Unlocking My Love

Title: Unlocking My Love
Author: JadeHeart
Fandom: Gravitation
Warnings: some mild bad language
Author’s Note: Thank you to all you readers for being so patient. Sorry it’s taking so long between updates, but I really can’t promise things will get much better. However, this story won’t be completely abandoned, even though it has slowed down somewhat.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this, they belong to the creator of ‘Gravitation’.


Chapter 17

“I don’t care! We are going to have some time off!” Shuichi stated belligerently, chin thrust forward.

“You know we are going to be busy,” K was saying. “There’s a lot to do so we can’t guarantee anything.”

“We are still having some time off.” Shuichi repeated. “Yuki leaves in a couple of days and I intend to spend every moment I can with him. It’s not like we don’t know what has to happen and if it’s something really important then we’ll make certain we’re here but you can handle the rest.”

K sighed heavily. “Just what is the big deal? You’ll see him again when we get back to Tokyo. It’s not that far away.”

“I want to be with him now!”

“But, Shindou,” Sakano wailed, wringing his hands. “There’s so much work to do! What will the President say?”

“Stuff what Tohma says!” Shuichi said forcefully, which immediately sent Sakano into a dead faint.

K gazed down at his prone colleague and sighed again. “Fine then,” he said, raising his hands in defeat. “We’ll keep the meetings to a minimum and you can have your free time”

Shuichi was suddenly all smiles. “Thanks, K!” and he bounced out of the room.

K gazed after him and then smiled, a little wickedly. So, Shuichi, it looks like you’re starting to get into Yuki now. He chuckled. Not before time. He had been beginning to think that he was going to have to hog-tie the two of them and lock them in a room together to have them talk. Fortunately they took matters into their own hands and did something about it.

He knelt down beside Sakano and slapped his face lightly a couple of times until he slowly opened his eyes, still looking a little woozy.

“Has he gone?” Sakano asked in a weak voice.

“Yep,” K answered, standing and reaching down a hand to assist his friend up. “Went out of here like he was walking on air.”

K laughed as he hoisted Sakano to his feet. “Finally it looks like we’re getting somewhere!” he said, clapping his hands together sharply. “I haven’t seen Shuichi that fired up about anything for a while, and certainly not over Yuki till now. It’s good to see at last!”

“Yes, it is good news that things appear to be going so well between the two of them but we all know that this does not necessarily bode well.” Sakano pointed out. “They have always had a rather…volatile relationship, and unpredictable to say the least.”

“Yeah, yeah,” K waved his concerns aside. “Still they’re talking again, and spending time together. Not to mention sharing a room!” The leer he shot Sakano could only to be said to be lecherous and Sakano blushed.

“Think they’re doing the ‘naughty, naughty’ yet?” K whispered as he sidled up to Sakano, nudging him with his elbow, smirking.

Sakano’s face went an even brighter red and K could have sworn he saw steam issuing from under his collar. Sakano was just so damn cute at these times. He couldn’t help but tease him!

“That….that is actually none of our business,” Sakano managed to find his voice, running a finger around his collar as though he suddenly found his tie far too tight, and said this firmly, turning to face K. “What they do in private is nothing to do with us.”

“But don’t you want to know?”

“NO!” Sakano slapped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, intending to block out anything else K may say to him. He cracked an eye open to see that K was just standing looking at him and slowly took his hands from his ears. “You haven’t placed some sort of bugs in their room, have you?!” he suddenly asked, horrified that K would have invaded the singer’s privacy and knowing that is exactly the kind of thing that the mad manager would do!

“Don’t worry,” K sighed again, looking a little despondent. “They’ve been perfect gentlemen with each other.”

Sakano swayed on his feet for a moment, undecided whether to faint again or not. K obviously had bugged Shindou’s room! Suddenly another thought struck him. What if he’s bugged all the rooms – including his!

This time he did faint, falling to the floor with the shock and it wasn’t until he felt the light slaps on his cheek once more that he opened his eyes to see K looming over him, blonde hair trailing over one shoulder.

