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, Infidelity, Fantasy, 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 12, "God You're Safe"
A/N: I think I like these longer chapters better. Thanks for your support!
oOo
Last Time
Newly manicured nails clawed at the tree bark. Narrowed brown hazel eyes gone black with insuppressible rage peered through a veil of brown hair so dark it was often mistaken for black and around the tree. They followed the last unmarked patrol car as it preformed a three-point turn and sped off down the street. A low chuckle floated upon the wind.
Soon this hypocrisy of injustice would soon come to and end.
oOo
Chapter 13: Lights, Camera…Blinded By Love
That Night - Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Nara, Japan
Shuichi was not sure what stirred him awake that night. Silence enfolded around him. Darkness surrounded him. Over the baby monitor that sat on the nightstand, he could hear Baby Kira snoring softly. It made him smile. From besides him, he could hear Eiri's light breathing. The little ones within him were silent, sound asleep in their cocoons for another month yet.
A creak, like a gunshot in the unnatural silence, was heard.
With a gasp, Shuichi's head shot in the general direction the sound came from. His breathing had sped up. His pulse had quickened. He could taste it on his tongue. His mouth had gone dry.
Suddenly scared, Shuichi reached out a hand blindly towards his husband as he searched the shadow-hidden room. His eyes went wide as his hand felt nothing but air besides him. Everything went still. He could hear nothing over the thunderous beating of his heart. His chest rose and fell sporadically as his breath came out in wheezing pants.
Shuichi went to push himself up off the bed, when suddenly he found he could not move. "No," he cried softly as he started to panic. "No!" Please, God, this was not happening! Please, no! No! His arms were secured above his head to the headboard. He could feel something wrapped tightly around his wrists. The soft fabric bit into his skin. Wait. Headboard? They did not have a headboard. What was going on? Like his wrists, something was bound tightly around his ankles. The silky fabric held his legs splayed open. "Eiri," he whispered. He sobbed. "Eiri!" Tears stung his eyes and blurred his vision. Shuichi jerked against his bonds in desperation, but they merely tightened in reaction.
"I'm sorry, Shu-han," whispered a voice in his ear. "But your 'lover' is not here. It's just you and me."
Shuichi's stomach rolled and rebelled as a wash of terror encompassed him. Violet eyes went wide and a once olive complexion went white. Fear froze Shuichi to the bed. He forgot how to breathe. His heart stopped beating. His mind went blank.
"Shu-han," chuckled the voice. "I won't hurt you, you know that! I'm here to help you! I want to save you!"
Shuichi broke out into a cold sweat. No! This was a dream. This had to be a dream. Please! God! Let this be a dream!
"Believe what you want, Shu-han. For you are mine."
Out of the shadows at the foot of the bed stepped a man who had such a pale complexion, it was nearly ghostly white. Those narrow chocolate brown eyes stared down at him with an all too familiar gleam that made Shuichi feel instantly soiled. A fairly large bulbous nose and full lips that were titled up into a devilish imitation of those Machiavellian eyes took up most of the guy's face.
Please, God. Please. This could not be happening!
Shuichi's breath hitched. "Ya-Ya-sa-shii."
Rinjin Yasashii beamed down at him. He took another step towards him.
"Bu-But…you…"
"Brother," snapped an impatient voice.
Shuichi's head snapped around.
Out of the shadows on the far side of the room stepped a smallish woman with badly dyed stringy blond hair, unnaturally prominent cheekbones and lips so full they just had to be fake.
"We do not have time to play," the woman snapped.
Yasashii pouted cutely at his baby sister. "Oh! You are no fun, Karin."
"Brother!"
Yasashii sighed. "Okay. Okay."
Shuichi watched the interaction, growing more terrified by the second.
If this was a dream then why was he not waking up?
Yasashii turned his attention back to Shuichi and grinned.
Shuichi shrank away. For just a second he thought he had seen Aizawa's face superimposed over Yasashii's and that terrified him even more than the dead man standing before him.
"Now, my angel," Yasashii purred as his wraith-like hands started on his belt. "Where were we?"
His mouth was open in a soundless scream. Unseeing violet eyes clouded over with terror snapped open. His body jerked violently in reaction. Shuichi flew up. His heart beating erratically, he scrambled backwards as if Death was after him out of the covers and over the mound of pillows until he felt the cold solidness of the wall at his back. Panting heavily, Shuichi stared into the quiet darkness that surrounded him with wildly frantic eyes.
Shuichi took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A sense of calm washed over him as little by little, his fog-muddled mind began to clear. His breathing began to even out. His pulse slowed.
A dream, he reminded himself. It was just a dream. Just a dream. A dream. Dream.
But then he suddenly did not feel right. The beginnings of nausea washed over him. He felt lightheaded. Yet at the same time, his head felt heavy. Bile filled his mouth like a leaky faucet. He was hot and on the verge of passing out.
Oh, God, he thought.
Slapping a hand over his mouth, he pushed himself out of bed with some difficulty and waddled as fast as his pregnant self could carry him around the bed and across the room to the bathroom. He tossed open the door to the dressing room and raced to the toilet. Flinging the lid and the toilet seat up, Shuichi collapsed to his knees and leaned over the bowl just in time.
oOo
Eiri woke to the sound of retching. He blinked up at the ceiling and waited for his sleep-muddled mind to catch up. Draping an arm across his brows, he closed his eyes and sighed. Dropping his arm, he tossed aside the covers and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, slid his feet into his slippers.
Yawning, he combed his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair. Eiri reached for the clock sitting on the bedside nightstand and gazed sleepily at it. The red numbers blurred before him. It was a little after midnight.
Standing up, he shuffled across the bedroom towards the dressing room. He peered around the door and saw Shuichi spitting into the toilet bowl as he reached out with a trembling hand to flush the toilet. Closing the toilet lid, Shuichi slumped against the pristine white throne. His lids fluttered closed.
Eiri crossed the dressing room towards his pregnant baka.
Crouching down besides Shuichi, Eiri rubbed slow, comforting circles on his back. He did not bother asking for he knew.
Shuichi sniffled. "I'm sorry," he whispered against his arms. His voice was thick from crying. "Did I wake you?" He lifted his head up and met worried golden hazel eyes.
With a soft smile, Eiri pressed his lips against Shuichi's sweat drenched head in a brief, chaste kiss. "It's fine."
A stray tear slipped undisturbed down Shuichi's face. "Can you give me a couple minutes?"
Nodding, Eiri stood and pressed his lips against the top of Shuichi's damp raven head in another chaste kiss before turning to leave his husband to pull himself together.
He glanced over his shoulder around the dressing room door and watched Shuichi silently for a moment before stepping back into the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind him.
A sudden surge of anger boiled through him. Balling his hand, Eiri slammed his fist into the wall with a sound curse. That bitch had better pray that the police get to her first, otherwise, he swore by all that was holy that the police would be arresting him for murder. Nobody messed with his family and got away with it! First, she teams up with that bastard Scott Keene who had tried to kill Shuichi backstage at Madison Square Garden about eight years ago after the guy's daughter committed suicide. Who knows what could have come out of that partnership had the New York State police not caught him when they did. Then, she stalks Shuichi and takes candid pictures of their family, which reminded him way too much of Isaac.
Then of course, Karin tries to run their boys off the road. The resulting accident nearly killed not only Riku, Keitaro and Kane, but Shuichi as well. Eiri and their children were Shuichi's life. If anything were to happen to them, he really would die. Eiri believed that. Shuichi never did anything half-cocked. What he did, he did with all of his heart. Unfortunately, it was only the accident involving his own boys that made Eiri realized just what they were dealing with. Karin was out for blood and if she had to go through the people that Shuichi cared about along the way, so be it.
