Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Because of You ❯ chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

“Because of You”

Sequel to: “This I Promise You”

Written by: Chocho

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Summary: A new baby. An autobiography. A funeral. A pregnancy. A shocking discovery and a woman with a grudge. What a poor guy to do?

Chapter summary: Movement in the shadows catches Eiri's attention.

Insert: “About Us”, Brooke

Warning: Angst, m-preg, language, sex

 

***

 

Chapter 16

 

(Later that Night)

 

The sultry voices of the teenaged trio of girls that made up the new pop band signed recently to NG Pro flowed from the small white earphone plugged into Shuichi's left ear. The other one hung loosely down his chest, swinging freely like a pendulum as he bopped his head and tapped his pen against his notebook to the beat of the song.

 

“I see your lips moving but I don't hear nothing/Everybody talking like they really know something about us/But they don't know nothing about us,” the girls of Desert Star sang into his ear.

 

Blindly, he ran his thumb over the sleek white iPod nano and skipped back to the beginning of the song. As the opening music began, the pitter patter of little feet stampeding towards him was clearly heard. Knowing it had been too good to be true; Shuichi stopped the playback and set the iPod down on the notebook next to his pen. He pulled out the earphone from his ear and gathering the cords, piled them on the notebook.

 

“What're you doing?” he asked his ashen haired son as the six-year old stopped outside the baby gate.

 

“Nothing,” the boy answered as he jumped on the press pedal that opened the gate.

 

They had only recently installed the baby gates throughout the house because Kira, at six months, was at the beginning stages of learning how to crawl. All he had to do was learn to stand on his hands and knees and then go forward and not backwards and then Kira would be running them all ragged. Shuichi dreaded the day, especially because when that day finally arrived, he would most likely be confined to bed.

 

“You finish your homework?”

 

“Uh, huh,” came the reply as the boy raced across the room and jumped onto the couch besides his otokasan.

 

“Where's Kei?”

 

“Reading,” Kane answered with a yawn.

 

Shuichi reached out and ruffled his son's hair, smiling sweetly. “Tired?”

 

Kane shook his head in denial.

 

The singer giggled lightly as Kane rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. Reaching out, Shuichi swept aside his drowsy son's bangs. “Why don't you ask Daddy about giving you and Kei a bath?”

 

“Okay,” Kane obeyed as he scooted off the couch and out of the living room.

 

Shuichi opened his mouth to call after his son to close the gate, which both he and his twin brother tended to leave open, but decided against it seeing Kira had been put to bed half an hour ago.

 

Glad to have some peace and quiet once again, Shuichi got himself settled comfortably on the couch and reached for the TV remote but his hands flew to his belly instead. “Ah!” he gasped. He sat back against the cushion, breathing heavily. His wide eyed, startled expression softened. Violet eyes sparkled joyfully. He bit back a smile, his cheeks flushed in excitement. Giggling, tears stung his eyes as he rubbed a hand over his belly. Swaying, Shuichi hummed a little tune. Hugging his unborn children, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the top of the couch.

 

*

 

The night air brushed up against him, nuzzling its cold, wet nose affectionately across his face. Tipping his head back, he blew a stream of smoke into the clear, bitter night. He flicked the elongating stand of ashes over the wooden railing. Leaning up against the railing, the slight breeze fingering his dirty blond hair into his golden hazel eyes, he gazed out over the bare trees and the small studio he had built for his husband at the stars glistening like tiny pricks of light in the endless night.

 

Behind him, he heard the 2 panel white French doors that led into the breakfast nook and the kitchen burst open. In the silence of the night, it sounded like an explosion. Pushing away from the railing, Eiri turned and watched his son stomp out onto the patio, the portable phone extension in his hand.

 

“Daddy!” Kane cried, racing towards him.

 

“What?” Eiri asked blandly.

 

“R-Riku said…!”

 

“Uh, huh,” the writer prodded.

 

“He said that when he, when he comes home…?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“…he'll take Keitaro and me Christmas shopping!”

 

“He will huh?”