“You know, Sakano, you’re gonna hurt yourself badly one of these days if you don’t break this habit. It’s all very cute and everything but it must be hell on your bones.” K stated, looking down at his friend with his head titled to one side as though examining a frantically wriggling specimen under a microscope.

Sakano didn’t object as his friend pulled him to his feet once more. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his still racing heart. Once he felt he’d gained a modicum of equilibrium he turned to K and tried to place a stern look on his face.

“I want you to remove what ever devices you have placed in Shindou’s room,” he said firmly, then amended the demand. “Any devices you have placed in anyone’s room.” Hopefully there were none other than in Shindou’s but he wanted to try and cover all bases if he could. K was too devious, if you didn’t pin him down exactly to what you wanted him to do he always seemed to find a way around it.

“Aw, Sakano, why do you want to do that? Look, if anything heats up between them I’ll even let you listen.” K wheedled.

“No, no, no! I don’t want to!” Sakano shook his head violently then pointed an accusing finger directly at K. “You will remove them all! Now!”

K pouted. “Okay, I’ll take the listening devices out.” he said very reluctantly.

Sakano was about to agree when he paused. He didn’t like how K had only specified ‘listening devices’. Did that mean that he had other types also? Had he set up a miniature camera to spy on Shindou? Or anyone else?

He felt his face begin to burn with embarrassment. Was K able to watch everything that went on in all their rooms? The bedroom? The bathroom? His whole body felt like it was on fire now, his clothing far too restrictive and his necktie feeling like it was about to strangle him. Had K seen what he had been doing in the shower lately? Had he been watching whilst he had……

It was all too much for Sakano to handle as his brain completely overloaded with the racing images. He threw himself at the taller man, grabbing K around the collar and shaking him violently so his long hair whipped back and forth as his head flopped around like a doll’s.

“You will remove everything you have put in the rooms! Everything, you hear!” He twisted his hands in the shirt material, tightening his grip. “Listening devices, cameras, pressure plates, spy holes, whatever you have installed you will remove every last one of them from every single room! And you will not do this again for the rest of this tour!”

His voice had risen to a shout by the end of the tirade and he stopped the shaking on the final word but did not release his unyielding grip so there was no escape for K.

K’s eyes spun giddily as he tried to regain his internal balance after this harsh treatment. “Sure,” he managed to mumble. Sakano was just so violent at times. “I’ll do it.”

“Everything!” Sakano stressed again with another smaller shake.

“Promise, I swear,” K said, still feeling like the room was spinning a little.

Sakano released him then, taking him at his word. “Fine then.” He stepped backwards and straightened his clothing, smoothing his ruffled hair down and pushing his glasses back up his nose. “You had better get on to it now whilst Shindou is occupied elsewhere.” He threw a steely glance at K. “I expect it all to be done by the end of today, understood?”

“Yes, sir,” K saluted and not quite mockingly. He hid the smile he was tempted to make. Sakano could be full of surprises sometimes. He sometimes thought he would never fully plumb the depths of his generally mild-mannered colleague.

K turned and made his way to the door, Sakano falling into step by his side.

“By the way, that was great acting back there,” he said, slapping his friend on the back and making Sakano stumble a little. “Fainting like that was just the right touch to make Shuichi think we were really serious in trying to stop him having time with Yuki.”

Sakano straightened up, tugging the bottom of his jacket down again to smooth its tailored lines and then pushed his glasses up his nose once more as he opened the door.

“It wasn’t acting.” he said as he exited. “I just dread to think what the President is going to say about all this.”

-oOo-

Yuki leant back in the chair, letting his head drop backwards, eyes staring at the ceiling, watching the lazy curl of smoke winding its way upwards from the cigarette dangling from his lips.

He lifted his arms and laced his fingers together, pushing them to a full stretch. He winced a little as one shoulder popped, dropped his arms, then rolled both shoulders, before shaking his hands hard to ease the stiffness at the wrist.

The cell phone resting on the table before him suddenly flashed into life, startling him a little. He looked at it as it juddered along the smooth top. He probably should have taken it off vibrate as he continued to watch it in semi-amazement as it seemed to move as though it had a life of its own.

