Ok, so here are the responses to the reviewers, since so many of you want to know if Shuichi is alright…
Dejichan4444: I'm glad you like my story. Thank you for your compliments. Your story, Returning Relations, is really good as well. I just read your chapter and I think it was cute how Shuichi was bouncy:p Don't worry, Ryuichi and Tatsuha will find out eventually… You also got a PM I believe.
Shu-chan77901 and AngelofLight: It was supposed to STAY funny…but my writing wasn't really staying in the same place my brain was. This happened in on other part as well which was Chapter 3 where Yuki was supposed to be interviewed along with Shuichi, but you can see where that ended up.
So to answer the question: Shuichi is not dead. Unfortunately for me, my mother is like the number one Shuichi fan in the whole area I live in. She was rather upset when she glanced at my word document and saw the end to the chapter. Mom just cut her hair like he did. But I happen to like Shuichi too. Even if Eiri comes in the number one spot before him. :p
So now, we will end the evil cliffhanger, but not before going back to the rest of the gang. This is an emotional chapter, so be warned.
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Hiro and Fujisaki were almost at N-G Productions when Hiro suddenly got a bad feeling. He could not shake what it was, but he always had that sixth sense for Shuichi being in trouble. He already knew that the vocalist was kidnapped, but he knew there was something else.
He wished that feeling would go away. Hiro really wished that feeling would go away. But it would not. It worked its way into his head and eventually he took a breath, frustrated.
"Mr. Nakano, is something wrong?" Fujisaki asked as he watched Hiro drive. "You look distressed. Other then the fact that Mr. Shindo was kidnapped, I mean."
"It's nothing, Fujisaki. I guess my nerves are just stressed more then usual." Hiro had turned on the blinker to signal that he was turning right, to go back into the parking lot. Waiting for the car in front of him to go forward, he then turned and found a parking spot to park the van. They saw Mr. Sakano waiting for them as they parked the car.
"Mr. Sakano!" Fujisaki said as he opened the door to the van. "Has there been any word on Mr. Shindo?"
Hiro saw him shake his head and had proceeded to get out of the car himself. The long haired man sighed as he slammed the car door, holding the keys tightly in his hand. "Dammit! Even Mr. Yuki couldn't stop them from taking Shuichi!"
"Mr. Yuki was here?"
It was then that Hiro had the bad feeling return to him. He winced, glancing at the sky. It was already seven thirty in the evening and there still was no sign of Shuichi. So he decided to talk about something else. "How is he, speaking of Mr. Yuki?"
Mr. Sakano took off his glasses and began to clean them. "Mr. Seguchi has not yet called to say how he is. But then again, I am starting to worry about the President." He had turned around and headed back inside, loosening his tie. "You two can either go on home or look for him. There is not much use hanging around here when you both are clearly worried."
"What about the album?" Fujisaki asked, starting to pull at his hair. "I mean, we can't postpone it!"
Hiro glared at Fujisaki and made a 'huff'. "Is that all you care about, Fujisaki? You and your image? You have to be better then Tohma Seguchi all the time, don't you?" His voice turned cold as he brushed past him. Not bothering to look back, he said, "Find another guitarist, then. I'm going to look for Shuichi. And if I don't find him, you'll form Bad Luck on your own."
"Mr. Nakano!" Fujisaki yelled, reaching his hand out to stop him. But Hiro had already went by him and turned around.
"Unlike you, Fujisaki, Shuichi and I created Bad Luck together. Without each other, Bad Luck wouldn't exist at all. What exactly is this band to you? Is it just another job, or does it have meaning when the three of us play together? Do you have to prove something every time you're with us, or do you just always seem like such an ass when things don't go your way?"
Fujisaki looked angry. Even Mr. Sakano was beginning to panic as he took deep breaths. But Hiro continued, not really caring what either one of them thought.
"Shuichi and I play for fun. Even if we lose, we don't let it become our lives like you do. You can shove the deal up your ass, along with that attitude of yours. I won't play again until Shuichi is found." Turning around, Hiro headed to his motorcycle that was parked a few parking spaces down from the van they had just gotten out of. He had put his helmet on since he left it in a compartment that he carried, and had started getting the keys to rev up the vehicle.
