Disclaimer: Gravitation does not belong to me. Ne, I doubt Gravitation would be as good if I owned it anyway. I'm not making any money out of this either and am just borrowing its characters….
A/N: Because it's late and I have work tomorrow and I really, probably shouldn't let this thing sit here any longer because my muses will go into idle mode again – I'm gonna post this Yup. Not much to say except I worked on this on and off and had a bit of a problem trying to get the chars to work with me (more OOC alert XD!).. Ryuichi was a darling though so, yeah, even he surprised me. ..Evil bunny. Um… yeah. I know.. um, I'm slow.. but.. support and comments would make me feel happy and inspired and so very, very grateful! So, til' next time!
By the way, while my website is still in the works… the fanart section is somewhat fully up and should any of my readers (insert cricket chirping here) want to check out my fanart (I draw Yuki-related fanart too XD!) then head over to my profile (fanfictionNET one) to get there… And finally, wow, um… I start school again on… uh.. next week? Moving across the world to a Western country is tough. I miss Macau…. sigh. So if anyone's wondering why the long wait – would moving across the world count? XD
And finally, finally, again; A big massive thank you to all those who reviewed my last chapter. As.. uh, promised, I've put up a mini-summary of what's happened so far but you know I purposely left out some teeny-tiny details. Thank you everyone :D You all keep me from giving up from ever finishing this thing and… yeah… Muu-chans and Cookies for everyone!
PS, Working on polishing up Cure's epilogue too so… yeah..
(You do know this isn't edited yet right? Right? Good. :D)
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Seventeen: A Little Hell
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"Congratulations, Yuki-chan! You just punched the great Yuki Eiri-sama square on the nose!"
Eiri watched his assailant's jaw drop and stay there for what seemed to be five whole minutes. It would have been comical if not for the blonde boy's uncanny resemblance to Shuichi. Fear was written all over his face. Not this, he thought grudgingly as he pushed the thoughts about Shuichi to the back of his mind. He noticed the same mixture of surprised and fear on Yuki-chan's companions and decided something was most definitely up. It also concerned him.
"Mmm, So good to see you all getting along so well so quickly, no da!" Ryuichi chirped in an almost extremely nauseatingly cheerful voice coated with thick sarcasm. He clapped and walked up beside the blonde boy with a wide grin before turning to Eiri.
"Yuki-san meet Yuki-chan, your host for a whole, whole—" he spread his arms out to emphasize with a devious glint in his eyes, "…whole week." The brunette vocalist then turned to the blonde boy as he made a gesture towards the novelist, "Yuki-chan, meet the infamously cranky Yuki Eiri-san, no da!"
Yukito shut his mouth and swallowed hard before pointing frantically at the blonde novelist. "Not him. He's an ungrateful jerk…ass bastard!"
Eiri scowled, deeply displeased, and wiped the thin trail of blood under his nose with his fingers. Then he turned sharply towards the N-G vocalist with one goal in mind; retaliation.
He subjected Ryuichi with the best death-glare he could muster and though only Tatsuha seemed affected by it, he continued glaring. "What?" Eiri growled deeply while his mind began reading into the older man's hidden intention. Not a blonde bombshell, he mused darkly, a Shuichi-wannabe. "So you intend to… set me up with…."
"Set up?" Yukito started, face contorted by confusion. Before he could continue, Ryuichi quickly had an arm wrapped about his shoulder with a light, playful laugh. Eiri frowned at that, half-hoping the boy realized what his 'friend' had really gotten him into.
"Well, I guess I'm driving Chrysanthemum-kun(1) to the nearest recycling center tonight… no da." The NG vocalist said suddenly in a deep, disturbingly serious voice that screamed finality. Eiri paled, sarcasm and ill thoughts set aside as his attention was returned to his laptop in captivity. It took a few long moments before realization hit about the NG-vocalist knowing about his laptop's… name. After it did, he managed to push his laptop's well being aside to cast his brother a warning look that spoke volumes about the price of betrayal in the Uesugi family.
"Chrysanthemum…kun?" several people beside in the crowd murmured and Eiri hoped nobody understood the meaning behind the innocent name. He glared back at Ryuichi who met his glare with an innocent, doe-eyed look.
The brunette NG vocalist grinned mockingly and when he did Eiri realized he had no choice.
That was, unless, he wanted months of work going down the drain and his editor appearing on tomorrow's newspapers as his murderer.
Uesugi Eiri had no plans of dying at twenty-six, even if he had enough angst and cigarette sticks to drive himself to an early grave.
ooo
ooo
It had been two whole days since Tohma last talked with Ryuichi, let alone seen him. The incident back at Nocturne had things going very hostile between, so Tohma felt. He was naturally adept at figuring out the why's and what's behind people's actions. When the brunette N-G vocalist kept on disappearing and making excuses to escape mandatory band meetings with him and their producers and whatnot, he knew it had to have been because of their little exchange back at Nocturne. It worried him slightly that their long-standing friendship was on the line though the more 'resilient' side of his was more than ready to discard another friend.
He was naturally, rather pleasantly, surprised to find Ryuichi in his office with Kumagorou, with its owners aide of course, busily tapping away on a very familiar looking laptop on his desk.
