Authoress here, actually.

Wow, this is weird. Out of no where I thought about the song "It's Raining Men" and I was struck by INSPIRATION! And FINALLY! The carrot-eating dog we were dog sitting is GOING HOME! I have discovered I am not a small yippy dog person.
Maybe that's where the inspiration came from. Tee hee!

This chapter is for my good friend LadyKatsu, who is now officially old. Happy Day of Birth!

I don't own "it's Raining Men," Gravitation, or Malice Mizer. If only I did.

Breaking the Tie
Chapter Nine: Dissention in the Ranks

Gravitation

"That'll only work if we have an entire orchestra behind us…. Mm… Well, I had an idea, but I'm not too sure if it'll work, I'm going to have your dad help me with some of the sound mixing this afternoon if he's available…." Toshi bit his lip thoughtfully, eyes riveted to the glowing computer screen in front of him, the phone cradled between his ear and shoulder.

On the other line, Keyara made a small sound of interest. "What's your idea?"

"If I can record myself playing three different parts, like a melody and then two sub lines, then I can digitally create an entire string orchestra playing three parts. It's an idea that will either work really well or be a waste of many sleepless nights working on the score and recordings." Toshi sighed.

"Sounds cool. Three parts, though? Wouldn't four be more standard? In the Tokyo String Orchestra they play a minimum of four parts. And Daddy got me the score of that one Malice Mizer song with the violins, and they have five parts."

"Yes, I suppose." Punching a few keys on the board in front of him, Toshi squinted at the black notes stringing themselves along the staff. A sixteenth run, followed by a tricky trill into a fall along a chromatic line to an octave jump….. Ultimately cool stuff. "Gosh, Keyara, just wait until you hear this, I have a counter line here that would blow your mind."

"That's why we're called Protégé!" Keyara sang sweetly. "Speaking on the topic of the no-name song… how're the lyrics going?"

"Not good." Toshi winced as he admitted his less-than-wonderful progress on the song lyrics. "I've been trying, Keyara, I really have! But the song has a feeling of sort of, I don't know, like an "I should have known" feel to it. Sort of a disappointed acceptance and I'm not in the right mood to write that way."

"Toshi, I hate to put so much pressure on you, but I can't write good lyrics. I suppose you could ask Seiya…" The hint of disgust was badly disguised, but Toshi hardly noticed.

"Maybe, but I don't want to bug her right now, it's her big brother's birthday party…"

"Since when did she have a brother?"

"He's nineteen today." Toshi said with a smile. "Didn't you ever ask her how she started playing guitar? We've all known each other for a couple of months."

"… No." Keyara sounded slightly regretful. "I don't really talk to her about stuff I don't have to."

"Well, he took it up when she was six or seven, I forget, but apparently there's huge sibling rivalry between them. She always tries to do everything better than him, and she started taking lessons with him. He found out he didn't like playing, and she found a new passion." Toshi explained, smiling. Seiya always spoke of her brother Gensei gruffly, but it was easy to see how much she looked up to him.

"I'll bet they're close." Keyara sighed.

"Yeah."

"I always wanted a brother. Not a sister, I had enough of sharing with other girls at boarding school." Keyara sounded wistful. "Daddy was sort of like a brother, 'cause he's young for a parent."

"How old was he when he adopted you? How old were you?"

"He was twenty-two. I was seven."

"Wow," Toshi said softly. "He could be your brother." He smiled to himself, pleased that Keyara felt comfortable enough to talk to him like this. They had kissed only yesterday, and already he felt he knew her deeply.

"Hey Keyara?"

"Hmm?"

"Is your dad the reason you play synth?"

She laughed. "It started when I heard Daddy play on TV before we even met. He was my hero; I loved playing on the piano in the home I was in. I won a ticket to a concert of theirs on a call-in radio show, and the woman who ran the home arranged for me to meet Bad Luck afterwards. Daddy said that when I walked into the room, all alone and half petrified, half excited out of my mind, he said knew he'd be a part of my life."

"That's so cool. Just like that?" Toshi couldn't believe how she was opening up to him.

Keyara giggled. "Yeah. He started the adoption process about two weeks later, and suddenly I had a real home, a real dad. He taught me himself how to play synth when he learned I liked piano."

"Now there's one heck of a story. A lot cooler then mine, anyways." Toshi laughed.

"Well, what's yours?"

"I saw a violin when I was five, asked Dad for it, he bought it, Mom insisted on private lessons, and Father got me in the habit of practicing."

"You're right."

"About what?"

"My story is cooler."

Keyara burst out in laughter as Toshi started to protest good-naturedly. "Well, I'm just agreeing with you! Anyways, I've got to go. Talk to you later."