"Mr. Shindo is a friend," Fujisaki muttered. "He just can be irritating."
"As can you," Hiro replied, smirking. "Want to look for him, or record the song? I won't hold it against you either way. We're two different people and I understand that."
"I'll stay here, Mr. Nakano. Someone needs to hold the place together while Mr. Seguchi is away. Besides, we have to explain why we are postponing the album release."
Hiro turned on the motorcycle. "Good man. At least your heart's in the right place. I'll call you when I know about Shuichi."
"Hiroshi." Fujisaki grabbed a pen from his pocket and began to write on a sheet of paper coming from the same place. He scribbled something and thrust it in Hiro's hand. "Call that number. It's my mobile. I might have to travel to a few different places, alright?"
Hiro nodded, shoving it in his pocket. "Sure, Suguru. See ya." He revved up the motorcycle and, having no one else in front of his space, drove off into the street, his long hair blowing behind him.
I really have a bad feeling about this.
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Eiri Yuki awoke to find out a few surprises.
The first was that he was in a hospital bed. This irritated him because he knew that when he was knocked out, he had hit pavement and that something had hit him hard. His head still smarted from that hit and he could feel it throbbing.
The second was that he heard something beeping and realized he was hooked up to machinery. He felt an IV in his arm and had tried to rip it out. He did not need to be in the hospital. He felt better, he told himself.
The novelist had someone put his hand on his arm and had growled at them. "Get off me, you damn brat!" he yelled, thinking that it was Shuichi. "I'm fine, I'm fine!"
When he opened his eyes, however, he found Tohma holding his arm, and not Shuichi. It was then that he had realized that Shuichi was still missing. He had let up on his yelling and looked at Tohma. "Anything on that brat yet?" he asked.
Tohma shook his head as someone else stepped into the room. Eiri recognized it as Shuichi's manager, K and Marian. He sighed. Eiri did not really want all these people crowding his room. But he wanted to talk to K alone, if to just get the girl out of this entire mess. "Well, can you do me a favor, then, brother?"
Tohma smiled. "Of course, Eiri-san. Do you need me to look for Shindo for you?"
"No. I'm going to look for him on my own. As soon as I can get released from the hospital. But I need you and Mika to hold off the press from storming the room, or asking about Shuichi."
Tohma nodded, taking off his hat again. "Of course, Eiri. Are you going to be alright?"
"My brother is fine," Mika told him. "Eiri, what happened, do you know? I know that all of us are worried about Shuichi, even if Tohma is jealous of him."
"Mika, you're jumping to conclusions," Tohma warned. "I just don't want Eiri hurt."
"Tatsuha," Eiri murmured, the whole incident starting to come back to place. He had remembered Shuichi falling, the words that he yelled at Tatsuha. How Tatsuha held him so lovingly. It made Eiri sick inside. That was his brat that he had touched, and held, and took off with.
Eiri's eyes were cold again as he glanced at both Mika and Tohma. "Tatsuha took him, if I assume correctly. I think he had someone else with him."
"What happened to Shuichi?" K cut in, stepping up near Tohma and Eiri. "All we heard from the studio was him screaming. We didn't get to him in time. Was he alright?"
The novelist nodded. "Ryuichi had something to do with it though. I heard him screaming his name as well." He glanced at the lone woman at the door and shook his head. He was trying to think, but he kept having a nagging feeling at the back of his mind. "Tohma, I need to get out of here and be able to have a cigarette. And I need to look for Shuichi."
"Tatsuha wouldn't do this, Eiri," Mika interjected. "He was in Kyoto—"
"Then crashed at my place for three days," Eiri informed her, glaring at his sister. He clutched the blankets. "He threatened to go after Shuichi. He wanted him. He was creeping around the house, drinking my beer and watching that idiot's concert videos. It was disturbing."