"Tohma-kun! Good morning, no da!" Ryuichi chimed in a sing-song tune. Kumagorou stopped typing and gave Tohma a very happy and enthusiastic wave courtesy of its owner then resumed typing with its soft, brightly pink paws.
Tohma said nothing at first and walked towards his desk. He left his attaché case beside it and then finally managed a smile. He greeted his friend tentatively, "Good Morning to you too… Ryuichi and.. Kumagorou."
"Kuma-chan!" Ryuichi corrected and the pink plush suddenly stood up, arms in akimbo, to emphasize this point. Tohma smiled, apologetically while his businessman-self began wondering the damages a fully expressional Kumagorou could do.
"Ahh… yes.. yes, Kuma-chan." Tohma said, correcting himself humbly with a light smile as he sat down in his office chair. Kumagorou merely began typing into the laptop again and, Tohma noticed, he was typing something over and over judging by the almost methodical strokes on the laptop keyboard. With Ryuichi's attention fully on commandeering his pink plush of doom, Tohma allowed himself to let a tiny frown go by unnoticed. He was wary. He knew Ryuichi was here for a reason and with all that was happening in the past few days, he had every right to be wary. With reporters and the press suddenly interested on a cold, stale case over again and people calling in trying to make him 'spill the beans', as one detective put it….
"Ne, Tohma-kun!" The vocalist whined playfully and when Tohma snapped his attention to his friend, he found one big, bright, pink Kumagorou waving at him from behind the laptop and no Ryuichi in sight. He suppressed a sigh and smiled.
"Yes?" He clasped his hands together on the desk and drew his attention towards the plush, all the time pondering on why the laptop looked disturbingly familiar.
"Is this how you type, no da!" Kumagorou asked, placing a paw over one of its cheek to convey a thinking expression before turning the laptop around. What was displayed on the monitor promptly made the blonde executive frown as he slowly, and calmly, read out the English words on the screen with squinted eyes.
"fuckhole." Tohma read out in a monotonous voice. He took a deep breath while Kumagorou nodded happily.
"Uhn! So Kuma-chan did right! No da!" The pink plush began dancing behind the laptop giddily to the parapara version of Shining Collection Ryuichi had suddenly begun humming to. Tohma finally sighed and was just about ready to break out his first round of contracts to sign and papers to go through when he finally noticed a small rectangular stuck on the laptop's monitor frame.
It took some squinting and an urge to reach for the reading glasses he kept in the second drawer of his desk but very soon he was able to recognize the tiny blob of yellow and pink in it. Shuichi and Eiri. He frowned deeply, in thought, and finally asked.
"Kuma-chan," He said slowly in an even tone, "What are you doing with Eiri-san's laptop?"
The answer came in the form of a simple, very cutely said, sentence as Kuma turned its beady-doe eyes at him. "I'm kidnapping it, no da."
Tohma licked his lips, appalled, and he leaned forward and smiled sweetly. "Kuma-chan, why are you kidnapping it?" He leaned closer and, if possible, smiled even wider, "You do know Eiri-san needs it to work, right? Kuma-chan."
Kumagorou nodded slowly by its owner's guidance and Tohma found his patience being tried… by a plush toy. The reporters and tabloids were going to have one juicy morsel if they ever had a chance to see this. If they ever had the chance, being the keywords.
"But, Yuki-san doesn't do anything but write trashy novels, no da, and boobies and—" The pink bunny plush looked down, sheepishly while its paws covered the spot between its legs. Tohma said nothing about the action and the hand that was putting the small bunny making it move. "…peepees." The word came out in a bare whisper, very much in the manner a small three year old would talk about touchy things like girls and cooties.
"Ah." Tohma reached a hand out and placed it on top of the laptop, "But that's not very nice, now, Kuma-chan." He pushed its lid down, ignoring the way those beaded eyes seemed to fix onto him watchfully, and moved to pull it to his direction.
"But if I didn't kidnap Chrysanthemum-kun—" Kuma-chan placed two paws on the laptop in a mock-attempt to stop the action. "Yuki-san wouldn't be able to entertain Yuki-chan.. no.. da." The plush's voice dipped into that of its owner's serious voice. Kumagorou fell onto the desk, lifeless, as the hand that had operated it was planted firmly onto the laptop.
Ryuichi smiled calmly at Tohma, nearly mirroring the smile the N-G President presented him within seconds. Not one to be overcome by surprises, Tohma sat back, deep into his chair, maintaining his cool poker face. He let the vocalist pull the laptop away from his reach, not bothering to waste effort at something that would end in futility.
Tohma took a deep breath and clasped his hands together, "What are you doing with Yukito?"
Ryuichi arched an eyebrow, smirking. He licked his lips and sat on top of the Executive's desk before carefully placing Kumagorou in front of Tohma in a sitting position. "Why are you so worried, Tohma-kun?"
Tohma's lips spread into a thin line before curving into carefully crafted smile. He stared the vocalist straight in the eye and his amber eyes only narrowed ever so slightly. "Because, maybe, I know something you don't."
Ryuichi's eyelid dropped, just slightly, to show his disinterest as he eyed the blond executive. He frowned, thoughtfully, and then swiped Kumagorou off the blonde's desk almost possessively before pressing it tight into his chest.
