Warnings: Au, x-over, yaoi, possible violence as the story progresses, random moments of humor and/or fluff

Disclaimer: I own it all!
…Shyeah right.

Weiss Geräusche

'Prodigy,

I know I should have told you this last night, but I forgot to before I got distracted. You need to keep an eye out because Ryuichi had Tohma hire someone to search for you okay? Take care.

Saki'

Even their tech, Keiji as they now knew his name, seemed confused by Shu's flatness that day.

Suguru watched the singer from his position behind the keys. He cast a helpless look at Ryuichi, unable to explain the pink haired boy's behavior. Ryuichi contemplated them all silently. As far as Suguru knew, nothing was wrong with Shuichi, so he shouldn't be having this much trouble getting down the vocals for their final tracks.

Except looking at Shuichi, Suguru began to wonder if everything really was okay with their singer. It was subtle but he was beginning to see the signs of wear on the other boy. Shuichi was slightly paler than usual. And the skin around his eyes held a delicate bruising. Suguru wondered if the other boy was sleeping well. Or if he was eating. He knew Hiro had mentioned that sometimes Shuichi would go on insomnia binges where he'd eat an occasional snack, but subsisted mostly on coffee and coke. Suguru tried to remember the last time he'd actually seen Shuichi eat real food. And thinking back, he normally had to wake Shuichi up when he was staying with him, but Shuichi had been almost on time all week.

"Okay, let's take a break!" K-san cut in, disgusted. He was trying really hard to act like everything was normal after Shuichi's little outburst earlier but he too was watching the singer carefully. They all were. Shuichi had gone through the last two songs that they had been trying to record for Tohma, but he kept getting it wrong.

No, that wasn't right. The words were all correct, but the enthusiasm, the emotion was gone. It was almost as if Shuichi was operating on autopilot. He may as well have been a thousand miles away for all the impact his voice was having. It was unnerving to hear that absolute lack of everything that made Shuichi such a good singer. Everything that made Shuichi, Shuichi.

Suguru was relieved to hear their American manager's outburst. He glanced at Hiro hopefully. The guitarist shook back his long reddish hair and removed the strap from his neck. Shuichi had already dropped the headphones off and was heading for the door, apparently with a goal in mind. Hiro quickly placed his guitar on its stand and rushed out the door with long strides to follow him.

The young keyboardist hesitated for a second. Then he decided that this time he was going to be there to help straighten Shuichi out.

"I'll be back," he announced. Suguru cut the power to his keyboard and hurried after them. He had to run to catch up. He caught the end part of Shu's statement as he reached the two other Bad Luck members. The guys were speaking in quiet voices, pitched so that they wouldn't be overheard by random passersby. The occasional tech or business suit would scurry around them, but all seemed focused on their own objectives.

"-sidering Esset's interest in Seguchi-san, I'd say that's a little too much of a coincidence for my comfort." They kept glancing at everyone who walked by, keeping their eyes on them until they were sure they were out of earshot before relaxing enough to keep speaking.

"Are you sure you're not just being paranoid?" their guitarist asked, hopefully. A woman in a purple skirt and jacket passed and they waited for her to turn the corner ahead before Shuichi responded.

"Hiro," Shuichi's voice was patient.

"Paranoid about what?" Suguru finally decided to announce his presence. Shuichi turned to look at him with unreadable eyes.

"I saw someone in the lobby who wasn't supposed to be there. That someone was staring at me. He singled me, little nobody that I am, out of everyone in the whole crowd. And he didn't like me."

"So you're going to what?" Hiro gestured with a hand. "You're going to track down this mysterious man in the jean outfit and do what? Demand he tell you all of his secrets?"

"Shu, we need to get this demo tape recorded. I know you're all hyped up in super stealth agent mode, but eventually you're going to have to come down and when you do you don't want to have to realize that you've just blown your biggest chance ever to completely get away from all that and live the life you keep telling me you've always wanted," Suguru added quietly.

"What point is there in having the life that I've always wanted if I have to climb over the bodies of my friends to get it?" Shuichi demanded in a harsh mutter. "My priority right now is to keep everyone I care about safe. I know it sounds stupid and I can't explain it, but after seeing that guy earlier, I don't feel like anyone I care about is safe right now."

