No Escaping Fate
folder
Gravitation › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
14
Views:
4,969
Reviews:
35
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Gravitation › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
14
Views:
4,969
Reviews:
35
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Gravitation, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter Four
Thanks to all my reviewers.
Chapter Four
~No English in this chapter.~
Neo struggled against the large arms wrapped around him, but the man was massive. He looked back up at Tohma as he exited the elevator. “You do know that this is kidnapping.”
“Hardly. If I am not mistaken you came with me of your own free will. This is more along the lines of being held against your will. Nevertheless I know that you are not so naïve as to believe that this is the first time I have broken the law.” Tohma gave a soft chuckle, but when he looked up again his eyes were hard. “It is time to stop running away.”
Neo ground his teeth for a moment and then without second thought he spit in Tohma’s face.
Neo was a little surprised when, for a moment, Tohma didn’t react. The blond then gave a sigh and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the mess away. “Please clam yourself. You are doing neither of us any favors by acting so crass.”
“Why are you being so stubborn about this?”
“I have already explained myself to you as much as I care to. If you are unable to except the fact that I care then that is your problem.” Tohma turned to the bodyguard. “Please take Mr. Shindou to his room and see that he is settled. He things should already be there.”
Then man nodded then started pulling Neo down the hall. When the smaller man resisted he found himself slung over the man’s black clad shoulder and carried. Before long he was tossed, though be it gently, onto a bed. He made a dash for the door as soon as he got his barring, but it was shut in his face. He slammed his fist repeatedly into the steal door, but the man on the other side gave no indication that he heard, after awhile Neo gave up on grounds of exhaustion and crossed slowly back to the bed.
He let himself fall back onto the surprisingly soft mattress. “I knew there were reasons not to come back here. Hell, Seguchi Tohma is enough of a reason all by himself.” It wasn’t long until he felt himself pulled, unresisting, into the arms of sleep.
*
Shuichi reached across the bed to wrap his arm around his lover, but he was met with nothing but air. He forced his eyes open and confirmed that Yuki was not there next to him. He closed his eyes to listen, but didn’t hear the shower running or the rhythmic tap-tap-tap of the keyboard that so often woke him at night.
He glanced up at the clock but for some reason there were no numbers. A look out the window confirmed that there wasn’t a power outage so he got up. He exited the bedroom and quickly saw that the apartment appeared to be dark.
He walked his way through the rooms one by one, but his lover was nowhere to be found. “Yuki? Yuki, where are you?”
After what seemed like forever searching the rooms over and over again he gave up and sat on the couch. “Where are you, Yuki?” He got up once again, unable to relax where he was. He walked to the French doors that led to the balcony and pushed one open. He leaned against the railing and watched the city’s skyline.
‘Why do I feel so empty?’ He couldn’t help but wonder where Yuki had gone. A jolt of inspiration struck him and without stopping to dress he ran to the door and pulled on his shoes. He was out into the hall and running down the stairs without waiting for the elevator. The night air hit him cold and hard, but he just kept running. He knew where Yuki was.
He made it to the park, Their Park, in record time. He navigated the narrow tree lined paths with practiced ease. ‘I’m almost there Yuki, wait for me.’
He stopped to catch his breath when he finally spotted his lover. Yuki was standing there looking at something in his hand. Shuichi started towards him again more slowly, but was suddenly struck with a feeling of dread. He hurried his pace a little, but each step he took seemed to pulled Yuki farther and farther away.
There was a flash of silver as Yuki lifted whatever was in his hand. Shuichi froze; Yuki had a gun and was putting it to his head.
A sudden shot tore the night in two…
*
Neo sat bolt up in his bed and had to clutch his stomach to try and stave off the sudden wave of nausea that tried to overtake him. He hadn’t had that particular dream in years. It had haunted him every night when he first got back from New York until Yuki had made it home.
