Because of You
Sequel to: "This I Promise You"
Building a Family series
Written by: Chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: It is six years later and while Shuichi has moved on with his life, there are those who have not.
Warning: M/M, M/F, Sexual Situations, Romance, Angst, Drama, Fantasy, Infidelity, OOC, Language, M-Preg, OCs, Japan Natives: Surname first
Pairings: Shuichi/Eiri, past Hiro/Ayaka, Hiro/Suguru, Tatsuha/Ryuichi, past Maiko/OMC, OMC/OFC
Inserts: recap from chapter 10
A/N: The first half of this chapter is mainly the OCs, for that I apologize, but it is important for the plot.
oOo
Last Time
Detective Misawa turned towards the retired pop star. His expression turned hard. His eyes went serious. "Shindou-san. I am Detective Misawa Ren," he reintroduced himself when Shuichi turned blank eyes towards him. "I am from the Osaka Police Department."
"He's investigating the hit and run," Eiri explained.
Shuichi nodded that he understood.
"That's right. Is it all right if I ask you a couple questions?"
Shuichi drew in a breath.
oOo
Chapter 11: The Tightening Noose & Catching Up
Osaka University Hospital - Osaka, Japan
"All right, Tamaki-san," Detective Shigeno Shin said. He looked from his small memo pad on which he had been jotting down notes up to the middle-aged candy stripper standing before him. "Thank you very much for your time. If we have any more questions, we can contact you here?" He indicated the contact information she had given the seasoned detective.
"Yes, sir," Keiko nodded.
"All right. Have a nice day now."
"Thank you. You too."
As the detective turned away to join his partner who should be even now questioning the Uesugi-Shindou family, the volunteer's voice called him back. "Yes, ma'am?"
"Uhm." Her gaze flitted off to the right. "There was another guy who was asking about her earlier."
That had the detective's immediate attention. "When was this?" he demanded.
"Uhm…Maybe a minute or two later?"
"Okay and this gentleman-?"
"He said he was her husband," she informed.
Detective Shigeno raised an eyebrow at that. "Husband?" Nothing in the information he and his colleagues had on Rinjin Karin indicated she had ever had a serious relationship before let alone been married, so who was this other person, a partner maybe, or someone else all together?
Keiko nodded. "Yes, sir." She recalled the conversation she had with the man.
"And did this man give his name?" Detective Shigeno asked as he scribbled notes into his notepad.
"…Hmm…I don't…think so," Keiko replied slowly as she raked her brain. "No. No," she repeated more firmly, "he did not."
"Can you remember what he looked like, Tamaki-san?"
Keiko thought long and hard, but came up blank. There had been nothing remarkable about the man. Shorn black hair and dark squinty eyes, on the short side and dressed shabbily. There had been nothing remarkable about the man. At least nothing that stood out. "I'm sorry."
"No, no," Detective Shigeno shook his head. "You are doing fine. Can you remember what he was wearing?"
Once again, Keiko scanned through her memories. "…Jeans? Uhm, those, those, uhm…what do you call them. Those tan ankle worker-type boots. Oh, uhm, Timberlands or whatever they're called."
Detective Shigeno nodded. "What else? What about his coat?"
"Oh, yeah. I remember that because it looked like the coats that seem to be a staple of all grandparents. Cheap looking. A washed out tannish-brown color. Uhm, a green plaid stripe around the collar."
"All right. Anything else?"
Actually, there was now that she thought about it. There had been something strange about the guy's chest.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it was as if he had something hidden underneath his coat. You know, it looked kinda bulky."
"'Bulky'?"
"Yeah and by the looks of this guy, it wasn't muscle."
Detective Shigeno's mind flashed to the gaggle of various news media gathered outside the hospital and wondered.
oOo
Detective Misawa Ren was lost in thought as he emerged from the elevator, but looked up when he heard his name. "Hey, Shigeno," he greeted his partner.
"How'd it go?"
"Well, they said it would take a while for Kitazawa-kun to be coherent enough to talk, so Shindou-san and Uesugi-san said they would contact us when he woke up, but I did speak to the twins who were in the back seat during the accident. They both claim that they were hit from behind as Kitazawa-kun was pulling into a parking spot in the parking garage."
That jibed with what the eyewitnesses had told them. "Did they get a look at the car or the license plate or even the driver?"
Detective Misawa checked his notes to make sure he got his facts straight, "The older one, Keitaro, said it was a gray car being driven by a woman with long blond hair."
A slow grin spread across Detective Shigeno's face. "Bingo."
"I had him do a photo lineup and he picked out Rinjin right away."
"No hesitation?"
"None," Detective Misawa nodded. "The younger of the two, Kane, said that he noticed a gray car behind them during the whole drive from Nara to Osaka. It even pulled into the parking garage with them and then followed them as Kitazawa tried to find a spot to park."
"He noticed it following them?"
"Yeah. He said he pointed it out to Kitazawa-kun, but that was when the accident happened."
Detective Shigeno shook his head in disgust. For as long as he has been in law enforcement, he was still stunned by the audacity of some people. He would never be able to understand what goes through their heads. "What about Shindou-san?"
