Chapter 5

"Eyes of Sadness"

A few weeks have gone by, and the band Forbidden Rose has already recorded two singles, which is going on their cd that's coming out in the fall.

Friendships have grown strong within the group, especially between Star and Kari, you could say they act like sisters.

Both are so happy and goofy, winning anyone over with their big puppy eyes and sweet smile.

And, as you would expect… Kari is still staying with Yuki and Shuichi.

"SHUICHI! YUKI! I'M HOOOOME!" Kari announced, causing Shuichi to peek around the corner and smile, "Oh you're just in time! Come try my new food creation!"

Kari removed her shoes and looked around the condo, "Where's Yuki?" she asked, "Oh he's out at a meeting, and trust me he won't be happy when he gets home, his editor is giving him a piece of her mind about his deadlines."

Kari rolled her eyes and laughed, "When is Yuki ever happy?"

Shuichi shrugged, "He is in his own ways, what can I say? I'm still madly in love." Shuichi sighed and realized Kari was already past him and in the kitchen.

"Hmmm it smells good in here, what did you make?" she asked curiously while Shuichi pulled off the lid on the pot and steam rose out and smothered their noses.

"I dunno, it doesn't have a name, just try it!" Shuichi encouraged and put some in a bowl for her.

She looked at it closely.

It looked like a chunky soup. It had bits of fish, slices of vegetables, beef, chicken, and a watery thin liquid.

"Dig in!" Shuichi smiled and Kari just smiled weakly and took a bite.

There was a silent and neither Shuichi nor Kari moved.

"Weeeeeeeeeellllllllll?" Shuichi asked, hovering over her with stars in his eyes.

Kari felt tears in her eyes. This food was like eating someone's throw up out of a garbage dump.

Kari had to think of a way to spit it out.

Fast.

Kari looked up suddenly, waving her arms and Shuichi looked at her, "What is it?"

Kari pointed out the balcony window and was mumbling words as best as she could, making Shuichi get all excited, "Who's out there?" he asked bouncing around and walked over to the balcony door.

Kari quickly spat out her food back into her bowl and coughed.

"Hey, no one's out there?" Shuichi turned around confused

Kari shrugged, "Hmm, probably just my imagination, well, gee, look at the time! I best be getting to sleep, night!" Kari called out and ran off to her room.

Shuichi looked at the time on the stove, "It's only six pm!"

Kari locked her door and quietly walked over to her bed and slowly sat down, looking depressed.

She sighed and laid out on her stomach, letting her arms hang over the bedside and realized what she wanted to get.

From between the mattresses, she pulled out an old, yellowish envelope. It crackled as she opened it and inside was a picture of her and her family along with a piece of folded paper that was worn out from the number of times it was handled.

She once again opened them and read the words written in English. The words were written in black pen and the words seemed to glide right across the page.

It was lyrics, from her birth parent. She was told by her adoptive parents that a man had given birth to her. He was one of the few back then to ever undergo such a danger life risking procedure.

But there was one thing that puzzled her.

Why was she given up after such a dangerous task? Was the mother unable to have children? Was there something wrong with her? Didn't they want her after all the trouble the two went through?

Kari read the lyrics again and small tears drops fell down her delicate face.

"Why can't I find you?" Kari said out loud, choking on her tears.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"You alright Kari?" Shuichi asked, hearing the girl's soft cries.

"Yeah I'm fine thank you." Kari said as she wiped her tears and folded the lyrics up once again and put them back into envelope but something went unnoticed and fell out and landed face down on the carpet, blending right in.

"Want to talk about it?" Shuichi asked, only to receive a muffled no.

Shuichi let his shoulders relax as he retreated to his bedroom, shared by his husband Yuki. He pushed the door to close but it was left open a little.

He sat on the edge of his bed, his back hunched while his arms rested on his thighs. He looked forward on the dresser where there were pictures of Shuichi and his family, Yuki and his family along with their wedding photos.

Shuichi smiled slightly remembering getting off that plane and that same evening, being proposed to on a roof top that was lit with candles and played sweet music. It was the perfect romantic evening.

Their wedding was held the very next month when flowers began to bloom. It was a day Shuichi would never forget.