"Hmm.." Ryuichi pouted and eyed Tohma darkly, becoming the persona he usually reserved for singing. "Tohma-kun," he drawled, mocking and playful at the same time, "I'm making Yuki-san stay with Yuki-chan so he can convince Yuki-san to go to Mika-san's little family dinner—" He paused and laughed before letting his voice dip deeper. He leaned forward until his face was mere inches in distance with the executive's, "Sounds familiar… no.. da?"
The smile on the executive's lips spread wider and remained as he tilted his chin upwards to gain a leverage of sorts to the vocalist. Once their eyes were almost completely aligned with each other, their warm breaths mingling, he let the smile drop. A grim, thin frown replaced it.
Tohma narrowed his eyes, shooting the vocalist a deadly warning, and then smiled. "If you do anything, Ryuichi, you'll have to answer to me."
The vocalist looked at him, studying his face, his frown. Then he smiled, leapt off his desk, and began walking away with his back on the NG President. With Yuki Eiri's laptop in one hand and kumagorou in the other, he waved back to his blond friend with the plush.
"Your secretary, no da!" Ryuichi chirped, back to his normal self and, sure enough, the mahogany doors to Tohma's office opened, revealing one slightly flustered brunette dressed in typical office-lady manner. There were numerous yellow and pink sticky messages stuck to her fingers and she stopped to bow deeply at Ryuichi before striding towards her employer in her high heels.
Ryuichi craned his head slightly to give him a wink before finally stepping out of his office, the doors closing behind him.
As soon as the doors closed, Tohma turned sharply to his secretary and began to calmly lay down orders. "Amori-san, I want you to call Kanada-san." Tohma spun his chair around and turned his attention towards the glass wall behind his desk. He stared out in the distance, deep in thought as he began the process of re-evaluating his plans' effectiveness. "Tell her to call me through extension 704 ASAP."
"Yes sir." Amori replied without blinking as she produced a small notepad and began silently jotting down her superior's orders into it.
"I want more people watching Ohya and Fukuda." He paused and then added, "Make that the whole station and that specific show Shindou-san's story ran in. I want things to be kept as it is without arousing rumors."
"Yes sir!" More jotting down, Tohma didn't spare his secretary a glance as he continued.
"Cancel all appointments after four o'clock today."
"Sir?"
Tohma repeated himself, calmly, "I said cancel all appointments scheduled after four o'clock today." He paused and waited for the jotting sounds to return. "Then reserve a table for two at the Red Cavalier at five."
"Yes sir…" A pause, "Anything else, Seguchi-san?"
Tohma hummed and paused, thinking momentarily. He spun his chair around back again to face his secretary and nodded with a smile. "Yes, Amori-san…. I want surveillance on Sakuma-san and Nittle Grasper. Have them watched twenty-four-seven, I want to know who they talk to and when." He paused again and looked down, almost remorsefully, "Bug Sakuma-san's phones too. I don't care if K removes it every other day, or every night, I want one on it stat."
His secretary merely nodded and continued writing in her notepad.
"And then have someone pick a dozen strawberry shortcakes from the bakery a few blocks from here." Tohma sighed and began rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That is all, Amori-san, you may leave."
"Thank you, Seguchi-san." Amori bowed and turned sharply on her heels. She was headed back out when Tohma stopped her. The brunette turned around sharply and patiently waited for his orders.
"Amori-san." Tohma said, "Activate the GPS on Yukito."
"Yes, sir." Amori nodded and bowed again. She turned sharply on her heels once more and was out of the office in a matter of minutes.
Once she was gone, Tohma allowed himself to sink deep into his office chair, eyes closed. He took slow deep breaths and then decided.
This was war.
He pulled his cell phone out from his drawer and was about to press speed dial three when he remembered what that line was. He pressed speed dial four instead.
The voice on the other end of the line was strained and somewhat tired but it was happy nonetheless. Very soon, Tohma was inviting the other person to dinner at the Red Cavalier.
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Yuki Eiri sighed, even if in his mind he was screaming, in frustration. The small black line on an empty white Word Processor window blinked impatiently at him, waiting input; his input. His brain, however, refused to remind him where he had left off in his latest novel and, with Chrysanthemum-kun's absence (kidnapping, to be more appropriate), he simply could not check. To make matter worse; by some stroke of evil luck, or a certain brunette's twisted humor, he was in the worst room possible for someone seeking peace and quiet in the whole mansion.
To put simply, two days later after thinking nothing could be worse than getting chewed by his endorphin-pumped editor, he was in hell. And if the music currently booming all over the room, seeping through the amazingly thick but phenomenally useless walls, was any indication, he knew he'd never get any writing done in the near future.
He sighed loudly in exasperation and threw his hands up in defeat. "That is it!" He declared grudgingly as he got off his seat and, without thought for his new laptop's well being (2), unplugged it. He marched out of the room and, hand rubbing at his throbbing forehead, made his way towards the source of the loud music, which happened to be the mansion's spacious living room a mere room away.
The sight that met him at the living room completely took him by surprise. For a few long moments he stood on the spot, planted to the carpeted floor, as he gaped at the twin DDR-machines set at the center of the room, planked by two loud speakers that literally pulsed to the music. The first time he'd heard the music, Eiri had assumed it was from Dance Dance Revolution. He had seen and heard enough of the demon spawn (countless times, he had cursed its creators) to know music made for the thing. Tatsuha had certainly played it enough in his house as his way of 'consoling' him and later on just for the heck of it. He had been expecting some game console hooked to the TV, not the machines themselves.
