Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Disappearing Act ❯ Chapter 16

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!!

 

Warning: Unbeta'd for now.

 

Chapter Sixteen:

 

“K? You there?” Noriko's voice asked through the phone.

 

“I'm here, what is it?” the man replied.

 

“Am I to understand you and Mika-san are driving to Kyoto right now?”

 

“Yes, currently, Mika-san and I are almost three hours outside Tokyo, heading for her father's shrine in Kyoto,” he answered genially.

 

“And Tatsuha-kun is with you?”

 

“He is.”

 

“K, I have something very important to say to you, then… Are you listening?” she waited as he hummed in ascent. Then she took a deep breath and bellowed, “Just what in the hell do you think you're doing, butting into my Ryu-chan's life again?! You're Bad Luck's manager now, shouldn't you be chasing their butts into the studio right now rather than kidnapping Ryuichi's boyfriend?!! You turn your ass right around and bring that boy back here!!”

 

K grimaced as he held the phone from his ear, waiting for her rant to end. Once it did, he insisted calmly, “Noriko, I was only doing what I thought was best—”

 

“Who gave you permission to address me so informally?!” she interrupted. “It's Ukai-san to you! And for all the good you and Touma and Mika-san claim to be trying to do these two, all I see is you royally fucking everything up for them!! Did you ever stop to ask them what they want?!”

 

“I have a question to ask you, then, Ukai-san,” K said seriously. “Is it true that Ryuichi is in love with Tatsuha? Did he really say that?”

 

Noriko finally used a normal tone of voice to answer, “Yes, he really did. He's really depressed about it, too. Started saying nonsense about not deserving love, and how no one ever stays around for him. And now you're going to make sure Tatsuha isn't around either?! What the hell's wrong with you?!!”

 

K felt the guilt he'd been building double. Had anything he'd ever done concerning Ryuichi's personal life been the right thing to do? Or had he merely increased the depth of Ryuichi's emotional scars? He had to make things right by him. Better late than never, right?

 

K sighed into the phone. “I'm sorry, I didn't realize.”

 

“Well, it's not that hard to ask before you go throwing your weight around frivolously, is it?”

 

“You're right,” he conceded. “I'm bringing him back right now!” With this statement, he took a sharp turn off an exit and began the exercise of getting back on the opposite side of the highway, heading back towards Tokyo.

 

Mika braced herself with the turn before exclaiming, “What the hell are you doing?!”

 

He glanced at her. “Sorry, Mika-san. It seems I was mistaken in my actions. We're taking Tatsuha back to Ryuichi now.”

 

“What?! We most certainly are not!” she declared, and tried to take the wheel from him.

 

He held her at bay with one arm, “Mika-san, I have nothing against you and would really rather not have to take any extreme measures to earn your cooperation. So please, just sit back and enjoy the ride!”

 

Mika glared at him but stopped struggling, realizing she would not win. “What right do you have to make this decision about my brother?” she seethed.

 

“What right did either of us have to separate those two lovebirds in the first place?” K countered, and Mika gave him an odd look. K shrugged and continued, “You heard Ukai-san. Ryuichi is in love with Tatsuha. You already said yourself, Tatsuha really cares for Ryuichi. What is the problem here? From what I see, the only problem is the people around them trying to keep them apart.”

 

“But Sakuma-san isn't the type of man to commit to anyone!” she protested. “In all the years I've known him, he's never had a relationship with anyone!”

 

Mika conveniently left out the knowledge of the relationship Ryuichi had with her husband, for obvious reasons. Besides, that didn't even count as a relationship, since the only purpose it served was as an outlet for her husband; so that when he came home to her, it was actually her he was making love to. Ryuichi was the sacrificial lamb of her happy marriage, and like hell if she was going to give that up this easily, just because the man thought he had a thing for her little brother. Tatsuha may believe he loves Ryuichi, but his feelings couldn't possibly be returned in the same way, even if they were real and not the obsessive delusions of a fanboy. And besides, Mika had already found the love of her life; she deserved to be happy with him again. She wouldn't let Tatsuha and Ryuichi ruin it like this. Tatsuha was only sixteen, he would get over it. And Ryuichi was… Ryuichi. He would be over it well before Tatsuha even.

 

Determined that things must stay the same for the sake of her continued happiness, she added, “He's a flighty, promiscuous, man-whore! How can you expect me to offer my little brother up for his use?”

 

Before K could even protest and defend Ryuichi, they were suddenly reminded of Noriko's presence on the phone when she heard Mika's rant through the line and began one of her own. However, the purple haired keyboardist's words were drowned out by the furious exclamation of a completely new voice.

 

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

 

Tatsuha came to slowly. His brain was muddled, unable to form a clear thought, vision blurry and dulled by the darkness that surrounded him. He tried to move but found he couldn't, and started to panic, though his scream was muffled. This is when he realized there was a gag in his mouth. He forced himself to calm down and focus his thoughts, trying to remember how he'd gotten into this situation.

 

He craned his neck around as much as he could— the only movement his bound and drugged body would allow for the moment— and could just make out his bike strapped to the hooks in the floor to his right. Then Tatsuha noticed a glimmer of light shining on the body of his bike, and strained his head back to see that the small shaft of light was coming through a part in a thick black curtain behind him. After a moment of concentrating on this and trying to figure out how he could use this knowledge to his advantage, he then heard voices coming from the other side of that curtain. With the sound of the familiar male and female voices, all the memories came back to him, and he instantly began his struggle against the drugs and ropes making his limbs lethargic.

 

With adrenaline now pumping through his system, he finally found the strength to move and began loosening himself from his bonds. When the phone suddenly rang on the other side of the curtain, where his kidnapping sister and that blonde American were, Tatsuha had just freed one of his arms. Though he could hear the voice of his sister talking, he couldn't really hear what was being said. He felt he needed to, though, and put on an extra burst of energy, frantically freeing the rest of his body as quietly as he could.

 

When the last of the ropes was shoved from his ankles, he had to take a few moments stretching everything and getting the blood flowing properly again. Once he could, he crept up to the tiny gap in the curtain and listened intently. The American was speaking now. What was his name? K? He said the name `Ukai-san'. The only Ukai-san Tats knew of was the female member of Nittle Grasper. Were they talking to her? Was she in on this too? What was with everyone lately?!

 

But, wait… had K just said Ryuichi loved him? Was Tatsuha hearing things?! He tried to part the curtain slightly to hear better, but was then thrown against the front tire of his bike as the van suddenly took a sharp turn. What was going on now?! Once he was stable again, he crawled back up to the curtain and opened a big enough gap near the bottom to finally hear completely what was going on. That's when K said he was taking Tatsuha back to Ryuichi.

 

He wanted to shout and jump in triumph!! But he settled for simply having a party in his head, complete with a huge silent grin plastered to his face as he realized that he would see Ryuichi again, and soon. Then Mika took his grin away by having the gall to try to argue with K, and Tatsuha heard for sure this time that Ryuichi loved him.

 

Ryuichi loved him! Nothing would keep Tatsuha from him!

 

Tatsuha nodded emphatically along with K, though no one was in the back of the van to see it, as the American tried to reason with Mika for why what they'd done was wrong. At Mika's reply, Tatsuha decided he'd had enough, and made to pull open the curtain and lend his own voice to the reasoning. Right before he did so, Mika called Ryuichi a whore, and Tatsuha saw red.

 

“How dare you?!!” he exclaimed, jumping through the curtain, grabbing her shoulders over the back of her seat and turning her to face him. It took all the self control he could muster to keep from hitting her for the comment. “You don't know him at all, if you think of him like that!! What the hell gives you the right to decide someone's a whore like that? Especially Ryuichi! I swear, if you weren't a woman I would not be able to control my actions right now!!”

 

“Tatsuha—” Mika exclaimed, but Noriko made herself known again, shouting through the phone.

 

“Is that Tatsuha? Let me talk to him, K.”

 

The pony tailed man that had almost forgotten he'd been holding the phone, until the most recent outburst, handed it to the teen.

 

“Hello?” Tatsuha said into the phone once he got it.

 

“Is this Tatsuha-kun? This is Noriko.”

 

He was right! It had been Noriko on the phone!!

 

Momentarily forgetting his anger, Tatsuha exclaimed, “Ukai-san, hello!”

 

“Oh my,” she giggled. “You don't have to be so formal! You're going to be Ryuichi's boyfriend after all, ne? Call me Noriko-chan!”

 

Tatsuha blushed a little, feeling a bit absurd to call her `chan', but elated that she had called him Ryuichi's boyfriend, and complied with her request, “Yes, Noriko-chan, what can I do for you?”

 

“Ah my dear boy, you have already done it. I just wanted to thank you for defending Ryuichi to your sister. Honestly, what is that woman's problem with him anyway? She's had some kind of grudge against him for awhile it seems.”

 

“I would like to know that myself,” Tatsuha said, glaring at his sister.

 

Noriko sighed heavily over the phone. “Well, at least K has come to his senses. You should be on your way back here right now. Have him bring you straight to NG so you can see Ryuichi right away! He's been really down this morning and I think you're just the pick-me-up he needs. It'll be a great surprise!”

 

“He's been down?” Tats asked in concern.

 

“Yeah,” she replied. “Asking me, `did he deserve love' and saying he couldn't do this to Touma… In fact, the whole reason I called your sister in the first place was to find Touma so I could lecture him about it. Ryuichi really values his opinion, so Touma being against it has really gotten to him.”

 

Tatsuha frowned. “Touma's been trying to get rid of me ever since Ryuichi invited me to Zepp Tokyo the other night. Then aneki somehow convinced Ryuichi to make me leave yesterday, and sent Touma there instead.”