"He confirmed everything Uesugi-san said."
Detective Shigeno nodded. "And those photographs?"
"He knew nothing about them-until now." Detective Misawa nodded when he saw Shigeno wince out off the corner of his eye. "Suffice it to say, I'm glad I'm not Uesugi-san right about now."
His partner chuckled.
"And it is a very good thing that Seguchi-san hired those bodyguards."
Detective Shigeno was glad he was single.
"What about you?" Detective Misawa asked his partner as he slipped his notepad back into his coat pocket.
"I spoke with Tamaki Keiko and she confirms that the package was delivered to the front desk by a woman fitting the description of our UNSUB."
"So it was definitely Rinjin then?"
"Yes," Detective Shigeno confirmed as he and his partner strolled through the halls of the hospital. "Tamaki-san described Rinjin to a 'T'. She even backed up that French student's claim that she was limping."
"It looks like she did not walk away from that accident unscathed."
"This should make it that much easier to find her."
"Should."
"And yet somehow, she is able to sneak into the hospital and than just disappears right under everybody's nose without being seen."
"So she hasn't been found yet?"
"There's no trace of her."
That was to be expected. She was not about to let herself be caught just yet. No, she was far from done with the Uesugi-Shindou family. "She's good. I will give her that, but she was not completely unseen."
Detective Shigeno nodded. "She tripped up big time."
"I don't think she sees it that way, though. Dropping off that package at the front desk personally in front of a room full of eyewitnesses?"
"Right, and actually speaking with Tamaki-san, telling her who the package was for."
"She is taking more and more risks and becoming bolder as time passes and she remains free."
Detective Shigeno shook his head in disgust. "She's laughing at us."
"I am not sure if she wants to be caught or just recognized for what she is doing."
"Which is what?"
"Bringing a murderer to justice."
oOo
"Are you sure?" Detective Shigeno asked the uniformed security officer some time later.
Officer Takeda, who moonlighted part time as a security officer at Osaka University Hospital, nodded without taking his gaze from the black and white security monitor. "Yeah. That's him. He said that he was lost and trying to find the cafeteria. Then he asked if I had seen his wife. Said they were here to see her cousin, or something."
Detectives Shigeno and Misawa exchanged a knowing look. That was the same story this guy gave Keiko. At least he knew how to keep his story straight. It brought less attention to him.
"Did you get a name?" Detective Misawa asked.
"No, but he did seem a little nervous."
Detectives Misawa and Shigeno glanced at one another again. If he had been legitimate, like he had been pretending, then there would have been no reason for him to be so jumpy even when confronted with a cop, but the fact that this man had been was evidence enough that he was not who he claimed to be.
"What about her?" Detective Shigeno asked as he pointed to another security monitor that displayed a woman with long hair in a fur trimmed coat that was handing over a large envelope to the hospital employee behind the counter.
Officer Takeda studied the monitor screen, but shook his head. "Sorry."
"Is there any way we can get stills?" Detective Misawa asked the technician at the controls.
"Both of them?"
"Yes."
"Sure. It'll take a few minutes, though."
"Do it."
"Right."
"Once we get those stills," Detective Misawa said, "I think we should have a little news conference."
A slow grin spread across Detective Shigeno's face.
oOo
Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Nara, Japan
Lieutenant Katsuragi Eiji stepped from the mansion that at most cost a hundred times, minimum, more than his annual income out onto the stone steps that led down to the drive with a brown paper grocery bag in his hand. Turning around, he tipped his head at the tallish woman with her long chestnut brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and a chubby little baby with jet-black hair and large eyes that sparkled like amethysts on her hip. The baby was sucking on a necklace the woman holding him was wearing around her neck and staring as if transfixed at him. Even the baby's sweater set and khaki slacks looked like they cost more than what Lieutenant Katsuragi earned in a month as a police officer with the Nara police force.
"Seguchi-san."
"Lieutenant," Seguchi Mika answered back with a small nod.
Mika watched as the police detective secured the brown paper bag that held something he had retrieved from her brother's desk in the trunk of his unmarked police issued police car before slipping behind the wheel and rounding the turnabout. The car pulled out through the gates and vanished. Mika stepped back into the warm house gratefully and shut the door behind her. As she made sure the gates were closed securely and the security system was on, she wondered what that had been all about and reminded herself to ask Tohma and her brother about it later. She was not too happy about being left out of the loop.
"Well, little Kira," she breathed to her nephew. "I think it's time for someone to take a nap."
As if the six month old knew what had been said to him, his face crumbled. With her necklace hanging from the two front lower teeth he had, little Kira started crying.
Mika knew from experience with her own children that her littlest nephew was faking. "See? Already cranky. C'mon."
With Kira still protesting, Mika spoke to him softly as she climbed the staircase towards the nursery.
oOo
Osaka University Hospital - Osaka, Japan
"I want to have a crew on the Uesugi-Shindou household twenty-four-seven," Detective Misawa was saying over the phone to his captain as he paced back and forth under the carport outside the hospital. "I think it will be the only way to catch her."
