No Escaping Fate

Thanks to Trish for betaing.

Chapter Eleven

~Japanese~

“I don’t know. He seems too happy. Everything is working out for him too quickly. Then again it could just be that… you know how the last few pieces of a jigsaw puzzle fall into place so quickly. Well, I think that is how his life is. No matter how hard the puzzle the more you put together the more pieces that fit on the first try. Before you know it you can see the big picture and you simply know where the last few go.”

Eiri set down the pages and took of his glasses. “So how does the story end? Does he find happiness in his work? Is he content to be alone? Dose he reconcile with his lover?”

He leaned forward and rested his elbow on the edge of the bed and his cheek in his hand. The steady beep, beep, beep that was his life in this room seemed to echo within his own chest. “You’re the only one who I am like this around. You’re the only one who I can tell everything to.”

He looked up at his companion as if waiting for a response, but he knew that there wasn’t one coming. For as long as he had been ‘walking’ here every week, never once had his companion uttered a word.

Everyone had given up hope for his companion. To them he was a lost soul waiting to die. But as long as Eiri could listen to that beep, beep, beep Eiri had faith his friend might come back. He had to, because as long as that hope existed there was a chance that he could have Shuichi in his life again.

As long as he had hope this man would wake up some day. “So tell me, how do I end the story? This would only be the second time I wrote a happy ending. Should I forgo that and do something tragic?”

Eiri took the other’s still hand in his own and rested his cheek against it. “Should he commit suicide in a fit of grief?” Eiri leaned back, but kept hold of the hand. “No,” he said shaking his head, “that wouldn’t work. He would never kill himself. Not so long as there was the least bit of hope.”

Eiri gave a sarcastic laugh and rubbed his burning eyes. He couldn’t count the number of times that he had cried silent tears in this room. Here no one could see his pain and mock him for it. “You think on that for me, would you? I would love to hear your opinion on it. So I will ask again next week. Same time, same place.”

Eiri stood up slowly and with a final squeeze of the unresponsive hand he walked away.

The nurses were used to seeing him by now and no one said anything about him being there after hours anymore. They all knew that he was the only one who came to visit that patient any more and since he never caused a problem they left him alone. New nurses were quickly educated by the older ones that it was all right for him to be there and that it didn’t matter that he wasn’t family. After so long, they all thought it was nice that someone still cared.

*

Shuichi was attempting to stare down Tohma. This proved to be no easy task, as the man seemed to have recovered his inscrutable façade when around the singer. “You honestly think that we can make this work?”

Tohma smiled up at him serenely. “I would not have agreed to it if I had not thought that it would work. As long as we keep the tours short and work hard it should not be a problem. I am, of course, bringing in some more support staff to help you.”

Shuichi took two steps forward and slapped his palms down on Tohma’s desk. “You have got to be kidding! Have you finally taken leave of your senses entirely? Sure, it is all fine and dandy for you, but then you aren’t being asked to be the lead vocalist for two separate bands. Two separate, highly popular bands I might add.”

Shuichi took a step back and clenched his fists at his side to keep from hitting something. “I am not your personal, fucking plaything, Tohma! If you were even contemplating something like this you should have asked me!”

Tohma folded his hands atop his desk. “Please calm down, Shuichi.”

Shuichi forced himself to take several slow, deep breaths before flopping into a chair.

“As you know we have been unable to find a suitable replacement vocalist for Seven Sins. Without such the band is through. If you would rather I dismiss their contract then please say so. The only other option is to have you keep singing with them.”

Shuichi let his head fall against the back of the chair. “Playing dirty again, Tohma?”

“I would hardly call it ‘playing dirty.’ Those are simply the facts of the matter.”

Shuichi looked back up at the older musician and sighed. “Fine, but if I have a nervous breakdown it is your fault.”

Tohma raised an eyebrow at him. “If it gets to be that much of a problem then we will reevaluate the situation. For now we will just wait and see what happens.”

Shuichi shook his head as he got up. “You know, Tohma, you should have been an American politician.”

Tohma’s laughter followed Shuichi out of the office.

*

“Took you long enough.” Shuichi looked up at Hiro and rolled his eyes at the lascivious look he was getting.

