Summary: They always stuck together through thick and thin, the good times and the bad. All different personalities, but they share one thing in common: love can't be masked and gave up on by admitting human frailty...rather by following what their heart says, not their heads.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation, at all. End of story.
PS: I am a huge pervert, so please excuse... XD
Chapter 7:
Yuki stared at Shuichi with sympathy in his eyes. He would have never known... His Shuichi a druggie, a slut, a cutter, and a depressed, mental patient.
'No, not now. Shuichi isn't the way he was back then. He is perfect...He's beautiful, kind, selfless...there is no way I can compare him to the past. No way.'
"I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner, Yuki." Shuichi cried into his hands. "I just wanted to forget everything. The person I am now hates who I was before. I didn't want you to know because I thought you would run away."
"I wouldn't run away from you, Shuichi." Yuki said lightly, pulling Shuichi into his lap. "The past is the past. You aren't who you were before. People change. You have changed. I can't hold that against you."
"Oh, Yuki."
Hiro and Suguru smiled in relief. Yuki took it easier than they thought he would. For that, they felt better. Much better.
"Well, I think it would do us all some good if we had some sleep." Hiro said taking Suguru's hand and pulling him off the couch and to his feet. "We will all feel better in the morning."
Shuichi smiled at the three most important people in his life. He didn't know where he would be without them.
"Good idea." Shuichi responded, snuggling his face into Yuki's neck, who tightened his grip around the pink-haired singer's waist.
"See you in the morning. Remember, Shuichi, we have work." Suguru said waving and heading towards the door with Hiro.
"Yeah, I know." Shuichi said with a sigh.
His tears had stopped and images of his past were slowly fading out. He felt drained and tired.
"Let's get some sleep." Yuki suggested.
Shuichi nodded and clung to Yuki as he was picked up and carried to the bedroom.
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"TOHMA!!!!!!! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!! I DON'T WANNA! I DON'T WANNA!!!!"
"Ryuichi, calm down."
"I don't wanna go to bed!" Ryuichi said through the phone to Tohma.
"You don't want to be all sleepy for work tommorrow do you?" Tohma replied, sounding a lot like a mother trying to convince her child to go to sleep.
"Well...no...but I wanna watch T.V. My show is going to come on soon! Pwease, Tohma! Pwetty pwease! Just this once! PWEASE! PWEASE!!!! PWEASE!! PWETTY PWEASE WIFF SUGAR ON TOP, AND CHERRIES, AND PEANUTS, AND WHIPPED CREAM, AND GUMMY BEARS, AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE, AND POCKY STICKS, AND BANANAS, AND SPRINKLES, AND OREO COOKIE BITS, AND--"
"Ryuichi! Stop. You're giving me a migrane." Tohma cut Ryuichi off, his voice sounding irritated.
"Sorry, Tohma."
Tohma sighed through the phone, feeling guilty for the silence that fell over Ryuichi, knowing that it meant he was sad.
"How about this, Ryuichi. You go to bed like a good boy, and I will arrange for you and Shindou-san to spend the day with each other sometime this week. How about that?"
"Oh, Shuichi!!! For real?!"
"Yes."
"Oh, that would be great, Tohma!!! Okay, I'll go to bed!"
"Thank you, Ryuichi. Good night."
"Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Ryuichi giggled.
Tohma chuckled. "Bye."
Ryuichi hung up the phone. He stood in excitement for a minute, holding Kumagoro at arms length so he could get a full view of his bunny friend.
"Ah, Kuma, Tohma is going to arrange a day where Shuichi and I can spend a day with each other. Won't that be great?! But, he says I have to go to bed."
Ryuichi stared at his bunny for a moment before something dawned on him. He looked at his bunny, his eye brow raised.
"Kuma...Tohma says that I am 31 years old. Which means I am an adult."
Ryuichi pulled Kumagoro close to his chest and started chuckling mischevously.
"That means, I don't have to listen to Tohma, I just have to make it seem like I did. Aha!"
Ryuichi bounced happily, running to his bedroom to grab his favorite Kumagoro blanket and a pillow, and went into the living room, sitting himself on the couch in front of his big screen television.
"Well, Kuma," he said, pulling his blanket over him and Kumagoro, "it's nothing but 65 inches (the size of the television for those that didn't know ;P) of cartoons all night long."
