Sapphire

A/n: This is a new version of the story that was posted on ff.net. I've been meaning to post it for awhile, but I knew that it still need a little more work. There are several minor changes, but I think that it reads better now.

**

*Ryuichi’s POV*

“I can’t remember the words.”

“What the hell do you mean you can’t remember the words!? What’s wrong with you Ryu-chan? Shuichi is doing much better.” Grudgingly, I looked up into the angry eyes of my second keyboardist. I guess Noriko had a right to be mad. Shuichi had remembered all of his lyrics and had laid them down perfectly. I, on the other hand was having a hard time focusing on anything. I sighed inwardly and gave her my best big, sad, puppy dog eyes. That usually worked.

“I’m sorry Noriko-chan,” I whimpered, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I think I need a little break.” As I looked at her hopefully, I heard someone behind me sigh. I knew it wasn’t Noriko, so it was probably either Touma or Suguru. ‘What is it with these keyboardists?’ I thought to myself.

Noriko sighed.

“Alright, alright, I can see that we aren’t going to get any work done until you get a break so go ahead and take one.”

“Yay! Thank you Noriko-chan! Kumagoro and Ryuichi love you so much,” I yelled, smirking inwardly.

“Hey Sakuma-san, do you want to go to lunch with us?” I looked up to see the source of my distraction staring at me with huge, beautiful lavender eyes. Shuichi.

“Uh, no, that’s ok Shuichi. I think that I’m just going to stay here and try to work on these lyrics some.” I gave him my sweetest smile, the one that I reserved for getting whatever I wanted.

‘Yeah. Except it’s never gotten you Shuichi.’ I silently cursed myself for thinking about him like that. ‘He had a boyfriend. Yeah, and you just wish that it was you instead of that bastard Yuki.’

“I’ll come with you next ti- Shuichi?” He must have left while I was lost in my thoughts, as had everyone else. I was finally alone in the studio. I sighed and walked over to sit on the couch that’s in the room. Looking around silently, I thought about what a few months it had been.

*** Flashback ***

I was sitting in Touma’s office when I noticed a picture lying on his desk.

“Hey, Touma, who’s this?

“Hmm? Oh, that’s Shuichi Shindou. Sakano thinks we should sign him and his band to NG. Why do you ask?”

“...” I looked at the boy’s picture silently. He reminded me of myself when Nittle Grasper first started. He was also incredibly sexy. This could prove interesting. I finally gave a rather confused Touma his answer.

“Just wondering. Is he the one you wanted me to watch tonight.?” Touma smiled, and I had my answer.

*That Night (after the concert)*

The taxi pulled away from Zepp Tokyo and towards my house. K and I sat together in silence. He was the first to break it.

“You seem happy, Ryuichi” I laughed inwardly; if he only knew. I hadn’t felt that compelled to sing since the last time I was on stage with Touma and Noriko.

“Yeah. It was fun. I wanna sing with him again,” I said laughing. And, although, I was completely serious, K missed it.

“We’ll see,” Yes, we certainly would see. I wanted to do more than sing with him.

*The Next Week*

“Touma, I have something I want to ask you.” I was lying on the tan couch in Touma’s office.

“What is it Ryuichi?” He looked up from his paperwork, sensing my sudden seriousness.

“What would you say if I told you that I wanted to reform Nittle Grasper?”

Touma dropped the pen he had been writing with, and nearly knocked his neatly written paperwork off of his desk. Poor Touma. Being flustered really doesn’t suit him.

“You...You’re serious aren’t you Ryuichi?” He seemed to be at a loss for words.

“Completely” I answered, smirking wickedly. I wonder if he knew what had caused my change of heart about our band. It seemed he did.

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Shindou-san, would it Ryuichi-san,” he asked as I got up to leave. So he was resorting to calling me that was he?

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I replied, still smirking. “Seguchi-san.”

And with that, I left a very stunned Touma alone in his office.

*** End Flashback ***

I sighed again. A week later, after clearing everything with Noriko, Touma held a press conference to announce that, after three long years, Nittle Grasper was reuniting. And now, five months later, Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper were doing a single together and launching a tour to celebrate. I was really looking forward to singing with Shuichi every night. The kid had an amazing voice and an even better body. The best thing, however, was that his boyfriend wouldn’t becoming with us.

I smiled as Shuichi and his band mates came back into the room. As usual, Shuichi and Hiro were laughing about something, and Suguru was trying to ignore them. He was failing, of course.

“You know Suguru,” I started, slightly amused, “you might as well stop trying to ignore them. It won’t work. Shuichi is too much like me.”

“Yeah.” He sighed and shook his head. “You two are a lot alike, no offense,” he added hastily. Just as I was about to tell him that I wasn’t the least bit offended, Shuichi spoke up.

“Wow! Suguru, do you really think that I’m like Sakuma-san?”. I smiled at his happiness about being compared to me.

“I think you’re like me,” I agreed with a smile. Shuichi looked like he was about to cry from happiness and threw his arms around me.

“Oh, thank you, thank you Sakuma-san!” I loved the feeling of him against me, but I would have to let go for now.

“One thing though,” I said wagging a finger in front of his face. “Everyone needs to stop calling me ‘Sakuma-san‘. Call me Ryuichi or Ryu-chan”. Hiro and Suguru nodded, smiling. However, Shuichi was thrilled.

“Okay! Thank you Sakuma- Oh, I mean Ryuichi.”

I smiled. Well there was the first step taken care of.