But there was one picture missing on that dresser.

Shuichi stood up and stuck his hand in his pocket, fumbling trying to find the key for his locked drawer on his dresser.

Yuki never asked once what he kept in there; it was Shuichi's private life in a way. Shuichi carefully opened the drawer and in there were some documents, a pink teddy bear and a single photo.

A photo of his baby girl, Rose Uesugi.

His soft finger tips glided across the baby's face as Shuichi remembered the very last moment her saw her beautiful golden eyes.

She was in her mother's arms and her face looked over at his with deep sadness, her eyes screaming for him.

All that the baby wanted was her daddy.

Shuichi couldn't hold it any longer and started to cry uncontrollably.

This would be a long night for the two broke hearts.

:3:02 am:

A door creaked open as Kari looked around and cautiously existed her room. She had a notebook and the envelope in one hand and a pen in the other as she ventured her way to the living room and made herself comfortable on the cold leather couch.

The moonlight danced on her fair features as she opened the envelope and started to re-write the lyrics in Japanese. This was something she wanted to do and since she was up, she was just in the mood to do just that.

Unaware of who could have been watching her at that very moment, Shuichi looked from a distance and saw the girl writing and smiled. He use to stay up late working on lyrics just like her.

Kari's dedication amazed him. Soon enough, Shuichi disappeared unnoticed and unseen.

"Okay people, lets run through that one more time." K smiled while the four members of the band groaned.

"How many times will you say one more time?" Kano whined, throwing his hands up in the air.

K pointed his gun at Kano who instantly froze and his face turned pale.

K smirked, "That's what I thought, okay people from the top!"

While everyone was setting back up, Star whispered over to Kari, "Girl you look so tired! What's up?" she asked in a concerned tone.

Kari looked over and yawned, "Oh me? I'll tell you after we're done, whenever that is."

Star smiled, "Okay, you promise?"

Kari smiled, "Promise"

Kari started to sing her solo part in the song when she met a familiar pair of gorgeous eyes, looking in at her from the sound proof glass.

He mouthed a "hello" and she smiled and continued to sing.

That young teen would be Kin. He's Ayaka and Hiro Nakano's only son. He's eighteen years old and plays guitar and sings for NG. He's not in a band necessarily but just plays music for bands that need him, he's very skilled in what he does and his singing isn't half bad either.

He hoped that one day he could get to know Kari as a friend… maybe even more. Ever since the day he saw her beautiful golden eyes and wonderful smile, he knew he was in love at first sight. She was an angel from above that was sent down to steal his heart away and he had no choice but to chase after her.

He could even picture her sweet voice saying his name….

Kin…. Kin….

Kin

KIN!

"KIN!"

He snapped out of his trance and looked at the girl in front of him who was now smiling, "Penny for your thoughts?" Kari asked while Kin's sweat dropped. Must be an American thing.

"How's your cd coming along?" he asked smoothly while walking down the hall with her, listening to her every word.

"Oh it's great! We've gotten so much done, we're moving along so fast!" she cheered.

"Well I hope to see you around sometime, bye." Kin said and started to walk away, "Wait! Kin?" Kari asked in a sweet sadden tone.

Kin felt a tingle go down his spine, he was starting to blush but didn't want Kari to see so he didn't face her, "Yes?" he asked politely.

"Um, I'm just wondering but would you like to go out to a club later tonight? There's this new one that opened and I've been meaning to check it out." Kari rambled while Kin smiled.

"Sure I'd love to. I'll pick you up around eight pm, see you later." He said in a deep tone which maybe Kari weak in the knees.

"What's going in my head? I want to be friends with this guy but it feels like it's more than that… oh I don't have time to think about this!" Kari argued with herself till she felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped.

"Sorry, was I interrupted your day dreaming about you and Mr. Nakano?" Star teased causing Kari to blush furiously, "No! Now anyway… I need to talk to you… about-"

Shuichi sat on his couch looking down at the picture of Rose. His Rose.

"I miss you so much." He whispered causing a few tears to fall down his redden cheeks. He had been crying for the past half hour.

