Disclaimers: Gravitation (and the characters) does not belong to me. I have no money so suing is kind of pointless. The only people I own in this are Psy, CB, Sarah, and Jamie. Anybody who wants them is more screwed up than I am.

Notes: Shounen ai (no duh), meant to be sad but I’m not sure if it worked. Characters OOC (I suck at keeping them in character). My grammar sucks so be prepared to get very confused at most points.

~*Bloodred Valentine*~

"Please Yuki, you have to come," Shuichi tried once again, clenching his hands tightly, begging the tears not to come. He was so close, so close to loosing it again. He wanted to, but at the same time he didn't. He was trying to prove something to himself, but he was losing, badly.

"I have a deadline," Yuki answered emotionlessly, knowing how well he was hiding it before the younger boy. He wanted to go, and had promised Shuichi he would, but there was no way he was going to be able to. He had promised Shuichi so many other things since then that he hadn't had time to write. He couldn't ask for another extension, he couldn't.

"Yuki, it's Valentines day. I want to be with you, please." Yuki lit another cigarette and stared back at Shuichi, eyes cold. Shuichi flinched back from the annoyance in those eyes, the annoyance he knew he was to Yuki. It was almost enough to make him give up, but he wouldn't. Every time he cried Yuki gave in. He pitied him, that was all. Shuichi made him feel bad and Yuki did what he wanted. That wasn't what he wanted. He wanted Yuki to go to his concert because he loved him, not because he felt like he owed him something. Please. Let me know that I mean something to you.

"You've been with me, happy?" Yuki didn't like the words at all, but it was the only way he knew how to react. He was fighting a loosing battle. He wanted to go, especially knowing how much it meant to Shuichi. He could feel his own tears rising, much like the ones that hung silently in the corner of Shuichi's eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of him again, he hadn't wanted to before. Shuichi had turned him into such an emotional wreck. He'd have never cried over something so small before. Please. Don't make me loose to you again.

"It's not enough..." Shuichi stated softly, hanging his head to hide his face from Yuki. He couldn't stop them anymore. He'd lost, and he knew that Yuki would give in. Yuki always gave in, pitied him. Treated him like a child. Not that he normally minded, but he wanted to be respected just this once. Instead, he'd simply made a fool out of himself again. I feel more distant every time I cry. I don't want to loose you to my tears.

"Shuichi..." Yuki ran fingers through his light-colored hair, wondering how to work things out. He hated seeing Shuichi cry. He'd never seen him cry over anything other than himself, and to know such hurt. That was why he tried not to cry in front of Shuichi, he didn't want him to feel that way. "I can't. I'm...sorry. I want to, you know…you know I hate breaking my promises to you." That's why I never make them, because breaking them hurts you.

"Yuki..." He hadn't given in. Not even pity was enough this time, Yuki really didn't care. At least when Yuki pitied him he at least felt like Yuki cared a little about his feelings. Now he knew that Yuki felt nothing. Probably only gave in those times before because his crying was annoying. He was annoying. He was getting sick of admitting it but the more he was around Yuki the more his own voice started to grate on his nerves, the sicker he got of hearing himself talk. He didn't want to be the only one to talk anymore, the only one to break the silence. No matter how much he hated annoying Yuki, he couldn't stand the silence. Nothing good ever follows silence, and that's where he was now.

Shuichi gasped as Yuki pulled him forward, sitting him on his lap and pressing his face to his chest gently, running fingers through his hair. He sighed and relaxed, taking comfort in Yuki's grasp. He cried softly into his shirt, clinging to him. He hated being second on Yuki's list of things to do, and that was what Yuki was telling him right then, that he would go after he was done with his first priority...his book.

"Please don't cry," Yuki pleaded, holding him tightly. He wasn't entirely sure if he was really talking to Shuichi anymore. Shuichi sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes, not looking at him. Yuki sighed and tilted his face up so he couldn't help but to look at him, locking eyes with him. "I promise you I'll go to as much as I can, alright?" he pleaded, willing to do anything to stop Shuichi's tears.

Shuichi nodded slowly, tears still flowing from his eyes. He leaned back against him and gave in to the thought that Yuki merely thought of him as a child. He'd called him a child before, and it hadn't left him alone ever since. Not only was he a child to Yuki, but he was also second. Second in his mind, always. He could never seem to pull Yuki away from his writing for him. Yuki had kicked him out for bugging him while he was writing before, but he'd yet to see Yuki turn off his laptop because he was upset. Even now the damn thing hummed in the background, put on hold until Yuki could calm him down.

“Why am I always second to you?” Shuichi asked out loud, not sure he had done so. However, he caught himself right afterwards, pulling himself tighter against Yuki and sobbing, muttering apologies into his shirt. This, however, was not enough for the blonde writer. Shuichi had no idea what he had gone through for him, and what he meant to him, and yet he dared tell him that he was second?! Shuichi was never anything but first in his mind!

“What makes you say that?!” He demanded, sitting Shuichi up to look at him. Shuichi flinched from the look in his eyes. Anger filled eyes, reflecting his own terrified ones. He couldn’t stand to look at him long, turning his head to look at the floor.

“I’m sorry Yuki…I just…” Yuki took his face in his hand roughly and turned his face so Shuichi had no choice but to stare at him, eye-to-eye.

“Look at me when you talk, Shuichi,” he demanded and Shuichi squeezed his eyes shut, praying for the tears to stop. He’d cried so many times, so very many times. He was still a child, and Yuki was right for calling him such.

“You…YOU’RE ALWAYS TYPING ON YOUR DAMN STORIES! You…you never choose me first!” he screamed defiantly, opening his eyes again to stare him down. He wasn’t going to back down so easily this time. He had a point and he wanted Yuki to care about him. Yuki’s book was more important to him than his performance. It didn’t help that he didn’t have his song done for the concert yet. He’d figured he’d write it for Yuki, but Yuki didn’t even want to see him perform. Not even on Valentines Day.

Shuichi had to pull away from him as he stared into his eyes again. He didn’t look angry anymore, which would have been considered a step up…if he didn’t look so injured. He stared sown at him from where he had been standing before and Yuki got up, taking Shuichi’s shoulders and turning him around to face his laptop, bringing up another document and making sure he read part of it before whispering in his ear.

“Be careful what you assume, Shuichi. You could hurt someone.” And with that Shuichi felt his hands leave his shoulder and heard the door slam behind him, but the familiar gust of wind didn’t follow and he turned to find that it wasn’t his office door he had closed.

“Yuki?!” Shuichi ran out of his office and looked around, noticing that Yuki’s coat was gone. He’d left…again. Whether it be to let him calm down or his final goodbye Shuichi didn’t know, and personally he was afraid of the answer. So, instead he walked back to his office, sitting in his chair and reading the words on the screen through tear-blurred eyes.

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

Yuki ignored the horns behind him, not caring what they thought. Shuichi had told him that he was second on his list, second! Shuichi had never been anything but foremost in his mind, driving on everything he did. It was only for him that he was alive. In the back of his mind he absently toyed with the idea of driving his car off the road or something, if Shuichi didn’t care then that left him back where he’d been those few months ago in New York.

His attention was pulled from his thoughts as someone tapped on his window, and he glared at them through the window for all he was worth. Not that it did him any good, seeing as his windows were tinted. He rolled the window down and gave the girl standing outside a vicious glare.

“What do you want?” he demanded as she stood there, hand still in their air like she was confused the window had disappeared. She blinked a couple times and pointed behind her to the other cars, honking at him and a couple flipping him off.

