Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Cats, Crutches and Babies? Oh My! ❯ Hikko's Song ( Chapter 34 )

For Eiri and Shuichi the week leading up to Christmas eve passed in the blink of an eye. Eiri visited the orthopedic specialist at St.Lukes to have his first cast change --he'd lost the coin toss in the lobby and ended up with Shuichi's choice of electric blue-- and to have an assessment done on his ribs. Doctor Kurosawa, who had treated him and set his leg in Odawara City, had been right. They had healed decently on their own, with nothing but gentle treatment, a good anti-inflammatory and the tensor bandage Eiri had already stopped wearing. The area now looked like the skin of a bruised banana which, according to the new doctor, meant he was on the mend.

When he had first gotten home from the hospital his side had looked as though a blind person had attempted to tattoo a giant purple and black octopus on his torso, but had failed. Miserably.

So the yellow and brown were vast improvements in both the aesthetic and pain categories. Less pain meant Eiri was able to sleep on his stomach again, a development the novelist was extremely happy about.

 

Shuichi was a little annoyed that his loveable, albeit irritable, teddy bear could once again escape his cuddly clutches at night by rolling over, but he was glad that Yuki was sleeping better. Eiri did not keep to what most human beings would call a regular sleep schedule. The only time he took on anything close to a regular pattern was when he had a deadline and became more or less nocturnal for weeks on end. It wasn't healthy to say the least.

The novelist's being injured left him little choice but to follow Shu's sleep schedule and the boy had noticed that it was making a marked improvement. Yuki was less grouchy, he smoked fewer cigarettes per day and Shuichi had even come home to him humming as he folded laundry.

In all respects the loss of forced nightly snuggling for the gain in his lover's mood was a very fair trade in the singer's opinion.

 

Ryuichi and Tatsuha had a busy week as well. With a little help from Tohma, they had managed to overtake the covers of the tabloids and magazines. They were also currently a hit topic on the nightly entertainment programs. At K and Tohma's urging, they'd been making a point of enjoying more time together in the public eye, visiting social hot spots in less than wonderful disguises and with minimal security. This presented the media the chance to snap candid photos of the pair that would disprove all allegations that Ryuichi's newest squeeze was “…the equally petite singer, Shindou Shuichi.”

The press made it seem to the public that they were getting the photos on the sly, but Tohma --who always had a very tight hold on everything that went on concerning the artists under his label-- had maintained final say over what was and wasn't published, in exchange for the times and locations the pair might be appearing.

After a particularly racy set of photos was taken of Tatsuha and Ryuichi dancing in a popular night club in Shinjuku, most of the media labels had dropped all association with the rumour that Sakuma and Shindou were secretly an item. They were now however preoccupied with the newest gossip, that Ryuichi Sakuma's much younger lover was the youngest sibling of the reclusive media sensation, Yuki Eiri. The requests for interviews had gotten so bad that Tohma had had to rethink his plan to withhold the information until after the new year. To quell the inquisitions he had finally broken down and promised one trusted T.V. producer, and friend, a group interview. His stipulation was that as he got to decide when, where and what questions were asked.

Of course Eiri had refused, slating injury and a general loathing of T.V. personalities, but Tohma and even Shuichi (who was also making an appearance) had seen through that feeble attempt to bail out and pestered him until he agreed.

 

And so two days before Christmas, a time when he normally would have been doing some very productive brooding and sulking in his office, Eiri Yuki found himself stranded crutch-less in a makeup chair in the bowels of a television studio.

He glanced over at Shuichi, who was being fussed over by a young, stylishly dressed makeup artist, and he was promptly scolded.

 

“Excuse me Yuki-sama, but if you don't look straight up like I told you, I can't do my job! Do you want to go out there looking like you just woke up?”

Eiri sighed a very forced apology, ignored the sniggering coming from his brother two chairs down, and snapped his eyes back to the ceiling. It was quite clear this woman didn't think much of him, and it was obvious from the way she had overstressed the honorific ever so slightly that someone had ordered her to address him as such.

The woman muttered something about getting all the difficult high profile clients and continued applying whatever was on her brush to Eiri's bottom eyelids. He remembered her saying something about dark circles and shadowing, though he was honestly feeling too apathetic to care.