On top of Riku nearly becoming paralyzed when he lost control of his car and slid it into a pillar and Kane and Keitaro being traumatized, possibly for life, that bitch was also responsible for murdering a police officer and his paparazzo cousin. Not to mention, she was guilty of destroying Maiko's marriage. Eiri had no doubts that having an affair with Maiko's husband had just been another step in her bid for revenge against Shuichi.
And now she was targeting him.
Shuichi had not said much since the detectives broke the news that they were pulling out of the area. Eiri could not blame the man.
Pushing away from the door, Eiri crossed the hardwood floor and sat down on the edge of the bed where he hung his head in his hands.
Who knows how long Karin had been staking out their house from next door; she could have done any number of things from her vantage point and nobody would have been the wiser, but she hadn't. Why? She'd made sure that someone saw her. Knowing that the house was vacant would prompt the involvement of the police. No, Rinjin Karin hadn't been planning to do anything more then send them another warning and her message had come across loud and clear.
Now the police were pulling the plug on their stakeout. They'd watched as the last police vehicle drove out of sight several hours ago.
Eiri lifted his head when he heard the sound of running water.
Several long moments later, silence permeating the bedroom suite.
When the door clicked open, Eiri sat up. He watched as Shuichi stepped out of the dressing room and pulled the door shut behind him. He noticed that Shuichi had forgotten to turn the light off. When Shuichi left the door open a crack, he realized that Shuichi had not forgotten to do anything.
Eiri crooked a finger at his naked, pregnant husband.
Despite the devastated expression on his face, Shuichi blushed hotly as he waddled slowly towards the bed with his arms wrapped securely around his swollen belly.
With a sly smile on his face, Eiri slipped his feet out of his fuzzy pink bunny slippers (do not ask where they came from) and scooted back to make room for Shuichi who crawled into the bed besides him. As Shuichi settled down in bed with his back to him, Eiri brought up the covers around them.
Eiri slid in behind Shuichi. Their bodies were perfectly aligned. He wrapped his arm securely around the waist of his pregnant baka. It always amazed him just how much of a perfect fit Shuichi was in his arms, even with him having gained so much weight due to his pregnancy.
He pressed his lips into the crook of Shuichi's neck, the spot where the neck and shoulder meet. He knew what it was that Shuichi needed to hear. "I love you. I am not going anywhere," he whispered in Shuichi's ear.
A small smile graced the distraught singer's face.
Eiri pulled Shuichi tightly against him. Laying his head against Shuichi's, Eiri rubbed Shuichi's belly as a soft, gentle smile crossed his face.
oOo
In the shadows, a figure cloaked in darkness stepped out from behind the tree and watched the dark house with a gleam in her dark eyes.
Soon.
The police may have given up, but she would be damned if she had the gull to even think about doing something so cowardly. "Have fun with your family while you can," she growled, "because this time next week, your world will have come to an end."
oOo
A slim figure with a crop of shockingly white blond hair patrolled the Uesugi-Shindou estate grounds with Marcus, who was around back. The beam from her flashlight scanned the darkness. A noise from out of the darkness spun Maki around. Suddenly on the defensive, her body readying itself for an attack, she scanned the yard with her sharp hawk-like eyes. One hand was sitting on the butt of her gun, which she and the other bodyguards had been given special permission to use thanks to Seguchi Tohma, while the other hand swung about. Out of the shadows surrounding the ten-foot high stone fence that enclosed the grounds, scurried a small black cat. Relaxing, Maki continued her patrol.
oOo
A Week Later
The petite, wimpy looking Satoshi opened the front door as Maiko wheeled her brother through the foyer and out onto the front stoop just as Eiri's black Mercedes-Benz pulled out of the garage.
"Are you sure?" Shuichi asked his baby sister as they watched Eiri pull the car around. It has been so great having her here. He was sad to see her go. Pouting, his violet eyes gazed up at her, shimmering with unshed tears.
In the decade that Bad Luck was at the top of the charts, aside from the occasional email from his sister or phone call from his mother, Shuichi pretty much lost all contact with his family. It had not been by choice. It was just something that happened. He had barely had time to spend with Eiri, who had been nearly as busy as he had been, so how was he supposed to make time for his baby sister or his parents who lived on the other side of Tokyo from where Eiri and he had lived in Chiyoda-ku at the time?
Since Bad Luck disbanded, all that changed. Shuichi finally had the time to spend with his friends and family. What Shuichi had not counted on was that by that time, they all lived hundreds of miles away from one another. He had just exchanged one problem for another it seems.
If everything went according to plan and Shuichi did indeed put out his solo album, it was possible that all this free time he currently had would vanish, just as it had when NG Productions first signed Bad Luck. Having his sister all the way in Hokkaido and his parents in Tokyo would make it that much more impossible for him to see them.
Was it so bad to want to have his family close?
Meanwhile, having parked his Mercedes-Benz in front of the house, Eiri pressed the button on the underside of the console. He looked in his rear view mirror as the trunk popped open. It bobbed up and down several times before settling. Opening the car door, he stepped out. He gazed over to where his husband and his sister-in-law were speaking on the front porch. A tired scowl crossed Eiri's face. "Shuichi," he warned with a sigh. How many times has Shuichi gotten him with that look? Damn baka.
"What?" Shuichi whined.
Eiri just gave him a look as he walked over to them.
Shuichi gulped.
Maiko gave her brother-in-law a reassuring smile before turning back to her brother. "I hate to leave, but I really should be getting back." Her stomach twisted at the thought of flying back to her small apartment in Hokkaido. It was similar to the feeling one had on the first day of school after a long summer break, only ten times worse.
"I wish you didn't have to."
"Me, too, but…" Maiko heaved a tired sigh. "I've got to get back to work. I've used up all my vacation days and Chiaki should really get back to school."
"You know…"
Eiri narrowed his eyes down at his husband.
"You could always move down here," Shuichi suggested hopefully.
Maiko blinked at the suggestion.
"I mean, the boys really love you-"
Eiri had to force himself not to snort. The boys loved anyone who gave them gifts. One of their favorites was that idiot Sakuma. What Eiri's, as equally idiotic, brother saw in a man who was twice his age and who (still) carried around a fluffy pink bunny aptly named "Mr. Bear", he would never know. But then people could ask him the same thing. He slid a glance at his idiot and coughed to hide a smirk.
"-and they get along with Chiaki and Subaru."
That was an understatement, Eiri thought. Keitaro and Kane were both in love with their older cousin Chiaki. They were always fighting over the poor girl.
"I know Mom and Dad would really love it if you guys moved back to the area. They are always complaining about not being able to see Chiaki and Subaru enough and they are always worried about you…"
With a snort, Eiri fought not to roll his eyes at the understatement.
Maiko gave her brother a sad smile. "I wish I could," she admitted.
"If it's the money…," Eiri spoke up.
Shuichi nodded vigorously. "You know you can always ask us!"
Maiko bowed kindly at her brother's husband. "Thank you, Eiri-san." She smiled down at her brother. "Big Brother."
Because of Eiri's success as an author and her brother's success with Bad Luck, even seven years after the international pop sensation broke up, neither had to worry about money, not even if Yuki Eiri never had another bestseller or if the royalty checks Shuichi received on a daily basis stopped coming in. Over the years, Shuichi and Eiri have been so generous to not only her but to the rest of the family. Maiko could never repay their kindness.
