Sugar Cane

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation.


Sugar Cane
By 11


Chapter 03

“Actually Nittle Grasper and Ryuchi came after I was already completely infatuated with my music. I don’t know I just get so worked up over it. You know, like something incredibly special.” Shuichi shrugged.

“I think I know what you’re talking about. So what are you going to do about that quiz tomorrow, if you need any help studying I’ll be glad to help you,” Hiro offered.

“Thanks Hiro, that’d be really helpful, you’re the best.” Shuichi said with a wide smile. “Ooh! Comics!” Shuichi said stopping in front of the stand with the many graphic novels stacked up.

“You know they even have a few comics on musicians who start out in high schools and stuff and go from that to the top. It’s fictional though, but a nice fantasy.” Hiro shrugged.

“I’ve never heard of that one what’s the title?” Shuichi asked.

“They have it right here, it’s called Mustard. No clue where those guys come up with their titles, but that’s it’s name.” Hiro said taking the volume from the stand and handing it to Shuichi to look over.

“Cool, I guess there’s a whole lot of people who want to become music stars.” Shuichi said looking at the cover featuring three boys in punk street clothes and a guitar and keyboard case.

The sound of Shuichi’s stomach grumble just then was almost impossible not to hear. “Heh… gomen… think we could stop for lunch Hiro-kun?” Shuichi asked sheepishly.

“Ah… sure, why not?” Hiro said shaking his head with a slight sigh, not really exasperated with his young friend.

`

“You’ll get sick if you eat those sweets too fast.” Hiro remarked after a moment of watching Shuichi practically shove his whole desert in his mouth.

“No I won’t. I only splurge like this once every now and then it’s not like every day. If I did then I’d be getting sick a lot.” Shuichi said as he finished chewing and swallowed taking a sip from his soda to wash down the desert. “Hey come to think of it if I was sick, I wouldn’t have to go to school…”

“Shuichi don’t even consider that.” Hiro said narrowing his eyes slightly. Shuichi grinned back at him seemingly amused.

“Just kidding,” Shuichi assured him.

“You got something on your face Shuichi.” Hiro told him after a moment.

“Eh? I do?” Shuichi said taking his hand and rubbing it over one side of his face, “Did I get it?”

Hiro pulled Shuichi forward across the table and the soft velvety sensation of Hiro’s tongue brushed the corner of Shuichi’s mouth. Hiro did not pull away after he licked away the bit of chocolate.

Hiro’s tongue traced Shuichi’s bottom lip eliciting a surprised gasp from the younger boy. Hiro sealed his mouth over Shuichi’s in a kiss. At first the younger boy tensed to Hiro but after a moment relaxed and even started to welcome the older boy’s kisses.

Hiro broke the kiss and pulled the younger boy along with him from their seats towards the empty bathroom where Hiro and Shuichi resumed the searing kiss from before; away from prying eyes and without the nuisance of the table. Hiro pressed his body against Shuichi’s and they both moaned feeling the length of each other pressed against them. Hiro wanted him so bad… they had to get to somewhere comfortable… he didn’t want to take Shuichi in a bathroom for goodness sake.

Somehow they managed to stumble into Hiro’s bedroom, how exactly didn’t matter, Hiro collapsed onto his bed bringing Shuichi down underneath him. Hiro leaned down into Shuichi’s neck and trailed his tongue up along it’s length before finding his earlobe and taking to nibble on it gently at first and then more roughly eliciting a moan from Shuichi.

“Hiro!” Shuichi was all but able to breathe.

“Hm?” Hiro asked as he ground his hips hard down onto Shuichi’s growing arousal.

“Hiro this is…” Shuichi had to stop to gasp as one of Hiro’s cool hands found it’s way under his shirt and was currently tweaking his left nipple to painful hardness.

“What? Shuichi?” Hiro asked as his other hand drifted to a lower region.

“Hiro, this is a dream.”

`

Hiro opened his eyes to find bright sunlight pouring in his bedroom window; it was Thursday morning. Shuichi and the restaurant had never happened.

Of course it would be a dream. Hiro grumbled in his mind as he got up and realized he still had a hard on and went to take a cold shower before getting dressed. Shuichi really was a cute kid though, and not necessarily a ‘kid’ either; after all he was only one year younger than Hiro himself.

