R a i n d r o p s
...let them wash away your pain
by: triciasama

Chapter 2 – Decision

The heels of the polished shoes clacked loudly on the rusted stairs as Suguru Fujisaki, laden with baggage and a scarlet tinge in his cheeks which betrayed the fact that he had trudged all the way from the airport to the apartment building to save on taxi fare, trudged up the winding staircase. However, the startling noise could hardly rival the assortment of musical notes and drawn-out screams throbbing from the floors above, the waves vibrating so intensely that he was sure they shook the very foundation of the dilapidated building.

A young brunet man gazed out from the doorway, his naturally black haired streaked with blond and red. Squinting slightly in the dark, he peered at Suguru, looking at him up and down, as if assessing the potential threat. His eyes quickly took in the young boy's neatly pressed shirt and slacks and the indifferent expression on his features quickly soured into a frown.

"No, I don't wanna join your church. Go away," the door quickly closed in front of him, and Suguru instinctively stuck a foot between, brandishing the newspaper cutout in front of him.

"Wait, I-"

Unfortunately, the other man did not take the time to glance at the crumpled newspaper but instead sighed and frowned.

"Look, whatever you're preaching I-" the man tried to continue. He was stopped by a politely upheld palm in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I'm Suguru Fujisaki. I'm the one who contacted you about the apartment rental. You must be my new roommate."

"You're Suguru Fujisaki? But- but you're just a kid."

"I have a guarantor. The landlord has already agreed on a rental contract with me," the thirteen-year-old boy barely hesitated as he rummaged into his satchel and drew out a carefully-folded document. "You can see it if you like." Suguru thrust the papers out towards the young man, who looked at it skeptically with a raised eyebrow before reaching out and taking them from the boy's loosened grasp.

"Well, they seem to be in order, all right." The statement was punctuated by a small sigh of resignation after a long pause. Stuffing the papers back at Suguru without caring if they had landed soundly in his grasp or on the floor, he shoved the door open. "Okay, come on in then, and oh, excuse the mess."

The mess was, in Suguru's opinion, far from one. It was a pure wake of disastrous catastrophe in the apartment. Newspaper clippings and magazines were strewn everywhere and empty packets of potato chips and instant ramen packages crowned the glorious heap of rubbish. In the middle, he could make out a faint outline of an abandoned speaker that had probably served an electric guitar until it met its due. Side-stepping the garbage as best as he could, he followed the older man toward the back of the apartment, where his room apparently was.

"You can take this room."

Much to Suguru's relief, the room was actually livable. A bare bed nestled in a corner and a narrow desk hugged the wall, taking up nearly half the tiny room. The plaster was cracked in certain places and there were unsightly yellow stains where someone had once adhered their posters and whatnot on the wall, but he was rather grateful that it was in fact, clean.

"Thank you very much, Mister-"

"Just call me Takeshi," the twenty-something-year-old replied, smiling at him to reveal a jeweled stud on his lip that Suguru had not noticed before. Brandishing his fingers like a gun, he cocked his mock gesture as a wave before leaving the boy with his room. "You really need to loosen up a bit, kid. Make yourself at home."

After Takeshi had left, Suguru walked over to the only window which faced out into a brick alley, tossing his luggage by the side, gazing out for a moment while contemplating his new life before he finally resigned to fatigue and jumped spread-eagle onto the bed, which was very different from the traditional way he slept at home. He would find that out later, when he rolled off the bed for the first few nights, but he would soon get used to it. Even as his eyelids fluttered close, he could hear his roommate plodding around the apartment. If loosening up meant living in a dump like this and having pierced lips, he would rather not venture there. Really.

Two hours later, Suguru jolted up with his heart beating wildly, wondering what had scared him into such a wakened frenzy when he realized that his roommate had decided to listen to some pop rock at its maximum volume.

Clamping a pillow over his ears, he promised himself that he would never, ever end up playing rock music in the near future. Not when the beats and proclamations of undying love from hard-up pop musicians were pounding in his eardrums every time his eyelids attempted to flutter close and his stationery clattered in protest to the ground.

He rolled over, exhausted and somehow unbelieving. The digital numbers shone back to him obediently as a lethargic hand crashed over the light button on the clock.

