Authoress here.
Thank to the reviews I've been getting. I'm so excited that no one has flamed me
yet! (Knocks on wood!) No, everyone has been very supportive and I find myself bouncing off of the walls in my euphoria.
So here's the chapter where we find out who is the father of ToshiShindou. Maybe some of you have guessed already- I've been placing hints in and out of the story...
Breaking the Tie
Chapter Thirteen: Painful Intrigue
Aoyou Tsumaru
Toshi didn't even ask where we were going when he hurried him into the car. He was silent the entire way to the clinic, and only spoke when we stopped to take our shoes off outside of Doctor Umeda's office.
"Is this about which one of you is my father?"
Yuki and Shuichi didn't answer, staring levelly at him.
I gave him a quick hug and a kiss of the cheek. "Come on, dear, Umeda's waiting."
He gave me such a look that I couldn't even begin to wonder what it meant. But then Yuki put a hand on his shoulder and guided him in, Shuichi at his side.
Umeda did a double take as Toshi was walked into his office. The doctor was dressed in usual apparel, a zebra-patterned turtleneck in black and dark gray colors. He wore jeans, for a change, but they were as unmanly as the fuzzy pink slippers on his feet. Slim-fitting, and artfully ripped in very unmanly places, he looked more like a teenager vying for the position of school-whore.
"You must be Toshi-chan!" Umeda practically purred. "Aoyou-kun has told me so much about you."
Toshi gave a faint grin. "Has she?"
"Listen, kid, if you ever need a chiropractor, I'm very skilled with my hands." Umeda gave a wolfish smile. Yuki cleared his throat pointedly, and Umeda shrugged.
"Okay, I need just two blood samples."
"Two from everybody?" Shuichi asked, looking a little pale. I cringed- Shuichi hated blood.
"No, just one from both Toshi and one of you." Umeda clarified. He noted Shuichi's expression and nodded towards Yuki. "Do you mind?"
Yuki shook his head, tight-lipped.
Umeda invited us all to sit down and drew out two syringes, a rubber tourniquet band, a small bottle of disinfectant, cotton swabs and a pair of plastic gloves from his desk drawer. He went to Toshi first.
"Left arm, please." Toshi held out his arm almost robotically, and Umeda rubbed his upper arm vigorously with his palm before tying the tourniquet on tightly. Rubbing the disinfectant around on the crook of his arm, Umeda poised the needle centimeters above his fair skin. "It'll be done in the count of five. One, two-" Umeda inserted the needle professionally and filled the syringe- "Three, four-" he pulled the needle out- "five."
Shuichi winced and looked away from the dark red liquid in the syringe. Umeda took off the needle and threw it in the rainbow colored trash bin next to the plushy sofa. He looked at Yuki, who was already rolling up his sleeve. Umeda repeated the procedure.
He looked from Toshi, to Yuki, to Shuichi, and finally to me. "Are you all sure you want to go through with this?"
Yuki nodded curtly, Shuichi muttered a small "yes" and I managed a small smile. Toshi sat mutely.
"Toshi-chan?" Umeda's voice was brisk..
Toshi looked up quickly. His face was flushed, and his eyes were over bright like he was about to cry. "Oh… Yeah."
I studied my son carefully. After answering Umeda's question, he returned his gaze to the uninteresting coat rack by the door. Eyes unfocused, cheeks pink, and droplets of moisture clinging to his eyelashes, I could see something was wrong.
And come to think of it, he didn't say anything about the digital thing with the violins he and Suguru were working on…
I made a mental note to use my maternal prerogative and pester whatever was bothering him out once we got home. But Umeda was talking again, so I snapped back to attention.
"-And expect a call in about four hours. I'll be leaving immediately for Himishin's office."
"Thanks, Umeda." I stood up to give him a hug. He pats my head after I release him, muttering in a perfectly audible voice, "Call me later- there will definitely be juicy details with Himishin-san."
I thwacked his head playfully, discreetly gave him a thumbs' up, and followed my family towards the bright blue door leading to the parking lot.
Gravitation
It was the tensest four hours ever spent inside of the spacious Shindou-Yuki household. Aoyou went to the kitchen and started baking feverishly, forgetting her plan to weasel information out of Toshi in regards to his dull mood. Shuichi locked himself in his studio. The door was not enough to drown out the off-key warbling of the nervous rock-star, whose mood was easily shown through the quality of his music. Yuki brought out the lawn mower again (even though the gardener had long since returned) and started to attack the grass. Toshi just went upstairs, took out a pad of yellow lined paper, and started writing with a thick black marker.
Rip, crumple, crumple, and toss. Toshi was soon surrounded by little balls of wrinkled paper, ideas for lyrics that didn't express what he needed to say. Chewing on the cap on his marker, he waited for inspiration. When none came, Toshi hurled the marker against the wall. It left a black mark, and Toshi stared at it rebelliously.
He could leave it on the wall, as a teenage display of anger, as a memoir of his whirlwind of emotions.
Or, he could scrub it off before Aoyou noticed it and made him scrub it and all the upstairs windows as a punishment for drawing on his wall.
With a sigh, he went to get a sponge and cleanser, looking at the luminous digital clock by his bed. Three hours and forty-two minutes.
Shuichi sang into his karaoke machine along with himself on screen. The only difference was that On-Screen Shuichi was dancing professionally, and emitting a sound that could make an angel weep. The Real-Life Shuichi was shaking his hips like someone stricken with epilepsy, and singing like a drunken, tone-deaf old man in a bar.
Shuichi struck a pose as On-Screen Hiro stepped foreword, guitar wailing in a solo. He stuck one hand in the air, forgetting that he still held the karaoke microphone. The machine jerked as the cord was pulled from the jack, and the speakers let out a loud, electronic shriek. Shuichi yelped in surprise, overbalanced, and fell onto his rear.
