Unlocking My Love

Title: Unlocking My Love
Author: JadeHeart
Fandom: Gravitation
Warnings: some bad language
Author’s Note: I didn’t quite make it as a Christmas/New Year present although I had hoped to find the time to do so. So, a little late, but here it is.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this, apart from Jim Harris and Annette; they belong to the creator of ‘Gravitation’.

-oOo-

Chapter 26


Yuki ground his teeth as his ID was scrutinized for the third time since arriving at the backstage entrance to the venue. Not only were they peering intently at the special pass sent to him by Shuichi, but his driver’s license and passport also. What the hell was going on, he thought darkly, glaring at the two burly men in dark suits before him, their girth completely blocking his way. One of them easily made up two of him side by side. If he tried just barreling past he was more likely to just bounce off them.

One foot began to tap impatiently as they continued to carefully study his documentation. How long does it take to check his name and photo for fucks sake?! He was almost at his breaking point and ready to turn around and just get the hell out of there.

“You might try smiling once in a while, you know,” a voice said off to one side. “You wouldn’t look so suspicious then.”

Yuki turned his head to see Tatsuha leaning against the wall, and his eyes widened in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Nice to see you too, bro,” Tatsuha replied sarcastically. “You know I’ve been in New York since Tohma arrived.” He motioned to the two dark suited guards to hand Yuki’s ID back. “He’s okay. I’ll vouch for him.”

“Yes, sir,” was the monotone answer in response.

“Yeah, and why is that?” Yuki snarled at his brother, almost snatching his documents then turning his back deliberately on the guards.

Tatsuha shrugged, turning his head away as though unconcerned. “Guess Tohma thought I might like a change of scenery.”

“That,” Yuki said, “is just stupid.” He stuffed his ID into his pockets.

Tatsuha shrugged again. “Look, Tohma just asked if I would come along, and since I wasn’t doing anything special I agreed. Why would I knock back a free, all expenses paid, trip to New York? Come on, I’m not an idiot.”

“That is entirely debatable,” Yuki replied. “Besides, Tohma doesn’t give anything away for free so what’s the catch?”

“Perhaps there isn’t one,” Tatsuha responded. “Doesn’t always have to be.”

“Yeah, and pigs might fly,” Yuki stated flatly, staring at his brother. “So what the hell have you been doing all this time?”

“This and that; nothing special. I’ve been helping out with the concert set up.”

“Of course you have,” Yuki said sarcastically. “I haven’t seen you in all this time; you’ve made yourself scarce ever since you arrived. I haven’t even seen you panting over that idiot Sakuma so what rock have you been hiding under? Don’t tell me you’ve finally had a restraining order slapped on you?”

“Ha, ha,” Tatsuha answered flatly without a smile. “That’s just so funny, oh wise big brother. My sides are just killing me from laughter.”

Yuki scowled at him. Great; now Tatsuha is acting weird as well. At least, weirder. “What stick is up your arse?!” he snapped, feeling his temper beginning to fray. Too many out of the ordinary things were happening.

Tatsuha glared at him, his mouth opening as though to say something back, then he snapped it shut. He cleared his face of all expression and said evenly, “Tohma wants to see you so come on.”

“What for?” Yuki asked, falling into step beside his brother.

“He wants to tell you himself,” Tatsuha replied, not giving anything else away.

Yuki glanced at his brother. “At least you seem in a better mood.”

“Huh?” Tatsuha shot a glance towards Yuki.

“The last time I saw you, you were acting like a prick. Oh, sorry, you are a prick.”

“Amusing,” Tatsuha said in a flat voice. “You’re wit kills me.”

“So you’ve obviously got over whatever had your jock strap too tight,” Yuki needled a little more. His brother really had been acting strange for a while and it was unnerving that he wasn’t being his usual perverted self. Especially when his idol, Ryuichi Sakuma, was in such close vicinity to him. For Tatsuha to not be stuck to that moron like a burr was not normal. Not normal for Tatsuha.

“Guess so,” Tatsuha responded noncommittedly.

