Heeey, Nakano-san!"

Before Hiro could turn around, something soft hit the back of his head. He noticed Sakuma-san's stuffed bunny Kumaguro on the ground and a forlorn Sakuma-san some feet away. He picked up the toy and tossed it back to Ryuichi, apologizing for not paying attention. Normally Hiro would be overjoyed at talking with his idol from NG, but chatting didn't have the same excitement without Shuichi. The next morning had already come and he received no news from Yuki. And now that Hiro had to keep Shuichi's disappearance a secret, he felt a bit antsy. He had no idea how long he'd need to keep up the image of the oblivious friend, and if the singer was gone for even another day, things would get ugly. Lead guitarist or best friend, Hiro wasn't that skilled at elaborate schemes. Then there was Ayaka. There were only two more days before she returned home and he didn't want to miss his chance to be with her after such a long wait.

Ryuichi, whose energetic expression was permanently glued to his face, peered at Hiro with his hypnotic blue eyes. "Nakano-saaan, are you ok? You don't act like yourself today."

"I'm ah, just tired. Nothing to be concerned about." Hiro half lied.

While Ryuichi nodded in understanding, Kumagoro's ears were wiggling and its head swiveled from side to side. Then it leaned over to his ear and something was said, because he looked around too. "Hmm, I don't see Shuichi either, Kumagoro. Where is he today?"

Hiro hadn't thought that far ahead yet. "Maybe he's running late. You know how lazy he can be."

The idol singer made a noise of agreement. "I know. It's so hard to get up in the mornings. Kumagoro here bothers me so much. Pushing me out of bed, making me eat breakfast at the table and not in bed. I keep telling him it's convenient to eat and sleep there, but he doesn't listen. But I guess he does have a point when I accidentally dump my breakfast on the covers. Cleaning up takes so long."

"I gotta go. The boss has been pretty uptight because of our busy schedules lately and I'd rather not be late. Catch you later, Sakuma-san." Hiro's abrupt farewell ended with an exaggerated salute to the floppy-eared bunny.

He turned the knob of the meeting room door, only to jump when the muzzle of a revolver leveled at his nose. If anyone in the band had the least exposure staring down the barrel of a gun, Hiro would be that member. Complaints during practices were almost non-existent and he tried to direct his bursts of adrenaline to rockin' on a guitar instead of wailing rivers like Shuichi did whenever things didn't agree. Fujisaki acted similar to the guitarist, though he tended to argue with K more. That naturally resulted in more shooting threats, but a shot never got fired at him. Shu tended to be the common target out of all three of them.

"K-san, it's only Nakano," Fujisaki coaxed to their manager, probably thinking that the man's finger would slip. Hiro was surprised; their producer Sakano always seemed to be the one who tried to placate the big guy, but he wasn't around.

K lowered the gun a slow three inches. He greeted in a suspiciously unruffled voice, "Good morning Hiroshi. You are on time. Excellent. Unfortunately, the time is nearing the hour and our last band member will not be so lucky. Where is Shuichi?"

A gulp rushed down Hiro's throat. "He's sick."

"Sick?" The manager's blond ponytail shifted as he tilted his head to the side. "With what?"

Man, think fast. "A fever. He can't get out of bed today, it's so bad. Shuichi couldn't call in to NG because he couldn't move."

Again the revolver aimed at his forehead. "If he's so sick and can't talk, then how did you talk to him?"

Hiro caught his mistake and managed to reply in an equally calm tone, "I called Yuki-san. Shuichi didn't answer his cell phone when I called this morning. I wanted to meet up with him so we could go to the studio together. I was informed that our singer isn't going to make it today. Maybe even tomorrow," Hiro tossed in at his next breath.

Squinting for a couple long seconds, K gradually grinned and holstered his firearm. "All right. No problem. We must remain diligent during this push to release Bad Luck's newest album, despite Shindou not being present. This means it's just the two of you, boys. And you know what happens when someone in the band is absent."

Fujisaki and Hiro let out a loud groan and simultaneously shouted, "Overtime today! Shuichi, we're going to kill you!"

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Shuichi, I'm going to kill you! Eiri's mental threat didn't help as he typed out a paragraph that had something to do with peanut butter and a rather large machete. Forgoing sleep for a second night, his writing was beginning to sound stranger by the sentence. But that was part of the Eiri Yuki charm with the female readers, wasn't it? They loved anything he wrote and if peanut butter was meant to be thought-provoking and deep, he wouldn't argue. Eiri didn't realize his angry thought had transferred itself to the outside world until the words appeared on the screen. He had been trying to distract his mind by continuing his story, but his hasty promise about finding Shindou to that Hiro guy made an attempt at distraction a short one. If the band mate held up his end of the bargain by lying to his manager, Eiri knew he had to follow through on his part and do some heavy fishing today.

Concentrating on the novel right now was a joke. The short-haired blond saved his work and decided to go out. He made himself look more presentable and sailed out the front door in minutes. The air felt a little too warm for his taste, but the occasional breeze helped. He strolled in the direction of the park, thinking that the view would be a lot better than crappy traffic. The loud mix of engines and the occasional stereo system tuned to an infernal beat of rock didn't help the tapping beat of a small headache that brewed behind his forehead. That was probably due to the cigarettes. He couldn't remember the exact number he went through in the past couple days, so it was logical to assume that he smoked through way too many.