She felt bad always having to rely on her famous, rich older brother, but the idea of moving back to Tokyo to be near her parents or even here to Kyoto was just too tempting an offer.
Shuichi reached out and grabbed his sister's hand. He laced their fingers together. "Think about it?"
Giving her brother's hand a squeeze, Maiko nodded and promised. Feeling the beginning of tears, Maiko let go of her brother's hand. Clearing her throat, she clapped her hands together. "So! Where are those nephews of mine?" she asked.
Maiko knew Baby Kira and Riku were both in the house sleeping. She had said her goodbyes to the both of them earlier.
As she glanced around, she could see five of the bodyguards that Seguchi Tohma hired to protect her brother and his family. All of them for some reason were working today. When she had asked Shuichi about that, he had not been able to tell her anything about that. Usually, three of them would be working at a time. That all of them were here at one time was unusual.
Satoshi was standing behind her brother's wheelchair while Marcus, Blade, Kaoru and Sanami were wondering the yard. All were dressed in black suits that looked more expansive then Maiko's car. Dark ray ban sunglasses and guns, which she knew were kept hidden under their suit jackets, completed the outfits. They reminded her of the Secret Service. She could not see Maki though.
"Oh, they went down the street to the Suwas'."
"Ah!" That would explain where Maki was. One of the guards went with the boys everywhere, even to school.
Eiri glanced at his watch. If Maiko was going to catch her train to Tokyo, they would have to leave now. "Where are your bags? We should get going."
There was a flash of something across Maiko's face before she was able to school her expression. "By the staircase," she managed to say despite the tightening in her throat.
Eiri bounded up the steps and vanished into the house.
Shuichi gripped the joystick located on the arm of his wheelchair and wheeled himself down the ramp and across the drive to Eiri's car.
Maiko followed close behind him.
This was the same Mercedes Eiri had when Shuichi first met him when Shuichi was eighteen and a senior in high school. The car was still in immaculate shape. There was a time in their relationship where Shuichi had been almost positive that Eiri cared more for his precious Mercedes than for him. Shuichi would have laughed at that absurd thought if it were not for the fact that part of him still felt that way.
Eiri's Saab, the other car he had when they first met, sat under a tarp in the garage. Like the Mercedes, it too was in perfect condition except for a tiny, microscopic ding on the front bumper, but since Eiri hardly ever drove it, what Eiri did not know would not hurt him.
oOo
The crosshairs in the scope where aligned perfectly over her target. A sly smile crossed her face. Finally. It was here! The image on the scope blurred behind sudden tears that stung her eyes. It was so hard to believe that the day had finally arrived. Everything had led her to this point. Lowering her rifle, she tossed her head back and blinked her tears aside. This was no time for this. She would have time afterwards. But not now. Not here.
Nobody was above the law. Not even the seemingly perfect Shindou Shuichi. Once everybody knew the truth about what she was doing, discovered what a hero she was in ridding the world of a cold-blooded murderer, they would rejoice. They would praise her! She would become a god and be worshipped! She knew it. She could see it now! But more importantly, her dear brother would finally be able to rest in peace, his murder having been avenged.
The sun glinted off the scope as she brought her target back into view.
oOo
Moving the last of Maiko's bags onto the front stoop, Eiri vanished back inside the house after shooting Shuichi a quick glance.
He crossed the foyer to the family room off the kitchen, otherwise known as the Great Room. Leaning over the recliner, he peered at his son and chuckled. The Asian Studies student's mouth was slightly ajar and a thin trail of drool was making its way down the young man's chin. He sleeps like Shuichi, Eiri thought amusedly.
Eiri hated to wake him, but Riku would be upset to learn that his aunt left without saying goodbye.
He was rounding the chair when he heard it. A popping sound. It sounded vaguely like the firecrackers that the neighborhood children were always setting off. But there was something different this time. The sound never froze Eiri in fear, never stilled his heart or chilled him to the bone. He had never forgotten how to breathe. His already pale complexion never went white. And he had never heard a scream like the one he was hearing right now. It was a sound he never thought he would hear in his entire life and he hoped to God he never did again.
Startled awake, Riku's dark hazel eyes snapped open with a gasp.
From the nursery upstairs, Baby Kira's violet eyes snapped open. His olive completed face scrunched in misery. The seven month old's loud wails filled the house.
The sound of stampeding feet sounded behind him.
Dread filled Eiri.
"Uesugi-san," yelled Satoshi. "It's Shindou-san! He's been shot!"
Eiri suddenly felt faint.
oOo
Moments Earlier
"So, Big Brother," Maiko said as she followed Shuichi down to the drive.
Tearing his eyes away from his husband's car, Shuichi glanced over his shoulder at his baby sister. "Hm?"
"Are you ready?" she asked with a grin and a mischievous glint in her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the black Mercedes.
He did not have to ask. Shuichi snorted. "Hardly."
Maiko laughed lightly. As much as she loved her brother, she would not want to switch places with him if their lives were at stack. Two six year olds, a seven month old and in a matter of a few short weeks, three newborns. Add a bed bound son, an autobiography and a solo album and her big brother was working himself into an early grave. Why he constantly did this to himself, she would never know.
She looked up as Eiri set the last of her bags down on the front stoop. Their eyes met briefly, before he turned and went back into the house.
"Did you talk anymore about hiring a nanny?"
Shuichi just gave his sister a look that said it all. Eiri would hear nothing about allowing some stranger into their house and raising their children as if they were incompetent. It would not matter if the person they were to hire came highly recommended by God. Eiri had a hard time as it was trusting the bodyguards that Tohma hired for them, especially after what happened with Isaac Smith all those years ago, so there was no way Eiri was going to hear of a live in babysitter.
"Aah," Maiko nodded.
"…You know."
Maiko looked at her brother expectantly.
"Mom and Dad are always complaining about how since we live so far apart, she hardly ever gets to see the kids."
With a roll of her eyes, Maiko nodded. She knew all too well. At least her brother was only a couple hours away by train. With her living all the way to the north in Hokkaido, it was a little more difficult. A thought occurred to her. "Are you thinking about moving back to Tokyo?"
Shuichi shrugged. Actually, it was not something Eiri and he had spoken about, but it was something Shuichi had been thinking about off and on ever since Suguru came to him with the proposal of appearing on Desert Star's debut album.
In fact, it was that pitch that started Shuichi into thinking about releasing a solo album.
Having been in the business since he was in high school, Shuichi knew all too well what went on behind the scenes and there in lay the problem. It was not going to be as easy as it was when he was younger. It used to be torture when he was away from Eiri for just a week, so, how much more distressing would it be now that he had a family, now that Eiri had become much more than just his lover? Would the boys understand why their mama was away from home so much? Would it be easier if they were to move back to Tokyo if he were to put out a solo album? These were all things Shuichi knew he and Eiri would have to talk about sometime very soon.
Maiko gazed about the yard. Her eyes landed on the house that was just visible over the wall and through the bare branches of the trees that separated it from her brother's and wondered.
Sighing, Shuichi ran his fingers through his hair before lacing his hands behind his head. He stared over the car and across the yard. He had no idea what the right thing to do was. He knew what he wanted to do, but was it the right thing for his family?
Something among the brush across the street caught his attention.
Seeing her brother tense, Maiko called out to him softly.
"Hm?" Shuichi pried his eyes away from the deep shadows that ran parallel to his house for a moment.
"You okay?"
Shuichi turned back around. There was nothing there now. What was it that he saw? Had he actually seen anything in the first place, or was he jumping at shadows? "I need a vacation," he decided.
