Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Disappearing Act ❯ Chapter 12

Disappearing Act

 

By: ladygizarme

 

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!!

 

Quick A/N: *claps hands together in front of face, begging forgiveness* Gomen nasai, gomen nasai, hontou ni gomen nasai!! I know it's beenforever, so I just wanted to say sorry up front before the chapter. Also, for the beginning of this chapter, I'm backtracking slightly from where I left off with the last chapter, to mid-afternoon of Sunday. Hopefully it's not confusing. :p

 

Also: My betas are severely MIA due to busy schedules, so if you guys see any mistakes, feel free to point them out (though without flames, please)!!

Edit: 4/19: Now bearing the official stamp of approval by Beta-Houseki. Yay! Beta-ness!! *glomps Houseki* And you only took 5 days!! *chu* Woot for finding my missing quote mark!! :p

 

Chapter Twelve:

 

Yuki sat back down in his desk chair and sighed in frustration. He had finally gotten rid of that brat, yet he still had not been able to get him off his mind. He gave an involuntary shudder at the memory of that whole morning and recent afternoon. Then he vowed he would get him back. Oh, how he would get him back!

 

Yuki realized he was clenching his fist, and mentally forced himself to stop. He leaned back from his desk in his chair and let his hands lay limp at his sides on the seat. As he stared at the ceiling he found himself idly thinking about his little distraction, and silently cursed. A hand went to the bridge of his glasses, applying a bit of pressure under them in order to relieve some of the headache he suddenly felt coming on.

 

`Why, you damn brat? Why do you do this to me?' Yuki sighed and straightened in his chair again. He noticed that it had grown rather dark in the room, and turned on the overhead light. Then he sat back at his laptop and tried to focus on what he was currently supposed to be working on, rather than his little pink haired lover.

 

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

 

Not long after 6pm, Touma had finished all the errands he intended to run, and still hadn't been able to contact Ryuichi or heard any word from his subordinates still looking for the singer. Touma tried calling Ryu again, but there was still no answer. He left another message, pleading for Ryuichi to return.

 

Then he decided it was time to ask Eiri's assistance again. However, when he did, his call was not received well. In fact, Eiri downright chewed Touma out, not only for calling about Tatsuha again, but also for giving Shuuichi a harder time at work these past couple days, and for interrupting his work on his book that afternoon. Then he promptly hung up, not letting Touma get even one more word in.

 

At a loss for what more to do at the moment, and feeling sufficiently drained from the past few days, Touma simply went home for dinner with his family.

 

He wasn't surprised when Suguru didn't show up with his parents, and truth be told, he was probably more relieved than anything. The boy had dealt Touma a rather low blow, and he didn't think he would want to see Suguru anytime soon. Neither Mika nor Touma mentioned Suguru's absence to either each other or the Fujisakis, though the boy's parents did apologize in passing for him not being there, and dinner passed rather uneventfully. Then Touma finally received the call he'd been waiting three days for. Ryuichi had been found.

 

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

 

Shuuichi was on his way to Hiro's. It had been a couple hours since he'd left Yuki's. Okay, got kicked out, whatever. He'd been out of the house for over two hours, running around all over the place with no particular purpose or destination other than to expend energy, and he was still feeling mischievous. He hadn't really been able to indulge his insatiable playfulness since he hadn't had a certain blonde writer to mess with.

 

As Shuuichi walked, he couldn't keep the self-satisfied smirk from his face. All in all, it had been a productive morning, if he did say so himself. He had really gotten to Yuki today. And really, he had to have known it was justbegging for a challenge when you say to Shindou Shuuichi, “Nothing you do will distract me.”

 

Ah yes, he thought to himself, still smirking, hands folded behind his head as he walked, it had been a great morning. Even if Yuki had eventually succeeded in kicking him out of the house… and even if he'd then had to convince Yuki to at least let him have his keys and his hat and glasses disguise so he wasn't glomped by a mob of crazy fangirls and fanboys.

 

He reached Hiro's door and started to knock, lightly at first because he knew how his friend insisted on `respecting the neighbors' and `keeping it down'. When there was no answer and he heard no sound from within, he knocked a little harder. Still no answer, and Shuu started becoming impatient, having walked quite a ways in the cold today, and just wanting to get inside where it was warm now.

 

He had actually worn a jacket today and, gasp, long pants! But the wind was particularly biting and the temperature had dropped dramatically in the past couple hours. Even though the hallway he was standing in was inside a building, there still wasn't any heat out here. Now that he was standing still, he was getting cold.

 

He paused in his banging of the door to rub his hands together a little, warming them up. That was when Suguru had answered the door.

 

“Oh, so you are still here, Fujisaki,” Shuuichi had greeted him, pulling off his disguise before stepping into Hiro's apartment, his mischievous mood returning full force. He couldn't help but find it amusing that Suguru was starting to willingly hang out with them more all of the sudden. Before Shuu and Hiro had gotten him drunk, the little prude had repeatedly turned his nose up at their invitations to go out, saying there were much more important things he could be doing than waste his time with them. Now suddenly Suguru had drunk with them, twice, watched action movies willingly, and spent the night at Hiro's place.

 

When Shuuichi saw their bedding arrangement on the couch, his inner devil smirked evilly, hair curling into horns with sinister mischief. Oh, he was going to have fun with this. And he had thought it was fun to tease Hiro about it before. Suguru was so uptight and could be so overreactive at times, Shuu just knew he'd have a field day pushing the young keyboardist's buttons. And the teen would also be drinking later. Maybe if Shuu found the right buttons to push, he could do his two band mates some good too. Shuuichi tried really hard not to smirk on the outside.

