THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! Sorry for the late update cos I've been very busy as it'sa few daysbefore X'mas! Oh yeah... MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! Minna-san, kurisumasu omedetou! Hee... hope you enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Gravitation does not belong to me.

(1) Gokurousama: Thank you for the hard work (Japanese use this phrase quite often)

MOU ICHI DO

Chapter 6 --- The Exhibition

"Aniki! Will you please hurry up? We're already late!" Tatsuha yelled over his shoulder to the blond novelist who was still strolling at a comfortable pace.

"Does it matter?" Yuki blew out a puff of smoke. "I mean, why do I have to go for this exhibition anyway?"

Tatsuha stopped and smirked. "Because… it showcases photographs of Shu-i-chi."

Yuki narrowed his eyes. "So? What he does is none of my business now."

"…" Tatsuha sighed. "Anyway, since we're invited, let's just hurry up! It's only up there… in front…"

The next moment, the two brothers stepped into 'Sense Gallery'… only to be greeted by the sight of a certain brown hair boy squatting at a corner near the entrance, facing the wall, with a dark atmosphere around him.

Tatsuha sweatdropped. "Er… Shuichi? What are you doing?"

The brown hair boy whipped his head around to face Tatsuha with two stony eyes. "Me? I'm squatting here, hoping that nobody would notice me or that I'd disappear into nothingness so that I could be saved from further embarrassment. And of course, I'm cursing Akiha, hoping that he would suffer like hell…"

Tatsuha chuckled. "What? Are you being sexually harassed again?"

"That's not the only point! He-" Shuichi froze suddenly as he realized that a familiar, stunning, attractive guy was standing behind Tatsuha staring at him. He stood up in a flash and started feeling nervous. "Er…Yuki, hi…"

Yuki found himself gazing at his beautiful ex-lover again. Shuichi was looking splendid in a pair of black leather pants, a navy blue sleeveless branded shirt, and a long black coat that hung disheveled on his arms around the elbows, revealing his upper half of his arms and his shoulders as a result. Yuki peeled his eyes away from Shuichi and glance around, noting that there were many outstanding guests present at the exhibition.

"The exhibition is successful and popular as I see… Congrats on that." Yuki spoke emotionlessly as he always does.

"…Thanks…" Shuichi replied softly, a little embarrassed.

Silence.

But that silence did not last for long as all of a sudden, a girl came leaping at Shuichi, kissing him on the cheek. She was dressed in a green long-sleeve woolen low-cut blouse with a short denim skirt. Her blonde hair was tied up in two loose French plaits. "Shuichi! Gokurousama1! Congratulations on the successful launch!"

"Haruko! Ah… thanks…" Shuichi smiled back.

"So… this is your girlfriend, Shuichi?" Tatsuha grin teasingly. "Good taste! And I thought you didn't know much about girls…"

Shuichi tried his best to glare back at Tatsuha while he continued blushing. What am I doing! This is so embarrassing! Yuki's here…

"Hi! You guys must be Shuichi's friends too! I'm Miyamoto Haruko. Please to meet you." Haruko smiled brightly at Tatsuha and Yuki.

"Please to meet you too. I'm Tatsuha, and this is…"

Haruko gasped and pointed her finger at Yuki. "You're… you're… Yu-"

Shuichi clamped his hand over Haruko's mouth before she could continue. "Haruko! Don't scream! There're reporters here…" He whispered anxiously into Haruko's ear, and only removed his hand when she nodded.

Both Yuki and Tatsuha raised their eyebrows.

"You're mistaken, Shu-kun. All the reporters have left after the press conference earlier. The exhibition is only opened to invited guests tonight, before it's opened to the public tomorrow."

Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that the reporters weren't here to see Yuki present… or else… Just thinking about it made him cringe. He had a hard time answering questions on his love life at the press conference earlier. Fortunately, after three continuously questions on that area of his life, Tsuyoshi and Akiha forbid everyone from prying any further.

Haruko turned back to Yuki. "Yuki Eiri… I'm so glad to meet you! Jun couldn't stop talking about you after meeting you last night!" Then, she took a step forward and jumped up to hug Yuki.

