Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Disappearing Act ❯ Chapter 9

Disappearing Act

 

Disclaimer: I don't own these gorgeous boys; Murakami Maki-sensei does *sobs*

I make no money off this story, no matter how much I wish I could. So leave me alone and stop trying to mooch money, I don't have any!!

 

Note: This chapter has been beta'd by Houseki. Of course that doesn't mean it's perfect…

 

Chapter Nine:

 

Touma sighed heavily after hanging up on his wife. He would definitely be paying for that later, but he just couldn't deal with Mika's questions right now. Steepling his fingers, he leaned his forehead against them and thought seriously over the events of the past few days.

 

Ryuichi was still missing, still not answering his phone, and still had not returned to his apartment. Touma had checked the penthouse that morning, just to make sure. It was getting harder and harder for Touma to not let his anger and frustration show, and he had actually hurt Mika last night; something he'd never done before and certainly hadn't intended. And just now he had refused her help and concern, hanging up on her instead. He was letting this business with Ryuichi affect him too much if his frustration was bleeding that far into his married life, but what was he supposed to do?

 

He didn't want to lose Mika through his own foolishness, but he needed Ryuichi too. Ryuichi was his, dammit, and Touma would be damned if he let the 16-year-old Uesugi Tatsuha take his lead singer from him. No, he couldn't give up! He would find Ryuichi and prove how much he needed him. Show him that, no matter what Ryuichi needed, he didn't need to look any further than Touma from now on.

 

Once that was settled, Touma would be able to calmly repair the damage he'd done between him and Mika.

 

Mind made up for now, Touma again picked up the phone to check in with all his subordinates helping in the search for Nittle Grasper's lead singer.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Mika marched through NG, winding her way through the maze of hallways until finally finding the studio she was looking for. Foregoing any courtesy of knocking, she opened the door and let it slam against the wall.

 

“Where is Sakuma-san?!” she demanded of the room's occupants.

 

Sakano, Shuuichi, Hiro, and Suguru all looked at her with a mixture of apprehension and confusion.

 

“…we don't know, Mika-san,” Shuuichi answered slowly.

 

Mika's eyes narrowed at the pink-haired singer, “What do you mean `we don't know'?”

 

“He's been missing for two days now,” Shuuichi answered.

 

Mika's narrowed eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up in surprise, “Missing?!”

 

“Yeah,” Shuuichi started, becoming confused, “Didn't Seguchi-san—”

 

Suguru interrupted him, addressing Mika in a clipped but still polite tone. “He's most likely with Tatsuha-san. That's all we know.”

 

“Tatsuha?!!” Mika exclaimed incredulously. “Sakuma-san is with my little brother?!”

 

Shuuichi nodded emphatically, and the others followed his lead.

 

“How the hell did that happen?!”

 

Everyone looked to Shuuichi, who in turn started turning a bright color of pink, nearly matching his hair.

 

“It's not my fault! I swear, what is with you people?! It's bad enough Seguchi-san blames me! Tatsuha-san's the one that broke into Yuki's apartment while I was getting ready to go out, and Sakuma-san's the one that invited him to come to the club with us! It's not my fault if they decided to… to get together afterwards!! If it had been up to me, you honestly think I'd have invited that… that black-haired-Yuki-look-alike molesting bastard?!” Shuuichi finished his rant, breathing heavily, and a slightly uncomfortable silence stretched out.

 

Hiro broke the silence, putting a friendly arm around Shuuichi with a wide grin, “Hey, Shuuichi, we don't blame you! It's just that you're the one that knows first hand how it all started, ne?” Shuu looked up at his friend, shrugged and half-nodded, calm slowly returning to his features.

 

Then Mika took her cell phone out and started dialing a number. After listening to it ring several times, the voicemail picked up. She took a breath to leave her message. “Tatsuha, it's Mika. Call me immediately when you get this message. No excuses.”

 

“He won't call,” Shuuichi piped up after Mika hung up.

