Warnings: Suicide theme, ooc-ness, regretful caring Yuki.

I know, I know. It's been forever since I've updated. In compensation for your patience, I'll throw in a longer chapter with more Ryuichi, Tatsuah and more Yuki/Shuichi fluff. Hope you like it.

Ryuichi grinned and babbled while showing Shuichi the newest Nittle Grasper video. It was a tape of the resent concert where they had been performing. The concert stage was bright and colourful, with all kinds of light. Ryuichi's voice was booming over the television, singing their new hit "Lucky Guy".

Shuichi stared transfixed at the television, not looking anywhere but the video. Ryuichi, in his non-changing, positive mind decided to interpret that as a good sign.

Until he heard a mysterious sound.

"Did you hear that, Shu-chan?" Shuichi just stared blankly at the television.

The older singer stood up from the couch, and tumbled over to the window. "Perhaps it's thunder." He smiled childishly, and faced the quiet singer. "What do you think, Shu?"

Shuichi still didn't answer. He couldn't.

If he could, he would have said that the "mysterious" rumbling didn't come from bad weather, but from his stomach.

He was hungry as hell, going without food for several hours.

Ryuichi looked outside the window. It was a clear sky, so where did the sound come from? He turned around, giving the singer on the couch a gentle smile, and walked towards the door. No one was outside.

"Na, this is weird." He scratched his head, and hugged the plush bunny in his arms even tighter. Suddenly, his face became all serious. He dropped the bunny, and walked over to Shuichi, staring deeply into his eyes before grabbing his hands.

"I'm going to protect you." He tightened his hold on the younger singer's hands, still eyeing him seriously.

"I'm going to protect you from the ghosts."

…

If Shuichi could, he would have smashed his head in the table.

Suddenly, his stomach gave another pitiful growl.

Ryuichi surely couldn't have misheard that. He stared at Shuichi's body, and his face changed from being serious to downright terror.

"Could it be that…the ghosts have consumed you!?"

Again, all Shuichi could do was stare, while he really, really wished he could get another chance to jump of the roof.

--

"Thank you for your cooperation." Mizuki rolled her eyes while going through the latest chapter of the love novel Eiri currently was writing. "Your welcome." Eiri didn't miss the sarcasm in her reply. She was almost as good as he was in sprouting sarcastic remarks and answers. She had agreed to let him take a couple of weeks off with full pay. Of course, considering his situation that was to be given. She wasn't heartless, scary but not cruel.

"What's your plan for the future." Eiri cursed. He was this close to finally leave and go home to his beloved brat. Leaving Shuichi all alone with Ryuichi left him with a bad aftertaste in his mouth.

"What do you mean?" Mizuki sighed, and placed the new chapter in her drawer. "What are you going to do if he… does not get any better?"

Eiri felt his blood turn ice cold. Even Tohma didn't dare asking him that question.

Mizuki didn't sense the danger, and continued. "What's the point giving you two weeks off if you may spend the rest of your life taking care of him?"

"What are you going to do?" Eiri felt sweat began to form on his forehead. "I don't know." He almost felt ashamed of how his reply lacked the usual bite.

"I can't cover up for you in all eternity you know." She ruffled through some other papers, not looking at novelist.

"I know."

"And your latest project is only half finished. What are you going to do about that?"

"I don't know."

"Your fans are beginning to question your capability to even write decent stories anymore. With all due respect, your characters have been lacking emotions lately.

Eiri gritted his teeth. "I know."

"I… had a chat with Seguchi yesterday."

Oh, no. If she did go there-

"Wouldn't it be better for Shindou-kun to stay with his parents…?"

And she did.

Eiri slammed the half open door shut.

"Shut the fuck up!!" He gave her the coldest, most chilling eyes she had ever seen.

Mizuki winced, half expecting him to walk over and punch her. But he did no such thing.

Eiri took a deep breath and straightened out his jacked.

"I will continue writing, I will take care of my idiot, and I will NOT stand here, listening to any more of your so called suggestions you may have discussed with my ever so annoying control freak of a brother in law." He opened the door again and left before Mizuki managed to maintain her ability to speak.

She didn't move for five minutes after he left.

--

Eiri knew he was speeding trough red lights and that his car was going hundred in sixty zones, but fuck that! How dare she talk like that to him, one of the best selling authors in whole Japan? Didn't she know that he was the reason behind the company's success? That his books were famous all over the world? What gave her the right to have a little cozy chat with Tohma behind his back? Eiri didn't doubt that his brother in law was scheming something nasty, but to trick his goddamn editor into that…

How low could the man sink!

He parked the car and hurried into the elevator. Damn his nosy brother in law, damn Mizuki and damn his godforsaken book. All he wanted to do was to hug his brat tight, relax on the couch and perhaps watch some tapes of Shuichi's early performances on stage.

When he opened the door to his apartment, he knew the peaceful evening was corrupted.

There, on the floor was Shuichi: surrounded by candles and weird, shrivelled papers. His face was painted blue and red, and he was wearing some strange foreign clothes. Beside him was Tatsuha, reading from a thick book in some strange language. His costume was equally bizarre, and he was burning some kind of stinking incense. The smell was all over the place.

On the couch was Ryuichi, nibbling nervously on his plush rabbit.

Eiri didn't know what to make out of this. He slumped down on the couch next to the older, soon-to-be-dead singer.