"Then why would Ryuichi have a part in this, Eiri?" Tohma asked, concerned at the fact that Ryuichi would be with Tatsuha. "The fact that he was even there---"
The cellphone rang in Tohma's pocket. The President had checked it, pulling it out of his pocket and saw that it was a number he did not recognize. He had glanced over to Eiri, who nodded at him to pick up the phone. By the time he had answered it, the ringing stopped. "Odd. Usually telemarketers are persistent."
"You ever notice that they call even when a world crisis happens?" K asked Tohma. "They're all roaches that need to be shot."
The phone rang again though, and Tohma glanced at the number. "Ryuichi."
"Get the phone," Eiri commanded. "I want to know where they are and where my brat is."
Mika, K and Marian stared at him in shock, along with Tohma. Tohma did not show it as much, though as he picked up the phone. "Seguchi here."
"Tohma!"
Tohma had to pull the phone away from his ear. Even Marian could hear from where she was at the door. "Get her out of here," Tohma ordered. "This doesn't concern her."
"You brought her into this with your little deal, Mr. Seguchi," K reminded him. "Does this mean you'll put the record deal on hold?"
Tohma glared at K. "I'll have to, as Ryuichi and Eiri's idiot brother did something with Shindo-san. Now get her out of here." He then went back to his phone conversation. "Where is Shindo, Ryuichi?"
Eiri groaned as he began coughing softly, feeling tears coming to his eyes. He held them back as he coughed, Mika yelling in alarm. His hand pushing her away told her he was alright.
That was not the case for long as Tohma put the phone on speakerphone so everyone could stop asking him what Ryuichi was saying.
"Ryuichi!" Eiri yelled after he saw that K had gotten the woman out of the room and shut the door.
There was still no response.
"Ryuichi, tell us what happened," Tohma said. "We all would like to know what happened to Shindo. And to Eiri's car. It seems that it was stolen."
Mika rose and had put her hand on Eiri's shoulder. "I will wait outside while you talk to Ryuichi…and try not to be too upset. I know Shuichi will be alright. He's an idiot." She gave a small smile. "Aren't they always supposed to be alright?"
Eiri nodded, feeling less then cheery. "My goddamn car was stolen?"
"Tatsuha said that we were playing a game with Shu-chan, Tohma!" Ryuichi cried into the phone. They could hear him sniffling as he talked, and then him blowing his nose.
Goddamn
it, Eiri thought. Just tell me if the brat's alright or not!
I'll forget the joyriding as long as I know Shuichi's--
"It's not my fault that I kind of blew his car up! Tatsuha let me drive! But we didn't know---didn't think---Shu---"His voice trailed off as they heard sirens in the background. "Tohma, I have—"
"What happened to Shuichi! Before you hang up that phone, you stupid idiot, tell me what the hell happened to him!" Eiri had ripped the IV out of his arm and had jumped out of the bed, grabbing Tohma's phone by surprise and rasping angrily into it. His breath was shaky and his eyes were watery. "Tell me—"
"Shuichi was in the car! I didn't know! I was trying to dial in the phone when the car exploded!"
The car exploded with Shuichi inside...I can't imagine anymore. I can't begin to imagine living in that house…alone. Without that damn brat to scream "I'm home!" and to tell me about his problems. I was actually getting a kick out of him hopping home, disguised as a battery. I was happy that there was someone WAITING for me.
FOR ME. I want that back!
Eiri's head was running a mile a second as he heard Ryuichi on the phone again. "Tatsuha said that the paramedics are trying to see if Shuichi is alive. I hope he is. I never meant for him to get hurt, Tohma."
"This isn't Tohma, you dumbass," he growled again. "Where is Tatsuha?" He threw his brother's name out like bile that had been lingering in his mouth. "I want to talk to my brother."
"…Eiri?"
"Give me my brother, or tell me if Shuichi is alive, you stupid fuck." Eiri did not care right now who heard him, or what was going on around him. He saw Tohma gasp at the use of his language, but was not inclined to stop anytime soon. "You both got him in that mess. And what the fuck did you think you were doing, throwing him out the window!"
