Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or Bikky (he's from FAKE)

hehe...cliff hanger...did I make you anxioius? But seriously, I had no intention of making you wait for so long...I just couldn't get to my computer in time...sorry!

Chapter Nine

"Shuichi?"

"Yes? Wait, no, um, no, I'm so sorry for bumping into you, I think you're mistaking me for someone else…"

"Shuichi?"

"Um, no. You have the wrong person…" Tai tried to get up, but a delicate, yet strong hand had grabbed his arm.

"Shuichi?" The small boy tried to shake off the goosebumps he got as the other man touched his arm, but he was still left with a chilly feeling in his stomach.

"Please let go of me…" He could feel tears rolling down his cheeks again, to join the tears already leaking out of his eyes from the vinegar.

The man flinched, and then peered up at Tai. "Oh my god…." His grip loosened, and Tai shook his arm free. "Oh my god…oh no…oh…I'm so sorry…I just…you just…I'm sorry…sorry…" He jumped up and ran off in the direction of the stairs. Or so Tai assumed, he still couldn't even make out anything more than the outline of his hand in front of his nose.

"Tai! Tai! I found you! Thank god, where did you go? I thought that you'd been kidnapped or something!"

"No, just those two idiots again…"

"What's wrong with your eyes, why are you squinting?" Tai quickly relayed the story on to Tobias, who listened in horror, but omitted the part about the crazy guy he bumped into, for a reason that he didn't really know.

"Alright, let's get you home…"

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Eiri stumbled across the malls and out the doors to the parking lot. A bench nearby provided a place for him to collapse and think about what had just happened.

That poor girl! He scared the shit out of her, calling her Shuichi! What was his problem, bringing up his dead lover…he was so sick…

Just when he thought that he had gotten over Shuichi, if only a little bit, something like this would have to happen. Shit, he was such a dumbass!

But that girl…she had looked so much like his boyfriend, or what he would have looked like now. The roots of her hair had been growing in, giving her a crazy look that he was so familiar with, from when Shuichi had dyed his hair all those other times, and it was even up in a ponytail like he used to do when he was writing songs. She had the exact same facial features, just highlighted by that crappy makeup, and the same body build.

Did she have breasts? Damn, he couldn't remember…if she had, then they weren't all that noticeable. Maybe he was just going crazy…

Eiri didn't want to go back into the mall, in case he saw that girl again. He just didn't trust himself to act like a human around someone who brought back such sad memories.

So he left. Since he hadn't actually brought anything with him that day, save his wallet which was in his pocket, he didn't have to go back to the goddamn autograph signing shit hole. He started the long walk back to his hotel.

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Tai arrived back at the orphanage very shaken up. The encounter with that strange man had frightened him greatly, and he still hadn't been able to get rid of the weird chilly feeling in his stomach, especially when he thought about the man touching his arm and talking to him. It was just so familiar.

Tobias was holding onto his arm to give Tai support to walk, since his legs seemed to be pretty wobbly, and he almost knocked them both over when Tai stopped in the middle of the walkway.

"Tobais!"

"What? What is it?"

"That guy!"

"What guy? What're you talking about?" Quickly, Tai explained what had happened in the mall to save him from Dan and Greg.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I'm really, really sorry…I don't know why…" It was too hard to Tobias to be mad at his friend for too long, especially with those puppy eyes.

"Well, whatever, what about this guy?"

"…he was talking to me in Japanese…"

"What? You're just noticing this now?" Tobias stared incredulously.

"Well, it seemed so…natural I guess, I didn't think about it."

"Well, he probably just looked at you, and realized you were Asian, so he started speaking Japanese."

"Um yeah, except do you know how many Asian languages there are? I don't know, it almost felt as if he knew who I was for a second…but them he apologized and ran away."

"Huh…weird."

The two friends walked in the house, both trying to put the mall experience behind them.

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Two weeks later…

"Tai, get your lazy ass out of bed, we are going to be INSANELY late!"

"What..? What's going on?Why are we hurrying, it's only like, ugh…eight o'clock…go back to sleep!"

"Shit! Tai, come on, we have to get to the school, remember, first day of new school, and all that shit?"

"Fuck! I totally forget!"

"Hurry up!" They raced around the room, sorting through dirty and clean clothes, bags, hats and other assorted junk, trying to get ready quickly. Tai stopped by the window for a second, looking for his disk man under a pile of Tobias's junk.

"Damn it! There goes the bus!"

