"Shuichi," said Hiro in surprise as he opened his apartment door and saw his friend standing in the hall.
"Hey." There was a short and extremely awkward pause as they both tried not to think about what had happened between them. "I know it's really unfair of me to ask this, but could you maybe do me a huge favor?" he asked.
"Sure, come in," said Hiro.
He ushered Shuichi inside and shut the door.
"What is it?"
"Could I stay here for a few days? It'd just be until Saturday, but Yu-, I mean," he stopped himself from saying Yuki's name as he thought it might upset Hiro, but now he had no where to go with his sentence and his words hung uncomfortably in the air until Hiro saved him.
"What did Yuki say?" he asked as calmly as he could.
"He said that I should stay away from him and lie low and that it might be a good idea for me to stay here. He seemed to think you could take care of me." He felt himself blush.
Hiro snorted. "Yeah right. Why would he want me taking care of you? I know you can't take care of yourself, but why this sudden concern? Are you getting hunted down or something?"
"Not sound melodramatic, but yeah, basically." He began to explain the whole "Hozuki situation" as Yuki had put it.
"Holy crap," said Hiro when Shuichi was done. "They're ready to kill you to get their daughter married off to Yuki?"
"Apparently."
"Damn."
"So can I stay here until it's all over?" asked Shuichi.
"Of course. What kind of friend do you think I am?" He smiled.
"Well, I just thought what with... everything," Shuichi mumbled.
"Forget it, Okay? It's the best thing to do now. People do stupid shit all the time and world keeps turning, doesn't it?"
"Yeah."
"We've known each practically forever and we've done a lot of stupid shit. If stupid shit stopped the world, we'd have done it by now." He smirked.
"You're probably right," Shuichi agreed.
"So K's gunna keep you covered, huh?"
"Yeah, but I have no idea what Yuki's going to have him do, or, more accurately, what he's going to do of his own accord. I'm just supposed to stay out of it until Saturday or probably Sunday, whenever it's over."
"Well, I just hope it all works out Okay," said Hiro with a slight sigh.
"Yuki's gotten through a lot worse," Shuichi said with a note of sadness.
Hiro gave him a slightly quizzical look. Shuichi had never told him what he had learned in New York about Yuki's past.
"He is kinda cute in a weird sorta way," mused Hiro.
Shuichi gave him a "what???" look.
"I mean, the way he acts all cold and pretends he doesn't care, but really he'll do anything for you, it's cute," Hiro explained.
"Yeah, I guess it is," said Shuichi slightly dreamily.
--
All went well until very early Saturday.
For the past few days Hiro and Shuichi had gone to work and K and Hiro kept all four eyes between them glued on Shuichi. Bad Luck had worked on their music and no one had seemed to notice anything was wrong, well almost.
Tohma kept showing his girly face whenever he got the chance. On Friday, Shuichi finally cracked.
"What, Tohma-san?" Shuichi shouted when the N-G president interrupted the recording for their new song for the forth time that day.
Hiro rolled his eyes at his irate friend, but didn't tell him off because he wanted to exactly the same thing.
"Just checking in the on recording, Shindou-san. How is it going?" he asked with a forced-looking smile.
"It was going just fine," snarled Shuichi.
"That's good," he said, either missing or ignored Shuichi's use and emphases on the past tense.
"Seen Eiri-san lately, Tohma-san?" asked K abruptly.
"No, no I haven't, K-san," replied Tohma, clearly unsettled.
"I hear he should be officially announcing his engagement any day now, is that true?" asked K causally.
"He hasn't disgusted it with me," said Tohma in a clipped voice.
"Really?" asked K, stretching out the vowel with sarcasm.
"Yes, really."
"I heard the Hozuki family is giving some kind of ball tomorrow, maybe he'll ask her formally then." K seemed to be enjoying playing with Tohma.
"Maybe. Well, I'll let you get back to your recording," said Tohma quickly before taking his leave.
"What was that all about?" asked Suguru.
"You don't want to know," said K.
Suguru nodded. K's opinion was gun-enforced law.