He finally reached out and picked it up, rescuing it before it decided to leap off the edge of the desk to plunge to its demise to the floor. He glanced at the screen, noting the number flashing there and sighed as he flipped it open, removing the cigarette from between his lips before answering.

“What do you want, Mizuki?” he growled.

“And a good morning to you also, Yuki,” Mizuki’s cheerful voice carried down the line, completely unfazed by his gruff greeting.

“What do you want?” he repeated again.

“Oh, nothing in particular,” she answered. “I just wanted to see how you are doing.”

“Yeah, right,” he responded, stubbing out the now burnt down cigarette. “Try again.”

“Oh, come now, Yuki. I truly did just want to know how you were going. It’s been a long time since you actually had had a holiday.”

“What are you talking about? I was away for more than six months earlier!” he snapped through gritted teeth. And thanks the fuck for reminding me of that time, he snarled internally.

“That was hardly a holiday,” Mizuki responded quietly, cutting through his anger easily. “That is why I was so glad you chose to take this time away. You needed it. So did Shuichi.”

“Humph,” was all his reply was. It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about it but he knew that Mizuki was being completely sincere.

“So,” Now her voice returned to her perpetual chirpy state and he rolled his eyes at the tone. “Back to my question: How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he answered succinctly, not elaborating.

“And so when do you anticipate you will be back?” she prodded. He could hear a faint tapping in the background and could picture her sitting at her desk, pen in hand and tapping on the edge of the desk. It was a habit of hers that he had seen since the first day they began working together although she had denied she did it when he had once pointed it out to her. He had also learnt over the years that she only did this when she was thinking about something very important, and usually that had nothing to do with what she was actually saying.

So with that clue Yuki’s eyes narrowed a little. “Why do you want to know?” he asked suspiciously.

“Oh, no reason,” was Mizuki’s hurried response.

“Uh, huh,” Yeah, right, he thought to himself, frowning.

He heard her sigh through the phone. “Okay,” she said, obviously deciding to come clean. “I’m truly sorry to bother you like this, Yuki, but I’ve got to at least pass on the messages to you. What you do with it after that is up to you.”

Well, she was trying to give him fair warning that she knew he probably wasn’t going to like it. Great, now what?

“What is it?” he grated out. Better to get this over and done with.

“Well, the publishers want to know if you’re currently working on anything. They’re strongly hinting that it is high time that you started on your next book due to the delay of the previous one and such, and so they are expecting to see some progress.”

“You can tell them they can kiss….”

“I know, I know,” Mizuki interrupted him before he completed his less than complimentary response. “And I’ve already told them as much. Although not quite in the same words as you would. Anyway, I know I can hold them off for a while but even I have to admit that I was wondering if you are working on anything yet.”

Yuki glanced down at the bound book before him that he had just finished writing in. One hand reached out to gently touch the cover. “No, I’m not working on anything. So tell them to piss off.”

“Fine, I’ll cover for you.”

Yuki knew she would too. She had never let him down.

“But,” she continued. “do you at least have any ideas for your next book?”

“Yeah, I’ve made some notes.” he admitted.

“Okay, that’s good enough. Send me through a bit of a synopsis and I’ll throw them that bone. That should keep them happy for a time.”

“Fine. Then goodbye,” Yuki moved to disconnect the call.

“Ah, there’s one more thing,” Mizuki said quickly before he could hang up.

“What?” He couldn’t hide the irritation he was feeling at this conversation. He had wanted to get right away from work and everything that went with it and just be able to concentrate on Shuichi for these few days. He didn’t want to have to be dealing with this now.

“You’ve still been getting a lot of offers to do promotional events in the USA. You’ve developed quite a large following over there, and those few photos taken at your impromptu book signing a few months back has really fanned the flames. They are offering quite lucrative deals and I really think you should at least consider some of them. It would do wonders for your career.”

“I told you I’m not interested in going back there!” Absolutely not. He didn’t want to go back there with all the memories associated with it. It had been bad enough when it had just been in relation to his own past experience in New York. Heading back there now after everything that had happened with Shuichi was not something he was ready to deal with. Not to mention that he had absolutely no intention what-so-ever in leaving Shuichi at this stage!

“Yuki, I…” Mizuki began.

“This conversation is ended!” He cut her off curtly.