"Whatever, we'll just take the subway, grab some money for that and for lunch, and let's go!"

"Wait! Where the hell are all my clothes?

"Uh…weren't you washing them last night?"

"Damn it! I don't have enough time to get them, can I wear some of yours?"

"Um, sure, there's a pile over there!"

"'Kay! Thanks!" He hurriedly grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the clothes heap. When Tobias wasn't looking, he brought his sleeve up to his nose and inhaled the spicy smell that clung to Tobias and everything he touched. The clothes were a little big on him, but they were nice and cozy, plus they were dry.

"Ok, are you ready NOW Tai?"

"Just a second…" Tai spotted his missing music player under one of the unused beds. "Aha! Found you!" Grabbing a few bills his dresser, he headed for the door.

"Alright, let's go!"

Mere minutes later, they were racing down the streets of New York, trying desperately to not get wet in the pouring rain.

"Where's the subway?" Tai had to shout over the traffic and the deafening sound of the downpour.

"Near by!"

They exchanged their money for tickets (Tai had finally gotten the hang of using American money)

Underground, as they raced through the gates, they were joined by what looked like a few dozen other desperate students trying to get to class on time.

"Hey Tobes!"

"Toby! Long time no see?"

"Hey, gimme some skin!" Tai stepped off to the side while Tobias was greeted by all his old acquaintances of the subway. Strangely, none of them seemed to be students. There was a ragged looking old man, who had an old-fashioned pipe sticking out of his mouth, an equally ragged looking girl, who seemed to be the same age as the boys, it appeared as though she was a friend of the old man's. Next to them, strangest of all, was a little boy, who couldn't have been more than nine or ten, but was all alone. This kid swaggered onto the train like he owned it, but the second he saw Toby, his tough-guy exterior evaporated and he clung to the older boy.

"Hey Toby! I didn't know school'd started already!" It was funny because he was dressed all punk, but he had a slight lisp that was really cute.

"Hey Bikky!"

"What'cha up to? Who's this kid? What's his name?"

"Tai."

"Cool." He turned to Tobias.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Tai choked in shock, but his friend just laughed as he patted his back.

"No…" But he turned just in time to see Tobias winking at Bikky.

"Hey!"

"Oh, here's our stop, move up to the doors. Bikky, goodbye, see you tomorrow, and go to school. I'll find out if you don't!"

"Aw man…fine!"

The P.A came on and announced their stop, accompanied by a dinging sound. The wave of people quickly swept them out of the train, and Tai clung onto his friend's hand to keep from getting separated.

"How far away is the school from here?" The air of the city, although polluted, seemed so fresh after the stale air of the subway that it was heaven just to take a few deep breaths.

Tobias saw him panting and grinned. "You get used to it after a while, come on, we're almost there."

Finally, they stopped in front of old, grey, and very depressed looking building. Tai craned his neck up and saw gargoyles on the roof.

"Please don't tell me that this is it…"

"Sorry…"

Tai looked over at Tobias, and out stretched his hand. The other boy took it with a great grin spreading over his face, and they headed up the big stone steps, leaning a little bit on each other.

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Eiri dragged himself out of bed, nursing a pounding headache. It felt like he had drunk an entire bar, and then did a dive out of his window onto the concrete. How the hell had he managed to get drunk in this damn town he would never know. This was possibly the worst hangover he had ever had, and he'd had his share of hangovers.

"Damn right I have!"

"Who are ya talkin' too honey?" Eiri must have jumped three feet in the air. Spinning around, he saw a naked woman sitting up in HIS, no, the hotel bed, grinning at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, don't ya remember sugah? Oh, ah guess you had a bit too much ta drink, didn't ya?"

The writer tried desperately to sort through his whirling, and extremely painful thoughts, but he couldn't push through the fog surrounding the previous night. But apparently at some point he had hired a prosititute. Shuichi would have been terribly angry.

"Um, yes…." He stared at her awkwardly. "Um, do you…want something to eat?"

"No, ah'm fine honey. Ah'll just be usin' your shower, and ah'll be off!"

Eiri stared at her back as she slid out from under the covers and sashayed off into the bathroom. Weren't prostitutes supposed to leave before you woke up? Everything was messed up in America.

A loud, extremely annoying beeping sound assaulted his ears. What the hell? When he went to inspect, he found that his alarm had been set by someone to go off. It couldn't have been him; no matter how drunk he had been, alarm clocks were his natural sworn enemy. He would never break the agreement he had with the god of alarm clocks of never setting one, and therefore never chucking one across the room.