 

“She did? No wonder Ryu-chan's been so upset, if he's got the royal couple against him! Well, don't you worry, Tatsuha-kun. K won't let them interfere anymore. As much as I hate relying on that guy…”

 

Tatsuha glanced at the blonde man, who was intently weaving his way speedily through traffic, seemingly going as fast as he could to get Tatsuha back to Tokyo; back to Ryuichi. He nodded to the phone, “Okay, Noriko-chan. Thank you very much!”

 

“It's no problem. Now, let me talk to your sister.”

 

“Here, aneki,” Tatsuha said, thrusting the phone in Mika's face. She took it without a word, though she did grimace slightly when Noriko began talking. If it hadn't been such a serious matter to him, Tatsuha would have laughed at her expression as he heard the female member of Nittle Grasper chastising his sister.

 

“Mika-san,” he heard her say. “You better not give K or Tatsuha-kun anymore trouble during your trip. If you do, I'll hear about it, and believe me, you do not want trouble from me. No one insults my Ryu-chan the way you have and gets away with it, so you better just watch your tongue from now on and let Tatsuha-kun and Ryuichi do as they please.”

 

“How dare you presume to order me around?!” Mika said defiantly.

 

“Oh, I dare,” Noriko replied easily. “I'm not intimidated by you or Touma's little power trips, so spare me. Ryuichi's been forcing himself to live without love all these years because of you two. The least you can do is let him have happiness with Tatsuha-kun now!”

 

Mika frowned at this, “What is that supposed to mean?”

 

Noriko sighed, “It's not important now. Whatis important is getting these two back together. I'll see you when you get here! Ja ne!”

 

Then Mika was staring at the phone as the other woman hung up on her.

 

Having heard Noriko's comment, Tatsuha wondered what she meant by it as well. He kept his questions to himself though. Whatever the answers may be, he didn't think K or his sister had them. Besides, he had a feeling that he wanted— no, needed— Ryuichi to answer them instead. So, rather than ask, Tatsuha grabbed the bag Mika had stuffed his clothes into, got dressed, pulled the curtains open the rest of the way, and made himself as comfortable as possible on the floor of the van as he let himself be driven back to his lover.

 

However, not even an hour later, Tatsuha started feeling weird in his head and stomach, a chill going down his spine. He knew this feeling. It was what he called his `Sakuma Sense' and was generally his best weapon in telling when the singer was near in order to see a glimpse of him in a crowd. It had also helped him, countless times, when searching for the last available copy of his latest CD, buying front row tickets to a Nittle Grasper concert before they sold out, or in spotting Sakuma Ryuichi promotional items. This time, however, wasn't one of those cases.

 

For one, he knew that Ryuichi was at NG Records back in Tokyo. He also knew there were no stores nearby on this stretch of open highway, so it had nothing to do with merchandise. Besides those reasons, though, the feeling was different. Rather than a breathless feeling of impending triumph, Tatsuha felt a cold dread building within him. He had nothing to base it on, but that didn't stop him from feeling with utmost certainty that something was wrong with Ryuichi. He was being threatened, or in danger somehow! Unable to ignore his Sakuma Sense, and not really wanting to, Tatsuha went to his bike and started unhooking it from its tethers.

 

“Oi, kid, what are you doing?” K questioned.

 

“Sakuma Sense is tingling. The van's too slow. Gotta hurry and get to him!” Tatsuha replied simply, not even pausing his motions as he released the last tether.

 

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Mika exclaimed, looking back to see her brother sliding the large side door open.

 

Ignoring her, he watched for traffic passing them by. He was in luck, as most of the morning commuters were in the same lane as them. There was plenty of room in the parallel lane. He returned to his bike, walked it as far back as he could, and crouched on it. There was just enough room between the bike, him, and the ceiling to do this maneuver. He kick started the bike, revving it bit. Seeing the teen's intention, K slowed the van a bit to allow for better control of the jump, and Tatsuha burst the bike from the van through the open door. His tires squealed and skidded just a bit as they hit the pavement, but Tatsuha easily controlled it and regained his balance without wrecking. Once he was straightened out, he went full throttle, easily weaving through the traffic until he was barely a speck in Mika and K's vision.

 

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

 

Mika and K stared after Tatsuha wordlessly until…

 

“Sakuma Sense?” Mika quoted.

 

K laughed, “I didn't know your brother read American comics.”

 

Mika quirked an eyebrow at him, not really sure what he was talking about but not wanting to ask, before climbing into the back of the van to close the door. K picked up speed again to continue their journey.

 

As they drove, Mika noticed that K kept peeking at her from the corner of his eyes, and she was quickly becoming annoyed with the action.

 

“What is it?!”

 

“I was just thinking about what you said to Noriko about Ryuichi,” K answered. “He's really not the type of person you think he is.”

 

“Oh really?” Mika said skeptically, crossing her arms and shifting in her seat to look at him. “And what type of person is he?”

 

“Ryuichi is a romantic.”

 

She scoffed at this. “Sure he is. Because it's only natural for a romantic to sleep with anything that moves and dump them the next day, if not before.”

 

“And how do you know so much about Ryuichi's sex life, anyway?” he wondered curiously.

 

She raised a brow, “Isn't it obvious? Of course I hear everything from Touma. He's been struggling with Ryuichi's sex addiction for years.”

 

“Is that what Seguchi-san calls it? A sex addiction? I can't believe this. You'd think he, of all people, would have realized by now what's going on!”

 

Mika rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Mika-san,” he began. “It's not something I really want to talk about, but maybe it will help you understand. Ryuichi's particular lifestyle isn't because of some addiction. If anything, I am really to blame for how long this has gone on…”

 

“Get to the point,” she demanded curtly.

 

“I think… Ryuichi has been searching for love this whole time. Only, I wouldn't let him find it. I thought what I was doing was for the best, because Ryuichi had his heart broken early on when we were in America, and he was devastated. I didn't want to see him that way again. It's not easy being a living legend, you know. Everyone wants something from you, and I didn't want that for Ryuichi. That's why, when Seguchi-san called me to check in on Ryuichi, and I told him what had happened, I went ahead and took his advice on how he used to handle Ryuichi's sex life. `Let him have his fun, but get rid of them as soon as possible, before he grows attached,' was his suggestion. Now I realize, that probably wasn't the best decision.”

 

Mika was speechless as this sunk in. K thought it was his fault, but really it was Touma's, wasn't it? If what K said was true, and right now she was much more inclined to believe him than her darling husband's version of `the truth', the whole problem of Ryuichi's promiscuity seemed to originate with Touma. Had Touma been so obsessed with Ryuichi, even back then, that he'd gone as far as to make sure the singer didn't have any real relationships even while they were apart for so long? She knew Touma liked to completely control his environment, and that need also branched to the people in his environment, but really… this was going too far.

 

It had been so easy to blame Ryuichi all this time; to look down on him and think nasty things about him. He had been the obvious scapegoat for when Touma was sexually frustrated, when Mika's role in his fantasies just wasn't enough; because Ryuichi had gone to America and was no longer there to fill the place Mika was again expected to fill.

 

But why had he gone away in the first place? She'd never really wondered about it before, but now she did. Was it really a selfish career move, as Touma had painted it to be back then? Or was there something deeper to it? Perhaps he was trying to get away from Touma's control? Was this whole situation with Tatsuha also stemming from that? Was there some other reason entirely? If it was because of Touma's control, why had Ryuichi come back?

 

Mika now felt so confused, she couldn't even think straight. She didn't know what to think. Nevertheless, she didn't want to voice any of this to K, either. That would be admitting the shame of her marriage; admitting what went on behind their closed doors; admitting her part in the twisted web that was Seguchi Touma's `perfect' life. So, all Mika could do was think; sit quietly and think and wait to get back to Tokyo— where she would be having a very serious discussion with the man that was her husband.

 

K glanced at her after his little confession, but made no comment on her silence, merely allowing her the thinking time she so obviously needed. He only hoped that, before they got back to Tokyo and Ryuichi, Mika would have changed her perception of Ryuichi; even if just a little. A little was all the vocalist needed to be able to wiggle his way into your heart without even trying, and if Ryuichi could work this magic with Mika, there was no way his relationship with Tatsuha could be compromised. For as much as Touma seemed to think himself God in the circle of people surrounding him, K was convinced that the blonde keyboardist's female counterpart could be even more of a force to be reckoned with, if she really wanted to be. When it came to her little brother's happiness, K was certain this would be one of those times.

 

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

 

About a quarter before 8, just as they were pulling into NG Records' underground parking garage, Shuuichi was almost positive he saw Ryuichi running from the building. He really hoped that, if it was Ryuichi, he would be coming back. Shuuichi was really ready to have Touma off his back.

 

As he thought this, he remembered the scene in Yuki's apartment that morning, and felt the happiness he'd felt over breakfast with his band mates begin to dissipate. He really wished he knew what happened, but he didn't want to call Yuki and interrupt him again. He'd already been irritated over the delays Shuuichi had caused him the day before. He just hoped Yuki would still take him out tonight, like he promised; though the likelihood of this, he was sure, was next to zero now.

 

Still, just the slim possibility made Shuuichi wonder again where they should go. Yuki had said he could choose, and he wanted it to be good. Where would they go…? And what would he wear?!

 

This thought reminded Shuu of something else, and he suddenly spoke as they entered the building. “By the way, Hiro, how did you get these clothes for me?”

 

Hiro looked at him, then smiled, “How else? I got them from Yuki-san of course.”

 

Shuuichi stopped in his tracks, and Hiro and Suguru both stopped shortly after, looking back at him.

 

“Hiro…” the singer began slowly. “I know you were mad at Yuki for me being upset, but please tell me you didn't go over there to beat him up?”