 

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Oh, really? And why is that?”

 

“His phone is at Yuki's. He left it there the other night, along with his clothes, when he stole one of Yuki's suits.”

 

Mika threw her hands up in the air, “Fine then! There has to be another way to find them! Where's K-san?”

 

“Out looking for Sakuma-san,” Sakano spoke for the first time since the Shachou's wife had burst through the door.

 

Mika sighed exasperatedly, then took a few calming breaths as she thought of her options. Surely Tatsuha wouldn't take Ryuichi back to their parents' shrine, but they hadn't been at Ryuichi's place the other night, so where could they have gone? She knew Touma had put a restriction on how and where Ryuichi spent his money, and if Touma hadn't been able to track them down yet, Mika wasn't sure what her options were.

 

Finally, feeling rather defeated, she spoke again, “Okay, I'm sorry I disturbed you. I assume Touma is in his office, as usual, so I'll leave you to your work.” As she left, grabbing the handle of the door to close it behind her, she paused in the doorway and turned to address Suguru. “Suguru-kun, you will be coming to dinner at our house tomorrow with your parents, won't you?”

 

“Oh…” his eyes shifted, glancing fleetingly to where Hiro still stood with his arm over Shuu's shoulder, then back to Mika. “I don't think so… I may have other plans. I'm sorry, Mika-san, please excuse me.”

 

“Okay, well you owe me one. Please remind your parents for me, dinner will start at 7. If they want to show up a little early, that's fine,” Mika replied, then exited the room.

 

After she left, the tension strung through the bandmates and their producer seemed to immediately dissipate. They looked around at each other, almost in bewilderment over what had just happened, though.

 

“I'll be right back,” Sakano said suddenly, quickly walking through a doorway to an adjoining room, closing the door behind him.

 

“I wonder why Mika-san didn't know about Sakuma-san already,” Shuuichi mused aloud.

 

“Obviously Seguchi-san didn't tell her,” Hiro answered.

 

“Well I realize that,” Shuuichi insisted. “But, I mean, why didn't he tell her?”

 

“That is none of our business,” Suguru said boredly, crossing his arms over his chest and lifting his nose up haughtily. “If you don't mind, rather than musing about the private matters of my cousin, I would much rather be practicing.”

 

“Alright, Fujisaki, alright! I need to get a drink first, though.”

 

As Shuuichi found his bottled water and drank from it, Hiro returned to his guitar and sat on a stool beside Suguru's keyboard to fiddle with the tuning a bit. Suguru was pushing buttons and sliding levers on his instrument, getting ready for the song they would soon be playing.

 

“So, Fujisaki, you have plans tomorrow night, huh? Does that mean you are taking Shuu and I up on our invitation to go out again? Or do you have other plans?”

 

“Well, you did invite me, didn't you? Or is that offer rescinded now?” Suguru cocked a brow at the red-haired guitarist.

 

Hiro chuckled, “No, no, the offer's still open. It'll be great to have you with us, Fujisaki. It can be lesson number two, since tonight we'll have lesson number one.” Hiro gave him a wink.

 

The green-haired boy merely nodded, though there was the faintest dusting of pink on his cheeks, and went back to fixing the settings on his keyboard, until Shuuichi grabbed the microphone and declared that he was ready. Then Sakano returned, and finally practice began again.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

“Everything okay, Touma?” Noriko asked her fellow keyboardist as he hung up the phone in his office. The solemn look on his face was enough cause for concern, even if she hadn't noticed how deathly tight he'd been gripping the phone, which she had.

 

The blonde man looked up at her and smiled his usual cheerful grin, closing his eyes in the usual manner so as to not show his true feelings. “Perfectly fine, Noriko-san,” he answered smoothly.

 

Noriko looked at him sternly, crossing her arms, and said, “Don't give me that, Touma. I can tell you're upset about something. I know Ryu-chan's still missing, but there's no reason to get so worked up over it. He does this all the time, you know how he is!”