Never the machines. It vaguely had him thanking Tatsuha never hauled one into his house. Or Shuichi for that matter…
"Ah…'Afternoon! Yuki!" Ryuichi waved at him eagerly, regarding him with a sickeningly wide grin and Eiri momentarily forgot about the music. The N-G vocalist was lounging at one of the sofas and Eiri breathed in deeply before walking calmly towards him. He stood beside the singer and spoke in a clipped tone, "Why are you here?"
"Looks like somebody hasn't had lunch!" Ryuichi giggled happily and Kumagorou appeared from behind the singer carrying a triangular sandwich wrapped in clear plastic. "Here, Yuki-san, have some of mine, no da!" He lifted the sandwich upwards with the pink plush and offered it to the blond who promptly refused it.
"I'd rather not eat anything you eat," Eiri said grimly. "I like staying coherent and sane unlike some people."
"Awww, that's a pity! It was bacon and eggs too!" Ryuichi feigned a look of disappointed but looked to be in no way offended by his comment. He sat Kumagorou on his lap and when he spoke again, his eyes directed to the boys on the machines, his voice was deep and dark. "Aren't they cute, Yuki-san?"
Eiri ignored him quietly and merely folded his arms above his chest.
"The pink-haired one, Juni-chan, likes Shuichi a lot you know?" Ryuichi declared quietly with a devious smile Eiri caught at the edge of his eyesight. Eiri had a feeling he meant that in more than one way but shrugged it off before it could fester in his mind. "He's doing Shu-chan on their Festival…." Ryuichi sighed then and began toying with Kumagorou, "Pity, he doesn't look very much like Shuichi, no da."
Eiri froze at the comment and before he could say anything Ryuichi had broken into a bout of hearty laughter. "So touchy, na no da." Ryuichi looked up and regarded him with a curious look then, "Say, ne, I hope you haven't been fighting with Yuki-chan a lot, no da." He paused and smiled, "Kuma-chan doesn't like it when you fight with Yuki-chan."
The novelist rolled his eyes and regarded the singer sharply, obviously annoyed. "Don't act like you know everything. You're beginning to sound like Tohma." Ryuichi only smiled mysteriously at him before pouting and wagging a finger at him.
"Nobody knows everything, Yuki-san." Ryuichi muttered quietly before licking his lips, "But I do know you had a fight with Yuki-chan this morning. You," Ryuichi pointed at him, eyes narrowed and deeply serious, "need to stop being mean to Yuki-chan. Or Kuma-chan will be mean too.."
"What, are you suddenly his fucking protector?" Eiri scoffed and Ryuichi's eyes narrowed into mere slits as he smiled widely.
"You can say that." Ryuichi grinned and then his voice turned grave as he eyed the novelist with a pair of blue eyes that simply didn't look familiar anymore, "You should be thankful, Yuki-san. I'm doing this for you." As soon as he'd finished the sentence, he returned to his old childish self and before Eiri could say anything to day, he was bouncing off the sofa.
"Ne, ne, Yuki-chan—" Ryuichi wailed, armed with Kumagorou on one hand, "Juni-chan, change the song no da! Do that other one with the cars that go zoom zooom vroom vroom! The one with ice and standing and loooove no da!"
Yukito stopped dancing and turned around, regarding the N-G vocalist a beaming smile while completely ignoring Eiri. A bead of sweat trailed down from his forehead to the sight of his cheek and he spoke in a breathy voice, "I'm beat," he declared breathily "Sakuma-san, why don't you do the song instead?" The bleach blond leaned against one of the railings and paused to catch his breath. He stepped down the machine and ran a hand through his bleached hair. For a few moments, Eiri thought he was seeing Shuichi giving up on ever perfecting his DDR skills.
"This sucks, Yuki. Sucks very, very much. At this rate, Suguru will beat me!"Eiri blinked and turned away sharply, feeling the old barely-healed wound Shuichi left the day he died within him throb.
"Kuma-chan would love to!" Eiri heard Ryuichi exclaim eagerly behind him, "Is Juni-chan up for it!" It was a challenge which Juni, at least Eiri thought it was him, eagerly accepted.
"You're on, Sakuma-san! Hah!"
"Eh, I go for drinks and come back and you're already tired, chibi?" A redhead said, emerging from the direction of the kitchen carrying a six-pack of Coke. The redhead, who was undoubtedly the same redhead from that nightclub, regarded Eiri with a light frown, easily reminding Eiri of Hiro's own protectiveness. What was it with them that reminded him of everything he didn't really need to remember? He shot Ryuichi a glare only to find the singer watching and smirking at him knowingly. Very knowingly.
Yuki-san, nostalgic, aren't we? He could almost hear the singer's voice sing in his mind as he read the message in the older man's eyes. Eiri was beginning to see the manipulative counter-balance of Nittle Grasper's Seguchi Tohma in Sakuma Ryuichi. He'd always known the man was a wolf in sheep's clothing but in his current position, he was realizing the full brunt of Ryuichi's deviousness.