 

Hiro's eyes were too slow meeting his for Shuu's liking, and the pink haired teen exclaimed, “Hiro! I told you not to blame him when we don't even know what really happened! Did you hurt him bad? Oh no, please tell me you didn't touch his face! Hiro! Tell me you didn't ruin my Yuki's beautiful face!” Tears had sprung to his eyes at the thought. Noticing the look Suguru was giving him being mirrored on his best friend's face, Shuuichi suddenly felt the need to defend, “Hey, don't give me that look! If me and Fujisaki got in a fight, you wouldn't want me to touch his face, either!”

 

Hiro's eyes went wide and he blanched at this, as Suguru exclaimed, “What is that supposed to mean?!”

 

Hiro forced a chuckle, putting his arms around both Suguru and Shuuichi to lead them to the elevator. “Ahaha, it's nothing, it's nothing.” He stopped at the elevator and pressed the `up' button, then turned to Shuu. “Anyway, don't worry about Yuki-san. It seems this morning really was just a misunderstanding, and I left him in exactly the same condition I found him: irritated and sleep deprived, but not bruised or battered, and definitely all in one piece.”

 

Shuuichi's immediate relief was palpable. Suguru even foundhimself breathing out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding along with Shuu.

 

“As a matter of fact,” Hiro continued. “He told me he would take you out tonight to make up for it, so you better start thinking of where you're going!”

 

Shuuichi beamed, “He's still taking me out?! Yahoo!!” He punched a fist in the air and leapt into the elevator as it opened. His bandmates followed. As they rode the lift to the floor their studio was on, Shuuichi contemplated where to have Yuki take him.

 

After a few minutes, silent except for Shuuichi humming along to the Nittle Grasper instrumental playing in the elevator as he thought, the doors opened on their floor and all three exited to head to their studio.

 

When they walked in, Sakano was already waiting for them.

 

“Where's K?” Shuuichi wondered aloud, though he didn't really mind the absence of the gun-toting manager. It was just simply odd that he hadn't been with them in the studio the past couple of days they'd been there.

 

“I have no idea,” Sakano explained, shrugging with his hands up and shaking his head.

 

“He's been missing a lot lately,” Hiro remarked.

 

“Shachou isn't in his office, either—”

 

“No K and no Seguchi-san? Great, today's going to be a breeze!” Shuu exclaimed, looking triumphant.

 

Just then, Noriko burst into the room, “Don't relax just yet, you slackers!” She shook her cell phone at them and said, “I just got off the phone with K. He'll be here in a couple hours, so get your butts in gear.”

 

“And… Shachou?” Sakano asked.

 

Noriko shook her head, “I still don't know where Touma is. Mika said he would be with Ryuichi, but Ryu was all alone in the studio this morning. I was just heading back there now to ask him if he knew.”

 

Shuuichi's eyebrows rose. “So Sakuma-san really is back?!”

 

Hiro looked at him, “You knew he was back, Shuuichi?”

 

The pink haired vocalist shook his head, “I just thought I saw him running out of the building as we drove up, but I wasn't sure.”

 

“What?!” Noriko exclaimed. “You mean he's run off again?! Oh, Ryu-chan, what am I going to do with you? The surprise is no good if you're not here!” With no more explanation, she ran off.

 

The men in the room stared after her for a minute, then Sakano broke the silence.

 

Adjusting his glasses, he cleared his throat to get the band's attention. “Y-yes, well… anyway, although K-san is not here yet, we do still have work to do.”

 

So they got to it. Suguru had a couple new compositions he'd been working on the past week, and wanted to try them out with Hiro's guitar accompaniment; Shuuichi kept half an eye on them as he tried to write more new lyrics. The two finally took a break a few minutes before 9am, and Shuuichi decided he needed a stretch as well when Suguru went to get a coffee.

 

“So? Spill it!” Shuuichi demanded of Hiro as the guitarist set down his instrument.

 

“Spill what?”

 

“Don't give me that, Hiro. Fujisaki, Fujisaki!! I know something happened with you two this time! Don't even try to deny it!”

 

“Shuuichi, nothing happened,” Hiro deadpanned.

 

“Oh, come on, Hiro! Calling each other by your given names suddenly? Plus he slept in your bed this morning—”

 

“That's because you were on the couch, baka,” Hiro interrupted.

 

Shuuichi stuck his nose in the air. “That's beside the point. And besides, that doesn't account for the sudden change in names.”

 

“Look, I told him he's our friend now, so he should address us more informally. He'll call you Shuuichi, too, if you ask him to. It's not a big deal, so will you cool it already?”

 

Shuuichi scowled pointedly at Hiro for a long few seconds before saying coolly, “I can't believe what a coward you are.”

 

“What?!”

 

“Look, Hiro, you've liked Fujisaki for awhile now. There's no excuse you can give that's a good enough reason not to tell him. Besides, that guy could really do with some loosening up, and I think you're perfect for the job!”

 

“Shuuichi—”

 

Shuu shook his head firmly, “No, Hiro, I'm not listening to your reasoning. If you don't tell him soon, I will!”

 

Hiro rolled his eyes, “Shuuichi…”

 

The singer put a hand up to silence him. “If you're thinking of using his `love makes people crazy and I have no interest' line as an excuse, you can spare me. Come on, what's the big deal? Just ask him on a date! You don't even have to say it's a date, just ask him to go out somewhere, just the two of you!”

 

Hiro sighed, sitting down. “Will you get off my case if I do?”

 

Nodding, Shuuichi answered, “Yep, I will, I promise.”

 

“Fine, fine, I'll ask him.”

 

Seconds later, Suguru returned, sipping his can of coffee. Shuuichi gave Hiro a pointed look. Then he announced that he needed some caffeine as well, and bounded from the room, conveniently leaving his two bandmates alone.

 

Gathering his confidence, Hiro turned to Suguru. “So, your tutor comes tonight, right Suguru?”

 

The boy nodded, “Yes.”

 

“How long does that usually last? I mean… think you have time to hang out after?”

 

Suguru quirked an eyebrow at him, “Another drinking lesson already?”

 

Hiro chuckled, but it seemed just a tad on the nervous side. “Ah, no, no. You should take a break this week and we can pick back up next weekend if you want.”

 

“Then… why…?” he left the unfinished question dangling in the air.

 

“Ah, you see… there's this… movie… that I wanted to see. Yeah. It's supposed to be really good, but it's from America, so it has subtitles and Shuuichi doesn't want to see it. I just thought, maybe you wouldn't mind checking it out with me?”

 

Suguru looked thoughtful, then nodded, “Okay, Hiro, I suppose that would be alright. My tutor leaves at 6.”

 

“Great, then I'll pick you up at 6:30. We'll have enough time to grab a bite to eat beforehand.” He grinned and Suguru couldn't help his small smile in return.

 

Several minutes later, Shuuichi finally returned with his drink. The smug smile the vocalist wore made Hiro highly suspect that the reason Shuu had taken so long was because he'd waited around the doorway to make sure Hiro asked Suguru out. Hiro sighed to himself and shook his head slightly. It didn't matter, as long as Shuuichi didn't make a big deal out of it in front of Suguru. If Shuuichi started going on about them going on a date, Suguru would no doubt get mad and back out. Especially since Hiro hadn't exactly labeled it as such to the teen, since Suguru had made it clear the night before that he wasn't interested in romantic relationships.

 

The three of them were about to start working together, composing music for one of Shuuichi's new songs, when Shuu's phone started ringing from his backpack. Apparently Yuki had made sure to put it in there for him when he'd given Shuu's clothes to Hiro that morning.

 

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

 

Ryuichi ran from his penthouse and punched the button to the elevator, which immediately opened for him since it had never left his floor since his previous ride up not even twenty minutes before. He got in and pushed the `door close' button before turning around and punching the wall of the elevator. Then he slid down into the corner, clutching Kuma tightly to himself as he rocked back and forth, not even able to bring himself to chew on the rabbit's ears in his usual self-comforting manner. Tears; the tears he had refused to shed in front of Touma, now shed freely, streaming down the distraught vocalist's face without hindrance.

 

Ryuichi's mind reeled. How had this happened?! When he'd gone to Shuuichi's apartment that night, he'd thought nothing of his pink haired friend's state of undress. Ryuichi just thought he'd just gotten out of the shower. Tatsuha was there, too, but Ryuichi hadn't thought anything of it. Why would he?!

 

Besides, Tatsuha had immediately tackled him, and Ryuichi had seen the look of lust in his eyes; hadfelt the boy's hardness for him. It had immediately sparked that creature inside Ryu; the one that knew he could have a lot of fun with that boy, that he could do whatever he wanted; and the teen would enjoy it, too.

 

But what if he'd been wrong? What if Tatsuha's obvious lust had merely been there because of Shuuichi? Touma said Shuuichi was always complaining about Tatsuha, which would mean he didn't want Tatsuha, wouldn't it? It would mean that Shuuichi always refuses Tatsuha, right? After all, Shuuichi loves Yuki; of course, wasn't that the reason Tatsuha had dressed as Yuki to convince Shuu? Was Tatsuha just so happy to see Ryuichi because Shuuichi had once again refused him? Was Ryuichi merely a convenient ringer for Tatsuha's true desired lover? Was Ryuichi, once again, someone else's inferior replacement?

 

But then his breath hitched as he stopped his crying to hear the more rational voice in his head.

 

(You know you can't simply take Touma at his word. You saw the anger in his eyes. The desperation. He would do anything to horde you to himself, even lie.)

 

Sniffling, but wiping the now drying tears from his face, Ryuichi nodded and stood slowly.

 

“Yeah, something wasn't right. I have to know for sure though. Shuuichi would never lie to me, I'll ask him!” Unfortunately, he found that his phone was actually dead as he'd told Touma. That was okay, though. Shuuichi should be at NG this morning, so Ryu would just go back and ask him there. Asking face to face would ensure the other singer couldn't lie to him, anyway. He was still rather drained from all the energy he'd used this morning already, plus his lack of sleep the night before, so he decided he would need a ride.