 

If he were in a better mood, he might be more inclined to push Shuichi's buttons a bit for making him come to the stupid interview in the first place. A flirtatious comment here, a well placed brush of the hand there. It would be so simple, he thought, regardless of how the woman felt about him.

He glanced at her as she dabbed under his eyes with a wedge shaped sponge. She was pretty enough for a mature woman, he noted.

Certainly someone he would have considered hitting on back when he was still indulging in what Shuichi referred to as “rampant acts of self-denial.” She had a slender figure with nice curves where it counted, however her demeanour was sour and jaded, a feature which made her come across as being sharp and hostile as opposed to refined and nonchalantly elegant as her clothing suggested.

 

Years ago he wouldn't have given one iota of thought towards what came out of this woman's mouth, let alone the tone in which it exited. Given her initial dislike of him, he might have even singled her out as a bit of a challenge for himself.

He'd agree to whatever she said and say anything she wanted to hear in order to get her into bed. Not that it would have been difficult regardless. A little flash of cash was normally all it took, at least in the upscale lounges and bars he was so used to frequenting. Places where the women wanted to supply exactly what he had gone to pick up; string-less encounters with no expectations past a night or two of carnal gratification.

Of course he would run into those that were looking for a nice wealthy man to seduce indefinitely, those that were trying to secure a comfortable future for themselves before their beauty faded, and sagged, and left them with nothing.

They weren't a problem for him however, a few cynical words dispersed over an abrupt phone call was usually all it had taken to end their senseless delusions of grandeur.

 

Eiri almost shook his head, but stopped himself. To do so would have probably sent the makeup woman over whatever cliff edge she was teetering on and he didn't feel like making her cause a scene. He settled for a wistful sigh as he wondered when exactly the spark he used to feel when flirting with a woman had disappeared. Sure he could pass off his non-existent desire to flirt on lack of sleep, a poor mood, or any number of trivial excuses, but that's all they were. Excuses. And he knew them for what they were.

The plain truth was that he simply had no desire for women anymore. He could certainly appreciate them as one would appreciate a beautiful piece of art, and he could appraise them, as one would a classic car or a very fine wine, but that was a wine he no longer had a desire to taste; a vintage car he had no desire to take out for a drive.

They were pieces of artwork he could stare at for hours in a gallery, but for which he had no desire to purchase.

He could still flirt the pants off of anyone if he gave it a little pre-meditative thought, but it had never required effort in the past.

He thought hard, trying to pinpoint when his inner Casanova had gone into hibernation. It hadn't been after he had met Shuichi, no, in fact he hadn't stopped having casual sex with women until a few months after he had begun to see the brat regularly. Even though he stopped cruising for them in bars and lounges, he was still certainly a diehard flirt for years afterwards.

 

The disgruntled makeup woman was certainly pleased with Eiri now that he was finally sitting still, but just before she could finish with him someone poked their head into the room and asked to see her for a few minutes. Apparently her name was Yuki as well, because they both turned and answered when the young man with the headset called out the name. Everyone in the makeup room laughed quietly at their unified response, Tatsuha and Shuichi the loudest of all. Now he understood why she was annoyed at having to work with him.

The woman glanced at him momentarily before setting her sponge down.

 

“Don't move you aren't done yet!” she ordered over her shoulder as she flitted out of the room.

Eiri hadn't planned on moving. But now that his task master was away he was free to look at Shuichi as he had wanted to earlier. While his makeup was near finished his lover was still in the midst of eyeliner, blush and all manner of products that he wore when he went out in public. He smiled as he realized how close Shu's makeup now looked to how he did it himself, at home. He made a note not to bug the kid about it as much because he really did do a decent job.

Now that he was thinking about it, Eiri didn't think he had ever seen Shuichi having his makeup done, before a show or otherwise. The boy seemed to come alive; chatting with the makeup girl and smiling as though they had known each other for years. When he noticed Eiri looking at him he winked and gave him a broad smile. And it was then that Eiri knew. He knew exactly when it had happened, when he'd lost the spark.

Memories from the summer previous began flooding back into his consciousness.

