The Rose Line AU

Summary: A Demon's pact gives Tohma Seguchi powers of foresight, immortality & passionate enslavement, allowing him to bend Eiri, Tatsuha, Hiro & Ryu to his desires. Enter Shuichi hoping to break the spell & free the man he loves. Gothic Romance.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation. It's owned by Maki Murakami.

A/N: This story was written as a challenge to myself to see if I could do a gothic romance and I actually saw it through. I had an excellent time writing it and I hope you enjoy it! LIME ALERT!

Inside Summary: At a remote house that is surrounded by roses, a pact with the Demon King allows Tohma of the House of Seguchi, three distinct abilities: the ability of future sight, immortality and the ability to enslave his heart's desire. Tohma Seguchi, has used his abilities to gain both wealth and power for the House of Seguchi as well as the enslaved love and heated touch of his heart's desire, Eiri Uesugi. However, such power comes at a price. Break the rules of the pact, set forth by the Demon King in the form of a poem and lose everything, including Tohma's soul.

Shuichi Shindou, an up and coming singer summoned by Tohma to give a command performance at the house, enters hoping to break the spell and set Eiri, the man whom he loves and Tohma's other passionate captives—Tatsuha, Hiro and Ryuichi, free.

Is there more to Tohma's invitation than meets the eye?

Do not cross the line of roses...

To the north, by the sea...

Lest you lose your prescient sight...

And never again the future see...

Do not cross the line of roses...

That due south, guards family...

Lest you gain your mortal core...

And reign immortal nevermore...

Do not cross the line of roses...

To the east, beyond the lake...

Lest your captured heart break free...

And never again their love to take...

DO NOT CROSS THE WEST ROSE LINE...

NOR ANY LEAF UPON ITS TREE...

LEST ALL OUR DEALS COME UNDONE...

AND PAYMENT COME DUE FOR ETERNITY ...

A Demon's gifts are never free…

Prologue:

It was a concert hall--a large, ornately decorated affair with murals of angels and heavenly hosts painted upon the ceiling. Gilded chandeliers and candelabras lit the interior with hundreds of white candles, casting soft, glowing light throughout, illuminating the well-dressed audience that was seated and awaiting the performance.

The opening strains of music began to play and the audience quieted down as the heavy red stage curtains were drawn open.

A large, full-bloomed rose with deep pink petals stood center stage before the orchestral pit. Within the circle of a bright spotlight, the rose lifted its blossom head and sang in a sweet, tenor voice a sad song of love and longing; its emotional vocals punctuated by the gentle swaying of its stem and two large leaves which curled and clasped like hands.

Behind the rose, the stage scenery was that of a high, snow capped mountain range and the distant lights of a city nestled in the valley far below. Superimposed over the mountain scene was the shadow of a compass which didn't point north, but rather west.

Seated in the front row of the audience, in direct line of sight of the rose, was a sword and in the seat to its right, a small, plain gold engagement ring. The sword, unsheathed and sitting upright, had a black blindfold tied around its sharp tip and beside it, the ring sat nestled on a white linen handkerchief which was placed upon the seat cushion.

The rose finished its song and the audience sprang to its feet, clapping and whistling and cheering. Not a single person there had a face…

Tohma awakened with a shuddering start, covered in sweat. He blinked several times and forced his breathing to slow. As he wiped his brow, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the room.

In the dying firelight, he turned to look at the sleeping figure by his side.

"How interesting," he said softly.

One month later…

"He is found, My Lord." The man on bended knee before the desk bowed his head as he addressed Tohma.

Tohma Seguchi sat in a high back leather chair behind a massive, elaborate desk. He sat there staring off into space, gently stroking a small box he had cradled in his arms.

"Do they know?" he asked after a moment.

"Almost assuredly."

"Bring him, then. Mustn't disappoint them."

The man got to his feet and pushed his glasses up on his nose as he smiled.

"As you wish." He checked the time on his pocket watch, then turned and left the room.

Tohma carefully set the box down on the desk.

"I'll be waiting."

At the same time, on the outskirts of the sleeping town below, a covered carriage burned down the cobblestone streets, whipping the horses into a frenzy as it and its two occupants started their furious trek west.

Chapter 1: The History Lesson

"You're a hit!" Suguru was beaming.

"You really think so?" Shuichi smiled back at his friend and manager as he sat before his dressing room mirror.

"Are you serious? You can still hear the applause." They could. Even now after three encores, the loud cheers and whistles could still be heard backstage. "And of course, there are these." Suguru held up a bunch of long stemmed red roses.

"There are others naturally, but these are from HIM!"