 

Just then, the elevator started moving. Apparently someone in the lobby had pushed the call button. When the doors opened, Ryu stepped out as someone else stepped in, and he walked up to the concierge at the front desk.

 

“May I help you, Sakuma-san?” the older man asked.

 

“Hai,” Ryuichi said, forcing a smile no amateur could read through. “I need a ride to the studio today, na no da.” He didn't normally use the service the apartment management provided to its wealthier inhabitants, as Touma usually sent a driver for him if he didn't walk. Obviously, that wasn't an option today, though.

 

“No problem, Sakuma-san. The limo has not been taken out yet today. I can have the driver out front in five minutes.”

 

Ryuichi nodded and left the building to wait. Just as the man had said, a black limo pulled up in front of him in five minutes on the dot. The driver got out and opened Ryuichi's door for him.

 

As he was driven to the NG building, they were soon caught in morning traffic, and Ryuichi felt himself growing irritable with impatience and worry. He began doubting himself again, and didn't think he could wait much longer to get the answer he sought. Besides, if the answer Shuuichi gave him wasn't what Ryuichi wanted to hear, did he really want to risk a breakdown in front of the younger singer who he knew looked up to him and who he considered a good friend? No, he didn't want that at all.

 

`Besides, even if I can't ask him face to face, I know Shuu-chan would never lie to me,' he reasoned to himself. Making sure the privacy window between him and the driver was up all the way, he got his phone from Kumagorou and fished around to also pull out his portable charger, plugging it into the car's cigarette lighter. After a minute or two, he was able to dial Shuuichi's number.

 

“Moshi moshi,” Shuuichi greeted happily, and Ryu forced himself not to sound distraught.

 

“Shuu-chan, hello, na no da!”

 

“S-Sakuma-san— I mean, Ryuichi! Hello.”

 

“Shuu-chan, Ryu-chan heard a rumor, na no da,” Ryu began, trying to make it more lighthearted than it was, in case Shuu felt awkward about the question.

 

“What rumor?”

 

“Is it true that Tatsuha-kun tried to have sex with Shuu-chan the other night before I came to get you?”

 

He heard Shuuichi gasp, but no answer came from the teen right away. As seconds passed, Ryuichi's hopes sunk lower and lower. Finally, Shuu replied, “Sakuma-san, who told you that? Did Tatsuha-san tell you?”

 

“Touma did.” Ryuichi frowned deeply at his own quick, unguarded reply. However, he pushed on, “So, does that mean it's true, Shuuichi?”

 

Shuuichi didn't hear his question, as Ryu then heard the other man's voice some distance from the phone saying, “Damn that Seguchi-san! First he blames me for Tatsuha-san kidnapping Sakuma-san, then he goes and tells Sakuma-san about what Tatsuha-san did to me?!! Not to mention what happened this morning with him and Yuki! Damn, that Seguchi pisses me off! What's next—”

 

Ryuichi hung up before he could hear the rest of Shuuichi's rant. He'd heard what he needed to hear anyway. He was slightly surprised to realize he hadn't started crying again. Though, indeed, it did hurt to find that Touma's words had been true, Ryuichi felt a strange sort of calm having been given the answer by a ranting Shuu.

 

He pushed the intercom button nearby that would let him talk to the driver, and told the man not to worry about getting to the studio. He didn't care where they went, he just wanted him to drive. Ryu needed some time to think.

 

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

 

Shuuichi finally finished his rant several minutes later and realized he'd left Ryuichi on the phone he'd dropped halfway across the room.

 

“Gomen, Sakuma-san, I didn't mean to go off like that— Sakuma-san? Sakuma-san?” Shuuichi looked at his phone in confusion.

 

“He probably got tired of hearing your rant and hung up,” Suguru remarked. Hiro nodded along with him.

 

Shuuichi was going to call back to apologize, but then Sakano burst into the room from wherever he'd been, announcing in a panic they needed to decide on the track order for the new album before he could put it into production. The band was then distracted in this immediate task, and Shuuichi forgot about calling.

 

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

 

Around 9am, Yuki breathed a sigh of relief, leaning back in his chair after finally saving and printing the document he'd been working on since the previous morning. He turned off his computer and gathered all his papers into the folder he would be taking to his editor later that day, setting it on his desk for easy access. Then, finally, he allowed himself to turn his mind to more important matters. Namely, getting some much needed sleep.

 

However, once he was in his bed, eyes closed, intent on catching some Z's, he found he simply couldn't. There was something nagging in his mind, not allowing him to relax, though he wasn't quite sure what it was. He decided to have a beer or two to help him relax, but as he passed through the living room on his way to the kitchen, something caught his eye and he stopped.

 

Big Kumagorou, in all his pink plushie glory, still sat mutilated on his couch… and it was staring at him accusatorily. Sighing, he scratched his hand through the back of his hair, still unable to take his eyes off it. Then he decided on a cigarette rather than the beer. He wasn't going to get any sleep today anyway. Not if he planned to get that thing fixed before his `date' with Shuuichi.

 

But there was the catch. How exactly did one go about getting a huge pink stuffed rabbit repaired… discreetly? Yuki rolled his eyes as he realized he would most likely have to call an expert; and he really didn't want to call this expert. Nevertheless… it was for Shuuichi, wasn't it?

 

Yuki grumbled to himself as he found Ryuichi's phone number in Shuuichi's section of his directory, which had been painstakingly organized by Yuki himself after trying to find Hiro's number on some random paper in a pile of other random papers that Shuuichi kept. He dialed the number and grumbled more at getting the voicemail and having to leave a message about tailor services for large pink bunnies. He optednot to leave the message.

 

There had to be someone else he could call for this sensitive information. Maybe that Noriko chick would know? Shuuichi didn't have her number, as far as Yuki had seen, and he didn't want to call Touma for it, so he tried to think of another solution. He momentarily thought about calling Hiro. After all, the guitarist already knew about the bunny, and he would no doubt appreciate Yuki's effort at being a `good boyfriend'(Yuki had to roll his eyes again at this thought.); maybe he would have a suggestion. And even if Hiro didn't know where to get the thing fixed, he did work in the same building as the people that probably would, and could no doubt find out for the novelist. However, Yuki didn't want to chance Shuuichi finding out he was calling, or what he was calling for, so the novelist decided against that idea as well.

 

Grasping for one more option, Yuki finally figured he might as well call Mika. She had also seen the bunny that morning, and could surely give him Noriko's number if she didn't know where to get it fixed. So he dialed his sister's cell phone number, knowing she was on her way to Kyoto with Tatsuha.

 

When she answered, he got straight to the point. “Aneki, do you have any idea where Sakuma-san gets these bunny things of his? I need to find some place that can fix Shuuichi's without making a fuss about it.”

 

“Fix it? If you're talking about that one you had on your couch this morning, it looked fine to me.”

 

“Yeah, well, that was before your husband got his hands on it,” Yuki remarked dryly.

 

“Huh?” she asked cluelessly. “What did Touma do?”

 

“He fucking went on a rampage in my apartment and ripped it to shreds, supposedly looking for Sakuma-san! Look, I really don't want to talk about it right now; I'm pissed off enough as it is. Just tell me if you know how to fix it, or give me Ukai-san's phone number so I can ask her.”

 

There was a pause, but then Mika spoke and gave him the number. He said a short `thank you' before hanging up and dialing the number he'd just received.

 

The female keyboardist was more than a little surprised that he was calling her, but when she heard the reason, which Yuki omitted Touma from just to avoid further explanation to his brother-in-law's bandmate, she gladly offered to help. Noriko said she could fix it easily if he bought the supplies, but that he would have to bring it to her at NG if he wanted her to do it.

 

This was how a grumbling Yuki found himself in a line of middle- and senior-aged women at a nearby craft and fabric store, holding a package of different sized needles, a couple spools of pink thread, a large bag of stuffing, and fabric glue; all things Noriko had specifically detailed to him over the phone.

 

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

 

Just after 8am Noriko could be found running through the halls of NG looking for Ryuichi. Of course, the first place she checked was the studio she had left him in, but he wasn't there. If Shuuichi was right, and Ryuichi had left the building already, Noriko had to find him! Tatsuha was on his way here, and although it would still be at least a couple hours before he got there, she wanted Ryuichi to be here to meet him when he showed up. In order to make sure they had their sweet reunion, she needed to find and keep tabs on her best friend the entire time until Tatsuha returned.

 

After looking in all of Ryuichi's favorite places in the building, Noriko decided to check in with security again to see if they'd seen the man leave. Luckily, the eager to help security guard did remember seeing Ryuichi run out through the lobby, so Noriko was able to abandon her search of the building, as the security guard said he hadn't seen Ryu come back yet. Noriko asked the guy to call her if he saw Ryuichi return, and he was happy to comply to the request.

 

She then tried Ryu's cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail, and Noriko cursed Ryuichi's habit of forgetting to charge his phone simply because he bought `awesome batteries'. Then she remembered what Mika had said about expecting Touma to be with Ryuichi. Maybe Ryuichi was with him now, so she tried Touma's phone again, but still got the voicemail there and cursed again.

 

Eyebrow twitching in annoyance and impatience, Noriko was very close to getting in her car and going on a street by street search for her friend when she was pulled aside by Touma's harassed looking secretary. The woman said Touma had an important meeting that morning, starting in just a few minutes, but he still wasn't there. She asked if Noriko could attend instead, since it was too late to reschedule without seeming highly unprofessional. The purple haired woman insisted she had nothing to do with the business side of NG, but she couldn't help but sympathize at least a little with the woman. After all, Touma and Ryuichi's absence was causing Noriko some trouble as well; she could only imagine what the poor woman in front of her was facing when the president of the company wasn't around for an important meeting. Noriko promised to attend the meeting, but decided she would force Sakano into it as well. After all, he was at least a little more involved with the `company' side of things than she was.

