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: As much as he wished it were true, Kizou knew he could not be little Takanori’s father
Warning: angst, drama, romance, m-preg, language, m/m, hentai
Inserts: chapter 1 &3
A/N: Thank you to Bfly-Ronaldita, CrimsonBlood363, Acherona, Mrs. Hatake Itachi, ferler, sarah83654123 for your reviews. Thank you guys for being so patient with me when it comes to this story. Sorry it’s taking so long between chapters, but I’ve been working on “Kin no Shuichi” and my original story “A Bittersweet Reunion” and I sorta forgot about this one. Sorry. Anyway, here it is; the next installment. Finally, right?

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

Last Time

What the hell had possessed him to agree to allow his pregnant husband to travel alone to visit his ex-Yakuza-lover? It was one of the stupidest decisions that he has ever made. Allowing Shuichi to move out for several months being the other asinine choice he ever made. His regret over allowing Shuichi to go visit Kizou in Kita had nothing to do with the fact that the two of them used to be lovers. What was there to be jealous of? Shuichi chose him over that man didn’t he? No, the problem was the man was as dangerous as a starving lion at a buffet. He was a mob boss guilty of ordering the deaths of countless people, drug trafficking, weapons possession, smuggling, dealing in prostitution and then there were his so-called “legitimate” business that included gambling halls, banks, restaurants and apartment complexes to name a few. He has been under investigation by the PSIA for years. Just because the Public Safety Intelligence Agency has never been able to find any solid evidence to convict the man did not mean anything.

Having any sort of association with someone like Kizou was dangerous, but what if what Shuichi believed was true? What if Kizou was indeed the biological father of little Takanori?

+---+---+

Chapter 7: Reality versus the Perceived Truth

The Trinity Offices - Setagaya, Tokyo

At one time, the idea of a true intersexed person was thought to be impossible. It was laughable to think that a person could be born with perfect, fully functioning male as well as female parts. Thanks to a one-hundred and fifty year old manuscript that was found in the bottom of a steamer trunk in a forgotten corner in the attic of some elderly woman’s house somewhere in Upstate New York, what used to be nothing more than a fantastical element in stories was now part of reality.

Oh how she wished that old woman had tossed her historical find into the trash.

You could call them by whatever name you preferred, but a Neutral by any other name was still going to be nothing more than the immorally sinful, wicked creatures that it was. Though their existence had still to be acknowledged by many Islamic nations as well as several Christian sects, the existence of the Neutrals fast become a natural part of society, for some people anyway. For others like her, they knew the truth hidden behind the deceitful lies.

She would be the first to admit that she may have a slight problem with seeing the so-called “third sex” as anything more than an abomination and a plight upon the world. They were what was wrong with the world today. If Neutrals were eliminated, so many of the problems that corrupted this planet would be alleviated. How could they be considered anything close to Man’s equal? There was no way around it. It was obvious that God had placed his trust in the wrong people when these…these…things were conceived into this world.

Her phone buzzed.

“Yes?”

“Ms. Mataguchi,” her secretary’s soft voice called over the speakerphone. “There is a Ms. Usami on the line for you?”

“Thanks, Kana.” Nami Mataguchi picked up the receiver. Her hand hovered over the button flashing red. It was trembling. Whether it from excitement over the fact that her challenge had actually been accepted or if it was due to something else she was not sure. Straightening her back, she cleared her throat. Taking a deep breath, she plastered a smile on her face even though she knew the caller would not be able to see it. “Hello Ms. Usami,” she said cheerfully into phone. “I take it you heard the good news?”

+---+---+

Usami Residence - Kyoto, Japan

She replaced the handset into its cradle.

Finally. All of her hard work was finally coming to fruition. This was something she has been striving for for the past three years. She would prove what a fallacious slanderer Shuichi Shindou was. That man…No. He was not a man. He was a thing. A mutation. A misuse of flesh and blood. A waste of space. He was no more than the toxins that polluted the air they breathed, the land they walked and the water they drank. He was something that should never have been given human life. It did not matter what it took or how long. She always gets what she wanted. Always. This was not going to be any different.

Her grip around the phone tightened.

“Ayaka honey?”

The contorted harsh lines smooth out. “Yes, Mother,” she called out over her shoulder.

Footsteps sounded behind her.

With a flourish of her brown skirt, Ayaka turned to greet her mother; an aging woman in her mid-sixties that despite the steel gray hair secured atop her head in a traditional Japanese bun and the wrinkles was still beautiful.

“Have you seen your father?”

“I believe he went to visit Mr. Uesugi.”

Her mother clucked her tongue in disappointment. “Those men,” she breathed heavily. “Gossiping like a couple of women.”

