Still Raining

Still Raining
Sequel to: On the Street of dreams
Written by: chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: There was one woman at the press conference that refused to leave well enough alone. Two years later, she is back and causing trouble for Shuichi and Eiri. She is determined to prove that Aizawa is not the biological father of little Takanori. What if she is right? And as if that weren’t enough, what if Mr. Shindou was right all along as well? What if Shuichi really isn’t his son?
Chapter Summary: Mrs. Shindou cries over the child she lost while Shuichi and Eiri grow closer to reconciliation.
Warning: angst, drama, romance, m-preg, language, m/m, hentai
Inserts: ---
A/N: Thank you to bcsaturdai, mystice, S/SUN17, RRW, Angelofmelancholy, AlexJanna, UnratedCrimsonBlood, Acherona, secret hidden within me, fahaar, Dee, pandawolf, Angee, CrimsonxMoonlight, Mrs. Hatake Itachi, Anon for your reviews.

+---+---+---+

(Last Time)

Maiko gave a weak smile. “…It’s that woman again, isn’t it?”

Taken aback, Shuichi blinked at his sister.

“What?” Maiko cocked her head to the side. “You think I wouldn’t keep up with what’s going on with my big brother?”

Shuichi felt like a fish as he opened his mouth and then closed it. He snorted with a quick shake of his head. She certainly was something else.

“So, what’s she up to this time?”

Shuichi rolled his eyes. “What else?”

“Takanori?” she guessed.

“Yeah.”

“…What if…?”

“Hm?”

“…What if she’s right?”

Shuichi gaped at Maiko in disbelief. Not her too! “C’mon Mai!”

“I’ve seen pictures of Taki Aizawa, Shuichi.”

“Yeah and I’ve slept with him.”

“…So, you know it’s possible.”

Unable to meet her gaze, Shuichi glanced out the large window and watched as the cars zipped passed without a care in the world as something he has been trying to ignore for the past fifteen months floated to the surface. Doubt.

+---+---+

Chapter 2: They Took the Path Less Traveled By

NG Productions Executive Offices

He could not say he was surprised. Reclining in the brown leather chair behind his desk at the top of the new Tokyo headquarters of his record company, Tohma Seguchi leaned his elbows on the arms of the chair. Steepling his fingers under his chin, he gazed across the office at the silver plaque hanging on the wall near the door. It was the first one Nittle Grasper received all those years ago when their first single went platinum. In essence, it was the foundation that started the empire. In a way, you could also say that it was because of that award that they were all in the midst of their current crisis. “I’d expected as much.”

There was a heavy sigh over the speaker phone. “The brat said he had nothing to prove.”

Tohma nodded. He said it before and he would continue to say it again and again. It was the policy of NG Productions to not negotiate with terrorists, blackmailers or other assorted bad characters. If you give in to them just once, then what was there to stop them, or others, from demanding more? Just because you comply with the kidnapper’s demands and handover the ransom he was demanding, did not mean you would get back he took from you. And there was no guarantee he would leave you alone in the future. Why would you trust someone who used underhanded tactics? So, he could not blame Shuichi for his response to Nami Mataguchi’s challenge. You never negotiated with terrorists. You did not give them the time of day and you did not budge an inch for them as you passed them by on the sidewalk. No, you treated them as you would any child throwing a hissy fit or a temper tantrum.

He dropped his hands into his lap. “Do you agree?”

It was several long seconds before the answer came.

“Takanori is my son and I don’t give a flying rat’s ass who fathered him.”

That sounded like something Shuichi would say.

But it was also the same response Eiri has been giving for the past two years. Tohma had to hand it to his brother-in-law. Taking in a child that was not his. Taking responsibility for a mistake he did not make. Taking on a duty that he had not signed up for. Not many people would have done what he did. Tohma was not sure he could say with absolute certainty that he would have or could do the same if their positions were reversed. He would kick Mika’s lying, cheating ass to the curb and never look back. He was proud to admit that Eiri was his brother-in-law.