What did Ryuichi want from him? Did he want the old wounds opened? For him to stay celibate for as long as he lived because Shuichi was dead? For him to suffer? They were all laughable reasons but he wouldn't put Ryuichi pass those possibilities. The man was a walking mystery, the type of character that would have even him guessing while writing his own novels.
Eiri knew he couldn't take any chances, couldn't back down without a fight because if he did the man would have him walking straight to where he wanted him to be. The gears in his mind turned, searching for a proper counter-attack.
"Maybe you should start checking your obsessions, Sakuma." Eiri advised the vocalist quietly with a slight smile as he reached for the pack of cigarettes in his pants. Ryuichi stared at him, clearly unfazed but amused by his attempt. "Because last I checked, I was Shuichi's lover. Not you." And that boy is leagues away from being Shuich,. he continued grimly in his mind.
Ryuichi chuckled lightly but his lips thinned into a line. He said nothing while Eiri began lighting a cigarette.
"You should have more faith in me, Yuki-san." Ryuichi hummed. He turned around slightly, heading for the DDR machines, and gave him a sharp sidelong glance. "I love Tatsuha-kun." He smirked and then playfully winked at him before bouncing towards Yukito and his group.
Eiri scoffed at the vocalist and took a long drag from his cigarette. The music was coming back. The ungodly loud music he'd forgotten during his intense conversation with Ryuichi was trickling back into his ears and making his eardrums scream into his mind. He shot Ryuichi and Yukito one last, withering glare before plucking the cigarette in his mouth and deliberately tossing it onto the carpeted floor.
He trampled on it with his slipper to put it out and hoped it left a very big and ugly black hole on the posh carpet.
ooo
ooo
Hiro tapped his feet impatiently and sighed, eyeing the unchanging traffic light with distaste while high school girls giggled and jostled each other towards him. That made him smile a bit as he shifted his weight from his left to his right foot and shook his arms a bit (they were getting cramped from the weight of the plastic bags he was carrying). It was flattering to know people still think you're good-looking even when you're all decked up in disguise and come off as anything but an ordinary person. Dressed in a pair worn jeans with holes and tears on it, a plain white t-shirt, and an old, faded, leather jacket, he was leagues away from the image his career had painted for him. Then armed with a pair of plain sunglasses and a beat-up baseball cap to keep his signature long hair up, he was a virtual nobody in the sea of pedestrians.
"I wonder how cute that guy is without that cap and the glasses!" Somebody from the group of girls beside him squealed in a high-pitched voice shortly before the traffic light changed signals and the shrill buzz that signaled the pedestrians' time to cross the road rang across the street(3). Hiro let out a sigh of relief before beginning to move, easily cutting through the crowd of pedestrians with long strides. The bags in his hands swung back and forth as he broke into a sprint across the next road, just in time to reach the other end of the road before the signs changed.
K's apartment complex was a block away from the convenience store and so after being 'chosen' to buy food he opted going by foot. He liked being on his motorcycle, liked it better than riding around in expensive fast cars, but he missed walking around on the streets. It reminded him of the days when Shuichi and him could still go around unnoticed in the crowd and they didn't have too much money to spend on taxi and all those. On bad days, it just reminded him of Shuichi.
Once he got back to K's apartment, he was greeted by the unusual sight of their manager hard at work on the computer while Rage and Kyoko watched his progress eagerly. Noriko was standing beside them, with a frantic-looking Sakano next to her, and she waved at him clearly not as interested in the computer magic K was working like the other two were.
"Sakano-san?" Hiro said as he entered into the apartment, regarding the dark-haired man with a single, arched eyebrow as he closed the door behind him with his foot. He covered the distance between them with long, even strides and once he was on the other side of the apartment, handed Noriko the plastic bags in his hands. Sakano greeted him with a bow and proceeded to push the rectangular, thick-rimmed glasses perched on his nose just as they were about to slip. He smiled at Hiro, nervously as he usually did, and began explaining the reason for his presence.
"I'm here to see how things are with everyone." Sakano explained in a quiet, even tone and the lack of the usual stuttering in his speech bothered Hiro a bit. The producer's eyebrows knitted and he glanced towards their American manager, frowning. "I heard about what happened between K-san and Seguchi-san so I… I decided to… come by and see a bit…" His voice sunk and began to finally stutter, shaking slightly with anxiety and worry. "Needless to say… it's… it's not a good idea to…c-cross Seguchi-san like this."
Sakano began fidgeting with his hands and Hiro nodded slowly, rather disinterestedly as he watched. "We know, or rather—" Hiro stuck up a thumb towards their manager, "He knows."
"I know he.. he might've given you guys a…" Sakano sighed, "Go signal but… I…I…"
"We know you believe in whatever Tohma does," Noriko cut in beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of reassurance. "But," Noriko shrugged, as if to show how superficial the matter was, "At this stage, it can't be helped now… it seems. And I know Tohma can be… low, but he loves his friends."
Noriko turned towards K's direction and Hiro followed her gaze with a slight frown. "K isn't exactly Seguchi's friend." Hiro muttered solemnly, knowing very well how practically everyone knew already. Seguchi and the Winchester blond were friends, in the sense that they used each other and took advantage of the other whenever the chance came. K was a little lower on the food chain but that didn't mean he let Tohma push him around easily and that's what exactly keeps them from having the same kind of friendship Tohma had with, say, Ryuichi or Noriko. Or Mika.