“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Have fun then and sorry to bother you. I’ll see you in a few days?”

“Yeah,” He knew Mizuki really wasn’t to blame for the anger he was feeling. She was only doing her job and trying to look out for him.

“I’ll talk to you when you get back then. Say hi to Shuichi for me, will you? Tell him I’ve got a ticket to see his show in Tokyo and can’t wait!”

Yuki snorted. “Tell him yourself.” He still couldn’t come to grips with the fact that his normally so level-headed editor turned into a raving fangirl where Bad Luck was concerned. He found it quite bizarre even to this day.

“You’re so heartless!” Mizuki said, although he could detect the laughter in her voice. “See you then!” and she hung up.

He set the phone down and his gaze returned to the book before him. He hadn’t lied to Mizuki when he had said that he wasn’t working on a new book for publishing. What he was spending the hours writing at present was something far, far more personal, and nothing to do with his work. Which is why he was handwriting this and not using his beloved laptop. The words he were setting down were far too important to trust to the cold, calculating and devoid-of-heart modern technology. The only way to do this justice was to painstakingly scribe every word, etching it onto the paper, watching each page slowly filling as he bared his soul.

He stood and picked it up, striding over to his case tucked in the wardrobe. Kneeling, he opened it, pushing clothing to one side until he reached the bottom and withdraw the slim case. Opening it, he dropped the book inside, snapping the lid shut before flicking the tumblers to securely lock it. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to find it, especially Shuichi.

“Hey, Yuki!” The door slammed opened as Shuichi burst in almost as though his thoughts had summoned him there. “Are you ready?”

Yuki stood and pushed his case back into the bottom of the closet, shutting the doors before turning. “Yeah,” he answered walking forward and grabbing his coat along the way.

“Then come on! The car’s waiting downstairs,” and Shuichi turned on his heel and left him to close the door behind them as he followed.


-oOo-

Shuichi yawned widely. “I’m beat,” he said tiredly, falling face first onto his bed.

Yuki looked across at him, admiring the pert backside outlined in the black pants stretched tight across that region. Nice view, he thought, licking his suddenly dry lips.

He deliberately turned away from temptation and spoke. “Hurry up and have a shower and get to bed,” he said gruffly, hanging his coat up.

“I’m too tired,” Shuichi’s muffled moan reached him.

“Do I have to drag you in there?” he said, turning around.

Shuichi half rolled over so he could twist his head around to view Yuki and grinned. “Are you saying you’re gonna sweep me off my feet and carry me away?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Yuki replied curtly, although the idea of picking up a naked Shuichi and carrying him into the bathroom wasn’t a horrid idea by any means. In fact it was too good an idea, judging from the tightening of his trousers.

He turned around again so Shuichi wouldn’t see his state of arousal. “Just hurry up. I want one too.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Shuichi said, sitting up with a deep sigh. “But hey, today was fun wasn’t it?”

“I suppose,” Yuki replied, not turning around.

“Aw, Yuki!” Shuichi half whined. “Come on, surely you had some fun today? Are you going to tell me it was a complete waste of my time taking you there?”

“No,” Yuki said, sitting down on the end of his bed to remove his shoes. “It was okay.”

Shuichi stood and stretched before making his way to the bathroom, pausing at the door to scowl back at Yuki. “Honestly, Yuki, you never get excited about anything!”, then he disappeared into the room, the door clicking shut behind him.

Yuki sighed, looking at the door. Shuichi was completely wrong. There was one thing that got him excited every time – and that was him. He took another deep breath and willed his arousal down, trying not to let his mind drift to thoughts of a wet and naked Shuichi in the shower.

Today had been a good day. They had got away quite early which had surprised Yuki as up till then Shuichi had usually been tied up with production meetings and the like in relation to the tour. But today he had rushed back to the hotel mid-morning and they had headed off immediately to Toei Uzumasa Eigamura. Yuki had heard of this place before of course, since he had grown up in Kyoto but had never visited it himself. His family hadn’t exactly been into that sort of thing when he had been younger. His mother might have done so if she had lived, certainly not his father. So during his childhood he had never come here, then he had spent his early teen years living in America. Upon his return to Japan and his change in behaviour, it wasn’t really something that had grabbed his attention. He had never thought he had missed out on anything by not visiting.