What the hell was up with him? Yuki didn’t bother prying any further as it was obvious his brother wasn’t going to tell him anything more. Something was definitely going on which Tatsuha wasn’t telling him, which irked Yuki. He mentally shook himself. Why was he even worrying? What was it to him, anyway? Tatsuha’s business was nothing to do with him, he had his own concerns. His brother was old enough to sort his own problems out. Still, a small part in the back of Yuki’s mind continued to voice concern.

They walked in silence for a moment. “So what’s going on here?” Yuki finally asked. “Why the multitude of paid gorillas?”

“Tohma will fill you in.”

“I came to see Shuichi, not Tohma,” Yuki grumped. He hated the feeling of being lead around by other people.

“He’ll be shattered you think that way,” Tatsuha said swiftly, taking Yuki aback a little. Since when did his bratty little brother get so sharp?

“Shuichi’s not going anywhere and believe me, you’ll want to see Tohma,” Tatsuha said seriously, reaching out to open the door they had stopped before. It swung wide before Yuki could say anything more, Tatsuha stepping forward and leaving Yuki to follow.

Yuki scanned the people already filling the room. Tohma sat behind his desk, looking every bit in charge as always except Yuki noticed the faint lines between his brows, the only tell-tale sign that he was concerned about something. Sakano stood by his elbow as usual, in his ever present place. The day he didn’t see Sakano there would be when he knew the world was ending. The surprise was the other two people present.

“Yo!” Dee said with a wide grin from his casually seated position, giving a casual wave.

Ryo was more formal and stood, stepping forward to extend his hand to Yuki. “Hello,” Ryo said, “It’s good to see you again.”

“What are you two here for?” Yuki blurted out, as he returned Ryo’s handshake.

“Sorry to disappoint you, honey, but we aint here to see your lovely face,” Dee smirked.

Yuki scowled at him. “Have you finally done your job and found my manuscript then?” That was the only reason he could think of that would bring these two detectives to this place.

“What a warm welcome,” Dee replied sarcastically. “We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have to be.”

Ryo smacked the back of Dee’s head to stop the snide remarks and said, “We’ve not made any further progress on that front but investigations will continue.”

“So what are you here for?” Yuki asked, sitting down and pulling out his cigarettes as Tohma nodded to Sakano, who immediately placed an ashtray at Yuki’s side.

“Well, Shuichi did send us the tickets to see the concert,” Ryo began.

“So where are the brats?” Yuki interrupted, looking around as though expecting Bikky et al to spring out from the walls.

“They’re already seated out front so we won’t be disturbed,” Ryo explained.

“Aren’t you two supposed to be out there as chaperones to the hormonal horde?”

“Believe me, I would rather not personally but I also don’t need to have to clean up any trouble they might cause if left on their own for too long so yeah, we need to get back out there,” Dee said, lighting a cigarette himself. “Except your boss here had some business for us. We can’t catch a break with you lot in town.”

Yuki glanced towards Tohma who had remained silent through the discourse, which was very unlike him. Tohma generally stepped in immediately to take control of any discussion. Yuki’s guts twisted; he knew something bad was up.

“So is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Yuki growled, frustrated by the lack of information he was receiving.

All eyes swung to Tohma automatically, even the two detectives.

“I have requested that Ryo and Dee look into a matter that has arisen unexpectedly,” he said, still sitting with hands folded before him on the top of his desk. “That is why I asked that you speak with me as soon as you arrived, Eiri, because I thought you should be aware of these matters also. However, there are only a few other people that will be privy to this information.”

“What is it?” Yuki’s eyes narrowed. “Is Shuichi involved?”

“He’s got good instincts,” Dee said to Ryo, before addressing Yuki. “Apparently someone’s got a bit of a vendetta against your boy,” he began, serious for once. “They destroyed some of his stage clothes. With acid.”

“What? In here?” Yuki glared at Tohma.

Tohma held a hand up to calm him. “Shuichi is unharmed. It was done when no-one was present.”

“So who did it?”

“That’s why I requested Ryo and Dee to be present to look into this matter and discover this fact.”