 

It had happened during Obon while they were visiting Shuichi's relatives. It was very warm that year, even warmer than usual and everyone was forced to stay inside where it was cooler. Shu's oldest cousin Akoto and her budding family had come down from Sapporo to be with the family. He remembered how beautiful she was. She had a round, peach shaped face that was set off nicely by a pair of rectangular black glasses and framed by tendrils of dark brown hair. She did vaguely resembled Shuichi, in that off set cousin sort of way, but the similarities were not extraordinary. She shared a similar complexion to Shu's and he remembered noting that the tips of both their noses were crooked ever so slightly to the left, the same nose that they shared with their grandmother and several other relatives.

It turned out that she had been a rather successful model, before she had settled down with her agent and started a family. They had a brand new baby boy, and a four year old daughter, Hikko. She, Eiri recalled, had a particular fondness for Shuichi and seemed to be attached to him by an invisible string whenever she wasn't in someone's arms.

 

It was early evening on the first night of their stay. The temperature had dropped with the setting sun and Eiri was having trouble finding his yukata. Shuichi, having finished dressing in his own, had wandered off to visit. When Eiri, finally dressed, had gone downstairs to look for his wayward lover the boy was nowhere to be found. He had checked everywhere, the kitchen, the bath, all the rooms. Finally he was forced to ask one of Shuichi's relatives if he had seen the boy go somewhere. The old man had politely pointed him to the sliding door and the small garden beyond it. Eiri had stepped outside and, there he was; Sitting under the Japanese maple, singing softly to Hikko. The little girl had been clad in a tiny pink and white yukata, and Eiri remembered watching with a fascination he had never experienced as she drowsily reaching out to the fireflies that drifted just out of her reach. The insects had flashed intermittently in the twilight, making the yard sparkle as if filled with dozens of tiny stars.

The air had been sweet with the scent of flowers from the garden and Eiri had breathed it in like a drug. He had originally intended to collect Shuichi so he could yell at him for leaving him alone with his family, but instead he stopped and sat down on the porch. He'd watched the mesmerizing, almost surreal scene for what felt like hours. He'd listened to Shuichi's voice and though it was as beautiful as he'd always found it to be, Eiri didn't recognize the song. He remembered it; a soft mixture of pleasant, midrange tones, the words meaning everything and nothing. A child's song. Hikko's song.

When the light in the sky had faded almost completely and the fire flies started providing more and more of the light in the yard, Akoto had slipped out the door and sat beside Eiri on the porch.

“Beautiful night,” she had whispered softly to him.

He remembered nondescriptly agreeing with her, as he continued watching Shuichi and the child. By that point Hikko had been dozing against the boy's arm for quite some time, her quest for fireflies abandoned. Shu had crooned to her as if his voice were the only thing keeping her eyes closed.

They had sat together in silence, Akoto and Eiri, just watching.

 

Shuichi didn't take his eyes off Hikko for a moment, Eiri recalled, as though he were as mesmerized by her tiny sleeping form as the two watching from the porch. And they sat thus for a few more minutes until Shu looked up and saw them. Akoto had given a wave, signalling that it was time for Hikko to go to bed.

He had gotten up slowly, careful not to wake the sleeping toddler in his arms, and brought her back to her mother. She thanked him for watching her and strode off into the quieting house.

 

And it was then, when the two of them were all alone, when Shu had turned to Eiri and kissed him that it had happened. It wasn't an especially fervent kiss, it wasn't hurried, nor had it been filled with passion, as it could have been. In fact it had been quite simple, though it carried his feelings of contentment to his lover's mouth as only a kiss could. Eiri realised then that he had been sitting next to a professional model for almost ten minutes and he had paid her only a passing moment of thought. Instead of flirting with her as he normally would have back then, he had been completely absorbed in the peace his lover's voice had been bringing to the little girl in his arms.

 

Eiri remembered clearly the change he'd felt inside himself then, and remembered not understanding, not being able to interpret what exactly had shifted. It was only now, as he thought back on that moment, did he realise what that change had been.

That had been the moment he'd fallen completely head over heels for the boy.

 

He hadn't fallen in love right off the bat; certainly no love at first sight for him. In fact, he had hated Shuichi for trying to get so close to him. He'd Loathed and despised the brat for making him think so damn much about himself. It seemed that everything in the beginning had made Eiri question who he was; every kiss he couldn't seem to pull away from, every innocent caress that made his skin tingle with anticipation, every fevered moan that was wrung from his lips by the small inexperienced body beneath him.

