Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Bittersweet Void ❯ Chapter 2

Bittersweet Void

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation

 

Chapter 2

 

“Shuichi…” Hiro said, at a loss for words. He didn't want to tell his friend the truth about Yuki, but he hadn't prepared a believable lie.

 

“Well, are any of you going to tell me?” Shuichi asked, missing the way that everyone tensed.

 

“He is the CEO of another music company, and he has taken an interest in your band,” K explained as everyone, except Shuichi and an unconscious Sakano, let out a sigh of relief.

 

Shuichi nodded, believing the lie, and walked over to the microphone. He was ready to resume his recording session, but halted in the middle of putting on the head phones. He eyed everyone suspiciously when they didn't move to their usual spots. “Why is everyone just standing around?”

 

“I think that you have done enough for now…Why don't you take the rest of the day off?” K suggested. He was eager to have Shuichi far from Touma at the moment.

 

“But I don't wanna take the rest of the day off. I have music to record and lyrics to write,” Shuichi objected defiantly.

 

“Don't worry about that right now, go home, Shuichi,” K said in a tone that left no room for further argument. Seeing no compromise in sight, Shuichi sighed in defeat and left the studio with Hiro and Fujisaki following.

 

“Hiroshi, come here for a second,” K called after the guitarist.

 

“Yea?” Hiro responded, walking back over to the American.

 

“Give me Shuichi's phone, I will deal with it,” K replied, holding out his hand. Hiro took out the small cellular device and placed it in K's outstretched hand before running after Shuichi.

 

After the door to the studio closed, K opened the flip phone and searched through the sent text messages. He glared at the small device in his hands when he found a message that Shuichi had sent to Yuki two days ago. Judging from the date and time of the message, Shuichi sent it during the ride over to the hypnotherapist's office. Frustrated, he broke the phone in half and threw it in the trash. He then left the studio, leaving Sakano on the floor.

 

0-0

 

Touma sat behind his desk with his chin resting on his hands. Although Eiri was upset with him for interfering with their relationship, he couldn't listen, not with the information that K had given him.

 

At first he was going to leave Eiri alone and allow him to come back to Shuichi, but since he found out about Shuichi's current state, he could no longer have Eiri come back to the boy. If Shuichi didn't remember Eiri, then what was the purpose of letting the novelist pursue a false hope that Shuichi was ready to welcome him back with open arms?

 

Touma smiled, he was doing this for Eiri's good, so what he was about to do couldn't possibly be wrong.

 

0-0

 

Shuichi walked silently through the parking garage to Hiro's motorcycle, waiting for his best friend to catch up. He was furious. Who was K to tell him that he couldn't finish his work day in the studio? He had ideas flowing through him and he couldn't wait to express them through new tracks.

 

“Hey, Shuichi,” Hiro called breathlessly, running to catch up. Shuichi really could walk fast even though he was short. The pink-haired male turned to face him, a glower evident on his face. Hiro stopped short in his run, Shuichi didn't look like a mad kitten. For once, he looked like an adult. “Come on, Shu. Enjoy this little break; you won't get many of them. Think of it as time off to work on your life. We can go apartment hunting for you,” Hiro said, walking up to the vocalist.

 

As much as Shuichi wanted to be mad, Hiro was right. He did want to move out of Hiro's apartment and the idea of using this time off to do so seemed good. Speaking of apartment hunting, why was he living with Hiro? For some reason, he couldn't recollect the reasoning, or even the length of time of why he was living with his best friend.

 

Shuichi waited until both he and Hiro were on the motorcycle before bringing the subject up. After Hiro had his helmet on, Shuichi asked, “Hiro, why am I living with you?”

 

Stunned, Hiro took his hands of off the bike handles and hesitated a few moments, collecting a lie. He hated lying to Shuichi, but he hadn't expected Shuichi to ask that question. Usually his friend didn't use his head much. “Well, you wanted to get out of your parent's house, but you didn't want to live by yourself, so I offered you a spot at my place. Don't tell me that you forgot,” Hiro said, Shuichi chuckled nervously.

 

“I guess I did, silly me,” Shuichi said. When he didn't say anything else about the matter, Hiro started the motorcycle and drove off.

 

0-0

 

Yuki sat on the couch, staring at the numerous suit cases full of his clothes and other personal items. It was about ten at night in New York, meaning that it was about three in the afternoon in Japan. The next flight to Japan didn't leave until ten more hours, so he had time to relax. He took a long drag off of his cigarette as his thoughts drifted back to Shuichi. He really missed the little loud mouth. He jumped at the sound of his cell phone ringing, it had been so long since it was on ring, but he had some silly hope that Shuichi would call him. Without looking at the caller id he answered the phone.

 

“Hello?” Yuki said into the phone, hoping that it was Shuichi.

 

“Hello, Eiri,” Seguchi's voice replied, causing Yuki to grow irate. Why was the blond calling him? Didn't he get the message after Yuki hung up on him earlier?

 

“What the hell do you want?!” Yuki yelled into the receiver. As much as he wanted to hang up, he knew that Seguchi wouldn't call back after their earlier talk without a good reason.