Maiko snorted. "Don't we all?"
Chuckling lightly, Shuichi grabbed the joystick and rotated his chair around. He gazed at the house. "Where is Eiri?" What, did he go to the bathroom and fall in?
Maiko shot her brother a glance. "Why? Eager to get rid of me?" She grinned.
"Yup," Shuichi agreed with a deadpanned expression.
"Jerk," Maiko laughed swatting her big brother playfully.
Snickering, Shuichi turned to grin at her and that was when it happened.
oOo
She could not believe her eyes. Lowering the rifle, she gazed around the tree and across the street at the scene unfolding before her. She almost could not believe her eyes. Had she actually done it? By God. Was it finally over? A giggle bubbled up inside of her. To those who would hear it, it sounded vaguely hysterical. Though she herself could make no distinction.
The contingent of men in black that the almighty Seguchi Tohma had hired in an effort to protect his family from the psychotic bitch that they thought she was (and she would freely admit that she probably was) were racing around the yard shouting into earpieces she had not noticed until now. Their guns, which they must have gotten special permission to use, were drawn. Their eyes darted everywhere, searching. Searching for her, she realized.
She snickered.
The tall skinny Japanese guy that had been like Shindou's shadow since that murderer stepped out of the house-well, technically, wheeled out, she could not but help laughing as she corrected herself-had pushed his charge out of the chair and into the ground before pulling Shindou's sister down with them. None of them were in view. How much would you like to bet that sorry excuse of a bodyguard was covering Shindou with his body, just in case? Always the good little soldier.
She felt a rush of nausea. She knew they were only doing the job they were hired to do, but she did not understand how they could agree to protect a murderer.
Dropping to her knees, she quickly dismantled her rifle and placed the sections into its case with practiced ease. Snapping the lid closed, she got to her feet and slung the strap over her shoulder. Pulling her wraparound shades down from their perch on top of her head, she glanced one last time over her shoulder at the utter chaos that was unfolding behind those wrought iron bars. Slipping on her sunglasses, she turned and vanished within the deep shadows.
oOo
A woman a little on the short side with chestnut brown hair that just tickled her lower back and dark hazel eyes hidden behind a pair of black wraparound shades that had diamonds embedded around the rims stepped out of the trees. Her French manicured nails painted a light dusty rose carried a nondescript case. Her full lips were bright red. Because of the seasonal rain, the back of her boot cut, low waisted blue jeans and the black heeled boots that she sported were covered in mud. The sun glinted off a gold band on her left ring finger as she fixed the collar of her black leather jacket.
She glanced up and down the street.
With a sly smile twisting her lips, she walked confidently down the deserted barely used road that was full of more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese towards a silver BMW parked long the curb several yards down the street whose engine was running.
The trunk popped open. The lid bounced several times before settling.
She placed the case that carried her instrument of revenge into the hole that was usually reserved for the spare tire then slammed the lid closed. The passenger side door was pushed open. Rounding the car, she slid into the passenger seat.
The doors were locked automatically after she closed the car door.
She put her seatbelt on and then was flung backwards into the seat by the tremendous press of G forces as the BMW shot down the street. Nothing was left in their wake but a cloud of dust.
"Karin," the male voice broke into the silence.
Karin glanced at her companion out of the corner of her eye.
The once student body president's face was set grimly. The sun created a mirrored effect with his glasses. A gold band on his left ring finger glittered in the sun for brief sporadic moments as his grip tightened and then unclenched and then tightened again around the steering wheel. In sneakers, tan khakis and a polo shirt underneath a sweater vest, he could be mistaken for someone's father.
"Are you sure about this?"
Karin shrugged. "It's too late for regrets now," she said. "Besides, it had to be done," she added in a soft whisper as if she were speaking to herself. She continued to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her mind.
"It's just…" There was a heavy sigh from besides her. "Shuichi…he is my brother-in-law after all and-"
A spark of rage ignited within her, but Karin quickly out it out. "Was," she corrected more calmly than she actually felt, "your brother-in-law."
"And whose fault is that?" was the disgruntled retort.
Karin rolled her eyes and heaved a disgusted sigh. "Please! It is not as if I held a gun to your head. You willingly got yourself involved in this."
He said nothing.
Turning away from him, Karin stared blankly out of the window.
Several things happened at that point. Her partner cut a sound string of curses, the car came to such a sudden halt that Karin was thrown forward-her hands slapped against the dashboard to keep from smashing her face into its hardness-and a chorus of voices called out to them.
"Rinjin Karin! Step out of the car with your hands up!"
Groaning, Karin slowly sat back. Her sunglasses had slipped off and were lying at her feet. She pushed her hair out of her face. She knew she would be sore in the morning.
"Driver! Step out of the car with your hands where we can see them! Now!"
"Shit! Now what?"
Karin glanced around them. She cursed over a rapidly beating heart. They were completely surrounded. There had to be dozens of them swarming the car from all sides. She could even hear the unmistakable sounds of a helicopter. How the hell had that happened? Where had they all come from?
Her eyes went wide as the answer struck her.
No, she refused to believe it. It could not be. But the truth was right outside the car's windows pointed right at her. There was no other explanation. Even though she herself watched as the police pulled out a week ago. She thought they had given up their stakeout. Given up on catching her in the act. A month had passed with nothing happening. But obviously, she had been wrong.
It had been…
"…a trap."
But…
A slow grin spread across her face. It did not matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She had accomplished what she had set out to do. Sliding off her seatbelt, she reached for the lock. A hand on her arm stopped her.
"What the hell are you doing?" her new husband demanded. His eyes were wide with panic behind his glasses.
Karin shrugged off his hand. Unlocking the door, she pushed open the door and with her hands raised over her head, she slowly stepped from the car. She would freely admit to her crimes. Even if it meant spending the rest of her life in prison. She had been stalking Shindou and his family and long before the first photograph arrived at his doorstep. She had attempted to kill his boys in Osaka last month. She had threatened him and Yuki-san. She had indeed shot Shindou dead. She had finally avenged her brother's premature death at the hands of that cold-hearted bastard. Shindou Shuichi had finally gotten what he had had coming to him for the last seven years. Yasashii could finally rest in peace and that was all that mattered.
oOo
"Shu! Shuichi," Eiri called as he raced out of the house with Satoshi hot on his heels. He collapsed onto his knees besides his fallen husband and cradled him in his arms.
Shuichi hissed at the movement. Jolts of pain shot from the wound in his shoulder.
"Oh, God, Baby." Burying his face into Shuichi's soft black locks, Eiri rocked them both gently as quiet sobs wracked his body. He did not hear the wail of sirens growing closer or the rapid speech of the contingent of guards around him or his son's ear piercing wails from the nursery. The only thing he could hear was the sound of the gunshot echoing over and over again in his head and Maiko's accompanied blood-curdling scream. Eiri gave a start when he felt a cool hand on his face. Gold met violet.
"You're crying," Shuichi whispered. He could count on one hand how many times he had witnessed Eiri crying and still have enough fingers left over to form a fist. It was always shocking and a little unsettling.
"Baka." Conking their foreheads together, Eiri commanded in a whispered tone, "Don't you ever do that to me again, you understand?"
Shuichi giggled. "Yes, sir." He liked it when Eiri worried over him.
"The ambulance is here, sir," came Satoshi's voice.
oOo
In the back of the ambulance sitting opposite his pregnant husband and holding his trembling hands within his, Eiri gave the obviously distressed singer a smile. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind Shuichi's ear. "Everything'll be okay," he tried to assure him.
