Twisting Fate

Twisting Fate

I still do not own Gravitation. This chapter was hard to write. I just didn’t seem to want to come out. So sorry for the delay and the sucky chapter.

Chapter Two

Shuichi looked up from the couch where he was busily scribbling lyrics. It was the third time that Eiri had walked through the living room. ‘Why is this situation so familiar?’ He chewed on the end of his pencil for a moment at Eiri walked back out of the kitchen headed towards his study. ‘Oh, because I used to do this to him all the time, only he would be watching television or reading.’

Shuichi scrubbed his hand through his white hair in frustration. (He hadn’t bothered to dye it as too many people thought it looked cool.) Their cohabitation was less than satisfactory, but he really didn’t know what to do. Eiri hadn’t pushed him for sex and was being almost too patient with Shuichi’s recovery. They were just going through the motions. He shook his head and looked back at his lyrics.

Several minutes passed and Shuichi looked up again when Eiri crossed through the living room. Shu couldn’t help but roll his eyes this time. ‘Was I this obvious?’ He snapped his journal closed and stood up headed for the door. “I’m going out.”

Eiri’s head popped out of the kitchen. “Need some company?”

Shu resisted rolling his eyes again. “No, I just want to go down to the studio for awhile. I am sure that Suguru is there and I want to play with some lyrics. I’ll be back later.”

He slipped his feet into his shoes and walked out without looking back to see the worried expression on Eiri’s face. He caught a cab at the corner and let his head fall back against the headrest. ‘Six months of this shit. His hovering is really starting to get on my nerves. Everyone seems almost… normal, but Eiri keeps walking on eggshells.’

He got out at NG, but he didn’t head for the studio. Right then he could care less about where Suguru was. No, who he wanted to talk to was Tohma. He ran various scenarios over in his head. He didn’t know what the blond would say, but doubted to would be anything good. It was late enough in the evening that Tohma’s secretary had gone home so he simply knocked on the door.

He could hear low voices on the other side and then a louder call of, “Enter.”

Shuichi stepped in and quickly noticed the seated man across from Tohma. He looked familiar. “Sorry if I am interrupting, I can come back latter.”

Tohma waved him toward a seat. “No it is fine Shuichi-kun. Let me introduce you to Mr. Rick Davis. Rick-san here is an American artist whose band is entertaining a contract with NG. Mr. Davis this is Shindou Shuichi, he is the lead singer for our number two band Bad Luck.”

Shuichi had frozen half way through his bow when he heard the man’s name. ‘No, it’s not possible. It’s a coincidence.’

Tohma took note of Shuichi’s distraction when he didn’t respond to Rick’s question. He stood up and walked around his desk to stand next to Shuichi and still the younger man did not notice him. The singer did notice though when Tohma placed a hand on his shoulder and quickly jerked away. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you alright? Should I call Eiri-kun?” Shuichi shook his head and smiled weakly at Tohma.

“Truly, I’m fine. I was just startled is all. I do believe that I have heard of Mr. Davies before.” Tohma looked at him appraisingly for a moment before he took up one of the open seats in front of his desk rather than returning behind it.

“Really, I didn’t realize that Seven Deadly Sins had a following in Japan. Something I wish to rectify, of course.”

‘This is too surreal.’ Shuichi nodded and finally took a seat. “I’m sure that with the proper exposure that they will be a hit. There has been an ever increasing following of American rock in Japan over the last few years.”

Tohma folded his hands in his lap thoughtfully and glanced at the too silent Rick. The man was eyeing Shuichi in a way that Eiri would have taken great offence to. He knew that the man’s understanding of Japanese was marginal, but he knew enough to have joined into at least some of this conversation. ‘How dose Shuichi recognize him anyway? SDS has had almost no Japanese exposure and they didn’t exist prior to the accident.’ He tilted his head and looked back at Shuichi. The singer was playing with his journal.

“Hai, American rock is influencing some of the up and comings here. Should NG take over Seven Deadly Sins I feel that we would have gained a substantial asset.” Shuichi looked up at the blond and bit his lip.

Tohma noticed that Shuichi looked upset. He wasn’t quite sure what about, however he was sure that he was about to find out. “Is that all that music is to you now? Is it all assets and liabilities? You used to love it for the music’s sake.”

Dé já vu. Tohma could remember having this conversation with the little singer once before. It had been shortly before the accident. His head jerked around when a heavily accented voice spoke.

“I agree. Music is not a…” he seemed to stumbled for the right word waving his hand in a searching gesture. Finally he growled and grumbled something in English.

Tohma smiled his benign smile and looked at his two companions. “Do not get me wrong. As a musician I do love the music for it’s own sake, but I am also a businessman.”

Shuichi rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Conversation that was already strained so Shuichi stood up. “I’ll take my leave of you. I need to see if Suguru is in the studio. I’ll come back some other time to speak with you.” He nodded to the two men and didn’t see Tohma follow him out. He was almost to the elevator when the older man called out to him.

He turned and waited to hear whatever the blond had to say. When Tohma stopped front of Shuichi he looked concerned. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Shuichi stepped back and leaned against the wall, “No.” He rolled his head and heard his neck give a loud pop. “I wanted to know if you could find me another place to stay.”

Since the accident many people had grown closer to Shuichi. His new quieter attitude drew people to him even more than it had before while his annoyance level had been reduced to almost nil. Tohma was not ashamed to say that he was drawn to the young man where before he had cared for him as nothing more than a good business deal. This particular request had not been expected. Eiri had stopped coming to him to vent on Shuichi’s aloofness and so he had thought that relations between the two had improved.