12:00.

Groaning, he turned back and buried himself in the cocoon of covers, exhausted and apprehensive at the same time. It took his disciplined mind to remind him that it would do him no good knowing that the next day and the day after the next, day by day, that he would have to succumb to this torture.

Time passed, and Suguru Fujisaki learned much about living in the city as well as dealing with the many challenges that came along in life. He found that the pop music that blared through his walls every night until promptly midnight was apparently a blessing in disguise, because in order to escape the daily torture, he took up night classes on music in a nearby college and spent most of his time in the library at his high school, prompting him to be able to move a grade ahead of the other students. He still wrote home once in a while and phone calls were made but rarely, usually only on festive occasions, because money was tight and asking more from his cousin who had already given him so much was beyond his pride.

The young country boy was slowly adapting to the vividly different city life, growing from a stoic child to a confident teenager with the patented angelic smile of the Seguchi family and the delicate frown that came with dealing with the inflexibilities of life.

Everyday, he walked along the busy streets of Tokyo unnoticed, merely one of the many little boys who were on their way to school, clutching the schoolbooks that the parents had forced them to bring and clad in the compulsory uniforms. Then one fateful day, he was on his way to school as usual when there was a clamouring in the streets, the usually monotonous crowd now chatting excitedly as they congregated in the middle of the pavement, heads bobbing in every direction. It appeared that the famous author, Yuki Eiri, was spotted coming out of a bookstore and many fans were now scrambling to get an autographed copy of his new book. Unable to contain his curiosity, Suguru trudged over to the edge of the crowd to see what the fuss was all about, when he was rudely shoved by a young girl brandishing a thick book.

"Ah!" Suguru exclaimed as his battered textbook fell to the ground, splattering in the mud as the unscrupulous fan ran across, stepping inadvertently on the splayed book and soaking it further in the gritty water. Leaning down to pick it up, he found that no heads had turned towards him and every eye was fixated on the charmingly handsome author.

"Please sign my book, Eiri-san!"

"Oh, I can't believe it's him! I'm so lucky to be able to see him with my own eyes!"

Sighing as he examined the sodden textbook, Suguru mentally calculated how much it would take to buy him a new one. Nothing that he could afford. He would just have to dry it and scrape as much mud off it as he could. Shoving the book into his bag vehemently, he threw a rather envious glance at the tall blond author. If only someone would notice him, if only anyone would actually care to throw a glance towards…

Shaking his head to clear himself of the distracting thoughts, Suguru quickly glanced at the time. He was going to be late if he didn't rush to school now.

Cousin Tohma always called every week to check on the young Suguru, and it had been three years now, so it was not a surprise when the phone rang at promptly six o'clock that evening while Suguru was flipping through his textbooks. After all, the musician was a very precise man. But this phone call was to be slightly different from the others.

"You're coming back to Tokyo?" was Suguru's exhilarated reply when his cousin explained everything to him over the phone. Apparently he wanted to come back to Japan to start up a music company of his own, after the band had broken up to accommodate the lead singer's solo performances.

"Hai, I'm also bringing my fiancé back with me," the smile was apparent in Tohma's voice even across the phone line. Clutching the phone, Suguru felt his heart seize slightly at the incriminating word, as if he was jealous or even envious… No, he couldn't. Sensing the long pause at the other end of the line, he hurried to think of a reply.

"Oh, congratulations." His reply was short, clipped, even as he tried vainly to hide the disappointment in his voice.

Tohma Seguchi did not become a great person in business without knowing how to read people, to sense the slightest change in tone or shift in body language as vainly as the other tried to put on a pleasing, unaffected façade. He knew that Suguru was uneasy with this arrangement and he also knew that he would be able to convince his cousin otherwise.

"I'll be able to see you more often then, Suguru-kun, if I'm stationed in Tokyo, ne? Mika-san's a great person, I'll be glad if you could meet her."

"I'll be glad to meet her as well, Tohma-san." Another falsetto, he could hear. Smiling to himself, Tohma decided to play the card that he had been keeping all along.

"Just a question before I go, could you play at our wedding?"

"Play at your wedding?" The reply was exhilarated, exuberant. Just as he expected.