He took the remote, pressed the power button, watched the screen come to life. He grinned like a five year old that just recieved a piece of candy from the nice, old lady at church. Within two minutes, he had fallen over on his pillow and was snoring away, sound asleep.
(So much for 65 inches of cartoons all night long, right?)
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Taki raided Shuichi's room, searching for anything that he could use against him. Nothing. Shuichi had nothing out of the ordinary. Well, besides the excessive amount of clothing. He growled and silently cursed Shuichi for being so normal...yet, abnormal. He searched through every drawer, every box he could find and found nothing. Except for one thing...
...A photo album.
Taki took it and started looking through the pages of pictures, starting from when he was a baby to about age fifteen. As Taki got to the pages of Shuichi's older years, not caring about the many pictures of Hiro and Suguru, he noticed a black-haired, grey eyed man with Shuichi. Underneath, the caption read 'Kai.'
"Must have been that brat's old boyfriend." Taki said aloud to himself, flipping still through the pages.
He noticed the appearance change in Shuichi. He was a healthy looking child, though he was always small. He seemed to always have a smile on his face. Until the pictures got into the later years. Started at age twelve Taki saw an appearance change in Shuichi. He no longer smiled in any picture, even the ones with Hiro and Suguru. His pink hair looked unkempt, his usually bright violet eyes had deep shadows underneath and had a certain darkness to them. He was also much thinner, if that was even possible. His wardrobe when from bright and random colors, to black: black shirt and blue jeans, sometimes a chain that held to his wallet.
"He looks like a druggie..." Taki again said aloud to himself.
Taki shook his head.
'Nah, he is too much of a loser to do drugs. He's too scared. They are too hard for him to even think about trying.'
As he got farthur into the pictures he saw that Shuichi looked angry or depressed, in every picture. They were getting a lot more personal, too. There were pictures of Shuichi with cuts all over his arms. Taki, freaked out, thought Shuichi must have took the pictures himself. There were pictures of that Kai person smoking what looked like a joint, pictures of Kai when he slept, pictures of Shuichi looking even paler and thinner than Taki could have ever imagined. He could almost see Shuichi's cheekbones.
Taki closed the photo album and put it back where he found it.
'There is no way that the loser could have a past life like that...drugs and all. That couldn't have been Shuichi's wrists that were all cut up like that. Couldn't have been.'
Making sure that nothing was out of place, Taki left the room, the images of the ghostly Shuichi still in his head. He shuttered. It had to be a joke. It had to be.
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The Next Day:
"HIRO! STOP STOP STOP!" Shuichi yelled.
Hiro and Suguru stopped playing at looked at Shuichi in confusion.
"What?"
"That sounded horrible!"
"What sounded horrible?"
"That cough you just did."
"I didn't cough." Hiro said, looking around the room. "I just...had something stuck in my throat."
"Yes, you did, and it sounded horrible. Are you getting sick?"
Shuichi walked over to Hiro and felt his forehead, checking for fever.
"Focus, guys! Focus! I was hoping we could get this single done by next weekend. We were making good progress until Shindou-kun decided that Hiro was sick."
"But, he coughed, Sakano-san. It sounded ICKY!"
"Focus, Shindou-kun." Sakana became nervous. "I would hate to know what Boss would do if I screwed this up... I'D BE RUINED!!!"
Sakano stared panicking, whirling around in a whirlwind before hitting a wall, a river of tears coming from his eyes. The three best friends stared at him.
"Don't worry..this is normal Sakano stuff. He's a worry wort." Suguru said. "Ready to play again?"
"Sure thing." Shuichi said, giving Suguru a thumbs up.
Leaving Sakano in his tears on the floor, the band started to play. Shuichi grinned through the whole thing. He felt significantly better than he did the night before. He was happy that Hiro and Suguru were there to support him, and he was happy that Yuki hadn't run away or judged him because of his past mistakes. His eyes glazed over as he sang the last verse of the song.
The three exited the recording room. Shuichi gave a loud yawn and threw himself in a chair in the corner.
"You seem happy." Hiro said sitting in the chair beside Shuichi.
"Yeah, I just feel better." Shuichi replied, his elbows on his knees, his chin resting on his hands.
"Yeah. I can't believe Kai just showed up out of nowhere after all these years." Suguru said looking through music sheets.