This woman was as slippery as a fish and as elusive as a ghost. She was unlike any other criminal he had ever come across. Nothing about her made any sense. The one thing they could count on was that she would show up at the Uesugi-Shindou household to hand deliver another photograph.
From what he was able to learn from both Uesugi-san and Seguchi-san, they had a state of the art security system on not only the house, but also Shindou-san's recording studio and the grounds itself. This means that if Rinjin had plans to do more than just evade the privacy of this family or play bumper cars, she would have to do it outside the compound.
Whether Rinjin Karin was watching them from down the street or sneaking up to their mailbox in the middle of the night, they needed to be there to catch her.
"…Great. Thanks…Sure thing." Detective Misawa snapped the phone shut and slipped it into his coat pocket. He turned towards his partner. "He went for it," he said grinning.
"Let's just hope it works."
"It will."
"We'll see."
"All right. You ready for this?"
Not really, Detective Shigeno thought but he nodded to the affirmative. Neither Detective Misawa nor he actually liked this part of their job, but unfortunately, it was unavoidable if they wanted to gain the trust and cooperation of the public. It was when the political aspect became more important than the investigation that Detective Shigeno drew the line.
Together they exited the hospital via the automatic sliding doors and crossing the parking lot, headed towards the horde of various news agencies that seemed to have multiplied a hundred fold in the brief couple of hours since they had arrived at the hospital.
Detective Misawa took a deep breath and stepped up to the podium that sprouted microphones like mutations. "Good afternoon." His voice instantly silenced the murmurings of the gathered reporters and photographers that seemed to have created a shantytown around the hospital in the hopes of catching something newsworthy that would help them to top their competitors. "We'll be making a short statement today. Afterwards, we'll take a couple questions." He glanced briefly over the statement that had been prepared for him earlier. "Earlier today…"
oOo
One Month Later - January - Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Nara, Japan
It was nearing what was commonly known as "Dead Time" among some Paranormal Investigators and the sparsely populated neighborhood where the Uesugi-Shindou household resided was eerily quiet. Other than the symphony of maracas echoing in the tranquility that stretched across the land, the only other sound came from the squawking of his radio that he had turned down when his watch began earlier that evening.
When Officer Shibasaki Hiroyuki pressed the button on the side of his watch, which made the face of it light up, he noticed that it was past time for his replacement to arrive. He could not wait to get home to his wife. They were expecting their first child any day now.
Officer Hiroyuki reached towards the console of his unmarked patrol car that was hidden deep within the shadows. "213 to dispatch," he called into his radio.
The static filled reply came over the radio. "Go ahead 213."
"No sign of target."
"Copy 213."
Officer Hiroyuki glanced in his rearview and side mirrors, but saw no sign of life. All was still and quiet in the very earlier hours of the morning and that was what was beginning to worry him. Where was Hideo?
Oda Hideo and he grew up together. They even went through the Police Academy together and by a strange twist of events, somehow managed to end up at the Nara City Police Department. Hideo was supposed to have replaced him as watchman over the Uesugi-Shindou compound half an hour ago. He hoped everything was all right. Thankfully, he was not the only officer on guard duty. Lieutenant Katsuragi had volunteered and was even now several yards down the street. They had it so that the shift change did not happen at the same time. That way, there was always someone at attention. The Lieutenant was scheduled to go off duty in a couple of hours. Officer Hiroyuki decided to give his replacement the benefit of the doubt and give him a little more time. Even if Hideo was MIA, Officer Hiroyuki was not about to leave the Lieutenant holding the bag even though he would give anything to be with his pregnant wife right about now.
Where the hell was Hideo?
oOo
At three-thirty in the morning, Shuichi suddenly found himself wide-awake and with an overwhelming craving.
Alternately licking and gnawing at his lips, he glanced over his shoulder. Eiri was sound asleep with his back to him. Shuichi smiled. It was good to have Eiri besides him again. His smile slipped. Eiri looked so peaceful. He hated to wake him. He knew his husband needed the sleep, but he really, really, really wanted…
When he was pregnant with the twins, he really had not had any strange or bizarre cravings. He had not wakened Eiri up in the middle of the night to make food runs. He ate twice his body weight, at least, though. It did not help that Eiri had had him on a strict diet-Shuichi still has not forgiven Eiri for that. With Kira, it was the same story. Up until recently, it had been the same with this pregnancy. Shuichi figured the change in his appetite was due in part with the fact that there were three babies within him, growing and developing and the rest was due to stress because of his latest stalker.
He had only just allowed Eiri back into the bed for keeping quiet for so long about that. Eiri had been sleeping on the couch in the Great Room with Riku for the past month as punishment. He could have slept in his office, but had decided to keep Riku company instead. It was a good thing they had cellphones. And of course, Shuichi made sure that Eiri had the baby monitor with him. There was no way he was going to lug his sorry pregnant ass to the nursery to go get Kira when the seven month old woke up at five o'clock in the morning.