"That's what I've been worrying about…" Their producer trailed away and shook his head before giving Hiro an apologetic smile. Hiro understood, of course and found himself grinning as he looked from the Producer to their American manager.
"If anyone can go against almost anything, that'll be K." Hiro told their Producer confidently, "For one, he has the guns and…" Hiro paused and he frowned slightly, "…more guns. You really just can't get rid of K like that, really."
Sakano smiled at him appreciatively, "Ah, t-that certainly sounds… re..reassuring."
"It's time you stopped worrying, Sakano-kun." Sakano nearly jumped when the topic of their conversation spoke. Apparently, the blonde American was not so immersed in his work as they had first thought. "No worries, no worries at all – shouldn't be so uptight now, Sakano-kun. If Seguchi-san tries something, I can get the whole Interpol after his ass."
Sakano flushed suddenly and turned a bright red. Hiro, who easily picked up the, perhaps, unintended implication behind K's words, suppressed a deeply amused chuckle.
"That's an image I'd rather not see in real life." Noriko cut in quietly and their blond manager arched an eyebrow quizzically before suddenly breaking into a knowing grin. That told Hiro the blond manager hadn't meant the naughty little implication but of course, knew what he'd just insinuated by now.
"Ah, I hadn't completely meant it in that context but," K spun around on his seat, grinning devilishly as he continued about his work, "Seguchi doesn't need a criminal offense to have the Interpol after his ass thatway"
Sakano choked, loudly.
"Anyway—" K cleared his throat and behind him, his printer began buzzing and beeping. "I have some more information on our first suspect here and then some old news from last year—basically, I printed it out for everyone to look at and have a better picture of anything. This has information from almost every possible source I can get my hands on—"
"Sneaky." Hiro remarked while K grinned.
"Yup. This baby's got a wonderful file at the CIA—" The blond manager picked up the first finished page from his printer and waved it eagerly in front of Hiro, "Looks like while I was away, some people from another department had some information on him but he wasn't doing anything suspicious so they decided it couldn't possibly be him or anything else."
"And?" Hiro caught the piece of paper waved in front of him and began reading its contents. It read like a typical biodata with information on Fujima Kouji's ranging from height to blood type and Hiro thought the juicier parts had to be on the other papers still being chugged out by K's trusty and slightly-outdated printer. Of course, he knew it was outdated because he and Ayaka had recently purchased a sleeker-looking one from Akihabara a week ago.
"He re-entered Japan five years ago, under a fake passport and K-san only managed to verify that.. uh.. now—" Rage was running through the papers from the printer herself as she spoke matter-of-factly, "From then on, apparently, he's been living under another name and.. doing the whole normal life thing; odd jobs here and there…" she trailed away and frowned, "Months before Shuichi…disappeared… he applied for a janitorial position at that concert venue and got hired."
"Which, of course, increases the possibility of someone else from that concert venue knowing something more about the case!" K declared in a slightly cheery voice, countering the dark tone Rage had spoken with. "He went AWOL afterwards and there's been nothing about where he is now but…" K took that moment to grin at Hiro, "We're looking."
"Looks like you're all real... serious about this…." Sakano said quietly, making Hiro smile.
"Yeah, we are, somewhat…" The guitarist planted his hands onto his hips and sighed. "Hey…" Hiro said, addressing K with an upwards nod, "What exactly was our chance of having Shuichi back alive after we solve this case?"
K didn't look back at him.
"I'd say, since this is Shuichi, a good seventy-five percent," K said jokingly, "He's probably in Hawaii sipping some fruity colorful juice right not unaware of all the hell he's caused us all this time but…. " His voice turned serious.
"Realistically speaking, we have about… nine percent chance of getting him alive at the end of this."
"That's not too much, huh?" Hiro scoffed but K hmmph'ed.
" But we've placed our hopes on much smaller chances, haven't we, Hiro-kun?" The blond told them quietly and they were all silent, speechless, for a few long moments before Kyoko's cheerful voice broke through the silence.
" I'm pretty sure we'll solve all of this." The raven-haired young woman declared, stepping between K and Hiro. "With or without Shindou-san is alive at the end of this we'll nail the perpetuator and give him justice. Isn't that all that matters?"
"No," Hiro shook his head and smiled, "All that matters is Shuichi. Just Shuichi."
And that was all that was in his mind really; Shuichi. If they did solve this case and nail the one behind his disappearance or murder – whichever it really was – and Shuichi was really dead then.. Hiro knew, he'd rather have lived in ignorance. Better a dead Shuichi from one of the singer's stupid mistakes, than a dead Shuichi from under someone else's hand.
ooo
ooo
Yukito stared at the ceiling listlessly, idly wondering how someone could single-handedly cause him to be in a very foul mood. He twirled a pen his right hand and pursed his lips. He had tried to make things better for them earlier that day, before heading to school and dealing with all the things he'd had to. He'd meant to patch things up between them, kneel down if he had to just to make sure they could coexist without wanting to just shoot each other in the head. He had been prepared. He'd humbled himself and readied himself to submit to whatever foulmouthed words the novelist was going to subject him to only to be completely brushed off.