Shuichi smiled. "He's sent them every night! What am I going to do with them all?" He looked around the dressing room. Every nook and cranny was covered in flowers.

"We should all be so lucky!" Suguru said. "If this keeps up, I'll have to request a bigger dressing room in your contract!" He rummaged around for a something to put them in. Not finding anything he said, "Tell you what, I'll go find a vase. YOU find space for them!"

"Sure, leave me with the hard job!" Shuichi playfully tossed a towel at his friend as he left the room. When Suguru was gone, he sighed.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the attention his suitors gave him. They were all handsome and some of them exceptionally well endowed (in all ways). It's just that he didn't feel for them what most claimed they felt for him. In the back of his mind and in the deep recesses of his dreams, Shuichi felt like someone was waiting for him. It was a feeling that he couldn't explain or even had evidence to give credence to, but somehow, he knew that love had plans for him. He lay awake many a night feeling alone and sad, even when he had a full bed, waiting and longing for those plans. And so far, those plans had only materialized as just a ghost that graced his dreams…a ghost so familiar…

He turned to the mirror to begin taking off his make up when the door opened.

"That was fast," he said not turning around.

"Shuichi Shindou?" An unfamiliar voice addressed him. Shuichi looked up in the mirror.

Two people had entered the room and were standing right behind him. One, a woman with sad brown eyes and long brunette hair peeking through the sides of her traveling cloak's deep hood, stood quietly watching him in the mirror.

As intriguing as she was, it was her companion that caught Shuichi's eye. Caught it and scared it! The companion, a tall man who had bright blonde hair swept up into a messy ponytail that trailed down the back of his waistcoat, stared at him with one intense blue eye—the other was covered by a black eye patch which he wore over his head. Below that covered eye, a deep scar etched its way down his face, almost to his chin. In his hand he held a very large and Shuichi could only assume, very sharp sword.

Shuichi spun around. "What do you want?" His eyes darted back to the sword. If Suguru should come back now…

"We're not here to hurt you." The man sheathed the weapon. "We were unsure if you were alone."

"We need to speak with you," the woman said urgently. "We don't have long."

"Alright," Shuichi said slowly.

The two sat down on a small bench near him. The woman pulled back her hood. "My name is Mika Uesugi and this is—"

"Call me K," the man interrupted. He sat the sheathed sword across his lap and smiled grimly at Shuichi.

"We've traveled a great distance to speak with you and we almost didn't make it in time." Mika looked around the small room nervously.

"In time for what?" Shuichi was still looking at the sword.

"There is a man coming to see you, a man by the name of Sakano. He represents the House of Seguchi. Are you familiar with that name?"

"Seguchi?" Shuichi looked up. "The same Seguchi family that is advisor to the Emperor?"

"This emperor, the emperor before him, the emperor before him and on and on, yes, the same," K said. "The same Seguchi family that owns shipping companies, governs towns, runs ambassadorships to distant lands, forever and infinity. Wealthy and powerful, political and elite, they have their bloody fingers on the pulse of everything." He spat on the floor. "I spit on the name and curse the family!"

"This man, Sakano," Mika said, wresting the conversation back on target, "is coming to invite you to perform for the head of the Seguchi House. In fact, he's on his way here as we speak."

"Ok, so this has what to do with the two of you?" Shuichi's eyes had returned to the sword which K was gripping with whitened knuckles.

"Actually," she replied, "it has more to do with you. What do you know of the House of Seguchi, other than what we've just discussed?"

"Just that. That they're immensely wealthy and very powerful." Shuichi answered very carefully.

"Do you know anything of how they amassed that wealth and power?" Mika pressed him. She'd seen the look in his eyes and knew what he wasn't speaking.

"You mean the pact?" Shuichi rolled his eyes. "If that's what you mean, then I have nothing to say."

"Then you know of it?" she asked.

"Of course I know of it. Who doesn't? It's a tale that's been told for generations."

"Yes, the TALE." Mika spat the word like it was foul tasting. "The TALE, as it were, of how centuries ago, a member of the Seguchi Clan made a bargain with the King of Demons to amass fortune, power and some say immortality in exchange for his soul."

"Yes…what of it?" Shuichi didn't like where this was going. He looked at the door hoping Suguru would hurry.

"A tale that I imagine you know by heart, considering who you are." Mika and K watched him closely.

Shuichi closed his eyes and sighed. Even the name Shindou couldn't mask his familial ties.

"So you know then?" he asked quietly.