“Behave, Hiro. I had to go see Tohma. Apparently, I am now the singer for two bands.” He sat down in the nearest empty chair and put his face in his hands.

“Okay and why is this news? I thought that was the plan.”

Shuichi looked up at his friend in time to see him take a bite off of a piece of strawberry pocky. Shuichi reached across and snatched the rest of it from his hand. “Give me that.”

He shoved the pocky in his mouth and sighed. ‘Damn, that’s good.’

“If you wanted a piece you could have asked. I have more.”

Shuichi glared at his friend. “Not the point. Anyway, no, it was not the plan for me to sing for both bands. I was supposed to produce for Seven Sins and sing for Bad Luck. That way I didn’t have to go on tours with Sins.”

Hiro was now digging in the box of pocky for another piece and only half paying attention to Shuichi. Shu saw this and snatched the whole box. “Hey now!”

“That’s what you get for mocking me with my favorite food, especially when I haven’t had any in almost six years. This shit is hard to find in the states.” Shuichi emphasized his point by taking a large bite out of another stick.

Hiro grumbled quietly to himself, but chose not to comment loud enough for Shu to hear him. “Anyway, I don’t see why it is a problem. We all know that you have enough energy for ten people.”

“Yeah, yeah,” then as if just realizing it, “Hey, were is Fugisaki?”

Hiro picked up his guitar and started fiddling with it again. “He went to order us some lunch.”

Shuichi nodded and enjoyed his pocky.

*

~English~

“So everything is going well?”

Shuichi shrugged but didn’t look up from the stove. “I guess. It is not like I have much of a choice at this point. I’m not willing to let Sins suffer because of me. We will have to wait and see how it goes once I am working with both bands.”

Shuichi looked through one of the newly stocked cabinets in his newly acquired apartment. It was close to NG and in a good neighborhood. He liked it. It was a lot nicer than where he had been living in America.

He pulled down the jar of spice he had been looking for. About that time there was a loud knock at the door and Shuichi cursed fluently in both of the languages he knew as he dumped far too much of the spice into the pot. “Can you get that for me?”

Rick laughed at his friend, but got up and went to the door.

Shuichi could hear them speaking, so whoever it was knew English. However they were far enough away that he couldn’t make out the voice. When Rick walked in it was Hiro that accompanied him. Shuichi greeted him in English for Rick’s comfort.

“Hey, I didn’t think you would be coming. What happened to your hot date?” Shuichi walked back to the pot long enough to lower the heat then to the fridge to get Hiro a drink. “Beer, soda, or juice?”

“Beer is fine. Suguru got a dinner invitation from his sister. His family doesn’t really approve of our relationship so I declined.” Hiro sat down at the table and Shuichi once again crossed to the stove. “When did you learn to cook anyway? Last time I saw you trying to make something you, ended up kissing Tatsuha.”

Shuichi snorted as he finally sat down at the table. “I had to. You can only eat so much take out before your stomach starts to turn at the very thought.”

Hiro gave him an incredulous look. “Who are you and what have you done with Shuichi?”

Both Rick and Shuichi laughed. “No, he is actually pretty good now," said Rick "Granted it took me forever to get him past the point where he'd start a fire just by boiling water.”

“You taught him to cook? You’re a brave, brave man.”

‘This feels good,' thought Shuichi 'I am glad that they are getting along. It would be weird if my two best friends hated each other.’ Shuichi got up again and headed back to the stove. He listened as the two men talked amiably and laughed along with them as they tried to out do each other by telling the most embarrassing Shu stories.

He had stopped paying attention at some point while trying to chop some celery, but he froze when he realized what story Hiro was now telling.

“…and then right in the middle of the chorus he yells out, ‘Yuki is mine!’ I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Ryu-san saved our asses, though.”

Rick laughed, “Damn you guys are some lucky sons-of-bitches. Even I know who Ryuichi Sakuma is. That guy really knows how to get a crowd’s attention.”

Hiro smiled at Rick and jerked his thumb toward Shuichi. “Yeah, this kid here had a crush on him before he even knew he was gay. Once Ryuichi asked for Shuichi’s autograph and I swear Shu nearly crapped himself.”