 

So, `Operation Tease Fujisaki' commenced.

 

It really wasn't hard. Suguru seemed a little on edge already, and Shuuichi's looks, smirks, and teasing comments were gaining increasingly larger reactions from the green haired teen.

 

At first, Suguru had obviously been trying to ignore Shuu; flipping through the channels and refusing to meet the vocalist's gaze. But Shuu saw the blushes that were, more and more, tinting the youth's face; that, coupled with Suguru's new attempt of denying the suggestions Shuuichi was making with thinly veiled sexual innuendo, merely served to encourage Shuu even more. It was obvious to him that Suguru was becoming flustered by his teasing, and he took this as a sign that, so far, his plan was working.

 

After spending the rest of the afternoon teasing his youngest band mate, watching random television programs and listening to music, Shuu announced they should all have dinner before they actually went to the club. Hiro agreed and Suguru shrugged agreeably, certainly hungry after a day spent with no real food available other than Shuuichi-friendly snacks (namely, chips and strawberry pocky), since Hiro needed to go to the store to restock his fridge and cupboards. Of course, watching almost two solid hours of cooking shows earlier hadn't helped with that, either.

 

Suguru decided he would go to his home first, to shower and change clothes. He offered to meet the other two at the restaurant they'd agreed on, so they wouldn't have to wait on him. However, Hiro and Shuu countered that either way they'd be waiting, and if they waited at Suguru's house they could eat more quickly in the end, since he wouldn't have to walk or call a taxi.

 

So, all three piled onto Hiro's bike and rode to Suguru's house. Upon arriving, they saw the house was dark and empty, their youngest band mate's parents already having left for their dinner at the Seguchi residence. They went inside, removed their shoes and coats, and Suguru led his guests to the living room before retreating to the shower.

 

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

 

It had only been a little over ten minutes since Touma had left, and Mika was still making polite conversation with Suguru's parents, when she started feeling a sense of foreboding creeping through her. It tingled under her skin and made her feel slightly sick to her stomach, and had nothing to do with the brandy she was drinking with her coffee. Her hair was beginning to stand on end and she had an intense urge to call… somebody. She wasn't really sure who, since Touma was the current obvious choice but he surely wouldn't give her any answers.

 

Finally, after waiting three whole minutes for the feeling to go away, and it only intensifying, Mika could ignore it no longer. So, apologizing as she interrupted the conversation, Mika excused herself to make a phone call.

 

She decided to use the phone in the bedroom, knowing she would have the most privacy there. She put her hand over the phone, barely touching it as she thought about what exactly she was going to do. She knew this feeling had to have something to do with Touma leaving suddenly tonight. Though he was unlikely to give her a straightforward answer, he was the obvious first choice to call to find out what was going on.

 

Forcefully throwing all hesitancy aside, Mika determinedly picked up the phone and dialed her husband's cell phone. Surprisingly, it was picked up just as the second ring started. However…

 

“I'm sorry, Mika-san, I can't talk right now. I will talk to you later,” was all she heard before Touma hung up and all that remained was silence. She slammed the receiver back on its cradle, eyes narrowing, face twisting into a scowl, arms crossing, glaring at the phone as if it was the one withholding the answers she sought. Or, perhaps, as if she could glare at Touma through it.

 

Sighing in tired exasperation, she sat on her bed to contemplate her next course of action. Calling Touma and getting his curt brush off hadn't at all satisfied this nagging feeling she had that something was up and she needed to do something.

 

She thought about the most logical answer first, of course. Whatever reason Touma had left, it had to have something to do with Ryuichi. Why else would it be so important that he would leave so suddenly, even when they had guests, especially with how obsessed Touma had been over him lately. If it was work related, surely it could wait until Touma went into NG in the morning. Even if it couldn't, Touma had no reason not to tell her what was going on if it had something to do with the record company or any of the bands it represented. Plus, he had once again refused to talk to her on the phone.

 

So, okay, it definitely had something to do with Ryuichi. She was almost positive. What could it have been? She retraced the events of the night carefully. Touma had gotten a call, and then got a weird look on his face before he left the room to finish the conversation. Then he immediately left with barely an explanation. Perhaps Ryuichi had been found? Mika figured, if Touma was able to do anything as idle as have dinner with relatives even as he was fretting over Ryuichi's disappearance, Touma must have other employees out looking for Ryuichi for him. Who would they be?

 

K, of course, would be the first choice. Not only did he have the intimidating nature, the guns, and the tracking skills, but he had knowledge and experience with Ryuichi. Mika decided to try calling K and see if he'd been the one to call Touma. Their conversation was brief, and she found she had been correct in her assumption that K had been set to the task of searching for Ryuichi. However, he hadn't found him yet, and he hadn't called Touma.

 

Mika's next thought was maybe Eiri had called Touma. That would be the only other reason her husband would leave so suddenly. So, she called her blonde younger brother to check.

 

Eiri was quite annoyed to be interrupted by the phone call, and let her know it in his usual, ever-so-kind manner. Then, when he found out why she'd called, he told Mika that, no, he hadn't called Touma, no Touma wasn't at Eiri's home, no he hadn't seen or heard from Tatsuha or Ryuichi, and if he saw any of them he was most likely going to rip off some heads or other rather important body parts for all the trouble they'd been causing lately.

 

Mika hung up with Eiri, and rested her chin in her hand as she leaned on her knees, tapping her fingers against her cheek. The only other person she could logically think of would be Ryuichi. But why would he call, knowing how upset Touma had been? Then again, Ryuichi's logic wasn't like everyone else's. Perhaps he didn't realize how upset Touma would get from him leaving; or, perhaps he did know and had called to repent for his sins. Either way, he was the only other caller she could think of that Touma would leave so suddenly for. Mika's hand hesitated only once before picking up the receiver and dialing the number for Ryuichi's cell.