The practice they had yesterday, the lyrics had gone well with the music Shuichi had selected, they had managed to pick out the chords to accompany the melody and once they had done that everything had been downhill. Shuichi was easy to talk to, and it had surprised Hiro how good Shuichi was. The emotion in his songs and everything about him just fit.

They had both been in high spirits when they had headed to their homes. Though it had seemed to Hiro that Shuichi had been a bit troubled when he arrived and left. He had asked what was wrong but Shuichi didn’t think there was at all. He wasn’t sure why Shuichi didn’t tell him.

`

“Hey! Shuichi you in there?” Hiro asked knocking on the door of the apartment home. “Shuichi Shindou!?”

“AH!” A shriek came form inside the house and there was a lot of sound of moving things and a few things falling on the floor. What was going on in there?

“Hiro!” Shuichi greeted as he opened the door.

“Hey. Just figured I’d pick you up on the way to school, since you live so close.” Hiro shrugged. Shuichi smiled sheepishly.

“Thank you. I was about to oversleep. I really need a new alarm clock or something the one I have never wakes me up on time.” Shuichi shook his head as he closed the door and the two started off.

`

The school yard was relatively quiet when Hiro and Shuichi walked up; this was odd because most usually there would be a few conversations going on.

Shuichi paused in the middle of the yard walkway and looked around why was everyone looking at him? Hiro stayed a few steps behind anyway. What was there a ‘kick me’ sign taped on his back?

The group of girls near the front of the school came forward and stepped aside, parting like a sea to which Yuki Eiri walked out of. A hard glare fixed on him.

Then the gang of girls surrounded the two of them soon followed by most of the others in the yard at the time.

“You’ll pay for what you did yesterday. Right now.” Yuki told him, his voice level but underlying a very menacing message and malevolence.

Shuichi took a step back, he couldn’t hide like this, he was surrounded if he tried to run the girls would probably stop him. He was going to get hurt badly…

`

Yuki smirked as he saw his opponents realization of what probably lay ahead for him set in. He was going to maul him. He could hear the other students words of encouragement, all directed from the girls towards him. And who was he to disappoint them?

He was certainly not going to lose against a stupid kid with pink hair…

Yuki made the first move lashing out at the younger boy in quick swift movements. But the younger boy was also very spry and kept managing to dodge his hits.

Yuki’s fist continued to only contact with air and he was becoming increasingly frustrated with the fact that he wasn’t getting a single blow in.

“Come on Yuki-kun! You can do it! Knock that creampuff away!” Ayaka called to him from the sidelines. Yuki was all but ignoring the crowd now focusing all his attention to finding a different way to attack and finally get at his opponent. This child had disgraced him and he was not going to live it down.

Just as he was not going to live down ever having anyone say this kid had beaten him. At least he was breathing as hard as he was now, maybe that could help somewhat. And something other than fists if he could just catch him he could land a blow.

Yuki launched himself at the younger boy again and this time when Shuichi dodged to the side instead of narrowly managing to avoid the older boys blows as he had been doing. Yuki’s hand caught a fistful of the boy’s hair yanking him backwards.

“Yow!” Shuichi shrieked as he was yanked backwards by his hair. Yuki’s other hand seized his wrist as the one in his hair released him and came flying at him face. Shuichi shut his eyes, and tensed for the blow.

“That’s enough,” Hiro’s voice cut in. Shuichi opened his eyes. Hiro had stepped in and caught Yuki’s fist before it hit him. “You made your point blondie, now leave him alone.”

Yuki glared icily at him and Hiro returned the glare full force. Yuki’s hand released Shuichi’s arm and he backed away. Hiro released Yuki’s fist and the two of them walked into school. The crowd disbanded but no ones temper had cooled. The tension in the air between the student body and both Shuichi and Hiro was blatant.

No one had ever challenged Yuki Eiri and actually gotten away relatively unscathed. Being Yuki’s enemy that automatically made Shuichi an enemy of every girl in the school.

During basketball and P.E. Shuichi sat on the bench the entire time. Not that he didn’t always do that anyway, he wasn’t really tall enough to block out or shoot very well. He was quick but he couldn’t run and dribble at the same time.