It took Neo several minutes to remember where he was, but when he did he felt a renewed swell of anger. He got up and searched the room. All of his luggage had been brought from the hotel and unpacked in a futile attempt to make the room seem less barren. I found the bag he had taken with him to the concert by the door and quickly searched it’s contents, but his cell phone was not there.
He started putting his things back in the bag but stopped when his hand landed on the book. He wanted to just shove it in the bag or better yet rend the pages from the spine and shred them into confetti, but he couldn’t bring himself to do either.
Like all of Yuki’s other books there was no image on the cover, but unlike the others this one was in English and that seemed more than a little strange to Neo. He had read many of his lover’s books when they were together. Toward the end of their relationship the books had grown darker and seemed to reflect the strain that the two of them were feeling.
Neo leaned against the door and sighed. It felt like fate, Tohma, and Rick were all conspiring against him. He didn’t want to go back to Yuki, no matter that he had finally admitted to himself that he was still in love with the writer. He didn’t want to have his heart ripped out again; he didn’t think he could survive the next time it happened.
He slowly stood and, with book still in hand, made his was to the small in suite bath. Why the hell Tohma had a room like this in the studio was beyond him, but he decided not to try and analyze it just then. He turned on the taps and plugged up the tub so it could fill. He set the book down and started to strip.
He started when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and froze when he caught sight of his reflection. He studied his half naked form in the mirror and a stranger looked back at him from his own eyes. “What have I become?”
He shook away the brief urge to cry and turned away from his reflection. He finished undressing and settled himself into the steaming water. He felt his mussels start to relax and sighed in relief. After sitting there for a few moments he eye was once again drawn the book.
“Lost Innocence, huh? Like you were ever innocent to begin with, Eiri.”
He didn’t know why he was doing what he was doing, but without a second thought he flipped open the cover and thumb through the pages to the first chapter. Soon he was lost in the words…
*
He felt the urge to growl as her eyes followed him across the room again. He couldn’t explain why it bothered him, but her mere presence always drove him to distraction. ‘Has it only been six weeks?’ he thought. ‘Has she really only been there watching me, following me… loving me, for six weeks? It seems like she has always been there beside me. It’s so strange. I can’t remember what my life was like without her. I don’t think I want to.’
He crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to her. Instantly she scooted up next to him and laid her head on his chest over his heart. He looked down at her in wonder and couldn’t resist draping his arm around her shoulders or the small smile that graced his normally stoic face.
They had already seen so many hardships together. They had survived the darkness only by learning to trust one another and he would be the first to admit that it had been hard. As much as he wanted to deny it, as much as he wanted to push her away, as much as he wanted to hide, he couldn’t and though he believed that it would only every bring either of them pain…he loved her too.
*
Neo closed the scrubbed the tears from his face. It was the first time that he could remember crying in years.
It was their story. Different names and different circumstances, but it was still his and Eiri’s story. At least it was part of it. The book didn’t go into the darkness that followed. It didn’t tell how the hero started to pull away from his lover. It didn’t say how just being in the same room together made her feel like her soul was turning to ice. It didn’t go into how at the end it was leave or die for her because he hadn’t really changed at all.
The book was a lie, a wonderful lie, but still a lie.
“It’s the only one he said he would ever write a sequel to. Assuming he could bring himself to write it.”
Neo jerked up from his spot on the bed. He had been reading all day and was so drained by his emotions that he hadn’t even heard the door open.
“What do you want now Tohma?”
The blond sighed and sat down at the small table in the corner of the room. “That is the manuscript he was turning in the day you left. He told me latter that when he was writing it he was finally able to come to terms with everything that had happened between the two of you. He told me that he had hoped that once it was finished that he would finally be able to put that part of it behind him and be able to make a life with you, but then you just… vanished.”
“So just what do you think that means to me? Are you expecting me to go throw myself at his mercy? ‘Oh, Eiri I am so sorry! I didn’t realize you were being a cold-hearted son of a bitch to me because you were writing our love story! Please forgive me!’ If you think that then you are a bigger fool than I am.” Neo got up and dropped the book on the table in front of Tohma. “If this is all there is to your grand scheme to get me and him back together then you seriously need to check your power gage, because your slipping.”