 

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

 

The door slammed shut with the force of Tatsuha being pushed up against it, the helmet and cowboy hat were dropped to the floor, but the teen took no notice as his mouth was thoroughly ravaged by Ryuichi. Hands exploring and groping, clothing shifting. Ryuichi had undone the buttons of Tatsuha's shirt and now he was attacking a dusky nipple with his tongue. Tatsuha gave a small whimper when Ryuichi moved away from the sensitive bud, but the sound was swallowed by Ryu as he again kissed the young monk.

 

Tatsuha pushed Ryu's jacket off his shoulders, down his arms and to the floor. Then his hands went up the back of Ryu's shirt, feeling the taut muscle and smooth skin. The tightness of the shirt, however, wouldn't allow him to explore freely, so he decided it would have to go as well. Suckling on Ryuichi's tongue, he hooked his fingers under the hem of the shirt and started pulling upwards. Just as the two broke away for Tatsuha to pull the shirt off completely, though, the slightly muffled sound of Spicy Marmalade came from under Ryu's discarded jacket, where the cell phone-guarding Kumagorou waited patiently for his human friend to answer it. The phone had been changed from vibrate back to Ryuichi's latest choice of Bad Luck ring tones before they'd left the hotel.

 

Ryu gave a low grunt of disappointment at the sound of his phone ringing, muttering, “Gomen,” to Tatsuha before he stooped down to retrieve the pink phone from the pink bunny. On a rare impulse, he decided to actually look at the Caller ID before answering, and saw Touma's home number on the small screen. Deciding that confrontation could wait at least a little longer, he simply pocketed the phone and returned to Tatsuha's neglected lips and body.

 

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

 

Mika cursed to herself as her call to Ryuichi went unanswered once again. Then a sudden thought hit her. Perhaps Ryuichi did realize how upset Touma would be, and was screening his calls as a result? Of course, Touma had probably been calling the singer several times a day since his disappearance. If he hadn't answered then, why would he now?

 

She bit her lip, trying to think of who else she could call; who else may have called Touma? Then she gasped, certain she'd had an epiphany.

 

Touma had quite a large security team working for NG. They took care of everything from building clearance and security, to bodyguard work, and heading the team was a former policeman named Takada. If Takada was on the case, he would have access to police resources as well, such as vehicle records. Mika knew that Tatsuha would be driving his motorcycle as usual. Indeed, her teen brother probably wouldn't even be thinking about Touma looking for them, or how diligently he would do so; or how much danger Tatsuha would be in if Touma found them still together. Tatsuha wouldn't even think of making sure he wasn't tailed, traveling incognito, or changing vehicles. It would probably be a cinch to find them with Takada-san's connections.

 

Just to make sure, Mika made a quick call to K to confirm her suspicions, and found she was indeed correct in thinking Takada was on the case.

 

Immediately, she found her purse and dug her address book out of it, looking up Takada's name within the pages she kept for NG's security personnel. She called the man's cell phone, and it was answered promptly.

 

“Takada-san, it's Mika,” she informed him.

 

“Hai, Mika-san, what can I do for you?” the older man asked pleasantly.

 

Her first thought was to ask if he had called Touma a short while ago, but thinking twice about it, she decided to be vague at first. If this man knew up front that she wasn't informed of Touma's actions, she may not get any answers she needed. So, instead she asked, “I was wondering where you are right now?” Yes, that was good. That way she could possibly confirm if he had found Ryuichi, without asking specifically.

 

“I'm still right across the street from Sakuma-san's apartment building, waiting for Seguchi-san. Why, is there something wrong? Did Seguchi-san decide to change plans? I thought he might be here by now, the way he seemed so urgent about coming here when I told him I followed those two here, but he still hasn't shown. Did he still want me to keep an eye on the building until he gets here?”

 

A chill ran through Mika at those words. `Those two' were obviously Tatsuha and Ryuichi, and Touma was on his way to them right now. The drive would normally take 25 to 30 minutes, but knowing Touma, he would make it go much faster. If Tatsuha was still there when Touma got there, no doubt the confrontation would not turn out favorable at all for her brother. But as Takada's last question finally registered in her mind, Mika couldn't believe the perfect chance that had fallen into her lap. If Touma still wasn't there, she still had a chance to keep her brother from harm, if only she could get Ryuichi to answer his phone! Before she could attempt that again, however, she had to finish up with Takada first.

 

“Ah, no, Takada-san,” Mika answered. “In fact, I just got off the phone with Touma and he asked me to call you and let you know you were relieved of your duty for the night, if you hadn't left already. He couldn't call you himself, because he got another call while we were talking. He'll be there very soon though, and now that those two are at Sakuma-san's home, there's no need to worry. So, please go on home, and thank you very much for your help in this situation.”

 

“No problem, Mika-san,” the man replied. “Just doing my job.”

 

After they hung up, Mika then got her cell phone from her purse, dialing Ryuichi's number. Perhaps it was a long shot, but if Ryuichi actually was merely screening his calls, maybe, just maybe, he would pick it up for Mika even if he wouldn't for Touma.

 

After two tries, he still hadn't answered, but Mika still did not relent. Instead, on the next try, she decided to send a text message.

 

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

 

Ryuichi was on his knees tugging down Tatsuha's pants zipper as the phone in his pocket again started ringing. This time, however, he chose to ignore it in favor of his current task.