Yuki’s eyes narrowed, attuned to the subtle nuances in Tohma’s voice. “And what else?” he snarled.

“We are not completely certain this is an isolated case,” Tohma answered honestly. “There have possibly been some other incidents that I had not been made aware of.”

Yuki felt himself grow cold. “Like what?”

“Small things,” Dee put in, “and they may be nothing to worry about or even related. We won’t know until we start getting lab results back and checking through the stories.”

“So what are you doing now?” he asked the detectives.

“The beat boys have been called in, and forensics. They’ve given the place the once over and done all they can. They’ve taken away some other stuff also to review in case it has some bearing. So now we wait for the analysis to come back.”

“We’ll be sure to keep you informed but it would be wise to take all due care yourselves of all the band members,” Ryo put in. “We’ve arranged for some additional officers to remain here and watch during the concert.”

“We’ve already taken steps in that direction,” Tohma assured them.

“Then that’s about it for the moment,” Dee said, standing. “We’ve got all the statements and lists we could and we can start analyzing them tomorrow. Have all the staff available and we’ll start working through them.”

Tohma stood and reached forward to shake their hands. “Thank you for coming in on such short notice. Your assistance is appreciated.”

“No sweat,” Dee grinned. “Wish I had your contacts so I could get pulled off the boring cases!”

“You just don’t like doing the reports and administration,” Ryo admonished. “That is just called laziness.”

“Well, you did come highly recommend,” Tohma added.

“We did?” Dee sounded astonished. “Oh, of course we did!” He tried to cover for himself. “So who recommended us?” he asked, curious.

“Jim Harris,” Tohma replied, with a smile. “I gather he trusts the opinion of his colleague who recommended you previously and was suitably impressed with your handling of that matter.”

“The Fed?” Dee sounded a little smug. “I knew we were made of the right stuff. Maybe that’s where we should go for, huh?” He smirked at Ryo.

“If you dislike paperwork I would probably advise against it. Jim’s job seems to consist mostly of that,” Tohma pointed out.

Yuki spoke up then, interrupting. “So why can’t he do it?” he asked, puffing on his cigarette, a clear sign of his inner agitation.

“Hey!” Dee turned around in indignation. “What are we; chopped liver?” Ryo tried to hush his partner. Yuki just ignored him

“Jim’s busy,” Tohma said calmly. “And it really is outside his jurisdiction. There’s no possible way he could assist us this time. However, it was on his advice after discussing the issue that I contacted Dee and Ryo. You do trust Jim’s advice, don’t you?”

Yuki ground his teeth. He did trust Jim; so much so that he would rather the man himself was there to take charge of things. He’d be sure to keep Shuichi safe.

He looked at Dee and Ryo and sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust these two men but he still felt more comfortable with Jim. Perhaps it was that link with Tohma that made him feel that way. He paused in his thinking. That thought was heading in a very scary direction.

“Well, there’s no helping it I guess,” he finally said reluctantly.

“Excuse me for not being the big FBI hotshot!” Dee humphed, looking disgruntled. “We only tracked your missing kid down before!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yuki said dismissedly.

Dee glared at him. “Asshole,” he muttered under his breath.

Yuki glared silently back at him over his smoking cigarette.

“Thank you again for coming over so promptly,” Tohma said, smoothing things over quickly. “Please go and enjoy the rest of the show. I’ll have someone see you to your seats.” He nodded towards Tatsuha who had remained standing quietly at the back of the room till now.

“Thank you,” Ryo responded. “We’ll be in touch, rest assured,” he directed to Yuki with a warm smile. “We’ll do everything we possibly can so please have some faith.”

“Huh,” Yuki replied. He knew the Ryo was being completely sincere. “Thanks.”

Dee just shook his head as he followed Ryo out the door. “You two seem to be a magnet for trouble,” he said. “Personally, I think you should just stay back in Japan and never leave each other’s sight. That will probably save a big headache for everyone.”

