Disclaimer: Gravitation belongs to Murakami Maki, I only wish I owned Ryuichi.

Another AU (Alternate Universe/Timeline). What if Seguchi had been there to save Yuki after the Kitazawa incident? How would the Gravi lives be different? Contains considerable Fake crossover. I find Ryo and Dee convenient when I need New York police.

Strange Bedfellows

Chapter 3

Stepping off the plane in Tokyo, Yuki knew this was not going to be one of his best days. He had slept nearly the entire trip, at least the leg from Los Angeles to Tokyo. His muscles were cramped, grumpy, and severely jet-lagged. It also did not take him long to realize that Tokyo, and probably all of Japan had not changed much. He had been assigned several overseas jobs in the past, but he had always avoided Japan and any associated memories. His fear that he would be assaulted by unwanted childhood associations proved unfounded. No sense of nostalgia at all intruded and he went to gather his luggage with a new sense of determination.

After gathering his one small suitcase he began scanning the crowd. There was supposed to be a representative from NG Records here to meet him. At first he did not see the diminutive man holding a sign with his name. He had been told that he would be met by a tall blonde American who liked to be called K who was the band's manager. The man who did show up turned out to be Bad Luck's producer Sakano. He was dressed in the typical suit and wore glasses. He also seemed very nervous and hyper, bowing repeatedly and muttering incessantly. The man's behavior only served to further annoy him

"I really must apologize, Mr. Yuki. The man who was scheduled to meet you, Mr. K, has found himself in a bit of an emergency this morning. One of Bad Luck's band members has turned up missing and he is attempting to track him down. Mr. K will be joining us as soon as he is able to locate the boy. Mr. K has sent his deepest regrets."

'A missing musician,' Yuki thought to himself, 'probably the little brat he was hired to hit.' Ever since he had first read up on his mark he had been calling the kid 'Brat'. And, the fact that the brat was now missing was just another point against him in his book. This might mean a delay in his plans, he was not working on a huge timeline here and any delay could be disastrous.

There was a limousine waiting at the airport entrance and Yuki climbed in and sat back trying to relax. It had been a long flight and eventhough he had slept nearly the entire trip, he was still tired and he was hungry. The limo did not make very good time through the heavy morning traffic. He was able to relax for a while allowing some of the tension to slip away. By the time they arrived at the studio his mood had improved slightly.

The building was very modern, all chrome and glass. He did not take particular notice of any of the features. It was not relevant to his current job. If the hit was to be committed here, then his eyes would have been searching for the tiniest details anything that he could use to his advantage.

Once inside the building, Sakano led him to what was obviously a recording studio. Making sure that he had a seat, Sakano excused himself promising coffee and snacks in a few minutes. Taking his sunglasses off, Yuki examined the room, although he had never been in a recording studio, it looked very typical of what he had seen in pictures. He was obviously in the studio itself. He could see the glass walls of the sound booth and the control room from where he was standing. The only unusual feature of the room was a small dance platform at the far end of the room.

Looking at the platform Yuki was surprised to see a kid in shorts and a tee-shirt dancing on the stage. He wondered why he had not seen him when he first came in. The kid had obviously not seen him either. He could not see the boy's face because of a pair of large sunglasses and his hair was stuffed under his hat. The kid had a set of headphones jammed over the hat and was dancing to a beat only he could hear. He guessed the kid to be about sixteen, just going by his body. Someone's child maybe, or a friend of one of the musicians, he didn't know and did not really care but, the dance was intriguing.

He found himself watching fascinated. What, at first, had looked only like wild movement on the kid's part was really a very seductive performance. The kid's movements were erotic and Yuki could imagine that he was watching lovers on the stage. Suddenly he felt a sense of embarrassment and his face grew hot, thinking about what it would be like having that lithe body wrapped around his. As young as the kid looked Yuki doubted that he even knew what kind of picture he was making.

Sakano returned shortly and offered him coffee and pastries. Yuki took a cake and began shoving it into his mouth to try to cover the flush on his cheeks. But, he still could not pull his eyes from the stage.

"Don't mind him Mr. Yuki," Sakano apologized after following Yuki's gaze, "he's always doing stuff like this, you'll get used to it."

Yuki silently decided that he would never be able to get 'used' to seeing this. Could someone get used to an itch they couldn't scratch? Just as he was starting to feel his face flush again the doors to the studio burst open. A tall, blonde, American male came bursting in dragging a surly looking red haired man by the shirt collar. A very short green haired boy followed close behind, this kid refused to look up past the toes of his shoes.

The blonde, whom Yuki assumed to be K, grabbed the red head and started shaking him hard enough to make the red head's teeth rattle and began waving a gun in his face. K was yelling something about groupies and diseases. Sakano did finally manage to separate the two. When the scuffle was over K was still huffing in displeasure and the red headed boy looked like he was going to vomit on the floor. Everyone was so busy watching the little scene, no one saw the kid from the stage approach the group.