“That’s not what I asked.”

Silence.

“Eiri?”

Even though he understood why Shuichi was against just giving in to the demands of a mentally unstable lunatic, he could also understand the other side as well. Did little Takanori Uesugi not deserve to know the truth? He had the right to know who his biological father was. How can you know where you are going if you have no idea where you came from? In order to have a future, you must have a past. But was Eiri afraid that he might lose his son? If Taki Aizawa was found to not be little Takanori’s biological father, what did that mean? That the man who fathered Eiri’s son was still out there and when he became aware of his son’s existence, everything in essence could change. Could the man sue for custody? Would Eiri’s paternal rights be revoked? There was so much uncertainty and so many unanswered questions that Tohma could not fault Eiri for hesitating. But no matter what the results of Shuichi’s decision was in the end, Eiri would always be little Takanori’s father.

“You and Shuichi may not care, but doesn’t little Takanori deserve to know the truth?”

There was another sigh.

“Eiri?”

“…I’ll talk to him. I’m not promising anything, but I’ll try talking to him again.”

+---+---+

Tohma swiveled his chair around and gazed out his floor to ceiling wall of windows at the metal and glass landscape that was Tokyo. It was a breathtaking sight.

Nami Mataguchi was going to be serious trouble. That’s what he thought two years ago at the press conference. More than anything he wished he had been wrong. But unfortunately, he almost never was.

+---+---+

Koishikawa Park Tower – Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Shuichi pushed away from the back wall when the elevator jolted to a stop. He laid a hand over his “baby bump” (as the press liked to call it). “It’s alright,” he whispered reassuringly at the nervous flutter of movement. A ping sounded. Moments later, the doors slid open. Rubbing his belly, Shuichi stepped out of the elevator, fixing the strap of his messenger bag.

It had been nice to see his little sister again. The two of them had never been particularly close growing up. Shuichi was not sure why, even now. It was too bad that something like this was what brought them together.

The thick carpet muffled his footsteps as he made his way down the hall. A nervous twitter fluttered to life in the pit of his stomach. He ran his tongue over his dry lips. Forcing himself to swallow, he paused before the door at the end of the hall that had N802 in large gold romanji secured above the peep hole.

What he told Maiko at the coffee shop was the truth. He was sick and tired of people saying otherwise to him. They did not split up. Neither Shuichi nor Eiri (to the best of his knowledge) had plans of filing for a divorce in the near future. The tabloids could spew whatever garbage they wanted. But it would not change the truth. They were just currently separated. That was all. Contrary to popular opinion, nobody cheated. There had been no physical, emotional or sexual abuse. There were no irreconcilable differences. There had been no fisticuffs. Well, anymore than usual. He would be lying if he admitted that he and Eiri did not have their share of arguments and disagreements. For there were. He did not know of any couple that did not. But that was not the reason why he and Eiri were currently residing in two different residences. He and Eiri were still very much in love. They planned on spending the rest of their lives together, raising their family and eventually their grandchildren and possibly even their great grandchildren together. Shuichi wanted to fall asleep at night with his husband’s secure presence at his back. He wanted to be safe in the knowledge that when the sun rose above the horizon, bringing with it another day, he would wake with the same comforting presence besides him. He wanted to watch as his husband’s hair went first grey, then white and finally disappeared all together. He wanted them to get all wrinkly and get fat together. He wanted a house in the suburbs with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids.

But this little…interlude…was just something that Shuichi wanted. It was something he needed. Several months ago, he had a severe panic attack when he came to the sudden realization that even though here he was only eighteen years old, he had a one-year-old son (that he absolutely adored), was married (to the most gorgeous man in the world who absolutely adored him in return) and was trying to have another baby. His entire life, he has been provided for. If it wasn’t his parents (what little care they did give him), it was Ryuichi or Tatsuha or Kizou and now Eiri. He has always been dependent upon someone and never had the opportunity to be his own person. “I just need some space,” was what he said.