 

“I have some disturbing information…” Touma said in a calm voice.

 

“And you are wasting my time, spit it out.”

 

“Apparently, Shuichi went to a hypnotherapist,” Touma said.

 

“And?!” Yuki yelled, not in the mood for Touma's games.

 

“He has forgotten about you, Eiri. He literally went and had you erased from his memories. He didn't want you anymore, and he has moved on with his life. Don't you want him to remain happy? If you come back to pursue your relationship with him, you will only hurt yourself and him,” Touma explained.

 

Yuki frowned. Did Shuichi really get hypnotized to forget about him and their memories together? “Seguchi, I know you are a known con artist, but are you really telling the truth?”

 

“You know me well, Eiri, when have I lied to you?” Touma responded with hurt in his voice.

 

“How the hell should I know! You have been trying to sabotage our relationship for a while now!”

 

“Eiri, you can ask Mr. K about this matter,” Touma replied, trying to convince him.

 

What K said on the phone earlier played through his head. “Ah…it's you. Heed my warning, don't ever call this phone again, and if you know what's good for you, you will stay in New York.”

 

“Eiri, what will you do?” Touma asked, curious about the man's decision.

 

“I…I think I will stay here a while longer,” Yuki replied, his heart breaking. Yuki hung up the phone before Touma could say anything else, and sat it next to him on the couch next to him. He had made Shuichi miserable, and what Touma had told him about Shuichi getting hypnotized was also true. He felt horrible as he remembered all of the times that he kicked Shuichi out and yelled at him.

 

The thought of being nothing than a stranger to Shuichi hurt. Although he never said anything, Shuichi was his world. Now, he was just a distant past, just another ex. It was all his fault, Shuichi would be in his arms right now had he kept his promise and been home before Shuichi's tour ended.

 

He could not return to Japan, not yet. His heart couldn't take it. A lone tear slid down his face. “I'm sorry, Shuichi,” he whispered to no one.

 

0-0

 

“Mr. K, I apologize for my earlier words,” Touma said with a smile, K glared at him from across his desk.

 

“What did you do?” K asked, not falling for the sudden change of heart in the other blond.

 

“I agree with you, Eiri should stay away from Shuichi, and he is not coming back for him. I'm sorry about the inconvenience.”

 

“You avoided my question, how can you be so sure that he isn't coming back,” K said referring to Yuki.

 

“I just spoke with him, he said so himself. Now, I hope that your information about our Mr. Shindo is correct,” Touma replied, his cheery face turning serious.

 

“There is nothing to worry about there, I spoke the truth. Now, as for the press, surely they will get curious as far as their past relationship goes. Will you put a muzzle on them, or do I have to?” K asked. He had his ways with a gun that would shut the press' mouth about anything concerning Yuki and Shuichi's past relationship.

 

“I can take care of that now, but I want you to keep your vocalist away from anything that will trigger memories of Eiri. Eiri wants nothing to do with him, and it is in the best of our interest to keep them apart,” Touma said, his serious face turning back to the eerie smile.

 

“I never thought that I would say this to you, but in this case I fully agree,” K said getting up, ready for departure.

 

“Do not fail me,” Touma ended the conversation, grabbing his office phone.

 

0-0

 

“Hey, Shu. Mr. K, Mr. Sakano, Fujisaki, and I were going out tonight to celebrate the success of our third album, you in?” Hiro said as he unlocked the door and walked into Shuichi's condo. When he heard no response he headed towards the living room to see if Shuichi was in there. On the way, he saw Shuichi running on the treadmill in the exercise room. He smiled at his friend and clasped a hand on his sweaty back when Shuichi got off of the machine.

 

In just a year they had produced two albums and been on tour for the second album. So much has happened since then. Shuichi had matured, and focused on his music and image. No longer was he the cute upcoming pop star, but he was now seen as a man in the media's eyes. He had dyed his hair black, saying that the pink was too immature. He even had gotten his ears pierced, a loop at the top of his left ear and studs at the bottom of both ears. Not only that, but he even began working out recently, he now had muscles defining his still small stature.

 

So far there had been no recollections of Yuki from Shuichi, at least none that he knew of. The scare in the studio a year ago about Yuki coming back for Shuichi had been negated when Touma told K that Yuki changed his mind. Ever since then, Hiro haven't heard anything about Yuki.

 

Shuichi wiped his forehead with a towel that was around his neck and smiled at Hiro. “Yea, sure, let me take a shower and get changed. You can wait in the living room if you want,” he said leaving the room, heading to his bedroom for some fresh clothes. He grabbed a pair of khakis from the dresser and a purple button up shirt, along with some underwear.

 

In the shower he turned the water on scorching hot. It always helped keep his mind off of racing thoughts when he wasn't working on music or exercising. For some reason, when Shuichi wasn't keeping his mind occupied, he was feeling empty, like he was missing something major in his life, like he wasn't whole.

 

Along with the void that was consuming, he had been having weird dreams. This had been going on for about three months now, that's why he had been exercising. The burn and self torture that came with it was healthy and others thought it was to look more like a mature adult, but in reality it kept his mind off of the dark hole that had been slowly eating at him. It also distracted him from his dreams.