Shuichi was unsure how he managed it, but somehow, Tohma managed to secure a hospital bed for Riku. Because Riku was confined to bed for several months while his back healed, they felt it would be easier for him to be in the Great Room, which was the heart of the manor. That way, he was not missing out on anything with the kitchen, dining room and downstairs bathroom being right there.
They had had a full house over Christmas. Hiro, Fujisaki, Kazehaya, Shuichi's parents, Maiko and her children had all crammed into the house. How, Shuichi still did not know. Ryuichi, Tatsuha, Mika and Tohma and their children had also stopped by. And Eiri had taken full advantage of all the company. They moved Riku's bedroom from the second floor to the third floor and changed his old room into the nursery like Eiri and he had talked about, even though Eiri had always been against giving Riku so much privacy. It was unavoidable, what with three new babies on the way, but that did not mean that Eiri had to like it. Because Eiri remembered clearly what he had been like when he was Riku's age. So did Shuichi, which was why he pushed for giving Riku free reign over the top floor, which had been converted from attic space when they moved in years ago when the twins were toddlers.
Tohma bought and installed a chair lift for the staircase leading from the first floor to the second floor to make it easier for Shuichi to climb the stairs. He also bought a second wheelchair, which was kept on the second floor. Shuichi's old wheelchair, the one Tohma purchased for him when Shuichi injured his back, was kept on the first floor. Of course, Tohma did not stop there.
Much to Eiri's chagrin, his brother-in-law also bought a fifty-inch flat screen television for Riku since his nephew was stuck in the Great Room, which did not have a television. He also purchased a wheelchair for Riku, which made it easier to get Riku in and out of the house for his doctor appointments.
Even though the gifts were much appreciated, Eiri had had a serious talk with Tohma. Eiri being Eiri, he claimed he could take care of his own family. Of course, Tohma just smiled that smile of his and said, "Alright, Eiri," which of course pissed off Eiri even more.
Flipping slowly and carefully onto his back and then turning onto his other side, Shuichi faced the long line of his husband's bare back. "Eiri," he called softly. He shook Eiri's shoulder gently. "Eiri? I'm hungry. Eiri," he whined piteously when his husband continued to ignore him. "Eiri, wake up!"
Startled awake, golden hazel eyes snapped open. Eiri flipped onto his back and met wide violet eyes. "What? What is it? What happened?" he demanded over a rate heart that had doubled.
"Uhm…" Shuichi cast his gaze downward. His jet-black locks swung forward over his face. As he played with the edge of the comforter, he peered surreptitiously from time to time through the veil of bangs shielding his eyes at his husband who was staring down at him with alarm. "Can you, uhm…"
Eiri sighed heavily and flopped back onto the bed. He scrubbed his hands over his face. "What is it this time?"
Shuichi continued to play with the folds of the blanket. He lifted his gaze briefly before dropping it back down. "I, uhm, I want ice cream," he said in a soft voice.
Eiri dropped his hands to his sides and turned to face his partner. "…You do realize what time it is."
"Yeah," Shuichi answered in a soft whisper.
"And that we have no ice cream in the house."
"Yeah." His voice dropped even lower.
Eiri sighed in disgust. This was becoming very old very fast. This was one of many side effects of Shuichi's pregnancy that he was beginning to despise. He stared up at the ceiling hidden in deep shadows. He wished he could just say no and go right back to sleep, but if he did that, Shuichi would be whining and crying and be just a difficult little bitch moaning about how Eiri did not love him or the babies developing within him…blah, blah, blah. Eiri would get a splitting headache. They would exchange a few not so pleasant niceties. Shuichi would lock himself in the bathroom. Eiri would feel so massively guilty for making the love of his life and the mother of his children so absolutely miserable that he would end up driving to the corner market and buying Shuichi his favorite ice cream, which he would use to lure the mother of his children out of the bathroom. They would make up. Shuichi would down the entire gallon of ice cream with a little help from Eiri. Then they would live happily ever after. But as much as the hot, steamy make up sex turned him on, the rest was a definite deal breaker. So instead, Eiri thought it more prudent to just run up to the store now and bypass all that. Besides, he might still get the kinky sex part. Only it would be out of gratitude.
"Eiri?"
Eiri was snapped out of his thoughts by Shuichi's worried voice calling out to him. "Alright," he sighed. "Alright."
A huge grin split Shuichi's face. "Thank you, Eiri!"
Eiri's face twitched as he fought back his own smile. That was how much Shuichi's happiness affected him. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, yeah," Eiri grumbled.
Shuichi giggled. He may act like an airhead and an idiot, but he knew what he did to Eiri and he definitely played it up every chance he got.
Tossing aside the bedcovers, Eiri grabbed his cotton pajama pants that had been discarded earlier that night up off the floor and slipped them on. Standing up, he turned around and kneeling on the mattress, leaned over and kissed Shuichi chastely on the lips.
"Love you," Shuichi said as Eiri pulled back.
Eiri smiled. "I know," he whispered back. His gaze traveled to Shuichi's bulbous belly. A surge of pride swelled up in him. Those were his children in there. It was hard to believe. When he was sixteen, he never would have thought he would be at this point in his life. Hell, when he first met Shuichi he never would have imagined his life would have turned out like this. He raised his head and met Shuichi's smiling eyes. Bending over, he kissed his husband once, twice, three times.