"Tatsuha said it'd be fun. He said he'd catch him!" Ryuichi sniffled "Besides, he said that he didn't want you with Shuichi! And that we could—"
"Tell me if Shuichi is alright, Ryuichi Sakuma," Eiri Yuki hissed.
There was a pause at the end of the phone line. Then he heard another voice. "Yo, Eiri…I didn't mean to take things this far…"
I'm really going to kill that idiot brother of mine. I just… But Eiri could not think as Tohma turned on the televison. "Just tell me if he's alright or not."
"Why do you care? You don't love him anyway."
Do I love him? Eiri still asked himself that as Tatsuha's cold words cut through his thoughts. I still compared him . . . but . . . he was there for me when I needed him. And I couldn't even protect him. I couldn't even stop my own brother from taking Shuichi.
I . . . I don't deserve Shuichi.
And yet, I bet he'd think nothing about Tatsuha or Ryuichi having a fault in this.
He'd wake up and just scream "Yuki!" and hug me, asking how I'm doing. Just like any normal day.
That broke his heart even more. He wanted that idiot to scream his name and hug him for ten minutes, whining that he had a deadline to do and to spend time with him. Eiri wanted to hear his voice right now. He wanted to just see his pink haired brat. It would quell the voices that were running in his head. "Tatsuha. This is your fault, you know."
"I don't need to be reminded. The little brat told me as well."
"Don't call him that," Eiri warned. "It's—"
"Shuichi's been rushed to the hospital. They say he'll make it, but that he's in a lot of pain right now. Apparently he broke a couple of ribs, has a broken arm and he's suffering a lot of emotional trauma."
"You asshole!" Eiri screamed. "I told you to leave Shuichi alone, didn't I?"
The line was silent as Eiri went on, coughing for a moment.
"I told you that if you ever harmed Shuichi, I was going to kick your ass. I told you that, Tatsuha. I may be cold-hearted, but I don't like when shit happens to my pink haired, obnoxious, indecent tart. He may be cold and indecent at time, but I still would rather have him in my house then know he's dead because of your jealousy."
The phone line was dead a minute later as a nurse came into the room and was startled by what was on the television. "Isn't that—"
Eiri and Tohma turned to the television and saw that they were showing footage of the incident that they were speaking of. Except they saw that Eiri's car was ran into a fire hydrant and that the windows were broken. But that was not what made Eiri want to cry.
The fact that there was footage of Tatsuha trying to take advantage of his Shuichi, on national television, was too much to bear. He knew that Shuichi did not want to be in that car or with them at the time. It made Eiri wonder just how much they put Shuichi though, within the six to seven hours he was gone.
Shuichi . . . I'm sorry, Shuichi . . .
He never realized that the nurse had ushered Tohma outside the hospital room as Eiri began to cry. The novelist did not even bother to hide it, since he became aware that he was alone. He went back to the bed and buried his head in a pillow, allowing to become wet with tears of rage.
Tatsuha will pay for this…I can't let me world become black again. I don't want the color to go away. I don't want those damn voices to come back again, eating away at me, making me remember the times I don't want to remember! "I don't want to remember that time…" Eiri whispered softly, recalling when Shuichi had comforted him at their old apartment. I can't go back to how it was.
What would have it been like if you had never came? I don't want to think about that. I just want you here, right now…in my bed. I just want to cradle you close, tell you things that I would never say . . . if that would make everything better, would it heal you?
Would make the pain go away?
He sniffled, wiping the tears away from his eyes. His head was starting to hurt because he was emotionally distraught. He hated being like this. He was not going to hurt himself, or fall into a depression because Shuichi was hurt. Shuichi was alive.
Shuichi is alive, he reminded himself. You can't do anything right now. The paramedics are bringing him here. Just try to hold yourself together, Eiri. That's what you can do for Shuichi. Shuichi will want you to try to hold him together.
But . . . who's going to hold me together?
It was then he realized why he wanted Shuichi right now.
The novelist would fall apart if Shuichi had died, or left him.
He had wormed his way into cold hearted Eiri Yuki, and instead of fearing it, Eiri took comfort in it.
But he feared his comfort would be short-lived.