Ayaka giggled.

Her mother retreated down the hallway towards the kitchen.

As soon as her mother vanished through the swinging door, the smile vanished from Ayaka’s face. Glancing over her shoulder at the now silent phone, she fisted her hands into tight balls of fury. Things would continue as planned. There was no doubt in her mind. In the off chance that something unexpected arose, there were always her contingency plans. One way or another, she would get what she wanted.

She reached into the breast pocket of her white blouse and pulled out a small photograph not was much larger than the width of her hand. Her face softened as she gazed at the boy in the picture who had his arm around her tiny shoulders and a big goofy grin on his face. Her finger traced his blond hair.

“I can wait no longer…Eiri.”

+---+---+

Aizawa Residence - Tokyo, Japan

It’s been an hour. That was how long he’s sat behind the wheel of his car in front of the childhood home of Taki Aizawa where his parents still resided. Apparently, after the death of his son, Taki’s father wanted to move. The memories of his only son who lost his life when he stepped into the street directly into the path of an oncoming car had been too much for him to bear, but the mother would not hear of it. So they had remained in the house where they had lived with their only child where they sure to forever remember him.

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. It was the only indication that hinted that he was not fully in control.

How was he supposed to ask for a sample of their deceased son’s DNA in order to prove that he was indeed the one who fathered little Takanori? What if they consented and the results were that their grandson was not their grandson as they had been lead to believe these past two and half years. It would be a devastating blow.

He took a deep breath to clam the raging emotions within him. It had to be done. That DNA sample was a necessity. One way or another he had to obtain it. His decision made, he yanked his keys out of the ignition and grabbed his cellphone from its resting place in the cup holder. Opening the car door, he stepped out onto the sidewalk. The intense summer heat greeted him immediately. Sweat glistened in the bright summer sun along his forehead. Closing the car door behind him, he used the buttons on his key fob to set the car locks. A double beep echoed into the quiet neighborhood when he set the car alarm. With his phone safely tucked into the inner pocket of his suit coat and his keys pocketed, he straightened the collar of his suit coat before walking up to the gate. He rang the buzzer.

It did not take long before the door creaked open. A woman who looked remarkably like Taki Aizawa studied him from the safety of her shaded stoop. “Yes?”

“Mrs. Aizawa?” he questioned.

“Yes,” she answered uncertainly.

“Ma’am, I’m Tohma Seguchi.”

Her dark eyes brightened in instant recognition. “Oh, yes, sir, Mr. Seguchi. What can I do for you?”

“Is your husband at home?”

“Yes. He is.” A mask on confusion slid over her face.

“Do the both of you have a minute? There is something I need to speak with the two of you about.”

She looked hesitant. “What is this about?” she asked in suspicion.

“Your son.”

+---+---+

Kyoto, Japan

It happened when he was twenty-eight, a full fifteen years before he would meet Shuichi Shindou.

It started as an ache in his abdomen, but because this happened so often, he thought nothing more about it. He figured that if he ignored it, it would go away as it usually did and within a day, the pain in his belly indeed vanished. Then not long after, he started to grow nauseous. Again, he ignored the symptoms. Like the belly ache, being nauseous was not anything new, especially if he was forced to be awake particularly early in the morning when he was used to sleeping in until sometime mid-afternoon. When he started vomiting, he chalked it up to something he’d eaten. It would not be the first time. At the same time, he’d began noticing a mild pain in his scrotal area, but it was not until Hasumi was giving him a full body massage one night that he realized just how serious these minor health issues actually were.

A week later, he was diagnosed with stage one seminomas testicular cancer.

After discussing the pros and cons of each, he opted to have surgery and then a round of radiation. However, according to his doctor, statistically he would have an eight-two percent chance of fathering children, it was better to be safe then sorry, so he took his doctor’s advice and stored some of his sperm at a sperm bank beforehand.

“Having an orchiectomy rarely interferes with male sexual function or fertility; the remaining testicle produces enough sperm and hormones for normal sexual activities and reproduction.”

Though he was warned that radiation therapy does interfere with the production of sperm.

“But you don’t need to worry. Most patients are able to recover fertility after one or two years. You should be fine.”

“Should” was the key word here.

Two months later, surgery removed the cancerous growth and several rounds of radiation starting a week after that had ensured that what remained of the cancer cells were eliminated.

It was not long afterwards that he was pronounced cancer free. A complete remission.