 

Touma's eyes opened and his eyebrows shot up slightly in surprise, but he quickly schooled his expression. “It's not that, Noriko-san. I've just been informed that Mika-san is in the building.”

 

“So your wife is in the building. What's so wrong with that? Mika-san's been here before, hundreds of times.”

 

Touma gave her a serious look, taking Noriko slightly off guard. “I haven't told her yet about Ryuichi-san. Apparently she just found out from Shindou-san.”

 

“Oh Touma, why haven't you told her yourself? Mika-san can't be happy getting secondhand information!”

 

“Indeed she is not,” Touma agreed, clasping his hands together on his desk. “I have a lot of work that needs done today, however, and I cannot take the time right now to explain myself to Mika-san. Noriko-san, I know it may be too much to ask, but could you…”

 

Noriko pursed her lips, considering Touma's trailed off request. Giving a heavy sigh of resignation, she answered, “Fine, but just this once. And you need to promise me you'll explain yourself to me and Mika-san later.”

 

Touma nodded, his smile re-plastered to his angelic face, “Of course, Noriko-san.”

 

Noriko gave him one last skeptical look before turning to leave his office. “Honestly, Touma, what point is there in not telling your own wife that your best friend and bandmate has gone missing?”

 

She left the room to intercept Mika, grumbling to herself, and Touma sighed in relief when the door closed behind her. He picked the phone up again to make a call.

 

“Sakano-san,” Touma greeted when his call was answered. “Thank you for the call. It is taken care of for now. Please make sure to call me if anything else comes up.”

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Mika had just hung up from a call with her father, which, just as she had predicted, had turned out to be unfruitful in her efforts to find Tatsuha. Apparently, Touma had already tried there anyway. Of course, Mika should have expected that to be the case, Touma would surely have all his bases covered, but the simple fact that he'd called her father, but couldn't tell her what was going on, irked her to no end. Her father now had questions about why she and her husband were looking for her younger brother, too. Mika wasn't even sure what type of excuse had come out of her mouth as she'd practically hung up on the man.

 

She was walking down the hall towards the elevators that would take her to her husband's office, when out from one of the elevators stepped Ukai Noriko in all her short-skirted, tight-shirted, purple-haired glory. The flirtatiously dressed musician immediately spotted Mika and walked quickly up to her, red-lipsticked grin nearly breaking her face in two, and hugged the brunette woman.

 

“Mika-san! How nice to see you, it's been awhile!” Noriko exclaimed as she wound her arm around Mika's and turned them both to walk in the opposite direction Mika had been heading.

 

“Ukai-san,” was the only greeting Mika could manage before she realized she was being dragged through the lobby and out the front doors of NG. “Wait,” Mika insisted, stopping suddenly in her tracks. Noriko tried to keep them walking, but was pulled back by her arm around Mika's. “I need to see Touma,” Mika said firmly.

 

Noriko smiled at her pleasantly. “Touma's busy with meetings all day. I'm afraid even I can't get in to see him. I've been incredibly bored here without Ryu-chan to entertain me. How lucky for me I ran into you! We can have a girls' day out!”

 

Mika held her ground and released her arm from Noriko's grasp. “Yes, well, I'm sorry, Ukai-san, but I don't have time for that. I have an important matter I need to discuss with Touma. If I have to wait for him to be out of his meeting, I will.” Mika turned back toward the building, but Noriko moved to stand in her path.

 

“Please, Mika-san?” Noriko pleaded, putting on her best imitation of Ryuichi's pooly eyes. Thinking quickly she lied, “Touma will call me when he's out of his meeting. Until then, can't you at least come to lunch with me?”

 

Mika looked at her skeptically, but finally gave in. It was obvious to her that this was set up by Touma, but if he'd gone as far as to involve Noriko in keeping her away, Mika knew he must be pretty desperate not to see her. She didn't quite feel she had the energy to fight right now anyway, and lunch was tempting. Sighing in resignation, she nodded and agreed. “Fine, what's on the menu today?”