“I think they want you to move. The light’s turned green and you could get in a lot of trouble if you don’t move…I think.” Yuki couldn’t help but to stare at her as she stood there, she looked so familiar. Her teal green hair and wide eyes. He could have sworn he’d seen her before. She blinked a couple more times before leaning in the car window and smiling at him. “Why are you staring at me like that? You are Yuki Eiri, right? I’m CB. My big sister, cousin actually, reads all your books. I never got into them…” she stated happily, smiling at him. “You going to the concert tonight?” she asked and Yuki glared at her, making her stand upright outside the window again. “Geeze, you don’t have to be so mean…” she stated and Yuki glared at her, driving off quickly to show her just how mean he could be when he was in a bad mood.

He watched as the surprised girl sitting on the ground vanished from his sight. He didn’t need her telling him he should go, he’d heard it enough from Shuichi. “Damn annoying fans of his,” he muttered as he sped the car up, determined not to be awake for the concert at least. Maybe then Shuichi wouldn’t blame him for not going.

He swerved his car a split second before hitting the rails he’d been aiming for. “Dammit!” he swore as he still managed to ram the back of his car, messing it up pretty badly. Not that he was hurt, but the car alone had cost him quite a fortune.

Getting out Yuki decided that it was at least better than dying. It was technically his fault that he wasn’t going to the concert, and he certainly wasn’t going to leave Shuichi without a goodbye, he wasn’t that cruel. Then again, leaving at all was pretty cruel of him in itself.

Mind now set on talking (and hopefully ending his argument) with Shuichi after the concert, Yuki walked off, leaving his wreaked car behind. Not that it would do him much good, about as much as the people asking him if he was alright. Wouldn’t they think that if he was walking around like he was that he was okay? Some people were so stupid.

He lit another cigarette and continued on his way, knowing that someone would be broadcasting Shuichi’s concert. He wasn’t in the mood to actually go, and he wasn’t going to go home until this whole thing was over. Therefore, one of the TV displays was going to have to do. Until then, he’d have to find something to do. Maybe find a little more inspiration for his story, he’d hit a pretty difficult spot and was having one hell of a time working through it. Leave it to Shuichi to have his concerts on his worst days.

He couldn’t remember a time when Shuichi’d had a concert that his story was going well. Then again, he could hardly remember a day where he hadn’t struggled through his stories after he’d met Shuichi. The boy held to his attention like crazy, and even when he thought he’d let go he hadn’t, leaving Yuki to try and ignore the him in his mind. That Shuichi, of course, was harder to drive away than the real thing, and the real thing was pretty damn persistent by himself.

Pulling sunglasses out of his pocket and placing them on his face, Yuki set out, determined to buy Shuichi something while looking for a display. If that didn’t make him happy he wasn’t sure what would. Then again, an idiot’s mind is a hard one to figure out. And when one is dating an idiot boy who tends to dress himself like a girl and dyes his hair pink, what exactly are you expected to get him? Half of the things Yuki would normally buy were either too girlish or too confusing for the poor singer. Jewelry was the closest medium between the two and even then it sounded more feminine than Yuki wanted it to.

After staring at the same necklace for near a half-hour Yuki finally gave in and decided on it. Putting his cigarette out he walked into the store. If Shuichi was unhappy with it that was his problem, he was the one who acted like one of his obsessive fans (which were all women) when he was around. Besides, Yuki was almost positive that Shuichi wouldn’t be unhappy with anything he got him. Especially after remembering what the boy had done after promising him a date. It didn’t take much for him to make Shuichi smile, which was one of the things he liked best about Shuichi. Shuichi liked him no matter what he did, and he’d proved that a hundred times over when he’d followed him to New York.

Shuichi’d never know how much that had meant to him. And it wasn’t because Yuki hadn’t told him (which he hadn’t) but he simply couldn’t manage to express it in any way other than staying with him. Which is why every day continued to revolve around him like it did.

“Sir? Are you alright? You’ve been standing there for the last ten minutes. Can I help you?” Yuki turned to the girl who had appeared next to him, it seemed. Then again, he hadn’t really been paying attention. Chances were she’d been standing there the whole ten minutes, too.

“Actually, I wanted to buy something.” The young girl was no longer paying attention to his words, staring up at him in pure adoration. Yuki couldn’t help but to roll his eyes at her, they were all so damn petty. He had to wonder if he would have sold half as many books if his fans didn’t find him attractive. A small part of him told him no, but that wasn’t what he’d come here for.

“Really? For your girlfriend perhaps?” she asked. Geeze, was she weird. Asking if he was buying something for his girlfriend while she was fawning all over him. A truthful answer would probably get her to stop that.

“For my boyfriend,” he countered easily, and he was right. The girl was immediately done staring at him and going about her job, leading him to the counter. Although, as soon as she was there she seemed to go right back to where she had been.

“Are you, by any chance, Yuki Eiri? You look a lot like him, you know?” she asked, leaning over on the desk slightly. Yuki arched an eyebrow, how the hell had she managed to figure that one out. She really didn’t seem old enough to really know his books all to well.

He sighed and set his expression back to normal, sliding his sunglasses down to uncover his eyes from her. “Happy?” he asked, pushing his sunglasses back up as she fell back onto the seat behind her, probably set there for such an occasion. She nodded mutely and took a couple minutes for the feeling to settle in.

Eiri turned to glare at a young girl as she pushed her way past him forcefully, slamming the door behind her as she left, not buying anything.

“You asshole!” she screamed after slamming the door behind her, shoving her way through the crowd determinedly.

“I’m a really big fan of Shindo-san’s, you know?” the girl started off and Yuki had to roll his eyes. Just about every girl he thought couldn’t know him did through Shuichi. It was becoming quite a bother. Then again, he was sure the same thing went for Shuichi.

“I figured,” Yuki commented, still staring after the girl who’d been so rude to him. He could have sworn that she hated him, though for what he couldn’t even begin to guess. Didn’t matter, someone famous was sure to have a couple enemies.

“So, you want to buy something for him, right?” Yuki turned his attention back to the girl, who was leaning over the counter again, staring up at him and smiling happily. “Of course you do! Today’s Valentines Day, right? Everyone knows what he got you,” she stated, twirling her hair around her fingers as she talked. Yuki stared down at her in confusion. Why was it that everyone knew more about Shuichi and his lives than he did? “Oops, never mind I said that! So, what were you thinking of getting him?”

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

Shuichi stuck his tongue out of his mouth as he continued to write feverishly, listening to the track Hiro and Suguru had given him to work the lyrics out to. He’d begged them for WEEKS to make him an arrangement and they had, now all he’d needed was the lyrics. After reading all of Yuki’s little poems and stories and the like Shuichi had set about the lyrics, determined to get them finished. He now knew what he meant to Yuki and he was damn sure going to show Yuki how much he meant to him. He was hoping like mad that Yuki would come.

He screamed as his cell phone ran, picking it up quickly. He hoped against hope that it was Yuki and was a little disappointed when he heard Hiro’s voice on the other end instead. However, he didn’t let Hiro know how disappointed he was and shut off the recording immediately, scribbling down the last line.

“Shuichi, are you listening to me?!” Hiro demanded and Shuichi screamed again, drawing a line over his nice little piece of paper. “Obviously not,” the other boy commented and Shuichi tore off the paper, getting ready to read back over Yuki’s stuff. “Shuichi, what are you doing?! The concert’s in an hour and we have to practice that song of yours at least once before we go out there!” Hiro screamed and for the third time in the last two minutes Shuichi screamed, shoving the paper in his pocket hurriedly.

