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’s back and causing trouble. She’s determined to prove that Aizawa isn’t the biological father of little Takanori. What if she’s right?
Chapter Summary: Nami Mataguchi steps up things as Eiri ponders about his future with Shuichi.
Warning: angst, drama, romance, m-preg, language, m/m, hentai
Inserts: ---
A/N: Thank you to Mrs. Hatake Itachi, pandawolf, UnratedCrimsonBlood, S\Sun 17, Acherona, secret hidden within me, ferler for your reviews. I apologize that each chapter is coming out so far apart. I really hadn’t developed the story any further than the first chapter, which was why I regret having put it when I did because I wasn’t ready. Oh, well. Nothing to be done about it now. I just hope you don’t hate me for taking so long.

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

(Last Time)

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. Takanori would stay that way 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 doorframe.

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.

+---+---+

Chapter 3: Life Is But a Dream

The Trinity Office - Setagaya, Tokyo

Except for a few who were working on additional research for their articles, everyone else had gone home for the night. Yet she remained. Nami Mataguchi twirled the pencil ambidextrously as she sat behind her desk in her office. Playing softly in the background was some Christian rock song that she could not remember the name of. Suddenly, she flung the yellow number two pencil down in frustration.

Dammit. This was ridiculous.

She ran her fingers through her short black locks. Leaning back, she laced her fingers together behind her head and glared through anger clouded vision at the drop down ceiling.

Was he choosing to ignore her challenge? Again? Some would say that made him the better man. It was braver to walk away than to return the punch. It was more Christian-like to turn the other cheek. Yada. Yada. Yada. People could say whatever they liked, but she did not believe any of it. At least, not in this particular case. The fact that young Mr. Shindou continued to have “no comment” was in and of itself a comment. It was the answer she had been searching for this whole time. It meant she was right in her beliefs. She had to be. She had to give him cudos for sticking to his guns. The fact of the matter was that if she was wrong and he right, then he should not have any problem in proving it. Right? Seeing that he refused to give her and the public a sufficient answer meant that she was indeed right.

A grin slowly made its way onto her face.

Maybe she could use that. Rile him up a bit.

Dropping her hands, she reached for the phone. Her fingers danced over the keys.

“Thank you for calling TCN, The Christian Network. This is Kinu. How may I direct your call?” (1)

+---+---+

Uesugi-Sakuma Residence – Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

He was roused out of his semi-comatose state by the sudden ringing of the house phone. It echoed shrilly throughout the condominium. As tempted as he was to ignore it and roll over and go back to sleep, he let out a groan as he struggled into a sitting position. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he slipped his bare feet into his slippers and padded groggily out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living room. He grabbed the cordless extension from the end table besides the couch.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is Dr. Kimio Moriyama from Yowa Hospital,” came the female voice in his ear (2).

Suddenly wide-awake, Ryuichi tensed. His grip on the phone tightened.

“I am looking for a Ryuichi Sakuma.”

Now he knew why he had been tempted to ignore the phone. As much as he would like to inform the caller that she had the wrong number, he could not very well in good conscience do such a thing. Damn. Why had his mother raised him to be a proper young man? “This is he,” he admitted into the phone. He cringed at the admission.

“Ah, Mr. Sakuma. Hello. How are you today?”

Pleasantries. That was not a good sign. “…Fine. How are you, ma‘am?” he asked in return.

“I’m doing well, thank you.”

There was silence for less than a second, but it seemed to stretch on for eternity.

“Mr. Sakuma, are you acquainted with a Mr. Yuki Kitazawa?”

“Yes, I am,” he admitted cautiously. Where was this going?

“Mr. Sakuma, I am sorry to have to inform you that Mr. Kitazawa…“

Ryuichi held his breath.

“…attempted suicide a short time ago.”

His breath rushed out in a soft sigh. That was not what he had been expecting.

“One of he nurses found him hanging from a makeshift noose he made out of one of his bed sheets. We were able to revive him so he should be fine. There shouldn’t be any lasting effects.”

Damn. He knew it was too good to be true.

“…Mr. Sakuma?”

Ryuichi cringed. Did he say that a loud? “Look…Dr. Moriyama, was it?”

“Yes.”

“This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time he tries to off himself. What he does is none of my concern.”

“But Mr. Sakuma-!”

“I may be listed as his next of kin, but I have absolutely nothing to do with him. Not anymore.”

“But it says here-”

“Next time don’t stop him.” He slammed the phone down as the doctor sputtered over the line. With a hand on the extension, he dropped his face in his hand.

There was a noise behind him.

Startled, Ryuichi spun around and came face to face with Tatsuha. He gulped. Damn. How much did he hear?

“Who was it?” Tatsuha asked innocently around the armload of groceries.

“No one.”

“Ryu…”

“It was nothing, Tatsuha,” Ryuichi insisted. He grabbed one of the bags out of his lover’s arms and strolled around him to the kitchen, hoping that Tatsuha dropped the subject. However, he should have known better.

“Was it about Yuki?” Tatsuha asked as he set the bag that he was holding on the counter besides the stove.

Ryuichi sighed as he put the mayo in the pantry, but did not say anything. Why was he so persistent?

“Ryu…”

“Don’t.”

Tatsuha sighed. He knew all about Ryuichi’s past with Yuki Kitazawa and how he felt about the other man. Truthfully, he could not blame him for feeling the way he did, but even though Ryuichi may despise the man and may want nothing to do with him, the fact of the matter was, Yuki Kitazawa was Shuichi’s birth mother. “Look, Ryu-”

“I said ‘don’t’,” Ryuichi snapped. He slammed the pantry door shut harder than was necessary.

“You hate him. I get it.”