However it was certainly a place that made Shuichi’s eyes sparkle, with his love for the dramatic and dressing up and it had been at his insistence that they come here so he had the opportunity to see it.

It was designed like a large film set and was frequently used for the filming of various period dramas for just that purpose. Yuki had to admit that it had been rather interesting to wander through the recreated streets and buildings and it certainly gave one a good feel of what it might have once been like. He had even had a few thoughts that he might be able to use in one of his novels if he decided to choose such a setting.

As soon as they arrived, Shuichi had insisted on taking the opportunity of dressing up for the day, a privilege open to all, at a cost of course. He had tried to convince Yuki to join him but he drew the line at that. Shuichi wisely backed down, only asking Yuki’s opinion on what costume he should chose and pouring over the photos of each as he chewed on his bottom lip in deep thought.

Finally he made up his mind and disappeared into a curtained alcove at the back of the shop, a number of attendants following him in, leaving Yuki to sit and smoke whilst he waited for Shuichi to reappear. He would occasionally hear laughter and giggles issuing from behind that closed curtain and he wondered just what was going on. It didn’t sound like Shuichi was being molested. Or at least if he was he wasn’t objecting. That damn hussy!

He ground his teeth on his cigarette, frowning, one foot taping impatiently. Just how long did it take to put some bloody clothes on?! As he sat there he was forced to fend off the frequent efforts from the remaining staff in trying to make him change his mind and follow in Shuichi’s footsteps. He was hard pressed to remain polite in his refusal but didn’t want to make a scene and spoil the day for Shuichi..

When Shuichi did finally reappear he was dressed as a samurai; orange streaked hair gone, hidden under a skull cap and sporting a false top knot, double swords by his side, make-up accentuating his almond-shaped eyes.

He looked quite dashing really in a way, except his small stature hardly made him seem threatening, especially when he stood next to the much taller Yuki. Still he looked damn good and the shop staff ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ over him and official photos were taken immediately. Probably a good thing, Yuki thought, as there was no guarantee what trouble the idiot was likely to get into so the state of his attire might not be the same upon his return at the end of the day.

They then left to view the rest of the premises. This had been their first stop as Shuichi had wanted the opportunity to walk around for the rest of the day in costume, just as other people were. As he said to Yuki, in some ways it was no different to when he put on his stage dress, it was all the same, just make-believe. Yuki didn’t say much to that. He didn’t think that when Shuichi got up on stage to sing that it really was as much make-believe as the other thought. If anything, it was then that the real Shuichi seemed to come out.

They had taken their time that day and he had actually enjoyed it. They shared a leisurely lunch, he even bent so much as to play a few arcade games with Shuichi, trying to ignore it when his partner got too loud and boisterous. Shuichi was in awe of everything and so took lots of photos, even sneaking in a few of Yuki, catching him unawares at times. He would have to get hold of that digital camera at some stage and be certain to delete those.

However the thing that had relieved him most about this day was that Nakano and Fujisaki hadn’t accompanied them. This was the first time they hadn’t been with them on their day trips and he was more than relieved to have finally shaken their annoying chaperones. It had made him very uncomfortable having the two of them constantly around he and Shu, watching his every move.

He wondered whose idea it had been for them to have that role; Shuichi’s or someone else? Perhaps it had been Tohma’s to make certain that nothing upset his star singer. That would be just like his brother-in-law.

So all in all they had had a great day and he had taken great delight, in spite of not showing any evidence of it outwardly, in seeing Shuichi enjoying himself so much, strutting along like a peacock in his costume, really getting into the swing of being a samurai.

Shuichi even managed to find a few other costumed visitors, both male and female, who were enthused just as much as he was and promptly they organised themselves into a hierarchical group, with a couple of the cosplayers being nobility, Shuichi and a few others as their samurai warriors and then a few in the role of lowly servants, and a ninja thrown in for good measure.