 

With the pants now open, Ryu began teasing Tatsuha through his boxers, pressing a slightly open mouth against the younger man's arousal through the thin material. His touch and the warmth of his breath stimulating Tatsuha even more, Ryuichi grinned before moving upward just the slightest bit. Then, kissing and sucking lightly on the tender skin just above Tatsuha's boxers and below his navel, he slowly ran his hands up along Tatsuha's body. From his ankles, up his legs to his thighs, dancing his fingers ever so close to the teen's eager erection; yet still not close enough as he turned his hands from the dip of the hips to the pelvis, instead traveling up Tatsuha's sides.

 

Just as Ryuichi started to faintly tease Tatsuha's nipples with the pads of his thumbs, his cell phone rang again. Still, Ryu ignored it.

 

Now, rather than travel the rest of the distance up to meet Tats, Ryuichi decided to bring the boy to him. Applying just the slightest bit of directive pressure, Ryu coaxed Tatsuha down the wall, both of them ending up chest to chest, standing on their knees. Their lips and tongues met once again in a heated kiss, fingers gripping shoulders, napes of necks, threading through hair, bodies pressing impossibly close, hips gyrating together, teasing erections separated by mere layers of cloth. Ryuichi slid a hand down Tatsuha's back and down the back of his boxers, squeezing one cheek as he ran his thumb teasingly over the cleft.

 

Throughout all this, Tatsuha panted and groaned as Ryu touched and teased him; and Ryu returned each sound in like, both of them thoroughly enjoying themselves and each other even with the smallest of touches. Therefore, when Ryu's cell phone suddenly played a different tone, indicating a text message, they both groaned in frustration. It was obvious that whoever was calling was quite diligent and determined. With a childish growl at the continued interruption, Ryuichi pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the text.

 

“Ara? It's Mika-san, na no da,” he said curiously, switching moods whiplash fast. “She says it's an emergency! I should call her, na no da.” He dialed the number to her cell phone, which she had included in the message, and she picked up before the first ring even ended.

 

“Sakuma-san?!” she exclaimed. “Are you home right now? Is Tatsuha with you?”

 

“Yes, Mika-san, I'm home and Tatsuha-kun is with me, na no da. What's wrong?”

 

“Send Tatsuha away right now! Touma is on his way there, and I don't want my little brother getting mixed up anymore in this mess of yours and Touma's.”

 

Ryuichi's eyes went wide. “Touma's coming here? Already?!”

 

“Yes, you were followed by Takada-san, and he called Touma almost twenty minutes ago. Touma will be there anytime now, so make Tatsuha leave now!”

 

Ryuichi pouted, “But I don't want Ta-kun to go!”

 

At the mention of this, Tatsuha's questioning look turned to a questioning frown. “Fuck Touma, I'm not going anywhere!”

 

Mika sighed exasperatedly into the phone, “Look, I know you like having your fun and playing your games, but this is serious, Sakuma-san! Touma has been really worked up over you disappearing. If Tatsuha is still there when Touma gets there, it won't be good. You can't be oblivious to the sorts of things Touma will do to get what he wants. I don't want my little brother hurt just because you suddenly thought it would be fun to run away from Touma! Leave him alone from now on! It's one thing for you to do this, Sakuma-san, but why did you have to involve Tatsuha? He has nothing to do with you and Touma's affair!”

 

Ryu gave a short gasp, “Mika-san, you knew?”

 

“Of course I knew, it's not that hard to figure out after all this time.”

 

“Mika-san…” Ryuichi started to say apologetically, but Mika cut him off.

 

“Don't worry, I don't blame you for it, but I don't want to talk about that. Just please, make Tatsuha leave! He'll listen to you more than he would me.”

 

Ryuichi's wide eyes, shining sadly, closed briefly as he turned to look at Tatsuha again. Then looking at the boy, he realized she was right. Tatsuha shouldn't be mixed up in this mess any longer. Ryu didn't want Touma to hurt Tatsuha. He sighed into the phone. “Okay, Mika-san. I understand. I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused you and Touma.”

 

“Thank you, Sakuma-san. I'm glad you came to your senses so quickly. Now, hurry!” And with that, she hung up.

 

Ryuichi hung his head, looking down at the closed phone in his hand. Tatsuha watched him with cautious concern, wondering what was going on. “Ryu…” he started, but stopped as Ryuichi's sad eyes met Tatsuha's worried ones.

 

“Tatsuha,” Ryu said quietly. “You have to leave now.”

 

“What?! Ryuichi, no! I'm not going to leave just because Touma's coming! Screw him!”

 

“Tatsuha,” he said more forcefully, his expression completely serious, piercing blue eyes allowing no room for argument. “You have to leave now.”

 

“But, Ryuichi—”

 

Ryu cut him off with a finger against his lips. “I don't want Tatsuha-kun to get hurt.” He removed his finger, and went to redressing Tats quickly from their prior activities. Then he cupped Tatsuha's face with his hands, and gave the teen a chaste kiss on the lips.

 

When he pulled back, Tatsuha saw the pleading look in Ryu's eyes and knew he couldn't argue with the man. But then he remembered something. “Ryuichi, what about aniki's suit?”

 

“Oh!” Ryuichi exclaimed, and flitted off through the huge living room and down a long hallway.

 

Tatsuha followed curiously, passing several rooms, until he found the one Ryuichi had gone into. As soon as he walked in, it was like stepping into the Twilight Zone. The room looked just like Eiri's! From the placement of the identical furniture, to the sheets on the bed, right down to the alarm clock and brand of cigarettes on the nightstand. Tatsuha tried to cover his shock as Ryuichi turned to him from the closet and gestured for him to come over.