"What-" Yuki jumped in shock, and was prepared to snap at Haruko when she was pulled back… by Shuichi, into his arms.

"Ah… er… sorry about that, Yuki…" Shuichi blushed and apologized.

At the sight of Shuichi holding Haruko in his arms, Yuki found himself lost for words. He looked away pissed.

Haruko giggled. "I'm just so excited to see you in person!" She turned to her boyfriend who was still holding onto her. "Oh, by the way, Shu-kun… I came to look for you because Akiha wanted to show your friends around. I just thought that you may want to be present to ensure that he doesn't start saying stuff you don't like…"

Shuichi stiffened and the dark atmosphere surrounding him earlier returned. In the blink of an eye, he was zooming off to find Akiha.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Tatsuha called after Shuichi.

Haruko laughed. "Come on, I'll bring you guys to the rest… Shu-kun's gonna be pretty busy dealing with Akiha."

xxxxxXxxXxxXxxxxx

(Attn: All photographs exhibited are of course enlarged photographs. Like the size of portraits or bigger...)

Hiro, Ayaka, Suguru, K, Sakano, Noriko, Tohma and Mika were standing in front of an exhibition piece, with Akiha as their guide. They all had on a dark aura of exasperation, disbelief, helplessness and an urge to escape from Akiha as the only thing on their mind now was "…". Only Ryuichi was bouncing excitedly with Kumagorou, chatting happily with Tsuyoshi. Jun was nowhere to be seen.

"And this picture shows my dear Shu-chan basking in the morning sunshine. Look! He's smiling slightly as he thinks of me, my beautiful eyes, the warm touch of my skin, the love between us… And those flowers he's holding? I gave him those to show how much I love him. We'll never ever leave each other's side in the time to come… Because the love between us is as deep as the deepest sea in the whole world! It's-"

SMACK!

A shoe came flying into Akiha's face, cutting his speech off.

"What were you saying? Akiha?" A strained voice called out. "If you dare go on any further with that nonsensical speech of yours, I'll make sure you die an ugly death." Shuichi stepped up with one foot only covered in his sock.

"Ah… My love! Where have you been? I was looking for you the whole night! Come, let me help you with this…" Akiha knelt down before Shuichi and helped Shuichi put his shoe on. He then took Shuichi's hand and planted a kiss on it. "Would you dance with me, my love?"

Everyone felt a strange shiver run down their spine, including Shuichi who turned green.

"Get lost, you pervert! If I don't kill you today, I'm not considered a man!" Shuichi cracked his knuckles and glared dangerously at Akiha, ready to launch his attack.

"Now, now… would both of you stop it? There so many people here tonight, and we have got guests with us at this moment. Akiha…" Tsuyoshi intervened just in time.

"Okay then…" Akiha got up and brushed his coat. "Oh! My second ideal model is here!"

Everyone turned to where Akiha's gaze was directed. Yuki… who was looking as gorgeous as ever.

"Eiri-san! You came…" Tohma blinked in disbelief.

Tatsuha shook his head. "It was me who dragged him here. This exhibition is too interesting to be missed…… Sakuma-san!" The obsessed, crazy Sakuma Ryuichi fanatic rushed forward to meet his idol.

"Is that your real reason for coming?" Shuichi muttered under his breath. But he wasn't sure if the question was directed to Tatsuha, or to… Yuki.

"Well, since all of Shuichi's friends are present now, let me show you some of my best works with Shuichi." Akiha smiled and started leading the way to another part of the gallery.

"Let's go, Yuki-san!" Haruko chirped and grabbed Yuki's arm, dragging him after Akiha.

Yuki frowned. He was about to draw back away from the over-enthusiastic girl when…

"Haruko! What are you doing!" Shuichi whispered in horror again as he was sure Yuki would be really mad by now.

"Shu-kun! You'll have to come too!" She reached out for Shuichi with her other hand and pulled him along, so that she was in between the ex-couple.

Is this girl plain dumb or what? Pulling the two of us so close together… Yuki shot a quick glance pass Haruko to Shuichi. Well, I guess idiots attract idiots.

Both Yuki and Shuichi kept very quiet as they allowed Haruko to pull them along.