“Did you and Eiri have a fight?”

Shuichi shook his head before scratching it in frustration. “No, but I can’t stand his… hovering. To be honest I didn’t want to move back in with him at all and the last few months have been… torture.”

Tohma reached out to him tentatively and Shuichi accepted the gesture. “I am afraid that I don’t understand. What happened?”

Shuichi stepped away and sighed. “It is to long a story to get into right now. I will come back later.”

Tohma nodded sadly, “I’ll be here for awhile yet. Rick-san should be headed back to his hotel shortly. An hour?”

Shuichi hadn’t expected for Tohma to take that kind of initiative but nodded his acceptance and continued down the hall.

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Having found no sign of Suguru in the studio, Shuichi had simply unpacked his own keyboard. He didn’t really pay attention to what he was playing and let various strains of disjointed music flow from his fingers. He let himself get lost in the notes and was a little startled when someone knocked on the door. He glanced up at the clock and realized he was late to meet back up with Tohma. He shut off the keyboard and hit the call button to tell the other man that it was open. When he was done packing his keyboard back onto the rack he looked around and sure enough there was Tohma leaning on the doorframe.

“Sorry, I got distracted.”

The blond smiled wanly, “I noticed. Come one, we’ll go get some dinner.”

They made the trip to one of Tohma’s favorite out of the way diners and in a very un-Tohma like move they drove themselves. Rather, Tohma drove. Here in the real world Shuichi had never learned to drive.

When they were seated in a corner booth and their meals ordered Tohma looked at him over his glass of water. “I don’t much care for mysteries, Shuichi-kun.”

Shuichi sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and scratched his face. He didn’t have to shave often but the barest hint of stubble on his chin told him it was time. “I’ve done some reading and for what I can tell my situation seems… unique. Usually when someone is in a coma they cannot recall any dreams prior to waking up.”

Shuichi played with the straw in his own glass while Tohma remained silent, waiting. “It has been six months and to me those six years seem just as vivid, just as real as they did when I first woke.” He took a sip of his drink to wet his suddenly dry throat. He hadn’t told anyone about the dream. He didn’t know why he was telling Tohma now.

“To me it doesn’t feel like a dream at all. I lived a very different life in those six years.”

Tohma had rested his chin on his hands and his elbows on the counter while he listened. He was more intrigued than he could say. The food came unnoticed to them both as he listened to Shuichi tell his story.

Running off to America because he hurt so badly…

Changing himself to fit the American musical world…

Tohma’s own mechanizations and the band that resulted…

The world tour…

Returning to Japan…

Eiri, Hiro, Ryuichi, Shuichi’s family…

He didn’t know what to think. It was a strange tale to be sure. Yet, there was something in Shuichi’s voice that convinced him that every word of it was true. It made the incident in front of Rick make sense.

“When I woke up I thought that I had been hospitalized from the collapse. Then I heard Eiri’s voice in my head. He told me that it had all been a dream. I was… confused to say the least.” He pulled out a small burnished lighter and set it on the table between them. Upon it was inscribed the phrase ‘7 Deadly Sins.’ When it was flipped over a moment later Tohma could see that each of said sins were listed.

“In my dream we were just called Seven Sins, yet this lighter is almost exactly the same as the one Rick bought for me in the dream. I found it quite by chance in a little second hand store.” He paused and picked up the lighter to light a cigarette. He chuckled when Tohma raised an eyebrow.

“So many things have started to show up from my dream. At first I thought that maybe I was just mixing in things that I ran across in real life. Perhaps I had really met that person or seen that item and so it just mixed itself in.” He took a long drag and savored the feeling of the smoke in his lungs. “I didn’t smoke before. I hated it when Eiri smoke. Now I pick one up and it is old hat to me.”

He picked at the now cold food in front of him, not really hungry at all. Tohma remained silent for a long time. He watched the singer, an intense look on his face.

“I don’t know what to tell you Shuichi. I cannot say that stranger things have happened, because I for one cannot say that I have ever heard such a tale.” The blond reached into his pocket and pulled out his ever-present cell phone. “I do understand your plight now though. I’ll help you find a place to stay for awhile.”

Shuichi looked up and smiled sadly. “I don’t know what to think anymore, Tohma. You do understand that this isn’t because I don’t love him, don’t you?”

“Hai, I understand that. However I also know that love is not always enough.”

And Shuichi knew just what he meant. Tohma, the real Tohma, unlike the one in his dream, had loved Eiri with all of his heart. He still loved the writer. He understood that Eiri would never return his affections, but he loved him nonetheless.

“Arigatoo, Tohma.”

A gloved hand covered his and he looked up into sincere eyes. “You have nothing to thank me for. I am proud to count you among my friends. That is something I never thought possible.” He dialed an unknown number and smiled sweetly at Shuichi while the phone rang. “I’m glad I was wrong.”

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The plot thickens. Someone asked me how much of the dream was a dream and how much really happened. Well, as you can tell from this chapter… I’m not telling. A girl has to keep some of her secrets. To be fare though, this is not going to be just another dream altogether. There is a reason why Shuichi had the dream and a reason why he remembers certain things that he should have no way of knowing. Yes, Eiri and Shuichi will eventually get things right and get together again. When, now that is another question. Originally I had planed to get them back together at the end of the last story, however my muse had other plans.

So, too much? Not enough? Well there is a lot more to come.