 

“Which suit was it, Tatsuha? This one, right?” he asked, pulling out one of several suits in the closet.

 

Tatsuha took the hanger the suit hung on, inspecting it and comparing it to what he remembered of his brother's version. Just like the room, the suit was also identical! Right down to the light blue dress shirt and monogrammed cuff links! Tatsuha looked at Ryuichi in confusion as he answered, “This is it exactly! Ryuichi… how—”

 

Ryuichi gave a closed mouth smile, the usual light of amusement missing completely from his faked expression. “I sometimes like to pretend to be Yuki-san. Touma had several of Yuki-san's suits reproduced for me so I can be authentic.”

 

Tatsuha sensed a deeper meaning to that, though at the moment he wasn't going to try to determine it, and suddenly felt very uncomfortable in the room. He wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible! Ryuichi evidently had the same idea, and tugged Tatsuha's free hand to pull him out of the room, still carrying the suit.

 

“Ryuichi, this must have been expensive though. I can't take this,” Tatsuha tried to protest.

 

Ryuichi shook his head, turning to smile over his shoulder, “It's fine, Ryu-chan wants Tatsuha-kun to have it! Give it to Yuki-san so that Tatsuha-kun won't get in trouble, na no da!”

 

Ryu pulled Tats straight through the house to the door, picking up the motorcycle helmet Tats had made him wear and handing it to the younger man after he put his shoes back on. Then Ryuichi prodded him out the door and down the hallway towards the stairs.

 

“We're not using the elevator?” Tats questioned as they passed it.

 

“Mika-san said Touma will be here very soon, na no da. He won't take the stairs, so if he's on his way up right now, he won't see Ta-kun,” Ryu said, sounding very much like a child hiding a secret visitor from a parent.

 

“Ryuichi—”

 

“Come on, come on, na no da!!” Ryu insisted, pulling Tatsuha through the door to the stairs and hurrying both of them down the steps. When they arrived at the garage, Ryuichi breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see Touma's car and saw that Tatsuha's motorcycle was still in the perfect condition it had been before. “Now hurry!” he ordered, practically sitting Tatsuha on the bike himself.

 

Tatsuha folded the suit as neatly as he could before putting it in his storage compartment. Then he started the bike and prepared to back out of the space, but first looked back at Ryuichi who was watching him with a look of longing. “Will I see you again?!” Tats called to him over the sound of his bike.

 

Ryuichi grinned at him, “Of course! Ryu-chan wants to see Tatsuha-kun again, na no da! But now you have to go!” Saying the words stung, for despite the truth in them, he knew it couldn't be so.

 

Tatsuha obediently pulled out of the space, driving out of the garage and back onto the street.

 

When he couldn't see him anymore, Ryuichi turned back and took the elevator up to his apartment. Before he reached his door, his phone rang. It was Mika, and he answered it.

 

“Hello, Mika-san.”

 

“Sakuma-san, I forgot to tell you to tell Tatsuha not to go to Eiri's. Is he still there?”

 

“Ryu-chan send Ta-kun away already, na no da,” Ryuichi said sadly.

 

“Damn! Well, nevermind. I'm sure it will be fine… Goodbye, Sakuma-san.”

 

“Bye-bye, Mika-san,” Ryu replied, wondering why Tatsuha shouldn't go to Yuki-san's. But now there was nothing he could do about it, so he entered his apartment to wait for his inevitable visitor.

 

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

 

Touma tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as he glared into his rearview mirror. The flashing lights of the police car behind him were blinding, which only served to incite his anger more. He couldn't believe it! Pulled over now, it was the worst timing. He didn't have time for this! And on top of that, he hadn't been able to talk the cop out of giving him a ticket. Something about, “Too many violations to ignore.” So he had ran a couple red lights, gone at least 20km over the speed limit, and answered his cell phone while driving; no one had been hurt, and he had more important matters to attend to than dealing with this ignorant bozo who didn't even know who Seguchi Touma or Nittle Grasper were! He'd even gotten reprimanded for Mika calling when the cop first walked up to his car, and, though he hadn't wanted to talk to her in the first place, had been told to answer it and tell the caller he couldn't talk!

 

Touma tried to take a few calming breaths as he waited for the policeman to return with his ticket, reminding himself that at least the guy hadn't pushed on the drunk driving issue. He hadn't drunk any alcohol since waking up with his terrible hangover that morning, but there had still been enough to hit .13 on the breathalyzer. Most cops, when getting a reading that close, would usually make a personal judgment call on the reading, declaring a drunk driver. Luckily, it seemed this newbie didn't realize that. Though Touma surely could afford a 300,000 yen fine, and was sure he'd be able to avoid any jail time, he wasn't particularly fond of the idea of being labeled a drunk driver in the Public's eyes.

 

After the results had shown up, the young cop had merely raised a brow at him, but told him he'd gotten lucky this time that he was .02 under the limit, and had let Touma stay in his own car as he wrote up the ticket for Touma's other offenses.

 

Touma groaned to himself, wondering how much longer this was going to take. It had already been several minutes. He realized he was gripping the steering wheel when his hands suddenly started to hurt, and forced himself to let go and put his hands in his lap. Then, finally, he saw the officer returning, pad in hand.

 

“You'll have to appear in court,” he said to Touma as he tore off the ticket with several violations marked off, handing it to the blonde.

 

Touma narrowed his eyes dangerously at this, “Isn't there simply a fine I could pay? I am a very busy man with a business to run. I don't have time to waste on going to court for something so petty.”

 

“Hey now,” the younger man admonished. “I went easy on ya for that breathalyzer. The least you can do is take the ticket and appear in court for your other offenses like you're supposed to.”