"Go," Shuichi giggled pushing Eiri away. His eyes sparkled with amusement. "Get me my ice cream."
Eiri chuckled as he straightened.
"Besides," Shuichi added as he watched Eiri's tight ass cross the master bedroom.
"Hm?"
"Your face is all scratchy."
Eiri halted right before the walk-in closet. He glanced over his shoulder with golden eyes sparkling mischievously. A devilish grin crossed his face.
Shuichi gulped uncertainly though things low in his body began twitching.
An all-knowing smile crossed Eiri's face as he vanished into the walk-in closet.
Shuichi collapsed against the mattress. Tugging at one of the pillows, he held it over his face to muffle any sounds he would make. Then tossed it aside with a contented sigh. Did it make him vain to admit that he loved his life? Well, despite the psychotic bitch that was after him anyway.
oOo
Yawning, Shuichi scrubbed his achy eyes as he rolled back onto his other side and tucked the body pillow back between his legs. He fixed the blankets that had become twisted around him.
Now that he was in the last trimester of his pregnancy, Shuichi found he was becoming increasingly tired. It was not much of a surprise. Having gone through two pregnancies before this, one of them with twins, he had been expecting it. But this time it seemed to be worse than the other two times combined. It might have something to do with there being three babies developing within him. Everything seemed to be magnified thrice.
He was also finding it difficult to fall asleep at night again, something else he had anticipated. When he did manage to fall asleep, it was not very restful. Eiri tried giving him massages, but of course, they did not help him relax. They just riled him back up. Shuichi knew damn well Eiri did it on purpose. He was such a pervert. Taking naps throughout the middle of the day seemed to make up for the restless nights, when he could get them in anyways. Having four children-one confined to bed with a broken back, another one only seven months old and two other ones that acted like Tasmanian devils-made it hard to actually sleep during the day. It only worked when the twins were at school. It did not matter where he slept, whether it be in Eiri and his bedroom, the couch in the living room or somewhere else or whether Eiri forbid the boys from bothering him. Nothing seemed to work. Sleeping on his side with a pillow, either between his knees or under his belly did help him fall asleep at night occasionally, but it did not always work. He just could not wait to have his c-section and get these kids out of him.
Shuichi now saw his OB/GYN, Dr. Watabe, almost every day now. Typically, the norm this late in a pregnancy was a weekly visit to the doctor, but seeing as Shuichi was who he was, Dr. Watabe wanted to see him every day. Sometimes, it was every other day. She also came to the house. It was much safer, for a variety of reasons, and it seemed as if every time they saw her, she changed his due date. At first, she was saying it would be at the beginning of April. Now she was saying sometime in March. They were aiming for the week of March 23. He would be thirty-five weeks along then, but Shuichi was not holding his breath. He knew how multiple births went. The more fetuses developing within an expectant mother, the earlier the due date typically. Because he was pregnant with triplets, Dr. Watabe wanted to wait as long as possible so that they had enough time to develop. In the end though, it did not matter what Dr. Watabe or he wanted, prayed or hoped for. Yosuke, Shinta and Yukiko had the final say.
Feeling suddenly the heavy weight of sleep pressing over him, Shuichi yawned again and let his lids drift closed. It seemed like only seconds later when he was jerked away by a strange buzzing. Prying open heavy lidded eyes, Shuichi flitted his tired gaze around the room until his cellphone came within view. The screen was lit up and the phone itself, being on vibrate, was dancing across the nightstand. Propping himself up on his elbow, he reached over to his bedside table and grabbed his phone. A familiar name brought a wide grin to his face. Flopping back onto the bed, Shuichi grinned widely. The last vestiges of sleep vanished instantly as he answered the phone.
"Michael!"
"Hey, Shu," greeted his long time friend. "What's going on? I didn't wake you, did I?"
"Not at all! No!"
"I completely forgot the time difference," Michael said sheepishly.
Shuichi laughed. "I was up."
"Oh?"
"I sent Eiri to the store."
Michael laughed. "What was it this time?"
"Ice cream."
"Mmm. Sounds good."
"I know! Doesn't it?"
"What kind you gonna get?"
"Don't know. Told Eiri to call me when he got to the store. Something chocolate-y and nutty and marshmallow-y."
"Hm…There's…Rocky Road. I don't know if they have that in Japan. Do they?"
"Rocky Road?" Sounded familiar.
"Yeah. You had it when we toured through North America once. It's chocolate ice cream with nuts, marshmallows and chocolate pieces. One of my favorites."
Shuichi was beginning to drool. "Oh," he exclaimed suddenly. His free hand flew to his belly.
"Shu?" came Michael's worried voice over the line.
"I think you made the babies hungry," Shuichi chuckled lightly. "They're beginning to grow restless."
"Sorry," the ex-bassist chuckled, though he didn't sound it. Then his tone turned serious. "I heard about Riku."
Shuichi sighed. "Yeah."
"How's he doing? He broke his back?"
