Sorry it took so long. It really wasn't so much as writer's block as writer's fatigue. Sometimes I need a break from writing and just need to bum around so everything I spin out isn't crap. I usually write fanfics that never get posted during this time, and draw a lot. Anyway, I'm sorry it had to be during this fic's duration.

--

Speaking Silence

The walls were specially insulated to keep sound from bouncing off of them. It had been a long time since Suguru had been in a recording studio with the express intent to sing. They were starting to record the new album now, despite the fact that Suguru wasn't quite finished tweaking most of the songs, and he still needed to figure out a couple more for it. He still needed time.

"Seriously, Riko-san, you're not going to get anything else out of me today," Suguru stated, laughing. "My throat is killing me."

Noriko scowled. She was helping the production of the CD, just like she had with the first one. Her hair, never in the same style once, was now in a fit of curls held up by a butterfly pin. Suguru thought it looked quite... pretty. Her daughter had even come with her today, a cute little brat who seemed fascinated with Suguru's keyboard. Noriko wasn't particularly happy with that; she was getting too much of high-strung musicians as it was.

"Fine. Get your ass over to the coffee and sooth that throat," she ordered. "We're going again tomorrow." The actual recording people and Suguru's new manager were cringing in fear from her domineering ways, but Suguru was feeling the urge to laugh. She was actually kind of funny once you got used to her. Admittedly, until you did get used to her you were rather afraid.

Once he opened the door into where Noriko and the others were, she grabbed his ear and began to twist. Ignoring his yelps, she asked, "What are you not telling me, Suguru? I know it's something."

"Do I have to tell you everything?" he asked between grunts of pain. Calmly, she twisted harder. He whimpered softly. "Mean Riko."

"Damn straight," she said proudly, letting go. "Now tell me."

Suguru sighed. He really didn't want to tell her, but Noriko had the wonderful ability to make anyone start talking by one look. She and Yuki's sister got along well, as their personalities were quite similar. "I... don't tell Tohma, okay?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You've met Uesugi Tatsuha, right? We're..."

"You're dating someone?" she squealed. Suguru winced as Noriko's loud words attracted the attention of more or less anyone within five miles. "I mean, the twerp is as gorgeous as Yuki is, but you're actually dating someone?"

Vaguely annoyed, Suguru replied, "Yes."

Noriko threw her arms around him, lavender curls spilling over her shoulders. "Cool! I can't tell Tohma, but can I tell Ryuichi? Bastard probably couldn't keep the secret, but I'll tell him that Kumogaro's favorite little angel asked Kumogaro to keep the secret."

He laughed and pulled away. "Go right ahead."

--

Tatsuha sat beside his father with respectfully downturned eyes. The old monk was berating him on his all-too-frequent abscenses as of late. Tatsuha was desperately yearning to tell him exactly where to put it, but didn't want the man to look at him too hard. If he did, his uncanny ability to know every one of his children's sins would kick in.

"Yes, Father," the dark-haired teenager said once a moment was made where he could talk. Taken aback, the man spluttered and waved him away. Rising to his feet, Tatsuha left, grinning. He was leaving again. Daddy Dearest was going to be SO happy.

--

Suguru couldn't stop dreaming. Staring out the window and across the narrow street, breath coming fast. Maybe it wasn't so much dreaming as thinking, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Pillowing his head in his arms on the windowsill and staring, he just let his thoughts fall into a comfortable pattern and dreamt.

Fallen Angel. A wildly popular alternative band with a beautiful, classical sound that mixed with the harder sounds of today. A haunting melody wound with computerized noise and the rush of blood in Tenshi's veins. Two keyboards, two vocalists, dueling and melding until the people around them held still and quiet in reverance.

"Suguru?" A warm hand rested on his shoulder, entangling in long strands of green-black.

"Do you believe in Fate?" Suguru asked Tatsuha, aware that he should be greeting Tatsuha for coming back. The things on his mind, though, desperately needed to be stated before he forgot them. Tatsuha didn't even have to think about the answer. "Of course," he said, confusion clear in his dark eyes. He smiled slightly. "How could you not with two idiots like Eiri and Shuichi around?"

Suguru blinked, then snorted with laughter. "Yeah, you're right," he said, standing. "I'm just being morbid. Welcome back." His smile was sly and quick, a memory of him before this whole mess with Fallen Angel and Akuma. "You don't have to leave right away, do you?"

"As long as Father doesn't realize that I scheduled all of the funerals for him to do. Luckily, there aren't very many for the next couple of weeks," Tatsuha stated, grinning. "He shouldn't, though."

Suguru smirked. "You know, I was right," he said mischievously, trailing a finger against Tatsuha's jaw. "My cousin does have good taste in men, and you look exactly like your brother."

Tatsuha rolled his eyes and said, "You're in a good mood. In fact, you're being a brat." Suguru stuck the tip of his tongue out playfully. "How good a mood I'm in really depends on the day of the week," he explained. "I don't like Fridays, and I tend to get depressed in the summertime."

Long-lashed black eyes blinked. That explained Suguru's song, Freaky Friday, then. That had been the last one he had written as Fallen Angel and had added it to the album before it was released. The day that Akuma Seti had died had been a Friday night, nearing Saturday because of the late hour. "Okay. So what are you doing today since I have graced you with my presence?"

The dark-haired Angel laughed. "I need to finish composing the music for one of my songs on the new album, then Shindou-kun invited me over for dinner. Yuki disinvited me, but I decided to go with Shuichi's idea since he overrules your brother."

"True. So what song is it?" Suguru laughed again. "Yours, actually. I wrote it after meeting you." He paused. "Actually, you can help me. It's called Bring Me To Life. I just need to you to listen and see where the chords are off."