"You are a direct descendant of the clan against whom the blood pact with the Demon King was made. You know the story. The Seguchi Clan was a poor family indentured to the Orishii Clan. Jealous of their wealth and power, a Seguchi made the pact and all that was Orishii--money, land and power, became Seguchi. You are descended from the Orishii on your mother's side."

"So? I am a Shindou, not an Orishii and if that's what you're looking for, then you've come to the wrong place. I don't believe in Demon Kings or fairy tales. I believe in what I can see and what I can touch, and I don't believe an old wives' tale counts as either of those." He turned back to the mirror. "If you'll excuse me, I have people waiting for me."

"But it's true!" Mika pressed forward and turned him back to face her by his shoulders. "It's very true! I have seen it with my own eyes, just as K has."

K said nothing. He sat watching Shuichi silently.

"To the east, two days journey from here, is a small town by the sea. It is there overlooking that town, where the head of Seguchi lives. He lives there in a house at the outskirts of town, on a cliff overlooking the sea. A house surrounded by roses…"

"Enough!" Shuichi banged his hands on the table. "I KNOW all about the roses, how the Orishii were famed far and wide for their knowledge and breeding of rare roses. I know that to the east is where the Orishii resided until the "pact" and then, penniless and powerless, they were driven out by the Seguchi. I already know this story!" Shuichi glared at them. "I am SHINDOU not ORISHII. Whatever you've gotten yourselves into has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME!"

Mika swayed and sagged back down on the bench. Tears came and fell, wetting her lap as her head bent down.

"He has my brothers," she said softly. K comforted her while she pulled out a white linen handkerchief to wipe her eyes.

"He's holding my two brothers captive and won't let them go." She took a moment to get herself together.

"I was once engaged to the head of Seguchi House. I thought he loved me. I thought it'd be forever." A short, dark laugh escaped her. "Forever…"

"It was during that time that I found out about the pact and the truth of it. Tohma Seguchi, the head of Seguchi House, was going to kill me after I found out, but my brothers offered themselves in exchange for my life." She wiped her eyes. "That's what he wanted all along. He never loved me. He never wanted me. I suspect he was never even going to kill me. He was only after my brother, Eiri." She sighed. "Poor Tatsuha, he was just unfortunate enough to be my brother as well."

She continued. "I was allowed to leave with my life if my brother, Eiri stayed and Tatsuha wouldn't leave him behind. Now he keeps them both there at the estate for his…amusement."

She looked at Shuichi. "I couldn't leave them there, so I hired the best sword master in all of Japan to get them back. Tohma lives alone save for those he holds captive and a few servants from the town who come at dawn and leave at dusk, so I figured that it would be easy for a sword master such as K to go in and get them out."

K looked at Shuichi. "Obviously it didn't work." He pointed to his covered eye. "I was given this." He ran his finger down the scar. "As well as this for my trouble. And on top of that, he took my Hiroshi and my Ryuichi."

Unlike Mika, his eye didn't hold sadness. It burned with hatred.

"Brothers?" asked Shuichi.

"No. Ryuichi is my ward. He's lived with my family and then with me since his parents were killed in a fire when he was a small boy. And Hiroshi…" the eye closed. "Hiro is my apprentice…and my lover. After I was wounded, both Hiro and Ryu were captured and taken to the Seguchi Estate—as sort of an insult to injury, a punishment for my interference so to speak. They've been there ever since."

"So you see," said Mika, "you're our only hope. He knows us and we can't get anywhere near the place--particularly while he holds the lives of our loved ones in his hands. But you are going to be invited in and…"

"And what?" Shuichi definitely didn't like where this was going. "What is it that you think I can do? I'm a singer, not a fighter!"

"You're Orishii," said K. "And you're invited. Only those with invitation get near the House of Seguchi. I AM a fighter and a damn good one at that. My skill is unmatched in nearly all of Japan and even I couldn't bring my Hiro back. What will bring our families back to us won't be steel or strength. It will be an end to the reign of Seguchi. And that will end the spell."

"Spell?" It just kept getting worse. "What spell?"

Mika answered. "Tohma has an enchantment on my brothers as well as Hiro and Ryuichi. Though the gate to the estate is always open, they can't leave of their own free will."

Shuichi licked his lips. "Ok, let me get this straight. You want me to accept an invitation to sing for the most powerful man in Japan, who comes from the most powerful family in Japan, which has been the most powerful family in Japan for the last several centuries, give or take a year or two--a man who may or may not be in league with the demonic forces of hell and you want me to defeat this man, who couldn't be defeated by the best sword master in all of Japan, and free your families AND if I have time, on the way out, end the spell and the reign of the entire House? Did I leave out anything?"