 

Noriko wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. “I'm sick of the cafeteria food here. All burgers and fries. Let's go get some sushi!” And with that, she resumed her dragging of Seguchi Mika down the sidewalk to find a sushi bar.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Several hours later, after sushi, and drinks, and a few hours of looking through the shops, the whole time Noriko deftly avoiding the subject of Ryuichi's disappearance, Mika dropped to a bench, in need of rest. She had decided something, and needed time to make a phone call. Hopefully, the outcome of this phone call would be things going back to normal between her and Touma. If she had to somehow replace Ryuichi's place in her husband's life, she would at least do it to get her marriage, and sex life, back to normal. Replacing Ryuichi didn't necessarily mean she had to do it.

 

While Noriko was stuck in a store waiting at a register, Mika sat on the bench and pulled out her cell phone.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Hiro was just starting up the intro to the next song when a cell phone went off in the studio. The four people in the room turned to look towards the sound in the room. The owner's eyes went wide at the name on the caller ID.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Mika hung up the phone just as Noriko came out of the store.

 

“Phone call?” the purple-haired woman asked, her hands full of bags from several stores.

 

Mika picked up her portion of bags from beside her on the bench, standing with Noriko. “Yeah, but nothing important. Where to now?”

 

Noriko studied Mika's expression for a bit, unsure if she should trust the woman's seemingly calm smile and sudden change of topic. Why had she suddenly become such a willing shopping partner, when for the last four hours Mika had been trying to subtly get Noriko to talk more about Ryuichi's disappearance, or steer them back to NG? Noriko could find nothing to object about, however, so she just gave a half-shrug with one shoulder and found the next store she wanted to go to. She decided she should slip off to the changing rooms as soon as possible to make a phone call, however, just to be safe.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Touma was standing, staring out the bank of windows behind his desk, when his phone started ringing for the hundredth time that day. All day he'd been dealing not only with the private search for Ryuichi, but dispelling rumors of the press, who had somehow been leaked information that Sakuma Ryuichi had gone missing. The current rumor Touma had been asked about was that Ryuichi had been kidnapped for ransom.

 

Honestly, it was bad enough there was a leak in NG's ranks, but to spread lies of that sort? When he found out who it was that alerted the press to Ryuichi's disappearance, they would swiftly suffer the wrath of Seguchi Touma.

 

So it was with slight cringing trepidation that Touma reached for the ringing phone. “Seguchi desu,” he answered. “Ah, hello—” The caller cut off his greeting. “What? Mika-san did? Well, what did she—I see… No…no, it's okay, thank you.” As Touma hung up the phone from a slightly bewildering conversation with the caller, a soft knock came to his door. Figuring he knew who was on the other side, Touma called out for the person to enter. The door opened slowly to reveal Seguchi Touma's dark-haired visitor.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

Ryuichi peeked one eye open, the other one greatly protesting the sunlight that leaked into the bedroom around the drapes, threatening to burst through completely and blind him. When his one open eye adjusted to the light, it saw something in its peripheral vision and swiveled to the left to identify the something. What Ryuichi saw there made him smile and open his other eye, as Tatsuha was laying on his stomach beside him, propped up on his elbows, just looking at Ryuichi with a soft smile on his face.

 

“Good morning,” Ryuichi greeted, a grin breaking across his face.

 

“Good afternoon,” Tatsuha said in return. “Morning ended a couple hours ago.”

 

“Afternoon already, na no da?” Ryuichi turned to lay on his side facing Tatsuha. “How long have you been up?”

 

“I don't know,” Tatsuha answered. “Awhile I guess.”

 

“What were you doing, na no da?”

 

The lightest color of pink dusted Tatsuha's cheeks as he answered, “Watching you.”

 

“What was I doing, na no da?” Ryuichi asked, sounding quite serious and curious as his eyes widened with that familiar look of innocence.