 

“Fine,” Touma said in a very controlled tone. “Thank you very much Officer. I must be going now.”

 

“You drive safe, now,” the officer replied, waving as he walked back to his car and finally allowed Touma to leave.

 

Touma had to work very hard not to press down on the gas fully again, not wanting to be pulled over again, but entirely too aware of how much time he'd already lost and wanting to make it up. He needed to get to Ryuichi as soon as possible. The sense of urgency that had been building was at an all-time high and was now too much to ignore. Nevertheless, he somehow managed to obey all the traffic laws on what now felt like an extremely slow drive to Ryuichi's building.

 

As he neared the entrance to the parking garage, he looked around for Takada's car, but couldn't see it anywhere on the street. So he decided to go ahead into the garage and see if the former cop was perhaps parked inside. Not only did he not find Takada's car, but he saw no sign of Tatsuha's bike either. Growing more worried, Touma parked in Ryuichi's reserved space and called Takada.

 

“Moshi moshi?” the older man answered.

 

“Hello, Takada-san,” Touma replied. “May I ask you where you are right now?”

 

“I'm at home, Seguchi-san. Thank you for having Mika-san call me. I actually made it home in time for dinner with the family tonight. In fact we're sitting down to it right now. Why, was there something else you needed?”

 

Though he felt his anger boiling for several reasons now, Touma kept his voice a silky purr as he replied, “No, no, Takada-san. I just wanted to thank you for your help. Enjoy your meal.” He hung up and glared at the phone. Mika. Mika had sent Takada home. How had she even known he was there? Touma shook his head, giving an unhumored chuckle. Mika was his wife, after all. Of course it probably didn't take much for her to figure it out, but why had she interfered? Her number was dialed before he even knew what he was doing.

 

“Touma?” she answered promptly, sounding both surprised and annoyed. “I didn't think you would call back so soon.”

 

“Why did you send Takada-san home, Mika-san?” Touma asked immediately, not even bothering with greetings or pleasantries.

 

“Because if Tatsuha had left while Takada-san was still there, he surely would have been followed, and who knows what you would have done if Tatsuha had still been there when you arrived. I don't want my brother involved in this anymore, Touma. Just leave him out of it! This is between you and Sakuma-san, so take care of it.” Without waiting for his reply, she hung up.

 

Touma sat slightly dazed at Mika's outburst before the meaning behind her words sunk in. She knew Tatsuha was gone. Had she made him leave? Either way, she had implied that Tatsuha and Ryuichi were now separated. If that was the case, Touma still had one more thing to do. He would respect Mika's wishes to leave Tatsuha alone, as long as he stayed away from Ryuichi from now on. For the time being, all Touma would concern himself with was reasserting his claim of his vocalist and making sure this situation didn't happen again.

 

So, taking a deep breath, Touma composed himself. He pocketed his phone again, got out of his car, straightened anything disheveled, and headed for the elevator.

 

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

 

Ryuichi was just coming out of his `Yuki Room', having remembered he'd left the closet open and the light on, when he heard Touma come through his front door. Quickly he put distance between himself and the room, knowing Touma would probably not be too happy about Tatsuha now having one of the suits Touma had gone to so much trouble to have made. When he got out to the living room, Touma was waiting for him, standing in the middle of the dark room, the only light coming from the moon and the bright lights of the city outside his panoramic window. The sun had set a few hours ago, just before 5.

 

“Ryuichi-san,” Touma addressed him, stalking up to him predatorily. “You have finally returned.”

 

Ryuichi forced a cute smile. “Tadaima, na no da, Touma.”

 

Touma gave his closed eyes smile and chuckled. “So you have finally gotten your craving for that boy out of your system? I didn't think you would play with him for so long.”

 

“Gomen, Touma. I worried you, na no da.”

 

Touma shook his head, “No, no, I wasn't worried.” Suddenly Ryuichi felt his back up against a wall, not even having realized he was backing up, and Touma's hands were on the wall on either side of his head as those icy turquoise eyes burned into him. Seeing Ryu's look of surprise, Touma smirked at him. “I know Ryuichi-san always returns to me. No matter how many toys you play with, in the end they all break, but I'm always here to pick up your pieces, aren't I?” Ryuichi nodded obediently. “So, now I am here, Ryuichi-san. I will mend everything of yours that boy broke.”

 

The line was familiar, similar to what Touma would always say after Ryuichi returned from some random sexual encounter. Yet, this time, Ryuichi found no comfort in it. All he could think at this moment was that he wished Tatsuha was standing there instead of Touma. He wanted to see those dark, smoldering eyes and that silky black hair rather than these cold eyes trying to impersonate warmth and this hair mocking sunshine. But that was too much to wish for. Tatsuha was gone, and he would never return. Even if the boy actually wanted to see Ryu again, the singer could not allow it. Mika had been right, after all; this was his and Touma's mess. Tatsuha didn't deserve to be involved in this tangled web. So Ryuichi tried his best to push those thoughts away, and convince himself that Touma still made him happy.

 

As if he could read his mind at that moment, Touma husked into Ryu's ear, “I will help you forget, Ryuichi-san. I will erase all of his touches and replace them with my own.” Then he traced the shell of Ryuichi's ear with his tongue, nibbling on the lobe briefly before he took Ryu's head in his hands and devoured his mouth. Even as he tried to be turned on by this as he normally would, all Ryu could think was how different Touma's tongue felt from Tatsuha's. How differently they kissed, and even tasted.