"Actually," Shuichi said as he sat up and began piling the pillows up behind him, "it was a compression fracture."
"Now, was that what you had?"
"No, I had bruising and fluid build up."
"Ah, okay."
"And of course, the nerves were damaged."
"And you're going in for surgery this summer to fix them?"
"Yeah." Shuichi stifled a yawn.
"Tired?"
"Yeah, but I still want that ice cream."
Michael laughed lightly. "So, Riku will be alright?"
Shuichi nodded. "He should make a full recovery."
"Good!"
"He goes to see the doctor tomorrow, so…Actually, he's doing better than the doctors thought."
"Really?"
"Yeah. They're surprised."
"I'm glad he's going to be okay."
"Yeah. Me, too."
"So, what's he gonna do about school? Didn't the semester start the other day? This was supposed to be his last semester, right?"
"Yup."
"He'd have to take off, right? Until he's healed?"
Shuichi scratched the back of his head. "Yeah," he sighed. "He's pretty bummed about that, but he didn't have any other choice, so, he's going to make it up this summer. That way, he will still be able to start Graduate school this fall in Kyoto."
"That's good. Hey, at least he'll be around when his brothers and sister are born, huh?"
Shuichi instantly brightened. "Yeah, that's right! We will definitely need all the help we can get. I'm trying to get Eiri to agree to hiring a nanny, or something, but so far, he's against it. I tried telling him that most celebrities have one, but…"
"Maybe you can get your parents to move out to Nara."
"You know, I never thought about that. My dad did retire last spring and they're always complaining about how little they get to see the boys."
"There ya go."
"And our neighbors just put their house up for sale."
"Really." He wondered if it was just coincidence or if it had something to do with Shuichi's newest stalker, which reminded him "What about Kane and Keitaro? How are they holding up?"
Shuichi sighed heavily. "Nightmares."
"Oh, no," Michael groaned.
Shuichi felt tears welling in his eyes. Sadness overwhelmed him, but underneath the grief of being forced to watch his boys suffer was a rising anger that has been simmering for the past month. Who the fuck did this stupid assed cunt bitch think she was? How dare she go after his children? Whatever problem she had with him was between her and him. She was going to pay for messing with his boys. "We have all of them, Riku too, seeing a psychiatrist and it seems to work for the most part, but…"
"Well, they went through a traumatic experience."
Shuichi nodded with a heavy head and a heavier heart. He knew more than anyone what a traumatic experience could do to a person, but he could not comprehend how it must be for the boys being as young as they were. Thinking about his boys' suffering brought back painful memories of his own harrowing experience. It had been nearly twenty years since then, but it was still as fresh as the day it happened. Shuichi gave a violent shudder and pushed it to the back of his mind. Mulling over his past made him remember his autobiography that he was supposed to be working on. He had not touched it since he received that phone call from his mother back in August in the middle of the night about his grandfather's passing and in all honesty, he was not even sure if or when he would ever finish it. Though Shuichi did not like to leave things unfinished, he knew Eiri would not mind if his book never got finished.
"Hey," came Michael's suddenly chipper voice through the leaden silence that had enveloped the two friends. There was a sly edge to his voice. "Did you get the Christmas presents I sent you guys?"
Thankful for the sudden change in subjects, Shuichi arched his cramped back over the mound of pillows and ran his free hand through his hair. A wide toothy grin spread across his face. "Yeah! They were so cute," he cooed.
A couple days before Christmas, they received a rather large package in the mail from Michael that contained presents for all of them.
Since this past summer, Kane's personality has undergone a drastic change. Once a little on the girlie side, for which Eiri had always blamed Shuichi, Kane has developed a sudden passion for baseball and soccer. He was no longer interested in Dora the Explorer, Diego or SpongeBob SquarePants, or any of those other shows that are for "babies". He has finally become what Eiri called, "a little man". Eiri himself gathered up all of Kane's nightgowns out of the trash where Kane had tossed them and had a nice bonfire out in the backyard. Shuichi had mourned their loss. Hearing about his nephew's sudden sports fascination, Michael sent Kane some sports equipment for Christmas. Since it still took a threat to get Kane to clean up his half of the bedroom, now instead of toys it was all of his baseball and soccer equipment all over the place. Shuichi wondered if having his hair lopped off had anything to do with his sudden personality change.
Keitaro was still the same, though. He was just a little bookworm so Michael sent him some books, which Keitaro finished reading within a week of receiving them.
Riku just got money, which he was fine with.
For the triplets, Michael gave them a whole bunch of little booties, bibs, pacifiers and the like.
"The kids loved their presents."
"That's good. What about you and Eiri?"
Shuichi's mind went blank. "Me and Eiri what?" he asked.
"How did you and Eiri like your present?"
Knowing instantly what Michael was referring to, Shuichi's face turned lobster red. "You know…"
"What?" Michael asked. His dark eyes sparkled in amusement.
"You got me into serious trouble."
Michael chuckled.
"Well," Shuichi pouted, "I didn't know what you'd gotten us, so I…uhm…"
Michael just laughed.