 

Tatsuha gave a quick shake of his head and averted his eyes to gaze at his own empty pillow. “Nothing, just sleeping. You look cute when you're sleeping so peacefully.”

 

Ryuichi put his face in the path of Tatsuha's gaze again and gave a look of a wounded puppy, complete with pooly puppy dog eyes, and pouted, “Does that mean Ryu-chan doesn't look cute when he's awake, na no da?”

 

Tatsuha's eyes widened and he stumbled to correct his statement, “No! I mean, you do! Of course you do! It's just that… while you're sleeping… well, I just thought… and with Kumagorou… I mean, it's different when you're sleeping, that's all. Of course you're still cute when you're awake, Ryuichi! You're always cute to me!”

 

Ryu's pooly eyes immediately glistened with mischief, though he still pouted as he said, “I am, na no da?” His voice was playful. It sent a pleasant chill through Tatsuha.

 

“Yes, very.”

 

Ryuichi grinned, “Just cute, na no da?” His look of innocence was quickly darkening back to something much more familiar to Tatsuha during the past couple of days, eyelids lowering, cobalt blue burning brightly between dark lashes. Ryu grabbed Tatsuha's arm closest to him, and tugged on it so that he simultaneously wiggled himself halfway under Tatsuha and pulled the boy on top of him. A squawk almost issued out from between pale lips, but was muffled as Ryuichi leaned up to meet him and captured Tatsuha's mouth, taking all his sounds hostage.

 

When Ryuichi finally pulled away from Tatsuha's mouth, after a lingering suck on his tongue, Tatsuha breathily answered Ryu's question, “No, not just cute. Sexy. Very sexy.”

 

Ryu was making a weird face and moving his tongue around oddly in his mouth, then he smacked his lips a couple times and gave Tatsuha a sort of glare. “You lied, Tatsuha-kun.”

 

Tatsuha was shocked and a little hurt. He would never lie about such a thing, Ryuichi really was damn sexy, and anyone that didn't realize it was blind. Hell, even a blind person would be able to tell if they ever heard him sing… or felt his body… which was a thought that immediately made Tatsuha jealous, though this imaginary blind person was completely of his own creation.

 

Before Tatsuha could reply to the accusation, however, Ryuichi continued speaking. “You didn't lay here the whole time watching me. You brushed your teeth already! I kissed Tatsuha-kun's clean mouth with morning breath, na no da!!” Ryuichi pouted again, tears immediately springing from his well-practiced tear ducts to give just the right amount of liquid to his eyes' expression.

 

Tatsuha laughed lightly in relief. “That's what I lied about? I'm sorry, Ryuichi, I did have to go to the bathroom, so I decided to brush my teeth, too. It's no big deal.” He went to kiss Ryuichi again, but was met with Ryu's ear instead, as the singer had turned his head to the side so quickly Tatsuha would be surprised if he didn't have whiplash.

 

“No kissing Ryu-chan's morning breath, na no da.” Ryuichi said from behind his hand now covering his mouth.

 

“Come on, Ryu-chan,” Tatsuha said, trying to put on his seductive-yet-playful tone. He traced his tongue along the outer edge of Ryuichi's ear and whispered, “I'll make it feel really good.”

 

Ryuichi gave a slight shudder, then slowly turned back to face Tatsuha. Tatsuha started to grin in triumph, when suddenly he was shoved off Ryuichi, along with the blankets that had been partially covering them, as Ryuichi jumped from the bed. “Time for Ryu-chan to freshen up, na no da!” He called as he ran into the bathroom. Just before shutting the door he said, “Kumagorou, order breakfast, na no da!”

 

Tatsuha shook his head humoredly at Ryuichi; or, rather, at the closed bathroom door Ryuichi was behind. He heard the water turn on and Ryuichi started brushing his teeth. Picking up the pink bunny from where it lay beside Ryuichi's former spot in the bed, Tatsuha looked at Kumagorou and said, “You heard the man, let's order breakfast! Or… whatever you call the first meal of the day when it's eaten at…” He looked at the clock on one of the bedside tables, “3 o'clock in the afternoon…”

 

Tatsuha heard the shower start as he finished the call to room service, and his lips drew into a smirk as he headed for the bathroom, leaving Kumagorou by the phone in the bedroom.