“Psst… Shindou-san.” Came Nanami’s quiet whisper from the other side of the fence where the girls had tennis.

“Nanami-san?” Shuichi asked slightly surprised she was even talking to him.

“Shindou-san, are you even aware of how much trouble you stirred up between yesterday afternoon and this morning? Just by what happened to Yuki? Even the teachers are aware of it. That’s why the fight this morning didn’t get broken up.” Nanami told him.

“But it wasn’t even my fault. It was a complete accident! What could I have done differently? Let him hit me once and stay down for however long it took for his steam to blow off?” Shuichi asked.

“No…” Nanami answered. “I know it’s not your fault Shindou-san, I believe you, but no one else does. Almost all the girls in this school are against you now. They’re completely devoted to Eiri-san. A lot of people are actually, not just girls.”

“I know. Sorry.” Shuichi told her. They sat in silence the rest of P.E.

`

“Then an A minor chord?”

“Try a D or C chord first,” Shuichi suggested, “I’m not sure how different the chords on my keyboard and your guitar are but it should be somewhere around there.”

Hiro played a C chord and Shuichi nodded, “That sounds about right, we can still experiment with the different tones though.”

“Hey!”

The two boys looked up to where three other students entered. It was the band that had started a lot earlier at Fukuro junior high school than Shuichi had; not that he had had a guitarist. The only ones in the school at this moment were Ma-kun in ASK and Hiro who was with him.

“Hi there Shindou.” Aizawa smirked at the younger boy. Shuichi frowned trying his best not to outright scowl at the other boy. “Still planning on opening our act on Friday?”

“Yes.” Shuichi answered carefully. They were playing before ASK was but that didn’t dampen his spirits him and Hiro were working to get the songs down before then.

“Oh okay. Cause I was just thinking we needed a warm up for the audience before the actual show, you know,” Aizawa insulted with a wave of his hand. “But really you’re stuff sounds like garbage.”

“That so Aizawa?” Hiro asked. “Cause just by coming here and flapping your lips around you’re revealing a little uncertainty about yourself aren’t you.”

“What are you talking about?” Aizawa scoffed.

“You’re just scared the audience will like us all better than you and your phoney group,” Hiro told him matter-of-factly.

“Tch!” Aizawa grunted in annoyance, “Like I have any more time to waste on riffraff. The day you’re liked better at this school than ASK is the day that the world drowns in stupidity.”

“Gee, must be happening sometimes soon too. I see three such examples in this very room.” Hiro told them with a grin. With a sneer Aizawa stalked out of the gym area that they had set up their instruments on to practice on after school.

“That was great Hiro, that look on Aizawa was priceless!” Shuichi laughed. Hiro grinned and ran a hand through his hair.

“Well what can I say, I can handle jealous weirdo’s like that,” he said. Shuichi smiled brightly and nodded. The rest of the practice for tomorrows competition went smoothly.

`

The day of the competition was… rocky. ASK was already very popular, their music wasn’t so bad either, far more hardcore rock than anything Shuichi made but it was likeable.

Hiro and him weren’t really there expecting to win, with the whole school practicaly against them they’d probably not even get a single vote. Not only that they had only been able to practice the song of couple of days before the competition.

“Now, Shuichi Shindou and Hiroshi Nakano with their song Rage Beat!” the announcer continued onto the last musical act. There were a few jeers and boos but nothing too out of hand.

Shuichi saw Nanami looking up at him and she smiled encouragement. He could do this, even if nobody cared.

`

“obieta mezuki de iradatsu omoi uwaki na kaze ni hakisutete
hibi-wareta rojou ni toketa SHIGUNARU wa kizuato dake nokoshite-iku”

With a terrified look in the eyes, spit those irritated feelings into the fickle wind
The signal that melted into the cracked roadway is leaving only a scar behind.

“madoronda NOIZU ga asu o keshi-saru mae ni
yabou ni hibiku kutsuoto o oikakete”

Before the drowsy noise blurs away tomorrow,
chase after those ambitiously resounding footsteps.

“doko ni mo tomaranai
mitasanai Emotion SHIKATO kimete oikose yo
furueteru SHAI na seikai no nuke-michi o neratte
tadoritsuku basho e I Want New World”

That unfulfillable emotion that never settles down somewhere--
just decide to ignore it, then overtake it.
Aim for the loophole in this shy, trembling society,
for the place we keep struggling towards. I want new world.