"Yeah, later."

Toshi set the phone down, looking at the computer with the lines of music still glowing on the screen. He picked up a marker that had been lying on his desk, and pulled a pad of yellow paper out from under a few books on his shelf. Transferring to his bed, he began to write.

It's three AM and I still can't sleep

Watching time fly by on the inside of my eyes,

I'm wondering what she'd say if she knew I can't eat

Or breathe or live without missing the way it used to be

I'd rather die trying,

Than live and keep on wondering

I'd rather die lying,

Than face you with the awful truth

That I miss you…. Yeah, that I miss you…

Toshi sang his work aloud, grinning at the perfect way it fit the melody. He wouldn't have believed it would have worked, but writing exactly the opposite of what he felt was coming up with decent lyrics. With another earsplitting grin, Toshi starting humming as his marker flew across the paper.

Downstairs

"Oh, can you hear that kid? He is so-so, oh, Yuki! I'm just-"

"Babbling?"

At Yuki's dry remark to Shuichi's excited stream of consciousness, Aoyou giggled as she dunked the sponge back in the soapy water. Washing the dishes too big for the family dishwasher, she stood at the sink in the kitchen while in the dining room the next room over Shuichi and Yuki listened to Toshi's clear voice ringing out from the upstairs bedroom.

Aoyou closed her eyes as Toshi stopped singing, and started the same melody on the violin. His talent was easy to see, even for a non-musician as herself. She knew someday someone else would notice, and he'd be as big as Shuichi.

"Oh, Yuki, I'm so happy! You should have heard this other band at NG when they heard Protégé rehearsing Scream the other day. The guitarist is somewhat of a local legend, and even he said if Protégé flew with Tohma he'd be worried about the competition! And no one expected them to do well…"

"No one thought you'd do well, either." Yuki pointed out.

"Yeah, well." There was a chink of glass on wood as someone set their glass down. "Like father like son, I guess."

Aoyou slowed in her scrubbing of the vase she held, almost feeling the tension fill the room as Shuichi realized what he said. There was a long silence, broken only by Toshi humming along to his violin upstairs. Then Yuki spoke, coldly.

"So he's your son, now?"

Another silence. Aoyou dropped all pretense of washing the dishes, but did not go into the other room to intervene. This was an issue that had to be faced at one point.

"I-I didn't say that-" Shuichi faltered.

"But you meant it."

"What, then he's yours? I thought you didn't want a kid. That's the way you acted when Aoyou got pregnant." Shuichi was angry; furious even. Otherwise, he would never speak to Yuki in such a manner.

"What I felt sixteen years ago is no longer relevant."

"Really."

"Yeah, really. And yeah, lately I've been pretty sure he's my son. He's singing, Yuki! He's performing! You've heard him play-"

"He's writing, too." Yuki snapped. "And just because he has talent with music-"

"Just because what, Yuki?" Shuichi said softly. "Just because he's got light colored eyes? Well, maybe you haven't noticed, but I have light eyes, too. He's built like me; he's got my hair color, and my talents. And I want him to be mine."

After a long pause, Yuki spoke. "I want him to be mine, too, Shuichi. And just because he's got 'your hair' doesn't mean anything."

Aoyou heard a chair slide backwards and then footsteps going out of the dining room and up the stairs as Yuki sought the solitude of his office. Shuichi sniffed, and remained in the dining room.

When she met Shuichi and Yuki, she doubted that they would let anything come between them. Now, it looked like they were ready to come to blows over who had provided one single sperm.

Aoyou pressed her forehead to the door, a tear running down her cheek. She had refused the DNA test before, but if they asked now, she couldn't say no anymore. Even though she dreaded it would rip the family apart, she couldn't keep Shuichi and Yuki in the dark. It wasn't fair.

It was time to see her therapist.

End Chapter

Authoress here.

I HATE IT WHEN MY INTERNET GOES CAPUT!

Anyways, this chapter was a little bit to get to know Keyara. I'm surprised at how many people don't like her! She does have a guarded personality, but hopefully this chapter will help some readers with this character.

Speaking of my readers (you) I have a favor to ask. I'm stuck about a particular character. Aoyou's therapist will play a crucial role in the next couple of chapters, and I'm lost as to what his personality should be. I know I want him to be a guy, and I was considering a Dr. Umeda from Hana-Kimi type person, but I don't want him to be gay. (That would be pushing it on plagiarism. Eep!) I want him fruity, but ARGH! I don't know!

So, if you leave a review with your idea with a character description, that'd be absolutely peachy.

Review!