Disclaimer: In the first chappie!

Chapter 4:

By the time Taki stepped out of the shower, Tatsuha was already dressed and downing a few pills to help him get over his hangover. He looked good in a light blue button up shirt and black trousers. He looked up as Taki walked in.

"So are we ready to leave? I thought you'd never get out of that shower you took longer than a girl!" Tatsuha asked looking a little impatient.

"Ok, let's leave." Taki dragged the younger boy down to the parking lot. They stood for sometime staring at the bike. "What…why aren't we leaving already?"

"Um…cos you didn't give me time to pick up my keys?" Tatsuha scratched his head. Taki's eyebrow started to twitch as the younger boy ran up to get them. He came down soon enough. Taki couldn't help feeling a little thrill of excitement go down his spine as he put his arms around his waist.

They drove out of Tokyo and down to a small town an hour or two away. Tatsuha smiled a little as he looked around the peaceful neighborhood. They stopped at a nice suburban house with a pretty flower garden. Tatsuha parked and followed Taki to the door. He watched his roommate ring the bell and waited.

The door opened and Tatsuha found himself looking at pretty woman with black hair which had a few grey streaks in it and eyes just like Taki's. She stared at Taki before breaking into a huge smile. "Taki! You're back!" she gathered the dark haired singer into her arms.

Taki struggled a little before breaking away. "Mom! This is my roommate Tatsuha by the way…" he watched as Tatsuha shook hands with his mother a sweet disarming smile on his face. He walked in beckoning to Tatsuha. There was a squeal and he was knocked off his feet.

"Ojisan! I missed you, you didn't reply to any of my e-mails!" a small high pitched voice came from around Taki's waist.

Tatsuha watched as Taki disentangled himself from what looked like an eleven year old girl. "Kumiko, what are you doing here?" Taki asked.

"Well, otousan is here too. We came to visit! You're sooo mean Oji! I wrote long long e-mails and you didn't answer them. Are you angry with me too?" Kumiko's eyes filled up a little.

"No I'm, not angry with you ok? I'm sorry about the e-mails I didn't have time." Taki patted her head, when another tall man who looked like Taki except that he had blue eyes and shorter hair came down the stairs.

"Taki! You're here! How nice of you to visit today! Who's your friend?" the man envelope Taki in a hug. Taki started to squirm once more. Tatsuha wondered if the man had any issues about his space…maybe he just didn't like to be touched.

Taki moved a few feet away from his brother and yanked Tatsuha forward. "Tatsuha, I'd like you to meet my niece Kumiko, my brother Taro, and you already know my mother. My sister in law knowing her should be upstairs or in the bathroom fussing over her face. Everyone, this is Tatsuha, my roommate."

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Once the introductions were done they moved into the living room. Tatsuha found that Taki's family was in a way very different from Taki. They were social creatures and were really nice, not grumpy and stand offish like his roommate. The only thing that amused as well as bothered him was Kumiko staring at him with big doe eyes. Tatsuha tried ignoring it for a while, but then in the end he had to turn and say something.

"So, Kumiko, uh…how old are you?" he grinned a little.

The girl was positively breathless. "I…I…I'm eleven…"

"Wow, I wish I was eleven again. Um…what kind of music do you like?" Tatsuha wished the rest of the family wasn't watching him as they talked. He could feel their gazes on his back.

"I like all music….Tatsuha-san, you really are very hot you know…"

Tatsuha sweat dropped, completely taken aback. He placed a hand at the back on his head. "Um…uh…thanks Kumiko, that's a sweet thing to say."

"Will you marry me? I can make you very happy you know…I can cook really well…"

Taki looked at Tatsuha's completely flabbergasted face and start to smile. "Kumiko, please tell your mother we're here!" he watched his niece walk out and his smile widened.

Tatsuha was blushing fiercely; for once in his life he was speechless. Taro was laughing. "I'm sorry Tatsuha-kun. Kumiko is going through a phase right now."

Tatsuha nodded and looked up as Kumiko came back with a pretty flame haired woman. "Hi Tatsuha-san, my daughter just told me all about you…looks like you'll be my future son-in-law…I'm Moegi, nice to meet you." She bestowed a smile upon them before clouting Taki on the head. "You idiot! Why didn't you keep in touch? You know how worried we've all been? Since you left NG you haven't even called except the time you came down for an hour!"

Taki rubbed his bruised head and glared at her. "Sorry, don't act like a deranged maniac! I was busy ok? It's not like I want to keep in touch with people who are so spastic!" he saw the hurt well up in her eyes and sighed. "Look Moegi, I'm sorry ok? I'll try my best to keep in touch. I was going through a hard time and I was just feeling antisoc…." He trailed off, his eyes suddenly hardening.