 

When he opened the door to the bathroom, a cloud of steam hissed out at him. He waded through the comfortable warmth, already free of the robe he'd donned when he left the bed, and came to the shower door. Stepping inside stealthily, he found Ryuichi's back to him, the brown haired singer facing into the spray of water as he washed his face. Ryu's hair was already dripping wet, and Tatsuha reached for the nearby shampoo, putting some in his hand and working up a lather before running his fingers through the thick tresses.

 

Ryuichi leaned back into his touch and sighed softly as Tatsuha's shampooed fingers gently massaged his scalp and suds covered his hair. Tatsuha gently directed his head back under the stream of water, still working his fingers through Ryu's hair as he rinsed the shampoo out. When Ryuichi reemerged from the water, Tatsuha held a fistful of hair and leaned Ryu's head slightly to the side, exposing his neck more. Tatsuha's tongue traced along the taut neck muscle and bit gently at the juncture between neck and shoulder. He followed that with kisses behind Ryuichi's ear, down his neck, and around the nape to the other side, mirroring the attentions he'd given on the other side.

 

As he did this, one hand groped the wall of the shower, searching for the body wash on a nearby shelf. Tatsuha gave a small sound of triumph when his hand closed around the bottle, and left Ryuichi's neck in favor of lathering his hands with the strawberry scented, creamy gel. Then his hands went to Ryuichi's shoulders, starting a slow rub of the muscles in his neck and shoulders. Gradually, Tatsuha worked his way down and all over Ryu's back, soon finding himself squeezing the globes of that perfect ass. He let his hands slip around Ryuichi's slight hips and glide across the planes of his abs and stomach.

 

Traveling upwards, Tatsuha teased Ryu's nipples with light, soapy fingers, pinching just a little before they continued their journey across Ryu's body. His fingers curved over the muscles of Ryuichi's upper arms, and he wondered at the sheer impossibility of Ryuichi's hairlessness. He'd already known, prior to any intimate encounter, that Ryuichi had no hair on his chest. Now Tatsuha had been privy to see that even his armpits were bare, and judging from the absence of hair below the belt, too, Tatsuha realized his lover must get waxed. He tried not to dwell on that thought, as it brought an uncomfortable feeling of dread to his lower regions, just thinking about what that might feel like. He pushed the thought from his mind and focused back in on Ryuichi's reactions to his touches.

 

Tatsuha's fingers danced down Ryuichi's sides, and the older man's muscles jumped and quivered as he gave a little giggle.

 

“Tickles, Tatsuha-kun,” Ryuichi informed him.

 

The smirk was evident in his voice as he replied, “Ohreally?” And his fingers repeated the action, earning another giggle, slightly louder than the last. Tatsuha gave a chuckle of his own, and kept this light touch as he again let his fingers slide up to and over Ryuichi's nipples, then plunged downward.

 

Ryuichi's giggles as his abs were briefly tickled soon were cut off by a hitched breath and a low moan as Tatsuha's slick fingers found his growing erection. Teasingly, Tatsuha palmed the quickly hardening cock, stroking his thumb over it. Quickly, Ryuichi was fully hard and leaning back against Tatsuha, one hand behind him to wrap around the back of Tatsuha's neck, as the black haired teen began to stroke him.

 

After leaning Ryuichi back into the water for a bit to wash off some soap, Tatsuha's mouth returned to its former task of tasting Ryuichi's neck. He turned their bodies so that his back was now mostly to the water, ensuring the lubrication abilities of the body wash in the hand surrounding Ryuichi's dick. He increased the pace of his firm, long strokes, and felt his own erection becoming insistent as Ryu's hips began a slight back and forth thrust, rubbing his ass against Tatsuha on the back thrust. Familiar warmth washed through his body at the feeling, curiously causing a fine covering of goosebumps over his flesh as he heard Ryuichi's breathing becoming heavy along with his own.

