For Whom the Bell Tolls

Title: For Whom The Bell Tolls: Chapter 3
Author: JadeHeart
Archived: Found on gurabiteshiyon.net. If anyone else would like it, please ask me first!
Fandom: Gravitation
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Death, violence, abuse, angst
Timeline: After the anime/manga finishes
Characters: Shuichi/Yuki
Feedback: Feedback is always welcome!
Summary: What the future holds…..
Author’s Notes : I’ve been feeling down-right depressed as the last chapter and this one came out. I think I’ve had enough angst for a while. Sorry if readers didn’t like it – I originally thought the story was going to be of a lighter tone and head in that direction. Obviously it had other ideas. Even an author can be surprised where a story goes.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to the creators of ‘Gravitation’ , nor am I making any profits from this.

Chapter 3

WARNING: PLEASE HEED THE WARNINGS LISTED. IF ANY OF THIS OFFENDS OR UPSETS, PLEASE DON’T READ FURTHER.

The sound of sirens directly outside interrupted Tohma from his discussion with his production crew. He had decided to have this meeting with his staff now, rather than the next day, whilst issues were still fresh in everyone’s mind. His people were used to the way he did things, so didn’t grumble at being made to stay later after the show.

He excused himself and made his way to the side door where the worst of the noise seemed to be. Don’t tell me we have more graffiti artists, he thought.

Some of the less cultured ‘Bad Luck’ fans sometimes liked to spray adoring slogans to the band on the side of the venues they played at. Or it could be the other sort of people, those that still gave them grief of Shindou’s relationship with Eiri. He hoped it wasn’t the latter. He knew that it still upset Shindou.

He half smiled. It was amazing just how naïve and innocent the young man still managed to be. It was as though he still retained his rose-coloured glasses, no matter how old he got, or what happened to him. Perhaps that is why he made such a good partner for Eiri. Shindou’s wide-eyed innocence counter-acted Eiri’s cold cynicism nicely. They would no doubt have a wonderful time in Europe.

He reached the door, swiping the access card and pushing it open. No doubt about it, this is where there commotion was centred. His eyes were assaulted by the flashing lights, and the scream of the sirens nearly deafened him.

He took it all in and felt a cold shiver run up his spine. Something wasn’t right here. This was not the ordinary response to a bit of rowdiness or vandalism. There were too many police vehicles and two ambulances crowed into the narrow street. Flashbulbs flashed, cutting through the darkness, time after time and people moved around, briefly being illuminated before fading back into the night.

“Who are you?” A rough voice snapped, and a hand clutched his arm, dragging him away from the door.

He looked at the burly young policemen who had accosted him. “My name is Tohma Seguchi. I’m the president of N-G Productions.”

“Where’s you ID?”

Tohma calmly handed it over, although his insides were beginning to knot. Something most definitely wasn’t right.

“What are you doing here?” the policeman barked, retaining his hold on Tohma’s wallet, scrutinising his face closely and then glancing down at the photo.

“I’m having a final production meeting with my staff after the concert.”

“Concert?”

“Yes. ‘Bad Luck’ played here tonight. My company is the label that produces them.”

“Hmm.” the policeman was silent for a moment, flicking through Tohma’s other cards. “Bit late for a meeting.”

Tohma kept his voice even. “Not at all. The concerts run late, but it’s the best time to hold them whilst everyone is here. It’s quite normal practice.”

“Sounds strange to me.”

“Constable!” Another voice called out, making the policeman raise his head. He stiffened to attention as an older police officer walked over to them. As he drew even with them, he reached out and took Tohma’s wallet from his subordinate’s unresisting hand. “That will be all, Constable. Carry on.”

The policeman saluted, “Yes, Sir!” and walked away.

The new officer glanced down at Tohma’s wallet briefly, then handed it back with a small polite bow. “My apologies if the officer’s manner offended, Mr Seguchi.”

“Not at all. Captain.” Tohma replied taking quick note of the other man’s rank. He received a brief smile for his attention to detail.

“I recognized you and realized that he probably wasn’t aware of who you were. He’s a new man, just transferred here from Osaka.”

Tohma pocketed his wallet. “Can you please tell me what the trouble is?”

The officer’s face grew grave. “We received a call not long ago of a disturbance here. When we arrived, we found it to be a homicide. There is evidence of a fight, which has resulted in three bodies. We notified the emergency services,” indicating the ambulances, “who arrived not long ago.”

“Bodies?”