He started off towards the keyboard, but Tatsuha snagged his arm with a wicked smile. "Don't I get a kiss for helping?"

The oddest look passed through Suguru's eyes, closely resembling fear, but the green-black bangs hanging in his eyes kept Tatsuha from seeing it well enough. Suguru wasn't pretending to be someone else anymore, hiding from Akuma's memory like he had ever since he had started Bad Luck, but that didn't keep him from hiding himself. His grin waved the look off like it was nothing, his eyes screaming of mischievous joy. "Sure. Whatever you want, Tatsuha-kun."

--

"You came," Yuki said, voice somewhat disgusted. Suguru rolled his eyes at the blonde and asked, "So can I come in, Yuki-san? Or are you going to throw me outside into the cold, cruel world."

Yuki blinked. "You do realize that it's approaching 100° outside." Suguru smiled serenely in response.

"Good! You're here!" Shuichi shouted, boucing over like the pink-haired tornado that he was. "Save me! Tatsuha is being perverted again and making references to Ryuichi-sama, and RAPE, I tell you RAPE!"

Suguru raised an eyebrow at Tatsuha's pouting figure. He seemed to be sulking, either over the accusions or over the fact that he had been rejected for humorous advances. Either was possible, and it was greatly amusing Suguru. "Really? That must have been... fun."

Shuichi glared at him. "You're acting like a bastard again. Annoying-weird Tenshi peoples with too much time on their hands and--"

Suguru winced. "Did you let him get into the candy?" he asked Yuki, whose eyes instantly widened at the remark. "He only gets this bad when he's overdosed on sugar." He paused. "At least he isn't spurting blood from the pores or something. He's odd like that."

Yuki made a face. Shuichi could be somewhat disturbing sometimes, but you could hold through those times by remembering that he was cute. At times, though, he was so trying that you had to force yourself to remember.

"Shuichi, did you eat that box of pocky in the cupboard?" Yuki asked. His eyes were narrowed warningly, and it made Suguru hide a grin. Dragon green eyes narrowed, laughter still ringing through the air... Suguru's smile faded and he looked away.

It took a while to get Shuichi settled down and able to stand in one place for long enough to eat, but as soon as that happened they were able to. Suguru had the feeling that Yuki wanted him out as soon was possible; he made the writer uncomfortable. Perhaps it had been the flirting, perhaps the insulting, but either way it produced the same result.

Half-way through dinner, Suguru was subject to Shuichi's frown. "You don't eat enough, Suguru!" he complained. "You're a growing boy, you know. And where is Hiro? I invited him too but he said he couldn't come, and he refused to say why! And why is the sky blue, anyway, and not green? And--"

Suguru laughed. "You sounded like Noriko to begin with, but now you just sound like an idiot. Hiro told me not to tell you where he was, so you aren't getting it from me." He then chose to ignore the fact that Shuichi was tearing up. His feelings were easily bruised, but if Hiro wanted to keep secrets then he would have to straighten Shuichi out about it. It wasn't Suguru's place to tell Shuichi things Hiroshi wanted kept hidden.

"How is your CD going?" Yuki asked shortly to try to cut off the upcoming tears. He appeared very uncomfortable, making Suguru remember: Yuki hated it when Shuichi cried.

Suguru paused. "Fine. I need a drummer, and I can't find one that's... right."

Shuichi brightened. "What do you mean? Your cousin knows a lot of good musicians; it doesn't seem like it would be that hard!"

Suguru waved it off irritably. "They have to have the right temperment. The only one that did so far is... Taki..." His words trailed off as he thought, then he suddenly smirked. "That's it. The rest of ASK. I'll borrow them for the recording. It'd be good publicity. Featuring ASK."

Shuichi made a face. "Why you like them is beyond me," the singer declared. Slurping up the rest of his food in a fashion that was similiar to a pig, he bounced to his feet and nearly upset the table. "I want to go do something, Yuki! Bring me somewhere!"

Yuki's eye began to twitch as he, more gracefully, finished his own meal. "I do not bring you places, Shuichi."

The singer began to pout. It was really a sad sight, tears filling those large violet eyes and starting to cascade down his cheeks. Before he could start wailing, Yuki started patting him on the head and making reluctant vows.

Tatsuha laughed, brushing back ebony locks of hair from his eyes. "They're really cute, aren't they?"

Suguru shrugged. "A bit," he allowed, watching Yuki. The writer was quite a bit like Akuma, but more gentle somehow. It would only make sense if someone knew Akuma as well as he had, and no one else did. Akuma had been... still was, probably... a bitter angel, whose true tragedy was in the fact that he tried so hard to be tragic.

Tatsuha tugged on his arm, midnight-colored eyes narrowing. "Are you okay?" Suguru gave him a soft smile. "Yeah... just thinking." He knew that Tatsuha wanted to say something more, but all of this was too new, too raw, for him to even speak. Suguru would get around to telling him all of it, eventually, but he didn't want to now. Not quite yet. Maybe it was Akuma rubbing off on him, but he wanted to hold on to his own tragedy a bit longer.

That night when they got back to Suguru's apartment, they lay wrapped up in each other. Skin touched skin and said things that neither of them could out loud, and again Suguru dreamed. Not happy, and not sad, but life. He dreamed of quiet and peace, and life.

Things were returning to what they had been before this whole battle had started all over again, before his birthday. He only wished that they would stay that way.

--

Okay. And I know that this took a while, but do you want to know the reason that it took a while? No one reviewed. I don't demand many reviews. I just need one to know that people are still reading somewhere out there. I don't have much time to write this fic, yet I do. I'm trying to finish my third book! I have homework to do and I just CAN'T understand math. What the hell is algebra good for, anyway? Besides this, though, I want one review. That's all. I don't need any more, though they would be nice. Review, if you please.