Shuichi gave a weak smile in return that did not quiet reach his eyes and said nothing. He kept his gaze away from the paramedics who were using liquid stitches on the deep gash on his shoulder.
Eiri turned at the sound of an approaching car. His smile faltered.
"Ow," he heard Shuichi cry out.
Realizing he had tightened his grip to the point of pain, Eiri released his grip on Shuichi's hand. Standing up as much as the cab of the ambulance would allow, he kissed his husband chastely on the forehead before climbing out. "You bitch," he growled as the seasoned police officer escorted a woman from the back of the police car.
Shuichi's head shot around. His eyes went wide. The color drained from his face. Was that…? Oh, God, he felt sick.
Rinjin Karin looked nothing at all like the photograph that was circulating, but even though her hair was now a rich brown and not blond and despite the obvious facial reconstruction, the resemblance to her older brother was eerie. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face here!"
Karin shook off the lingering shock at seeing Shindou alive and well where he should be dead and grew angry instead. She was not sure at whom she was angry: herself or them. "I should've killed you when I had the chance," she bit angrily, straining against her bonds.
The police's hold on her tightened in reaction.
She could not count how many times she had had the author and his bitch in her crosshairs. She could have off-ed them at any time, but had decided against it. Dammit!
"Yeah, you should have," Eiri retorted as he took a threatening stop towards the woman.
"Well, I'll just remedy that mistake now!"
Hearing Shuichi's panicked cry, all eyes turned to watch as an enraged Eiri launched himself across the front yard towards Karin. Both the assembled law enforcement officials and the bodyguards sprang into motion.
In the commotion, the police officer's hold on her slackened. All attention was on the author. Karin found her chance and slipped out of the loose grip easily and charged Eiri. She was not sure what she could do with her arms handcuffed behind her back, but was sure something would come to her once she had her hands on that damn Yuki Eiri. But before she could take more than a couple steps, an arm snaked around her from behind and pulled her backwards away from her intended target. She struggled wildly against the vise-like hold, cursing and spitting.
Marcus and Blade had come up on either side of Eiri and hooked their arms through his. With a little twist, his arms were pinned behind his back.
Eiri growled at his missed chance.
In the back of the ambulance, tears flowed down Shuichi's face. He wanted to go to his husband, but was being restrained by the paramedics. All this was his fault. Why was it that he caused so much trouble for not just the people he loved, but for others as well? "Karin," he sobbed quietly. Everyone went silent. "I am truly sorry for what happened."
Aghast, Eiri barked, "Shuichi!"
A surge of rage flowed through Karin. How dare he? "Save your excuses!"
"I didn't mean for Yasashii to die." That was truth.
Shuichi could still remember being trapped underneath Yasashii. Could still feel the mind numbing terror of looking into the eyes of a deranged madman who had lost all sense of reality. Could still see Yasashii's face filling his vision as he leaned in for a kiss.
"Our first kiss, Shu," he had whispered.
Shuichi could still hear his plea. "Don't do this," he had begged as tears coursed down his cheeks.
But his plea had fallen once again onto deaf ears. "I love you, Shu-han," Yasashii had whispered right before their lips touched.
Shuichi could still feel Yasashii's lips against his. His nausea intensified.
In order to get free, Shuichi'd had to think fast. As revolting as kissing the man had been, Shuichi surprised Yasashii by kissing back. Just as he had been hoping, Yasashii's grip on him loosened enough for him to slip free by smashing his fists into his face.
That final rejection had been the last straw. Yasashii had charged him. If Eiri had not warned him in time, who knows what would have happened.
But, like a man possessed, Yasashii had proven he was far from finished and charged him.
He really had not meant for Yasashii to die. He would never wish something so cruel on his worst enemy. Maybe if the railing had been properly secured things would have turned out differently, or maybe if he had played along a little more until Eiri could save him…. Thoughts like these were constantly going through his mind.
"It's too bad you didn't die along with him!"
A lone tear trickled down Shuichi's cheek.
With a low growl, Eiri struggled against the vise-like grips on his arms. How dare she? Who did this bitch think she was? Shuichi was the victim. Yasashii got what he deserved. "Your brother was a fucked up fruit loop! And you're no better!"
Karin's rage turned her face lobster red. "How dare you!"
"I dare because it's true! He murdered Jacob and Koji and then kidnapped Shuichi from right in front of our apartment! He followed Shuichi night and day! He'd had someone take photos of us that he'd intended to use as blackmail! He'd had another guy bug the studio! He would've raped Shuichi if Shuichi hadn't've fought back!"
Karin refused to listen to any of this trash! How dare they slander her older brother's good name? Yasashii had always been a saint. He was a good boy. "Liar! Yasashii would never do something like that! He loved Shuichi!"
Eiri barked out a laugh. Why was it that the loved ones of the accused were always deluding themselves to the obvious? "Please! He wouldn't've known what love was if it bit him on the ass! Your brother was insane and got what he deserved!"
"Bastard!"
"Bring it on, Bitch! I'll murder you where you stand!"
"Is that a threat?"
"That's a promise!"
"Karin," Shuichi whispered through his tears from the ambulance. "It really was an accident. We were fighting and-the railing broke-I never would have wished something like that onto my worst enemy."
"Fuck you!" Karin refused to believe any of the vile insults spewing from their mouths. Yasashii was her brother. She knew him better than anyone did. He would never do what he was being accused of. She would certainly never believe that his death had been an accident. Never! Yasashii was smarter than that.
"All you have to do is ask the building superintendent," Shuichi was saying. "Even ours was a little loose. You remember, Eiri." He turned pleading violet eyes towards his husband.
Eiri's gaze softened as he stared into his devastated husband's face. He nodded. "It's true, Karin," he admitted in soft, calm voice as he turned around to face the woman. They had to have it fixed when the twins were born.
Karin shook her head vigorously. Never! Never would she believe their lies! She knew the truth even if nobody else did. "You killed him! You killed him! You killed him! You killed him," she chanted. Spittle flew from her mouth. Her struggles against her captors increased. She could not feel the stinging bite of the handcuffs as they dug into the tender, sensitive flesh around her wrists.
Shuichi's sobs deepened. The guilt and the pain that he had tried so hard to move passed resurfaced as if he had not been in therapy for the last seven years.
Her accusation pissed off Eiri. "Why the hell would Shuichi waste his time with a low life like your brother?"
"You're dead," she spit vehemently.
Lieutenant Katsuragi had had enough. "That's it. Get her out of here," he commanded.
"Yes, Sir."
Karin was dragged back to the police car by several police officers. Protesting being manhandled like a piece of meat, she lashed out at the officers. Kicking, biting, spitting and hurling threats and allegations, she screamed, "Don't be fooled by those innocent puppy dog eyes! He's an evil, vile, sorry excuse for a human being! He stole my brother's heart and ripped it in two!"
As Shuichi watched through tear-blurred vision as Karin was shoved into the back of the police car none-too-gently, a jolt of pain shot through his abdomen. Hissing, his hands flew to his belly. He squeezed his eyes closed against the pain.
"Shindou-san?"
"Shindou-san? Are you alright, Sir?"
Panicked voices surrounded him.
Doubled over, Shuichi forced himself to breath as the cramp passed. Pasting a smile on, Shuichi said, "It's nothing. I'm okay," as he slowly unfurled himself.
