"Shuichi, there's something I have to tell you," said Yuki as he sat on the sofa with the singer curled up against his chest.
"Mmm?"
"About, well, about what happened while you were away," he said cautiously.
Shuichi's body tensed in Yuki's arms.
"About Yūko," he finished.
"What about her?" asked Shuichi slowly, twisting his neck to look into Yuki's golden eyes.
"I'm not sure exactly how to begin." Where are your writing skills when you need them, Eiri? He asked himself. You could sure as hell use a little fiction right about now. But he knew he would tell Shuichi as much of the truth as was safe. "I guess it all comes back to Tohma, really."
"Ha! I knew it!" cried Shuichi springing upright. "I knew he sent me on that tour just to get me away from you!"
"Calm down, damn brat! Is that what I said?" He rolled his eyes at Shuichi's incredible ability to jump to conclusions. "He just took advantage of the situation that presented itself."
"Eh?"
"You were away and then Yūko showed up and he sotra pounced."
"What happened?" asked Shuichi.
"Well," Yuki began, careful to select exactly the right words. "Her family contacted Tohma, god only knows why, guess he's the most powerful person in my family or something." He rolled his eyes again. "Tohma came to talk to me the next day and when I say "came" I mean it. He showed up here unannounced and far too early in the morning for any sane person. He then produced to tell me flat out that I was marrying this girl. I don't remember exactly what he said, but the tone was something to the effect of "it didn't bother you to be engaged to Ayaka when you didn't love her so this shouldn't be a problem – plus Yūko's richer." I basically told him to fuck off and he did – for about a day, then he was back telling me exactly why I should marry her." He put on a fake sweet voice. "How it's good for the family and don't I care about that? Don't I want to help?" He dropped the sugary tone and adapted a very sarcastic one. "Well, not really, no."
"So why'd you agree to do it?" Shuichi inquired when Yuki stopped talking.
This was the part Yuki didn't want to have to explain.
"You know Tohma, he's pretty persuasive," he said causally.
"I also know you; you're pretty stubborn."
Yuki smiled ever so slightly. "Alright, I'll tell you as much as I can as long as you promise not to pester me about the rest," he conceded with a sigh.
Shuichi knew this was the best (and only) offer he was going to get.
"Okay."
"Yūko's family has been trying to marry her off for a while, but, despite her being from one of the richest families in Japan and having been on multiple "hottest women in Japan" lists, no one will marry her. No one can stand her. So of course Tohma immediately thinks we'll get along just great since not many people can stand me either."
"I can stand you," Shuichi piped up. I can do I lot more than just stand you.
"Do you want me to tell you what happened?"
"Sorry."
"So, he says that I'll marry her. Then he tells me. I say nothing doing. You know that bit already. I'm still not sure why he was so determined to get me married; he's always hitting on me, it's disgusting. I guess he must want me away from you that badly. So anyway," he gave a slight, annoyed sighed at the memory, "Tohma figures that there must be a way to change my mind. So he comes to me, "Why won't you marry her? And don't say because you don't like her because that didn't stop you last time." And I told him, straight to his face, that I wasn't going to agree to marry someone I didn't want to be with this time because I know what it's like to be with someone I want to be with and I'm not going to give that up."
Shuichi made a small, happy noise, which Yuki ignored.
"That didn't go over too well, of course. He really does not like me being with you. So he went on this rant about all the reasons I should marry her. Most of which, indecently, sounded more like reasons why I shouldn't be with you. I more or less tuned him out so I couldn't tell you what his argument was, but when he finally shut up, I just told him no again. That's when it got nasty."
It had sounded nasty already to Shuichi and he hated to think what Tohma had said to his Yuki.
Yuki knew he had to stop stalling and tell Shuichi what had happened.
"Tohma pointed out in that lovely "now I'm going to kill you with a smile" way he has that he has a lot of power, that he could ruin your career if he felt like it and so I pointed out that that wasn't really a great reason for me to ruin my life. You're career takes up too much time anyway."
Shuichi blushed.
"Then he told me – again – all about how you aren't good for me and how I needed to get you out my life and that marrying her would do that. I pointed out that my reason for not agreeing to his little plan was you. He told me I was being stupid, I told him to go to hell." Yuki tried to make this sound "end of story," but Shuichi wasn't buying it.
"So why did you agree in the end? You did, didn't you?" he pressed.
Yuki sighed. Damn brat. Didn't I say not to pester me about the rest?
"Yes, I did."
"What did Tohma do?"
"Force me to spend some "quality time" alone with her," he said darkly.
"Yuki, you didn't!" cried Shuichi.
"No, damn brat. She talked at me. That was all. Thank god. Tohma had told her why I wasn't agreeing to the little arrangement. In other words, he'd told her all about us. And let's just say she wasn't thrilled. Her family's very powerful, you know. They could do a lot more than ruin a career."