He looked up. The screen showed him singing soulfully, lights flashing and girls screaming. He sighed, looking at a hole in the toe of his sock. Then he looked at his bright orange wrist watch. Two hours and fifty-four minutes.
"Mietsko, eyes alight with passion, turned her face towards the dark stranger. "Thank you," she breathed huskily, "for saving my life. The rober was scarie. He had a gun. I screamed realy loudly, and only you, sexy man I will sleep with yet toknight, came to fight the robber for my honer-dfzl.kjunth
Yuki whacked his keyboard with a groan. "That's just sad." Did his spelling ever go to hell when he wasn't concentrating! He squinted at his work. "The robber was scary, he had a gun…I screamed really loudly? That's shit."
He highlighted the section, and deleted it. And for good measure went to his recycle bin, and deleted the entire story. "Fuck that."
He leaned back in his chair, eyes scanning the familiar family photos sitting around his computer. Little Toshi with his first violin- heck, the thing was almost as big as he was!
Aoyou and Shuichi riding double bareback on a gray horse, on a beach surrounded by a clear blue ocean. Yuki smiled, remembering the trip to the islands on the Southern end of Japan. Toshi hadn't been born yet, and the entire trip was basically a sex-fest. He had written an entire novel upon returning, and it had held a two-week spot on the top ten best-seller list in Japan and the UK.
And the picture of Shuichi, decked out in full leather concert apparel, a finger cocked in a come-hither motion. A small sexy smile graced the pouty lips, and the leather vest was opened. Yuki grinned wolfishly just looking at it. Then, Aoyou in a silken nightie, sprawled on the bed, hair mussed and nightie rumpled. Ah, he remembered that particular photo shoot!
His gaze moved on to the small clock next to the framed photos. An hour and a half left.
Aoyou hummed along to the radio. It was L'ArcEnCiel, a group she secretly admired. Of course, her loyalty was placed strictly with Bad Luck, and now Protégé, she loved the group's songs and interesting arrangements.
Kneading the bread dough carefully, Aoyou frowned into space. Her mind was racing with the negative outcomes possible, all counting on a single phone call.
She looked at the clock. Thirty-seven minutes left, and then Umeda was due to call.
Eiri Yuki
I made my way down to the kitchen about five minutes before the doctor had promised to call. I scowled, hoping that his 'escapades' with the other doctor wouldn't make us wait any longer.
The door opened, and in came Shuichi, looking slightly nervous. He gave me a little half smile before making his way over to the foods cabinet. He reached inside and pulled out a familiar box. Then he turned to me.
"Pocky?"
I shook my head.
"You sure? Calms me down."
In response I stood to get the pack of cigarettes out of my back pocket. I tapped one out and stuck it between my teeth, searching for my lighter. Finding it, I lit the end and sucked in the smoke, feeling a wash of calm surge over me. I scowled. Damn cigarettes. So hard to quit.
"Weren't you quitting those?" Aoyou walked out of the pantry closet, looking askance at my cigarette. I shrugged.
Aoyou shook her head and went to get the air freshener. Ever since her pregnancy she has been near obsessive about keeping the house from smelling like smoke.
The door opened a final time, and Toshi walked into a cloud of Mountain Mist air freshener.
"Sorry, honey."
"It's fine, Mom."
I waited for Shuichi's crack about how Toshi needed some freshening up, but it never came. I glanced over to see him chewing on a pocky stick, a glazed look on his face.
Toshi sat down next to me, looking at his lap. I turned to him. "Something wrong, kiddo?"
Aoyou sat down so fast across from us that I wouldn't have been surprised if the chair broke. She stared at Toshi as well. "Yeah, Toshi, I noticed you were pretty quiet in the car."
"Well." Toshi started helplessly. I saw his eyes dart towards the door, then back to his lap. "I, uh…"
"Yeah?" I started rubbing his back comfortably. I was alarmed to see tears welling in his honey-colored eyes. "Toshi, what's the matter?"
"It's Suguru." Toshi managed out. "And Keyara."
Now Shuichi was paying full attention. "What about them?"
A tear slipped down Toshi's cheek. He wiped at it in vain, but more replaced them. He crumpled visibly. "Suguru came on to me."
There was a moment of shocked silence, followed by three cries of outrage cut short by the ringing of the phone.
Toshi sat up, hurriedly wiping his face. Shuichi was looking terrified again, and Aoyou looked about ready to cry as well. Being the most composed, I stood and walked over to the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey there, it's Doctor Umeda. And who am I speaking with?"
"This is Eiri Yuki."
"Well, I'm standing here with your results in hand, and they're positive."
"What?" I couldn't quite understand what the doctor was saying in my current state.
"Well, your DNA matched Toshi's. I guess its congratulations for you, then."
The phone nearly slid from my grasp.
Umeda chuckled a little over the line. "The shock will wear off soon. Just don't gloat too much, stud. Now, I'm going to let you go, I have an engagement to attend to and…oh, do tell Aoyou to give me a ring later. Bye!"
The line cut off, leaving me still pressing the phone to my ear.
I was the father.
Me.
Not Shuichi, whose career and talents were mirrored in Toshi.
Me.
"Well?" Shuichi asked softly.
I hung up the phone mutely, and returned to my spot at the table. Then, as indifferently as I could: "The results were a match."
End Chapter
Authoress here.
DUN DUN DUNNNN! How will Shuichi react? How will Toshi and Aoyou react? What are they going to do about Suguru and Protégé?-! When will I stop asking these retarded questions?-!
Now's good.
So, how many people guessed that Yuki was the father? Review and lemmie know!