He sat in the chair opposite his one time idol. He had once been so in awe of this man and his band mates that he would never had believed that Seguchi Tohma was a manipulative bastard. He knew better now.
“To be honest, the book wasn’t my idea at all.” Tohma seemed as calm and collected as ever; completely unfazed by Neo’s lack of remorse after having read the bood.
“Oh, and just whose idea was it?”
“Ryuichi’s.”
Neo felt a streak of fear race through him. If Tohma was god then even god had a master and his name was Sakuma Ryuichi. Neo had learned a long time ago that there was a lot more to Ryuichi than the man ever let anyone see. He was both cunning and manipulative. He could easily make Tohma’s mechanizations look like child’s play and he could do it all with that damn chibi smile on his face and no one the wiser. If Ryuichi had a hand in what was going on then Neo might as well give up.
“Just spare us both the frustration and tell me what you want me to do.”
Tohma was a little surprised by Neo’s sudden change of heart, but he managed to hide it well. “I want you to stop running away from your problems. I want you to stop pretending to be someone you are not. Most of all I want you to talk to Eiri and be honest about what happened; why you left, what you felt, and why you didn’t even say goodbye.”
Well that was blunt. Not that Neo could blame him, he had asked for it. Could he do it though? He let his eyes drop closed and Eiri’s face flashed into his mind. It was not the face he remembered from six years ago, it was the face from the other night.
He saw again the face that at the time had seemed unchanged, but as he pictured it now he could see the changes. His face looked drawn and tired. His eyes seemed both empty and tormented, Neo would almost say haunted. Not to put too fine a point on it, Eiri looked like hell.
Neo opened his eyes again and pined Tohma with a determined gaze. “Fine.”
*
Damn I am getting bad about the cliffhangers. No songs in this one obviously.
And before I get a flame: No I am not saying Ryuichi is a bad guy. I don’t think that he is a bad guy at all, but I do think that he knows how to get exactly what he wants. Does he want Eiri and Shuichi back together? We’ll see.
So? Too much? Not enough? Well, there will be more to come.
Chapter Four
~No English in this chapter.~
Neo struggled against the large arms wrapped around him, but the man was massive. He looked back up at Tohma as he exited the elevator. “You do know that this is kidnapping.”
“Hardly. If I am not mistaken you came with me of your own free will. This is more along the lines of being held against your will. Nevertheless I know that you are not so naïve as to believe that this is the first time I have broken the law.” Tohma gave a soft chuckle, but when he looked up again his eyes were hard. “It is time to stop running away.”
Neo ground his teeth for a moment and then without second thought he spit in Tohma’s face.
Neo was a little surprised when, for a moment, Tohma didn’t react. The blond then gave a sigh and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the mess away. “Please clam yourself. You are doing neither of us any favors by acting so crass.”
“Why are you being so stubborn about this?”
“I have already explained myself to you as much as I care to. If you are unable to except the fact that I care then that is your problem.” Tohma turned to the bodyguard. “Please take Mr. Shindou to his room and see that he is settled. He things should already be there.”
Then man nodded then started pulling Neo down the hall. When the smaller man resisted he found himself slung over the man’s black clad shoulder and carried. Before long he was tossed, though be it gently, onto a bed. He made a dash for the door as soon as he got his barring, but it was shut in his face. He slammed his fist repeatedly into the steal door, but the man on the other side gave no indication that he heard, after awhile Neo gave up on grounds of exhaustion and crossed slowly back to the bed.
He let himself fall back onto the surprisingly soft mattress. “I knew there were reasons not to come back here. Hell, Seguchi Tohma is enough of a reason all by himself.” It wasn’t long until he felt himself pulled, unresisting, into the arms of sleep.
*
Shuichi reached across the bed to wrap his arm around his lover, but he was met with nothing but air. He forced his eyes open and confirmed that Yuki was not there next to him. He closed his eyes to listen, but didn’t hear the shower running or the rhythmic tap-tap-tap of the keyboard that so often woke him at night.
