Chapter 9 - Track Nine

Eiri Yuki lowers his eyes, lighting a cigarette. He stood by himself watching Shuichi converse with his band members, and Ryuko with her temporary band members. Ever since the move to publicly dedicate the concert to Ryuichi Sakuma, he’d felt a bad omen. No, that would make him superstitious and put him up there with the other Uesugis and that simply cannot be. Yuki knew it would be a burden on Ryuko, one she just didn’t need. While Shuichi understood and shared his concerns, he’d never know what it feels like; to be judged by a name alone, to be forced to live up to the expectations of others and be brutalised if those expectations weren’t met. He’d spent fifteen and a half years trying to protect her from the sort of pain he’d suffered, and now in one fowl swoop the person who’d apparently been looking out for him throughout his young adult life had decided to undo all his hard work.

Yuki takes the cigarette from his lips and blows out smoke, “He’s off my Christmas card list.”

“Who is?” asks Shuichi. He’s standing by his side, though he didn’t know for how long he’d been there. “Hey, shouldn’t you be working?”

“Shouldn’t you?”

Shuichi laughs, rubbing the back of his head, “Well, Ryu-chan and her friends need the practice more than me, I’m a professional after all.”

“A professional with a record of at least five slip-ups per concert on average…”

“Why’re you being so mean?” Demands Shuichi.

“Why are you being such an idiot?” scolds Yuki, throwing the cigarette to the ground, stepping on it.

The two stare at the other angrily. Yuki finally sighs, “Come on, I’ll get you a coffee.”

~@~

“Blech, this coffee’s too bitter,” gags Shuichi, putting down his cup.

Yuki tosses two sugar packets to him, “These may have something to do with it.”

“Oh yeah,” laughs Shuichi at his own feebleness. “I’m so used to making you coffee I forgot what I like.”

The couple sits in a booth in a quiet café by the site for the concert. The café had seen its fair share of celebrities come through their doors, so their appearance in there wasn’t thought of as any special occurrence.

“Oh no, I still have Kumagoro,” realises Shuichi as he looks down at his lap, “Perhaps I should run out and give it to Ryu-chan before she worries.”

Yuki takes a sip of his coffee, “It’ll be fine, she knows you have it. Besides, she’ll be rehearsing for tonight, won’t she?”

The iciness in his voice sends shivers down Shuichi’s spine. He gulps down the rest of his coffee without adding the sugar and slams his cup down. “Why are you acting so pissy, what’d I do?”

“Ryuko was pressured into singing tonight and you’re too ignorant to notice.”

Shuichi folds his arms, “I didn’t pressure her to do anything; this was her decision.”

“I never said you were the one to pressure her. Didn’t you find it suspicious as soon as she agreed to perform that TV station agreed to broadcast your concert?”

“Nope.”

Yuki glares at his grinning partner, “Nope?”

Shuichi gives him the V sign proudly, “I knew Tohma Seguchi had swindled her into doing it, I wasn’t suspicious at all.” Shuichi scratches his head thoughtfully, “You know, after a while these things really get predictable.”

Yuki’s glare turns into dejection at Shuichi’s response. “Are you telling me this doesn’t bother you at all?”

“Well…sure it does,” he replies, opening the sugar packets, pouring the sugar into his mouth to rid the bitter taste of the coffee, “I thought Ryuko would hold out for more; Like getting Bad Luck another record deal, or her own jet. Ah, children, they’re so business innocent.”

Yuki slams his fist to the table, “Shuichi, you’re such an idiot!”

Shuichi frowns, dunking down the other sugar packet, “Calm down, I was kidding. I am mad at Seguchi for his treatment of Ryu-chan, but I’ve realized we can’t hold her hand every time she has to make a decision. In the end it was Ryu-chan’s choice to perform, and she’ll have to live with that consequence, whether it turns out for the better or worse. Now let’s order something to eat, I’m in the mood for cake!”