It made him feel angry, completely and utterly so and he couldn't remember ever feeling like that in a long while.
He grit his teeth and sighed deeply, releasing the breath he'd been holding before closing his eyes tightly. Calm down, deep breath… yes.. He opened his eyes once more and narrowed his eyes.
"Just five more days, Yukito-chan!" He mumbled in a tiny voice to himself, "Five more days or so and you can say goodbye to the mean bastard!"
"And Ai will come back home… and all will be better… all will be better… " He closed his eyes again and drifted into a light slumber – a very light slumber since the mere sound of the door to his little sanctuary creaking and barefoot scaling the floor easily brought him back to wake.
"Who?" He whispered quietly as he opened his heavy eyes and turned his head to the direction of the door. He regarded his visitor with sleepy eyes.
"I was looking for you, Yuki!" Juni said quietly, smiling at the bleach-blond innocently. The small dark-haired teen had found it fit to somehow drop in for a little sleepover the moment he found out his fiancée was out of town. Yukito was, at first, delighted by the notion of having someone else around other than his rude visitor and the random maid though, he was beginning to think it would be best to make sure Juni went home before the end of the weekend. The blond novelist was having a positively negative effect on him and he knew that…. wasn't good.
"You weren't in your room and I was thinking if you wanted hot chocolate or something—Of course, if you want we can always play DDR again though it's late… just to annoy Yuki Eiri…"
Yukito laughed lightly and rose from his seat, instantly managing a wide smile for his friend. "Makes you wonder how Shindou-san put up with him, doesn't he?" Juni asked teasingly and Yukito shrugged.
"Nope," Yukito said simply and then yawned. He covered his mouth with a hand, "I think, we should have hot chocolate…." He trailed away as he approached Juni and then yawned again. Juni beamed at him and instantly linked their arms together, the topic of Yuki Eiri having been instantly dropped at the mention of hot chocolates.
In Yukito's mind though, Juni's question echoed hollowly, repeatedly, demanding an answer. The only answer he could give it though was a simple sentence laden with thick sarcasm.
He was probably masochistic.
ooo
ooo
The whispers were being loud again, mumbling incoherently at near fever pitch, and he regarded the shadows that were creating them with a cold glare. He sat in a fetal position, head rested on his knees, while his hand clutched at either side of his legs tightly, so to keep them together. So, to keep himself still even as the shadows made him tremble and want to run away.
There was, of course, nowhere to run to and the cold expanse of the thick glass wall behind his back was a testament to this.
He took a deep breath and leant back, eyeing the darkness ahead of him differently while a familiar voice rode above the continuous cacophony of feverish whispers and hissings.
"Are we ready to rock tonight?"
The question felt so ancient yet, he knew, one time he would utter it almost every night in front of a hundreds and, sometimes, thousands of spectators all while hundreds of lights worked to amplify his magnified-presence. Looking back, he imagined it was to try and make his humble, earthly body match the same intensity his voice carried. Humble; the word made him smile. He sniffed and closed his eyes, shaking his head in an attempt to take his mind off those useless thoughts. Then he stood up and turned around to face the thick glass wall and to look through.
At first, all that was beyond the thick glass was an endless expanse of darkness but then, slowly, a vision of himself began to form in the nothingness. He was Indian-seated on the floor sporting the same bubblegum pink hair he'd been known for. All around his other self, white pieces of paper were strewn about in disarray. Letters, he thought. He knew.
"Listen to him for once." He found himself whispering quietly, voicing a long forgotten and unheeded advice. Shaking quietly, he placed his palms on the glass wall and leaned closer.
His other self picked up a piece of paper and began skimming through its contents with a mixture of disappointment and apprehension, mouth opening slightly to read in silence. He knew, he remembered what was written on them.
A cold hand slipped around his waist while the other clamped about his wide, pleading eyes.
The whispers quieted down.
-oooo-
-ooo-
-o-
(1) This was an old joke at gravimusemeet over at LJ. Because, somehow, in my Chinese volumes (I own Gravitation in Chinese), in volume 9 (?), Eiri gives Shuichi the title "Little Chrysanthemum" aka, Chrysanthemum-chan or –kun, whichever floats your boat. Being innocently naïve regarding uh… euphuisms, I asked the people over at meet and shortly found out about how Chrysanthemum pretty much equates to… butt. So, that's where the nickname came from. I'll leave the why behind Eiri naming it that way to the readers…
(2) Please shut your computers/laptops down properly. Bad sectors are evil and continuous careless unplugging/turning off of your puters can lead to one very dead hard disk. Hence, dead computer.
(3) Over in HK, they traffic signal things sound this big signaling thing whenever it's okay for the peeps to cross the road. It was non-existent in Macau (where I lived) and, I suppose, Western countries but I think I remember watching a Japanese drama and seeing that neat thing… so I decided to put that in. For fun.
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ooo
Okay everyone, time for the happy recap! Let's try and keep track of what's happened now so far!
We'll start with what we know so far;
- Shuichi was murdered or at least kidnapped. He didn't die in the car accident and might not be dead in actuality. Dead or not, Shuichi has been gone for almost two years.
