DISCLAIMER: Gravitation does not belong to me.
MOU ICHI DO
Chapter 2 --- First Contact
Ring… ring… ring…
Grumbling and turning over, Yuki tried ignoring the ringing phone determined to disturb his sleep.
After numerous ringings, the machine finally switched to recording a message from the 'bloody irritating caller'.
Beep.
"Eiri-san… Are you really still asleep? If you are… that's… that's good. Can we meet up later this afternoon at NG? Sorry to disturb you…"
Yuki frowned. That was weird… he said it was good that I wasstill sleeping? And he wants to meet me? Whatever for?
"Morning! I made breakfast for us. Wanna eat?" The man, fully clothed, smiled at Yuki as he set out 2 plates of American-styled breakfast on the table.
"You know that I hardly take breakfast, Atsushi." Grunting, Yuki drew out a cigarette and lighted it instead, taking a long drag. He threw the rest of the pack onto the table and his hand accidentally brushed the remote control. Feeling bored, he picked the control up and pressed the button to switch on the TV.
"And now, we bring you the latest entertainment news! First, Tomosaka Rin has just confirmed that she is engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Takashi Eichi, a professional dancer…"
"Hmm… not even a bite?" Atsushi rested his cheek on his hand, frowning slightly.
"Whatever." Yuki gave in and started poking at the eggs and sausages. He lifted his fork.
"And lastly, happy news for the day! As everyone should know by now, Sakurai Akiha, the renowned photographer who had won the most talented photographer award of the year for 3 times in a row, is going to be in town to hold a personal exhibition where his best photos will be exhibited for everyone to admire. But what's most shocking and interesting is that Sakurai-san has revealed that this exhibition will mainly showcase photos of his current beautiful model, who is none other than Shindou Shuichi, the previous lead singer of Bad Luck!"
Yuki's fork clattered noisily onto the plate as he dropped it. Eyes wide, he stared at the pictures of Sakurai Akiha and Shindou Shuichi which were being flashed on the TV.
"Eiri-san, is anything wrong?"
"Apparently, Shindou-san had met Sakurai Akiha in America and both of them had decided to work together. In fact, Sakurai-san's winning photo of the year is one of Shindou-san. Now, the good news for all Bad Luck fans… Shindou-san will also be flying back to Japan for the launch of the exhibition!"
"Eiri-san?"
So, had Touma known about this already? Is that his reason for calling?
Without saying further ado, Yuki hurriedly proceeded to shower before driving to NG Productions.
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"Nakano-san, did you know that Shindou-san is in the modeling industry now? Or that he's coming back?" Suguru asked curiously, as K, Sakano, Noriko and Ryuichi looked in anticipation too.
They were in NG studios, working on a new song for Bad Grasper, a band consisting of Ryuichi, Hiro, and Suguru. It was formed after Shuichi left. Ryuichi was the lead singer, Hiro the guitarist, Suguru the keyboardist, K the manager, Sakano the producer, and Noriko the image consultant.
"Nope. Not at all." Hiro shrugged. "He didn't mention it in any of his calls…"
"I can't believe it. Shuichi as a model? It's kind of hilarious…" Noriko shook her head in denial.
"But Shuichi's nice and cute and pretty na no da!" Ryuichi argued innocently, raising Kumagorou in the air. "Even Kumagorou thinks so na no da!"
"But he didn't even tell me anything. What kind of friend is that? I'll make sure he apologizes for it when he returns to Japan… or maybe I'll kill him first…" Hiro frowned determinedly.
"I'm really, really sorry, Hiro. Gomen nasai!"
Everyone froze at that voice.
It can't be…
"SHUICHI!"
Everyone found themselves staring at the brown hair boy who was leaning against the door, with an apologetic look on his face. He was Shuichi alright. Same voice, same idiotic grin, same glowing purple eyes, but only with a different hair color, a little taller, more classy clothes and a 'cooler' image.
He flashed his genki smile at the shocked faces in the room.
"Shuichi!" Ryuichi shrieked and glomped the younger boy. "Kumagorou and I missed you so much!"
"Sakuma-san! I missed everyone too…" Shuichi laughed as he got up. "But Hiro, please don't kill me. I apologize for keeping it from you… it's just that I didn't want to say anything before I was confident of making it…"
"Yeah, right…" Hiro crossed his arms and pretended to look mad.
"Hiiiiiiiiroooooooo! I'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorry!" Shuichi was on the verge of tears by now. He looked at Hiro with big, pitiful, blurry eyes.
"Ok, ok! Apology accepted!" Hiro went forward and pulled Shuichi into a hug. "I missed you…Glad that you're back…"
"Me too… but I'll only be here for 2 to 3 weeks though… until the exhibition is over…" Shuichi sniffled and explained as he hugged the K, Suguru, Sakano and Noriko in turns.
"I thought that you'll only arrive 3 days later… the news reported that Sakurai Akiha's only coming on the 18th… why…" Suguru asked in puzzlement.
"Oh, that's true. Akiha's coming later. I came back first with Haruko-chan and Tsuyoshi." Shuichi waved his hand casually.
"Who's Haruko and Tsuyoshi?" Sakano voiced out the question in everyone's minds.
"Oh… Tsuyoshi is like my manager, but he's actually Akiha's business partner, friend, and helper. Haruko is…"
"Shuichi!" All heads turned to see an extremely pretty, cheerful blonde girl walk in gracefully. She was dressed very stylishly, with a long-sleeved black low-cut V-shaped blouse and jeans that hung at the hips. To top it off, she had on a long brown leather coat and a black scarf. Her hair was tied up in a long ponytail. In other words, she looked fabulous.
"Haruko! You've finished talking to Seguchi-san?" Shuichi asked disbelievingly.
"Apparently yes. Seguchi said that he was extremely busy and suggested meeting up again another day. And… he practically commanded us to leave NG immediately. Strange…" Tsuyoshi, dressed in a suit but with his tie loose, appeared behind Haruko and answered for her. His shoulder length hair was a blend of dark and light brown, and his deep grey eyes scanned the room before resting on Shuichi. He smiled. "These must be your friends, Shuichi…"
"Introduction please, Shu!" Haruko tugged at Shuichi's sleeve happily.
"Okay… this is Hiro, Suguru, K, Sakano, Noriko and Sakuma-san!"
Ryuichi interrupted by holding his stuff bunny out to Haruko, smiling widely and singing: "And this is Kumagorou na no da!"
"Hiro and Suguru were my previous bandmates, Hiro is my best friend too… K, my previous manager… be careful when you're around him. He has tons of guns hidden on him! And, Sakuma Ryuichi is my idol! My god!" Shuichi chirped to Haruko, and then turned to his friends. "This is Miyamoto Tsuyoshi-san, my manager… and his sister, Haruko…"
"Hi!" The two groups exchanged greetings.
"Haruko-san, how do you guys know Seguchi-san?" Hiro asked.
"Oh! Well, you see, my father owns a music and showbiz business in America, with business dealings with XMR and NG Productions… we're here to pay Seguchi-san a visit, while Shuichi wanted to visit you guys!" Haruko then frowned. "Weird thing was that Seguchi-san was so shocked to see us that I thought he would have died of a heart attack or something. And oniichan's right… he practically asked us to leave the building immediately…"
"It's probably because of me…" Shuichi murmured quietly.
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Haruko asked, confused, as the rest of them looked at Shuichi knowingly.
"Nothing much! It's just a hunch…" Shuichi took a step backwards, but his feet got caught in the wires, causing him to fall on his butt. "OUCH!"
"Shu-kun! Are you ok?" Haruko helped him up gently, laughing at the same time.
"You should be glad Akiha's not here…" Tsuyoshi chuckled in amusement.
"Please don't remind me! That stupid guy…" Shuichi groaned and turned green at the thought.
The gang looked puzzled.