Shuichi stared at him blankly, not taking the hint at all.
Yuki gave a frustrated sigh. He really did not want tell Shuichi the threat that had been made. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that it might put his lover in danger. He also knew Shuichi's reaction would be off the wall. However, he owed Shuichi too much to lie to him anymore. He just needed to choice his words carefully, that was all.
"They get what they want," he said slowly. "And if someone's in their way, something happens to that someone."
Shuichi's blank look did not change.
"They can make people disappear."
"How?"
"Shuichi! They were threatening your life!" cried Yuki in exasperation, clapping a hand to his forehead. He hadn't meant to put it that directly, but the fact that Shuichi was too slow to catch any of his rather obvious hints that wasn't his fault.
"Oh. Wait. What?" Shuichi did such a massive double take that he fell right off the couch and almost made Yuki smile. "People are trying to kill me?" he cried from the floor.
"No, they just threatened to if I didn't agree to marry Yūko," he explained as patiently as he could.
Shuichi struggled to right himself in the small space between the sofa and the coffee table.
"So they admit you care about me!" he exclaimed joyfully.
"Shuichi! Are you listening to me at all? These Hozuki people are willing to have you killed just to get their daughter married off to me." These were high stakes – even in Yuki's book.
"She must be pretty bad."
Yuki grimaced. "She is." Damn, I cannot focus around him! "That's not the point! The point is I have to figure out a way to get out of this without you being killed."
Shuichi scrambled back onto the couch and tried to climb back into Yuki's lap. The writer pushed him away, running his fingers through his hair.
The phone rang.
Yuki got up with a sigh and went to answer it.
"Hello? ... Oh, hello." His tone changed dramatically. Now it was dark, smooth, and beyond sexy. Shuichi thought he might die. Then he remembered who this voice was for and never wanted to hear it again. "No, I'm not doing anything Yūko. ... Well, I do have a deadline. .... You never asked." Shuichi could hear the ice forming around the edges of the words. "Whenever's best for you. ... Do I have sometime to tell you? ... What do you-? ... Ah. ... Of course I do but- ... I was hoping to tell you in a more dramatic way, darling."
"Tell her what?" mouthed Shuichi.
Yuki covered the mouthpiece and hissed, "Shut up, damn brat" at Shuichi.
"Nothing. ... Of course I have a dramatic side; have you never read any of my books? ... Oh. ... You'll just have to wait and see then. ... Not tonight, darling. ... Deadline, remember?" His voice sounded suddenly tried. "A bit. ... Pretty late, yes. ... Writing, what did you think? ... What about Saturday? ... Oh, I'd forgotten about the party. ... Ball, sorry. ... I get distracted by my work and things slip my mind; I'm sorry. ...What time is it? ... Alright. ... I can do it then if you like. ... Would you rather I surprise you? ... Alright then, I won't. ... The party it is. ... Alright. ... Yes. ... I'll see you then, darling. ... Goodnight." He hung up.
"If you ever call me "darling" I will never speak to you again," said Shuichi in a disgusted voice.
Yuki raised an eyebrow is if to say "are you sure you want to make that offer? It's extremely tempting you know."
"What did she want?" Shuichi demeaned sulkily.
"An answer."
"Oh."
"Her family's throwing this ball thing on Saturday. I said I'd tell her then," he said as he returned to the couch.
"Saturday!" cried Shuichi. "How are you gunna get out of it by then?"
"I don't know," said the writer in a tried voice as he sank down into the cushions. "I only told her I had an answer, so she had no reason to think it's yes."
Shuichi snorted in disbelief.
"I never said I was going to agree to it."
"You just talk to her like you're trying to seduce her!"
"I've got to keep her happy, haven't I?" He sighed. "She's going to be pissed when I tell her "no." They all are."
"You're telling her no?" asked Shuichi breathlessly.
"Of course. Haven't we gone over this already?" he asked, annoyed.
"I love you, Yuki," said Shuichi happily.
"I know." Only too well, damn brat. He stared moodily out the black window at the lights of the city. "Those people and their guns," he muttered darkly.
"What? Who?"
"Her family, they made their money in gun manufacturing."
Shuichi sprung up and was suddenly on the coffee table. His eyes were gleaming and the energy around him was almost visible.
"That's it!" he cried.
"What?" asked Yuki, more than a little disturbed.
"I know who can fix this!"
"Who?"
"K!"
--
Ok, I think I might have some idea of where this is going now. Nope, I almost never plan my stories. I just get them started and let them run. I want to know what's going to happen as much as the next person. Thanks to Acherona for pointing out that Tohma and Yūko must be holding something over Yuki. I'd kinda forgotten to come up with something.