One of his closest friends from middle school had an older sister who converted to Christianity and ended up entering the religious life. His friend admitted to him that he has never seen his sister happier. “I don’t get it, but it’s what she wants.” After a year in the monastery, she left. The Mother Superior told her, apparently, that she needed to experience more of the world before she committed herself fully to becoming part of the Dominican Sisters. So that was just what she did. She found a job, moved out of her parents’ house and into a studio across town and even started dating. For close to five years, she lived the life of a normal twenty-something year old Japanese woman. Until one day, she felt that call and returned to the life she had been forced to abandon. But, if she hadn’t of taken those few years to actually live, who was to say that she wouldn’t have left the order some time down the road full of regrets?

It was the same with him. He loved Eiri with all of his heart, but he did not want to wake up twenty, thirty years from now, and wonder, “what if…?”

Clearing his throat, Shuichi ran his hands over the front of his shirt to smooth out any wrinkles. Then he tugged at the hem of his shirt. Next, he straightened his collar and then once again ran his hands down the front of his shirt. He paused briefly over his belly. A soft smile spread across his face.

“Daddy’ll be happy to see you,” he whispered.

“Baka.”

Startled, Shuichi’s head snapped up. “Eiri,” he breathed over his racing pulse.

“How many times are you going to smooth out wrinkles that are not there?” Eiri asked his husband in amusement.

Shuichi’s face flushed in embarrassment at having been caught primping himself. “Shut up,” he snapped as he pushed roughly passed the writer into the condominium.

Eiri chuckled as shut and locked the door behind Shuichi.

“How was he?” Shuichi asked as he toed off his shoes in exchange for house slippers.

Shrugging, Eiri crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “You mean other than deciding he wants to be a drummer when he grows up?” He still had a headache that aspirin did not seem capable of curing. Damned brat. Like mother like child apparently.

“Oh no,” Shuichi whined. “He didn’t!”

“He did.”

“I’m so sorry, Eiri.” Though Shuichi could not hold back the laughter. He could just picture little Takanori’s drum solo and the throbbing vein in Eiri’s forehead.

“It’s not funny,” Eiri grumbled.

The knowledge that his son had taken a shinning to Eri’s drums was a welcome surprise for Shuichi.

Pushing away from the wall, Eiri stepped out of the entrance hall and immediately into the dining room. Due to the open layout, he could see clear into the living room on his left. The kitchen was off the dining room to the right. The master bedroom suite was located down a hallway on the far side of the kitchen. The other three bedrooms were located down the hall off the living room. The north and east wall of windows provided a breathtaking ninety- degree view of Tokyo. Theirs was also the only condominium in the building that provided access to the balcony from every room in the condo. It was the idea of having a wraparound porch that sold the condo to both him and Shuichi in the first place. But with Shuichi living on the other side of the city at the present moment with their son, the condo tended to be too large for just him. It was why he tended to hole himself in his study.

“If you bring my son to the studio again, I swear to God…!”

Shuichi rolled his eyes as he followed Eiri into the living room. “Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.”

Eiri tossed Shuichi a glare.

In response, Shuichi gave him his patent innocent look.

Eiri snorted. Baka, he thought.

“Speaking of the little devil, where is he?” Shuichi glanced around.

“Watching Little Einsteins in his room. Thank God.” Eiri was not sure if his head or his sanity could any more of his son’s drum recital.

“Takanori loves that show.”

“Yeah. That and Dora, Diego, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train, Cailou…”

Just put on a DVD and little Takanori instantly turned catatonic. It was a sure fire way to get an hour or two of peace and quiet. Eiri had been against a television in Takanori’s room at first, but quickly considered it to be a godsend once he discovered the benefits.

Deciding to check in on him, Shuichi cut a path to his son’s room.

