A/N: Chapter three! Thanks for the reviews, dear readers. Hopefully you'll find this chapter interesting also. Plus, I realised that Touma calls Shuichi Shindou-san, not Shindou-kun like I wrote in the previous chapters. So from this chapter on it's Shindou-san, when coming from Touma.


- Chapter three -

About mother's love and deserted kitchens

Shuichi scraped the remainings of his créme brulée and buried them in his mouth. He took his serviette from his lap and wiped the corners of his mouth, after seeing Hiro do that awhile ago. And he had decided to follow his lead, since his best friend had some manners. They had been talking about music with Suguru, but somehow they had drifted back to their high school times. Suguru listened to their stories, occasionally rolling his eyes. The stuff the two best friends had done as teenagers with raging hormones, made Suguru understand why Hiro and Shuichi were what they were now, their twentieth birthdays approaching. He was just glad the other guests were deep in their own conversations, so they didn't pay any attention to Hiro and Shuichi.

"Remember that time when we tried to bleach my pubic hair in the school's bathrooms so I could dye them pink to match my hair, and Kagesumi-sensei found us (1)?" Shuichi laughed his eyes watering. Hiro burst out into even louder laughter when he remebered the incident and held his stomach.

K had been having a silent discussion with Touma and Sakano, who was sweating. Touma had a puzzled look on his usually smiling face and K looked very serious. Mika and Tatsuha had been debating about which one of them would have to persuade Eiri to come to their father's birthday celebration. Tatsuha had trouble concentrating in his sister, because Ryuichi was busy touching his lower body underneath the table. All of them looked at the pink-haired singer and his guitarist and at the irate keyboardist, when two of them had roared in laughter. Despite the pressuring news he had just heard from K, Touma forced a questioning smile on his face. Suguru merely shrugged and shook his head to his cousin. Touma was just about to call for the butler when his eyes caught Eiri's empty seat.

"Shindou-kun?" he asked with a frown. "Where's Eiri?"

Shuichi turned to face his boss and wiped the remaining tears of laughter off his cheeks. The broad smile he had been having vanished and was replaced with a concerned expression. "Um, he said he was going for a smoke..." Shuichi muttered. But that was - he looked at the grandfatherclock standing next to the wall, but he had absolutely no idea at what time Eiri had left outside - half an hour ago? Or was it even more?

The singer tried to remain calm and stood up. He looked outside from the majestic windows, but didn't see Eiri on the yard. His heart skipped a beat and he swallowed. His lover was probably on the other side of the house. But uneasiness crept into Shuichi and he decided to make sure. "I'll go get him inside. His lungs are gonna burn at this rate," he tried to say light-heartedly, but failed in it perfectly. Followed by Touma, Shuichi went outside, trying to keep his pace at normal.

When they passed through the hallway, Touma realised that all three of his bodyguards stood at their positions.

"Why isn't any of you outside with Eiri?" the president demanded to know. The three muscular men in black moved nervously.

"Uesugi-sama ordered us not to accompany him," one of them said.

Shuichi could see a muscle twitch in Tohma's eyebrow.

"And who hired you? Me! You take orders from nobody else than me, no matter were we related or not!" Touma said with an icy chill in his voice. Shuichi didn't understand why Touma looked so furious; Eiri only wanted to smoke alone and it's not like he was being stalked or anything, Shuichi reasoned in his mind.

While Touma continued telling his bodyguards off, Shuichi skipped down the front stairs. He looked around the yard.

"Eiri?" he called when he didn't see anyone. He scowled and called for the novelist again, this time louder. He didn't get an answer this time either, which made him worry.

"Just calm down, will you?" he told himself out loud. "He's probably gone for a walk or something. He hates parties." Shuichi could picture Eiri's expression when he'd find out his baka (2) had been worried for him for nothing.

Though trying his hardest to get rid of the nerve-wracking feeling, Shuichi didn't succeed very well. He almost ran around the house and when he was back at the spot he had left from, not finding Eiri, he really got worried. And to make matters worse, he started to get angry at himself for being worried.

Shuichi had been so preoccupied in his own (now rather unstable) mind, that he hadn't seen Touma arrive at the yard also.

"So he isn't here?" Touma inquired, and frowned when Shuichi shook his a bit dumbfoundedly.

"He's probably on a walk," Shuichi suggested weakly, though deep down he knew that Eiri wouldn't just leave, not even for a short walk, without mentioning it to Shuichi. He might not say a word to anyone else, but to Shuichi he would, knowing that the popstar would panic (just like he was panicking at the moment) finding him missing.