Yuki had already identified that neither the red head nor the green haired boy were his mark, and he was wondering where the brat was.

"Well Sakano you owe me that bonus, I got them all here on time." K looked very smug at the announcement.

Yuki could only wonder where the mark was if everyone was there. Suddenly the ball of energy that had been dancing on the stage stepped in front of him grinning like an idiot.

"Wow! You have the most amazing eyes. Are you Japanese? You are, aren't you?"

K took two steps and was behind the boy slapping him on the back of the head hard enough to cause the hat and sunglasses to go flying across the room. Pink hair flew out from under the cap and Yuki nearly choked, 'This kid was his mark?'

"Aw K what did you have to do that for, that hurt?" The kid was rubbing the back of his head.

"How many times do I have to tell you Shindou? You do not wear you disguise in the studio, especially not when we are meeting guests!"

The kid looked down at his toes, "Sorry K, I forgot."

Very quickly the kid forgot all of his remorse and raised his head to look up at Yuki. Violet eyes met his gold and Yuki felt a shock that went clear down to his toes. He knew that the kid felt it too because he could a small gasp escape those perfect pink lips. The kid then bowed his head and spoke to the floor, "I hope you will forgive my earlier rudeness sensei?"

Yuki had expected to hear some sort of mocking tone from the brat, but there wasn't even a hint in his voice. He had to take a deep breath before speaking, "Sure kid, no problem," he had to choke the words out and he hoped that no one would notice the stress in his voice. This was his mark? This was not some spoiled rock star, only a kid.

Introductions were formally made and Yuki was ushered into an office with the others. They were given instructions about what was to be expected of all of them. Yuki was specifically instructed as to what topics he could cover. It was pretty must standard until K added one last part, under no uncertain terms was Yuki to ask Shindou about his love life.

"He is very delicate right now Mr. Yuki." K told him with no further explanation.

Everyone was dismissed from the meeting room but Sakano held him back for a few minutes. "I need to ask a favor of you Mr. Yuki. I had attempted to arrange for a translator and tutor for Shindou-san. He speaks absolutely no English. Since I was unable to secure someone else's services at the last minute, I was hoping you would assist him. This would mean that you have to stay at Shindou's apartment for the duration of your stay here. It would mean an extra bonus for you and you would not have to worry about a hotel charge. Would you be willing to assist him?"

"Sakano-san," Yuki was trying to sound as exasperated as possible, "I do not mind assisting, of course, but I have found that I am impatient and not a very good teacher."

"Then try not to think of it as teaching, just try to give him pointers and some of the more important phrases he might need. Will you agree?"

Yuki glanced back through the glass to see that the brat was earnestly singing his lungs out up on the stage and felt a sudden chill run down his spine. One of the biggest parts of this assignment had been to get close to the kid and then betray him. This set-up would be giving him the perfect opportunity.

"I will do it." He gave a small bow to Sakano.

Sakano left the room leaving him standing, wondering what he was supposed to do next. But, as soon as the door closed behind Sakano, it reopened and K strode in. It was time to get down to business. He interviewed K first. The man was more than open with his present day work but refused to answer any questions about his past before becoming involved in the music business.

His interview with Sakano went well, however at times the man would become so hyper that he was difficult to understand. The actual band members were next Fujisaki Suguru was first, the shy green haired boy, turned out to be the keyboard player. At least he was shy until you got him taking about music, then he was in a world all of his own. Yuki couldn't understand more than half of what he was saying, but he was recording the interview and could ask someone else for an explanation later, in layman's terms. The red head, now much calmer was Nakano Hiroshi, guitarist. He already had the impression that this guy was more of typical rock star because of the incident with K earlier today. But, this guy seemed to be really down to earth and extremely intelligent to boot.

His final interview of the day was to be with Shindou Shuichi, the brat. The minute the kid took a seat, Yuki knew that the interview was going to be difficult. He couldn't seem to be able to look away from the kids eyes. The brat finally squirmed a little in his seat under his gaze.

"Yuki-san, do I have dirt on my face? You keep staring like I do."

Yuki realized that he was staring and reminded himself that he needed to focus. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid jetlag is finally catching up with me." He faked a yawn to make his story more plausible. Tearing his eyes away he concentrated on the questions he had chosen to ask and was finally able to start the interview.

The entire interview was making him extremely nervous. No one had ever made him feel like this before. He usually didn't feel anything. The brat laughed and smiled easily and more than willing to answer any questions he had. One of the last questions had to do with the singer's self-image compared to his public image. The brat laughed so hard at this statement, Yuki wondered if he had actually said something wrong.

"It's funny Yuki-san, I have the public image of sex god, I am very good at making girls squirm and faint when I am on the stage. In real life I am single with no real prospects. I have never been to club in my life, unless I was on their stage. I like to stay at home and watch TV, play video games, and friends usually come to my house."

