Confessions & Cigarettes

They were back to work next week. Even if they were finished making songs for the stage show, they still had to practice them and make sure the stage was set up right. Since Bad Luck was sharing with thirty-nine other bands, the stage sets had to flow smoothly from one group to another to give the stage crew just as much ease as the bands themselves. At least they were one of the last bands to play, with the final being Nittle Grasper.

Hiro straddled a chair in the open field in front of the stage, chewing on the end of a green tea pocky stick while Shuichi dozed against his shoulder and Suguru fought with a handful of loose papers. They - along with several other bands - were waiting their turn for the stage in the first of many sound checks and rehearsals. Once the initial sound check was established they could go back to the N-G Building and practice inside one of the many practice rooms until the songs were committed to memory. Once that was done, they would have two more weeks to perfect their performances while on stage.

"Yuki. . ." Shuichi muttered and his hands started wandering. Hiro bit a piece of pocky off and elbowed the singer in his ribs. He snorted, stirred and fell back asleep.

"I give up," Suguru muttered and shoved the papers into a folder. "I can't concentrate like this and he's not helping."

Hiro shifted, pressing his right hand against Shuichi's forehead to keep him from falling flat on his face. "I guess he must have stayed up too much over the break."

"I'm not talking about that!" Suguru made a face and held up his folder as evidence. "I'm talking about the changes he made to his lyrics! Did you know he completely re-wrote 'Gimme Gimme Get'?"

Hiro blinked and looked over at Suguru. ". . .How bad is it?"

"You haven't looked?"

"I've been preoccupied," Hiro replied, shaking Shuichi in a vain attempt to wake him up. Shuichi continued snoring, a bubble popping out of the corner of his mouth.

"Oh," Suguru said, eyeing the sleeping singer. Shuichi muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'bran muffin chocolate puffs covering Yuki' and attempted tugging Hiro's shirt off. "Can't you wake him up?"

"I'll need all the power of Yuki Eiri to do that."

"Maybe K can get him up," Suguru said, looking around for their manager. "If we can find K."

"He's probably with the rest of the managers and producers back stage," Hiro replied with a final crunch of pocky. He sighed and covered his eyes with one hand. "Who would have thought that this part would be so boring?"

"You know what they say - nine parts boredom followed by one part sweat."

Hiro laughed and elbowed Shuichi again, getting a grunted 'huh?' for his efforts. "Don't you mean ninety-nine point nine percent perspiration followed by point one percent sheer terror?"

Suguru grinned, opened his mouth and froze. Following his gaze, Hiro saw a small cluster of girls enter the open arena, all of them dressed in casual sundresses, shorts and brightly colored shirts. Since he hadn't been with them since their last recording session, he wasn't sure which one had caught Suguru's eyes, but he was sure he had it bad. Already Suguru's cheeks were flushing with color.

Hiro wasn't going to let this opportunity pass. He pushed Shuichi off his chair, letting the singer land with a loud shout and clambered to his feet with a few choice words. Hiro raised his eyebrow and ever so subtly tilted his head in the direction of the girl band. Shuichi blinked, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and grinned.

"Hey Suguru! Why don't you introduce us to your girlfriend?"

The teen jumped, flailed and fell over. Shuichi put his hands on his hips and leaned down over him. "C'mon buddy! Stop holding out on us! Everyone has met my guy so it's time we've met your girl."

"Shuichi! She's not my girlfriend," Suguru said, clutching at his chest. "She's just a girl I went out with a couple times."

"Isn't he cute, Hiro?" Shuichi leaned against the guitarist, grinning from ear-to-ear. "I've always thought he was crushing hard on K, but instead he's got a girl that is just a friend." He pointed at Suguru. "Introductions now before you two get married."

"Can't you talk reason to him?" Suguru asked, turning to Hiro.

Taking out a new piece of pocky, Hiro slowly shook his head. "I'm not getting involved."

"That's because Hiro knows I will set him up on a blind date with my cousin!" Shuichi said, and started laughing. Hiro eyed his best friend and leaned away from him. He was definitely not going to get involved in this discussion now.

"Fine, but we are not dating."