Eiri wandered aimlessly for a couple minutes in the park and he soon came across a refreshment stand filled with busy customers who wanted the same thing he did: a cold drink. Only non-alcoholic. He ignored the ogling stares of a group of three young girls in school uniforms when he passed by them. Whether they knew of his popularity in the writing world or if they just considered him to be a good-looking foreigner, either way, he was grateful when none them heckled him for autographs or conversation.

At the shaded counter, he paid for a hand-chilling can of iced tea and headed to the walking paths where blessed shade from trees beckoned. Before he could open his drink, it fell out of his hands when a strong set of arms looped hard around his neck. The assailant's grip had some strength in it, and he knew he was dealing with a man. Not able to do much else, Eiri's head connected hard with the attacker's face. Immediately, the arms let go and Eiri spun around to take out the bastard with a left hook. The man clutched his face and yelled, "Ow, ow, ow, ow! What sort of greeting is that!"

Air flooded back into Eiri's lungs and when he saw whose head he had hit. His expression was not a delightful one when his fist lowered. He might have oddly laughed if he was in a better mood. Fury, embarrassment and a strange disappointment shot through his body. "What in God's name are you doing?" he growled.

The other man finished checking that his face still remained intact and nothing was broken. He removed his hands and groaned. "Not the right thing to lighten you up, obviously, EIRI YUKI."

"Be quiet you. Don't call me that in public. That's my alias, remember?" Eiri hissed.

The apology that came next was not at all apologetic, and the accompanying low bow looked absurd. "Oh, I'm sorry Uesugi-san, I forgot the ladies chase after you because of those romance books you write. How forgetful of me. Forgive me, forgive me."

"Tatsuha, you will never understand how tough it can be." The guy the grouchy blond nearly decked was his younger brother. He dropped by from Kyoto a few times a year whenever he could get away from their strict father and his ostentatious rules. Tatsuha trained to be a monk and was expected to take over as head of the Uesugi family later on in life. Eiri wanted nothing to do with priest life or restrictions that came with the responsibility, so naturally his younger brother was next in line to inherit the role. Eiri idly wondered what their father would say if dear Tatsuha returned home with a broken nose, courtesy of Eiri Uesugi? The notion amused him.

Tatsuha smoothed his ebony bangs back into place. "Being wanted by hoards of women is something you enjoy, admit it, bro."

The novelist began to glare. "What do you want? Are you here just to test my patience? You won't get positive results today."

It was a joke, it was a threat; whichever way Tatsuha interpreted his question, the answer was calm. "No need to bite my head off, big bro. I'm just as surprised to see you here."

No response came from Eiri. He wished he could light a cigarette to show that he didn't give a crap, but he'd have to settle for his can of iced tea instead. He picked it up and tore it open. The sweet liquid went down forgivingly quick. His tiny headache had now grown and all because of his idiotic brother's dumb stunt. His forehead throbbed with painful intensity, and Eiri winced a bit before he could hide it. Tatsuha noticed this and apologized sincerely, "Uh...sorry about earlier. I didn't know you would freak out that way. We could sit somewhere if you want."

Eiri's shoulders moved, but his feet didn't. "How did you get here?"

"Mika helped out dad in the temple. When she was there I managed to get her to convince him to let me have a free day. She brought me here and we hung out. I have some time to myself before I head back to her place. I'll be going home tomorrow."

"Clever as always, isn't she?" Eiri grumbled this more to himself and he took some final swigs of his drink. His older sister always had some crafty ideas brewing in her head and it usually had something to do with convincing him to return home for a visit. Considering Mika was Tohma's wife, Eiri wasn't surprised. Both of them were conniving people. Both of them tried really, really hard to get what they chased after. No wonder they got married.

Tatsuha looked around briefly, then said,. "Where's your lapdog?"

He was left with an open mouth when Eiri strode away. An empty can joined relatives as Eiri tossed it into a recycling bin. His raven-haired sibling caught up annoyingly fast and commented slyly, "I'm kidding! You two didn't break up, did you?"

"Why do you think that?"

"You look worried about something."

"I do not."

A loud laugh came. "You can't know how your face looks. Besides, I saw you buying your drink and you didn't look like yourself."

Shuichi had been taking up residence in his thoughts, but the tired author didn't figure that his worrying seemed so frank on the outside. He eyed his brother. "Since when did you care so much about my welfare?"

"Mika reminds me how you're important to the family. She doesn't spend much time with you 'cause she knows you're busy with everything. I know she cares about you." Shyness made Tatsuha glance elsewhere. "Um, that goes the same for me too."

Eiri regarded him in surprise. It had been a long time since he heard anyone in his family speak so candidly. He found it hard to do himself, but with Shuichi in his life, he revealed more than he ever did before. Sometimes he felt embarrassed to say what he really felt, but Shuichi always squealed whenever he said something caring and honest. A pang of longing went through him at the thought of Shuichi. He hoped the psycho would return soon. Eiri rubbed an affectionate hand over Tatsuha's spiky locks. "Look, I should go. There's something important for me to do."

"About Shuichi-kun, right?" Tatsuha winked an indigo-colored eye.

Eiri didn't answer, but when the corner of his mouth twitched up, his younger brother grinned.

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A/N: Chapter 3 is done! Sorry for the wait. Please leave a review!