“I’m sorry Hiro, I was finishing it up. Sorry, sorry,” he apologized as he ran for the elevator, slamming the down button and swearing under his breath as he hurt his poor finger.

“Not as sorry as you’re going to be when we get back. K’s throwing a fit,” Hiro stated and Shuichi bounced from one foot to the other as the elevator seemed to go at half-speed.

“We?” he asked, running out of the elevator and practically running into Hiro.

“I figured it’s be quicker if I came back to pick you up,” he stated, motioning to his motorcycle. Shuichi’s eyes lit up and he turned his cell phone of happily.

“You’re a lifesaver!” he cheered as they both got on, heading off for the concert hall.

“Pay me back by telling me you got the lyrics done this time. I can’t guarantee you K’ll let you live this time,” Hiro threw back over his shoulder as they made their way down the road and Shuichi nodded, smiling happily.

“All done! I finally found out what Yuki thought about me today!” Shuichi cheered, thinking back to the excerpts Yuki had let him read about him. He’d been so happy he’d written the entire song in less than half an hour and was STILL happy with the results.

“And that was…?” Hiro prompted, not daring to glance back at Shuichi like he wanted to. Even with Ayaka he still couldn’t deny the attraction he felt towards Shuichi, the attraction he was sure everyone seemed to feel towards him. He was just that kind of a person.

“He really cares about me, Hiro. He cares and he seems to think about me an awful lot.” Hiro smiled for his friend, stopping in front of the concert hall and flinching as Sakano ran up to them, K following at a dangerously slow pace.

“Shindo-kun, what were you doing?! We’ve been waiting for you for a half hour now!” Sakano screamed, not aware of the fact that both boys’ attention was fixed on K and the gun he was holding. That and the fact that he seemed very eager to use it. Hiro had watched him load it with a gleam in his eyes that scared him.

“I take it you finished the lyrics,” K asked dangerously calm as Shuichi found the end of the gun in his mouth. He could simply nod, watching in terror as K’s finger twitched on the trigger. “And it’s ready to be practiced?” he asked again in that dangerous calm. Shuichi nodded twice, hopping K would forgive him for being late.

Much to his relief K was pleased with the news, putting his gun away. “Good boy!” he cheered in another one of his English outbursts, grabbing the back of Sakano’s shirt and dragging him off backstage, the boys following.

Suguru, however, was not in any mood to be toyed with, whether the lyrics were finished or not. His glare as Shuichi walked into the room was enough to prove that and Hiro leaned over to whisper fair warning to his friend.

“Fujisaki-kun’s upset about your ‘work attitude’ and I wouldn’t suggest talking to him very much until at least after the concert.” Shuichi nodded and ran into his changing room, changing at light speed and running back out with his song held in the air happily.

“This is the next big hit for Bad Luck!” he cheered, quite confident with his song. It was Yuki’s song, and anything for Yuki could be nothing less than perfect or Shuichi wouldn’t accept it. He was surprised he himself had passed the test. To tell the truth, he probably hadn’t. He’d never tried it on himself.

“Then let’s here this perfect song before we have to sing it on stage and you make a fool of yourself,” Hiro teased, making sure his guitar was tuned. It was, of course, he wasn’t Shuichi after all. He’d been there on time and had plenty of time to tune it.

“Okay!” he agreed, reading over his lyrics one more time before nodding to himself and setting time on a small stand in front of him, in case he should forget something. Not that it was very likely. This was Yuki’s song, and there was nothing Shuichi would ever forget about Yuki.

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

Yuki leaned against the wall opposite the display of TVs and watched as the announcers continued on about the big concert, occasionally playing scenes of the crowd outside and the place they were going to be performing. He lit another cigarette, watching the smoke disappear into the air, mingling with the breath of the couples that walked past him, talking about this and that, and a couple giving him strange looks. One look from him immediately sent them on their ways, though.

One such girl, however, wasn’t so smart. Yuki recognized her as the girl from earlier that day, teal hair and ice-blue eyes making her stand out in the crowd. He honestly had to wonder why both her and Shuichi seemed to have such an obsession with dying their hair weird colors. Didn’t they know it only made them stand out more? For Shuichi that wasn’t a necessarily good thing.

“Hiya!” she chirped, turning to stare at the TVs, standing next to him. He ignored her, as he had earlier that day. “Watching Shuichi’s concert from here? I know you have a ticket,” He took the cigarette from his mouth and glanced down at her, not bothering to turn his head.

“Must you rub it in my face?” he asked, tapping the ash off the end of his cigarette as she turned to look up at him, smiling.

“What, the fact that the press knows everything about you or the fact that you’re being a bastard and watching your boyfriend from here when you have a ticket he begged for for hours?” Yuki took a long draw from his cigarette and turned to stare at her, letting the smoke out in a long breath above her head. “Both, right?”

“How do you know how Shuichi got that ticket?” he asked smugly and CB glared up at him.

“Because it was mine! He begged me for hours to get the damn thing. I would have thought they’d give him tickets but obviously the show was big enough that the company didn’t feel they could take the loose in profits to give the band tickets for their friends. I heard they did that there normally,” she stated, thinking back on it. Yuki sighed, she was obviously level with Shuichi as far as intelligence went.

“Tohma’s a bastard,” he stated offhandedly, shoving his hands in his coat pockets to keep them warm, fingers brushing the case of Shuichi’s present. He’d almost forgot he’d bought it for him when he’d run into this girl. She was the most persistent thing he’d ever met, rivaling Shuichi for the spot.

“Anyway!” she announced, turning his attention back to her. “You know you’re probably the only person with a ticket that ISN’T going tonight?” Yuki nodded, what was she after? “And I bet you’re the only person that Shuichi really wants to show up…” Yuki was getting really annoyed with this girl, even more so than before.

“Just tell me what you want and leave me alone,” he demanded, voice icy cold. She blinked a couple times and Yuki dropped what was remaining of his cigarette to the ground, smashing it beneath his feet. She sighed and looked up at him, eyes demanding.

“And if you’re not going to use it then you should give it back to me! It is MINE!” Yuki blinked a couple times at her demand, this girl was really selfish enough to ask Shuichi’s boyfriend for his ticket, simply because she claimed it was hers?!

“Who said I wasn’t going to use it?” he asked calmly, staring her in the eyes. He pulled the ticket out and read it carefully before turning to leave. “Maybe I will use it after all, if you’re so determined to have it then it must be worth something to someone,” he threw over his shoulder as he walked away and CB nodded.

“Yes, Shuichi.” She screamed in surprise as she was pushed to the side roughly by another girl, brushing herself off before turning to apologize about standing in the middle of the sidewalk. However, no one was there anymore. She simply shrugged and turned to walk back home. “She must be in one hell of a rush. Maybe she has tickets, too. Wish I wouldn’t have traded Shuichi my ticket for lunch. I’ll have to demand something else for having to put up with his boyfriend,” she stated to herself as she ran home, hoping she could find a tape for it before it started.

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

The rest of the room could only stand in shock as Shuichi finished his song, only noticing that the music had stopped when he opened his eyes. In fact, the music had stopped only a verse into the song, but Shuichi had kept on anyway, oblivious to the fact that he was singing without a single note to back him up.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around. He picked his paper up and glanced over the words quickly before turning to Hiro and Suguru again, tears hanging in his eyes. “Yuki was right, wasn’t he?” he asked and all his stunned band mates could do was shake their heads. Neither of them had expected something so heartfelt to come from cheery little Shindo Shuichi, especially not after so long procrastinating. They had all been expecting something mid-way, and had simply been blown away by Shuichi’s performance.