It had been these questions that had made him feel the need to skip past the intense self scrutinizing that came with new love, and settle for comfortably bewildered convenience. The convenience of having Shu's small, warm body in his bed whenever he wanted him there.

The confusion over what made him crave the body of some annoying immature runt more than he craved coffee, cigarettes and alcohol combined.

The comfort of having someone around who was completely honest when they said `I love you'.

 

Eventually, after many years of heartbreak and stress, Eiri had gotten to the level of comfort he'd had in the night everything had changed.

Fireworks went off, sirens blared and trumpets sounded. Never had he dedicated every neuron in his brain to someone, as he had that summer night. And somehow that attentiveness, that obsession, had lingered. It had clung to him like a cloying perfume that prevented him from noticing anyone else, but Shuichi. He had heard of love putting blinders on a man when he fell in love, and it became as though no other person on earth existed. That summer, Eiri had experienced that feeling for the first time. He'd been completely blinded by love and then, as now, he didn't care in the least. And that was when Eiri the player and Eiri the lover had switched places, indefinitely.

 

When the makeup technicians were all finished, and everyone was waiting for the elevator that would take them upstairs to the green room, Eiri motioned for Shuichi to come back to the makeup room to help him retrieve his dropped cell phone. The rest of the group went ahead and once they were alone, Eiri rested his crutches against a chair and pulled Shu into a hug.

 

“Uh, you feeling alright?” Shuichi asked as he returned the embrace.

“Don't get used to this Brat, but I was thinking about you earlier…and I wanted you to know.”

Shuichi looked happily stunned. “Really? Thinking good thoughts about me I hope?”

“Of course.”

“Aww! That's so sweet, Yuki! I love you too!”

The boy leaned up to kiss him gently on the lips, then quickly wiped them with his hand to brush the lip-gloss off. Eiri smiled and then pursed his lips.

“I think you missed some. How do I look?”

Shuichi grinned and made a show of scrutinizing his lover. He took Eiri's chin in one hand and turned his face gently in all directions.

“Hmm, cute…but I don't think it's your color.”

Eiri smiled as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and Shuichi laughed.

“So,” he asked, “did you really forget your cell or did you just want to get me alone?”

Eiri rolled his eyes.

“Both. And my phone is somewhere over there.”

Shuichi smiled and rolled his eyes. He retrieved the phone and they rushed off as fast as Eiri was able to, to join the others upstairs. Just before they went inside the green room the novelist stopped his lover gently.

“Hey, make sure you keep this under wraps, Brat. Anyone finds out I love you, and my reputation is ruined.”

 

Shuichi closed his mouth, twisting an invisible key in the corner and throwing it away.

“Cheeky,” Eiri mumbled and Shuichi laughed.

They entered the room expecting to see Tatsuha and Ryuichi, but instead they were all but jumped by a pair of red faced, panic-stricken interns who began ushering them across the room.

As he was being herded toward the ominous bay door Eiri took a very deep breath and prayed he'd live to see Shuichi naked again.

 

“There they are!” Ryuichi exclaimed once he noticed the pair being directed toward the set. Tatsuha and Ryuichi were already seated together on one of the two green and cream couches that were on the set. Tatsuha had one arm draped casually across Ryu's shoulders, though his other hand, fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt, betrayed his nervousness. He leaned into Ryu's ear and whispered something as he glanced deviously at Eiri. The older singer laughed and then gave his lover a small shove. “Shut up, they were not you pervert!”

 

Shuichi waved and Eiri scowled as they took up the other identical sofa, the one closest to a matching set of green chairs. The novelist presumed that the shows hosts would be sitting in them.

He turned his attention to his brother.

“So,” he began calmly as he stretched a possessive arm around Shuichi and pulled him close, “Are you nervous?”

 

Tatsuha had never been on television before, much less been the fixed center of a media frenzy. There was precious little that could make Eiri enjoy being forced into an interview, but seeing his brother squirm on live TV was definitely going to be a perk. Given the circumstances, and the events to follow, Eiri decided it was a fair trade.

 

Tatsuha shrunk in his seat as the set coordinator called out the five minute count. Two sound technicians hurried over to the newest pair to arrive and began micing them up.