Shuichi did a victory dance before pulling Suguru to his feet. Hiro got up and followed them slowly, hands in his pockets and pocky sticking out of his mouth like a cigarette. While he wasn't as curious as Shuichi, he thought it would be nice to meet this girlfriend and maybe see if any of her friends were interested in something casual. It had been a long time since he had been dating Ayaka and maybe he just needed to date a little to get over what had happened.

The girls were cute in their shy flirting glances and soft giggles. Hiro stood behind the other two members of Bad Luck and chewed on his snack, only smiling occasional at a loud comment from Shuichi. Suguru's friend was a tiny teen with large dark brown eyes and curly hair cut in a stylish bob, a simple sundress complimenting her creamy skin. He introduced her as Sayuri-chan, which got him some good humored teasing from Shuichi and Sayuri's friends. They were having fun and laughing but Hiro felt a little apart from it all - maybe he was becoming the old man of Bad Luck. Or maybe he was still trying to figure out what had happened in his own life. He had thought things were pretty settled, and yet, here he was, unattached.

But it was in the middle of that detachment that he was the first to realize that Grasper had entered the field. Noriko led the way, bangles and barrettes catching the sunlight, and wearing tiny shorts and tank top that showed off her generous curves. Walking behind her with a cellphone attached to his ear was Tohma, looking like a wandering teen in rolled up jeans and a striped shirt, a baseball hat smashed down over his head. And then there was Ryuichi, in torn jeans and a faded tee-shirt, his hair pulled back into a messy pony tail and a scuffed up guitar case in his hand. He watched them as they fell into step, Tohma and Ryuichi flanking Noriko as she linked arms with them, the three walking the last few feet to the stage like royalty.

Everyone fell silent, even Shuichi, as the stars drew close. Hiro noted the way they smiled, almost as if they were struggling with the attention from the younger musicians. He glanced over at Shuichi, who was glancing at him, and shook his head at the unasked question in his friend's eyes. Noriko pulled free of the other two Graspers' arms and stepped up to the stage, Tohma following her as he closed his cellphone cutting off the voice on the other end. Ryuichi paused at the foot of the stairs, his smile widening.

"You guys don't mind if we cut, right?" he asked. Not getting a response he laughed and swarmed up the stage, calling out in English to the other two Graspers. The three went into a huddle in the center of the stage.

"What's wrong with them?" Shuichi asked softly, glancing up at Hiro. "They seem mad about something."

"I don't know," Hiro replied, frowning as Ryuichi took out his guitar and slung the strap over his shoulder. Tohma helped him with adjusting his pick-up and then double-checked his tuning while Noriko picked up a pair of drumsticks.

"Do you think someone on the other end of this concert said something against them?" Suguru asked, joining into their conversation.

"But they're Nittle Grasper," Sayuri said, tugging on Suguru's sleeve. "Why would anyone go against them?"

"They're Japanese," Hiro replied, surprising even himself. He rubbed his forehead at the stares he was getting. "Ryuichi took the world by storm because he's so versatile but the rest of us aren't. I bet that half the world's community thinks we're not worth a listen to."

Up on stage, Tohma had picked up someone's bass guitar and Ryuichi helped him adjust the strap so it wasn't knocking against his knees. Noriko kicked off her heels and settled behind a drum kit tapping her sticks together.

". . .They can play other instruments?"

Hiro glanced down at Shuichi and shrugged. Suguru snorted, crossing his arms across his chest. "Of course they can; they're Nittle Grasper."

Any reply to that was lost in the wall of sound from the stage. Unplugged, Ryuichi's guitar had a sweet voice with just a hint of a growl. Plugged in, it had a snarl to its voice, an undertone that could be turned light and airy or dark and destructive. Tendons stood out in his hands as he played, wringing out sounds that Hiro could only blink at. With Tohma and Noriko joining in, the music was like the way he imagined a fire would taste like - raw and powerful and leaving flames inside the lungs. Next to him, Sayuri opened up her cellphone and held it pointed at the stage. Suguru reached over to close it, but a sharp 'Let her' stopped him.

The managers had arrived. With them were also members of the Grasper family - Mika carrying her son, Tatsuha and Eiri glowering at the stage, little Saki and Riku clinging to them, and Emi holding hands with Hakari. For once Sakano was not running around yelling and K was not threatening to shoot someone. They stood at the front of the small group, sharing a frown and watching the stage.