He glanced up at the clock but for some reason there were no numbers. A look out the window confirmed that there wasn’t a power outage so he got up. He exited the bedroom and quickly saw that the apartment appeared to be dark.
He walked his way through the rooms one by one, but his lover was nowhere to be found. “Yuki? Yuki, where are you?”
After what seemed like forever searching the rooms over and over again he gave up and sat on the couch. “Where are you, Yuki?” He got up once again, unable to relax where he was. He walked to the French doors that led to the balcony and pushed one open. He leaned against the railing and watched the city’s skyline.
‘Why do I feel so empty?’ He couldn’t help but wonder where Yuki had gone. A jolt of inspiration struck him and without stopping to dress he ran to the door and pulled on his shoes. He was out into the hall and running down the stairs without waiting for the elevator. The night air hit him cold and hard, but he just kept running. He knew where Yuki was.
He made it to the park, Their Park, in record time. He navigated the narrow tree lined paths with practiced ease. ‘I’m almost there Yuki, wait for me.’
He stopped to catch his breath when he finally spotted his lover. Yuki was standing there looking at something in his hand. Shuichi started towards him again more slowly, but was suddenly struck with a feeling of dread. He hurried his pace a little, but each step he took seemed to pulled Yuki farther and farther away.
There was a flash of silver as Yuki lifted whatever was in his hand. Shuichi froze; Yuki had a gun and was putting it to his head.
A sudden shot tore the night in two…
*
Neo sat bolt up in his bed and had to clutch his stomach to try and stave off the sudden wave of nausea that tried to overtake him. He hadn’t had that particular dream in years. It had haunted him every night when he first got back from New York until Yuki had made it home.
It took Neo several minutes to remember where he was, but when he did he felt a renewed swell of anger. He got up and searched the room. All of his luggage had been brought from the hotel and unpacked in a futile attempt to make the room seem less barren. I found the bag he had taken with him to the concert by the door and quickly searched it’s contents, but his cell phone was not there.
He started putting his things back in the bag but stopped when his hand landed on the book. He wanted to just shove it in the bag or better yet rend the pages from the spine and shred them into confetti, but he couldn’t bring himself to do either.
Like all of Yuki’s other books there was no image on the cover, but unlike the others this one was in English and that seemed more than a little strange to Neo. He had read many of his lover’s books when they were together. Toward the end of their relationship the books had grown darker and seemed to reflect the strain that the two of them were feeling.
Neo leaned against the door and sighed. It felt like fate, Tohma, and Rick were all conspiring against him. He didn’t want to go back to Yuki, no matter that he had finally admitted to himself that he was still in love with the writer. He didn’t want to have his heart ripped out again; he didn’t think he could survive the next time it happened.
He slowly stood and, with book still in hand, made his was to the small in suite bath. Why the hell Tohma had a room like this in the studio was beyond him, but he decided not to try and analyze it just then. He turned on the taps and plugged up the tub so it could fill. He set the book down and started to strip.
He started when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and froze when he caught sight of his reflection. He studied his half naked form in the mirror and a stranger looked back at him from his own eyes. “What have I become?”
He shook away the brief urge to cry and turned away from his reflection. He finished undressing and settled himself into the steaming water. He felt his mussels start to relax and sighed in relief. After sitting there for a few moments he eye was once again drawn the book.
“Lost Innocence, huh? Like you were ever innocent to begin with, Eiri.”
He didn’t know why he was doing what he was doing, but without a second thought he flipped open the cover and thumb through the pages to the first chapter. Soon he was lost in the words…
*
He felt the urge to growl as her eyes followed him across the room again. He couldn’t explain why it bothered him, but her mere presence always drove him to distraction. ‘Has it only been six weeks?’ he thought. ‘Has she really only been there watching me, following me… loving me, for six weeks? It seems like she has always been there beside me. It’s so strange. I can’t remember what my life was like without her. I don’t think I want to.’
He crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to her. Instantly she scooted up next to him and laid her head on his chest over his heart. He looked down at her in wonder and couldn’t resist draping his arm around her shoulders or the small smile that graced his normally stoic face.
They had already seen so many hardships together. They had survived the darkness only by learning to trust one another and he would be the first to admit that it had been hard. As much as he wanted to deny it, as much as he wanted to push her away, as much as he wanted to hide, he couldn’t and though he believed that it would only every bring either of them pain…he loved her too.
*
Neo closed the scrubbed the tears from his face. It was the first time that he could remember crying in years.
It was their story. Different names and different circumstances, but it was still his and Eiri’s story. At least it was part of it. The book didn’t go into the darkness that followed. It didn’t tell how the hero started to pull away from his lover. It didn’t say how just being in the same room together made her feel like her soul was turning to ice. It didn’t go into how at the end it was leave or die for her because he hadn’t really changed at all.
The book was a lie, a wonderful lie, but still a lie.
“It’s the only one he said he would ever write a sequel to. Assuming he could bring himself to write it.”
Neo jerked up from his spot on the bed. He had been reading all day and was so drained by his emotions that he hadn’t even heard the door open.
“What do you want now Tohma?”
The blond sighed and sat down at the small table in the corner of the room. “That is the manuscript he was turning in the day you left. He told me latter that when he was writing it he was finally able to come to terms with everything that had happened between the two of you. He told me that he had hoped that once it was finished that he would finally be able to put that part of it behind him and be able to make a life with you, but then you just… vanished.”
“So just what do you think that means to me? Are you expecting me to go throw myself at his mercy? ‘Oh, Eiri I am so sorry! I didn’t realize you were being a cold-hearted son of a bitch to me because you were writing our love story! Please forgive me!’ If you think that then you are a bigger fool than I am.” Neo got up and dropped the book on the table in front of Tohma. “If this is all there is to your grand scheme to get me and him back together then you seriously need to check your power gage, because your slipping.”
He sat in the chair opposite his one time idol. He had once been so in awe of this man and his band mates that he would never had believed that Seguchi Tohma was a manipulative bastard. He knew better now.
“To be honest, the book wasn’t my idea at all.” Tohma seemed as calm and collected as ever; completely unfazed by Neo’s lack of remorse after having read the bood.
“Oh, and just whose idea was it?”
“Ryuichi’s.”
Neo felt a streak of fear race through him. If Tohma was god then even god had a master and his name was Sakuma Ryuichi. Neo had learned a long time ago that there was a lot more to Ryuichi than the man ever let anyone see. He was both cunning and manipulative. He could easily make Tohma’s mechanizations look like child’s play and he could do it all with that damn chibi smile on his face and no one the wiser. If Ryuichi had a hand in what was going on then Neo might as well give up.
“Just spare us both the frustration and tell me what you want me to do.”
Tohma was a little surprised by Neo’s sudden change of heart, but he managed to hide it well. “I want you to stop running away from your problems. I want you to stop pretending to be someone you are not. Most of all I want you to talk to Eiri and be honest about what happened; why you left, what you felt, and why you didn’t even say goodbye.”
Well that was blunt. Not that Neo could blame him, he had asked for it. Could he do it though? He let his eyes drop closed and Eiri’s face flashed into his mind. It was not the face he remembered from six years ago, it was the face from the other night.
He saw again the face that at the time had seemed unchanged, but as he pictured it now he could see the changes. His face looked drawn and tired. His eyes seemed both empty and tormented, Neo would almost say haunted. Not to put too fine a point on it, Eiri looked like hell.
Neo opened his eyes again and pined Tohma with a determined gaze. “Fine.”
*
Damn I am getting bad about the cliffhangers. No songs in this one obviously.
And before I get a flame: No I am not saying Ryuichi is a bad guy. I don’t think that he is a bad guy at all, but I do think that he knows how to get exactly what he wants. Does he want Eiri and Shuichi back together? We’ll see.
So? Too much? Not enough? Well, there will be more to come.