The only other person who could have set it was the prostitute. Eiri tried to dig up a name from his memory, but drew a blank. Great. How was he going to get rid of her if he didn't ever remember her name?

"Pfffft…"

"What's that sugah?" Eiri found himself several feet of the ground for the second time in an hour. Who showers that fast? "Uh, nothing, just…exercising my lips." He winced…okay, that was lame.

"Uh huh…well, ah'll just be goin now, you be sure ta tell that nice Sagoochay man that ah dropped bah."

It took a second or two for this information to sink into Eiri's head. He followed the American to the door.

"Excuse me, but what…who…? Who should I tell?"

"Well, ah can't reallah say his name, it's kinda foreign, but it sounded lahke 'Sagoochay'"

"Hm…well, thank you for coming, I'll be sure to tell him."

"Thanks hon."

As the door slammed behind her, he mumbled under his breath.

"That, and a whole shit load more."

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Tai stared at his timetable that sat mockingly in his hand. Math, English, Science, and Music, and that was only Day One. But it was also all he was going to worry about, at least for today. He leaned over Tobias's shoulder to check his friend's. Math, History, Science and Drama…well, at least he wouldn't be lonely out of his mind for half the day.

Sighing wearily, Tai plonked his chin down on the older boy's shoulder, trying to subtly inhale his wonderful scent.

"Wanna go somewhere else?" Tobias winked at him laughingly.

"As long as you don't come with me."

"Ha…Ha."

"Ok boys, out of the office! Get to your first period classes or you'll be marked absent! Go on!" The secretary rose from her desk and shooed them out the door.

"Tobias?"

"You don't have to call me Tobias you know, I think Toby will be good."

"Oh…ok, I'll try."

"What do you want?"

"Um, where do you think everyone else is?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, shouldn't there be a few more students in here…getting their timetables and stuff?"

"Oh, that…um, maybe since we're late, they're all gone?"

Tai looked over at his friend, who refused to meet his eyes.

"Tobia—Toby! What's going on—" A teacher they were passing by shushed him, and he never got a chance to finish the conversation.

Minutes later, Tai found himself at the back of the math class, trying desperately to pay attention to the already boring lecture. But it was impossible. The teacher was just so boring.

"Toby." No answer. "Toby!" Said boy leaned over the aisle towards our hero.

"What?"

"How do you stand this?"

"What're you talking about; it's only the first day!"

"I know, but—"

"Mr…Tai. Could you please explain to me how to answer the question on the board?" Tai could feel his palms start to sweat. Grinning uneasily, he turned his attention to the blackboard at the front of the room. And saw that he knew how to do it. Tai stood up at his desk, with his hands straightly at his thighs and answered.

"You have to factor each of the variables then insert it into the equation." The teacher stared at him.

"Very good Mr…Retsuri. But if you had been paying attention, you would have known that I haven't yet explained how to solve that typed of equation. And next time you answer, there is no need to get out of your seat." The small boy's face flushed bright red as he took his seat.

"Oh…" Tai turned to see Tobias staring at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"How did you figure that question out?"

"I didn't…I already knew how to do it…I guess…"

"Hey, that's kinda weird…"

"Yeah…"

"Mr. Retsuri," the teacher was now standing right beside his desk, looming over him, "You can stay after school today for an hour. I will not tolerate talking I my classroom. You too Mr…"

"Um, I don't think my last name is on there…"

"What? Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, I don't exactly have one…" Tai turned to his friend, surprised. Tobias hadn't ever said anything to him about this. "Just call me Tobias."

"Ok…Mr. Tobias, you can join Mr. Retsuri tonight in detention."

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Author's note: I know, I know! Crappy ending, but I was just didn't know how to end it. Anyways, my rationale for him knowing the math is that we have all these Asian exchange students in our math class at school, and they all know a way higher level of math than us. It's really quite depressing…And I don't actually know if that's a real way to solve a problem, but since I suck at math, what could I do?

As I mentioned earlier, it is thought that Tobias is older than Tai, except by us, because I told you. But, you say, they seem to be in the same grade? Well…I don't have a good reason for that, except it's eminent that they're in the same classes for some of the subjects…

Also, I'm sure that Tai would have been appointed a last name, at least you'd think…but there's a reason…you'll see later.

R&R My pretties!