The words weren’t all that surprised them, but the way Shuichi sang. Every word seemed to come more from your own heart than his, and giving into them was easier than anything either of them had ever done before. If Shuichi’s song didn’t reach Yuki then there really wasn’t any hope for their relationship. They could only hope Yuki wasn’t that heartless.

“That was perfect Shindo-kun,” Sakano reassured him, smiling slightly as he stepped forward. K stood behind him, even his eyes widened with shock from Shuichi’s outstanding performance. Shuichi turned to face him, eyes bright.

“Really?” he asked, his entire outlook hanging on Sakano’s answer.

“I’ve never heard anything so excellent,” Suguru added and Shuichi turned to face him, practically glowing. So he wasn’t all that bad and writing after all! Yuki could be proud of his song for him! That was, if he performed it. He wasn’t going to play it if he wasn’t there. Yuki HAD to be the first person to hear it outside their practice room.

“You think Yuki will like it?” he asked, reading over his words again quickly, almost like he was afraid of looming mistakes. Hiro couldn’t help but to snatch the lyrics away from his worried friend, holding them in front of his face and pressing his hand to Shuichi’s forehead lightly.

“If he doesn’t the bastard’s going to have to answer to me,” Hiro promised his friend as he snatched the paper back from him. He winced as he heard K cocking his gun again.

“And me!” the American cheered gleefully, scaring all the right- minded people in their practice room. It was about then that Shuichi noticed the two standing in the doorway, blushing slightly and walking over to open it, staring at Ryuichi and Noriko for a long time before Ryuichi smiled at him confidently, actually looking quite close to his age, which was surprising.

“Congratulations. I only heard the end but…” Ryuichi paused, thinking of the right word, “it was quite touching,” he finished, laughing childishly. Shuichi smiled as well and Ryuichi melted back into his normal, childish self again, holding Kumagoro up happily. “We wanted to wish you good luck! Tatsuha came with us but I told him he wasn’t allowed back here. Is it okay if Kumagoro comes back here?” he asked, looking around.

“I don’t mind,” Shuichi commented and Ryuichi hugged his rabbit happily.

“Noriko, what are you doing here?” K asked, putting his gun away again. Noriko smiled innocently, clinging to Ryuichi’s arm.

“We came to see the show and Ryu-chan wanted to wish Shuichi good luck,” she stated and Ryuichi nodded.

“Yeah! Kumagoro wanted to wish you good luck, too Shuichi!” Shuichi nodded, smiling brightly.

“Thanks you guys! I’ll do my best!” he cheered and Noriko stood up, grabbing the back of Ryuichi’s shirt and pulling him away forcefully as he tried to jump Shuichi, as was typical for the pop idol.

“So, when do you want to include your song in the program?” Sakano asked as Shuichi closed the door behind him, turning to the group and leaning against the door. He let out a puff of air before looking up at him and half-smiling.

“Whenever Yuki gets here. I’ll tell them to start it,” Shuichi stated, looking from Sakano to K to his band mates.

“And…if he never gets here?” Sakano asked, wringing his hands nervously. He could only hope Shuichi wasn’t going to say what he thought he was going to say.

“Then it never plays. This is Yuki’s song and I want him to hear it the first time I perform it,” he stated firmly and Sakano was dazed by the fierce determination in his voice, Shuichi wasn’t going to back down no matter what they said.

“You want us to play a recording under our music, just in case?” Suguru asked, addressing no one in particular. “Or should Shuichi sing it without us?” Sakano shook his head.

“I think a recording will be a good idea for now. Shuichi’s still liable to make a small mistake and without the music behind him…”

“I’ll crumble,” Shuichi finished for him, knowing that no matter what he’d fall apart the second he screwed up on Yuki’s song. The same thing went for if Yuki didn’t show up. He could only hope to keep his mind clear enough to sing the other songs that night.

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

“Hey, guess who I ran into twice today!” CB exclaimed as she finally reached her house, kicking her shoes off in the doorway and running inside, stumbling as she put her slippers on as she ran.

“A lot of people. You’re always running into things,” Sarah commented from the doorway and CB rolled her eyes. Sarah laughed and followed her ‘sister’ into the living room, dropping a tape in front of her as she dropped to her knees in front of the video cabinet. “I figured you’d want one, right?” she asked, sitting down on the floor in front of the TV.

“Yeah, but you still haven’t guessed,” CB stated as she undid the plastic wrap, walking on her knees over to the trashcan and dropping it inside, swearing as it stuck to her fingers.

“Shindo Shuichi,” her sister asked, knowing that Shuichi’s younger sister and CB had been friends for a while now. CB shook her head and sat down next to Sarah.

“Nope, but you’re kinda close. They know each other,” she teased and Sarah thought a while before rolling her eyes and laughing at her, pushing her over gently so she fell on her side.

“Let me guess, you ran into super-hunk Yuki Eiri?” CB sat up and nodded happily. Sarah rolled her eyes before turning back to the TV. “You don’t honestly expect me to believe that, do you?” CB shrugged.

“Believe what you want but he was a super jerk to me. He was holding up traffic and I told him so and he almost ran me over. Then he was treating me bad when I was trying to do Shuichi a favor and get him to go to the concert!” CB protested, crossing her arms.

“Oh, the trauma big sister has to endure,” Jamie stated melodramatically as she walked into the room, dropping a bowl of candy (mostly chocolates) in front of CB and a bowl of popcorn in front of Sarah and herself. CB glared at her and started picking through the bowl for Snickers.

“Say what you want, he was rude. Went off to the concert though. He probably won’t make it in time…” Sarah sighed and took a Snickers bar from CB’s pile.

“He has a car, CB. He can get places faster than you can.” CB glared at her big sister for two reasons: 1) she’d stolen her Snickers bar, that little bitch and 2) reminding her once again that she was one of her only friends that couldn’t drive.

“Yeah, that he wrecked. Didn’t you see the news? They were talking about it for a long time afterwards. Can’t imagine what was going through his mind…” CB stated absent-mindedly, taking some of Sarah’s popcorn as revenge for her Snickers bar. “Samie still owes me a Snickers…” she stated off-handedly as she continued to watch the TV with high interest.

“I’m sure that’s the first thing on her mind right now…” Jamie responded, tossing a piece of popcorn at the screen as a picture appeared on the screen and the reporters started on their speech about how the ‘unexpected cease of popular pop band ASK seemed lost on this band and their sales have sky rocketed both before and after the event…’ It had become a sisterly pact to hate ASK since they’d heard part of the story from CB, who’d heard part of the story from Maiko.

“You’re not deserving of a Snickers…” CB stated to herself before finally settling on a Reesees cup to throw at poor Aizawa Tachi, hitting him in the forehead with it. “I win!” she cheered, taking some more of her sisters’ popcorn. They’d started a game of ‘who can maim Aizawa Tachi first’ ever since they’d heard the story. Hitting him in the head was their version of maim for this game. They also happened to play it occasionally on the computer. Minus Sarah, she wasn’t as hateful as Jamie and CB.

‘…and in a few moments Bad Luck will take the stage, being watched by thousands of people in the audience and millions more watching on TV. We can only wonder what Shuichi Shindo is thinking at this moment…’ the TV droned endlessly and CB turned on her tape, leaning over to retrieve her Reesees before settling down for good.

“I can’t wait to hear Shuichi’s new song!” she cheered happily and both Sarah and Jamie nodded their agreement.

“I don’t think anyone can,” Sarah stated, taking a handful of popcorn.