“muragaru fuan ni tsume o tatereba mishiranu uso ni hajikarete
mote-amasu jikan ga sabitsuita machi o warubirezu ni kazatte-iru”

If you bare your claws at your swarming anxieties, you'll be snapped back by unfamiliar lies,
and the unbearable times will adorn the rust-covered roads with agitation

“berubetto no KOIN dake o PAKKU ni tsumete
meiro no you na yume no chizu wa iranai”

Stuff your bag with nothing but velvet coins.
We don't need a map of the maze-like dreams.

“saka-maku kodou kara
kirakira gin no Passion kakehiki dake no yuuwaku
kowaresou na kimi no hitomi ga ikeru DOA tataite
sagashi-tsuzukeru You Just a New World”

From the tidal-wave's pounding rhythm
to the glittering silver passion, it's all just temptation's strategic pull.
Your fragile eyes beat on the door we can go through
as we still keep on searching. You just a new world

“MEIN SUTORIITO ni kizamu semegi-atta namida ga
ima mo kikoeru kutsuon o hisumaseru”

I can still hear the accumulated tears carving their paths into Main Street,
warping the sound of those footsteps.

“doko ni mo tomaranai
mitasanai Emotion SHIKATO kimete oikose yo
furueteru SHAI na seikai no nuke-michi o neratte
tadoritsuku basho e I Want New World”

That unfulfillable emotion that never settles down somewhere--
just decide to ignore it, then overtake it.
Aim for the loophole in this shy, trembling society,
for the place we keep struggling towards. I want new world.

`

With the guitar finish that Hiro and he had gone over so many times to perfect the song ended. They hadn’t really expected cheers, but they also hadn’t been expecting silence. Not even a single boo or jeer.

“That was Shuichi Shindou and Hiroshi Nakano with Rage Beat.” The announcer continued to announce the next act and so on.

“What do you think?” Hiro asked when they arrived back stage and started putting away their equipment. Shuichi shrugged.

“Not sure. No one said anything,” Shuichi frowned. “But it’s not like we would’ve won anyway, right?” Shuichi said. “Sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault, that Eiri guy is popular, it was an accident, and that guy’s a jerk,” Hiro told him. Shuichi smiled back at him.

“Thanks.” He said. Clapping sounded and the boys looked up at the principal.

“You boys were great, that performance…!” he exclaimed with a smile. “Starting as late as you did I had my doubts, but what a performance!”

“By the way boys, you never signed up with a band name, have you thought about that?” the principal asked.

“Uh… not really,” Shuichi said scratching the back of his head. The principal thought they were good?

“Bad Luck?” Hiro asked. “After all that’s all we seem to be getting into since we met.” Hiro shrugged. Shuichi grinned.

“Bad Luck, I like the sound.” Shuichi decided. “Yeah. We are Bad Luck.”

`

Surprising everyone despite the apparent unpopularity of Shuichi Shindou since yesterday after all the votes rounded up, Shuichi and Hiroshi had won the contest. Amazing everyone including the audience. But no one tampered with the voting polls. No one.

The only explanation the Principal could come up with to himself was that a lot of people saw they were good and because the whole school was against them it wouldn’t matter if they only got one vote from them. So if everyone thought that it would mean that of course they’d win. This outcome however completely infuriated Taki and ASK…

`

“I don’t believe this!” Taki yelled pulling at his hair and he slammed a book across the room into the wall, leaving a dent from the force.

“Taki, it isn’t so bad, they were really good,” Ken offered trying to cheer up the other teen. Taki glatred back at him and Ma-kun.

“No they weren’t… they couldn’t have been…” Taki hissed, his voice surprisingly well controlled. “There is no way that I could have been beaten but a couple of kids who just started a little while ago!!” Taki raged throwing another book and another.

“But I have a plan to get back at them…” Taki chuckled, “To get back at that… Shuichi… oh yes, he’ll pay for stealing my place of fame and glory… Yes he will…”

---

Review?

Old Comments from way back when:
Hmm… Taki is insane! And will anyone please review?
I realize there was no lemon… this is more plot oriented but, ya know…