 

Kane nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! Can he? Can he?” the boy pleaded, bouncing on his toes.

 

Eiri shrugged. Clamping his cigarette between his lips and reaching for the phone, he told his son, “We'll see.”

 

“Okay!”

 

He heard his adopted son's chuckles over the phone.

 

“Can you take me a bath now?” (1)

 

Eiri cocked n eyebrow at the boy's ill grammar. “Yes, I'll `take' you a bath now.”

 

“Ya!”

 

“Go on up. I'll be there in a minute.”

 

“Okay!” Kane handed his father the phone then turned tail and vanished inside the house, stopping long enough to make sure the door was firmly shut behind him.

 

Eiri smiled, shaking his head in amusement. Sighing, he held the phone to his ear. “Alright. I gotta go give the brats a bath.”

 

“Okay,” his son replied from the other side of the planet. “Ugh! I've gotta go to class anyway,” he grumbled.

 

Eiri shook his head in disbelief at his son's dejected tone. There were three more weeks until the semester ended and Riku was acting like a child being forced to eat brussel sprouts.

 

Riku sighed heavily over the phone. “School sucks,” he complained.

 

“There's only three weeks left, Riku.”

 

“I know,” the college student agreed, “but I got two five page papers I need to write for Monday and three seven to ten page papers due by December fifteenth…” Riku sighed again. “I wish it was over already.”

 

It was Eiri's turn to sigh. Kids, he thought. He cannot just be proud of the fact that he was one of the first in their family to even go to college, let alone as an exchange student in New York. No, he has to bitch and moan about every little thing just like his mama.

 

Riku cursed silently. “I gotta go. I'm going to be late.”

 

“Alright…hey!” Eiri called, crushing his cigarette butt in the empty coffee can.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Make sure you call Shuichi.”

 

“I will,” Riku sighed.

 

Eiri could picture him rolling his eyes. “And you better look into-“

 

“I know,” Riku interrupted impatiently. “I know.”

 

“Riku,” Eiri warned

 

“I am! There's a couple I'm looking into.”

 

“Well, you better hurry and decide. The longer you procrastinate-“

 

“I know! Jeez!”

 

“Riku, I'm just saying-“

 

“I'll book a flight to Kyoto this weekend and email you the flight details, okay?”

 

“Good. Make sure you do. The boys and Shuichi really miss you.”

 

“Awe!” Riku cooed.

 

“And I,” Eiri smirked, “can use you help around the house now that the brat is pregnant.” His smile widened when he heard Riku grumble. He chuckled lightly.

 

“Oh! Speaking of which…!”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Do you know yet?” Riku asked eagerly.

 

Eiri dropped his brow in confusion. “Know what?”

 

“The gender!”

 

“What gender?”

 

Riku sighed in disgust. “The babies! Do you know what gender the babies are?”

 

“Oh!” Eiri's eyes sparkled

 

“Mama said two of them were definitely identical?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“And! And!” Riku was at the edge of his seat.

 

Eiri smirked, letting the silence linger.

 

Riku groaned impatiently. It was another trait he inherited from Shuichi. Eiri was glad that their son had at least inherited his brains.

 

Eiri chuckled lightly under his breath. He was having so much fun teasing Riku, just because he made it so easy.

 

The writer heard his eldest son growl irately. “Da~ad!” the college student whined.

 

“Wha~at?” Eiri mocked.

 

“Are they boys? Or girls?” Riku repeated.

 

“…Yep,” the romance author smirked.

 

“…Uh…wha?” came the confused reply.

 

Suddenly slicing through the stillness of the night came a muffled yell from the house. Holding the phone away from his mouth, he glanced over his shoulder at the house.

 

“What was that?” his son asked.

 

“Kane,” Eiri answered.

 

Moments later, the back door opened and Shuichi poked his head out into the chilly night air. He shivered violently in reaction. “Hey! Da~ddy,” Shuichi called.

 

“What?”

 

“The boys are waiting for you to give them a bath.”

 

“Huh?” He blinked stupidly. “Oh, yeah.” He had nearly forgotten. “I'll be in in a sec.”