Well, if Yuki had his way that is exactly what would happen. He wanted nothing more than to be back home with Shuichi and he was tempted to chain him in the bedroom so he could never leave again. That thought had been growing stronger with each passing day. He was constantly feeling like Shuichi was a handful of sand that kept slipping through his fingers, no matter how tightly he tried to hold on. If Shuichi was locked in Yuki’s home at least nothing could happen to him there. Well, at least nothing harmful. There were plenty of things that Yuki intended to do to him in other ways!

When they had gone Yuki fixed his cold gaze upon Tohma. “So how the hell did this happen?” he grated out.

“I take full responsibility for this matter,” Tohma acknowledged with an inclination of his head. “But you have my word that nothing more will occur. I will ensure that Shuichi is not placed in any further potential harm.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Yuki finally asked.

“Stay close to him,” Tohma advised. “As much as you are able to. I can control his movements whilst he is in my sphere of influence. However, I have no control over his time with you. He is your responsibility then. Can you do it?”

“Course I can,” Yuki said, standing. “I would anyway.” He paused at the door. “By the way, why’s my idiot brother here?”

“I believed it might be good for him to reflect on a particular matter.”

“Ryuichi?” Yuki guessed.

“Correct,” Tohma nodded, for once not trying to side-step the issue of his young brother-in-law’s infatuation with his friend.

“Does Ryu know?”

“Of course he does. I know you think he is not always fully aware of his surroundings but where Tatsuha is concerned he is fully cognizant of everything.”

“That’s what’s so weird. So what do you want to happen?”

“That is entirely up to them,” Tohma said.

Yuki raised a brow in surprise. “That’s not like you. You’re usually so protective of that idiot.”

“I presume you are referring to Ryuichi, and not Tatsuha, in that comment,” Tohma said with a small smile.

“I wouldn’t have thought you’d want Tats anywhere near Sakuma. And Mika’s been threatening to have Sakuma’s guts for garters if he so much as laid a hand on Tats. So why the sudden collaboration?”

“It’s not really a collaboration, but Mika is in accordance with my view in this. It simply seemed that things had reached a point where Tatsuha has to make some serious decisions where Ryuichi is concerned – one way or another. He is well of an age to do so. Some form of resolution is required if Tatsuha is to move on with his life. As it stands, it is not healthy for either of them. Tatsuha regresses to childhood adulation when with Ryuichi, which inevitably draws Ryuichi down to that level also.”

“Sakuma’s like that normally,” Yuki snorted.

“Not exactly,” Tohma corrected. “There is more…complexity to Ryuichi than you probably realize.”

“I know he’s more with it than most people think,” Yuki said, pointing his almost finished cigarette at Tohma. “I’ve seen that switch of his plenty of times over the years.”

“Precisely,” Tohma nodded. “So you realize that the ‘adult’ Ryuichi is still well and truly there. For him to be the ‘adult’ Ryuichi, he needs to associate with adults who know and accept him in both personas so he can communicate smoothly in either manner. At this time, Tatsuha is not good for him by continuing to respond to Ryuichi in such a juvenile manner. And it is certainly would not be healthy in any form of relationship.”

“So why not just tell Tats to get his head together and not act like a spaz around Sakuma?”

“You above all others should understand the difficulty of getting past childhood issues,” Tohma softly chided. “It is not that easy. Tatsuha’s behaviour has become ingrained with Ryuichi acting as the trigger. Tatsuha himself needs to come to terms with what is occurring and to truly wish to change and make it happen. He is the only one who can do it.”

“And if he can’t?” Yuki questioned.

“Then I will place a complete ban upon Tatsuha meeting with Ryuichi again,” Tohma stated firmly. “I will not have Ryuichi troubled any further.”

Yuki had no doubt that Tohma would enforce that prohibition with an iron glove also, to the great detriment of Tatsuha if he tried to break it.

“So you’re just going along with it to see what Tatsuha decides and if he changes?” Yuki didn’t sound like he believed it at all.

“I am comfortable to let things move along as they are,” Tohma answered calmly. “At this point.”

“Now that sounds more like you,” Yuki replied.