 

Noriko returned to Bad Luck's studio and pulled their producer from the room while the boys were distracted with their work. Luckily, the meeting only lasted half an hour and she and Sakano were able to return to what they were doing previously. However, as Noriko was again considering leaving to look for Ryu, she had another idea. It might be a long shot, but she could try calling the front desk at Ryuichi's apartment complex. They had fielded calls for him before when Ryuichi couldn't be reached on his cell phone. So Noriko called and found, to her surprise and joy, that Ryuichi had just been picked up by limo to come back to the studio! What luck!

 

Almost as soon as she hung up from that call, Noriko's phone rang. This time it was Yuki. She agreed to help him with his Kumagorou problem, though she wondered how exactly it had gotten so messed up when she was sure Ryuichi had gotten it for Shuuichi just last week. She didn't press the issue, though, since she'd seen for herself what kind of antics both Ryuichi and Shuuichi could get up to and had no doubt of the effect it had on those around them— even giant plushies. Even if Yuki would give an answer to that, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

 

Noriko waited in the lobby for Yuki's arrival, also watching for Ryuichi. Thirty minutes passed, and Noriko was starting to wonder where Ryuichi was. Hoping it was just the morning traffic keeping him, she got up from her seat to walk to Yuki as she saw him enter the building carrying a small pink plastic bag, and a large, very deformed, black trash bag. Quirking a brow at this, she earned a stern scowl that told her not to say a word. Figuring he'd probably earned enough odd looks this morning, she let the look slide and simply led him up to Touma's office so she could use the scissors from his secretary's desk.

 

When Yuki removed the poor Kumagorou from the misshapen trash bag, she gasped at the shape it was in.

 

“I think you may have done more harm than good by bringing it here in that,” she remarked.

 

Yuki scoffed, “The most I did was break an extra stitch or two and maybe lose some more stuffing. Can we just skip the small talk and get to work? I'd like to have this load off my mind so I can get some sleep before I see my damn editor.”

 

“My, my, mouthy today aren't we?”

 

Rather than answer, he pointedly held the pink craft store bag out to her, and she finally set to the task of repairing what, unbeknownst to her, Touma had done.

 

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

 

Touma had no idea how long he sat on the floor, sobbing and wallowing in his own misery. Finally, though, the tears would come no more, and he was left simply feeling empty. Alone and empty and full of regret.

 

What had he done? How could he have been so cruel to Ryuichi? How could he hurt him and push him away like that? Touma needed Ryuichi, he couldn't bear to be without him. The three years they'd had apart had proven that. Touma had been so worried that things would change between them while he was away, that he had convinced K to make sure no one got closer to Ryuichi than Touma was. Even if Ryuichi couldn't love him back as Touma had realized back then that he wished Ryu would, Touma was still the closest with Ryuichi intimately, and he hadn't wanted that to change. He had wanted to remain Ryuichi's best friend and the only lover he would return to.

 

Touma still wanted that. Oh what had he done? Rather than convincing Ryuichi of how much Touma needed him, the blonde had brought him into this room and asked for him to be someone else. He hadn't thought it would end so tumultuously, but then… he hadn't really been thinking at all, had he? He had simply felt, so strongly, that he needed this from Ryuichi so badly and nothing would deter him from it.

 

Still, he didn't quite understand how things had gone so bad so fast. Ryuichi had never complained about it before, had he? Suddenly, Ryuichi had thrown things in Touma's face, spitting venom with the words that still scarred Touma. He had completely torn apart not only Touma's fantasy, but his confidence that, no matter what, he always had Ryuichi. It had pushed Touma to the point of trying to hurt Ryuichi by twisting the truth about Tatsuha, as he'd realized that past Friday that he could. In the end, though, could that really help Touma in keeping Ryuichi? Obviously, he had made a slight error in judgment by ever believing so.

 

Slowly, Touma pulled himself up from the floor. He walked from the room that was now in shambles and closed the door, trying to shut away the memories of that morning with the rest of the disaster in there. It didn't work, however, and he felt another wave of sadness go through him, chilling him as the whole scene kept repeating through his mind.

 

Touma went into the large bathroom and decided to take a shower, hoping to wash some of the disgust he felt with himself away. The water was hot, almost scalding, but he paid no mind to the pain as he scrubbed and scrubbed and then merely stood under the cascading water until it became cold enough to make his teeth chatter. Then he left the shower, dried himself, blow dried his hair, and redressed. When he finally was out in the living area again, he saw that the time was 9:25.

 

Suddenly, Touma's eyes were wide, realizing how late to work he was. He was supposed to have a meeting that morning too! He got out his phone to call his secretary, but soon realized that the battery had died. The blonde cursed the sub par battery his new phone contained, and hurried from the apartment and down to his car in the garage, plugging his phone into the charger that was connected to his in-dash cigarette lighter. He tried putting the call in to his secretary then, but the phone couldn't seem to get a signal. So Touma decided to screw it, and to get in to the office as quickly as he could instead.

 

Maybe, if he was lucky, Ryuichi would have gone back to NG after running away. Maybe Touma could try again to make things right between them. Kami knew he wanted to; needed to. Oh, he hoped and prayed he could.

 

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

 

Just before 10, Ryuichi came to a decision. Even if Tatsuha loved Shuuichi, it wasn't the same as Touma loving Eiri. Tatsuha hadn't asked anything of Ryuichi the way Touma had, had he? No, he hadn't. And they had a lot of fun together. At least, Ryuichi thought they did. Ryuichi definitely had. Did Tatsuha?

 

He found that his thoughts were wandering again, and reiterated the thought to himself that he had come to a decision. No matter who Tatsuha had been seeing during their time together, he had still made Ryuichi feel loved. Tatsuha was kind and caring and fun to be with. He was a passionate lover; sensational even; with just the right amount of innocence mixed with his naughty words and actions to make him hot, endearing, and irresistible all at the same time. He deserved to be loved in return by the person he loved. But that person was Shuuichi, and Shuuichi loved Yuki.

 

But Ryuichi could be Tatsuha's Shuuichi. He knew he could, and he was way better at imitating Shuuichi than Yuki. Hell, Shuuichi's personality really wasn't that much different from his own anyway, and he was a hell of a lot more fun to play than Yuki.

 

Even if it still hurt a little bit; even if he still wasn't being truly loved as himself, Ryuichi wanted to do this, this time. This time, Ryuichi was choosing to play. It was for Tatsuha, yes, but Tatsuha hadn't asked. Ryuichi would simply do it and hope the character he would play could eventually fade into the background and let him take its place permanently someday. He would play Shuuichi for Tatsuha, and Tatsuha would be loved as he deserved. And maybe, just maybe, Ryuichi would feel loved back.

 

Before he could really do this, though, he needed to perfect his act. As much as he'd tried, he knew he'd never been able to fully capture Yuki in his imitation. It wasn't so easy to pretend to be someone else in bed when you'd never actually seen them in action. This time, though, he would be sure his act was perfect.

 

Ryu noticed that the limo was near NG in its aimless drive now, and he told the driver to take him there. He hurried inside, went to a washroom to make sure he looked his part, then found a dark, deserted, rarely used room. During the drive, his cell phone had been able to charge up a bit, so he got it out and sent a text message.

 

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

 

In the middle of a fight between Shuuichi and Suguru about which song would be a better follow up for the slow love song they'd decided would be track 8, the pink haired singer's cell phone received a text message. Looking a mixture of surprised, confused and curious, he told his band mates that he would be right back. Then he left the room for a different room he'd never been in before.

 

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

 

Noriko finally finished up Big Kumagorou's repair and presented Yuki with her finished product. He actually looked appreciative as he thanked her, and she smiled at this, suggesting just a tad forcefully that he take it to Shuuichi right that minute. No doubt, a mid-day visit from the teen's normally aloof lover would put a fire under the boy's ass to get things done in the studio. Yuki scowled, wanting nothing more than to stuff the repaired rabbit back in the horrible bag and go home. After a bit more prodding, though, the tall blonde finally agreed, and they got on an elevator together to get to the lower floor.

 

Just as they stepped off the lift, Noriko received a phone call from the security guard, Kenichi. Ryuichi had finally returned! Noriko thanked Kenichi and told Yuki what studio number to go to before getting back on the elevator. Ken told her Ryuichi had gone to a certain usually-abandoned lounge, and Noriko figured he must be up to more sulking if he went out of his way to find that room. She decided she should go back down to the lobby to meet up with Tatsuha when he got there, and let the boy take care of Ryuichi from there. Knowing the way K drove, it shouldn't be too much longer before they were back.

 

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

 

Tatsuha made it into downtown Tokyo right around 10. He'd had a couple close calls during his drive, narrowly avoiding a couple accidents and worrying more than a few times that he was going to be pulled over for his excessive speed. Nevertheless, he'd stayed in the clear and had managed to cut a fair chunk of time off the journey. Now that he was back in Tokyo, however, and so close to seeing Ryuichi again, he wasn't taking anymore chances. He followed all the rules of the road as he made his way to NG.

 

Once he was inside, though, he wasn't sure where to go. He decided to try going to the same floor he remembered Bad Luck working on, hoping Ryuichi would be working in a studio on that floor as well. When the doors to the elevator opened for him to enter, however, he knew he didn't need to try to guess anymore. Ukai Noriko stood before him, apparently on her way to the lobby to wait for him.

 

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

 

“Sakuma-san?” Shuuichi called as he opened the door to the darkened room and felt the wall for a light switch. Before he could find one, however, his hand was caught and he was pulled fully into the room. The door closed and there was only darkness and the tiny yet intense glimmer of someone's eyes.

 

“Wha—” he tried to ask, but his mouth was covered with a soft, asking kiss. Caught off guard, he returned it without thinking.

 

“Who do you love, Shuuichi?” a voice asked, and it sounded all at once familiar and alien. Who was this person? Wasn't Ryuichi supposed to be meeting him here?