With the costume, fake top knot and make-up, Shuichi didn’t look anything like the charismatic lead singer of Bad Luck and none of the young people around him appeared to recognise him as such which appeared to delight him no end. He seemed to enjoy this anonymity, throwing himself into his new role with gusto, acting like any other hyper young man. So as a group they happily had mock sword fights, wooed the ladies present, and fended off the ninja leaping around who was trying to whisk their lady loves away.

Yuki had been content to just sit on a bench and watch them from a distance, more concerned about being any closer and possibly losing an eye from an ill swung implement, but also to distance himself from the raucous group as they drew more than one glance from other visitors due to their antics. Yuki didn’t want anyone to think he was associated to any of them!

Still it had provided him with some amusement in watching them. He didn’t feel in any way left out or abandoned by Shuichi during this interplay for he would frequently fall back by his side to fill him in on further information about his new friends before dashing off once more to join in the fun. See Shuichi like this made Yuki truly believe that his younger partner was completely back to normal. This sort of idiocy he knew well.

He frowned a little as two of the girls clung to either side of Shuichi, one on each arm, giggling and hiding their faces on his shoulder. Just what did they think they were playing at? He continued to glare at them from a distance. Get off him, he snarled mentally at the simpering females. Go grope someone else! Not that Shuichi seemed to mind the attention as he beamed down at them, his smile a little too smug and pleased for Yuki’s liking.

His phone jingled, vibrating against the side of his leg as the dark strains of the Funeral March rose into around him. He didn’t need to look at the screen to know who was calling, that tune was enough to identify the caller only too clearly, beside it being the only piece of music linked to an actual caller. He wasn’t one to bother with that sort of thing but Shuichi had put that tune into his phone a long time ago and he’d never bothered trying to change it. Despite what many people thought, Shuichi actually did know a fair bit about classical music and in a fit of vengeance had allotted the 3rd movement of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No 2 to the object of his ire at the time.

The piece continued to play; that dark, almost depressing music making him feel like it was threatening to drag him down into the depths of despair. It certainly wasn’t a happy tune in any way.

He was tempted to continue to ignore it but knew that if he did he would get no peace and it would resolve nothing. So, with a sigh, he answered.

“What?”

“Good afternoon, Eiri,” Tohma’s cheerful voice said. “How are you enjoying the delights of Toei Uzumasa?”

Yuki irrationally looked around him as though expecting to see various types of spy cameras fixed on him, if not Tohma himself standing behind him, but quickly realised that either K or Sakano, or even Shuichi’s fellow band members had probably passed that information on to the President of NG. It was always just a little unnerving at how in touch with everything Tohma Seguchi was every minute of the day.

“Fine,” he answered shortly. “What do you want?”

“I simply thought I would see how you were doing in your self imposed exile.”

“If you’re checking to see if I’ve upset your golden goose, I haven’t!” Yuki snapped back.

“Oh, I know that,” Tohma’s reply was completely unconcerned. He probably was fully aware of it. Everyone else would have been quick enough to tell him if Yuki had done anything untoward to Shuichi. Hell, probably Shuichi would have done so as well!

“Humph!” was all Yuki allowed himself to say. There was no point trying to argue with Tohma.

“I just wondered,” And now Tohma’s voice became serious. “If you were coping?”

Yuki waited as he lit a cigarette before replying. So that was it. “It’s been fine,” he answered shortly.

“Truly?”

“Yes,”

“So things are going…well?”

Yuki exhaled and let the silence lengthen, thinking. What was Tohma really asking, he pondered. He was certainly fishing for some kind of information but Yuki wasn’t sure exactly what it was that he wanted to hear.

“Look, I haven’t molested or strangled him and he hasn’t thrown me over the balcony or tried to smother me in my sleep so we’re doing just fine. Happy?”

“Hmm,” was Tohma’s frustrating reply.

Yuki ground his teeth a little. He so often wished that his brother-in-law would just learn to come straight out and say what ever it was he wanted to say instead of going about it so cryptically and leaving everyone else’s head spinning!

“What are you after, Tohma?” he snarled.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing in particular,” Tohma replied, sounding a little distracted. “I have a meeting to go to. I’m glad you are both doing well. We’ll speak again when you return to Tokyo. Good day, Eiri. Take care.”