“Hope he performs it. Heck, hope he finished it,” CB commented before turning up the volume.

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

“That little brat, that little brat, that little brat…” the young girl chanted, tossing another stone into the water. She’d been following Yuki for the last half hour at least and she was determined in her task now. The little brat who’d stolen her happiness wouldn’t get the Happily Ever After he took from her. She just had to get a few things before she could finish her task.

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

Shindo Shuichi smiled happily as he walked onto the stage, eyes darting over the crowd, mainly the first row seats. He’d spent forever trying to get tickets for Yuki and had made certain they’d be somewhere that they could both see each other. He didn’t let his smile fade as he realized that Yuki wasn’t there, he hadn’t really expected him to be. He had only hoped so.

Shuichi spoke to the crowd for a while, not aware of what he was saying but at the same time knowing exactly what it was by heart. He wanted to focus on the words, but all his mind could think about was Yuki and the seat he was supposed to be in. The only empty seat of the entire concert.

Hiro watched as Shuichi talked, coming off as bright and cheerful as he always did, but Hiro knew better. Even though he’d wiped every trace of it from his face and voice, he could still tell. They way Shuichi’s eyes glanced around the crowd when he spoke. It wasn’t like he was trying to address more than one person, it was like he was looking for the person to address. That heartless bastard, Yuki was the only thing Hiro could think of as Shuichi cued the first song. He didn’t think any of them would forgive Yuki if he didn’t show up.

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

Yuki swore as he pushed his way through the crowd that had found its way around the concert hall. It was bad enough that he had to deal with Shuichi’s fans on a normal basis, but to have all of them crowded together like that was more than he could take for any extended period of time. Was probably more than most normal people could for an extended period of time.

He blinked and watched as someone else seemed very determined to make her way through the crowd (not to say that every wasn’t trying to get up to the front) and succeeding. He swore under his breath as he made his own way through, eventually making it where he wanted to be, and handing the man the ticket he’d had to hold onto for dear life since he’d came near the crowd.

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

The girl watched from behind the curtains as Shuichi continued to sing, looking down at the man at her feet. If he was supposed to be protecting the teen he sure did a lousy job. She absently wondered whether she was doing the right thing taking her revenge out here, but there was no doubt about it. Yuki’d hurt her, and right or not he was going to pay. He hadn’t exactly been right to hurt her, either.

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

Shuichi’s face lit up as he caught sight of Yuki, struggling to finish his song and not call out to him as was normal. Yuki’d never know how much his showing up meant to him. Not to say that Shuichi wouldn’t try. That, however, was more than Yuki’d done to express his feelings.

A small flash of color backstage caught his attention and he glanced over, catching sight of the girl standing there. He also didn’t miss the gun in her hand and the unconscious backstage crew by her feet, Sakano and K included.

His violet eyes widened in panic for a split-second before turning pleading. The girl jumped at the look in his eyes, confusion taking over the firm determination that had controlled her face before.

Shuichi turned back to the crowd as he finished his song, smile still held in place. Afterwards he turned to her with the same pleading eyes and mouthed the words ‘one more song’ before turning to his band mates and giving them the cue.

The crowd was immediately screaming as soon as the unfamiliar tune began to play. That was the reason most of them were there, to hear Shindo Shuichi’s new song. They’d all loved his latest composition, and he had promised this one would be his best. They weren’t disappointed.

By the fourth line the entire concert hall was quite, minus the trance-like singing of Shindo Shuichi and the music of Hiro and Fujisaki, both determined not to stop playing for him. Even the young girl was left completely speechless.

Yuki watched Shuichi singing in his own daze. He knew the song was his, could tell since Shuichi’d first started singing. He couldn’t seem to remember why he’d ever wanted to push him away. It was entirely his own fault when they hurt each other, it was his memories and his cold attitude that always seemed to hurt them both.

Shuichi opened his eyes again as the song faded out, locking eyes with Yuki. He was smiling brightly and Yuki smiled slightly in return, making Shuichi’s face brighten more (if that was possible).

It was at that moment that the crowd broke out of their trance and the entire concert hall was filled with their cheers and screamed. Yuki didn’t even flinch as the noise surrounded him, he could still hear Shuichi singing his song, and right then that was all he wanted to hear.

Shuichi was the first person to hear the shot through the noise, his band mates realizing shortly after. He screamed and fell back, his small frame skidding across the floor. The crowd’s cheers died suddenly, and only one thing broke the dead silence.

“Shuichi!”

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

CB dropped her phone as she watched the TV screen with a daze. She was going to call Maiko about Shuichi’s song and tell her how much she loved it but the ringing of her phone was now only a dull noise in the back of her mind. Her sisters had left earlier, talking about how they’d catch the concert later, leaving her to herself in the living room, reaching out towards the TV.

The entire place was a complete wreck, and CB was no different, her mind had barely realized the phone had stopped ringing before she heard her friend’s voice on the other line.

“CB?! What’s going on?!” Maiko demanded from the other line. She’d just turned don the TV a short while ago to find a small chaos on the screen, people ranting on and on about her brother. CB turned her head to the small device, brain trying to process it all. “Please, CB! Is niichan alright?!”

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

It had taken him a while but Yuki finally managed to get past the security lines, running up the stairs and dropping next to Shuichi immediately. The whole concert hall had gone up in screams as soon as he’d screamed, and Yuki could barely hear the voices around him. “Shuichi?!” Shuichi winced and looked up at him, smiling weakly. His hand was gripping his right shoulder in pain, a small pool of blood already growing around his fingers.

“I’m fine, I think. Hurts…” he managed, sitting up with a slight hiss of pain. Yuki sighed with relief as he noticed Shuichi’d only managed to get hit in the shoulder, but he was still on edge. He held the younger boy gently, letting him relax against him instead of making Shuichi waste energy sitting up on his own. He couldn’t help but brush a few stray locks of hair away from Shuichi’s face, pressing his hand against Shuichi’s cheek as he smiled up at him contentedly.

“Shuichi!” Hiro screamed, running to kneel by his best friend’s side, smiling as he caught sight of his relaxed face. He’d been so worried about him that seeing him smiling like that was a definite relief.

“Shindo-san, are you alright?” Suguru asked as he ran over to them, noticing the fact that none of them looked upset. He hadn’t felt that it was his place to run to Shuichi before his friends, and to tell the truth even he had been too scared to move.

“Well, it hurts,” he managed through the pain, smiling at them anyway. “I’ll be alright, though. Right?” he asked, looking up at Yuki pleadingly and Yuki nodded, smiling slightly and leaning over to kiss his forehead. He traced fingers over Shuichi’s mouth gently and Shuichi kissed his fingers softly before relaxing and trying not to think about the pain his shoulder was in anymore.

Yuki jumped as Shuichi went limp in his arms, staring at him like his gaze would wake him back up again. The only thing he could think at that moment was something along the lines of ‘don’t die don’t die don’t die don’t die don’t die don’t die don’t die…’ but he wasn’t really thinking much at all, only reacting.

“Don’t worry, he just blacked out,” a young women stated as she leaned down next to the group, looking Shuichi over. She was decked out in your typical nurses uniform and checked Shuichi’s pulse, glancing up at Yuki. “You his brother?”

“Boyfriend,” Yuki, Suguru, and Hiro countered together and she raised an eyebrow at him before nodding to herself and letting go of Shuichi’s wrist. She stood up and motioned for Yuki to do the same.

“Brother or boyfriend you’re going to have to carry him to the ambulance, I’m not that strong and we were low on staff. Not that I think he’ll mind too much,” she stated as she saw the contented look firmly set on Shuichi’s face. Yuki smiled at her politely, loosing his cool exterior in the mayhem and stress of the situation.