 

“Yuki,” he answered. “I love Yuki.”

 

“Then let me be Yuki for you, Shuuichi.”

 

“Tatsuha, how many times do I have to tell you—” He cut himself off. Though it seemed almost as if someone was imitating Yuki's voice, he knew it wasn't Tatsuha. Though shorter than Yuki, Tatsuha was still taller than this person. “You're not Tatsuha,” Shuu then said in a suspicious tone, putting his guard up even more than he did with the black haired teen.

 

A light was flipped on then, but it was dim and distant; an old fluorescent bulb in a ceiling light near the back of the room. Shuuichi then saw who it was that held him against the wall, body flush against his.

 

“S-Sakuma-san!” he exclaimed in disbelief.

 

Ryuichi kissed his lips softly again before whispering in his ear, “Please, Shuuichi, call me Ryuichi.”

 

Shuuichi felt very weird. It was surprising but very flattering that Ryuichi would accost him like this, yet Shuu couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong here. Something besides the fact that Ryuichi was wanting him to cheat on Yuki with him, to the point of even… dressing… like… him…? Wait, was that Yuki's suit again? What was it about him that attracted people to stealing Yuki's clothes just to get in his pants?!

 

But back to the point, something else was wrong here.

 

“Why are you doing this, Ryuichi? You know I love Yuki, I don't want anyone else. You could have anyone else you wanted, why me?”

 

Ryuichi closed his eyes and shook his head with a small smile. “Don't misunderstand me, Shuuichi. I love you very much as a friend, but that's not why I'm doing this. I don't want you to cheat on Yuki-san, that's not what this is. I just need to, Shuuichi. I need to have sex with Shuuichi, so that I know how to make love like Shuuichi. Don't think of it as cheating, think of it as helping a friend in need. You can even call me Yuki if you like.”

 

With the end of his words, Ryuichi again caught Shuu's mouth up in a kiss, this time pressing his tongue between soft, strawberry-sweet lips and exploring just the tiniest bit until Shuuichi began responding and met Ryu's tongue with his own. When Ryuichi's hands ran down his chest and then up under his shirt, though, Shuuichi stopped the kiss and put his hands on Ryuichi's to stop them.

 

Ryuichi saw the confusion in Shuuichi's eyes and spoke, almost as if to himself, “That's right, I'm not Yuki-san yet. I will play Yuki-san one last time. I will be Shuuichi's Yuki so I can see the real Shuuichi.” Ryu looked questioning for a moment. “What is it he calls you…?” He paused a moment, then answered himself, “Kusou gaki.” It wasn't Yuki's voice, but it was very close; damn close. It sent a shiver through Shuu. Then the look in his eyes changed, and Shuu felt a twinge of excitement mixed with danger and slight fear before his mouth and tongue were forcefully taken hostage in a deep, mind numbing kiss, and Ryuichi's hands started moving on him again.

 

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

 

Yuki got to the studio Noriko had directed him to, but only found Suguru and Hiro there.

 

“Where's the brat?” he asked, startling them both slightly.

 

Hiro answered, “We don't know. He left a few minutes ago. Said he'd be right back, but…” He shrugged.

 

Yuki rolled his eyes, “Just great. I'm not waiting around here for him all day, so I'll just leave this with you guys and pick him up later.” At this, Yuki pulled in the huge Kumagorou he'd begrudgingly carried down the hallway for all to see, and plopped it on the small sofa that adorned the studio. Then he turned and made to leave, but Hiro stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

 

“Don't you think you should see him while you're here? Even if it was a misunderstanding this morning, you know how sensitive Shuu is. If he finds out you were here but didn't stay to see him, he'll be upset.”

 

“And then we won't get anything done the rest of the day,” Suguru agreed, glaring at Yuki.

 

Yuki's brow rose. “Who knows how long that brat will be, wherever it is he went?! You really have no idea?”

 

“He didn't say. He just got a message on his phone and said he would be right back,” Suguru replied.

 

Yuki dug the phone out from Shuuichi's open bag and found the message.

 

Shuuichi -

Urgent!

Come to Lounge B on 5th floor

Alone!

- Ryuichi

 

Frowning as he read, Yuki took the phone with him as he left the room with quick steps.

 

Hiro and Suguru watched him leave, waited a full two seconds, looked at each other, and then back toward the hallway. With no words in the whole exchange, they both left the studio to follow Yuki curiously.

 

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

 

Noriko gave Tatsuha her elevator, with instructions on where to find Ryuichi. She stayed in the lobby, waiting for the elevator beside his to come and take her back up to Touma's office. Apparently, NG's president still hadn't arrived today and Noriko was keeping an eye out for him. Tatsuha didn't mind at all that his sister's husband wasn't there to come between him and Ryuichi again.

 

“He'll be really happy to see you,” Noriko said before the elevator doors closed again. “He was missing you so much it was affecting his lyrics this morning!”

 

As the elevator climbed upwards towards the fifth floor, Tatsuha felt a surge of warmth spread from his heart through his soul at this statement. His absence had affected Ryuichi's songs?! Though he didn't wish for Ryuichi to feel sad or depressed, the fact that he had simply because Tatsuha wasn't with him made the teen love him even more.

 

The elevator finally stopped, and Tatsuha stepped out into the hallway.

 

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

 

Touma parked his Mercedes in the underground garage, then took the elevator from there to the top floor of NG. As he approached his secretary's desk to ask if she'd been able to reschedule his morning meeting, Noriko came out of the other elevator.

 

“Touma!” she exclaimed, causing him to turn around. “There you are! Where on earth have you been? Things have been crazy around here! Come in your office, we need to talk.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the door.

 

“I need to ask you something first, Noriko-san,” he said politely as she closed the office door behind them.

 

She cocked her head at him, “What?”

 

“Do you happen to know if Ryuichi-san is here? He came home last night, but wasn't at his penthouse just now.”

 

Noriko looked at him sternly, “Yes, he is here, Touma. In fact, he's what I need to talk to you about.”

 

“Can it wait a bit, Noriko-san? I really need to talk to Ryuichi right now—” he made to reach for the door handle, but she stopped him with a hand on his.

 

“This needs to be said first, Touma. Look, I know now the reason you made such a big deal over Ryuichi being gone.”

 

“You do?!” Touma couldn't suppress the shock in his voice. Had Ryuichi told her?!!

 

Noriko nodded, “I do. It wasn't too hard to figure out. You don't approve of Ryuichi having a relationship with Mika-san's little brother.”

 

Touma sighed mentally in relief. Okay, she was close, but still far off.

 

Unaware of his inner thoughts, she continued. “Touma, I've already discussed this with Mika-san and now I'm telling you. You need to let Ryuichi and Tatsuha-kun figure this out for themselves now. Tatsuha-kun isn't some little boy that you need to watch over and tell what to do. He's a man, and quite a handsome one at that, and Ryuichi really cares about him. According to Mika-san, Tatsuha-kun really cares about Ryuichi, too.”

 

Touma really didn't want to hear anymore, but Noriko still had more to say.

 

“Now, I know it's not really my place to tell you this, especially after all this time, but… Touma, Ryuichi used to be in love with you. For years, in fact. He always wanted to tell you, but didn't want to lose your friendship, so he kept it to himself. Nevertheless, when he found out you were getting married to Mika-san, he was devastated. I told him he needed to move on, but he was never really able to. Somehow he got it in his head that if you couldn't love him, that he didn't deserve love.

 

This morning, when he was upset earlier in the studio, he sort of hinted at that being why he sleeps around so much. I guess I always sort of suspected, but I never said anything before. Maybe I should have but… well, now is both of our chances to make it up to him!

 

I know it's not your fault that he fell in love with you even though you fell in love with Mika-san, but you have to admit you use his devotion to you quite a bit to your advantage. Your disapproval of him and Tatsuha-kun together is keeping him from taking the plunge into a real relationship, and that's just not fair to him or to Tatsuha-kun. If you'd seen Ryuichi this morning, Touma, you'd understand. He barely even talked to me! He's even holed himself up in that old lounge on the fifth floor to brood. That's why, today, I've taken it upon myself to get those two back together.”

 

Touma was dumbstruck. Why the hell was everyone choosing today to drop bombshells like this on him? Why couldn't Noriko have told him before now?! Ryuichi had really loved him! What a fool he'd been! He had to get to Ryuichi before Noriko could get him back with Tatsuha. Ignoring the rest of her words, Touma forced the door open, and ran down the stairs to the fifth floor.

 

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Tats turned a corner, and was halfway down the hall to the door on the next corner when he saw a blur of blonde from the corner of his eye.

 

“Aniki, what are you—” he stopped short when he saw the strange look in Yuki's eyes. Was that… worry? Before he could continue his questioning, he was joined by Hiro and Suguru, and all three males followed the blonde novelist to the door. As they all gathered around, the door was opened, and a collective gasp went through the group.

 

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A/N: So, there you have it. Chapter 16…

 

I really wanted to end it here. Are you mad? :p Gomen!! I've been planning this situation for soooo long, though, and couldn't resist cutting off at the dramatic cliffie again.

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Okay, I'm just kidding!! :p :p :p I really had planned to cut it off there, but I decided I might as well put the next part into this chapter as well. After all I've put you through with these boys the last few chapters, you deserve at least a little bit of a break nya.

 

So here it is: the rest of the scene!!

 

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The door opened, revealing Shuuichi and Ryuichi leaning against the wall by the door on the other wall, fully making out. Everyone gasped and exclaimed simultaneously.

 

“Shuuichi!!”

 

Tatsuha's voice.

 

“Sakuma!!”

 

Yuki's voice.

 

“Sakuma-san!!”

 

Hiro and Suguru together, as the owners of the first two voices sprung into action.

 

Yuki tore Ryuichi off of Shuuichi and pinned Nittle Grasper's vocalist against the wall by the neck.