Tatsuha wondered what had upset him and looked in the direction of his gaze. An old man was approaching them, presumably Taki's father. The man looked coldly at Taki before turning to Tatsuha and smiling a small unconvincing smile.

"Who might you be, my lad?" he asked.

"Jijii, he's Taki's roommate, Tatsuha and he might marry me when I'm older!" Kumiko informed her grandfather. The older man smiled down at Tatsuha, looking very amused.

"Oh that's nice. Nice to meet you, boy." He turned to Taki's mother. "Ochiba, I brought the vegetable you wanted for the salad. Please make dinner fast will you, I'm ravenous…."

For the rest of the time until lunch Taki's smile was non-existent. Tatsuha wondered why they completely ignored each other. The singer was sitting stiffly and answering curtly without bothering to pretend politeness. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

Everyone got up completely relived when Ochiba called them for lunch. Once Taki's mother was among them things seemed to lighten a little. Though father and son still ignored each other, they conversed with everyone else. For once Kumiko wasn't staring at Tatsuha because she was busy with her food.

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The leaves rustled around them as they walked to a pretty playground. Tatsuha sat down on one of the low swings enjoying his surroundings. The play ground was drenched in sunlight. He just felt really peaceful and nice.

Taki sat down on a swing next to him. "This is one of my favorite places. I used to play here all the time and then when I was a teenager I'd come here all the time to work of my bad moods. I missed this place a lot…"

Tatsuha snuck a look at the older man. Taki had a wistful look on his face, but he schooled his expression back to usual except for the absence of the sneer. "Tatsuha?"

The monk looked at him wondering what could be bothering him now. The singer gazed at him with…that definitely wasn't gratitude right?

"I never got around to thanking you for the recording contract and all. I just wanted to say thank you…you've just helped me get life back on track. When I told mom about it while we were washing the dishes, she was really happy. So…um….thanks a lot."

Tatsuha blinked. "My pleasure Taki. You know for the life of me I can't imagine you out here as a boy…I can't imagine you playing for that matter. It's almost like you were born a grumpy, anti-social brat…"

For the first time Taki laughed out loud. It was a huge transformation, from the sulky male. His face just lit up completely and his eyes lost their lazy look. "Well…I have been a child. A very mischievous one. There was this time when I tried to scare Taro, I used this talking doll that dad had bought for me. Taro was really scared of ghosts and he didn't know about the doll. So I locked him in his room and got the doll talking, the poor guy almost broke the door down, waking the whole neighborhood up!"

"I did worse; I made Eiri wet the bed. That was too cool. It's like he couldn't sleep without the lights on for ages, I made him watch the ring and then Mika wet her hair and stuff. He really thought ghosts were out to get him and made me stand outside the bathroom at all times. He couldn't stay alone anywhere for the next few months."

They chatted for a while about all the pranks they played. Then they moved to sit under a few trees and watch the sun set. Taki was acting so comfortable, that Tatsuha decided to ask him. "What's up with you and your dad man? I don't mean to pry, but it's so awkward…"

Taki grimaced. "I don't want to…well, he's just mad at me. He found out all about what happened with Shindou. We had a really huge fight about it and well, I wasn't feeling too good then, I was a wreck actually. So I said a few cutting things…he's not really my dad. My father died when I was eight, Rai is my step dad. He's been there for me for years, but I guess I ruined that. It's almost like he's disowned me or something now."

Tatsuha looked at that miserable face and pulled the older man in a hug. Taki looked a little startled as his face hit Tatsuha's chest. "I think you should apologize Taki. It's nice that you have a dad who was actually there for you. It's not something you might want to lose forever you know?"

Taki tried to collect his thoughts, but couldn't help thinking of how nice Tatsuha smelled. He smelled of a creamy soap and a little detergent. "No, it doesn't matter. He won't talk to me, I have tried to apologize. Forget it Ta-kun."

Tatsuha's eyes widened at the nick name. Somehow he had thought that Taki would try to move away, but the singer was still lying against his chest making no move to sit back up. Well, if he doesn't mind, then I don't either. Looking at the sun dipping below the horizon, he decided that they'd better leave if they wanted to get home. Maybe hanging at the club could wait. "Oi, Taki, we should get going, it'll be late if we don't you know?"

Taki nodded, reluctantly letting go of the younger man. If he had had his way, then he would just stay like that forever. Tatsuha's chest was a really comfortable place to lie on.

"Oi, Taki what are you still doing there? You look like a zombie baka! Snap out of it, we nee to go!" Tatsuha called. Taki realized that the kid had already moved to the exit. He nodded and followed, as the red sun disappeared at last behind him.

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A/N: how was it? I know there was a lot of fluff, but I needed them to bond. I mean Tatsuha had to get to know Taki properly and I can't think why people don't give Taki a proper background when they write about him!

Taka