Bad Luck continued work on the song. They stayed late; K kept them there until they had each track of the song recorded perfectly. It was about four in the morning when they were finally allowed to go.
"At least we don't have to come in tomorrow," said Hiro with a yawn.
"You mean today?" Shuichi asked. "At least we got it all gone."
"Great work, wasn't it? That song is gunna rock. Your best lyrics yet, I'd say."
"You think so? Took me long enough – practically the whole tour," Shuichi said as he shoved the helmet onto his head and prepared to climb onto to back on Hiro's bike.
"They're great," said Hiro, checking that Shuichi had a good hold on him before kicking the engine into life.
The new song was very different from Bad Luck's previous songs. Its lyrics were heavier and its beat much slower–not a ballad, but certainly more artsy. Suguru was thrilled with it; he'd been clamoring for Bad Luck to be more serious since he joined. The music was simple, but beautiful; it featured Hiro on the acoustic guitar with a minimal, but elegant melody on the keyboard weaved in. The lyrics had undoubtedly stemmed from Shuichi's longing to be with Yuki again while he had been in America and they were touching and effective. The song was called "Half a Day" and focused on how the singer was half a day behind his lover who was half the world away.
"You mind if I stop at the grocery?" asked Hiro.
"Nope, it's your bike after all."
Hiro pulled up at the curb and hoped off his bike. He chained it quickly to the parking meter, which still had fifteen minutes on it and, after clipping their helmets to the bike, the two band members headed into the large, twenty-four hour store.
It didn't even take five minutes for Shuichi to get lost. He had just been looking at different kinds of pocky and he had turned around and Hiro had been gone.
Shuichi looked around and tried not to panic. This was exactly the kind of thing Yuki had wanted not to happen. What had Hiro said he was going to get? He couldn't remember. He started to look for his friend. He couldn't have gotten far; he'd only been gone a few moments, hadn't he?
"Are you lost?" asked a smiling woman.
"No," said Shuichi quickly, feeling suddenly like a little kid.
"Really?" she asked, pulling out the vowel just as K had done earlier.
"Yes, excuse me." He turned to make an escape.
"I can't do that," she said.
"What?" asked Shuichi, thrown.
"I can't excuse you," she said, still smiling.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but-"
"My mistress wants you to come with me," she said, "and that is exactly what you're going to do."
Shuichi froze, truly scared now.
"Yūko Hozuki," he whispered. "She's your mistress, isn't she?"
The women's smile widened and he knew he was right.
Shuichi took a deep breath, filling his singer's lung with air in preparation to scream Hiro's name.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said the woman sweetly, nodding at something behind Shuichi.
He spun round and found himself staring at a very large and terrifying man. The man leered at Shuichi who gulped as he turned back to the woman.
"That's right, just come with me," said the woman.
Shuichi didn't move.
"Do you really want my friend to find your friend?" she asked.
This was indeed exactly what Yuki had feared. If he went with the woman the Hozuki family would have something to hold over Yuki and he's have to marry Yūko. If he yelled or tried to get away, the man would find Hiro and hurt him – at best. (If he didn't go with them they'd just make him.) Shuichi swallowed. He loved Yuki more than anything, but Hiro was his best friend and going with them did seem to be the safest option. He nodded.
"Good boy."
The two escorted Shuichi out of the store and into a waiting black limo. Once inside the woman nodded slightly to the man who sprung with surprising agility considering his size and the lack of space in the back of the car. He soon had Shuichi pinned and the woman gagged him and tied his hands. The man let him go and the women considered him from a moment. Shuichi stared back at her with wild, frightened eyes.
"I don't want to look at him," she decreed, turning away.
The man gave a low, grunting laugh and roughly shoved a black bag over Shuichi's head.
Acting on pure instinct, the singer began to struggle and thrush about. There was something about the loss of his vision that made him crack and give in to the animal reaction to the situation. His breathing was rapid and his movements desperate. However, they were only allowed to continue for a few moments.
It only took the man one good blow to knock Shuichi out.
--
So, am I starting to redeem myself after not having updated for ages?