“He’s kinda cute,” the nurse observed, crossing her legs and taping on the window, indicating that the man up front could head back. “At least like that. I wouldn’t know otherwise,” she continued conversationally. It was obvious she was trying to distract Yuki from Shuichi’s condition for a while, probably until they got there, but leaving that place had made him regain his composure a bit. He wasn’t in the mood for a conversation, he was in the mood for a cigarette. However, Yuki somehow managed to know better and quickly shoved that thought aside.

Instead of talking with the girl Yuki’s mind remained on how he was going to manage to get the blood stain off his shirt. He wasn’t just going to throw it away, it had cost a little too much to do that.

After a long silence Yuki finally decided that expensive or not the shirt was going to have to go. The nurse had figured out that Yuki was anti- social a long time before that and had kept her mouth shut, letting him contemplate about his shirt in peace. This was, of course, just his own way of trying not to think about the fact that the young boy in his arms was the one staining his shirt red at the moment. Thinking about Kitazawa- sensei would probably be easier on him than thinking about that.

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

“I think he’s alright,” CB tried to comfort her friend over the phone as they both sat watching the concert. CB was forced to rely on her closed captioning since her phone’s volume was naturally so low. Maiko, however, still had her TV’s volume on and was a good half-minute ahead of her in the latest news. They had both been watching when Yuki had carried Shuichi off with the nurse and had been watching for the liniest little notes about his condition ever since.

“I think he’s alright!” Maiko screamed on the other end and CB sighed in relief, still searching her closed captioning for any kind of broadcast about it. “They said he was shot in the arm but he should be okay! I wonder why they’re taking him to the hospital then.” CB could only shrug, massively relieved by her friend’s news. She’d been hoping to hear something like that for the last ten minutes. She’d managed to become pretty good friends with Shuichi from the many times she was over hanging out with Maiko.

“Beats me. You know I’ve never been all too bright,” she stated and she could practically feel Maiko glaring at her.

“You’re plenty smart, just out of it,” Maiko retorted and CB laughed.

“And I think that hospitals have something to do with the real world and not educational stuff so I’m pretty much lost,” CB reminded her. Maiko shrugged and they both laughed again. It felt good to laugh after the worry they had just gone through. It took a lot more energy to worry about people than they’d thought.

“You wanna come over tomorrow? Maybe we could get my parents to drive us over to Yuki’s house and we could say hi. It’s been a while since you two last talked to each other, hasn’t it?” Maiko asked, thinking ahead. CB shrugged, she hadn’t thought it was that long ago.

“A couple months maybe. I don’t remember when I forked over my ticket to him. I still can’t believe I did that! I had great seats, too!” Maiko laughed.

“Yeah, you did. He did give you something in return, right? It’s not like him to just take things from people,” Maiko asked, knowing if he was happy enough Shuichi would probably forget his manners and run off.

“Yeah, lunch next week. He said it was the only time he could afford to keep free.”

“Think he’d mind his sister trailing along?” Maiko asked and CB shrugged. “Would you mind his sister coming along?”

“No way, but he’s gotta bring that cutie Ryuichi with him then. I’ve been wanting to meet him,” CB stated dreamily. Maiko rolled her eyes, she remembered the guy perfectly. Sounded just like someone CB’d want to meet.

“I’m sure you would have. He’s kind of…youish. Only worse.” There really was no other way to describe him. She’d spent days cleaning the crayon marks off the floor after they’d left. She’d managed to make Shuichi do a bit of the cleaning, too, but not much. He’d had to leave with Ryuichi.

“Yeah yeah, who cares, he’s cute. Just so long as he’s not like Yuki I don’t care,” CB responded. Yuki’d been a real jerk to her, yet he’d seemed kinda sweet to Shuichi on TV. Guys like him were too complicated for her little brain (which she was seriously starting to doubt existed) to understand.

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

“Yuki…” Yuki looked up suddenly as someone called his name, staring up into a pair of wide purple eyes. He jumped a little at the closeness of the boy’s face and Shuichi laughed, standing up straight, clasping his hands behind him and standing in front of him like an expectant school girl waiting for some kind of a comment about her newest outfit. And like that school girl what he was asking for was completely lost on Yuki.

He didn’t look bad like that, Yuki had to admit. He had taken the jacket off his concert uniform and was standing in front of him with what was remaining of it, a bandage wrapped around his upper arm where he’d gotten hit.

Yuki reached out and ran his fingers feather-lightly over the area, watching Shuichi intently. Shuichi stared at his hand for a while before laughing softly.

“I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt as much right now. They’ve got me on some painkillers,” he stated, looking quite adorable, concentrating so hard on what he was talking about. He always looks adorable when he’s thinking Yuki admitted to himself, mentally laughing at himself for being so stupid. Shuichi always looked adorable. “Anyway,” Shuichi stated suddenly, breaking Yuki from his thoughts, “what’d you think of your Valentines Day present?” he asked, smiling slightly. Yuki smiled back at him and shrugged.

“I dunno, there was one thing I didn’t like about it as much as the rest,” he stated, smiling to himself as Shuichi’s smile dropped.

“And that was…the lyrics?” Shuichi asked, breaking. Yuki just couldn’t agree with him! He couldn’t! That would (for lack of a better word) suck. Badly.

“I never said that. I was talking about the music, personally. It would have been much better without it. Would you sing it for me without it later?” Shuichi smiled happily and hugged Yuki tightly, practically glowing again.

“I’m so glad you liked it! I tried really hard! Of course! Of course I’ll sing it without the music! I’ll sing it whenever you want me to!” he exclaimed happily and Yuki hugged him back.

They stayed like that a while before Shuichi finally broke the contented silence. Leave it to Shuichi…

“Umm, Yuki?” Yuki rolled his eyes. He’d kind of been enjoying the silence. He might not have heard the crowd but it sure as hell messed with his hearing.

“Yeah?” he asked, a little agitated at Shuichi’s little interruption.

“You wanna leave? I feel kinda uneasy around here.” Yuki smiled and let go of Shuichi, allowing him to stand up. Yuki followed soon afterwards, pulling out his cell phone and handing it to Shuichi as they walked outside. “What’s this for?” he asked, looking up at Yuki in confusion.

“I’m sure Hiro’d love to know how you’re doing. Your manager and producer, too.” Shuichi nodded and started dialing Hiro’s number. He looked around as they walked down the street before looking up at Yuki.

“Where’s the car?” he asked, still waiting for Hiro to pick up. Yuki winced at the mention of his beloved car, wrecked on the side of the road. And he’d been upset when Shuichi’d almost made him dent the thing.

“I’ll take you by where I last saw it if you really want to know,” Yuki commented and Shuichi pouted adorably, still waiting for Hiro to answer. Either he was out of the room or he’d turned his cell phone off. Either way Shuichi was going to wait until he picked up.

“You mean we have to walk?” Yuki rolled his eyes, of course that meant they had to walk. He wasn’t going to call a Taxi for something so trivial. They could both use the walk, after all. It wasn’t like it was going to kill him to use his legs. “Never mind,” Shuichi stated as Yuki didn’t answer. He could take walking, it wasn’t a big problem.

Yuki sighed as Shuichi leaned against him as the walked, looking down at him. The idiot still had the phone to his ears and was shivering slightly, staring up at him pleadingly. Even Yuki had to admit it was kind of cruel to make him walk in what he was wearing. It wasn’t exactly the warmest of clothing.