Shuichi smiled, finally understanding. "Suguru put you up to this didn't he? That's why he's not here right now." Shuichi laughed, relieved. "Good one--you actually had me going! He's a good manager and an even better friend, but we really have to work on his sense of humor!" He turned back toward the mirror. "The eye was a very nice touch by the way."

K grabbed Shuichi by the neck and spun him back around. He lifted the eye patch and shoved his face into Shu's, getting up close and very personal.

"Does this look like a fucking carnival trick!" Shuichi stared wide-eyed and harsh breathed. A ragged, empty socket stared back.

"You have an opportunity to end what has been a plague on our land for longer than anyone can remember and you make jokes!"

Shuichi recoiled. "What do you expect me to do? You show up out of the blue spouting off about spells and demons and hostages and how I'm your only hope to do what apparently God and at least FIVE able bodied men haven't been able to do for how long? And you expect me to do this how?"

Shuichi shook his head. Where the hell was Suguru when he needed him?

"The pact made with the Demon King has limitations." Mika sat up and edged closer to Shuichi. "He can't leave the property. The house is surrounded by roses in all directions, a sign and reminder of the fact that he lives on Orishii land and that Orishii blood was spilled for him to obtain what he has today. He must stay within their boundaries, which he does most carefully. See, as long as the rules of the pact are kept, Tohma is invulnerable and the reign and the enchantment continue. If you could somehow make him break one of the rules, then the pact will be void and the spell will be broken."

She handed him a large envelope. "This contains a copy of the pact set forth by the Demon King himself. I committed it to memory when I found out about it." Mika teared again. "Before he stole my family."

"It also contains a layout of the property," K said. "And here." He unbuttoned his long waistcoat to reveal yet another sword strapped to his thigh and a large dagger tucked into his waistband. He handed the dagger to Shuichi.

"I don't know if it'll help, but take it. At the very least, you could get it to Hiro. If the spell allows him, he'll recognize it and know that you've met with me." He turned to Mika. "We should go. He'll be here any minute. We've already stayed far too long."

Shuichi looked at the dagger. "I don't even know if I'll be invited," he said. "And after this, even if I am, I certainly don't know if I'll accept it!"

K laughed. "You'll be invited. We've been watching Sakano for far too long to think otherwise. As for acceptance, you won't be given a choice in the matter. For whatever reason, Tohma has his eyes on you. And whatever the House of Seguchi wants, the House of Seguchi gets. Go through your Orishii history books and see if I'm right."

They stood and walked to the door, leaving the envelope and the dagger in Shuichi's hands.

"We'll be staying in the village near the estate until we hear from you. Look for us at the Sea Rose Inn on the outskirts at the western edge of the town." K left, his sword back in his hand.

Mika turned with her head down. "Please. I know we're asking much of you. But, you're all we have left. Even if you can't break the spell, please, just let us know if they're alright." She walked out the door.

"I'm begging you." The plea floated softly through the closed door and Shuichi stared at the now empty space where his life had just been turned upside down.

The door opened.

"Guess who I just bumped into!" Suguru was all grins. And all of those grins fell when he saw his friend, pale and anxious at the dressing table.

"Shuichi! What's wrong?" He rushed to the table and set the vase of flowers down. "Tell me!"

Shuichi looked up at his friend. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Shuichi glossed over many of the details while telling Suguru what had happened.

"That's it! We're writing a security clause into your contract!" Suguru gritted his teeth. "Escorts, armed transports, the works!" Shuichi listened to his young manager ramble on about ninja bodyguards and eventually poison darts, food tasters and contract riders requesting maces in every room. Shu let him vent. It was no stopping him when he got like that.

After that, Suguru had insisted on escorting him to his waiting coach. Instead, Shuichi sent his friend off to tell his flower-sending admirer that he would not be joining him that night. Shuichi wasn't sure what the rest of the night held in store—hopefully nothing. But on the chance something was about to happen, he didn't want to involve anyone else in this bizarre turn of events. Suguru eventually complied, but only on the promise that Shuichi would wait for him inside the coach and that the two of them would leave together.

And so it was that he walked alone, past a few late hanging well wishers and fans to his waiting coach in front of the theater. Deep in thought he waited while the coachman got down to open the door.

"Mr. Shuichi Shindou?" a voice asked softly behind him.

Shuichi turned around to see a slight, dark haired man wearing a long dark travel coat standing there. The man smiled and held forth a bunch of long stemmed red roses.

"My name is Sakano and I've come a long way to meet you, Sir." Still smiling he pushed up his glasses.

"I represent the House of Seguchi and I need to speak with you on an urgent matter."

End Chapter 1: The History Lesson