Okay, I have no idea where this chapter came from, but I decided that the group needed a lift after the rather depressing events of the previous chapter… this is also a good opportunity to take some advice given to me by a reviewer… time to make Kaede annoy somebody other than Kai!
This one might be shorter than the others, but it might bring back the humour (I hope!). Please enjoy this in-betweener. It's a little whacked out, so I hope you all like it! This the second to last chapter of this story, all that's left is the last chapter and the epilogue. The next chapter will be up soon, whether or not my friend Uyen has finished the music for the song I wrote especially for this story.
This is dedicated to my best friend Carly, who's been feeling a little down lately. Hope this cheers you up and gets a laugh out of you! Just for you the gang are going to get drunk on vodka! And when all else fails… remember the asteroid.
Disclaimer: I still don't own it… but if I did, Hiro and Suguru would be mine, and so would Ryu!
Missing Amethyst Eyes
Chapter Seven
"I'm so bored!" Kaede moaned dejectedly, about three days after the fiasco with the recording studio. Shuichi had come down with a cold, and with only three days until the concert, Sakano was beside himself.
"Well, find a way to entertain yourself." Hiro snapped. He was bored too, and that annoyed him almost as much as Kaede did.
"And if you even think about making popping noises, I'll not only kill you, I'll confiscate your Shrek 2 DVD!" Haru added.
"You're so mean Haru!" she whined.
"Awww, you guys are so boring!" Kaede pouted.
Shuichi sneezed. "Then why don't you go and do something, I can stay here." The poor boy hadn't been feeling too crash hot after the events of the last few days. Between their plans backfiring and he felt rotten because of the cold he'd caught from being outside in the rain, he felt like he'd been hit by a freight train.
Kaede brightened. "I know! Let's go and sing karaoke! None of our songs though, Western music! Its fun, my cousins in England took me to a party once and they had a karaoke machine, and we sang all these really cool songs! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" she pleaded.
Shuichi coughed. "Actually, that sounds like a good idea, why don't you go." He said.
"Well, we've got nothing else to do, and Bad Luck can't practice much until Shuichi's feeling better, why don't we go?" Akito suggested.
"YEAH! That'll be great!" Ryuichi said hyperactively.
"But we can't leave you behind Shu-chan!" Kaede frowned.
"It's not like I can sing anything with the state I'm in at the moment." He reminded her.
"Bullshit! There's plenty of stuff you can sing without killing your voice! You should come with us!" Kaede cajoled.
Shuichi thought hard about it for a while, then the first smile they'd seen for three days broke out on his face. "Yeah… yeah, I think I will come with you!" he replied.
"YAY!" both Kaede and Ryu capered about happily.
"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Hiro bellowed, hauling the genki pair out the door, "let's go already; the sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave!" he muttered.
"Don't be like that Hiro!" Kaede reprimanded him cheerfully. She pulled him aside, "Actually, being bored isn't the only reason I suggested it, it'll do Shuichi good to get out of the house and have some fun… to take his mind off things.
"Humph." Hiro grunted, but at the same time he knew she was right. Perhaps something like this was what his best friend needed.
Eiri had woken up that morning feeling extremely empty and alone, just like he had every morning since his Shuichi had left.
"I guess I can't really call him my Shuichi any more, considering I decided I'd let him go." He thought, depressed. "Nobody deserves what I put him through; I've actually done the right thing by him for a change."
But that didn't stop it from hurting like hell.
"I gotta get out of here for a while, I need some fresh air." He thought to himself. He reached for his coat and put his house keys in his pocket. Slowly, he started to walk, not really thinking about where he was going, lost in memories of what now seemed like better days. (Although they seemed like disasters at the time) he smiled to himself as he remembered a time the pink haired star had almost burnt the kitchen down… again.
Absentmindedly, he walked without really registering where he was going. It wasn't until he found himself standing in front if Shuichi's favourite karaoke bar that he realised that he hadn't been concentrating on what he was doing. He was about to walk away when he heard an uncomfortably familiar hyperactive, annoying female voice.
Wondering why Kaede was at a karaoke bar, he ventured inside… and immediately wished he'd stayed outside.
The entire gang was there, and it seemed that they'd only just arrived. Eiri tried to back out quietly and into the street, but his brother spotted him and dragged him inside, grinning wickedly,
Eiri glared at him. "You just love to make my life a misery don't you." He snapped.
Tatsuha grinned. "Yep!" he said cheerfully. "Hey Kasey! Look who wandered in unexpectedly!" he called. "Guess what!"
"It just got worse?" Eiri asked dryly.
"Yep. And she's really hyper today, so be careful. Oh, and Shuichi's here as well. He's been sick for three days, but he wanted to come and we couldn't stop him."
"Great… just great. Just what I needed; a hyperactive troublemaker and the brat." Eiri thought wryly.
"Y-Y-Y-Yuki?" Shuichi's voice quivered with emotion.
"Hello Shuichi." Eiri answered in his usual cold manor, but inside his heart was aching for the pink haired boy.
"Hey there Eiri! How's it hangin'?" Kaede yelled at the top of her lungs, right in his ear.
"Owww dammit! I think you burst my eardrum you little idiot!" he covered his ears to fend of her maniacal laughter.
"Sorry!" she replied, not really meaning it.
With a gleeful squeal, she leapt up onto the stage and grabbed the microphone. "Okay! I'm dedicating this song to Ryuichi… the original Dancing Queen!"
That got a laugh out of everybody, even Shuichi, who'd gone quiet when Eiri had showed up.
You can dance, you can jive.
Having the time of your life.
Oohh, see that girl, watch that scene,
Diggin' the Dancing Queen!
Friday night and the lights are low,
Lookin' out for a place to go.
Mmmm, where they play the rock music,
Gettin' in the swing, you've come to look for a king,
Cheekily, the girl pointed at Tatsuha, and the boy blushed scarlet, making Eiri grin. Ryu was jumping up and down excitedly, not really paying attention to anything except the song, and was hugging everybody who got too close, even Eiri, who attempted to fend him off with little success. The genki singer then threw himself on Tatsuha with great gusto, and the dark haired boy's cheeks burned like fire as the older man's arms wrapped briefly around his neck. Abruptly, Ryu pulled back and turned a red that rivalled Tatsuha's, before his hyper grin returned and he capered off to annoy Kai and Saki.
Anybody could be that guy,
Night is long and the music's high.
Where they play the rock music,
Everything is fine; you're in the mood for a dance.
And when you get the chance…
You are the Dancing Queen,
Young and sweet only seventeen,
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine,
Woah yeah…
You can dance, you can jive.
Having the time of your life!
Oohh, see that girl watch that scene,
Diggin' the Dancing Queen!
Suguru had his eyes glued to Kaede up on the stage, she winked flirtatiously at him and he blushed and grinned back.
Neither Tohma nor Eiri missed this and they both grinned despite themselves. "Damn teenage hormones!" they said together.
They grinned at each other. "Ah to be young again." Eiri said dryly.
"Speak for yourself!" Tohma retorted good naturedly. "You're seven years younger than me!"
"Can't help bad luck." Eiri replied wryly. "But if it's teenage hormones that are the problem, then what's Sakuma's excuse?" he asked.
"Who knows? Does he even need an excuse?" Tohma answered with a smile.
"Well, whatever it is, it's driving Tatsuha up the wall." Eiri added with a wicked grin, watching his younger brother become increasingly uncomfortable and nervous around Ryuichi, the singer had returned to bug Tatsuha, and had dragged him over to the nearby dance floor.
Tatsuha, not going to miss an opportunity to be close to Ryuichi, even if he was 'dating' Shuichi, went along with the dancing, his blush intensifying as Ryu brought his body incredibly close his, the Nittle Grasper star's lips ghosted lightly across his and he gasped.
Ryu bounced back. "Sorry Tatsuha-kun! I got a little carried away!" he said cheerfully before bounding away to check on Shuichi, who was laughing at Kaede and trying desperately to ignore Eiri.
You're a tease it'll turn him on,
Leave him burning and then you're gone.
Looking out for another, anyone will do,
You're in the mood for a dance.
And when you get the chance…
You are the Dancing Queen,
Young and sweet only seventeen,
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine,
Woah yeah…
You can dance, you can jive.
Having the time of your life!
Oohh, see that girl watch that scene,
Diggin' the Dancing Queen!
Kaede finished the song with a flourish and a grin for her applauding friends. "Thanks Kaede!" Ryuichi yelled and she gave him a thumbs up.
She leapt lightly off the stage and ran over to Eiri. "What did you think?" she asked.
Eiri smirked at her, "Between you and the brat's crap singing, I'll never get any peace." He answered.
Kaede grinned wryly. "Good to have you back, Eiri nii-chan." She said. "But you don't have to be mean about our singing!" she wailed.