"What the hell is going-" Ryuichi placed his hand in front of Eiri's mouth, successfully shutting him up.

"It's soon over, don't interrupt Yuki-kun." He whispered. Eiri didn't have the energy to roll his eyes. He removed the hand from his face, and pretended to be interested in whatever the stupid singer was coming up with.

"Interrupt what?" Ryuichi sighed, and gave the novelist a "duh" look. "The exorcism, of course."

And he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Eiri stared at him, wondering if he now got two demented singers in his apartment. "Ghost?"

"Shut up, bro. I'm almost finished!" Tatsuah yelled at him, annoyed by the interruption. Eiri stared at his younger brother.

Make it two demented singers, and one disillusioned, also soon-to-be-dead monk.

"Ghost?" he whispered, playing along with the less intelligent species in the room. Ryuichi nodded.

"Me, Kumagoro and Shu-chan heard a scary noise. It didn't come from outside, but from Shuichi's body, and since it was such a weird noise I'm sure it was a ghost! You know, a person who hasn't found peace in this world to continue to the afterlife." Eiri nodded, feeling how tired his body was. "And since it came from Shuichi's stomach, I came to the conclusion that." He paused for dramatic effect. "That Shu-chan's body is taken over by a spirit!"

Eiri massaged his head. Yup, there comes the migraine. Join the party!

"Weird noise you say?" The singer nodded.

"Like… Like a weird growling." Eiri rested his hands on his lap.

"From his body?" Ryuichi sucked on the bunny's ear for some second before answering. "From his stomach me and Kumagoro thinks."

The migraine was getting more painful.

"Did you feed him?" Eiri felt anger arise when the singer yet again sucked on the bunny's ear, making it wet with drool.

"Feed?"

Eiri began the countdown.

10

9

8…

"DID YOU GIVE HIM ANY FOOD!" So much for keeping his anger in check.

Ryuichi fell down from the couch, tears leaking from his big eyes. "I, I thought…"

"Hey, don't yell at him like that!" Tatsuah dropped the book and moved from the spot he had been standing the last two hours to help the older singer up on his feet. Eiri slammed his fist down the table, making another two people scared out of their wits.

"All I asked was for you to take care of Shuichi for five measly hours!" He didn't care that the singer was crying his eyes out, or that Tatsuah was trying to calm him down. He continued.

"What the hell goes through your mind? Do you exist just to make Shuichi look intelligent!?"

"Hey!" Eiri fixed his angry eyes on Tatsuah, whose glare could match that of his brother. "Leave him alone! He only did what he thought was best for Shuichi!"

"To do what's best for him? I don't know about you, but to deny him food and call a fucked-up fake monk to perform exorcism on him is not my definition of 'care for someone's wellbeing'!" Now Ryuichi was wailing loudly, sobbing out "I'm sorry" and "I didn't mean it."

Eiri took a deep breath, and pointed at the door.

"Get out, before I'll say something I really am going to regret." Tatsuah glared at him one final time, before leading the crying Ryuichi out.

He even dropped the still wet Kumagoro on the floor, leaving the poor plush bunny there to make a small pond on the carpet.

Eiri felt how sore his throat was. Another painful feeling added to his body. He knew he had to clean up the mess they had made, but damn his head was killing him.

He blew out the candles, and picked up the papers. That's when he noticed how Shuichi was shivering. His face was hidden behind a mop of pink hair, and his body was rocking back and forward. Eiri sat down beside him, and gently pushed away the pink looks from the singer's eyes.

And he felt his heart stop dead in his chest.

Trails of tears were falling down Shuichi's face, down his nose and his mouth. His dead eyes were glistering with water.

The novelist cursed himself. How stupid could he get? Yelling like that, slamming his hand down the table. He had scared his poor brat half to death.

He gently tried to wipe some of the tears away, but Shuichi winced like being struck once he touched his cheek. Eiri felt like sobbing himself.

He carefully tried to lift Shuichi up without making him any more frightened than he already was. He hugged him tight, letting him cry on his shoulder. Sweet whispers were the only sound in the apartment, beside some occasional sobs from the scared singer.

"I'm sorry." Eiri kissed the mop of hair, and smelled Shuichi's unique odour. It was the only thing that smelled good, since the incense was still burning.

"I'm sorry."

The peaceful evening was indeed corrupted. But Eiri couldn't help but think that it was not all in vain. Even though he hated himself for scaring his brat like that, it was the first time Shuichi had showed any kind of emotion since the incident.

When Shuichi finally calmed down, he placed the younger singer on the couch, rubbing his back soothingly before walking over to the fridge.

Perhaps it was a good sign.

It was at least a little longer… And don't worry; Yuki will have some more apologizing to do. It killed me to write the scene where he yelled at Ryuichi…

Poor Ryuichi...

Please post a little review. Was good? Bad? In between? Bad grammar? Stupid theme? Obvious character reactions? Do the author ramble to much? And does she keep using too big words for her to understand?

Give me a note. I will hail reviewer number one hundred.

"Long live reviewer number one hundred!"

…There. I did it. (Sorry, my humour stinks. It's 6:43 in the morning, and I've been sitting up all night writing this. My humour smells more than Tatsuah's incense at this point. Ugh…

Okay, I'm finished. I'll try to update faster this time. Reviews may help.

Devil's Backbone.