"He was scary. He looked different." Shuichi said, looking at Suguru. "I could tell that he hadn't stopped the drugs. His breath smelled like alcohol, too."
Shuichi shuttered. Hiro laid his hand on his friend's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
"Well, he won't be bothering you again."
Shuichi smiled back. "I sure hope so."
"Hello, there, gentlemen!"
Shuichi screamed and jumped in Hiro's lap. Tohma, who had just entered, looked at him in confused amusement. Shuichi blushed and got out of his friend's lap.
"Sorry, Tohma. You scared me."
"That's alright, Shindou-san. I have come to tell you that tommorrow you will be spending the day with Ryuichi."
"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-wha?" Shuichi said, not sure he heard Tohma correctly.
"I said, you are going to spend the day with Ryuichi tommorrow."
"How did this come up?!" Shuichi exclaimed excitedly.
"Well, it's kind of embarrassing really.." Tohma smiled nervously and scratched his cheek. "I kind of have coax Ryu to go to bed every night. Usually I don't have any problem, but last night he was being especially difficult, so I told him that if he went to bed then I will set up a day where you two could hang out together."
Shuichi fainted.
"He's excited." Suguru said boredly.
"Sakuma-san sounds like a handful." Hiro said.
"Yes." Tohma replied. "Sometimes, I feel like I am his babysitter rather than his bandmate."
Tohma smiled his plastered on smile, like he usually does.
"When Shindou-san decides to come back to come back to conciousness, let him know to be here at eight o'clock sharp. I'm sure missing a day of school won't hurt."
"I'LL BE THERE!!!"
"Aren't you supposed to be passed out?" Tohma said, creeped out by a speaking, yet unconcious Shuichi.
"Oh, yeah..."
Shuichi passed out, again. Hiro looked at Tohma apologetically.
"He has a tendancy to do that." the guitarist said.
"It's alright. He reminds me of Ryuichi, so nothing suprises me. Thank you for your time, gentlemen. Have a good day." Tohma walked to the door, stepping over the...sleeping Sakano. "Tsk, sleeping on the job, Sakano-san? That's not like you."
Sakano, hearing Tohma's voice, sprang up from the floor.
"I'm soooo sorry, Boss! It won't happen again! I swear!"
"Calm down, Sakano."
Sakano sniffed and tried to fight back his tears, though unsuccessfully. They fell down his cheeks and he sniffed even more until he sobbed.
"I'm really sorry, Seguchi-san!! These boys tired me out! I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!!"
Sakano fell to Tohma's feet. Tohma smiled uncomfortably and stepped out of the room. Shuichi was looking at the ceiling, his eyes glazed over.
"Shu--"
"WOOO HOOOOO!!! A WHOLE DAY WITH THE SAKUMA RYUICHI!! HOW CAN MY LIFE GET ANY BETTER!!! HAHA!!!!!"
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The Next Day:
"Hiya, Shuichi!" Ryuichi said waving his hand like a madman and jumping up and down.
"Hiya, Sakuma-san!" Shuichi replied, waving and jumping like Ryuichi.
"Ah, please, call me Ryuichi or anything other than Sakuma-san. You make me sound old. Which is something that I am getting..." Ryuichi scratched his head and looked at the floor.
"Oh, please!" Shuichi said patting him on the shoulder. "You're 32 and you look like you are 19. Relax."
Ryuichi smiled wide at Shuichi and hugged Kumagoro tighter to his chest.
"So, what are we going to do today, Shuichi-kun?"
"Um...I don't know...I'm only in college. I don't get out and do stuff..."
"How lame. You need to get a life." Ryuichi giggled.
Shuichi bit his lip. "Yeah, I know."
"Hmm...how about we go to the zoo?" Ryuichi said scratching his chin and looking at the ceiling. "Or, we can cause a riot in a department store like I did one time...and Tohma about killed me..."
"The zoo? I wanna go to the zoo!" Shuichi said excitedly, his big purple eyes swirling with happiness.
"Alright then. The zoo it is!"
"YAY!!!"
The two singers bounced out of NG like that madmen they were.
(A/N): Why does this chapter seem pointless? Hmm...I don't know. But, it did serve a purpose. I guess this chapter led up to Ryuichi and Shuichi hanging out together which is going to lead to something else in the next chapter, which you will have to read to find out what. ;) Sorry. Please review!