"Hmph..." Touma smiled condescendingly and lifted hs arms to his chest. Though he seemed calm, Shuichi could see a little bit of fret in his eyes. And Shuichi didn't like it all. In fact, it made him panic even more.

Suddenly, Shuichi saw something glint in the may green grass. He jogged to see what it was...

Shuichi violet eyes widened in bewilderment. It was a ring. A very familiar ring he had seen someone very precious to him wear almost everyday. And next to it, he saw a cigarette cracked in two and a lighter. With trembling hands, Shuichi picked the lighter up. To his horror, he found himself staring at a printclub-picture of himself and Eiri, the one they had taken in the amusement park almost a year ago. Hot tears burning in the corners of his eyes, Shuichi grabbed the ring and the broken cigarette off the ground. He looked at the label in the cigarette. The same brand which Eiri preferred. It hadn't even been lit.

Lastly, he looked at the ring. It was a plain and simple platinum ring, with a few marks indicating that it was rather old and been in use for many years. Tears now almost blinding him, Shuichi turned it around to see into the inner part of it. He gasped and dropped the lighter and the cigarette on the grass, destroying the tobacco completely.

With thin and artistic kanji, the carving said:

To my dear Eiri; may you find happiness in everything you do. Love, Mother. (3)

Shuichi felt his knees give in. He squeezed the ring with his fist against his chest as he cried out loud, as if seeking for comfort from it. Again Touma had walked behind Shuichi's back, but the singer had pain no attention. Touma placed his hand gently, but little shakily, on Shuichi's equally shaking shoulders.

"Eiri!" Shuichi screamed with a thick voice, tears spluttering to the ground.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mmm, Hiro... You taste like créme brulée," Suguru moaned, parting from Hiro after a long and passionate kiss. Hiro felt his blood pumping in his ears, feeling rather hot. But he felt even hotter as the small boy infront of him licked his upper lip seductively. Hiro grinned devilishly and pulled Suguru back into a steamy kiss. Suguru slid his hand along Hiro's back, waist and pinched his ass, smirking. Hiro smiled into the kiss and held Suguru tighter, deepening the kiss.

They had told the others they were getting some water from the kitchen after Shuichi and Touma had gone to get Eiri inside. The couple had lost track of time completely after sharing a brief kiss, and were now enjoying the deserted kitchen to it's fullest.

Hiro moaned softly as Suguru dug his slender fingers into his long, auburn red hair. He slid his hands under the keyboardist's shirt, touching the baby-soft skin, feeling his touch making a shiver go through Suguru -

"Eiri!"

"Shuichi?" Hiro jerked up his head from Suguru's neck. "That was Shuichi's voice!" He let go of Suguru and dashed out of the kitchen followed by his lover.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Aww, Ryu-chan, stop that..." Tatsuha ordered half-heartedly, when the childish man he loved so much tickled him from his knee.Ryuichi giggled, but drew his hands away for the time being.

Mika gave his little-brother a look, as if saying 'I have no problem with you being gay, but please, don't be one infront of me.'

"Anyway, as I was saying..." she threw her long hair over her shoulders. "I think you should drag Eiri to Kyoto. You are much closer to him than I am."

Tatsuha shook his head violently. "Not happening, sis'. Last time I tried to get him to the temple, I found my bike in ten pieces."

Mika raised her eyebrows. "Why on earth did he do that for?"

A faint blush appeared on the young monk's cheeks. "Well, it was before I had met Ryuichi, and uh... Shuichi does look a lot like him..." Tatsuha mumbled under his breath.

Mika opened her mouth to ask Tatsuha to repeat, when a heartbreaking scream was heard from outside.

"Eiri!"

The two siblings, Ryuichi and K and Sakano, who were sitting at the end of the table, jumped up from their seats, and ran outiside.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) - This is my own imagination.

(2) - baka idiot (which you SHOULD know)

(3) - This, too, is my imagination.

A/N: Wonderful, now that's finished. Sorry for the late update, I was lacking the inspiration (blame Kyou Kara Maou:P). I hope Shuichi's reaction wasn't over the top... Though, I guess Shuichi breaking down isn't anything new. And before I forget, the next chapter will contain a lot of violence and harsh language. So beware :P (or not.)

Argh, one more thing. This chapter isn't beta-read. Sorry. Try to live with it.