His mind, though, started working overtime. Something was wrong, seriously wrong. He didn't know how to explain it, but there was a pressure that had not been there just minutes earlier. It was a low, heavy weight in his lower abdomen. Almost as if he had to go to the bathroom, but was being forced to hold it and now his bladder felt as if it was on the verge of bursting, like a balloon that has been blown up too much. His mother described it once as the baby "dropping". He had never understood that saying until he had Keitaro and Kane. It was strange, but his kimono actually seemed to sit differently around him. And he found it easier to draw a breath. As if there had been a weight upon his chest that was no longer there. It was something he had not noticed until now. Or maybe it was all in his head. One of the things that he knew was not part of his overactive imagination was the cramping that started in his lower back before engulfing his entire abdomen.
He wrapped his arms around his belly and clenched his teeth to keep a scream that was rising from bubbling out.
Please, God, no. It was too soon. It was way too soon. But all the pleading in the world did nothing to stymie the sickening realization that he was going into labor.
oOo
Section From: Gravitation: A Shindou Shuichi Autobiography
In the time of William Shakespeare, it was believed that if a person was sexually assaulted then that was blatant evidence that that person was not "pure" or as "innocent" as he or she claimed to be. In that way, to be raped was a punishment handed out from God for a person's "immoral ways". The victim was never pitied. A victim was never a victim. Fault was never laid on the feet of the rapist. It did not matter that rape is never about sex, but about power and control. What was believed was that a victim of rape must have done something to allow him or herself to be violated. For if you were of a pure soul, this hideous deed never would have happened in the first place because the assailant would have seen the purity within you and hesitated.
If only it were that simple.
The day such an unspeakable act happened to me, those were the exact thoughts that keep flitting through my mind. I was being punished. Me, a guy in love with and having a sexual relationship with another guy and not just any ordinary guy, but a romance novelist, Japan's most eligible bachelor.
To think that someone of Eiri's caliber would ever return my feelings, would ever want a stupid baka like me at his side to have and to hold until death do we part, to think that he would ever see me as anything other than his little fuck hole had been a laughable dream. But I loved him still the same. Even if I was not the only one. Even if I was only his boy toy. Even if he hated the ground I walked on. None of that ever mattered to me. This was why I "allowed" what happened to me to happen. Though, it did not ease the effect being violated had.
Since everyone is always telling me that my face is like an open book, that it is impossible for me to lie, Hiro knew right away what had happened to me when he raced out of his apartment into the pouring rain and saw me lying there on the side of the road, a broken, battered, bleeding and defiled mess.
Neither he nor Eiri know the gruesome details of that horrible night. They know some of what happened to me, but not all of it. Not even the psychiatrist I went to see knows to the extent I was violated and humiliated. They never will. I do not intend to ever tell what happened that night to anyone.
Riku told me a story one time about a classmate of his, a girl in one of his creative writing classes back at NYU. For this specific creative writing class they were in together, they had to write three short stories over the course of the semester and for her first assignment, she wrote a story about a girl in college who instead of going to see her grandfather in the hospital who had suffered another heart attack, for some reason, she opted to wait until the weekend. Unfortunately, the next day, she received a phone call from her mother just as she was getting ready for school. Her grandfather had passed away.
"After she read the story aloud, the class discussed it and there was this one girl, a friend of mine, who said it sounded to her as if the girl in the story was scared," Riku told me.
"Of what?" I asked.
"Well, in the story she compared the grandfather to Superman."
Superman is said to be invincible, immune to just about everything, but in the end, even he fell.
"I talked to her after class and she admitted that the story was inspired by actual events."
But I knew that already, having been involved with a writer since I was a senior in high school and being one myself. One of the first rules you learn is to write what you know.
Riku went on to say that this girl had always been haunted by the sudden passing of her grandfather during her first semester of college. I will not get into the details surrounding the girl's private life here, but suffice it to say that her grandfather's passing affected her to such a degree that she ended up falling into a mild depression, which led to her eventual dropping out of school after the first semester of her second year. Here it was nearly four years later and she still had not completely gotten over it.
"But she said that when my friend said what she did, it literally felt like a weight had been lifted from her."
I understood what my son was trying to tell me.
So one night, after everyone had gone to bed, I snuck to the study and sat down before my computer to write down every single last detail I could remember from that night. Afterwards, I printed out what I had written and after reading it through once, burned the pages in the fireplace.
I have to admit, I am truly glad I took Riku's advice. That night, for the first time since I was raped all those years ago, I actually slept peacefully through the night.
But in the days following my rape, despite being pressured by everyone around me, I had no intention of seeing a shrink. All I wanted was for this to be over. I just wanted to forget it ever happened. To speak about it made it real. It made me relive it again and again and again, just like in my dreams every single night.
I threw myself into my relationship with Eiri and the rising popularity of Bad Luck, anything to keep myself from remembering such a terrible event.
Besides, I kept telling myself that it was not really rape. You cannot rape the willing. I allowed it to happen so that Eiri would be kept safe. Even after being dumped by the only man that I had ever and would ever love, I would never allow Eiri to get hurt. I did not want his good name to be slurred or slandered. I wanted to protect him because I loved him, even if he did not feel the same way about me. But that logic did not stop my nightmares and finally Eiri had had enough. He bodily dragged me in to see his psychiatrist (yes, he sees one as well, but do not tell him I told you).
It helped seeing her, but I still had nightmares. I still woke up at all hours of the night in a cold sweat, screaming, but not as often. The nightmares came less and less. Though they did not vanish all together.
Then it started up all over again when Bad Luck returned to Japan from our Loveless world tour to find out that Eiri and I had a new neighbor.
The second I met him, I knew something was off. Then the nightmares started. A month later, thirty-some-odd days after everyone told me I was crazy and that I was jumping at shadows, he lured my bodyguards to their deaths and then abducted me. He would have raped me and who knows what else he would have done, but unlike what happened with Aizawa, Rinjin was alone. He had not hired two thugs off the street to help him subdue an eighteen-year-old boy who stood at a mere 165 cm and weighed no more than 110 lbs. One on one, I was able to take Rinjin out easily, but at a deadly cost.
Most days, I am fine, but then one day out of the blue it hits me. I feel his lips against mine. His heavy weight atop me. The feel of his nose shattering against my fist. I hear the splintering of the wood as the railing disintegrates beneath our combined weight. I watch as he falls through the railing and hit's the cold floor below. I watch as the life fades from his eyes. I see it all replaying in my head over and over again. Sometimes Rinjin's and Aizawa's faces intermingle…
There are many events from my life that I will never forget. Like meeting Eiri one fateful night. Bad Luck being offered a deal by NG Productions, which never would have happened had Hiro actually passed his entrance exams and gotten into medical school to become a doctor like his parents wanted (which he did in fact pass I found out later). Bad Luck's debut album, Gravity, selling a million copies. Our first national tour. The first time I heard Eiri tell me he loved me. Adopting Riku. Marrying Eiri in the living room of our old apartment. The birth of our boys and the nervous expectancy of three more. But there are two other events that are forever ingrained in my memory, being betrayed and viciously attacked by Aizawa and then being betrayed and attacked a decade later by Rinjin.
But no matter what happens, Eiri is forever by my side, loving me and protecting me and holding me whenever things become too much and that is all I can ever hope for.
Owari? Not by a long shot. This story has only just begun…
oOo
Six Months Later - July - Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Nara, Japan
A ghost of a smile flitting across his face, Eiri ran his fingers over the embossed front cover of the surprisingly thick book where white characters spelled out the title, Gravitation: A Shindou Shuichi Autobiography.
Eiri crossed the study towards the wall of built in bookshelves, but paused before the end table besides the chaise lounge where a photograph rested. Setting his husband's autobiography down on the table, he picked up the photo. It pictured Shuichi and he in scrubs holding three of the tiniest bundles that combined would still not add up to how much Kira weighed when he was born. It had been taken six months ago by Maiko the day Yosuke, Yukiko and Shinta were born.