"We do have a string quartet with us, but I thought that you might be able to accompany them for a few songs. Mika and I would love that. After all, where can we find any other more talented players than you? It's just a request, Suguru-kun, if you don't-"

"Of course," Suguru agreed. "Of course, I'll play at your wedding, Tohma-san. Thank you for asking me."

Tohma was caught off-guard by the interruption, but chuckled in appreciation. "Very well then, I'll call you when I get to Tokyo, okay?"

"Hai, goodbye, Tohma-san and thank you so much once again!"

"You're welcome. Take care and goodbye."

It was only when Suguru put down the phone that he realized he meant it well.

The wedding was an outdoor affair, since Tohma had decided that the spring weather in the outskirts of Tokyo would be wasted if not put to good use. Suguru had arrived early to see if he could hurl a helping hand towards his cousin, but he found that it was unnecessary. Instead, he decided to retire to the piano after tiring of mingling with the unknown business contacts and friends of his cousin.

The cream keys of the grand piano felt warm beneath his fingertips and as he played in his uncomfortable western suit, he felt himself relaxing as the silvery melodies wavered over the crowd. A few heads turned in appreciation and Tohma himself smiled gratefully from the bridegroom's corner. Suguru was smiling back when his eyes skimmed over a suited man who somehow caught his eye.

Pausing for a brief moment, he spared a nearly unaffordable moment to glance over at the man who was staring so intently at his cousin in his white tuxedo, a mixture of disappointment and admiration apparent on his face. Something about the stranger was familiar, yet all too unknown. Then, as he was about to turn back towards the black and white keys spanned before him, their eyes met.

Something was there. A huge compelling that drew him to stare at those eyes, yet a sudden urge to turn away. He tried to gaze back at those eyes, but somehow the searing lights of the chandelier seemed too bright, the gaze too intense.

He blinked.

Hazel eyes scanned the crowd once again, but the suited man wasn't found. Shaking his head to clear it from thoughts and imagination, Suguru resumed playing the tinkling notes on the piano, smiling as he saw his cousin twirl handsomely with his lovely wife in his arms.

Suguru was scanning the crowd again, and this time it wasn't for a stranger.

Self-consciously brushing the non-existent lint of the flowing graduation robes he was wearing over his school uniform, Suguru Fujisaki glanced quickly over the sea of elated parents crammed into the wooden-paneled hall. The light murmur and whisperings rose up like a wave and died down again. Men in suits and heavily-made up women were chatting animatedly to each other, and most of his classmates had already been swiped away by their proud parents for the round of back-patting and hair-ruffling; and for those slightly more reserved, a beaming smile that betrayed little but a lot. He, however, was standing by the side of the hall alone, observing the bobbing crowd intently.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw a blur of grey goose feathers flit past the entrance. Silently cursing the line of ushers that were blocking his view, he shifted towards the benches at the back, and there he was, in his prim bowler hat and ridiculous feather trench coat, smiling back at him.

Tohma Seguchi.

It seemed so long ago that he had come down to this bustling city to pursue his dream, and somehow, those four years had passed by too quickly. The music lessons in the college at night and the harrowing years at the pressuring high school seemed so far away now. All that was left were the memories collected to look back upon and laugh at.

"Will the students please move to the front?" The loud announcement shook him back into the chattering reality, and he decided that he should focus his attention on the upcoming ceremony. Straightening his gown, Suguru plodded towards the front after tossing a wave towards his smiling cousin when he realized that he should be smiling as well.

After all, he still had a graduation to attend tomorrow -- to get his music degree.

Author's note: First of all, I apologize for being the world's slowest writer. I realize that when I embark on a challenge to write a novel-length piece, I should be armed with more writing time. For those of you who reviewed, I thank you very much as it has surely brightened up my day. Thank you to Ren for her awesome beta-ing skills as well, though she only did half the beta-ing because I only managed to finished half that day. And to those of you who have been wondering what pairing this shall end up to be, I would like to say that it's a very unusual pairing that I have not seen before in the Gravitation fandom and I see much promise in it, so basically, this piece is to (hopefully) spread the love of the pairing. That is all. Reviews are much appreciated. Thank you!