 

“Ha-hayaku, Tatsuha—” Ryuichi panted, cutting himself off with a low moan when Tatsuha's other hand fondled his balls. Tatsuha's hips were now moving of their own accord, searching for more contact and friction. Sliding just between the cheeks of Ryuichi's tight little behind, Tatsuha thought he may die from the splendid torture; enough to feel a climax building, but not enough to ever push him over the edge.

 

Ryu's face lifted to the ceiling, panting out orders for `more' and `faster', which were all but swallowed up by the sounds of the shower and their combined heavy breathing. Ryuichi was now purposely rubbing against Tatsuha, trying to increase the friction to something more satisfying. Finally, Ryuichi decided to get some body wash of his own and shoved a hand back between them, finding Tatsuha's needy manhood and quickly catching up to the pace being kept on his own.

 

Together, pressed against each other, bodies sliding together with remaining soap, they stroked each other. It became a race of sorts, one that neither wanted to finish, yet both wished dearly for the completion of; simply wanting to relish this feeling of teetering on the edge with the other.

 

Ryuichi's body began to quiver under the force of holding back his orgasm, and he suddenly shot his other arm out, bracing himself on the glass wall next to the shower door. He kept stroking Tatsuha behind him, climbing to an almost erratically frenzied pace, determined to bring the boy over the edge with him.

 

Finally, just before he felt himself tip over, Ryuichi turned his head and opened his eyes just enough to turn blue eyes burning with need onto Tatsuha. “Come with me, Tatsuha,” he moaned, and gave another long moan and a shudder as he finally came. Milliseconds later, he felt Tatsuha's seed splash over his hand and onto his lower back, the black haired teen clamping his teeth onto his shoulder and moaning, “Ryuichiii!!”

 

They stood that way a little longer, neither letting go of the other, though they were no longer fully erect. Slowly though, as their breathing evened out and they started coming down from their momentary high, they extracted sticky fingers from around softening flesh, and both turned themselves back under the spray of the showerhead. As they'd both showered the night before anyway, thorough cleaning wasn't what the shower had been for in the first place. So, deciding they were both sufficiently woken up, and their activities cleaned up after, Ryuichi turned off the water and retrieved towels for the two of them.

 

Placing a kiss to Tatsuha's lips as he exited the shower, quick but deep with an unspoken promise of more later, Ryuichi waggled his eyebrows, saying, “I smell fooood, na no da!!” He then quickly dried himself off, grabbed a spare robe, and fled the bathroom in favor of the tantalizing aroma of whatever it was Kumagorou had obediently ordered from room service.

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

 

As they walked down the hallway, they tried to step lightly, whispering their conversation so as to not disturb anyone in the other apartments. Though it was still early, mid-afternoon at that, Hiro preferred to be a little extra courteous to his neighbors, as the walls in these apartments were paper thin.

 

“I wonder what Mika-san wanted with S—”

 

The red-haired one cut him off. “I don't know, but it's his business, isn't it?”

 

The pink-haired one turned back and shrugged, “I suppose, but when it puts a stop to our practice, it would be nice to at least get a little information!”

 

Hiro gave a short laugh, “Just be happy we got an early day today. And we don't have to go in Sunday, so let's enjoy what's left of our weekend.” He held up his key ring and picked out the one that went to his door, letting them into his small apartment. “Let's not worry about that business and get to what's important: Drinking Lesson Number One! Led by yours truly, Nakano Hiroshi-sensei!”

 

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~ ~*

A/N: Finally, another chapter! I'm not pleased with how long it took me to get this one out, but I was sick this week, and the week before I was up three days straight, raping limewire and burning songs for my mother (which is how I got sick in the first place… long story..) Also, I still do have the shiny AFF forums to blame for any time unaccounted for, lol.