The rest of the gang stared at the sight before them, rooted to the spot.

That girl has no idea what she's doing…Hiro sighed before walking after Shuichi, Haruko and Yuki, with Ayaka by his side.

"This way please…" Tsuyoshi voice got everyone moving by now.

They stopped in front of a picture of a sleeping Shuichi on a bed full of white feathers. He was lying on his side with his light brown hair falling softly over part of his peaceful face. One hand was held close to his face, while the other was slightly outstretched holding on to some feathers.

"Shuichi looks like… an angel na no da…" Ryuichi quipped thoughtfully.

Right… that's right… Yuki agreed silently. He felt a sense of familiarity. How many times had he seen Shuichi like that lying on his bed? How much did he miss this angel-like Shuichi?

"Sakuma-san, you're flattering me too much…" Shuichi blushed and babbled.

For the next few 15 minutes, Yuki found himself looking at many different sides of Shuichi. There was Shuichi looking like a lost puppy, Shuichi with his endearing pout, Shuichi trying his best to look furious with puffed up cheeks, Shuichi smiling and laughing in the sunlight, Shuichi, Shuichi, Shuichi… Every picture shared something in common though… Shuichi was charming in every one of them.

It was almost too much to take… being surrounded by so many pictures of his ex-lover, not to mention that the real Shuichi was so close by too.

"And these are amongst my top favorites!" Akiha pointed to two photographs.

One showed Shuichi blushing and tugging uncomfortably at a pair of EXTREMELY short shorts; the other showed Shuichi with his shirt completely unbuttoned, exposing his bare body, with his pants unbuttoned and unzipped too. Not to mention that he was drenched, causing his clothes to cling onto his body. His hair fell down over part of his face, covering his right eye. And there were water droplets running down his face and the exposed part of his body.

"…"

Everyone sweatdropped again, feeling the chills run down their back at Akiha's comments.

Yuki gritted his teeth in displeasure as everyone else stoned. He didn't like the idea that everyone who came to this exhibition would get to see Shuichi half-naked. Damn… why are these photos having such an effect on me!

Truth to be told, those photos had not only pissed him off, it had gotten aroused too as he found himself longing to touch that hot body of Shuichi's again.

On the other hand, Shuichi was shaking uncontrollably in anger. "AKIHA! What have you done! Why are these photos up there! I had no idea of this!"

Akiha grinned slyly. "I just thought that I should share with everyone what a stunning body you have… a body I'm dying to explore…"

Shuichi blushed in anger and embarrassment.

The next moment, Akiha had received a smack on the back of his head. "Shu-kun's mine, you sicko!" Haruko snapped.

Shuichi spun around to face Tsuyoshi. "Why did you let him put those up? You're supposed to stop him from doing anything stupid…"

"I'm sorry… I did try to advice him against it, but he claims to be the experienced photographer, the one who recognizes artistic value well…" Tsuyoshi smiled apologetically.

Meanwhile, Tatsuha was staring at those 2 photos with lust. "Oh my god… Sakuma-san's body will be quite similar to Shuichi's… I can feel the touch of his skin…" He started to bleed from the nose.

"You're sick, Tatsuha! And I'm not Sakuma-san!" Shuichi smacked Tatsuha on the head as well.

"See? There're so many people who's in love with that body of yours… Small, slim and slender, with such smooth and soft skin… The one who gets to devour you first is so lucky!" Akiha continued with his ridiculous, outrageous comments.

"And that person is-" Tatsuha stopped as he was met with Tohma's glare. (Scary…)

Shuichi froze and stiffened. Shit… Yuki…

His whole face was burning red by now. The fact that Yuki was there made him so embarrassed and horrified that he truly felt like crying. He didn't want Yuki to see or hear all this. He didn't want Yuki to get the wrong idea…? For some reason, he wanted to yell out to Yuki that Akiha's words were nonsense, that there was no way he would let Akiha touch him. He wanted to cry and run into Yuki's arms for cover. But… that was impossible. They belonged to the past now…

A sharp pain sliced through his heart, so excruciating that he had difficulty breathing. However, he still tried to act as if nothing had happened. "Honestly, Akiha. If you continue any further, I'll wring your neck with my bare hands…"

Oh shit. Shuichi… Akiha sensed that something was seriously wrong. Even though Shuichi acted normally, he wasn't fooled. Darn… What did I do!