His sunny disposition makes him sigh, though what bothers him more is how much sense he was making – and when Shuichi starts to make sense, one really has to worry. Though it wasn’t the first time he’d made perfect sense regarding Ryuko in the face of indisputable odds.

@~ A LONG, LONG TIME AGO ~@

“Forget it, a month is up, she’s going back tomorrow,” simply said Yuki, putting their dinner plates into the dishwasher.

Shuichi mopes at the table, “But why? We were all getting along so well!”

“You should have let the courts assign her to a home at the hearing, but NO, you had to make that ridiculous outburst and proclaim her yours. Can’t you ever do anything discretely? And because of you I had to let her stay here out of obligation. Now time is up and she’s out, got it.”

Shuichi scrunched up his nose, “But whyyyyyy?!!!!”

Yuki walked over and belted him over the head, “Stop being a child, this isn’t a game. A child needs a good solid home with real parents.”

Shuichi looked up at him with wide eyes, “But this is a good solid home, in fact it’s a damn big one and needs a third resident. And…we can be real parents; we’re the only ones she’s known since Ryuichi and Hanako died. Do you want to take us away from her too?”

“She needs a mother.”

“I can be her mother! I’ll even get dresses and -!”

Yuki whacked him across the head again, “No more dresses.”

Shuichi crossly rubbed his aching head, “Is this because she accidentally erased that novel you were working on?”

He sat down at the table, grimacing at the memory of what happens when you leave a baby alone with a laptop. “No it is not, though now that you mention it’s a good example of why she doesn’t belong here. I find it very hard to get any work done with a baby crying all day, and unlike with you, she doesn’t have a job to go to every day to give me any peace.”

“So…it is about the novel?”

“No it isn’t. Enough of this Shuichi, I am not adopting her.”

Shuichi’s eyes began to water, “But I wanna be a daddy!”

Yuki got out a cigarette, his cat-like eyes not leaving his lover’s watery wide eyes, “Then go screw a woman and make one.”

Rather than cry, Shuichi got up and quietly made his way to a spare room, before entering he stopped, not turning around to face Yuki, “Be that way if you have to, I wish you the best when you have to tell that little girl you don’t want her.”

Yuki smirked to himself. ‘Such a dramatic brat.’

Before going to bed that night, he went in to check on Ryuko. Her temporary room was across the hall and down two rooms from theirs. It was spacious, and had a big window overlooking the city and a nice view of the stars. They chose that room because it didn’t have anything that could potentially hurt her; it was also close enough for them to hear her cry, but not for her to hear any of their activities.

The baby was laying in her cot, snuggled with her favourite toy, Kumagoro. She wasn’t asleep, just laying there quietly, as if waiting for something. When she noticed Yuki standing over her, she looked up at him with interest. He nonchalantly returned her look and lowered his hand to touch her soft pink cheek. Ryuko enjoyed its warmth and rubbed her head into it with a wide smile. Sighing, he lowered his other hand in and picked her, along with her toy, into his arms. Yuki sat down on the rocking chair by the window. Ryuko held Kumagoro, silently watching him, taking time to suck on his soft pink ear.

“We need to talk,” he began, as if he was talking to a peer, “You’ve collectively lived here a month and a half and we both knew it wasn’t going to be permanent. We’ve had our fair share of difficulties, from you throwing up over my editor, and my spilling coffee over your toy, which, as I explained, was an accident.”

As if she understood, she frowned at him.

“But we have also had good occasions, thanks to you, Mika’s favourite dress will never be the same again, and Shuichi’s been ever so giving in the bedroom, I really have to thank you for that. Look, what I’m trying to say is…there comes a time when you have to say good-bye.”

Ryuko blinked, suckling her toy’s ear.

“It’ll be best for everyone, believe me, you don’t want me as a parent; I’m moody, I smoke, I drink, I sleep more than you, I’m a workaholic, I’m not exactly family-friendly and I’m so depressed my medicine cabinet could medicate ten mental patients simultaneously for at least two years. So you see, you’ll be happier far, far away from me; ask my father, and he’ll tell you.”