Yuki was amazed surely this was not the truth. Never in his life had he heard of a rock star, at least not a young one, who was a homebody; it would ruin their public image. It was a relief when he finally ran out of questions and the interview ended. The brat actually came over and gave him a hug before he left the room. Yuki was left sitting speechless until Sakano came in and announced that it was time for lunch.

Sakano actually sprang for lunch in the commissary. Now that everyone was back at the table Yuki could feel that there was a great deal of tension around the table. K kept shooting heated glances at Nakano and then sympathetic ones to Shindou. Suguru, when he bothered to look up at all also kept sneaking glances at Nakano. Nakano would sometimes return K's heated looks but seemed to be refusing to look at Shindou. The brat himself was trying to be friendly to everyone. To Yuki, the kid seemed less and less brat-like all the time. Sakano was talking a mile a minute, trying to act like there was nothing wrong at all, which only made things worse. But, Yuki could tell that whatever the problem was, everyone was blaming Nakano.

After pushing his food around his plate several times, Shindou finally stood, "Sorry, I need to return to the studio to work on lyrics. Thank you Sakano-san for the lunch." None of the food on his plate had been eaten. After a few seconds Nakano also excused himself and chased after Shindou.

As soon as Ryo and Dee left the plane they caught sight of Yuki getting into a limo that was marked NG Records, it was a good thing it was also written in English since Ryo could speak some Japanese, but admitted that could not read any. At least they now knew where he was going, they would not have to play follow that cab. Both had to admit that the NG limo picking Yuki up made his story of being here to chronicle a band legitimate. They decided not to speculate about anything for a while at least until they could get more information.

Ryo started to hail a cab for them but Dee stopped him. "I still need to call the chief; we need to know if we are legal yet." Not wanting Yuki to get too much of a head start, Dee ran to the bank of phones and dialed New York. It only took a minute of chief's screaming for him to find out they could operate under Japanese authority. He hung up the phone before the chief was finished to save his eardrums. Ryo was waiting impatiently.

"We're all set. We just need to check in at nearest Japanese equivalent of a precinct. It has been arranged that they will give us temporary ID and authority."

The cab ride was short at least once they found a driver that spoke English. When they arrived their IDs were all ready, however the chief wanted a word with them before they would be handed out. The man's English was terrible and Ryo's Japanese was worse. They finally ended up bringing a translator in.

Ryo took the lead in explaining about the man they were following and what the exact situation was at this time. There were agreements made that if the man committed any crimes on Japanese soil, it would be left up to the Japanese police to make the arrest. It took over an hour to get everything settled and both he and Ryo were getting antsy that they might still lose the guy. When they finally managed to get out with their IDs, they had to grab another cab; luckily the first one they pulled over had an English speaking driver. They were finally able to sit back and relax for a while as they were driven to the NG offices.

"You go for open house?" The cab driver asked out of nowhere.

Ryo and Dee just looked at each other, not knowing what the man was talking about.

"NG is having an open house?"

"Today, in afternoon. Daughter go." The cabbie pointed to himself, "Daughter love Bad Luck singer Shindou. She hopes to see." The man chuckled and Ryo and Dee could both tell that the didn't believe that the daughter had a single shot of ever laying eyes on this Shindou. In truth Dee agreed, these sorts of things were done to entice people, without ever delivering the goods.

The driver was silent for the rest of the trip. When they arrived at NG, they had already let the cab go and discovered that the open house would not start until 3:00 pm. There was no way anyone was getting into the studio until then. There would be studio tours given and then a mini concert to follow, featuring Bad Luck. Maybe they were wrong the girl would get to see this Shindou after all.

Not wanting to try to get another cab, they took a stroll around the building and past the parking garage. There were no less that three limos there and all were marked with the NG logo. They were all identical and there was no way to tell if the one Yuki had ridden in was there. Not getting anything useful there, they continued their walk and ended up at a café across the street from the front of the building and ordered lunch. Good thing they served American hamburgers, Dee didn't know what most of the stuff on the menu was. After they had eaten Ryo started again.

"I really does seem like this guy is legit Dee. At least he seems to be working under a legitimate cover. I think we should call Drake and have him check for any of this guy's past publications?"

"Okay, I suppose that I can," Dee really hated having to call Drake. They should have attempted to do this research before they left. The just hadn't had the time. "But, I still intend on going to that Open House, at least for a while. We can afford to look like a couple of goofy tourists."

"You call Drake. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." Ryo was escaping and Dee knew it. Ryo disliked Drake even more that he did.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

Ryo pointed down the street, "To rent a car."

Thank you to all my reviewers.

AthenBlade--They meet but Yuki is being Yuki

sua--Thank you, keep reading

girlo-Thank you for reading

Takki--K and Hiro will eventually, definately.

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