He found the almost two-year-old sitting quietly in his little Cars lawn chair in front of the television. He was staring as if hypnotized at the screen. That was the way Takanori would stay until the show was over.

Shuichi giggled. Cute.

“So, what’s she up to this time?”

His smile wilted as his sister’s voice floated into his head.

Shuichi rolled his eyes. “What else?”

“Takanori?” she guessed.

“Yeah.”

“…What if…?”

“Hm?”

“…What if she’s right?”

Shuichi gaped at Maiko in disbelief. Not her too! “C’mon Mai!”

“I’ve seen pictures of Taki Aizawa, Shuichi.”

“Yeah and I’ve slept with him,” Shuichi shot back.

“…So, you know it’s possible.”

Unable to meet her gaze, Shuichi glanced out the large window and watched as the cars zipped passed without a care in the world as something he has been trying to ignore for the past fifteen months floated to the surface. Doubt.

It was something he refused to even think about let alone discuss. Why did all of these people continue to press the issue? Who cares who fathered his son? All that should matter was that Eiri was little Takanori’s father now. Period. What did it matter to Nami Mataguchi? What business was it of hers?

His grip tightened around the door frame.

No. It did not matter. There was no way he was going to start second guessing himself. Eiri was their son’s father. End of story.

Shuichi quietly backed out of his son’s room and made his way to the living room.

“Here,” Eiri said holding out a glass filled with purplish liquid.

“What-?”

“Juice.”

“Oh.” Of course. Eiri did not want his children polluting their bodies with crap. Shuichi took the proffered glass, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at his husband’s over-protectiveness and took a seat on the couch.

With his coffee, Eiri sat opposite him in the armchair.

Shuichi took a sip of the juice and then set it in the coffee table. “Oh!” His hands flew to his belly.

Eiri was instantly on alert. “Baby?!”

Shuichi caught his breath as his heart skipped a beat. His face turned lobster red at the endearment. With his chin tucked into his chest, Shuichi shook his head. “It’s nothing,” he assured the blond writer.

Eiri frowned. “You sure?”

Shuichi nodded. He sighed and sat back. Folding his hands over his belly, he leaned his head back against the back of the sofa. “They just like to express their opinions.”

Eiri chuckled. Relived it was not anything serious; he took a careful sip of his coffee and then placed the mug on the end table besides his chair.

“Apparently they don’t care for the juice.”

“Just like their mother.”

Shuichi’s lips twitched. “Yeah. Yeah.” Opening his eyes sparkling in merriment, he turned his head to the side and gazed at Eiri. “They still don’t like the elevator.”

Eiri snorted. “Yeah, well, that’s just something they’re going to have to get used to. Unless, that is, you feel the need to walk up eight flight of stairs.”

Shuichi’s cheek developed a pinkish tint at the implied meaning. It darkened when Eiri chuckled. He deliberately turned his gaze away.

This was nice. He missed this.

“Hey.” Eiri’s voice broke through the silence that had settled around them.

“Hm?” Shuichi turned back towards his husband.

“…Will you…uhm…”

Shuichi picked his head up and studied Eiri. Was he…blushing? Shuichi smothered a laugh. “What?” he pressed.

Turning his gaze from Shuichi’s bemused expression, Eiri coughed into his fist. He was mortified that just asking one simple question made him start to feel like s school girl with her first crush. God, how embarrassing.

Cocking his head, Shuichi sat up. “What?”

Eiri glared at him. “If you make me ask you again…”

Despite the threat, Shuichi’s mile widened. His eyes sparkled. “I’d love to stay for dinner, Eiri.”

“Good,” Eiri nodded.

Shuichi giggled.

“Baka,” Eiri mumbled.

Shuichi laughed harder.