- Tohma knows something and is definitely keeping a tight lip about it. Whether or not he orchestrated it and is seriously silencing witnesses and sealing evidences is still not known.
- The footage (from the live house/concert hall where Shuichi last performed) Kyoko hands to TV Station shows Shuichi in what could have been his last few hours and cements the idea that Shuichi was murdered.
- There were at least two people involved in Shuichi's disappearance, one of which is a fugitive by the name of Fujima Kouji. The other suspect could not be identified from the grainy footage but wears glasses. K assumes them to be experts in this field and has worked on cases regarding Fujima Kouji.
- Whoever was responsible for Shuichi's death/disappearance, wants no one getting close to the truth. This is made apparent after Kyoko barely escapes an attempt on her. Curiously, ASK was in the vicinity when the 'accident' happened.
- Takumi and Ruka conspire to make the attempt on Kyoko's life appear to be accidental for unknown reasons.
Our suspects… sort of:
Seguchi Tohma – Number one on our notorious little list is this cute little NG President. He's made a few visits to important people (Ohya and Fukuda) and laid down some threats, he's obviously kept the existence of the footage hidden up until Kyoko retrieved it from Kyoko and might have made Shuichi's murder come out as an accident… the question is why did he do this? What exactly is his reason for keeping all these evidences in the dark?
Aizawa Taki – Second in the list is this cheeky ASK vocalist. He was in the vicinity when the attempt on Kyoko happened and was relatively surprised to meet Yukito (who looks like Shuichi). It was as if he'd seen a ghost….
Fukuyama Kyoko – Attempt on her life or not, nobody knows why this young woman is obsessed with unveiling the truth behind Shuichi's death. Whether because of a strong sense of justice or obsessive-fangirling gone wrong, she has some very useful connections too… Who's to say she's not discreetly blurring truth and fiction and misleading everyone with her 'leads'?
Takahashi Takumi and Mitsusawa Setsuna – These two teenagers made sure the attempt on Kyoko came out as an accident on the reports but for what reasons?
Fujima Kouji – not nearly susceptible as the others in this list because he was one of the two people responsible for Shuichi's disappearance. Not much is known about this man…
Ohya – The poor man may be more random NPC (in terms of RPG games) than scheming plot device but there may be more to him than meets the eye.
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Ooh, it's that tiny little space where I respond to reviews again! XD Um. Yeah.
tangerine-asuka - Tange, they'll get back.. eventually…. Somehow, whether in this world or in the other world… j/k X3
CPV-Phantoms-CTFA – Yes, I updated and I know Boo's already read this by this time but… I miss your nice reviews.. maybe that's why I was delayed… j/k. Nah. I love you guys… miss you all so much so um.. yeah… wow, so, here, update!
anime-earth – I will work hard! Rawr! I never see you on IRC anymore… me sad. Not much anyway. D:
BlownAway – I remember reading your review and doing a little… dance because it was a long review and long reviews are always yummy. You're right, I'm not a native-English speaker so some of the lines are really... weird. I speak around the same way I write too so.. yup, it definitely comes out weird. And Yukito is one happy Gary Stu – I love him… may read to torture him but, hey…. I just hope he doesn't come off as an annoying Gary Stu because.. sometimes, I get a feeling he's becoming really… really…Gary Stu. Lol. But, half of me wonders how many people think Eiri will fall for Yukito… I hope… not… many? And finally, I think… I don't want to give up on this. :D
Guren – Yup, it has a Gary Stu. And Girls with Guns. Usually, we have Boys with guns, ne? hugs you Thank you for reviewing XD!
Vertigo – Well, it's safe to say that Yukito and Shuichi are two different… people. Yeah. I'd meant for Yukito to be different from Shuichi; you'll find out later how Yukito isn't as sweet and nice and all that perfect at all. Looking back, in chapter 6 (smile be there), remember he was into a fight with people? In canon anime, Shuichi wasn't exactly the troublesome time though in the manga he did start off being somewhat like that… but Yukito.. is or was different from him so.. um.. Not making sense. But, rest easy, I did mean for Yukito to be not like Shuichi… so yeah.. um… next XD!
And as for Tohma… Tohma… yeah, depends on how you take it. You can believe he does… or doesn't… it really won't affect the outcome much. Giggle.
.at least i know im a sinner. – Thank you! I'm sorry for the long wait then and I hope you're still reading this!
wendyghost - I'm working! I'm working! XD huggles
blueangelmaggie1723 – We'll see, Blue, we'll see if Yukito really is Shuichi or if he's Shuichi's long lost half-brother's cousin's husband….. who really is a florist by day and an assassin by night!
magikphoenix – Updated! I'm still working on it though I'm uber-duper slow. If you want, you can check out my fanart section up in my website because, when I'm not drawing… I usually draw these people and my art can be rather… telling.
!ANA! – And yeah, I know I'm bad but when you can't get the right words you… really can't help it. Huggles you. Canada has been nice. You need to email me and make me happy. I'm lonely. Cries. Loves you
Yersi Fanel – Apparently, LOTS of things. My muses decided to add some more.. tiny.. little.. plot devices. Rawr. I hope you're still following this fic because… XD!
Yay! And the end! …..Now, to start working on my next chapter… Muu. uu;;
: 3 Go read Animal X! Err… Yeah!