Ryuko stared with wide emerald eyes; she didn’t look convinced.

“Don’t give me that look, I’m much more resilient than Shuichi.”

The baby became disinterested, yawning. She nestled into him with her Kumagoro, resting her head to his heart, falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat. Yuki rubbed his forehead in frustration.

@~ NEXT MORNING ~@

Shuichi had been crying his loudest all morning; even Ryuko couldn’t be bothered crying after realizing she couldn’t beat his volume. He continued crying in the car as Yuki drove them to the adoption agency.

“I wanna be a daddy!” He continually cried. Yuki pretended to not hear him, even when they walked in the streets and through the halls of the agency. Everywhere they went people turned to stare at the hysterical pink haired young man, who was leaving puddles of tears everywhere he stepped.

In the office of Ryuko’s caseworker, Shuichi held Ryuko, still weeping as loudly as possible, “I WANNA BE A DADDY!”

The caseworker stared at him in confusion.

Yuki folded his arms, “He’s very emotional.”

“I see…well, sign these papers and then these, and we’ll be done!” She yelled over Shuichi booming cries.

Yuki signed the papers, and then Shuichi, still crying. Ryuko suckled her toy, playing with Shuichi’s shirt. Afterwards, while in the elevator going down, Shuichi suddenly stopped crying. He looked down, to see baby Ryuko still in his arms. Shuichi nervously laughed, and turned to Yuki, who was looking away. “Yuki…I’m still holding Ryu-chan.”

“I noticed.”

“But…WHY am I holding Ryu-chan?”

“Because I’m holding her stroller.”

Shuichi looked down at her again in confusion, “What just happened in there?”

“Besides your childish crying, we signed adoption papers. In other words, you’re a daddy.”

“I…see…” Shuichi quietly looked down at the oblivious baby, who was delighting in stretching out his shirt and slobbering over it. “We just…you…ah…but why? I don’t -”
Yuki placed an arm around him, drawing the two closer to him, “The more I tried to convince her she didn’t need me, the more I struggled to convince myself I didn’t need her.”

“Yuki…”

“Don’t start crying again, we’ve had to put up with your damn howling all morning.”

Ryuko enjoyed being between them; discovering the fine silk of Yuki’s black shirt, she bit into with her gums and wiped her nose over it.

@~ NOW ~@

“What happens if this ends up being emotionally scarring?”

Shuichi finishes off his triple chocolate cake and bites into his strawberry cheesecake, “Then Seguchi pays for a REALLY good team of psychiatrists. Hey Yuki, you gotta try this!”

Yuki rolls his eyes, Shuichi really is an idiot; but his optimism is reassuring and maybe a little cute.

“Come on, have a taste!” Urges Shuichi, holding out a spoon of cheesecake.

Yuki turns his head. Shuichi shrugs and tips it into his mouth. Yuki slides across the booth to sit next to him. “You know what, I change my mind.” Tipping his head to the side, Yuki plants his lips to Shuichi’s; parting them with his tongue he takes a taste of the cheesecake in Shuichi’s mouth. Shuichi wraps his arms around Yuki’s neck and pushes the cake to Yuki’s with his tongue so it melts with their kiss.

~@~

“Oh my god,” gasps Ryuko from the café’s window. “This is so gross, they’re in public for goodness sake!”

Himeka Nakano presses her head against the window to get the best look possible, “Yes…gross…”

Ryuko folds her arms, casting a glare on her friend, “Stop drooling, I’m embarrassed as it is. Let’s go, OK.”

“Five more minutes.”

Ryuko sighs, taking Himeka by the arm, “My eyes so need a shower – and you need hosing down.”

Himeka laches onto the window for dear life, “No, just a few more minutes!”

~@~

I thought I’d take time for a chapter that focuses on Yuki and Shuichi rather than Ryuko. The purpose of this chapter? Filler I guess…plus I realized for a fic about the adopted daughter of Yuki and Shuichi I didn’t have much of them in it. Heh. You know, I'm up to my 54th page in Word...scary. @_@

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