"Tsuyoshi, Haruko… Would you mind showing our guests the last picture, the one that won the award? I just remembered that Shuichi and I have to go greet some other important guests…" Akiha was all serious by now.

"Go ahead." Tsuyoshi nodded.

"Remember the reception at level 2 after that too. There's food and wine…" Akiha then acknowledge his guests with an apologetic smile. "Excuse us for now. We'll see you guys later." He reached out for Shuichi's hand and led him away.

"What are you doing! Let go of my hand! I can walk on my own!" Shuichi continued arguing with all his might, even though the pain in his chest had not subsided.

Yuki stared after them. What was that just now? Something was wrong with that brat… Was it because of… me… again…?

"Here's the picture that won the most coveted prestigious award ever in the world of photography… 'Photo with a Thousand Emotions'. This picture is titled 'Broken Doll', and it was shot with only Akiha and Shuichi present… no other crew. In fact, when Akiha revealed this picture, the whole crew was surprised. Both Akiha and Shuichi did a wonderful job, especially Shuichi. Akiha confessed that he had to force Shuichi to imagine that he would never see his family and friends ever again… just to get Shuichi to exhibit the right mood and expression for this photo. Presenting to you, 'Broken Doll'…" Haruko led the group into a room, where many other people were gathered.

There, hanging on the wall, was a reallylarge, breath-takingpicture of Shuichi. This Shuichi had pink hair, suggesting that this photo was taken quite some time ago. He was lying on his side on crumpled, pure white satin bed sheets, dressed in a pair of white pants, and a loose long-sleeved white shirt, unbuttoned at the top and at the ends of the sleeves. The sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. Shuichi's legs were curled up slightly, and his hands were placed close to his face. (Like fetal position but his legs were not bend up so much)

White bandages were wounded many times around Shuichi's arms, from his elbows to his wrists, and around his legs from his knees to his ankles, all wounded quite tightly, creating the impression that he was somehow tied down to the bed, unable to free him from everything. His white clothes had slits and cuts all over them as though Shuichi had been attacked and injured.

A few strands of pink hair fell limply over his eyes, but those heartrending violet orbs could still be seen. Only that at first sight, those violet orbs appear to be staring blankly at nothing… emotionless? Not quite so. If one stared harder and deeper, one could still make out the hurt, pain and helplessness reflected vividly in those eyes. There was no hint of smile, and Shuichi's face looked a little tear-streaked. Overall, one could describe the pink hair model as lifeless, but yet, aggrieved, exhausted, wounded and… broken.

Everyone was silent as the full impact of the picture hit them hard. It was breath-taking, though painful to look at. Even Akiha's other guest whispered quietly to each other, as though a single word spoken aloud would break the vulnerable boy portrayed in the photograph.

"Eiri-san, are you okay?" Tohma stepped up beside Yuki and asked softly.

It was only then did Yuki realize that he had been staring at the picture for the past few minutes, rooted to the spot, holding his breath. This sight was all too familiar again.

Shuichi… broken… lying on the couch, looking broken… that last night before they parted.

He felt an aching pain in his chest. He felt sick. Unable to speak, he tore his eyes away from the picture, turned and strode out of the room, towards the main hall.

Hiro eyed the novelist leaving the room looking a little pale. Now I know why Shuichi didn't really like this picture. I bet it reminded him of the past everytime he looked at it.

He turned back to the picture titled 'Broken Doll'.

No wonder it had won the award… On top of its beauty and awe, the picture had an extraordinary factor to it: anybody would feel pained just looking at it.

…tbc…

End of chapter 6! Sorry, I couldn't squeeze Shuichi's POV in this chapter… But it's in the next chapter… so remember to read on!

I tried my very best to describe 'Broken Doll'… argh… maybe it still didn't turn out well as my vocabulary is so limited. Sigh… I guess what's important is that the impression of Shuichi being tied down in the picture is like he's unable to free himself from the hurt and pain, from his love for Yuki…