“You want me to see if Tohma’s willing to give us a ride?” Yuki asked. He knew Tohma wouldn’t be all to pleased about having to pick Shuichi up, but he’d do just about anything Yuki asked of him. Besides, knowing that he was going too guaranteed that Tohma wasn’t going to go crazy and drive the car off the road with Shuichi in it. Maybe Tohma wasn’t the greatest idea for a ride…

“Hiro’s got a bike,” Shuichi stated calmly and Yuki took his cell phone back from him.

“If he hasn’t answered now then he’s not answering,” he stated as he turned his cell phone off, fully aware of how much time Shuichi had spent waiting for his friend to pick up the phone. “Besides, the only reason I’m thinking about getting a ride is because you’re shivering. A motorcycle isn’t going to help that much. Besides, Hiro’d make me walk home.” Shuichi laughed and clung to Yuki’s coat happily.

“What about Tohma? He’d probably strand me out somewhere until the next time he needed me to make an appearance,” he countered and Yuki laughed as well, he did have a point. Shuichi simply smiled up at him as he laughed. It was something Shuichi didn’t get to hear often, and he was sure that almost nobody else heard. Mostly from the fact that Yuki didn’t talk to many other people.

“Need a ride?” Shuichi screamed as the car pulled up to him, window rolling down to reveal K and Sakano. Shuichi blinked a couple times before Hiro stuck his head between the chairs.

“We were going to pick you up but you’d already left,” Hiro stated and Shuichi smiled, opening the door and climbing inside, dragging Yuki in with him. Shuichi made him sit down in the last remaining seat and sat down on the floor in front of him, scrunching up a bit but still fitting pretty well. Hiro sat down in his seat as the car drove off and Yuki picked Shuichi up to sit with him, setting him between his legs and running hands over his arms gently, avoiding the area where Shuichi was hurt.

“Did you leave your cell phone behind?” Shuichi asked Hiro as he leaned back against Yuki, enjoying the feeling of his lover’s body pressed against his. Yuki’d never been this nice to him before, and he really liked the feeling. Hiro nodded slightly.

“Yeah, why?” he asked, a little confused. He knew Shuichi didn’t have pockets on his concert clothes and couldn’t have called him so he’d left it behind. He’d deal with any calls he got later.

“The idiot was waiting for you to answer since we left the hospital,” Yuki commented, leaning over to kiss Shuichi’s shoulder gently, continuing to run his hands over his arms gently. “Warmer?” he asked softly, ignoring the strange looks he was earning from both Hiro and Suguru.

He’d figured things out after the concert, and he was determined not to make Shuichi suffer because of him. He’d never wanted to before, but now he was more determined. Almost loosing him made him think of what could happen when he really did leave. Yuki couldn’t make it without Shuichi anymore, and he’d almost lost him twice that day. Once being his fault.

“Yeah,” Shuichi answered contentedly, closing his eyes and really relaxing for the first time he could remember that day. Yuki kissed his shoulder again before taking the young singer’s hands in his. Hiro and Suguru had thought they’d seen it all but they were wrong. Hiro would have never expected Yuki was capable of being nice, let alone actually going through with it, and the Yuki Suguru was staring at acted nothing like the one Shuichi and Hiro had described.

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

The young girl swore as Shuichi and Yuki stepped out of the car and into the apartment building. This was going to take a bit longer than she’d originally thought it would. She answered her cell phone as it rang, smiling at her friend’s voice. “Hey Sarah, what’s up?” she asked, Yuki and Shuichi temporarily forgotten.

“Not much. Psy, can I as you something?” her friend asked politely. Psy nodded, waiting for her friend to continue. She knew that she would with or without her consent, she was just nice enough to ask. “Why haven’t you come back yet? Crazy doesn’t even know you exist,” she added, hoping that Psy’d come over and talk to them. She hadn’t seen her friend in ages.

“Sorry, but I’m not going home. I have something I have to finish,” Psy stated calmly, pulling the phone away from her ear to hang up. She could still hear her friend’s voice before she pressed the button.

“Psy, what are you talking about?! Come home af…” Sarah’s voice was cut off as Pry hung up the phone. She wasn’t going to tell Sarah what she was planning. Crazy’d just have to deal without knowing her.

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

“Tired?” Yuki asked as Shuichi’s eyes drifted close, his head resting against his chest. He’d moved his laptop into the living room and set Shuichi n front of him in the same manner that he had in the car earlier and had set the laptop on his lap instead. This created some problems at first as Shuichi played around, trying to hold Yuki’s hand when he was typing and typing him random messages before he had finally stopped and let Yuki type in peace.

“No…Well, maybe just a little bit,” Shuichi answered, opening his eyes and looking up at him. Yuki smiled and saved his document, typing something two returns under his normal writing, wrapping an arm around his waist. Shuichi smiled and turned back to the screen of Yuki’s laptop, reading the secluded words before looking back at Yuki and smiling brightly.

“What?” Yuki asked innocently, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a pack of cigarettes. Shuichi’s smile didn’t falter.

“Do you have anything for me?” he asked just as innocently, already pretty sure of his answer. Yuki blinked, continued their little ‘innocence act,’ opening his cigarette pack and clinging to the item inside. “Yuki! No fair teasing me like this!” the younger boy whined, looking up at him pitifully.

“I take it you’re referring to this?” he asked as he pulled his hand out of his pack, clutching a short, gold chain in his hands. Shuichi’s eyes sparkled as he caught site of the pendant hanging from Yuki’s fingers. “You like it?” he asked as Shuichi continued to stare at it.

It was a heart (the outline of one anyway), lined with rubies. Inside the open area were two letters, an ‘E,’ outlined in the same way as the heart with diamonds, and an ‘S,’ the tip clinging to the end of the ‘E’ and also lined with rubies. It was the prettiest thing Shuichi’d ever seen…

“Mine?” he barely managed, reaching out to let it rest on his palm gently, almost afraid to touch it. Yuki laughed and let go of the chain, letting Shuichi hold it.

“No, I bought it for an old girlfriend of mine named Susan. Of course it’s for you,” he retorted, but his voice wasn’t harsh, just…teasing. He ran his fingers through Shuichi’s hair as he continued to stare up at him. He sighed and closed his laptop, moving it from Shuichi’s lap to the table in front of them. Shuichi had immediately turned around, burying his face in Yuki’s shirt as he hugged him, holding him close.

Yuki was, needless to say, a little shocked by his reaction, but held the boy anyway, running his fingers through his hair. He blinked as he felt tears drop onto his leg, sitting Shuichi upright to stare at him. “What’s wrong?” he asked, worried he’d done something wrong. He was trying his best to be as nice to Shuichi as he possibly could, but in doing so he dropped all his barriers, leaving him vulnerable to just about anything hurtful Shuichi said or did. Watching him cry hurt.

Shuichi shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes, smiling at him slightly. “Nothing’s wrong, honestly. It’s just…” Yuki brought one of his hands up from Shuichi’s waist, pressing it to his cheek gently as Shuichi stared up at him. Shuichi, in turn, took his hand in his and pressed his face against him, tears sliding down his face again. “I guess I’m just scared what’ll happen when I loose you. You’re being so nice and I just…I don’t ever want you to leave me,” he admitted, turning his face to kiss Yuki’s palm.

“You won’t loose me,” Yuki stated firmly, pulling Shuichi tighter against him. “You promised me you’d find me, remember?” Shuichi nodded, eyes brightening somewhat. “Well, now I’m promising you that I’ll wait. No matter how long it takes.” Shuichi’s smile returned again and he hugged Yuki tightly, chain still dangling from his fingertips.