"Haruko, let's go get the car first, while Shuichi spends more time with his friends…" Tsuyoshi turned to leave, with Haruko trailing behind after saying goodbye.
"So, Shuichi… have you been keeping something else from us?" Hiro smirked.
"Huh?" Shuichi blinked blankly.
"For example, Haruko…" Noriko teased.
Shuichi blushed furiously. "Uhm…"
"Is she your girlfriend?"
Shuichi nodded stiffly, avoiding everybody's eyes.
"Whoa! Shuichi! You're good! First you come back as a top model, and now you've got a pretty and sexy girlfriend too! Hahahahaha!" K laughed maniacally. "So I'm guessing that you're over-"
Shuichi's mobile phone rang, cutting off K's speech.
"Hello?"
"Shuichi! I totally forgot that we're supposed to meet the owner of the showroom where the exhibition is to be held! Come down now! We must hurry!"
"Right away!" Shuichi hung up and scrambled wildly for the door. "Sorry, guys! Let's meet for dinner soon. I've got something on!"
"Oi, Shuichi! Bad Grasper's holding a mini-concert at Rave Box tonight at ten! Are you coming?" Hiro yelled to the panicking boy.
Shuichi crashed out of the door at lightning speed, screaming "SURRRRE!" as he left a trail of smoke and dust behind.
"…"
"He hasn't changed much in terms of character…" Hiro sighed.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"But what will happen if Shuichi meets that guy?"
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Shuichi's back… he's back…
I've got to find out more from Touma…
But why? What for?
I don't understand what I'm doing…
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
But he came back as a famous model?
Yes, he was beautiful enough… but it's still kind of hard to imagine that a genki, noisy, silly brat like him could stay still in front of a camera.
Argh… what am I doing? Why do I-
CRASH!
"Are you blind! Don't you look where you're going! You brainless idiot!" Yuki attacked the boy (who had come running into him at top speed, thus knocking him down) viciously with words, as he struggled to get up.
"I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! Sorrrrrrrrry!" The boy cried anxiously as he leapt to his feet.
"Sorry doesn't help, you-"
They faced each other at last. Their eyes met and widened in shock.
Silence hung in the air as they stared at each other, unable to move.
"Shuichi…"
"Yu…"
Shuichi's mobile phone rang again.
"Oh shit! I'm sorry, I'm in a rush! Gotta run! See you another time!" And with that, recovering from his shock, the pink-turned-brown hair singer-turned-model gave a small smile and brushed past his stunned ex-lover, without any other greeting, nor did he wait for an answer.
Yuki turned to watch his ex-lover run off, away from him. He felt as if he had been slapped in the face.
"Shuichi…"
His hair color is different, but overall, he still looked the same… just as genki and pretty with his violet eyes and small build. His voice, his scent, his smile, his lips…
Oh shit. What the hell am I thinking of! This shouldn't be happening…what am I doing!
He proceeded on his way to Touma's office, fearing a little at the messy mix of feelings inside him.
On the other side, Shuichi keep very quiet as Haruko chattered away excitedly about meeting his friends.
His heart was still pounding fast. He was still in shock. He was happy. He was scared. He was confused.
He was…
He was…
He was…
I didn't expect to meet him so soon… And I didn't even have time to say anything... When Akiha told me that I had to return to Japan for a few weeks, I knew that I would most probably see him again. That was my greatest fear and worry. I planned on avoiding any chances of meeting him as best as I can… but…
Yuki…
A tiny part of me wanted to see you again… at least to see that you're happy and fine… without me.
Yuki…
xx tbc xx
Haha… it was only a short, short surprise meeting. But they did have bodily contact! Hee…
Anyway, I know it's lame… but Bad Grasper is a combination of Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper. Touma's too busy as Shachou to be playing the keyboard. Noriko is now the image consultant.
Lastly, I just wanna say… I will not making Touma the bad guy who wishes to break up Yuki and Shu in this fic. I'm taking Mika's argument in the manga that Touma cares for Yuki like a father protecting his child. :p
And, Thanks to everyone who reviewed!