 

“Just what in the hell do you think you're doing to my Shuuichi, Sakuma?!”

 

At the same time, Tatsuha had grabbed Shuuichi and shook him by the shoulders, demanding, “What were you doing to my Ryuichi?!!”

 

Then Tatsuha realized his Ryuichi was in danger, and immediately let go of Shuu, who fell into Hiro's opening arms as Tats leapt at his older brother. “Aniki, no!” he roared as he put his body between Yuki's and Ryuichi's, knocking the hand at Ryu's neck away and taking the punch intended for his love.

 

“T-Tatsuha-kun?” Ryuichi gasped.

 

Tatsuha glared at his brother, keeping his body in front of Ryu. Yuki grabbed his collar.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you, Tatsuha? Move out of the way so I can teach this guy a lesson.”

 

Tatsuha grabbed Yuki's collar in return. “No way, aniki, you're not touching my Ryuichi. No one is.” Then he cocked his head a little to give Shuuichi a glare as the pink haired singer approached. “Damn, Shuuichi, it's not enough that you already get to be around him more than me? You work with him, you hang out with him all the time, you get to sing with him in concert… he even knows you so well he can act like you on stage!But none of that is enough, now you have to do that with him too?! The other stuff I could forgive, but this… are you trying to piss me off?! Man, Shuuichi, and I thought we were family!”

 

“Shut up, Tatsuha! Like you're some angel? Need I remind you all the times you tried to molest me? I suppose next you're going to say that's my fault too?!”

 

“And why exactly were you making out with Sakuma-san, Shuuichi?” Yuki asked coldly.

 

Shuuichi hitched a breath as he heard and saw the coldness from Yuki.

 

“Yuki—” he started in a shaky voice, but he was cut off by a voice already full of tears.

 

“It's all my fault, don't be mad at Shuuichi,” Ryuichi declared, pressing on Tatsuha so he would move and stop protecting him. He didn't want Tatsuha hurt because of his own stupidity.

 

Tatsuha looked at him with concern. Yuki glared. Hiro and Suguru continued staring on in shocked silence. No one noticed the sound of someone else approaching and watching from outside the open door.

 

“I begged Shuuichi to do it,” Ryuichi continued, tears streaming continuously but silently down his face. “I didn't mean to hurt him or get him in trouble. I only wanted to learn. To be a better Shuuichi. A perfect Shuuichi. For Tatsuha-kun. Because I know…” He looked to the floor, not wanting to show his pain at his next words to anyone. “Because I know… that Tatsuha-kun really loves Shuuichi. I just thought, if I learn how to be the perfect Shuuichi… maybe… maybe… maybe Tatsuha-kun will love me too!!” Ryu's legs gave out then, and he slid unceremoniously down the wall to the floor.

 

Yuki took a few steps back in slight shock, wondering how the man had gotten such an idea in his head.

 

Tatsuha felt tears pricking his eyes, but held them back as he knelt beside Ryuichi. He put his finger under the singer's chin and lifted it to see his eyes, then gently wiped a trail of tears with his thumb.

 

“But Ryuichi,” he spoke softly and sincerely. “I do love you. It's you I love, not Shuuichi.”

 

Ryuichi avoided his eyes. “But… everybody knows how you go after Shuuichi. I didn't want to believe it when Touma told me, but Shuuichi even admitted that you tried to have sex with him. Shuuichi doesn't lie to me, Tatsuha. You wanted Shuuichi, but couldn't have him, so you settled for me instead. I understand now. It's okay, I don't blame you. I just wanted to make Tatsuha happy.” He smiled a small, watery smile.

 

Tatsuha looked slightly ashamed at this. “It is true that I did that to Shuuichi, I can't deny that. But it wasn't because I love Shuuichi. It's because I love you! Shuuichi looks so much like you sometimes, I can hardly stand it! He gets to be with you, he looks like you, he has your instant attention whenever he's in a room. I wanted that! I was so jealous of him, but at the same time I thought he was the closest I would ever get to touching the real thing! I don't want you to be Shuuichi, Ryuichi. I want you to be you!”

 

Ryuichi's eyes sparkled with unshed tears as he searched Tatsuha's eyes and found only truth. No. Truth and love.

 

“What you have is an obsession with a fantasy,” a new voice spoke, and everyone turned in shock to see Touma walking into the room. “How can you claim to love Ryuichi-san? You don't even know him.”

 

Touma ignored Yuki and Tatsuha's almost twin glares as he approached and knelt on the other side of Ryu.

 

“Ryuichi-san, I am so sorry. I never realized the pain I was causing you in my love for you, but I do now. I promise, I'll never hurt you again, so please, come back to me. I love you, Ryuichi-san, and you love me, too. Noriko-san told me, and I understand now. Come back to me, Ryuichi-san.”

 

Everyone was too caught up in the latest development to notice the addition of four other people to the room at their backs.

 

Touma held out a hand to help Ryuichi up, and the vocalist took it. Touma smiled warmly at him, and put a hand up to wipe away new stray tears, but Ryuichi avoided his touch and took his hand from Touma's grasp.

 

Ryuichi's eyes narrowed to slits as he said, “No, Touma. I'm not coming with you. You heard Tatsuha. He loves me. It's not like you said. It's not like you said at all. I don't have to pretend anymore; I don't have to act. I can just be me, and he will be happy. The way you never could. And then, I can be happy, too. Truly happy.”

 

Touma scoffed, “You think you can be happy with a child? He's half your age, you should never have even touched him!”

 

“Tch, like that really matters to you. I'm half your age, and it didn't stop you,” Suguru said under his breath. Hiro just barely caught it, but had no time to react before Ryuichi yelled his next words.

 

“A child? A child?!! And what was Yuki-san when you started lusting after him? Younger than Tatsuha, wasn't he? Yet, that didn't stop you from fantasizing about him. Oh, sure, you may not have actually touched him, but pretending I was a young teen boy sure got you off pretty well, didn't it?!! Tatsuha is hardly a child. In fact, he's more of a man than you'll ever be, Touma! He knows the real way to love is to give it freely. You've always only used it to control.”

 

“That's not true!” Touma insisted. “I love you—”

 

“And why are you suddenly saying this now? Because I left you, that's why! I finally came to my senses, like I tried to when I left three years ago, and left you completely this morning. So now what do you do? Tell me lies about Tatsuha and then suddenly declare your love for me!! Don't you see, Touma? You don't love me. You only ever want what you can't have. Everything and everyone else, you use, abuse, and take for granted. Guess what, Touma? The world doesn't revolve around you! And neither do I anymore!!”

 

Suddenly everything was dead silent as Touma stood there, aghast at everything that had been said, and in front of everyone. Had he no dignity left whatsoever?

 

If he did, the little bit that remained was taken away in the next second, as a hard punch landed against his left jaw and cheek. Tatsuha brought his arm back for another swing, but it was caught in Ryuichi's hands as Sakano suddenly jumped in the path of the punch.

 

“Seguchi,” Yuki finally spoke after so long. “I suggest you get out of here, or quite a few of us in this room won't be held responsible for what may happen.”

 

Without a word, eyes still wide, hand over his painful jaw, Touma retreated and left the room. Sakano made to chase after him, but Mika, K, and Noriko blocked his way.

 

“B-but… Shachou—”

 

“Have you even been paying attention, Sakano?” Noriko exclaimed. “If you go after him now, you're just enabling Touma's problem.”

 

Mika sighed heavily. “Yes. If anyone goes after him, it will be me.”

 

Sakano looked at her expectantly, but she made no move to leave. He looked like he would speak again, but Ryuichi spoke first.

 

“I am so sorry, Mika-san. I let this go on for too long. I should never have allowed it to begin with.”

 

Mika shook her head, “No, it was as much my fault as yours. I should have known I would never be enough to replace Eiri, I just never thought it would go as far as it did. He made you dress like this?!” She indicated the suit Ryuichi was still wearing from that morning.

 

“Wait,” Yuki spoke again. “You knew about all this? The affair and the obsession with me?”

Mika nodded. “I'm so sorry, Eiri. I just wanted to protect you. We both did. After what happened with—” she paused. “Well, after what happened in New York, Touma couldn't bear the thought of what his love for you might do to you. I knew, but went along with our marriage anyway.”

 

“So, you're telling me your marriage is all a sham?”

 

“No! Or at least… it wasn't… to begin with. We really did love each other, and our love for you and desire to protect you brought us closer afterwards. As time went on, I suppose we gradually grew apart; distant. At some point, I don't even know when, it seems our love and the justification behind our relationship became this twisted, awful thing instead.” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Maybe I should leave him just like Sakuma-san. Maybe then he would say he loves me again with the same passion he declared just now for Sakuma-san.”

 

Mika covered her face as tears started to fall, and Noriko put her arms around the brown haired woman, trying to soothe her. “Come on, Mika-san, let's get you something to drink,” the female keyboardist said, leading her from the room.

 

“Well, this has been some morning!” K exclaimed when the women were gone, startling the frazzled Sakano. He put on a jovial act, but in reality he was still trying to wrap his brain around all he'd just learned about Ryuichi, Touma, and Mika. And just that morning he'd been blaming himself for Ryuichi's troubles in love!

 

“Well Tatsuha,” Yuki spoke then. “Now that I finally have you here, maybe you can explain to me what happened to my real suit?” The blonde novelist turned to glare at his younger brother… but there was no one there. Ryuichi was gone too.

 

Yuki, Shuuichi, Hiro, Suguru and Sakano stood in the room, and then in the hallway, looking in every direction and wondering where the couple had gone. K merely laughed… and laughed… and laughed.

 

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

Real A/N: The end!!!