 

Anyway, so here's the new chappie. I know there's not much smut in it, and it was another shower scene, but I at least had to fit something into it. I realized I'd finished the chapter and written not one word of smut and decided, `I at least can throw in a bit of mutual masturbation, nya!' So there you have it! Along with… all that other nonsense… you know… the PLOT!! Grrrr *hisses at plotness*

 

*ahem* And, once again, we come to the chapter before the chapter I thought I would end this, and it is nowhere near ending!! Well, okay, it's kinda close, but not anywhere near as close as I thought it'd be… and I'm done guessing when it'll be done!! It'll be done when I say it's done, when everything I want resolved is resolved, and that's that!! (I'm sure you guys aren't complaining… :p )

 

So anyway, I wonder who's at Touma's door…??!! hmm…. I know I said before there'd be no Seguchi/Fujisaki-cest… but can you believe me?? You don't know me!! How do you know I'm not a liar??!! (and those that do know me: you know how often I change my mind!! XD ) Of course, it could be someone else… Suguru could be with Shuu and Hiro, even though he's not mentioned… *shifty eyes* But is he??? I guess we'll just hafta wait and find out!! :p

 

Little note about the next update: Since this is still not finished, even though I thought it would be by now, I need to take another little break to write for my other fics. I have a promise for a new chapter for UA the first week of Feb, and I'm gonna try really hard not to break it!! Hopefully it won't take too long, though, and I'll be back with the next chapter as soon as possible!! Knowing how my writing moods go, as soon as I start trying to write IY stuff, I'll suddenly get an idea for a scene I want to write in DA! XD Yep, that's how it goes.. anyway…

 

Review Replies:

 

AFF.net:

 

Kenz: Glad I made it in time last chapter. Hope you're still able to read. Enjoy!

 

person: Happy to be spreading the hot tub love lol. Here's the next chapter! ^__^

 

Ren: *blushes* You flatter me so! Hafta say, I'm proud to write something so distracting lol.. And I somehow knew you'd love Hiro-sensei, nya! Glad you liked the shout out ^__~ And as for yours, I hit that, coughed and choked!! Unable to follow up right now, I will just say *Taichi for Akutsu's secret mistress!!* :p Love you, too, Ritamaid! Now get to work on yours!! *cracks whip*

 

sakuma_sonnet: Hi! Glad you found the fic here and like how the plot's progressing since you last read, though the FF.net thing confuses me a little, as I never put it up there. Perhaps you were thinking of another site? I have this up on MediaMiner.org and gurabiteshiyon.net, also. I hope you'd seen it one of those places rather than someone else posting my story on FF… As for your “fangirl like question” concerning the fic, heehee, you'll just hafta wait and find out…

 

Houseki: LMAO!! I swear, every time I start reading you or ren's reviews I crack up! As requested: *hands out tissues, mops and buckets* lol. I don't quite think they're warranted this time, but hey… Anyway, dude, sorry to tell ya, Ryu-chan definitely beats you in the holding breath department now, lol… and as for possible Hiro/Suguru and more Y/S… patience! You'll find out.. eventually… *huggles* Now, you get to work on your fics too!! *cracks whip again*

 

Hillary: I just want to say, I LOVE YOU TOO!! And I hope that doesn't freak you out either… because, No! I hadn't read the newest chapters of Gravi or the MegaMix!! Well, technically I still haven't read the newest chapters, since I've only read through book 5 so far, but I saved them and peeked through them.. *smirk* and dude, I did read the MegaMix and HO.LY.FUUUUCK DUDE, I was soooo *drooling* like whooooaaaa. You made me so happy bringing that to my attention!! *SUPERglomps you* I hope you enjoyed ch. 8 when you got to read it, and that you liked this one as well. Keep reading, I'll keep writing. ^__~

 

MM.org:

 

Chihiro1985: Yepper, and doesn't Tatsuha deserve his yummy dream Ryuichi? Mmmmhmmmm ^___~

 

Gurabiteshiyon.net: