The Key to My Heart

Author: JadeHeart
Fandom: Gravitation (after the manga/anime finishes)
Warnings: bad language, angst
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this, they belong to the creators of ‘Gravitation’. Apart from Annette and Jim Harris who are mine.


Chapter 34


Shuichi held up his hand to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight. He blinked in the glare, as well as to help him wake up a little more. He had managed to grab a bit of sleep on the flight over but it still felt like it was a sleep from exhaustion than any real relaxing slumber, so his eyes were still feeling a gritty, his head felt stuffed with cotton wool and his body felt drained.

It had been a complete rush when leaving New York. Firstly, Ryuichi invited everyone to stay over and watch him filming and look around for a time. It had been an offer that none of them had wanted to decline. Shuichi used this time to return to see some of his old friends, taking Annette along to show her where he had previously been living and working. He found that he was really happy to see these people again, and the joy they expressed at seeing him once more and to learn how well he was doing, touched him in a way that almost made him regret his decision to leave.

The Shindou family also had never been to New York so K made a special effort to show them around the main sights of the city in the time they had. Maiko had been thrilled to climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty and look out over the bay. It had made her feel like she could just leap out and fly away! She was getting quite giddy at the thought of returning home because she was going to have so much to tell her friends! Sakano had unexpectedly gifted her with a camera as she didn’t have one, this not being an item of importance in the rush to get over to Canada to see her long-lost brother. She accepted it with tears of gratitude before wrapping her arms around Sakano’s waist to hug him in thanks, a gesture that made the stoic Sakano blush brightly. She insisted that the first photo taken be of her and Sakano together, which Ryuichi obligingly took. Since then, the memory stick was rapidly filling up.

On one of the days, Shuichi and Annette joined the family in Central Park and Maiko bullied her brother into riding a tandem bike with her, which provided much amusement to everyone else as the two of them just couldn’t seem to find the co-ordination to cycle successfully and spent more time wobbling dangerously along the paths and being a general menace to society and to life and limb of every other person within their vicinity of motion.

When everyone had decided that they had seen what they wished to see and were ready to return home, there was another delay of a few days before being able to get a flight out. K had decided that for this trip it wouldn’t be a good idea for anyone to be traveling separately. If they went, they would all go together. There were far too many nightmares attached to the possibilities of what could occur through a separation, so K was determined to not subject anyone to those worries if it could be helped.

Of course, with deciding to stay over for this lengthy period of time in New York meant that accommodation had to be arranged. Fortunately, Ryuichi’s penthouse apartment had a suite of rooms attached so everyone was able to, with a bit of squeezing, fit in there for the first few days. Shuichi’s family took one room, Maiko sleeping on the fold-out sofa in there. Shuichi and Annette squeezed onto one of the sofa’s in the lounge room, whilst Hiro and Suguru, with much moaning of disgust from the younger man, had to share the other. K and Sakano slept on the final sofa in Ryuichi’s room. Ryuichi did offer to share his large king-size bed with Shuichi, but the youth declined. That would have just felt way too weird!

So for three days they all had to learn to cope and put up with everyone’s little idiosyncrasies, and there was more than one sigh of relief when K finally announced that everything was organized, booked and they were able to move to their own rooms in the same hotel. Ryuichi kindly offered to pay for it all, otherwise K would have chosen somewhere a little less up-market. However Ryuichi insisted, saying he wanted to remain close to Shuichi and everyone else for the time they were there.

“Shuichi has a nasty habit of disappearing,” Ryuihci had said to K when he tried to refuse the offer of accommodation. “Kumagoro wants to keep a close eye on him until he’s on his way back home. Then Tohma will watch over him.” K had to agree to that assessment. Ryuichi really had been worried whilst Shuichi was missing and this was his way of alleviating that concern.

So they all spent quite an enjoyable week and a bit seeing the sights, spending time with each other, and also other people. Shuichi’s parents were a little horrified at first to think that their son had been living in the small cramped apartments, sharing with various people, sometimes those of what could only be called, a dubious past, and the various part-time jobs he had held down during his brief time in the city. However, when they also realized how helpful all these people had been in assisting Shuichi in surviving in the city, they were extremely grateful and profuse in their thanks which Shuichi translated when required.

Yet, for all the enjoyment and excitement of being in a fascinating city such as New York, they were all ready to leave when K bundled them off to the airport to board their flight to Japan.

************

“This way,” K said, walking past Shuichi along the walkway. The other passengers seemed to melt from their path, which wasn’t surprising as they made quite a crowd with their group numbering eight, and that didn’t leave much room for other people as they made their way through the terminal.

Shuichi felt a touch on his hand and looked down, then up. Maiko stood at his side and had reached out to take his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He looked over to her with a grateful smile, his heart swelling with joy as he looked upon her smiling face.

“You’ll be fine,” she said, holding his hand tightly, “You’ll see.” She smiled brighter and gave his hand a quick tug. “I can’t wait for you to get home so I can show you all your stuff! You won’t believe how much you’ve got stored there still!” she began to chortle to herself and Shuichi could feel his own smile broaden. He found he was looking forward to returning home with her.

They reached the carousel and managed to gather all their luggage together, ensuring that nothing was missing, slinging some of the heavier items onto trolleys, whilst the rest was thrown over shoulders, before making their way outside the main terminal. Fortunately, K didn’t hold them up at customs on this trip. Hiro suspected that either the man had got cleverer in hiding his arsenal, or the customs personnel were just so tired of catching him with the weapons that they had just given up trying to stop him!

“Oh, my!” Sakano suddenly exclaimed, coming to a dead stop in front of them. They all piled up behind him like a freeway accident, with more than one bag hitting the ground unexpectedly and a few ‘Ow’s resounding also.

“What?” K asked, trying to disentangle his legs from Suguru’s bag, and his arm from Hiro’s.

“The President is here,” Sakano said in a reverent whisper as though he were meeting a god.

K looked over the man’s shoulder to see the head of NG Productions standing before them, dressed immaculately as always, a warm welcoming smile on his face, radiating a sense of calm. Well, in one way that was very true. To many people, Tohma Seguchi was a god. The area around where he stood was completely clear of activity. No-one would dare to intrude on his personal space, whether consciously or not. Standing beside Tohma was Noriko, with a broad welcoming grin. She raised a hand and waved expansively to them.

“Welcome home!” she called out happily. “We thought we would save you the taxi fare so came to meet you!” she exclaimed as they drew nearer. She threw her arms around K first, pulling him down so she could hug him easier, before subjecting the mortified Sakano to the same treatment, who blushed furiously at the attention. She then moved on to Hiro who returned her gesture with enthusiasm and he also gained a quick peck on the cheek. Suguru received an even warmer greeting due to his family connection with Tohma and having known Noriko for a much longer time, so it looked like she was greeting her younger brother. He tolerated it.

She toned her greeting down for Shuichi’s family. She knew them from her brief time as the keyboardist to Bad Luck at the beginning and had met the family a few times. They exchanged formalities, although Maiko did warrant a brief hug also.

She then turned to Shuichi with a warm smile. She made no attempt to throw herself at him as she had the others, she simply cocked her head to one side as she looked him up and down. “Well, at least you’ve been eating well, where-ever you’ve been.” she said.

He looked back at her. Intellectually he knew who she was because she was a member of the band Nittle Grasper. Emotionally, he could feel something wiggling inside him as he peered at her.

She watched his eyes narrow in concentration and couldn’t prevent the laugh that escaped her. He looked so funny!

“What?” he said.

“You look just like you do when you’re trying to concentrate on writing lyrics,” she said with a smile. “You get these little frown lines between your eyes right here!”, and she reached out to tap his head in the spot she mentioned.

“Hey, stop that!” he said batting her hand away. “I’m not a little kid!” He was a little indignant at her attitude towards him.

“You’re still younger than me, kiddo,” she replied, tossing her hair back. “Not that you would know it, of course.”

“Of course not, Noriko,” a quiet voice said. “You don’t look a day over eighteen.”

Noriko flashed a broad smile over her shoulder. “Tohma, you are the worst liar out, but you can keep flattering me anyway!”

Shuichi watched as the President stepped closer, still smiling. He felt he stomach churn a little, a thread of trepidation winding itself around his innards. This was the president of NG Productions, the label that managed Bad Luck. This man was the ultimate controller of his life and career. Or, he corrected himself, had been.

He looked Tohma Seguchi up and down. He wasn’t that much older than himself, and in fact probably looked younger than his actual age, judging from what he had picked up from speaking with K and Sakano. Yuki seemed older than this man, but that could be perhaps because Tohma was much shorter, only about Shuichi’s height which gave him a more youthful appearance. He seemed very pleasant and very polite as he greeted Shuichi’s family, and his smile was warm and welcoming.

He must be a very nice person, Shuichi thought. Yuki had said that he had helped look for him whilst he was missing. He must be a very busy man yet had taken the time to go to the USA with Yuki to try and see if they could find him. That is not something a bad person would do.

As Tohma Seguchi turned to face him, Shuichi bowed low. “I’m glad to finally meet you,” he said. “I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me. Yuki told me how much you tried to help, so thank you.”

“That is quite all right, Shindou,” the quiet voice said. “Do please stand up. There is no need to be so formal. We have known each other for some time now, after all.”

Shuichi straightened up and looked directly into Tohma’s face. The smile was still there, the eyes were still warm, but…there were also some dark shadows in those eyes, swirling like a mist behind the warmth. Shuichi felt a shiver run up his spine. There was obviously a lot more to Tohma Seguchi than he was showing.

“I have some cars waiting,” Tohma said, directing the comment to everyone. “I gather that you wish to return directly home,” he turned to Shuichi’s family, “so I have arranged for you to be taken there. I am assuming that Shuichi will be accompanying you at this time?” he cast a quick glance at Shuichi who still remained silent.

“We cannot thank you enough,” Shuichi’s mother said gratefully. “Your kindness is over-whelming.”

“No thanks are required,” Tohma said, still smiling. “I’m happy to do what I can.” He turned to K and the others. “The other car will take you all to the studio. There are a few things I wish to discuss with you all first before you return to your respective homes.”

He turned back to Shuichi and his family. “Noriko will take you to the car. Have a safe journey.” He gave a shallow bow then looked at Shuichi directly. “I will speak to you shortly, once you have rested and settled in.”

“Ah, okay,” was all he managed to say as Maiko began to drag him away to follow Noriko and the rest of the family. Again he saw those darker undercurrents in Tohma Seguchi’s eyes and again he got all queasy inside. Yet, at the same time, for some reason, that queasiness felt…normal. How odd, he thought as he turned away and concentrated on where he was going.

Tohma watched silently as Shuichi and his family disappeared into the crowd. So Shuichi was back. He had come back after all. Now he just had to make certain he stayed here.

He turned back to where K and the others were still standing silently. They would never have dared to interrupt him whilst he was organizing things. When Tohma Seguchi organized, you just stayed out of the way and waited to be told what you had to do.

He smiled at them all, “Come along. The trip is bound to be quite tedious at this time of the day, due to the heavy traffic, so we will have plenty of time to talk in the car. I don’t intend to keep you long as you must all be tired from your trip. By the way, how is Ryuichi doing?” he asked as they walked to the waiting car.

***********

Shuichi watched the scenery passing by the window. At the beginning he had his nose almost glued to the glass, watching everything intently, trying to see if something would jog his memory, remind him of anything. Maiko spent some time pointing out landmarks and told him a few stories about various places he had been to in the past, until his mother calmly told her to sit down and rest of a bit, there would be plenty of time later on show her brother around, so why don’t they all just relax for a moment before they arrive home.

Maiko accepted this advice with better grace than Shuichi had thought she would and then realized that she was probably feeling just as tired as he was. In fact, all his family probably was. It had been such a whirlwind of the past few weeks. So much had been crammed into such a short space of time. Perhaps that is why he was feeling so utterly spent, drained to the very core of his being.

He leant back in the seat, still looking out the window but now he was no longer watching the passing scenery. Annette, he thought, picturing her as she had been at hotel before they had left.

*************

“So you really can’t come?” Shuichi asked her for what seemed like the thousandth time.

She shook her head, “You know I can’t. I’ve got exams coming up, and I couldn’t leave until after they are over. Even if I didn’t have them, I couldn’t just up and go without speaking to my parents and telling them; and what about our apartment? We didn’t exactly organize anything to cater for being away for a longer period of time. It’s just been lucky that my sister was back home for the last couple of weeks to visit and was prepared to stay at our place to keep an eye on things, otherwise what would we have done about mail and bills and so on?”

“I know,” he said, holding both her hands in his, looking down at their clasped grip.

“You can tell me all about it, okay?” she said giving his hands a squeeze.

“Sure,” he said looking back up with a smile on his face. “When I’m settled in I’ll call you and we can get things organized so you can come over. There’ll be so much for you to see!”

A small smile tugged at her lips, “So you still want me to come over?”

“Of course I do!” He looked surprised at her question. “I’ll send for you; as soon as I can.”

“Okay,” she said, though her smile, for some reason, seemed sad to Shuichi.

“Hey, Shuichi, hurry up! The cars are here.”

He looked behind to see K waving, his hand at the door. “Okay. Be right there.” He turned back to Annette and smiled at her. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ve got all that lot,” jerking his head at the crowd of people behind him, “to look after me! You take care getting back home and do your best in your exams. I’ll expect to hear that you passed with honours, you know!”

“Sure,” she said with that small smile.

He reached out to hug her, holding her tightly, feeling her arms wrap around his body and felt her face bury itself into the crook of his neck, her warm breath caressing his skin. He was a little surprised at this display as Annette wasn’t usually the clingy sort, but he guessed it was probably just due to the suddenness of his departure making her like this.

Annette held Shuichi tightly, feeling the irrational urge swelling up in her to not let him go, to not let him leave. She couldn’t prevent the feeling deep inside her that if he left now she would never see him again. Irrational, but it felt so real.

Ever since he had returned from his visit to the hospital and announced that he would be returning to Japan she had felt as though he had already left her. He had seemed so different when he had come back to the apartment, so distant, so focused. When he had said he was going to go back to Japan, his declaration had caught her completely by surprise. He had apologized to her after for not having discussed it with her before saying anything to everyone, but he said that he just felt that he had to go. She wondered if it had something to do with hearing that Yuki had been ill. Perhaps his concern for his friend had prompted this sudden change?

During the intervening days they had had a lot of fun together, and with his friends and family also. She had really enjoyed seeing where he had lived and worked in New York, it finally gave her a chance to see a part of his life that he had told her about. But even though they had spent every day together, it had still seemed that there was a growing distance between them, as though Shuichi was already on that plane, winging westward, and away from her. She was so afraid that she had already lost him.

He drew back a little, still keeping his arms about her waist, and was almost shocked to see tears clinging to her lashes. “Hey, hey, what’s this for?” he said softly, reaching up a hand to brush the glittering moisture away, “It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

She nodded her head in response, still trying to smile but Shuichi could see the tears gathering again. “’Course it will,” She took a small step backwards, putting distance between them so Shuichi had to release his hold on her. She swallowed hard and forced the smile on her face again. “You’d better not keep them waiting any longer or you’ll miss your plane.”

“Yeah, guess so. I’ll call you as soon as I get over there, okay? We won’t be apart for long.”

She nodded again and raised a hand to shoo him on his way. “Go on,” Another sad smile. “Good-bye, Shu…ichi.”

“Hey, it’s not that final. I’ll talk to you later. Take care,” he leant in, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to run to the car where K was standing impatiently with the door open and everyone else had already piled in.

Shuichi turned at the car to look back and wave. Annette raised her hand and responded, and as the door closed and the cars pulled away out of sight, she let her hand fall and the tears soon followed.

“To leave is always sad,” a quiet voice said behind her. She didn’t turn. She knew that it was Ryuichi Sakuma.

“It’s what you wanted,” she replied brokenly.

A small soft pink paw reached up to brush the tears from her face, whilst an arm slid around her shoulders, holding her, but she still refused to move or acknowledge the comfort. “I think it is for the best for all,” Ryuichi said softly, “though there will always be pain at such partings. For that I am sorry.”

The sincerity in his voice finally undid her resolve and she turned in his embrace to sob uncontrollably on his chest. He enclosed her in both his arms, resting his head on hers, holding her close to him, letting her cry.

Annette clung to him as all the emotions she had been holding onto so tightly as Shuichi had left burst out. No matter what Shuichi said, she knew that he was no longer hers and this was, finally, good-bye.

************

K sat back in the car seat with a sigh as it pulled away from the kerb and headed for NG Productions. They were all in the one limousine, Tohma was making certain that no-one was getting away from him until he was finished with them.

“So, how was the flight?” Tohma asked amicably.

“Very good, Mr. President,” Sakano replied, and K could see him fighting to prevent himself from trying to bow. Sakano was a real puzzle to K; he never knew quite what to make of him. Was this constant display of self-effusiveness really the true Sakano? He remembered hearing a rumour that Sakano had actually punch Tohma one time, back when Shuichi had been whisked off to America for an abortive attempt to have him switch labels, which is how Sakano stepped in as Acting President for a time. It hadn’t lasted long, and neither of them had ever confirmed or denied that rumour. If it was true, there was certainly more to Sakano than met the eye. “The flight was very pleasant and the service excellent. There were no problems at all.” Sakano finished answering.

“Good. So there were no issues with getting Shindou on a plane again?”

“Things were a little tense to begin with,” K replied, “but actually more so for his family than for him. He doesn’t really remember much of the accident, only waking up in the hospital.” K shrugged. “That probably helps that it doesn’t really leave him with any trauma connected to flying.”

“That is a very good thing then.” Tohma said, settling back comfortably. “So how is Ryuichi doing?”

“Fine,” K answered, propping his head on his hand as he looked out the window briefly. “Busy with work as is to be expected. He’s still pretty hot property over there.” He glanced back at Tohma. “You know, if you wanted to push Bad Luck’s music in the States, now would be the perfect time.”

“Really,” Tohma said nothing more.

K’s eyes narrowed, “Yeah. With Ryuichi being so popular just at this point, and if it was leaked out that Shuichi had been living over there as well, amongst the ‘common people’ no less, that would be sure to endear him to the public. Not to mention that he’s already got some of the Canadian public listening to Bad Luck’s music.” Yuki had told K about Shuichi’s ‘debut’ as it were in the club he was working at.

“Is that so,” Tohma again didn’t expand on the conversation but K wasn’t fooled. He could see that none of this was new to Tohma, not that that surprised him.

He half shrugged. There was never any point in trying to surprise Tohma Seguchi. Chances were that he was already two, if not three, steps in front of you all the way. No wonder he and Ryuichi got along so well together and had for all this time. They were both just so damn manipulative and devious. If he had had any doubts about that before, what had happened in New York completely wiped them away.

**************

K walked over to where Ryuichi was idly playing with Kumagoro after Shuichi’s disappearance out the door.

“Did you plan all this?” he asked, looking down at the man.

Ryu looked up with a beguiling innocent smile, “Planned?”

K’s eyes narrowed, “Don’t give me that, Ryu. I know you too well. Did you plan to get Shuichi here so you could tell him about Yuki?”

Ryuichi held up Kamagoro and made the toy place both hands over where its mouth would be. “Not telling.” K rolled his eyes. Ryuichi was going to be in one of his difficult moods it seemed.

Just then there was the sound of a door opening in the distance and a voice called out, “Hey, Ryu, are you around? I passed your stiff-necked friend in the corridor and he told me to come in!”

Footsteps drew closer and K saw Ryuichi sit up a little straighter, looking intently towards the door.

“Traffic was a real bitch on the way back from the airport, but I got him dropped off okay,” The door opened as the last was spoken, and a tall man stepped through before coming to a sudden stop. He stood still as nine pairs of eyes looked back at him.

“Ah…” He glanced around the crowded room until he spotted Ryuichi. “Ryu, are you having a party or something?”

“Come in, come in!” Ryuichi waved expansively, beckoning the man forward.

He took a hesitant step forward but when the frozen tableau remained frozen, he shrugged and continued over to Ryuichi.

“Say hello to Kumagoro!” Ryuihci demanded holding up the toy.

“Hello, Kuma,” the man responded obediently.

Ryuichi frowned at him, “No, no! Kumagoro wants a real welcome! A kiss, a kiss for Kumagoro!”

“Not on your life!” was the quick response back, coupled with a glare, “There’s no way on earth that you will get me to kiss that creepy thing!”

Ryuichi pouted, lips quivering as though he was going to cry. The man held up a finger to forestall the water works. “Don’t you dare, Ryu,” he threatened. “I mean it, if you so much as try to drop a tear, I will personally shove your Kuma-goo-goo where the sun doesn’t shine, and I’m positive you will not enjoy it! I’m in a bad enough mood as it is so don’t you dare try and push it!”

Ryuichi folded back in on himself in a sulk, hugging Kumagoro protectively to his chest. “Jim’s being mean to Kumagoro!”

“He’ll get over it,” Jim said dryly.

A guffaw turned his attention to K who had stood by silently watching this exchange. “Well, you’ve certainly worked out how to handle Ryuichi. Not too many people can, you know.”

Jim looked K up and down. “So you do actually move! I thought Ryu was starting up a wax museum or something! You American?”

“Yup,” K acknowledged.

Jim rolled his eyes heaven-ward, “Thank god! It’s so nice to be able to speak to someone sane!”

Hiro had been following this conversation in English without too much difficulty, his grasp of the language being far better than Shuichi’s ever was mainly because he had actually studied whilst he was in school, and he couldn’t help but snicker at the man’s blind assumption that K was sane. K was many things, but sane was not a word that frequently came to mind when thinking of the man!

“So you are…?” K asked, looking the other man over.

“Oh, sorry, I was just surprised to see all you lot here.” He thrust his hand out. “I’m Jim, Jim Harris.”

K took it and they shook firmly. “Clyde Winchester, but you can call me K.”

“K? Sounds like someone got stuck half-way through the alphabet.”

K smirked a little. “It translates better in Japanese.”

“Oh, so that’s how you know Ryu.”

“Shall we go somewhere a little more private for a moment?” K said suddenly.

Jim looked a little surprised but agreed. “Sure, if you want.”

“Come on then. You, too, Ryuichi,” and he led them into the bedroom adjoining dragging a protesting Ryuichi behind. He closed the door softly after them.

“Why the secrecy?” Jim asked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“You’re not just a ‘normal’ person, are you?” K questioned, sitting on the sofa opposite. Ryuichi sat on the floor by his knees, Kumagoro nestled in his lap.

“What do you call ‘normal’?”

K eyed the other man carefully then leant back nonchalantly, “I would say you’re law enforcement, or the equivalent of the other side of the coin. My personal guess would be lawful though.”

“You’ve a good eye.” Jim replied with a lazy smile. K smiled back a little smugly at his intuitive guess. “So do you have a license to carry that gun?”

K was startled. How had Jim known he was wearing a shoulder holster under his jacket? It’s not generally something most people would be able to spot. Jim smirked back, almost mirroring K’s smug look earlier. “I’ve got a good eye also.”

K felt his lips twitch a little. Oh, yeah, he could get to like this guy!

“So, who are those others?” Jim asked, jerking his head towards the closed door.

“They’re all friends of Ryu’s as well.”

“From Japan.”

“That’s right,” K acknowledged. “We’re just on our way home.”

“Geez, it’s been quite a busy home-coming week then for Ryu.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, there’s you lot, and before that, Yuki.”

“Yuki, huh? How do you know him?”

“Oh, I met him and Tohma when they first came over looking for his friend.”

“Ah,” Now things were making a little more sense. K had known that Tohma had contacts over here; Jim was obviously one of them. “What were you saying when you first came in?”

“I just stopped by to let Ryu know that I had made certain that Yuki had got to the airport on time and nothing had gone wrong.”

K glanced down at Ryuichi who tried to unobtrusively sidle away. He reached down and hooked a hand into the man’s collar, holding him in place. He squirmed a little but didn’t say anything.

“So Ryu knew that Yuki was going to the airport?”

Jim’s eyes narrowed as he took in K’s grasp on Ryuichi’s clothes but still answered, “Sure. He asked me to make certain that I drove Yuki out there. I organized all the flights and let him know when it was all done.”

“So Ryu knew for certain that Yuki wasn’t in hospital?”

“He checked out earlier today.”

“Hmm,”

Ryuichi’s squirming was becoming more frantic, Kumagoro’s floppy ears flinging backwards and forwards as he struggled to escape K’s grip.

“Ah, can I ask something?” Jim said.

“Hhm?”

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Oh, I think our little fluffy bunny here,” K glanced down at the wriggling figure in his hand, “has been a little devious. Haven’t we, bunny?”

Ryuichi froze and looked up at K with large eyes, then suddenly let out a loud wail and arms and legs began waving around frantically, “Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!! Let go, let go, let go!!! K’s mean, mean mean!!! Kumagoro wants Jim to help. Help us get away from the mean K! Help! Help!” Tears were fountaining out of the man’s eyes.

Jim watched this display in astonishment, whilst K pretty much ignored it and simply maintained his grip.

“Care to explain this to me?” Jim asked K over the continuing wails.

“Ryu here just dropped the bombshell on Shuichi that Yuki was in hospital, which sent him haring off to see him.” K tightened his grip on the wriggling, and rapidly becoming sodden, mass in his hand. “However, we have just found out that Ryu knew perfectly well that Yuki was not in hospital any longer so Shuichi’s mad mercy dash is entirely pointless.”

Now he looked down at the still struggling Ryuichi and dragged him in closer to pin the man between his legs. Ryuichi looked up at him with a tear-streaked face, quivering lips and puffy eyes. He looked so utterly pitiful, but K wasn’t fooled by any of it. Even through the tears still filling the eyes, there were swirling mists of emotions and thoughts that went far beyond what they were seeing.

“So why did Ryuichi feel the need to send Shuichi off on a wild goose chase, hmm?”

“Shuichi? You mean the kid’s here?!” Jim broke through K’s thoughts causing him to look over to the other man.

“Yes, he came here because Ryuichi invited him and he’s a big fan of his music. That’s his old band members and family out there.”

“So that’s it! Why the hell didn’t Ryu tell Yuki he was coming here?” Now he threw a glare at the teary eyed Ryuichi. Ryu’s bottom lip quivered more but K gave him a little shake to stop any further histrionics.

“That is something that I would like to find out too,” he said. “So, Ryu,” he made Ryuichi focus back on him, “Are you going to tell us just what you are up to?”

For a moment more tears dribbled down Ryuichi’s face and he brought Kumagoro up to wipe them away in a very childlike gesture. However, when the damp toy was removed from his face, not only were all traces of the tears gone, but so was the childish expression.

Ryuichi easily slipped from K’s grip and stood, walking over to sit more comfortably in a chair by the window, Kumagoro placed carefully on the small table nearby. He crossed his legs and arms and looked calmly back at K and Jim. “Yuki wasn’t going to try and fight for Shuichi any longer, so I didn’t have any choice. I had to try and get Shuichi to come here to meet him.”

“But you knew that Yuki had already left, so what’s the point?” K said.

Ryu shrugged, “I couldn’t make Yuki stay any longer, and I couldn’t tell Shuichi that he was here in case it stopped the boy coming at all. However, I still believed it would serve a purpose.”

“What purpose?”

“To see just how much Shuichi might still care for Yuki. Yuki said he didn’t remember him, or anything about their relationship. I don’t believe that. Somewhere inside him, Shuichi does remember. I wanted to see how much we could get to come out.”

“So telling him that Yuki was sick, making him run off to the hospital, was a test?” K demanded.