 

Touma could tell Ryuichi wasn't responding as he normally would to him, and his brows knitted together slightly. Ryuichi's mind was obviously not on him, but Touma would not allow that for long. He tried to breathe in Ryuichi's scent to calm himself before he got angry, but felt a sudden revulsion. Suddenly, he grabbed Ryuichi's wrist and dragged him to the bathroom.

 

“I can still smell him on you,” Touma said in a strained soft voice, trying not to let the disgust he felt at the thought come through. He stripped himself and Ryuichi without preamble, turning on and adjusting the temperature of the water before pulling Ryu into the shower with him. Though he forced himself to be slow and gentle, Touma did not use this time for steamy foreplay, but for scrubbing all traces of the Uesugi boy from his vocalist. Ryuichi cooperated wordlessly, fully aware that this shower was not part of Touma's seduction. When Touma was satisfied, having washed Ryuichi, and even himself, quite thoroughly, he turned off the water and dried them both off. Then he again took Ryu's wrist and pulled him to his bedroom.

 

The window in this room was uncovered as well, letting plenty of light from the city flood in, so Touma didn't bother turning on the light. He turned Ryuichi towards him again, grabbed his shoulders and asked, “Where did he touch you, Ryuichi-san? Here?” Touma began nibbling along Ryuichi's neck, down to his collarbone, in a U-shape to the other side. “Here?” He leaned down and dragged his tongue across a dusky nipple, sucking until it was hard despite Ryuichi's current mindset. But there was no accompanying moan as there usually would be, and as he was attending to the other nipple, Touma decided to bite Ryuichi. A gasp and sharp intake of breath was his answer as Ryuichi's hands suddenly gripped onto Touma and gave the moan the blonde wanted to hear. Touma grinned, pleased with himself, and soothed the bite with a few flicks of his tongue.

 

He backed Ryuichi up against the bed, pushing him onto it once the backs of his knees hit the edge. Ryuichi scooted up onto the bed as Touma crawled up him. That tongue that was so familiar, yet so different from the one he wanted, was sliding along his skin again, traversing his chest and the planes of his stomach. It dipped into his navel and past it, tasting only Ryuichi now as he teased the flesh of his pelvis and hips, his hands roaming all over the brunette singer.

 

Ryuichi watched Touma, as he normally enjoyed watching his lovers touch him, but this time it just wasn't working. That face wasn't the one he wanted smirking back at him. Those small hands weren't the hands he wanted touching him. Though physically his body was beginning to respond, Ryuichi's heart wasn't in on the act. For maybe the first time in his life, Ryuichi felt no desire for the blonde angel above him. But he couldn't think about that now! It would only make things worse. He couldn't have Tatsuha. He had wronged Touma. This is what he had to do, to apologize to the one person that would always be there for him. So, rather than stop Touma, or say he wasn't in the mood, something that would be quite unlike him, Ryuichi closed his eyes and tuned into his sense of touch completely, forsaking all else and forgetting the world around him.

 

Touma felt the change almost instantaneously as Ryuichi's reactions to him became much more enthusiastic. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but apparently he was closing in on his goal of making Ryu forget Tatsuha. Touma pulled Ryuichi's impressive erection into his mouth and sucked on it until he tasted the slightly bitter precum. Then he crawled up Ryuichi's body to claim his mouth again, tongues curling together as Ryu opened himself up completely to the kiss. Touma sucked Ryu's tongue and lower lip, then nibbled his chin and down his throat, trying to ignore the many marks already adorning the vocalist's body as Touma left one of his own.

 

His fingers wrapped around Ryu's cock, slowly pumping it, teasing the head as he purred, “Here, too?” Then he let go and dragged a finger down to tease around Ryuichi's entrance, where Touma noticed with some surprise that the other man was slightly swollen. “And here?” A hitched breath was his answer as he pushed against but not into the little hole. Touma gave Ryu a sudden harsh kiss, pulling Ryu's lower lip with his teeth before he vowed, “I will make this mine again, as well.” Then before Ryuichi knew it, he found himself flipped over, face pressed to his pillow, ass in the air. Touma spread his legs, kneading the globes of his ass and separating them to expose the entrance to his body.

 

Touma leaned over to the drawer and got out the lubricant. As he spread some on is erection, Touma commented, “Mm, after such an eventful weekend, you should be sufficiently prepared for me, ne, Ryuichi-san.” With no more warning than that, Touma thrust fully into Ryu. Ryuichi grunted and gripped the sheets with a whimper, the sudden action bringing to the forefront how sore he actually was.

 

Touma began thrusting into Ryuichi, starting slow but steadily picking up the pace. “Ahh, Ryuichi-san, how I have missed this,” he panted out. “You really… shouldn't leave me… alone… for so long…” he said with each thrust, gripping the singer's hips and pulling him back harder each time. “…Ryuichi-san.” Touma leaned over him, biting his shoulder and pulling a deep moan from Ryu.

 

Ryuichi tried to tune out the sound of Touma's silky voice, tried to replace it with a certain someone else's, but it still broke through. The words, the voice, the manner of speech, was all too purely Touma to ignore. But as Touma bit his shoulder, it dissolved away again, and Ryu focused on the pain to feel the pleasure, moaning as the soreness in his ass numbed and was replaced with the simple hot pressure of being filled over and over again. He gave himself over to that feeling, ignoring the grief and sorrow in his soul as he concentrated on his body's now much-needed satisfaction.

 

Touma felt his climax nearing and was determined to bring Ryuichi along with him. His hand was already stroking Ryu's cock, well coated in precum and lubrication, and Touma quickened his hand's pace to match the rock of his hips. Only by sheer incredible self control, Touma was able to hold out until Ryuichi cried out with his orgasm. Then Touma cried out as well, his seed filling Ryuichi. When they separated, Touma collapsed to the bed, pulling Ryuichi against him. He stroked Ryu's quickly cooling body and sighed in contentment, wrapping his arms around Ryuichi.