"How do you plan to do that?" Hiro inquired. "You don't even know what the threat is at the moment. Shu, you're better at separating your operative mode from your normal mode than this. Normally I'd just trust you to take care of it and not ask questions but this is starting to affect us all, and we deserve to know why. You haven't told me anything useful since Manx dropped in on you. Now what exactly is going on?"

Suguru shifted to move beside the taller boy. They both stared at Shuichi. The three of them were still standing in the middle of the hallway, and people were finally becoming unable to ignore the tension that was tightening the air around them. Suguru wondered if Shuichi would recognize their stance as fear for him, when the move could easily be mistaken as uniting against him. He resisted the urge to reach out and smooth Shuichi's hair back. He wasn't sure the gesture would be accepted at the moment.

"How many squads have you taken in the past month?" Hiro wanted to know when it became apparent that Shu wasn't going to volunteer any information.

"That doesn't have-"

"When's the last time you ate. Real food, not something from a vending machine," Suguru demanded in turn.

"That's not a-"

But Hiro cut him off with another question, "When's the last time you've slept?"

"Wait… what day is it?" Shuichi rubbed his eyes as he tried to figure that one out.

"I woke you up on Monday morning. It's Saturday afternoon now. How many nights have you slept this week?" Shuichi seemed to be struggling to remember. It was not a good sign. Suguru felt a warm rush of frustration and fear at Shuichi's obvious self neglect. "Please, Shu. We're worried about you. I know we probably won't be much help, but can you at least tell us about what's going on?"

"Maybe we should find somewhere else to talk, since we obviously have a lot of things we need to discuss," the singer suggested in a tight, agitated voice. Shuichi's violet eyes traveled over Suguru's face, and Suguru got the feeling that while the statement included Hiro, it was aimed primarily at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Suguru noticed a flash of pink from behind the corner and glanced over.

Briefly he wondered how long Ryuichi had been standing there, but he was a little more worried about what Ryuichi may have heard so far. He knew Ryu would tell Tohma about anything he found out when it sounded this serious; there was nothing to be done about it. The best that he could do was try and work some damage control before Tohma stepped in and took over.

He was starting to feel cranky now. After worrying so much over the past couple of days, feeling cranky was a relief. Though whether he was more upset at the well meaning Nittle Graspers or Shuichi at the moment he couldn't say for sure. He turned his attention back to his bands mates and he felt eyes narrowed. Shuichi definitely. He'd start the ass kicking with him.

"Fine. Let's go somewhere else and have this little chat," Suguru agreed in a silky voice. He felt his face shift into pleasant lines; the Seguchi mask that he'd learned from both his cousin and his mother. Hiro and Shuichi both paused to look at him, startled by the sudden shift in his mood.

He kept smiling.

"Well? You're the one who wants to take this party somewhere private. Lead on Shindou-san."

Shuichi winced at the formality. He abruptly seemed to realize just how upset Suguru was getting, because he looked warily at Suguru before he turned and silently lead them all down the hall. He felt Hiro glancing between the two of them, and he felt the taller boy fall back a bit to stifle his grin. He apparently recognized the 'frosty-displeasure-that's-politely-hidden-in-an-incredibly-not-really-sort-of-way' tactic for what it was.

Suguru stared at the slender shoulders in front of him the whole time hoping that Shuichi could feel his eyes boring into him. He wanted to make sure the singer realized just how upset he was, and would stew in the knowledge before Suguru ever had to say a word to correct the pink haired boy's mistaken belief that he wouldn't be angry at him for being so stupid. The slight hunch in Shu's posture gave him a spurt of satisfaction. It felt good to know that he could have such an effect on the pink boy. It was petty, but he was glad Shuichi seemed to be feeling guilty over the worry he'd been causing them.

They were headed toward the stairs leading toward the front door, and so, apparently, was everyone else. Suguru glanced around in puzzlement. It was peculiar. There seemed to be many more people than usual in the area. Shuichi and Hiro had apparently also began to notice the change in pattern around them. The three of them shared a look and started following after the rushing crowd to hurry to see what was going on. They reached the balcony overlooking the main lobby and squeezed through the press of people craning their heads to observe the first floor.