“One day I’ll find a way to repay you for this, Yuki! I promise you!” he cheered. And he wasn’t just talking about the necklace. Everything Yuki had gotten him, done for him, everything sweet Yuki had said to him. Somehow Shuichi’d repay him for all of it. Yuki just smiled and held him.

“I’m the one who seems to have the bigger debt,” he commented and Shuichi shook his head, sitting up quickly to put his new necklace on, tilting it up to glance at it. He laughed brightly and hugged him again, both of them staying that way until Shuichi fell asleep.

Yuki sighed as he finally realized Shuichi was asleep, picking him up carefully and walking to his room, lying him on the bed gently. To tell the truth he didn’t have all that much energy left from the worry he’d gone through over the boy that day, climbing in next to him, not bothering to change. He’d already thrown away the shirt he’d been wearing earlier and had replaced it with something a bit more casual. Shuichi had changed into his sleep close as soon as they’d reached the house.

“Yuki…” Shuichi reached out to clutch his shirt and Yuki smiled, pulling Shuichi against him and holding him as he closed his eyes and fell asleep as well.

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

Psy sighed from outside what she had found out was Shuichi and Yuki’s apartment door. She’d been running her plan over and over again in her mind, and she was seriously starting to doubt herself. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with Shindo-san, but she knew that he was the only way to hurt Yuki. Yuki wouldn’t care if she killed him, she knew that much. Therefore, there was only one option…

Standing up she opened the door to the apartment, having picked the lock a long time before she’d started doubting herself. She didn’t bother to shut it behind her, she’d need to leave in a couple minutes anyway. Thinking of which…Psy checked her watch, noting that it was 11:50. She didn’t know why she cared, but she had a feeling she should.

After a short while of looking around, and nearly tripping over everything Shuichi owned, she’d located the bedroom, glaring at the picture the two of them made. It was disgusting, two men together. Even more so was the fact that this was her Yuki. Shuichi had no right to take him from her, sweet or not.

She placed a hand over his mouth and shook him, leaning down to whisper in his ear as his eyes opened slowly. “Wake him up and I kill you both, got it?” Shuichi nodded slowly and Psy nodded to herself, satisfied with the boy’s logic. She’d never shoot Yuki, but there was no way he’d know that. “Get up,” she demanded and Shuichi did so, feeling the gun pressed against his back almost as soon as he did. “Since I have nothing against you I’ll give you one grace. You can say your good-bye to him, just so long as he doesn’t wake up.” Her sentence was punctuated as she pulled back the hammer, indicating that she wouldn’t hesitate to fire if he said a word.

Shuichi nodded and she let go of his mouth, pressing the gun against his neck now in case he wanted to get smart with her and fight back. She was surprised when he simply unclasped something from his neck and leaned over to wrap the chain around Yuki’s wrist, curling his fingers around what hung between his wrist and the pendant.

Psy didn’t speak for a while as Shuichi ran his thumb over Yuki’s fingers, staring at the item resting at the end of the chain. To tell the truth she really couldn’t find much of anything to say. “I guess I’ll be the one waiting,” he stated softly before standing back up, turning to face Psy in her moment of awe. “What next?” he asked, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He found the gun pressed against his throat.

“Back around and out the door, Shindo-san,” she stated coldly, fear overtaking her as she remembered the fact that Shuichi wasn’t as helpless now as he had been before.

“Alright,” he answered meekly and headed out, tears falling from his eyes as soon as he left the bedroom, walking numbly to the door and outside. Almost as soon as Psy was out the door she closed it behind her, motioning to the wall with her gun.

“Sit,” she demanded and Shuichi did so, staring up at her. He knew he had a pretty good chance if he tried, but he didn’t want her to hurt Yuki. Therefore, he continued to do as he was told. Not to say that was guaranteeing Yuki’d remain unharmed, but at least he’d know he tried.

For the first time Psy and Shuichi got a good look at each other, and what each found was equally disturbing. Psy had not expected to find Shuichi so innocent and…cute. And definitely not as sweet as he had so far proven himself to be. Shuichi couldn’t believe the resemblance she held to someone…someone he knew he owed something. He probably would have been able to thing of her name if he wasn’t so scared.

“So you’re Yuki’s new toy, eh?” she asked, knowing from the way Yuki had acted after her first attempt that it wasn’t true. However, she couldn’t help but say it anyway. Hurting him was like hurting Yuki, she knew it would do the same amount of damage.

“Looks more like I’m your toy right now than his, doesn’t it?” he asked in return, nodding his head towards the gun Psy still carried. “Can I ask you one favor, please?” he asked, tears ceasing their flow for a brief second.

“Out with it,” Psy demanded, checking her watch. It was 11:58. Not that she cared, she just needed to do something other than look at Shuichi. After his silence Psy turned to glare at him in agitation. “If you’re going to ask something of me ask it now! I’m being generous so you’d best not take advantage of it!” she demanded, screaming in whispers. Shuichi’s eyes were pleading when he stared at her.

“Please don’t kill me on Valentines Day, it means something to me. This is the only day I’ve ever felt like he cared. I don’t want it to be ruined. Please,” he begged, not quite resorting to clasping his hands in front of him but damn close. If she said no he’d die before she even fired.

“Fine, you have two minutes until then, though,” she stated, watching as her watch counted off the seconds Shuichi had left to live.

“What’d he do to you?” Shuichi asked calmly and Psy jumped, looking towards where Shuichi was sitting, looking up at her. She snorted and went back to watching the seconds tick away.

“Why should I tell you?” she asked. Sixty seconds left.

“I’m going to die because Yuki did something to you. I think I deserve to know a little,” he stated with a trace of humor, smiling slightly ever as the tears streamed his face.

“He hurt me. Is that enough for you?” she asked, the boy didn’t have all that long left.

“He hurt me too, but I’ve never thought about taking revenge on anyone for it.” Shuichi laughed softly to himself. “Only a wall.” Psy laughed a little at this as well, before checking her watch and noting firmly that it was time. She turned back to him and smiled apologetically.

“Sorry kid, time’s up,” she stated and Shuichi nodded.

“I know. Tell Yuki I’ll wait, too.”

At 12:01, February 15 two things happened.

A shot fired

and

Yuki Eiri awoke to find himself alone

~*~*~*~*~

There will be another chapter…I hope. I just have to get around to it. Hope you liked it (I’m very aware of the fact that it sucked but it might be to your taste, I never know). I kinda beat around the bush about killing Shuichi (can anyone else tell I kinda dragged that on). I didn’t want to do it, but I figured it would make this story more interesting than one of those ‘Happily Ever After Ones.” Please tell me what you think, I’m hoping to finish it within a week.

APPOLOGY:

Okay, okay. So I have to admit that CB was annoying. There is an actual point to her being there (believe it or not) and the only reason she's there is kind of to lengthen between the serious points. I was hoping by switching scenes over to something else there'd be suspense. Her actual reason is revealed in chapter two, and it's not very big. I suck at the kinds of scenes she's forced to cover, that's the ONLY reason I did it I SWEAR. She wasn't supposed to be entertaining, she was kind of supposed to make you wait to find out what was going on. Sorry if she was really all that annoying...

BTW—I also have this posted in my reviews if you want to read it again. Sorry she was annoying and all that. Another thing, CB isn’t really a self insert. I’m quite depressive (as you can tell from reading my fanfic) and too shy to talk to anyone really. She’s just the type of person I’d like to be, outgoing and fun. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I can’t say sorry enough if you really hated her.