“I’m afraid so. They were dead before we arrived. None would be able to be revived. It looks like two of them were jumped by a gang, and the beating got out of hand.”

“And the third?”

“I’d say he was one of the gang and the other two managed to fight back for a time.”

“Who are they?”

“We’re just checking for ID now, once the preliminary forensics check is done. You might know them. They look like they may have been at this concert tonight. One looks like he might have been a fan, judging from the clothes he had been wearing., but the other’s well-dressed and older, so perhaps he was a member of staff?”

“I wouldn’t know everyone involved with the production personally, there are a lot more people involved than just my own, but I’ll take a look if you wish.”

“I’ve got to warn you,” the officer’s voice grew serious, “it’s a gruesome sight. They’ve been worked over badly, and their faces have been quite damaged.”

“I’ll be fine.”

The Captain led Tohma to the first white sheeted body. He pulled it back, after saying a few quiet words to another officer. Tohma looked down at the man lying there, head laying at an awkward angle. He shook his head. “I don’t recognize him.”

“As you can see, it looks like his neck was broken. One of the others,” motioning behind him, “must have been pretty strong. It’s not an easy thing to snap someone’s neck in a fight.”

He flipped the sheet back over the corpse and stood up, motioning for Tohma to follow him. “The other two are in a real mess. Until we get them to the morgue for a full check, we won’t really know the full extent of the damage they suffered. It’s pretty severe, no matter what. The large quantity of blood makes the determination of the injuries difficult. Looks like one of them might have been trying to protect the other. One theory is that the first one was jumped by the gang, and the other just happened to be coming past. He saw it, tried to help, and for his troubles was killed. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be a good Samaritan.”

“You’ve mentioned a ‘gang’ on more than one occasion.” Tohma said.

The Captain looked over at him. “Must have been a few of them to do this much damage.” He jerked his head back in the direction of the first sheet-covered corpse. “That one couldn’t have done it all himself. There’s also evidence that a car was here and it’s now missing, although it left enough rubber behind in its hurry for a good tyre print to be lifted. At this stage, we don’t know if it belonged to the victims or the perpetrators.”

They reached the crowd gathered around a large white mound, much larger than the first Tohma had been taken to.

“Ready for this?” The Captain asked.

“Yes.” Tohma replied.

“Okay.”

As the Captain knelt, Tohma saw over his crouching form, some material lying on the ground. The lights from the many vehicles lit it brightly. It was yellow. Bright yellow. With black buckles. Tohma’s throat closed, his eyes widening as fear gripped his entire mind. Fear as he had only felt once before so very long ago.

He watched as the Captain’s hand reached out, seeming to be moving in slow motion, gripping the edge of the white sheet. Tohma could see the paleness had already been discoloured, brown stains seeping through in streaks and splashes, marring the pristine canvas.

No!!!, his mind screamed, though he could not force any sound from his throat, as it put two and two together to come up with the dreadful answer.

The sheet drew back with agonising slowness, unveiling the shocking sight to Tohma’s horrified eyes. He didn’t want to believe it; this couldn’t be happening. This was nothing more than a nightmare.

“Mr Seguchi,” The Captain questioned, looking up at Tohma from his kneeling position. “Do you know either of them?”

No!, Tohma wanted to shout and turn away from this scene. He didn’t want to know them; he couldn’t know them. To know them was to acknowledge who they were, who they had been! To know them was to admit this was all real, and he couldn’t bear for that to be true!

“Mr Seguchi?” The Captain questioned again, frowning a little.

Tohma took a deep shuddering breath and spoke. “Yes. I know them.” How could his voice be so calm, so even? How could it not betray all the horror, all the emotions churning inside his heart and mind?

“You know both of them?” the Captain sounded surprised.

Oh, yes, he knew them both. He knew them both so well, knew every nuance of their lives. He had made a point of knowing. “Yes.”

“Who are they?”

Who are they? Was everyone here blind? Could they not see who these two people were? Could they not see past the blood and broken bodies, to see the souls beneath? How could they not know who they were? These two people were almost his whole life? How could they not be so important to anyone else? “Shuichi Shindou and….Eiri Yuki.”

“Yuki? You mean the novelist?”

“Yes.”

“Then the other..”

“Is his partner, Shuichi Shindou, lead singer of ‘Bad Luck’.”

“Hm. Then were they…?” the officer paused in embarrassment for a moment, struggling to find a polite way to go on with what he wanted to say.