Ryu looked back calmly, “It worked, didn’t it? Do you think he would rush off like that if it was just anyone? Someone he didn’t truly care for?”

K rubbed his chin, “I guess not,” He pursed his lips a little. “You might be right, but that still means that when he gets there he’ll find Yuki gone, so your little contrived meeting for the two lovebirds isn’t going to happen the way you planned.”

“True,” Ryuihci agreed, leaning over and picking up Kumagoro and smoothing the damp fur down. “But it will be interesting to see what he does when he gets back, won’t it?” He looked up at K with clear eyes and a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

“Damn, you’re sneaky!” Jim put in, letting out a breath in a whoosh. Ryuichi looked over to him. “Did you stop to think though, how nerve-racking it might be for the kid to just suddenly find out that Yuki was sick like that?”

Ryuichi stood, “Perhaps the shock will do him good.” He shrugged, “Who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“So all this was just a way to get Shuichi down here, to try and set something up with Yuki?” K asked.

Ryuichi looked over at him, “Of course. If one plan goes astray, it’s just a matter of working with whatever opportunities that are presented to you to still get the desired result.”

K just stared at him. Ryuichi Sakuma, a man you never knew if he was an angel, or a devil. A man you could trust completely - and yet couldn’t trust at all. He was the ultimate paradox of a human being.

“Kumagoro attack!!” A pink object flew through the air to smack directly into K’s face.

“Ugh!” he let out in surprise, reaching up to remove the item before it became embedded in his mouth.

Ryuichi’s face had changed once more, and he let out a loud squeal as he made a flying leap on to the middle of the bed, hard enough that the impact and resulting bounce flung Jim forward from his seat on the edge. He staggered but was unable to get his balance quick enough and landed on his hands and knees.

K stood and held out a helping hand which he accepted. As he gained his feet, he brushed his trousers down and they both turned to view Ryuichi jumping up and down happily in the middle of the large bed, pillows jiggling around with every motion and gradually sliding precariously to the edge, one already falling to the floor. The springs squeaked alarmingly with every bounce and the metallic sound made K wince.

“Kamagoro!” Ryuichi demanded, holding out his arms to where they were standing.

K glanced down at the stuffed toy he still held and considered holding it for ransom to try and squeeze any further confessions out of Ryuichi but quickly gave up the idea. If Ryu wasn’t willing to talk, no matter what he did he wouldn’t get a thing out of the man. With a sigh, he lobbed the pink rabbit towards its owner, who gleefully snatched it out of the air and hugged it hard to his chest, bouncing even more violently.

“Let’s leave him,” K suggested, making his way to the door, “He’s probably going to play for a while now, and to be honest, I don’t want to stay here and listen to that sound any longer.”

“I agree,” Jim said following him.

They exited the room to see that everyone else had moved from their previous positions, now congregating in small groups and talking. All movement and conversation ceased as they entered though.

“Spooky,” Jim observed into the suddenly descended silence. He looked at his watch briefly and his eyes widened. “Shit!” he exclaimed and headed rapidly for the door.

“What’s wrong?!” K called out, hurrying after him.

“Sorry, but I’ve got a plane to catch myself. If I miss this one, my boss is going to gut me!”

“You’re not staying to meet Shuichi?”

“As much as I wish I could finally meet this kid that’s had everyone so worried, I just can’t,” He flashed a smiled towards everyone in the room. “May be some other time. Say ‘hi’ to him anyway for me, and tell him I’m real glad he’s okay! Gotta motor! See ya, Ryuichi!!” The last was shouted out and an answering reply drifted out of the bedroom, “Byyyyyeeeee, Jim!” With a final smile and friendly clap on K’s shoulder, Jim disappeared out the door.

**********

I wonder if Tohma had spoken to Jim since then, K wondered throwing a quick glance to where Tohma was speaking to Hiro and Suguru. He chewed absently on his bottom lip as he turned back to watch the outside world flash past the window. Most likely he had so he would have known about everything Ryuichi had done, and that Shuichi was coming back, which would have given him plenty of time to think about things.

So just what has he got planned now that Shuichi’s back? K mused.