 

Touma put his lips to Ryuichi's ear and whispered, “Please don't run away from me like that again, Ryuichi-san.” Then he placed a kiss on his temple and nuzzled into the brown mop of hair, drifting off to a peaceful sleep.

 

Ryuichi didn't know how long it took for him to fall asleep. Whether minutes or hours, he just lay there, silently letting his tears fall as he listened to Touma's soft breathing, until finally his eyes were too sore to stay open and he drifted off to a fitful sleep plagued with images of Touma's smirking face overlapping Tatsuha's.

 

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

 

A/N: Anyone wondering in particular about Yuki's and Shuuichi's opening scenes, mentioning the “distraction”?? Go to my profile and read Distraction, a PWP companion piece for DA!!

 

Also, for this chapter I looked up the blood alcohol levels for breathalyzer testing in Japan, and found that the legal limit is .15! This made me go, “Wow!” because the limit here (at least in IN) is .08! But then I kept reading and there were several quotes of complaints of drivers that were over the limit even after only drinking one beer, or several hours after they'd stopped drinking, and I was like, “Ara?” So then I look it up further, and find that the measurement is in milligrams per liter, rather than grams like in the States!! So then I really was like, “Wowwww!!” O.o Strict, ne? I mean, I'm totally against drunk driving, but damn! You're not even buzzed at that level, are ya? And the minimum fine is apparently 300,000 yen, with possibility of a year of jail time! Though first offenses are generally only 200,000 yen… but anyway, there's a little extra info for those that care!

 

Japanese:

 

Ara: a questioning type of sound, like “Huh?” “Oh?”, etc.

Tadaima: basically, in this context at least, means “I'm home.”

 

More Apologizingand Lame Excuses: Aiyiyi, once again, I am sooooo sorry for how late this chapter is!! I seriously intended to post it before the end of February, but some stuff came up and it didn't happen. Then I thought I'd at least have it up the first week of March, but then my husband's PC crashed right after he bought me a new 160g external hard drive, and I ended up using all my free time re-downloading all the anime and manga we'd lost from his crash. Then I got caught up in watching and reading all the anime and manga (most of which I hadn't seen all of yet), and I couldn't write on DA because I had a sudden flood of ideas for other fics and just couldn't concentrate on DA at all, despite knowing exactly what was going to happen next. *sigh*

 

Then I just didn't feel like writing period for a couple weeks. Even though I would open the document and write a sentence or two at a time, I just couldn't concentrate on it, and ended up just vegging out reading manga, watching anime on YouTube and from torrents (oh yeah, and Jpop bought Howl's Moving Castle for me, so I watched that too! ^__^), and making blanket forts with my son. Oh, and the icing on the cake: I finally downloaded Last Exile and watched it all, and then I was so depressed from the ending that I didn't even want to try to write on DA! Luckily, I decided to go ahead and start writing an LE fic (still not posted anywhere, dunno if I will..), and was able to work out some of my depression over the ending, and was able to finally come back to work on Disappearing Act! What a chain of events, ne? :p

 

So now, after listing all my excuses, I realize I can't even blame anyone but myself this time around! *shock* Dammit.. how'd that happen…? Ah well, anyway, so finally yesterday I sat with my computer while watching My Neighbor Totoro on CN with chibi-chan, determined to get this chapter finished (I had started it and had two scenes written on Feb. 23), and wrote the last of it this morning after zonking out way early last night.

 

So how many of you want to kill me?? LOL, I know you do, after what Ryuichi and Touma just did, ne? Especially with all the death wishes for Touma fromlast chapter, heheheh. Well, all I'll say for now is: This is not how the fic ends! There's still much more to come!! *Zim voice* So much more. *end Zim voice* LMAO! So yell at me, cry at me, death threat me (or, better yet, Touma >:D ), but stick with me `til the end! I promise it'll be worth it. (This is, after all, a Ryu/Tats fic!! ^_~ )

 

Review Replies:

 

Thank you so much to all my Reviewers!! Lamia, Bakayasha, Deity, Headcase, Michelle, December Jewel, sakuma_sonnet, Mercurial Phoenix, PIKACHU GODDESS, rinny,Chihiro1985, Water Sprite, and of course my girls ren and Houseki!! (And any AFFers that may have reviewed, since I can't get to the reviews on AFF still..) I thoroughly enjoyed all you guys' comments and especially the death wishes for Touma! In fact, I laughed maniacally from them!! (especially since I knew what was going to happen next with Touma/Ryu and how many more evil reviewer thoughts would result! Muwahahahahahaa!!)

 

I really wanted to respond to everyone individually, but I'm running out of time to write right now, and I really want to post this today! So, perhaps next time… but I will quickly say, an extra thank you to Bakayasha and Pikachu Goddess for crying at me for how long it was taking to update!! It helped give me the push I needed to get myself back in the mindset for writing Gravi! (even though it did still take quite a while afterwards for me to get into it, I really was trying to get back to it when I saw those reviews!) *glomps*

 

Next Chapter: We'll get back to the Bad Luck boys, since I know many of you are dying to see what happens (or doesn't … muwahahaha >:D ) between Hiro and Suguru; plus see the beginnings of the consequences for both Ryuichi and Touma. Hopefully it won't be too long before it's written… It definitely won't be a huge wait like this one!! I'll work hard to put it up soon! `Til then, ja ne!

 

~ lg

 

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

Thanks for Reading and Reviewing!!