Hiro looked over the group and looked down at Shuichi. The singer frowned, looking up and actually ignoring the sight of his lover only three feet away. Something big had happened, and it had shaken the ground under their feet. Something had hit Grasper and left marks, and now they were on the stage, pounding out a rage in the snarl of instruments.

Phrases of songs came and went as the guitar and bass whipping around the pounding drums. Here an American hit, there a German phrase, and it was hard to tell which one of them was leading the changes. Ten minutes, twenty minutes, the Graspers continued playing; sweat matting their hair against their faces, their clothing sticking to their skin, and lips parting for breath.

"Boss! We've got reporters!"

Hiro wasn't the only unwitting audience member that jumped at K's yell. The music came to a crashing halt and Tohma rushed to the edge of the stage, motioning towards the backstage area. There was a moment of shuffling behind him, and then Mika headed up the stairs, carrying her boy and hold Riku's hand. The other children trooped past as well, Emi herding them after Mika. The Uesugi brothers pushed in front of the small crowd and turned to glower at the rest of them.

"You people are going to get trampled," Eiri said and lit up.

It shook the shock off the rest of them. Sayuki and her bandmates hurried backstage after Mika, and Suguru started following them but - glancing over at his cousin - made a face and walked over to the one set of stairs and sat down. Hiro glanced over at K before heading for the other staircase and taking a seat there. With the managers guarding the front of the stage with Eiri, Tatsuha and Shuichi, and the rest of Bad Luck sitting on the stairs, they hoped the reporters wouldn't stampede the stage.

A few minutes later, the first news van showed up and discharge reporters. They swarmed through the temporary seating like waves, only stopping to avoid getting shot. K rested an assault rifle on his hip and grinned wide, while beside him Eiri blew smoke. On stage, Nittle Grasper didn't react at all to the new audience. All three were drinking water, each one firmly attached to their chosen instruments and each one looking hot and irritable. The reporters milled about for a moment or two and then started firing questions at the Graspers, the canopy of babble not making any sense to Hiro but a few words caught his attention. Underage lover. Drugs. Illegitimate child. He bit his lip and tried not to look at Ryuichi.

A low hum drifted over the stage cutting under the shouting press. Hiro straightened and glanced over his shoulder at the stage, blinking at the sight of Tohma bent over a keyboard, the bass guitar resting on his hip. After a minute, Ryuichi strummed a few notes on his guitar and adjusted a knob, the last notes echoing through the amps. Noriko raised her drumsticks, tapping out a beat and Tohma stepped away from the keyboard, swinging his bass around. Then Ryuichi sang - his voice, his guitar and Noriko’s drumsticks the only sound.

The reporters were struck dumb, those with cameras pointing them at the stage while others just openly stared. Ryuichi finished a phrase, his voice stretching out, a raw note hanging in the air echoed by his guitar and then sound descended as Tohma and Noriko fully joined the song. Ryuichi's voice rode the wave of sound - deep, full and raw, while the instruments complimented it.

But it wasn't the surprising power of the song that brought out a few gasps. As everyone knew, Tohma never sang for Grasper. Yet he joined Ryuichi on the chorus, his voice light and blending perfectly with the singer's. Then they went into the third verse. An explosion of drumming following a snarl of guitar playing, and the two were suddenly side by side, sharing the same microphone and the same words until Ryuichi pulled up and overpowered Tohma, hanging over the instruments for a few lone seconds. Another verse and then he left the microphone, leaning back and letting the guitar take over until ending the song with a single hanging note.

Everyone was silent, from the reporters to the bystanders. The only sound was the clatter of drumsticks against a drum as Noriko set them down, got up and stretched. She walked over to where Tohma and Ryuichi were standing, flanking Ryuichi and placing her hand on his shoulder. Ryuichi looked over the crowd of reporters, his eyes narrowed and hard, and leaned into the microphone again.

"Grasper will make a statement at this time and will not take any questions."

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Author's Notes: So here we have a little extra happening to the story and a new element added. I'm thinking soon there will be a few questions answered and we will see exactly what is going on inside of Ryuichi's mind. Well, maybe. And the last bit of this chapter gave me problems and I borrowed heavily from the live performances of the J-Rock band SCARECROW, especially the song Reirow. It is a lovely song and can be found on Youtube. Go look now.
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