"I'm not being mean, I'm being truthful!" Eiri replied.
She poked her tongue out at him and called across the room. "It's one of the guys' turns to sing… Hey Hiro, why don't you?" she yelled to him.
"WHAT?" Hiro yelped. "You are really pushing your luck Kaede!"
"Hiro, please just do as she says, I'm the one who'll have to listen to her if you refuse." Suguru pleaded.
"Yeah, and so will we, please spare us the agony!" Sanosuke added with a pained look on his face.
With a groan, Hiro reluctantly took to the stage. "Any requests?" he asked, and immediately regretted that he had. Kaede leapt up to whisper something in his ear. He turned pale, "Any other requests?" he asked pleadingly. When none came, he resigned to himself to the fact that he was indeed singing…
First I was afraid, I was petrified,
Kept thinkin' I could never live without you by my side.
But then I spent so many nights thinkin' how you did me wrong,
And I grew strong.
And I learnt how to get along.
And so you're back, from outer space.
I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face.
I should've changed that stupid lock; I should've made you leave your key,
If I'd have known for just one second you'd be back to bother me.
Go on now, go, walk out the door,
Just turn around now, you're not welcome anymore.
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with your lies?
You think I'd crumble? You think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no not I! I will survive, whoa as long as I know how to love,
I know I'll stay alive.
I've got all my life to live; I've got all my love to give.
I will survive, I will survive,
Hey, hey.
The group roared with laughter and clapped Hiro's bravery in getting up there to actually sing it. Even Shuichi found it amusing.
Hiro got hurriedly off the stage when the song finished and went to the bar to order himself a vodka. He downed it on a single gulp and promptly ordered another.
"Okay! Who's next?" Kaede inquired. She needn't have asked because Tohma was already on stage with a grin on his face as the intro to the song he'd chosen began to play cheerily through the room.
Ryuichi laughed. "YEAH! GO TOHMA!" he yelled.
Eiri looked at him quizzically. "He only sings this song when he's smashed." Ryuichi explained.
Eiri grinned despite himself; he recognised the song. "This'll be interesting." He murmured delightedly. He'd never seen Seguchi really off his face before, and hadn't really noticed any difference in his brother-in-law that could've shown that he was drunk.
He never thought he'd live to see the day he'd hear Tohma Seguchi sing this song…
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly lollipop.
Call my baby lollipop, tell you why.
His kiss is sweeter than an apple pie.
And when he does his shaky rockin' dance,
Man, I haven't got a chance.
I call him…
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly lollipop.
Sweeter than candy on a stick,
Huckleberry, cherry and lime.
If you had a choice he'd be your pick
But lollipop is mine!
"Oh dear God! It's the end of the world as we know it!" Suguru muttered under his breath, slapping his hand to his forehead.
"Yeah, but at least it's funny!" Shuichi replied, breathless from laughter. "Looking on the bright side, check out the look on Mika's face!"
Sure enough, Mika was glaring daggers at her husband, while trying to ignore him at the same time… needless to say it wasn't happening as well as she'd hoped. She took another sip of her vodka cruiser and shook her head in despair at his antics.
"I must admit, this is rather amusing." Suguru conceded.
Crazy way he thrills me, tell you why.
Just like a lightning from the sky.
He loves to kiss me 'til I can't see straight.
Gee my lollipop is great.
I call him…
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly lollipop.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly.
Lollipop-a-lollipop, oh lolly, lolly, lolly lollipop.
He finished and jumped lightly off the stage. Eiri and Ryuichi were doubled over in laughter as he walked back over to them, slightly unsteady on his feet.
Reaching into one of his seemingly bottomless pockets, Ryuichi pulled out a worn Polaroid and showed it to Eiri.
"This was taken at the last Nittle Grasper get together." He said, breathless from laughter. Eiri nearly choked when he saw the photo. It was a picture of Tohma in a very bright lollipop costume, standing next to Ryuichi, who was dressed in similar attire.
"Just how drunk were you?" Eiri demanded.
"Too drunk to remember that it was us that spiked the punch!" Ryuichi replied cheerfully. Eiri groaned, glad that that was the one party invitation from Tohma that he'd turned down.
"Me next! Me next!" Ryu cried excitedly. He gambolled happily about until Tohma shoved him in the direction of the stage. "Get on with it then!" he said good naturedly.