+---+---+

Shindou Household – Kyoto, Japan

With her husband not due home for some time, Mrs. Shindou crept up the staircase to the spare bedroom that was in the process of being converted into the nursery for her soon-to-be grandchild. In other words, her son’s old bedroom. Once she was safely inside, she shut the door behind her. Because the room was in the middle of being painted, all the baby furniture had been pulled into the center of the room and covered with a tarp. A second one had been laid on the floor on the far side of the room to keep the newly installed carpet from getting ruined. The walls used to be a deep navy blue. It was not a color Shuichi had chosen or ever liked. The dark color always made the room seem so dark and drab and depressing. Her husband had chosen the paint color and refused to allow Shuichi to change it. But when Maiko announced that she wanted them yellow, the tinted primer had gone up and half of the room was painted virtually overnight.

It did not seem fair. He coddled his daughter, but all but ignored his son. When she first started dating him, she had no idea that blood meant so much to him. Not that there was something wrong with that. It was something to be proud of. But still. Technically, Ryuichi was not blood kin to her husband either. He adopted him not long after they started dating. Despite that, he loved Ryuichi as if he were his own. If he did not, he would not have asked to adopt him in the first place. Was it because Shuichi was a neutral? Sometimes that seems as if it was the problem, but other times, it seemed as if it was something else entirely. So, what was it? What was it about Shuichi that her husband seemed to detest so much?

She halted with her hand on the closet doorknob.

Could it be…? Was it because they had been forced to adopt Shuichi after L8r Entertainment blackmailed Ryuichi into giving up his parental rights? It made sense. Her husband voluntarily adopted Ryuichi because he loved her and her son and wanted them to be family, but bringing in a second adopted child into the Shindou family? And another boy at that? Him being the illegitimate son of his first adopted son? In essence his step-grandson? Add to it the fact that he could not seem to have children of his own with her was like adding insult to injury. They only had Maiko because they had undergone vitro infertilization (it was not something they broadcasted).

She knew she used to have a problem (and to some extent still did) with the fact that Shuichi was a neutral, but at least she had not alienated him…Had she?

Opening the closet door, she searched in the back of the closet. Hidden in a small unmarked box amongst crumbled newspaper was a faux red leather photo album. She sat down under the window where her son’s bunk bed used to be and set the album down on her raised knees. Opening the cover, she ran her middle finger over the clear plastic protective sheeting. Her vision misted over as tears stung her eyes. It was not the protective sheeting that made her heart ache as it did, but what lay beneath it. It was a black and white photo she clipped from the newspaper and it was the only photograph she had of her son-in-law and grandson. She would give anything to be able to hold her baby boy and his baby boy.

The tears one by one started falling. The sob that had become lodged in her constrictive throat broke loose and echoed into the nursery. Hugging the open photo album to her chest, Mrs. Shindou cried quietly for the child she lost. She loved her husband. She really did. But choosing him over her son had been the worst decision of her life. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done now. It was far too late.

---TBC---

A/N: First and foremost, I would like to clarify something. When I wrote, “The Trinity was a Christian extremist magazine. Meaning, she was one of those people who believed that allowing Homosexuals to marry would inevitably lead to people having sex with animals and that Homosexuals were possessed by Satan and needed to be cleansed by God or that the Harry Potter novels promoted witchcraft” in the last chapter I WAS NOT speaking of all Christians as I am a Christian myself. I was born and raised Roman Catholic. One of my sisters has entered the monastery and is in the process of becoming a nun. My mother is part of the Third Order, a layman. What I WAS referring to was A VERY SMALL SECT of Christians who DO believe all that crap and THOSE were the people I was referring to. I had to do a paper for my religion class back in my freshman year of college and stumbled across a website that promoted crap like that. These people give Christians a bad name. Just like the Taliban and other Islamic extremists give Islam a bad name. I am sorry if any of you may have gotten the wrong idea and for that I apologize. But I used that extreme viewpoint to tell why Nami is pressing things with Shuichi and Eiri the way she is. Nothing more.

Sorry it took so long to get out. And sorry that it is so short. I will try to get the next chapter out sooner.