“If you are implying that they were being indiscreet due to their relationship, that is highly unlikely.” Tohma’s voice was still calm, though icy in tone as his anger increased at the Captain’s insinuation. It seemed that in jumping to such a conclusion it justified what had occurred. “For a start, both were not prone to excessive personal displays in public of that nature. Secondly, I had left Eiri not long ago after walking with him to the car park. He was alone at that time and no doubt going to pick Shindou up. Judging from the time that has passed, I don’t imagine they would have had time to do anything….improper.”

“I see.” the Captain looked back down at the two bodies. Another man walked over and joined him, gloves covering his hands. He knelt down beside the bodies, running a professional eye over the scene before him. “Judging from the way they are lying, and some of the more visible wounds, I would say the younger one,” pointing to Shuichi, “was killed first.” He lifted the sheet a little higher. “It would appear that he may be been raped with an object. We will no doubt find it close by. From the amount of blood, it ruptured his intestines, before piercing his stomach.”

Tohma thought he was going to be ill, listening to this cold clinical description of Shuichi’s injuries. There was no way that description could do justice to the pain and horror that the young man had gone through. The bile crawled up this throat and with an effort he swallowed it down.

How could this have happened to Shuichi again? Tohma had known about the incident with Taki, and hated for that to have happened, despite his earlier misgivings of Shuichi’s intentions for Eiri. However, having been through something similar before with Yuki, he still would not have wished such a thing on anyone. He had hoped that he would never be faced with such a thing again in his lifetime, twice had been more than enough for him.

“The other victim appears to have died shortly after. His injuries appear to be strictly from the beating, no internal penetration appears to have occurred.” Tohma breathed a small sigh of relief. His Eiri hadn’t been violated again. He didn’t think he could have stood to know that. He could picture the possible events that must have led to this. Shuichi was attacked, Eiri had come upon it and stepped in to protect his lover.

Looking down at the position they both lay , he could see Yuki’s arms thrown over Shuichi, his body half lying over the younger man’s. Even in death, embracing Shuichi, trying to shield his partner from what ever horrors were occurring. The back of Yuki’s head gleamed wetly in the flickering lights, his golden hair coated with blood dulling its colour. Tohma swallowed again, his eyes burning. Even now…even now, he thought, they were together. Even now, they would give up everything for each other. They both just paid the ultimate price.

The sheet fluttered up, cutting off his view. “Do you know how we can contact their next of kin?” the Captain asked.

“I will make the necessary arrangements.”

“It should be a family member.”

Tohma looked at him, and the man took a step backwards at the stark bleakness in his eyes. “I am family. Eiri is…was my brother-in-law.”

Sympathy flashed over the other’s face as he bowed deeply. “I’m very sorry for your loss. I had no idea.”

Tohma turned away, glancing around the area. “You mentioned a car had been here.”

“Yes, from the fresh evidence left it has every indication that it was here at the time of the murders.”

“I think you will find that it is Eiri’s. He was driving to here, and as his car is no longer present, yet he is, I believe that would indicate that the men you are seeking took it.”

“What are the details?” Tohma gave them model, make and license number, while the officer jotted it down, before passing it to a younger colleague.

“We’ll put out an APB on it. They couldn’t have gone far yet, without attracting attention to themselves.”

“Very well.” Tohma said. “Please keep me informed of the results. Where will you be taking them?”

The Captain gave the name of the hospital, even as the ambulance officers finally moved in to claim their rights, now that the forensics had finished and the bodies could be moved. “I will be there directly. I need to make some calls to inform their respective families. Please inform the hospital to not do anything until I arrive.”

“I’ll be sure to let them know.”

“Thank you. I will speak with you later. Now, if you will excuse me, I must return to dismiss my people who have been patiently waiting for me. Good night, Captain.”

“My condolences, Mr Seguchi.”

Tohma acknowledged that with a slight inclination of his head, then turned his back on the nightmarish scene around him.

As he traversed the darkened corridors, his thoughts were bleak. He had to call Mika and Tatsuha, then their father. He couldn’t expect either of Eiri’s siblings to take on that responsibility after this shock. Then he would need to speak to Shindou’s family; that would be…difficult. He didn’t know them particularly well. He would arrange for cars to pick them up and bring them to the city. He didn’t want any of them attempting to drive whilst grief stricken. Once that was done, he had other things to do.

There were men out there that had to pay.

And Tohma was going to collect.

~ End ~

Author’s Final Note: I don’t think I could take much more of this myself.