Yuki stared at the suddenly silent phone in his hand and was almost tempted to immediately ring Tohma back and demand that he make some sense but he knew that he probably wouldn’t even bother picking up. That conversation just didn’t seem to make any sense at all to him.

He mentally shrugged and pushed the phone back into his pocket and stood to catch up to where Shuichi and his friends were heading, glancing at his watch. They would have to make a move to leave shortly. No doubt he would have to listen to Shuichi’s wails of despair all the way back to the hotel at having to leave so early.

Once more, after having their day out Shuichi had to go on to the concert venue for his performance and Yuki accompanied him. Although he was seeing the same show each time he never tired of watching Shuichi on stage. Each show was subtly different in the way the stage was set up and thus how Bad Luck had to work it during their performances. Even the crowds were different and so Shuichi adapted his routine accordingly each time.

It was quite an eye opener for Yuki in many ways. He had never bothered to spend this much time with Shuichi when he was on tour previously so he had only watched a few of his concerts in person. Now, he could only admire how masterfully Shuichi could plan and execute each show, being able to adapt as need be and draw the best from each audience. Shuichi didn’t just get up there and sing and expect it all to go well. He worked for the ovations; he sweated for it and he made sure he would get them.

Watching Shuichi in his element like this made Yuki realise that he had been missing out on something very important for so long during their prior relationship. Now that he knew what he had been missing he was determined to not let it continue.

At the end of the show Shuichi had come off the stage glowing, energy seeming to still be crackling from his body as he wiped sweat from his smiling face, talking animatedly with Nakano and Fujisaki. When he was finally calmed down enough they left and returned to the hotel.

Now it was time to try to get some sleep.

Despite Shuichi’s claims that he was fine and getting enough rest Yuki wasn’t so sure. He was certain that there were the beginnings of dark circles under Shuichi’s eyes, although the stage make-up easily hid that.

Not surprising really that his eyes were becoming shadowed when Shuichi was being busier than usual with not just the normal tour commitments but also with going out with Yuki during the day and still having to perform at night. In some ways he was glad he would be leaving in another day so he might have a chance to relax a little more between performances.

He heard Shuichi leave the bathroom and watched him yawn again as he rubbed the towel over his damp hair.

“I’m done,” he said, making his way towards his bed.

“Fine,” Yuki acknowledged as he stood and headed in the direction Shuichi had just come. “Hurry up and get under the covers before you get chilled.”

“Aw, Yuki, are you trying to take care of me?” Shuichi said, laughter in his voice.

Yuki turned at the bathroom door and looked back with a scowl on his face to see Shuichi smiling as he pulled the covers back and jumped into bed.

“I just don’t want to have to hear Tohma bitching at me ‘cause you’ve got a cold and lost your voice!” he snapped and entered the bathroom.

He showered quickly, refusing to let his thoughts wander again, finishing up his ablutions in record time. When he returned to the bedroom he could see Shuichi was already slumbering, mouth open and softly snoring.

He quietly watched for a moment, enjoying the sight of his partner’s face relaxed in sleep. Quietly he walked around the suite, turning off all the lights, checking the door was locked securely and forgoing his desire to have one last cigarette before bed.

He paused for a moment at Shuichi’s bedside as he reached down to flick off the lamp by his head, studying the sleeping features. Slowly he leaned down until he could brush his lips gently against the bare forehead, feeling the warmth of the skin against his flesh.

Turning swiftly Yuki forced himself back to his side of the room and crawled into his own bed, trying to get comfortable and wishing that he had a warm, slight body lying next to him to wrap his arms around as he slept.

-oOo-

The next day Shuichi was up early to do some photo shoots, dawn barely having broken on the horizon to chase the night away.

“Brr!” He shivered as he splashed cold water over his face. “That’s cold!”

“You could have used hot water,” Yuki stated evenly, watching from the doorway.

Shuichi looked at him in the mirror. “That would have probably put me back to sleep,” he admitted, running a brush through his hair and sending droplets of water into the air.

“So when will you be done today?” Yuki asked.

Shuichi grimaced as he paused in his shaving. “Not till later this afternoon,” he said in an apologetic voice. “We’ve got some things to sort out after the shoot.”