 

The dreams he had been having consisted of someone with blond hair and a loop earring in their left ear. That is why he got a loop in his upper left ear. He hadn't gotten a chance to see anything past that because every time the person entered his dreams he woke up in a cold sweat. After he woke up he had the oddest feeling that the person was somebody important to him, even though he didn't know the person.

 

He expelled the thoughts from his mind and focused on the hot water. He hadn't even been aware of the burning on his skin until he thought about it. When he couldn't tolerate the heat any longer, Shuichi turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. After drying off and dressing, Shuichi stepped into the living room and saw Hiro on the couch watching the sixty inch plasma television. It was on a station where a lady was interviewing a brown haired American looking guy.

 

Shuichi was drawn to the guy's golden-amber eyes almost instantly. “Those eyes, it's as if he was bearing into my soul.”

 

“Mr. Uesugi. The world wants to know about your hiatus that lasted over a year, the sudden reason you feel the need to drop the pen name, and the reasoning behind changing your hair color,” the female sitting across from the guy asked.

 

Eiri smirked and sat in silence a few moments before answering. “Well I needed a break to take care of some personal matters. As far as dropping the pen name goes, however, I felt that the pen name was too artificial for me. I don't need to go by a pseudo name to publish my works. On my hiatus, I've changed. I'm changing my writing style. As for the hair, I felt I needed something different.”

 

“That voice…I feel as though I should know it.”

 

Shuichi sneezed as the cool room temperature finally sunk in on his hot skin. Hiro immediately turned off the television and looked to him. “Shuichi, I didn't know you was standing there,” Hiro said, alarmed.

 

Shuichi failed to hear him. For some reason, he felt lost and lonely. He didn't know why the sudden change overcame him, but he didn't like it. The dark hole that had been slowly eating at him transformed into an unbearable ache. He wrapped his arms around himself with the hopes of keeping himself in one piece. None of this made sense. It wasn't until he was violently shaken that Shuichi came to his senses.

 

“Shuichi, what's wrong?!” Hiro asked, frantic.

 

Shuichi shook his head of black damp hair to clear his mind. “Nothing, uh…lets go,” Shuichi replied, heading into his room to grab a jacket.

 

Hiro pulled out his phone and dialed K's number. When the American answered, Hiro quickly explained that Yuki was back from New York and that he thinks Shuichi seen some of the interview that Yuki did on television.

 

“Shit! This is not good. Keep an eye on Shuichi and discreetly try to find out if he remembered anything,” the manager replied.

 

Hiro noticed Shuichi coming out of his bedroom. “Right, love you, mom. Ok, I'll tell him. Bye.” Hiro hung up the phone and turned to Shuichi, noticing that he was fully ready. “My mom says hi. You ready to go?”

 

Shuichi eyed his friend with disbelief. Hiro never gets off the phone that quick when he was talking to his mother. Something suspicious was going on, but he didn't have the mental capacity to deal with it at this moment. He had enough problems as it was. All he wanted to do was go out and celebrate, and that is what he was going to do. Maybe it would help him clear his mind. With a nod he started towards the door with Hiro beside him.

 

0-0

 

The night club was booming with loud, lively music. Everyone had kept a close eye on Shuichi, not only because they heard about the small Yuki incident, but because Shuichi had drunk so much alcohol that he probably didn't know his left from right.

 

Shuichi was hot, feverishly hot. He figured it was from the many drinks that he had, not to mention all of the dancing he had done tonight. He had ignored everyone's protest that he had enough to drink. He was stuck on ridding himself of his haunting dreams, if only for a moment. He promised himself that he would stop before the room started spinning.

 

“I-I got to go…to the bathroom,” Shuichi slurred after downing another drink, pushing himself up from his seat, stumbling when he made it to his feet. Hiro stood to assist him, but Shuichi told him that he was alright. After he made sure that Mr. K wouldn't object, Shuichi made his way to the exit. He had no intention of going to the bathroom. He needed fresh air.

 

When Shuichi made it outside, the cool air engulfed him. He inhaled deeply, reveling in the clean scent, opposed from the smell of alcohol and sweaty bodies in the club. He began to meander with no set destination in his mind. Too drunk to care, too drunk to think about anything, he just kept putting one foot in front of another.

 

Seconds, minutes, hours, Shuichi didn't know how long he had been walking, all he knew was that it was night time. It wasn't until he was in a park that he stopped walking and sat on a bench. He laid down, feeling lethargic from tonight's activities. It wasn't long until his eyelids were closing and the dark was consuming. Before he fully drifted off, he vaguely remembered hearing that voice from the interview earlier. He sighed. “Great now I'm having hallucinations.” The voice continued as he fell into complete darkness.

 

Chapter End

 

Yes, I skipped forward a year, but I had to. Let me know how you feel about this chapter and the introduction to the new Shuichi. Cookies for everyone who guesses what happened at the end. Reviews are appreciated. Your thoughts matter, not to mention they motivate me to no end.