“A bit.” He mumbled to his brother. “Happy?”

Eiri smirked, ignoring the man poking around his clothes. “Very, seeing as how you are the reason we're all here.”

Ryuichi shifted a bit and put his arm protectively around Tatsuha, mirroring Eiri's hold on Shuichi.

 

“Don't worry Tatsuha you'll be fine!” Shuichi chimed in from Eiri's other side. The young monk just sighed.

“He's right. You'll be fine, just remember what I told you before we got here.”

The monk looked up at his lover, for once looking very much the younger partner.

“Be honest, but don't put my foot in my mouth. Answer questions directed at me, but let you do most of the talking.” He repeated the lines as though he had concentrated on getting them right for some time.

Ryu pecked him lightly on the temple and then on the nose. “Good job. See? You're going to be just fine.”

The sound technicians finished just as the group got their two minute call. Tatsuha's face paled.

 

Eiri rolled his eyes and mimicked his brother's frightened expression. Shuichi slapped his chest and gave him an irritated look.

“Yuki, don't make fun of him like that! Try and remember how you felt before your first T.V. interview.”

“Drunk, tired and horny?”

“Eiri!” Shuichi exclaimed sharply, hitting him again.

“What was that for you idiot? You said my first interview! Back then, in case you may have forgotten, I was usually one of three things; drunk, tired or horny. Sometimes, if the cosmos aligned harmoniously, I was all three. Of course, that was back before somebody barged in on my peaceful existence and stole my will to live, thank you very much.”

Tatsuha leaned forward. “It's true, he was in pretty pathetic shape before you showed up and slapped some sense into him.”

Eiri glared at the younger, dark haired version of himself. “I don't need comments from the peanut gallery.”

 

“I'm allergic to peanuts!” Ryu quipped randomly.

Shuichi laughed and the novelist rolled his eyes, but before he could retaliate with something cynical, two well dressed women in skirt suits came and sat down on the set.

The novelist heard the one minute call resonate from somewhere offstage as the two ladies introduced themselves. The sound technicians did a quick test of their system, issuing a series of timed beeps, and then the producer began counting down the twenty seconds to live air time. A sea of people rushed around off camera, but Eiri ignored them. He took a breath, whispered a silent prayer for luck on his brothers behalf, and prepared for the merciless half hour of grilling that was looming just seconds ahead of him.

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

AN: Hey guys! How's everything going? Things have been hectic for me, as usual…

I was reading my previous AN and I find it funny that Ponyo had just been released to theatres when I wrote it, and as I write this one, it has just been released to DVD. I really need to write more -_-; ah but in my defence I have been working on my new AU fic quite a bit. I've actually written more in the last few months than I normally would, it has just been focused elsewhere. For those of you reading that fic as well as this one, I have another chapter of that almost done too.

Thanks to my lovely full time job, (my ONLY job now thank god) where I can pretty much write undisturbed for up to 8 hours (and trust me it's happened, the other day I wrote for 12 hours, pretty much straight. 2 hours before work and 2 hours of editing after I got home.) I get a lot more writing done. On a furrier note I adopted a lovely little ginger and white cat last September, upon whom I lovingly bestowed the name Riki. My brother said he looked like a rough trick when we sprung him from the kitty hooscow, and Riki seemed to be the perfect name for him (he thinks he's a badass, but he's really quite snugly). I'm getting a puppy here very soon and I briefly considered naming him Iason to complete my set, but somehow the name (while so pleasantly ironic for a pet), just didn't seem suitable for a dog under twelve pounds…

 

For gurabite reviewers:

 

Mia: Thank you so much for all the love in your reviews! I love hearing from you, your reviews always make me smile. ^_^

 

Eiri-Chick: Darling you have once again out done yourself. I am so happy that you take the time to write out such honest, heart felt reviews for each chapter, even when you are catching up and I am sure the urge to continue reading is driving you mad. As always I look forward to hearing more, hearing your wonderful opinions and constructive criticisms truly makes my day each and every time. And as sad as it is, one day this will have to end. I am not happy about it either, but that is the nature of things right? At this rate I'll be a million years old before that finally happens, but still…

 

For Mediaminer reviewers:

 

Eleniofme: So glad you enjoyed it hun and thanks very much for the review! It's always nice to hear from my readers on MM!