 

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….NOT!! lol, sorry, you've probably had enough of my antics nya… What can I say, it's 6am and I've been up allll night typing. (ah, well it was 6… now it's actually almost 4pm lol… fell asleep writing review replies, running on 3 hours sleep now that I finally could get back to this) I was determined to finish this damn chapter because I wanted to finish it by Wednesday, but I could not for the life of me manage to stay up at all this week to write!

 

Aaaanyway, I don't know how I feel about how the last part here came out. Basically, it's exactly what I wanted, yet I know it's also quite changed from how I'd originally been planning it, but I hadn't written up my original which is bad with my memory. I don't know if I'm completely satisfied with the big end scene, but… well, I reached my goal of having Touma thoroughly told off. So, yay! One big accomplishment. Secondly, I set things up for the final chapter: SMUTFEST!!! Yes, you read right! Next chapter, the triumphant return of the whole reason I started this fic to begin with!! *shock*

 

Review Replies: I want to say right up front what a pleasure it is reading everyone's reviews! They really make me smile and blush to know how emotionally involved everyone has become with the story. This chapter has yet again received 15 reviews, and despite the fact I've now been up foreverrrr adding 20 pages to the other 11 I had written bit by bit throughout the week, I'm going to try to reply to everyone.

 

Lamia: Sorry! I know I was layin' the angst on pretty thick. *hands tissue* I'm glad you still enjoy reading it, though! ^__^ Thank you so much for your review and compliments! *blush*

 

Shotsu: LOL, sorry about that. I never realized gurabiteshiyon had a limit in the textbox, so I had to split that chapter (and this one) into two. I know, I felt bad for Ryu too.. kinda hard not to, ne? Damn lying desperate Touma…

 

Freya: You almost cried?! Yay! Oh, I mean.. gomen T__T *hands tissue* It's nice to read that I made emotional impact with that chapter, though. And feeling sorta sorry for Touma, too? I have to admit, even though he's been such a bastard for much of this fic, I have continuously felt sorry for him also. He isn't absolute evil, he's just human… with a slightly fucked perspective of the world around him… *blush* Thank you so much for the compliment!

 

Dee: Wow, is my portrayal of him really that different? Subtle yet fierce? I think I like the sound of that… So is that good, then? Or bad? Or… other? Lol I have to say, as much as I'm happy everyone's feeling bad for Ryuichi as I do, I'm really happy to see so many people caring about Mika in this too! And yay for you cheering Suguru on!! I loved writing that part!! *huggles Suguru*

 

sakuma_sonnet: Yay! Go ahead, jump away! I'm glad you liked the studio part ^__^ I think I'm gonna hafta find that song you were listening to and check it out! Glad you liked Shuu's part and the Yuki and Hiro part, too! Ah, and thank you for not spoiling the manga… I really can't wait to read it!! But you say I did an amazing job despite not having read it all? Thank you! (Now I really can't wait to read the rest lol) Well, it turns out I couldn't fit it all into this chapter unless I made it ridiculously long (31 pages is already pretty borderline on that title lol) So there's still one more chapter and the epilogue. I'm flattered from your comments on the gift fic, and look forward to writing it!

 

Michelle: Thank you! As for more Y/S action… well… let's say the chances are good. :p Even if this was supposed to be a Ryu/Tats fic, well it has evolved quite a bit from its original plan anyway, so why not have it be a double main-pairing fic, nya. I'll just hafta see if my Y/S groove is back. Even if it may not come across as much, I feel I write them much differently than Ryu/Tats, so it's not exactly something I can just write and change the names on. ^__~

 

hirokine: Thank you! I'm happy you love it! ^__^ And that it made such an impact. Don't worry about feelin' a bit bad for Touma too, though! I actually do too. To every person's story, there is another side from someone else's POV, ne? He totally went off the scale with his last part in that scene, but I think a lot of us have done something stupid like that in the heat of the moment at one time or another. Maybe not to that extreme, but…

Ah, and you got a bit from Tats in the van this time around, though I know it wasn't much. I really had a lot to do this chapter just to set everything up for that big drama at the end, so I kind of didn't want to spend more time than necessary on everything else since I already knew it was going to be quite the long chapter anyway. But I'm glad you're looking forward to the sequel and I hope you liked this extra long chapter as well!

 

hirolover7: I'm glad you love the fic! Despite my empathy for Touma in this, I wholeheartedly agree with you on all that. The fact he doesn't see all his real problems in this whole ordeal is what makes him sad to me. He really does need his wake up call, doesn't he?? Thanks so much for reviewing!!

 

EIRI-CHICK: lmao, sorry Touma's bomb on Ryu pissed you off… was it cruel of me to end there? Lmao… well, I tried to assuage the agony with this chappie. ^__^ And I've actually been thinking for like the past 6 chapters or something that this should be in Angst or Drama cat. instead, but… well, when I started it, I fully expected it to be all smut… and now I can't change categories without deleting and reposting, which I SO DON'T wanna do *cries* So I settled for tweaking the summary a bit. :p One more smut-filled chapter and the epilogue, and this should be finito… Glad you're looking forward to the sequel!

 

Mizuko Sohma: *is glomped* *glomps back* Wow, you don't usually review, and I got you to review… twice??!! I feel honored, thank you! Lol, when people say how the emotion got them in different ways, I'm not sure how I should really react. Should I say, “sorry I scared you” or should I do what I want to do and say, “Yes! The suspense got to them!” ? Well, considering you liked the “Touma Ownage” so much, I suppose it's okay that I say “Yay!!” ^__~ And another person that feels sympathy with the Toumster, eh? I have to say, the fact that more people than me have said this, really makes my day! Thank you so much for your awesome compliments!! I blush to no end!!

 

Anon: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked how I characterized everyone, even if they ended up straying from canon ^__^ As for your PS… Yes, I knew there was a possibility Murakami-sensei was going to continue Gravitation manga, and found out back in January that she had finally started up again. It's so exciting!!

 

But I can't read it yet because 1) I haven't finished the first 12 volumes yet and 2) I don't have the cash right now to plunk down 210 yen per issue of Genzo, and would rather buy it in tankoubon form anyway. AkuTenshi and Aarinfantasy scanlated chapter 56-58, but stopped because Genzo is putting out an English trans. version of their web-manga-zine, and I haven't seen anyone else doing it yet, either. I had read somewhere *forgets where now* that Tokyopop would be publishing “volume 13” sometime this summer, but it seems that information was mistaken. The only thing gravitation-related I could find for TP's summer releases was the translation of the second novel… *haven't even read the first novel*

 

But anyway, aaaah!! Ryu x Shuu??? Waaaiiii I wanna reeeeeaaaaddd iiiiiitttt!!! *cries* I may get die hard YxS people yelling at me, and it may seem funny since I sooo love YxS too (and am *ahem* writing it..), but RxS is my all time fav pairing… ohhh tell me, tellll meeee!! NO WAIT, STOP!!! DON'T TELL ME, DON'T TELL ME!! *sobs with indecision and impatience* Okay, so yeah, no spoilers please!

 

ren: lol dude, I'm sorry for making you feel sad for Touma too… oh wait, no I'm not!! :p But yes, I knew you'd totally be feelin' the Ryu part because… well it was sad, wasn't it? Plus… you know… the whole “twins, wavelength, read each other's thoughts, share colds and hots hundreds of miles apart, know each other scary good, best friends” thing we got goin' on… Glad you liked the Hiro part, dude.. `twas kawaii, ne.. he is really a great guy nya… and Ryu's fit!! Ohh, you know how much I wanted to tell you about it??? Do you knowww?? Just by hinting at the wp I wanted made me want to >:) >:) >:) all over the place!! Which, btw, I still wish I had Suguru and Touma versions of my hot Ryu wp, plus still need good angsty Touma pics *cough* :p

 

Houseki: Yay, thanks for finally READING it lmao… and lmao dude “kick that bastard touma down and spit on him and piss on him and tell him what a fucktard he really is...(the way you handled it works just as well though ^__~)” is still like my favorite part of your review for some reason.. just CRACKED ME UP :p ohhh and “fukaku” lmao dude, you always forget which means which and it is funny to me… I guess cuz “hayaku” instantly makes me think of Sai being impatient with Hikaru on HnG, but you have yet to seeee it *sob* Oh, and of course the fact that there's like 50 million Gackt songs with “fukaku” in the lyrics (err.. ok, slight exaggeration :p ) ah and at least 1 Ryoma song ^__~ Oh! And the fact I've been reminding you which means which for over a year now ROFLMAO!!

 

But anyway, I'm glad you loved it dude, I'm glad you finally read it… and now I await you patiently for reading THIS one… (lmao *patiently* yeah right XD ) and yes dude, this coming to a close does mean I will be getting back to my crossovers… you know reading your new chap on Home made me want to write Inuyasha, so I am ALL OVER AND2 and UA as soon as DA is done!! Seeing as how these DA chapters keep getting longer and longer, I think I'm coming into some prime condition for UA again.. yep, yep *cracks knuckles* I'm ready to crank out those 25-40 pagers again! Now to reread the previous 18 chapters so I can remember what I need to do next… <.<

 

a_writer: *blush* I'm glad you liked it all so much! I really tried to make Ryu believable, even though I found myself thinking it might be too much. I could just imagine myself in that situation and I'd totally go nuts, so that's what happened! :p yeah dude… lol, wanting him to die seems to be a common sentiment lately, perfectly understandable *nods* on the lighter note, glad you're excited about the sequel! *happy dance with you* ^__^

 

Chihiro1985: Holy crap!! You left a super long review!! That is awesome!! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, wheeee!! And lol, I love how you wrote it while reading, so everything's like “current at that time comment, pertaining to whatever just happened in the fic” lmao, it was awesome.. made me giggle… it felt… very full of energy!! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter so much to cheer people on!! Or.. in the case of Touma, curse at :p Thank you so much for reviewing that way, it made me grin like

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See ya next chapter!

 

~ lg

 

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Thanks for Reading and Reviewing!!