Ryu was about to start when Suguru and Sakano, beset by the one, two or three too many vodkas they'd consumed within the last five to ten minutes, simultaneously began to shriek about two different things at once.
"AAAAAHHHH! It's an astroid! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Suguru screamed, pointing at the disco ball before falling unconscious to the floor.
"THE LOLLIPOPS ARE AFTER ME! THE LOLLIPOPS ARE AFTER ME! NOOOOOO!" Sakano screeched, apparently seeing flesh eating lollipops as a part of his hallucinations, before he too passed out on the floor.
As Hiro helped Kaede shift Suguru off the dance floor, he said wryly; "I thought he didn't drink."
"There's a first time for everything. Even Sano's had a couple tonight, although nowhere near as much as the rest of us." Kaede was slurring her words a little.
Up on the stage, Ryuichi was waving Kumagoro around dangerously. "Kumagoro says that we have to sing a happy song to make Shu-chan feel better!" he yelled. Shuichi turned about three shades of red and put his head in his hands due to embarrassment.
When the daylight's gone,
And you're on your own,
And you need a friend, just to be around.
I will comfort you; I'll take your hand.
And I'll pull you through, I will understand.
And you know that I'll be at your side.
There's no need to worry.
Together we'll survive,
Through the haste and hurry.
I'll be at your side, if you feel like you're alone,
And you've nowhere to turn,
I'll be at your side.
"Cute." Tohma said with a grin.
"Shuddup." Eiri growled.
"But why? My, my, my; could it be that you haven't been coping without Mr. Shindou as well as I had thought?" Tohma teased him.
"Shuddup." Came the icy reply.
"Ryu really likes him, you know." Tohma continued recklessly, unaware of how close he was coming to a severe beating.
"Dammit Tohma! Do you think this is easy for me? Do you really think I wanted to give up on our relationship?" Eiri demanded.
"Then why did you?" Tohma asked before moving off to join Mika at the bar.
When Ryu finished the song there was a round of applause and a loud call for Shuichi to get up on the karaoke stage and sing something.
He willingly obliged and made his way up to the microphone, acutely aware that Eiri was watching his every move.
"Hey Shuichi! Can I make a suggestion?" Hiro asked. Shuichi nodded and his best friend whispered something in his ear. Shuichi grinned widely, feeling much better than he had that morning and drunk enough to agree to almost anything.
I wonder if one day that you'll say that you care,
If you say you love me madly I'll gladly be there,
Like a puppet on a string!
Love is just like a merry-go-round, with all the fun of a fair,
One day I'm feeling down on the ground, then I'm up in the air.
Are you leading me on?
Tomorrow will you be gone?
I wonder if one day that you'll say that you care,
If you say you love me madly I'll gladly be there,
Like a puppet on a string!
I may win on the round about, then I'll lose on the sweeps.
In or out there is never a doubt, just who's pulling the strings.
I'm all tied up in you,
But where's it leading me to?
I wonder if one day that you'll say that you care,
If you say you love me madly I'll gladly be there,
Like a puppet on a string!
I wonder if one day that you'll say that you care,
If you say you love me madly I'll gladly be there,
Like a puppet on a string!
Like a puppet on a string.
"Now that's what I call ironic." Eiri muttered to himself. Suddenly, alarm bells went off inside his head. Something was very wrong with all this.
"I smell a rat." He said aloud.
"Well finally!" Kaede said from behind him.
"Whaddaya mean 'finally'?" Eiri demanded immediately.
"That's for me to know and you to find out." She informed him cheekily.
"Kaede!" Eiri said warningly.
"Look, its best you hear it from Shuichi, not me or anybody else." Kaede said before running off to sing a song with Saki.
"What the hell is going on here?" Eiri thought to himself. "I'm so fucking confused; the left side of me doesn't know what the right side's doing!"
Out loud he said; "Fuck this… I'm going home."
And that's exactly what he did.
Shuichi watched him go sadly. Tohma and Mika walked up behind him. "Maybe it's time we came clean with him; told him the truth." Tohma said quietly.
"Yes. We'll except full responsibility if you decide to tell him the truth." Mika added.
"It's a little too late for that don't you think?" Shuichi sniffed.
"No, we still have one more opportunity to fix this." Kaede said. "I've got something for the two of you that might go a long way towards fixing this fuck up."
"Oh? What is it?" Shuichi asked.
Kaede put her fingers to her lips. "Shhhh… it's a secret." She whispered with a wink at her pink haired friend.
"You'll find out in three days." She told him.