"Don't laugh," Shuichi whined. "I had to tell the boys that it was a special rolling pin." (1)
Michael laughed harder.
"But then they wanted to use it to make cookies…"
That sent Michael in hysterics. "Oh, God! I just pissed my pants!"
oOo
En Route
On Christmas morning, after all the presents had been torn into leaving the sitting room buried beneath countless layers of wrapping paper, bows, ribbon and tissue paper, a horn had sounded from outside. Their security detail had instantly been on alert. Tohma, Mika, that brainless idiot Sakuma and Eiri's perverted brother were scheduled to come over later that day, but nobody was expecting anyone else, especially so earlier in the day. On guard, Satoshi and Sanami, who had been on duty, checked it out. They came back a few minutes later to inform Eiri that he was needed outside. Not sure what to expect, Eiri had been on his guard when he stepped out of the house.
To say he had been dumbfounded would be an understatement. There sitting in his driveway was a cobalt blue vintage 1969 Ferrari 365 GTS. It was the exact car he had been drooling over several months back when he saw the commercial for an antique car show during some movie Shuichi and he had been watching.
"Merry Christmas, Eiri," Shuichi had said as he rolled up behind him in his wheelchair.
The two-seater Ferrari 365 GTS was one of only twenty ever produced. It was a combination of the rear body from the 275 GTS and the 500 super fast front. It had a Columbo V-12 engine. The guy living in Minnesota that Shuichi had purchased the Ferrari from had completely remodeled the car. One of the improvements he made was to install power windows for the old hand cranked ones and updated the AC. The interior had been completely reupholstered in black leather and the exterior was freshly painted a dark cobalt blue. The Ferrari still retained the original factory hard top. With a twin double exhaust 4390cc SOHC engine, the Ferrari 365 GTS went from zero to sixty in five-point-nine seconds and reached top speeds of 175 MPH. The 60-degree vee-type V-engine ran on twelve cylinders and had three hundred twenty horses under the vented hood. It ran on gas-petrol and the transmission was manual, but it was a rear wheel drive vehicle and everything Eiri thought it would be. (2)
That night after everybody had gone to bed, Shuichi had allowed Eiri the opportunity to properly thank him before kicking his sorry ass to his office couch, which was where Eiri slept until their guests left and then he went back to the couch in the sitting room-until last night that was.
Behind the wheel of his Ferrari with Blade besides him in the passenger seat, Marcus and Kaoru were at the house with Shuichi and the boys, his gaze kept flitting to the rear view mirror every few seconds. A frown creased his forehead. Maybe it was just his paranoia. "Hey."
"I see it," Blade's deep bass voice echoed within Eiri's chest.
"Since we turned off our street."
"Could be a cop," Blade suggested, though he did not sound too convincing.
"…Maybe." Somehow, Eiri doubted it.
"You think it's that crazy chick?"
"…Don't know." He hoped not.
oOo
Shindou-Uesugi Residence
"You finished?" Shuichi demanded feeling put out as Michael continued laughing hysterically at his angst. Michael would not find the whole incident so amusing if he were in Shuichi's shoes. Kane and Keitaro still bring up the "French Rolling Pin". Damn Michael!
Laughing, Michael said, "Yeah." He cleared his throat and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Okay. Sorry."
Shuichi did not believe him.
"I heard…" Michael's voice drifted off into a chuckle that he tried to cover with a cough. "I heard," he tried again, "that you agreed to appear on Desert Star's album?"
"Sorta," Shuichi confessed. "They wanted me to make a guest appearance on a remake of, uhm…Brooke Hogan's song?" For the life of him, he couldn't remember the name of the song at the moment.
Michael made a noise over the line that made it clear that he knew exactly what song Shuichi was speaking about. "God. My oldest used to play that song on endless repeat."
Michael Kagawa-Montgomery was a Japanese-American with black eyes and blond hair just a tad lighter than Eiri. He appeared as Japanese as the next person did except for his hair. It was the only indication that he was not pure Japanese. He had been an exchange student at Tokyo University when he joined Bad Luck with Shuichi's twin cousins Kai and Kei Shiro. The three became members of Bad Luck after Claude "K" Winchester resigned as their manager.
K used to be Sakuma Ryuichi's manager, but decided to manage Bad Luck after watching them open for ASK at Zepp Tokyo. K wanted to do for Bad Luck what he did for Sakuma Ryuichi and that was exactly what he did. But after nearly a decade with them, K decided there was no more he could do for Bad Luck and decided his services would be better appreciated with what had been a fledgling band at the time, a rock band that called themselves Ninku-who'd won a contest put on by a national radio program to be the opening act for Bad Luck at one of their concerts; the Bad Lucks fans had loved them as had K, who has been their manager ever since. Ninku has since gone on to be one of the greatest rock bands ever.
When K left, Bad Luck was left in a significant bind. There was no way that Tohma would offer Rage from XMR records in New York City her old position back as the manager of Bad Luck. Instead, Suguru was offered the position, which he gladly accepted. Unfortunately, he could not run the band and be in the band at the same time. While he still retained his producing and musical arranging roles within the band as well as played with them quite often, he had been forced to retire from his full time role as the keyboardist. This in turn left a huge hole in the band.