Nobody was sure if it was the shock of being shot or being thrown to the ground by Satoshi that had caused Shuichi to go into labor, but being only twenty-seven weeks along, everybody had been unsure about to what expect.
At thirteen weeks premature, his children had fit into the palm of his hand with perfect ease. Even the smallest diapers that the hospital could provide seconded as jumpsuits. All those wires and tubes and machines they had been hooked up to for the better part of three or four months while inside those clear coffins had almost been too much.
The memory had Eiri's knuckles turning white as his tightened grip threatened to shatter the gold frame.
He could remember rushing out of the house and seeing Shuichi on the ground with his sister by his side. The shoulder of his white kimono stained red with blood.
If the police had not stopped him, Eiri would even now be locked up in prison awaiting trial, for he would have murdered that bitch. Nobody messed with his family and got away with it, not God, not Buddha, not some psychotic cunt with an axe to grind, no one. Part of him still longed to get his hands on her even now.
oOo
Women's Federal Prison
Sitting cross-legged on the tatami mats in her cell that was nothing more than a hole in the wall, Karin's eyes popped open. She stared out the barred window sitting high up in the wall at the quickly darkening sky.
"Your brother was a fucked up fruit loop," came the enraged accusation in her head.
Her hazel eyes grew hard and cold. Her hands lying loosely on her legs clenched.
How dare he? Yasashii was the victim in all this. He had been kind and caring and gentle and loving as both a son and older brother. He had put his life on hold after their parents passed away in order to take care of her. She would never be able to repay Yasashii back for everything he did for her, but then Shindou Shuichi appeared. Yasashii was never the same after he went to Zepp Tokyo that fateful night to see ASK and it was all Shindou's fault. He took her brother away from her.
If he would have only returned her brother's feelings then all of this could have been avoided, but apparently, Shuichi was too good for a commoner like her brother.
With the restraining hands of half a dozen cops keeping her from her intended targets, Karin could still remember what she said that day as tears poured down her face. "Don't be fooled by those innocent puppy dog eyes! He is an evil, vile, sorry excuse for a human being! He stole my brother's heart and ripped it in two!"
She smashed her fisted hand into the table.
"Just you wait, Shindou Shuichi," she hissed. "When I get out of here, you are dead!"
oOo
Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Nara, Japan
Setting down the photo, Eiri glanced at his watch. Seeing how late it was becoming, he headed towards the bedroom where Shuichi should be getting ready for his CD release party.
"Shu?" he called as he entered the master suite.
Empty.
He stepped back out into the hallway. "Shuichi?" Hearing a muffled voice coming from the right, Eiri followed it like a sailor hopelessly enthralled by a Siren.
As he passed the staircase, he saw Riku pacing back and forth across the foyer. Eiri gave a disgusted sigh. His son was still on the phone. Whom he was speaking to all this time, Eiri had no idea, but the light blush that colored his face had Eiri's eyebrows rising.
Riku had miraculously completely healed from his compression fracture without any lasting side effects and had plans of returning to New York in a few weeks to finish his last semester at NYU and then come January, he would move here to Japan permanently to get his masters degree. Eiri was not sure if Riku planned to get his own place or not. They had not talked about it. Yoshiki was already whining about being left all alone.
"What about Rage?" Shuichi had asked her.
Yoshiki had said nothing, but she had blushed. Eiri was not sure he wanted to know.
Eiri peeked into the boys' room. Keitaro and Kane were sitting on the floor deeply engrossed in some racing game. At least they were starting to get along.
"It's time for bed."
A chorus of groans met his statement.
"A little longer?" Kane pleaded in an eerily similar whining voice as his mother.
An image of Shuichi flashed through Eiri's head. He shuddered just thinking about what future lay ahead. "Bed."
"One more race?" This time it was Keitaro and he sounded exactly like his identical twin.
Eiri sighed. He was beginning to get a headache. "Fine. One more race," he agreed over their cheers, "and then it's bed. Got it?"
"'Kay!" the twins agreed in unison.
He started to shut the door.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, Kane?" Eiri answered stepping back into the twins room.
"Are Grandma and Grandpa coming over to watch us?"
"Yes, they are."
Eiri watched his boys in silence for several more moments. He realized that during their conversation, neither one of them once took their eyes off the television screen. He was starting to regret buying that damn gaming console for them.
Shaking his head, Eiri stepped out into the hallway and shut the bedroom door.
Grandma and Grandpa, aka Shuichi's parents, had ended up moving into the vacant house next door along with Maiko and her two children. Shuichi enjoyed having his parents along with his baby sister and niece and nephew close by. For the longest time, Shuichi had been so busy with Bad Luck that he had not had time to do much more than exchange a quick email with Maiko. In Shuichi's line of business, some sacrifices have to be made unfortunately. He had known that, but it had not made it any easier. So now, with his folks living next door, he could make up for lost time.
Eiri enjoyed them living so close for two reasons. One, Shuichi and he now had babysitters whenever they needed them and two, he no longer had to suffer through of one Shuichi's mother's guilt trips about never being able to see her grandchildren.
Shuichi and he had ended up purchasing his childhood home back in Tokyo so that they would have a place to stay when they went to Tokyo.
Crossing the hall, Eiri entered the nursery. Coming to a halt, Eiri crossed his arms over his chest and leaning back against the doorjamb, smiled at the scene before him.
Shuichi's hair was in newly choppy short layers with neon pink streaks racing through it. Though he still had another ten pounds to lose, Shuichi had quickly returned to his pre-baby weight.
A self-satisfied smirk crossed Eiri's face.
In a pair of blue jeans and a graphic tee underneath a white button down shirt, Shuichi looked good enough to eat. It was too bad they had to be somewhere in half an hour.
Quietly singing one of the songs off his solo debut CD but at a slower speed, which turned the fast tempo song into more of a ballad, Shuichi rocked a small white bundle cradled gently in his arms.
God You're SAVE Kano no naka wa Take me it All Light
for yourself TOBI sugita ORE wo tasukete
God You're SAVE nanimo wakarazu Make it true show time
for yourself Taikutsu shinogi wo kasaneru
Eiri was certainly glad that Shuichi was safe. If anything would have happened to him, Eiri was not sure what he would have done.
Humming softly now, Shuichi was gently swaying from side to side.
Eiri thanked whatever all-knowing, all-powerful being was out there every single day he woke up to find his baka asleep besides him. Or maybe he should thank the police. For, if they had not had the foresight to equip them all with bulletproof vests as part of their plan to capture the wanted fugitive who was out for blood, who knows what would have happened. Or better yet, maybe he should thank Karin for her crappy aim. Even with the scope that had been attached to the high power rifle, she had not been able to do much more than graze Shuichi's shoulder.
He was not sure how that happened. Maybe God really did exist and he (or possibly she) had intervened with Fate for what Shuichi and he were told, Karin was an excellent marksman. Apparently, a distant relative of hers was in law-enforcement and taught both her and her brother how to shoot when they were younger. That was where she acquired the rifle from it seems. So, how she could have possibly missed was beyond him, but for which Eiri would be eternally grateful.