Tohma smiled. “It would probably be best if you watch the rest of Bad Luck’s set from back stage. I’m sure it will put Shuichi more at ease. Do you have any difficulty with that arrangement?”

“No, that’s fine. Keeps me away from those stupid fan girls screaming in my ears,” Yuki agreed, wincing at the very thought.

“I’ll have someone show you the way,” Tohma followed Yuki out the door. “I’ve got a few things I want to check on before I’ll have to start getting ready myself.”

“It’s been a long time since you’ve been on this sort of stage,” Yuki commented. “Nervous?”

“True, and hardly,” Tohma agreed with a small smile. “I am looking forward to it with great delight.” His smile grew broader. “I have every intention of making Nittle Grasper a household name once again!”

“Meglomaniac,” Yuki muttered. Tohma just chuckled.

After a moment Yuki spoke again. “So what have you got Tatsuha doing while he’s here?”

Tohma answered. “Despite what you might think, he’s not completely free loading. I’ve had him running errands often enough up till this point. Now with these current developments we need the extra staff so I’ve put him in charge of acting as head gopher for Nittle Grasper. He knows enough about the industry to understand the general requirements and he’s familiar with all our individual needs which means he can better predict our requests. That then frees up some of the more experienced staff to be with Bad Luck and provide better security for them.”

“Okay, guess that’ll have to do I suppose,” Yuki said as he turned a corner.

Tohma caught his arm, making him look back in surprise. Tohma rarely made physical contact with people. There wasn’t any need to for him to usually do so. He could make people do what he wanted just from his sheer will power. Yuki met Tohma’s concerned gaze.

“Stay close by him,” Tohma said. “Don’t let anything happen to him.” They both knew he was referring to Shuichi.

“I won’t,” Yuki assured his brother-in-law. “Besides, that idiot’s indestructible, you know that.”

That made Tohma give a small smile. “Yes, it would appear so at times.” He released Yuki and stepped back. “I had best begin my preparations. Enjoy the show.”

“Yeah. You don’t want to keep your adoring fans waiting, remember.”

“Of course not,” Tohma responded suavely, sounding and looking far more like his usual self which was a relief to Yuki.

Yuki continued on, following the dark suited escort. He chewed at his bottom lip, wishing he could smoke but it was not permitted in this area. He was more concerned than he had shown to Tohma, concerned because he could see how worried Tohma was which was almost nerve racking to witness. He wasn’t supposed to be the one reassuring his brother-in-law. Damn it, that was Tohma’s job!

He also was trying so very hard to ignore the curling tendrils of fear churning in his gut that was like a portent that he would lose Shuichi again; this time in a permanent way. He swallowed against the lump in his throat and his hands clenched into fists. He wouldn’t let that happen, not now, not ever. Never again. No-one and nothing would hurt Shuichi again whilst he stood by his side.

Yet, he couldn’t help but feel a little superstitious also. As much as he usually derided the more spiritualistic views of his belief and the upbringing from his father, at a time like this it seemed to fit only too easily. It was uncanny what was happening at the moment. The same players all gathered here in New York once more; he and Shuichi - although the first time he had not physically been present with them but he had been the reason they had all gathered; Tohma, Ryo, Dee, and even Jim. Although Jim wasn’t actually there he was in contact with Tohma about this, so he was still there working with them even if from a distance.

Yuki felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Was this Fate drawing them all back together? For what reason? He feared to know the answer. His escort motioned towards a chair set up in the wings of the stage, a rather comfortable chair which was a relief.

Yuki now withdrew from his inner musings, conscious finally of the din that surrounded him now he was so close to the stage like this. It had been a blessing before that he hadn’t been aware of it. His ears rang, the bass beat running through the soles of his shoes, deep into his belly, pounding. He was glad he was able to remain here and away from the screaming crowd that he could hear even over the deafening sound.

He briefly wondered how Ryo and Dee were coping out in the crowd. He mentally shrugged. No doubt Bikky and the other kids were loving this – noise, lights, a mass of humanity, probably screaming at the top of their lungs along with everyone else. Well, the two detectives could split the costs of hearing aids in their retirement.