Everyday Shuichi thought what she was doing, how she was exceeding, what her likes and dislikes were, if she knew she was adopted, if she knew about the letter he gave to her adoptive mother, what she looked like… all those played in his mind.

"Shu?" a deep gentle voice came out of no where.

Shuichi hid the picture quickly and looked up to see Yuki looking concern, "What's wrong Shuichi? Care to tell me?" Yuki asked, taking a seat next to his partner. Shuichi was surprised by his kindness, considering his bad meeting with his editor yesterday.

Shuichi hardly ever cried anymore and when he did he would never tell Yuki why and he desperately wanted to know what was bugging his angel.

"Oh it's nothing you need to be concerned about." Shuichi said coldly as he wiped the tears on his sleeve.

"You say that every time! Are you hiding something from me Shuichi? One of these days you have to tell me! I'm your husband for heaven's sake!" Yuki said becoming a little worried and angry with his husband.

"You wouldn't understand, you would never understand Eiri." Shuichi said angrily and got up in a huff and marched off to the bedroom and slammed the door, locking it.

Yuki rubbed his forehead thinking of what his husband could be hiding because he knew for sure… it was hurting him deeply and was afraid this unknown problem would affect their relationship.

Ding dong!

Kari ran to the door, totally excited about her night ahead of her. She wore a white tank top showing some cleavage, jean shorts with a light pink half skirt tied around her waist. (A/N: like Yuna from final fantasy 10-2) She wore her hair up in a high ponytail that was all curled and her bangs were parted to the side and tucked behind her ears.

She also wore lighting bolt earrings with a black choker with a silver heart hanging off of it.

"Hey Kari!" Shuichi called over, walking to the door, Kari turned, looking concerned, "You be careful! Call the house if you need anything, Yuki or myself will help you out and be back by midnight! You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow! Well have fun!" Shuichi smiled when Kari jumped up and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, "Don't worry, geez, you act like you're my dad or something." She laughed and left with Kin.

Shuichi took a look at Kin, "Hey Kin, you do anything to her and I'll be telling your father." Shuichi winked causing Kin to laughed, "Don't worry Mr. Shindo, I'm a perfect gentleman like my father."

Shuichi smiled and closed the door and thought about what Kari said, "Don't worry, geez, you act like you're my dad or something…" Shuichi bowed his head and smiled. He never thought he would hear the name dad being addressed towards him…

As Kari and Kin reached the club, Kin tried to strike up a conversation with Kari, "So, where in America are you from?"

Kari looked up at him, "I'm from California, it's so beautiful there but I love being in my own country surrounded by people more like me." She said.

"So how are your parents?" Kari asked and Kin grinned, "Love them to death, my dad is awesome and my mom is very up tight but she knows how to get her way." They both laughed.

"Yeah they always tell me how grateful they are to have a son like me and how I have my mother's beautiful eye color, and my dad's brains and talents, they also always go on and on about when I was born and how my dad nearly passed out when my mother finally had me."

Kari smiled and looked ahead of her. Kin was wondering, "Well do your parents ever talk about how you were born? Or is that personal?

Kari shook her head, "It's already Kin, its just, they never had me."

Kin looked confused.

"I was adopted." Kari said coldly but instantly cheered up, "But that's also the reason why I'm here in Japan! To find my two parents… I want to have answers even if I don't want to hear them but I have to know the truth, I just can't live with myself knowing they are out there at this very moment… I need to solve that part of my life."

There was silence between the two for a little while.

"Well Kari, I hope you find them and if you need anything I'll be here for you." Kin said sweetly causing Kari to lightly blush and she smiled brightly, "Thank you Kin, you're such a good friend."

Back at home, Shuichi peered into the bedroom and found his lover sound asleep. He then tip toed over to the bed and go under the covers, gently kissing his husband's cheek and grinned warmly, Yuki looked so innocent fast asleep.

Shuichi rolled over and cuddled himself on the edge of the bed and softly whispered as he closed his eyes, "I miss you so much Rose." And with that the singer was sound asleep

From the other side of the bed was a confused hurtful look in Yuki's eyes…

:to be continued...:

the next chapter wont be out till like... next week around friday or saturday... cause i have finals tuesday, wednesday and thursday... so I'll update asap

Ayaka Chan