But not everything had been a success. It seemed as if the eighteen percent failure rate had overpowered the eight-two percent success rate at being able to father children, for even after five years after undergoing treatment for testicular cancer, Hasumi was still not pregnant

Discouraged, she insisted he go see his doctor and after an initial examination and a semen analysis, it was determined that he had less than 12.5 million sperm per milliliter, meaning he had a very low sperm count. Only a quarter of men in his position are able to impregnate their partners. It was a devastating blow to the already disheartened couple. Ultrasounds, testicular biopsies, blood and genetic tests could have been performed to discover the underlining cause, but it was obvious what had hampered his ability to impregnate his wife: the radiation therapy he underwent when he had testicular cancer.

The only option opened to them at that point was in vitro fertilization.

Another set back occurred when the sperm bank where he stored his sperm before he underwent treatment had been misplaced. It might have been gone, but they did not allow that to stop them from having a child.

…Five tries later, there was still no baby. Disheartened and disillusioned and on the verge of giving up, he was able to convince Hasumi to give it one last try, but it was all for naught. Once again, the procedure failed. Depressed and convinced that if she stayed with him, she would never be able to have a child, Hasumi filed for divorce. Ironically enough, it was five years to the day he was diagnosed with stage one seminomas testicular cancer.

Ten years later, he met Shuichi Shindou.

When he discovered that Shuichi was pregnant, what he would not have given for the child to be his! God knew how much he has wanted a child. He wanted it more than anything else. When he and Hasumi were trying to have a baby, he even went so far as to make a deal with God. If He could bless them with a child, he would retire from this lifestyle and become an honest Japanese citizen. Alas, it was not to be. After his wife left, he’d had his share of lovers, both female as well as the odd neutral, and even though they’d never used any kind of protection, he had never impregnated any of his partners.

It came down to one thing. He was unable to have children. There was no other explanation. According to his doctor and going by the results of the numerous tests he had been subjected to, though low in number, he did indeed have eager little soldiers ready for deployment. But if that were the case, then why hadn’t his wife become pregnant? Why would a foolproof procedure like in vitro fail five times in a row? No, it was obvious what the problem was. No matter what the doctors and their tests claimed, he just could not become a father. Therefore, no matter how much he wanted it, it just was not possible.

The child Shuichi was carrying may not have been his, but instead of humiliating Shuichi as he did that day, he could have allowed Shuichi and his child to remain with him. He could have adopted the child as his own, pretended, much like that Eiri Yuki person did, but he knew that was not going to work. As much as Shuichi cared for him, it was obvious that he was head over heels in love for his new lover. Besides, the last thing he wanted was to drag another innocent child into this seedy underbelly of society.

It was for the best.

Distantly he was aware of the phone ringing, but his mind was elsewhere. Besides, Narata knew that unless it was an emergency, he was not to be disturbed.

He reached out for the picture frame on the nightstand just as a streak of sunlight found an opening in the blinds closed over the window above his bed. It reflected off the protective glass shield, veiling the image.

When there was a polite rap on his door, he scowled.

“Boss,” came the unexpected voice. “Phone call from Hong Kong, sir. They said it’s urgent.”

Of course it was. When wasn’t it?

Growling lightly, he flipped over onto his back and scrubbed his hands over his face.

“Boss?”

Tossing back the covers, he sat up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, padded naked to his dresser where he threw on a pair of jeans and a plain black T-shirt.

Narata raised his hand to knock again when the door opened forcefully.

“This had better be good,” Kizou growled as he stalked bare foot through the house to his office.

Sweating, Narata followed him.

+---+---+

Uesugi-Sakuma Residence - Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

With the steaming cup of tea clasped between his hands, Ryuichi Sakuma stepped out onto the balcony, sliding the door shut behind him. Seating himself on the railing, he raised the cup to his lips. The steam rising from the cup eclipsed his face. He breathed in the sweet aroma of the pomegranate black tea. The hot liquid trickled down his throat as he took a tentative sip.

---

“You going to tell him?”

Ryuichi shook his head. “No.”

“But he’s his-!”

“I know.”

Tatsuha sighed.

“He gave up his rights…to our son…when he…” Ryuichi’s throat closed over. “When he tried to…”

---

Tatsuha was right. Tatsuha was always right.

---

“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.

---

Bringing a leg up, he leaned back against the side of the building and took in the sight of the city.

---

“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 just did not know what to do.

“…Are you going to tell him the truth? It’s not like there’s anything keeping you from telling him,” Tatsuha pushed into the silence. “Not anymore. Not like there was.”

---

Ryuichi dropped his head back and stared up at the clear summer sky.

---TBC---

A/N: Tell me truthfully. Did any of you guess Ayaka had something to do with Nami’s stalking of Shuichi and Eiri? You know what they say about a woman scorned. LOL.