Not long after, at a family reunion, Kei and Kai overheard Shuichi's plight. They'd had a band of their own in one form or another since they were in middle school, but once they graduated from high school and went on to college, they lost their bassist and their lead singer. That was where Michael came in. He became their new bassist, but that still left them a member short. They were still in need of a singer. So, they decided to take a chance and auditioned to become the newest members of the band. Their gamble paid off. Hiro, Suguru and Tohma loved them. The three joined Bad Luck as its newest members. They were fortunate enough that the legions of Bad Luck fans welcomed them warmly.
A year after joining, Michael married his college sweetheart, Anzu, and had three beautiful children-two daughters and a son ages thirteen, ten and seven respectively. Unfortunately, Michael and Anzu's marriage has been a little on the rocky side for some time now. From what Shuichi learned from his cousins' at their grandfather's funeral, they were now separated.
A frown drew Shuichi's brows together and tilted the corners of his mouth downwards. He wondered if there was something behind this late night phone call other then a simple call to say, "Hi". It was strange for Michael to "forget" the time difference. Michael had lived in Japan from the time he was in middle school to about the time Bad Luck disbanded seven years ago. Essentially, Michael spent most of his life in Japan. So, for him not to realize that it was four o'clock in the morning here in Nara, Japan, something must have happened. The only other time Shuichi could think of that Michael had been so confused about the time difference had been last spring when Anzu had a miscarriage.
Michael's voice drew Shuichi out of his thought. "You going to do it?"
It took several seconds for Shuichi to remember what it was they were supposed to be talking about. "I started," Shuichi admitted in a distracted manner. "But with everything that has been going on…"
"Right"
Shuichi sighed. "I think Ryu's going to do it instead."
"Sakuma Ryuichi?"
"Yeah."
"I didn't think he knew how to rap."
Shuichi shrugged. "Mm. I'm sure he'll think of something."
"Yeah, you're right. This is Sakuma Ryuichi after all."
"So instead," Shuichi said over a yawn, "we're going to be working on a song called 'Bird' that I've been working on."
"Cool," Michael exclaimed.
"Actually…" Shuichi was a little unsure how to say this or how Michael would take it. The only person who knew that he has been thinking about this for some time now was Eiri and of course, he supported Shuichi no matter what he decided to do. What with him being confined to bed, Shuichi had so much time on his hands. "The song won't be on their album."
There was silence. Then, "What do you mean?"
This time it was Shuichi who was unsure what to say. "I-I, uh, was thinking of putting, of putting out a-solo CD." It was a whisper by the end.
"What? Really? That's great, Shuichi!"
Shuichi was floored. "You mean you aren't mad?"
"Why would I be?"
"I don't know. I just thought-"
"Shuichi," Michael scolded. "If this is what you want, then I'm going to be behind you one hundred percent."
A smile flashed the gloom from Shuichi's face. "Thanks, Michael." He had been afraid that the guys would be angry with him for wanting to do this on his own. He knew that people were eager for something new from Bad Luck.
"But…"
"But what?" Shuichi asked suspiciously.
"You gotta let me help produce your album."
Shuichi snorted and then started chuckling. Michael really was something else, but that got Shuichi into thinking. If Michael wanted to help produce his album, that meant that Michael would have to move back to Japan and with his marriage as it was, was that really a good idea? "It would be an honor, Michael, but what about Anzu? Do you really think that she'd want to upset-?"
"Actually, Shuichi," Michael interrupted, "she packed up the kids and moved back in with her parents." His voice was so low that Shuichi had to strain his ears in order to hear him.
Shuichi was stunned into silence. "But…don't her folks live in Hiroshima?"
"They used to. They moved to Nagasaki some time ago to be near their son who lives there with his wife."
"…But…" That made no sense. "Michael what's going on? I thought the two of you were just separated? Why would she do something like that? What about her job? Besides, it's in the middle of the school year. I mean-?"
"Because…"
"Because what?" Shuichi demanded.
"…I was served today."
Shuichi's mind went blank. "Huh?" he asked deadpanned.
"Served. I was served Shuichi."
"Served what?"
Michael sighed heavily and fingered his hair with his free hand. "Anzu wants a divorce."
As what he said slowly sunk in, Shuichi's eyes steadily grew wider. "Oh, my God. Michael! Why? I-I-I thought-I thought the two of you were going for marriage counseling?"
"I don't know," Michael said. His voice was strained. "I moved into an apartment when we separated and I thought things were going well in counseling, but…today at work…" His voice cracked and he could not say anymore.
"Oh, Michael, I'm so sorry." Tears welled up in Shuichi's eyes.
"…Me, too." Michael cleared his throat. "But, unfortunately…these things happen."
…To Be Continued…
(1) Do I really need to tell you guys what this "special rolling pin" is?
(2) This car is based off of a car that a guy from Minnesota was selling at the time I originally wrote this.
Preview: "While You Were Sleeping I Was Close Enough to Touch"