Yuki half shrugged. “That’s fine,”

“Are you still okay to go out later though?” Shuichi patted his face down as he turned.

“Yeah,” Yuki replied.

“Good!” Shuichi was all smiles then. “Gotta go!” he said, brushing a soft kiss on Yuki’s cheek as he pushed past him. “See you later!”

The door slammed shut, leaving a stunned Yuki where he remained frozen in place in the bathroom.

Shuichi had kissed him?! He kissed him! Disbelieving, his hand rose to touch the softly assaulted cheek. What the hell had brought that on?

Mentally shaking himself, his thoughts still racing, his hands patted at non-existent pockets in his pyjamas, searching for his usual crutch, the obligatory cigarettes.

Finding none, he half staggered back into the main room, almost in a daze, and made a bee-line directly to where his jacket was thrown over the back of a chair. Sure enough his questing fingers found the familiar shape and withdrew it along with his lighter. His hands went through the motions of lighting up automatically, whilst his mind continued to circle.

He had been caught completely off guard by Shuichi’s action. There had been no lead up, no indication that Yuki could tell that he had intended to do that, nothing at all. He had thought, if anything, that all the indications had been that Shuichi wasn’t ready for that sort of interaction between them. Had he missed something?

He wandered out onto the balcony, drawing deeply on the cigarette between his lips, feeling himself begin to relax as the nicotine flooded his lungs.

He leant on the railing. He didn’t think he had missed anything. Sure things had seemed a little easier between them since Osaka, that had seemed to be a sort of turning point between them, not that he really understood why or how. Still things had seemed better since then, a little more relaxed at least in regards to being physically around each other.

Especially from Shuichi. He didn’t flinch or shy away when they were close to each other, or accidentally touched and stuff anymore, but he still hadn’t thought things had gone any further than that. Does this mean he should.…

He suddenly remembered what his last abortive attempt to kiss Shuichi had been like and half shuddered, remembering the contempt in the other’s eyes. No, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to try that again, certainly not when he’d had something to drink. Okay, that time he’d had a lot to drink but that really wasn’t the point. It would still be a bad move all round to try that again at this point.

But for Shuichi to do that it must mean something surely? He hadn’t done it under any sort of coercion and it hadn’t seemed forced in any way. In fact it had seemed just like old times, the way he would just suddenly drift past Yuki and bestow a kiss and a smile in passing as though it were perfectly natural to do so.

That openness of expression of affection was something Yuki had always envied in Shuichi. No matter how hard he tried, such gestures still did not come easy to him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do them. It just seemed as though his mind had forgotten how to do it. It was only from being with Shuichi that he had begun to relearn how to show those gentle romantic moments, the soft touches and meaningful gestures. He had forgotten how hard it was to do now he was trying to court Shuichi. So did this mean Shuichi wanted to be wooed by him?

He groaned as he dropped his forehead to his folded arms. This early in the morning such thoughts just made his head hurt!

He lifted his head a little so his chin rested on his arms, eyes narrowing a little at a sudden thought. He could try doing something for Shuichi, sort of like what he had done for Yuki in Osaka.

He thought about it some more, puffing on his cigarette. There were no ferris wheels to take Shuichi on after the concert and he was concerned about making him lose any more sleep, not to mention that it would just be copying Shuichi’s idea. This afternoon they were going to Gion Corner as Shuichi had not really been there before and he had already arranged for a special performance in one of the tea houses just for the two of them before he had to go to tonight’s concert.

Yuki rolled the cigarette to the other side of his mouth and back again. Shuichi was the one doing all the organising to go places at the moment. Perhaps he really should try and come up with something instead.

He blew out some smoke. Perhaps he should visit his old man and ask what might be a good place to go? He blinked twice as he realised what he had just thought. What the fuck was he thinking?! How crazy was he to even contemplate such an idea?! Just went to show much that kiss had confused him!

He turned and went inside, heading for the bathroom. No matter, he was determined to think about this some more before Shuichi’s return and he would figure out something.

Meanwhile, there was a warmth emanating from his cheek that seemed to permeate right to the very depths of his soul.