“Do you?” Ryuichi rounded on his long time lover. “Do you really?”

Tatsuha chose to ignore that. “He’s the mother of your son!” he protested.

“Yeah, the son he very nearly killed,” Ryuichi shot back.

Tatsuha did not know what to say to that. It was true. If it were anyone else, he would be confident in saying that threatening to jump was nothing more than a bluff, an attention grabbing action, but Yuki Kitazawa was not just anybody. He truly was psychotic and just might have jumped if one of the security guards at the old L8r Records studios had not tackled down from off the ledge.

Ryuichi ran his hands over his face. “If he wouldn’t have been a Nittle Grasper fan and snuck backstage to see me after one of our concerts, Shuichi never would’ve been conceived. If Yuki hadn’t become obsessed with me after that night, I might never have known that he was pregnant. If he hadn’t of made such a scene at the studio, I might never have known about Shuichi because the psychotic bastard would have thrown himself to his death killing both of them!”

“…Ryu…”

“We had one night. That’s it.”

“Yeah, but that one night linked the two of you together for the rest of your lives,” Tatsuha reminded his lover.

Ryuichi said nothing.

“Whether you like it or not, Ryuichi Sakuma, Yuki Kitazawa is going to a part of your life till the day you die because he is the mother of your son. You don’t have to like him. Nobody’s saying you have to. You‘re going to have to just grin and bear and grow the fuck up.”

He did not like it. Tatsuha was right, but he did not like it one bit. His fisted his hands to keep from lashing out.

Tatsuha frowned. “Ryu?”

Ryuichi turned on his heel and marched out of the kitchen without a word.

Tatsuha watched his lover sadly.

+---+---+

Shindou Residence – Kyoto, Japan

“I’m telling you, he is as big as a house,” Maiko exclaimed as she set the table for dinner.

For each place setting, she placed the rice bowl on the left and the soup bowl on the right. Behind them, she set three flat plates for the okazu. One of the flat plates sat on the far left, one at the far right and the final one in the center.

Mrs. Shindou’s heart ached at the talk of her baby boy. She might not have given birth to him, but Shuichi meant just as much to her as if she had. Choosing her husband over Shuichi was the stupidest decision she ever made in her entire life. It would haunt her until her dying day.

With her back to her daughter, she clutched a hand to her chest as her other hand worked the stir-fry in the wok.

“I mean, I’m not sure how far along he is,” Maiko continued, unaware that what she was saying was affecting her mother, “but he’s bigger than me!” She giggled as she set the chopsticks down on their matching hashioki at the front. She made sure the pointed ends of the chopsticks were pointed to the left (3). “Of course I didn’t say that to him.”

A tear slid unseen down Mrs. Shindou’s cheek as her daughter continued to prattle on undeterred.

+---+---+

Unbeknownst to his wife and daughter, Mr. Shindou had returned home from the office earlier than usual with some very good news. He’d been promoted. However, as his daughter’s excited monologue reached his ears, he backpedaled out of the kitchen doorway. The smile on his face wilted and died. With a heavy heart, he slumped back against the wall. He titled his head back and stared up at the ceiling blankly. His grip on the handle of his briefcase tightened.

+---+---+

Koishikawa Park Tower – Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Leaning against the railing, Eiri took a long drawl off his cigarette. The tip glowed. He peered through the billowing white mesh curtains at his husband and their son as they both lay on their stomachs in the middle of the living room coloring in a dinosaur coloring book he bought the boy from the discount store. He smirked. Little Takanori was like Shuichi’s doppelganger. They both held up their heads with the same hand and swung their feet in the air. He was not too sure about Shuichi lying on his stomach now that he was pregnant though. Shuichi claimed he was acting like an over protective mother hen and that he should not worry so much.

“…So,” he called as he grey smoke into the air, “what’s with the drummer?” With the addition of a drummer to the band, Bad Luck’s sound had evolved from the stereotypical techno/pop into something more their own.

“You mean Eri?” Shuichi responded.

“Is that her name?” he asked in a bored, nonchalant tone.

Eiri was not fooling anyone. He knew what lay behind that bland tone. Shuichi rolled his eyes, but decided to play along. Propping onto his side, he turned to look at his husband. “Yeah. She’s not that much older than me and Hiro.”

Eiri was impressed. She was as much a genius with the drums as Hiro was with the guitar. Shuichi really knew how to pick his band mates. That was not a snide remark either. “She was a…” What were they called? “…studio musician?” What a waste of talent.

Shuichi shook his head. “She used to be part of another band.” He scratched his cheek. “I’m not sure what they were called, but there was some sort of infighting within the band and she ended up quitting.” He shrugged. “She doesn’t really talk about it.”

“Hm. Well, their loss is your gain I suppose.”

“That’s for sure.”

“…What?” Eiri growled as Shuichi continued to watch him.

Grinning, Shuichi shook his head before returning to coloring with their son.

“Baka,” Eiri muttered. He turned to gaze out over the city. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. This was nice. This was what he has been missing for the last several months. The last thing he wanted was to push him, especially if he was not ready yet, but he wondered if he could get Shuichi to move back home?

---TBC---

1. Not to be confused with TCT channel here in the US (though there are some people on that station that are a little…well, you get the picture).
2. Yowa Hospital is located in Nerima ward in Tokyo. It looks like a general hospital, but is home to about 400 patients with various psychiatric disorders. Dr. Kimio Moriyama is the actual president of the privately run hospital. Found this info from the Japanese Times.
3. Place settings found at wikipedia.

A/N: I hope you liked this latest installment. I will try to get the next chapter out sooner, but I am not promising anything. There might even be a lemon. We will see.

JA!