There was a circle of people gathered around the middle of the floor. His cousin was inside the circle. Then he turned back to the person he was speaking with. Tohma was talking to a medic with a white coat pulled over a dark blue uniform, and he looked upset. Tohma never looked upset. Suguru searched for the cause. A couple of other medics were pushing a stretcher toward the front doors where an ambulance was parked. The spinning red lights were refracting through the glass. Some cop cars joined the ambulance, turning the lights that danced across the floor into a violet swirl. A bunch of security officers were gathered around to keep the crowd back.

Suguru felt all the blood drain from his face.

It wasn't the fact that someone was being carted to an ambulance that was so disturbing. What held Suguru rooted to the spot was the red stains that were spreading through the clothes of the person strapped to the stretcher. The red on the clothes and the reddish hair that fanned around a pale, familiar face that was partially obscured by a large plastic breathing mask.

"Michiru!" he heard the low disbelieving moan come from his right.

He suddenly felt guilty for every jealous thought he'd ever had toward the girl. All he could think now was that she could be dying, and he'd never even tried to be friendly to her.

Suguru turned his head to witness the horror growing on his Shuichi's face. Hiro's arms came around Shuichi's shoulders, holding him in place as if he were afraid that Shuichi would fling himself off the balcony to reach her side. The red head had his face buried in their singer's neck and he was speaking softly, saying words that were meant for Shuichi alone.

"Shu," Suguru whispered in a stricken voice.

He reached out blindly, his fingers wrapping around Shuichi's clenched fist. He pried the cold fingers apart and laced their hands together. He shifted closer so that he was pressed against Shuichi's side, Hiro a solid presence against his hip. He reached over with his left hand and wrapped his fingers around Shuichi's arm, rubbing it. He pressed his head against Shuichi's shoulder, mindless words of reassurance tumbling from his lips. The two of them wrapped themselves around their friend, as if trying to shield him from what they were seeing; seeking and offering comfort through the touch.

"Someone will suffer," the quiet, malevolent voice cut through their words. He felt Hiro stiffen behind them both. Suguru raised his head. The dark part of Shuichi that was able to steal lives looked down on the scene unfolding. Suguru almost shivered at the utter lack of reaction on his face. All of Shuichi's horror at seeing his friend's body splattered with dark pools of blood was wiped away as if it had never been. Suguru felt chilled by the look, and he pulled away slightly before he could stop himself.

Shuichi's dark eyes sought his own. But with that look Suguru understood that Shuichi knew of his reaction to seeing this part of him. The older boy had felt his fear. There was a flicker of hurt in his gaze that was quickly replaced by acceptance. Then all expression faded away and it was like looking into bottomless, emotionless pools of violet blue. Bombay was already working out how to track down the person who did this and would deal with them. He felt no regret that he was cold bloodedly planning to murder someone. Hiro's arms tightened around Shuichi, shielding him. Suguru was shocked to realize that the guitarist was trying to protect Shuichi… from him.

That thought stopped him cold.

This was still Shuichi. Shuichi who acted whiny when it wasn't just the band, who always seemed to arrive late. Shuichi who loved to laugh at badly dubbed films, and was secretly afraid of the ocean. Shuichi, who was fiercely protective of his friends and was trying to keep Tohma safe for no better reason than because he had been asked. The same Shuichi that had held him the night that he had lost Beatrice, and didn't let go.

Not even after he had finally fallen asleep.

A dangerous calm settled over Suguru and he relaxed back against the gently muscled body at his side, and the one behind them. He felt the bodies he pressed against stiffen slightly, confused at his response. Suguru raised his chin almost defiantly to look up at his band mates, his friends. The confusion in their faces was almost insulting really, but it didn't matter. They would quickly figure out that he was his mother's son. And no one was allowed to hurt the people a Seguchi cared about.

Suguru looked around the ring of people, searching until his honey brown eyes locked with his cousin's cool green ones. Tohma's eyebrows were knit and his lips were pressed in a tight line. The blonde stared back at him, and he saw what few else would have seen past the upset expression on his face- the fine beginnings of a coldly burning rage. Tohma would also seek the one who did this.

His gaze strayed down to the doors that were closing on Michiru's still body, and found inside himself his own bit of darkness. He wanted Shuichi or Tohma to find out who did this and punish them for it. And if he ever found out who it was who had attacked Michiru and put that look on Shuichi's face, he just might find it in him to punish them himself.

After all, no one was allowed to hurt the people a Seguchi cared about. No one was allowed to hurt anyone he cared about.