Karin's trial was set for some time next spring. Until then, she was safely locked away in the federal prison far away from them. Apparently her attorney was trying to play the "not guilty by way of temporary insanity" card for Karin was not denying anything she did. Eiri absolutely despised such an excuse. If you were man enough to do the deed, then be man enough to take responsibility. It did not matter whether she was considered legally incompetent because of some psychiatric disorder or was showing a lack of reason or foresight or not. Yes, being institutionalized would help with whatever mental disorder had brought about the psychotic episode, but that was not a punishment for the crimes she had committed. Whether under the guise of some mental illness or not, guilty was guilty. It did not change the fact that she had committed a crime and needed to be punished accordingly.
It was like having two criminals, one male, the other female. Both commit a murder. The murders are identical in every way. They are both caught. A trial ensues. Guilty verdicts are handed down for both. The man gets life without the possibility of parole. The woman is sentenced to twenty-five years. Why would you give two different sentences when the only difference was that one of the criminals was a man and the other was a woman?
Shuichi's tender, angelic voice cut through his thoughts.
God You're SAVE Itaikena ORE wo tasukete
for yourself Ima sarana inori wa kikazu
God You're SAVE ORE no KARADA wa Make it true show time
for yourself Sukui no kami ni yowasareru
God You're SAVE…
for yourself…
God You're SAVE…
for yourself…
God You're SAVE.
Smiling, Eiri pushed away from the doorframe and strode silently into the room.
Shuichi gave a start when he felt arms slip around his waist.
"Hey," Eiri greeted. He pressed his lips into the crook of Shuichi's neck.
Shuichi smiled over his shoulder at his husband. "Hey," he croaked.
They kissed briefly.
Resting his chin on Shuichi's shoulder, Eiri tightened his hold on his husband and glanced down at the sleeping bundle being rocked gently.
Uesugi-Shindou Takara Yukiko, or "Little Yuki" as Shuichi called her, had a head of jet-black hair just like her mama, but she had Daddy's eyes. Her twin brothers, Uesugi-Shindou Kaito Yosuke and Uesugi-Shindou Kaisei Shinta, had blond hair, but had violet eyes like their mama. Where Yosuke and Shinta were quiet, Yuki definitely had her mama's lungs.
"You did good, Baby," Eiri said.
A rosy tiny on his cheeks, Shuichi gently pulled out of his husband's arms and returned his daughter to her crib.
Eiri cocked his head to study Shuichi's tight ass as the man bent over.
Folding an arm over the railing, Shuichi reached out to caress his daughter's warm, soft cheek with his knuckle. Pulling back, he rubbed the sudden tears from his eyes and cleared his throat to loosen it.
Even after six months, it was still hard to think back to the triplets' birth.
Last December, Karin nearly took Riku, Keitaro and Kane away from him and then when he was shot back in January, she nearly took Yosuke, Yuki and Shinta from him.
Yosuke, Yuki and Shinta were so premature when they were born that Dr. Watabe, Shuichi's gynecologist, warned Eiri and him that there was a very good possibility that the triplets might not make it through the night, but here it was six months later and his babies had beaten the odds.
Straightening, Shuichi turned to face his husband.
Eiri reached out and enfolded Shuichi in his arms. "Ready?" he asked, wrapping his arms around Shuichi's waist.
With a smile on his face, Shuichi wrapped his arms around Eiri's neck and nodded. He was more than ready. This was something he had been waiting for for more than a decade.
"It's just too bad you lost your voice."
Shuichi shrugged. It is not as if it was the first time. As a singer, it was a staple in his life.
Eiri turned thoughtful. "Or maybe that is a good thing."
Pulling out of Eiri's arms, Shuichi slapped his husband playfully. Frowning, he pouted dramatically.
Eiri chuckled. His baka was so cute. Draping an arm around Shuichi's shoulders possessively, Eiri guided them out of the nursery and down the hall towards their bedroom suite. "Come on. Don't wanna be late."
"Dad! Mama," came Riku's voice. "Grandma and Grandpa are here!"
Eiri winced at his son's loud set of lungs as Shuichi crossed towards the closet.
"You talk to your sister today?" Eiri asked as he sat down lightly on the bed.
"Earlier," Shuichi croaked from the confines of the closet. He cleared his throat violently.
"How's she doing?"
"Good, I guess. Considering it turned out that her ex-husband was involved with Rinjin this whole time." Shuichi's voice, what little there was of it, was barely a whisper by the end.
"Hm."
Eiri still had a hard time wrapping his mind around his ex-brother-in-law's involvement in this whole case. It still was not known to what extent he was involved; he claimed he was innocent-not that anybody was surprised. Someone could be videotaped beating another person to death and he would still protest his guilt. But Karin claimed he was just as guilty as she was. Whether he was guilty of anything more than being her chauffer or not, the fact of the matter was, it appears the two of them had been more than just lovers for quite some time.
"How do I look?"
Eiri lifted his head. His eyes went wide at the sight of Shuichi. He sat up straight and drank in every last ounce of his lithe husband.
In a dark navy blue thigh length trench coat over a tight, sleeveless zipper up vest that showed his flat abdomen that gave no evidence of there being three living souls within it just six short months ago, black leather pants so tight Eiri was sure he would need a can opener to get Shuichi out of them later on tonight (but was in great expectation of the challenge), a black belt cinched around his waist and another hanging low around his hips, heeled boots and fingerless black gloves, Shuichi looked like the demon he descended from; an incredibly drop dead sexy demon that Eiri was just itching to defile.
Blushing at the attention and the blatant hunger that Eiri refused to hide; Shuichi held out his hands and twirled. His coat flared out around him.
Standing up, Eiri crossed towards him. Grabbing Shuichi's hands, Eiri yanked Shuichi against him.
Shuichi mouthed a yelp in surprise. He wrapped his arms around Eiri's neck and molded himself against Eiri. Something hard was pressing against his stomach. Rising up on his tiptoes, Shuichi whispered voice cracked into Eiri's very sensitive ear, "Is that your cellphone, or are you just happy to see me?"
Eiri suppressed a shudder. Shuichi was going to pay for that. Dipping his head, Eiri whispered, "Why don't we just skip the party," right before their lips met.
oOo
Osaka Convention Center - Osaka, Japan
"Giving you new music first, that was Tomatic with 'I Need An Angel' here on KIIS 98.5! We have Madonna, Cascada, Fabulous, Abingdon Boys School, Tamaki Nami, Saga and Jessy McCartney coming up, but first, we have a debut from an artist calling himself X/2012 called 'Bird'. His album, Time In My Heart, drops this fall. Now, I want you to take a close listen to this song. Is it me, or does this guy sound a lot like Shindou Shuichi? I don't know. Tell me what you think. Here it is, X/2012 with 'Bird' here on the number one hit music station KIIS 98.5"
In the Convention Center in downtown Osaka overseeing last minute details for the party, a smirk slid across Seguchi Tohma's face as the first single off Shuichi's solo debut album blared over the speakers.
Shuichi had opted for a pseudonym because he feared the reaction people would have if they knew it was Shindou Shuichi, lead singer of Bad Luck, behind the song. He feared his name had been stigmatized and people would judge his CD before they even heard it. He wanted his music to be judged based on its own merits.
Other than the few songs like "Bird", "Time In My Heart", "God You're Save", and "Like a Cowboy", Time In My Heart was a lot different from anything Bad Luck had ever put out. It was less pop, and more hip-hop, more house. It was more like the stuff Bad Luck had been doing before they were signed onto NG Productions.
Tohma could understand Shuichi's fears all too well and had honored his brother-in-law's wishes.
He could not wait to tell the ex-lead singer that his fears had been unfounded. For if people's reaction to the first single was any indication, Shuichi had another hit album under his belt.
Now if only he could talk the guys into reuniting.
…The End…
Next in the Building a Family series: "Limelight".