Shuichi heard nothing past 'Yuki is mine'. He was consumed by the thoughts of that night and his former lover. He could see Yuki standing there next to Ayaka. He could see those intense amber eyes staring straight at him. He could vividly hear the thoughts that were running through his head at that time and Tatsuha’s words as he told Shuichi that he and Ayaka were the same.

‘…or is it that the person you fell in love with happened to be bro?’

“So is it ready yet?”

The question startled Shuichi and he brought the knife down hard onto his finger. “Shit, fuck, son of a baka!”

Rick and Hiro were both at his side in an instant as he hastily tried to wrap a towel around his bleeding finger. “Are you okay?”

Shuichi looked up into two pairs of concerned eyes. “Yeah, but I might need some stitches.”

*

When Shuichi walked out of the emergency room it was well past three in the morning. It had taken three stitches to close up his finger, but the doctor said that there had been no severe damage to the finger. Once it was healed he should have no problems playing his synthesizer again.

“I knew that letting you into a kitchen had to be a bad idea.” Shuichi glared at Hiro, but Rick just laughed.

“Nah, shit happens.”

They all walked to the rental car that Rick was driving but as Shuichi went to get in he paused. He turned his head and took a second look at the black car that was pulling out of the parking lot. He could have sworn that he saw gold hair getting into that car just a second ago and it was defiantly a Mercedes.

Shuichi shook his head. ‘No way. What would Eiri be doing at a hospital at this time of night? Unless… He’s not sick again is he?’

*

~Japanese~

It was getting later all the time, but Shuichi still couldn’t sleep. He kept seeing that blond head slipping into that black Mercedes. Could it have been a coincidence? Had his earlier thoughts made him imagine what he had seen? ‘Am I going crazy?’

He looked over at the clock and sighed. It was almost seven already. He didn’t have to go in to the studio today because of his injury and the late night, but he doubted he would ever get to sleep. He gave up and got out of bed. He looked over at the phone on his bedside.

‘Tohma will be up by now, right?’ He debated with himself on it. Yes, the man would probably be up, but if Shuichi called and asked after Eiri he would never hear the end of it.

“Oh, to hell with it" he said to himself. "I’m not going to get any sleep until I know he is alright.”

He grabbed his phone and hit the speed dial for Tohma’s cell. Sure enough ,when the man answered he sounded wide-awake. “Seguchi.”

“Hey, Tohma.”

“Shuichi? I thought you would be asleep. How is the finger?” There was a distinct air of humor in the man’s voice.

“I’m fine. Thanks ever so much for your concern.” Shuichi rolled his eyes at himself for letting Tohma provoke him.

“Well, what can I do for you?”

Shuichi hesitated, “Um… have you heard from Eiri lately?”

There was a long moment of silence before Tohma answered. “Yes, I spoke to him yesterday. Is there a problem?”

Was it just Shuichi or did Tohma sound almost hopeful? “No, there’s no problem. Is he alright?”

Again there was a pause and Shuichi distinctly heard Tohma sigh. “He is the same.”

Shuichi started to feel a little braver. “He’s not sick again then?”

“Not to my knowledge. Why, do you know something that you are not telling me?”

Shuichi bit his lip. He knew that Eiri hated it when Tohma babied him, but at the same time if Eiri was sick and not telling people. “I don’t know. I thought I saw him leaving the hospital last night.”

“Oh…” Tohma didn’t say anything for a moment and Shuichi could now hear the sounds of traffic in the background. “You don’t have to worry. Eiri is fine. He hasn’t had any of those kinds of problems in awhile. Mika and I have kept a close eye on his heath since you left and his doctors have us down as contacts. If something had happened we would know.”

Shuichi let out a silent sigh of relief. “Um, okay. Well I can hear that you’re on your way to work so I will let you go.”

“I will see you tomorrow, Shuichi. Get some sleep.”

“Thanks, Tohma. I will.”

*

When Tohma hung up the phone he couldn’t help but smile. ‘It won't be long now.’

*

So? Too much? Not enough? There’s still more to come.