 

“Okay,” Shuichi replied. He disappeared back into the house, firmly closing the back door behind him.

 

Eiri lifted the phone back to his ear and turned to stare out over the back yard. Movement in the shadows caught his attention and raised his suspicion. “Hold on a sec, Riku,” he told the boy in distraction.

 

“Sure.”

 

Dropping his arm to his side, he stepped towards the stairs that led out into the yard and stared fixedly at the far end of the yard, but he could not make out anything in the near black void beyond the studio. Squinting, he tried to penetrate the seemingly endless abyss. He took another step forward, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lightless expanse. He started, swallowing a yelp, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye within the shadows.

 

Someone was out there. A thought entered his mind. Could it be…?

 

He brought the phone up and without taking his eyes from the shadow filled corner where he had seen movement not a second before, told his son he had to go- that something came up- and that he would call him back later. Without waiting for or hearing Riku's reply, if he made any, Eiri ended the long distance phone call and walked across the back lawn with the phone gripped tightly in his hand. He was not sure what he expected to find or what good the phone could be if he happened upon the intruder, but he continued onward anyway, determined to put an end to this nonsense once and for all.

 

*

 

In the moderately sized studio apartment not far from NYU that his parents paid for and furnished, Riku stared down at the phone in his hand in bewilderment. What had that been about?

 

Shaking his head, he thumbed the phone off and set the extension in the cradle on the counter. Reaching for his mug, he took a sip of the coffee he had poured half an hour ago and grimaced. It had grown cold. Hopping off the stool, he carried the mug to the sink. Pouring the brown liquid down the drain, he turned the faucet on and washed the mug in the warm water then set it upside down on the dish rack to dry. Grabbing the dish rag lying neatly besides the sink, he dried his hands as his eyes roamed about the apartment. Refolding the towel, he tossed it lightly back onto the counter and exited the kitchen into the living room, pushing the stool under the counter on his way.

 

Rounding the coffee table, he reached for the remote. His brow burrowed in thought.

 

[“Are they boys? Or girls?” Riku repeated impatiently.

 

“…Yep,” the romance author smirked.]

 

If the triplets Mama was carrying were both boys and girls- as his father had so graciously confirmed- then it looked as if his father was going to have the daughter he always wanted, or daughters if it turned out the twins were the girls.

 

Chuckling, Riku sat down on the sofa, remote in hand, thinking about how strange it was for him, a senior in college, to have six year old twin brothers, a six month old brother and three more siblings on the way. He was old enough to be their father-God forbid.

 

Now that was a scary thought. Him with kids. He was pretty sure that Shuichi would not mind becoming a grandfather, but Riku was positive Eiri would kill him. While he would like to get married and have children of his own some day, that day was not in his immediate future. After he graduates in May with his BA in East Asian Studies and a minor in Creative Writing, he planned on going to graduate school to get his Master's degree and then possibly go on to earn his Doctorate. Marriage and having a family just did not fit into any of that. But then again, things happen. You never know just what the future may bring.

 

With his thumb on the red power button, Riku pointed the remote at the television. Out of habit, he sought out the clock sitting on the corner bookcase. He blinked stupidly at the red numbers glaring back at him, unable to comprehend what he was looking at. As the numbers changed, Riku blinked long and slow.

 

“8 o'clock,” he read out loud in an even tone.

 

Something was nagging at him at the back of his mind, kicking the back of his seat repeatedly trying to garner his attention as he drove on the Thruway during rush hour. Wasn't there somewhere he had to be? He knew there was something he should be doing, but for the life of him, he could not remember what the something was. It gnawed at him annoyingly. It was like trying to-

 

The thought was cut short as a sudden realization hit him. He gasped loudly in panic, his eyes going wide. “Fuck!” he cursed soundly. Riku tossed the remote control aside. “I'm gonna be late!” Scrambling off the couch, he raced across the studio to the front door, swiping his bag off the floor by the island counter on the way. Swinging the door wide, the college student vanished out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

 

The studio was left in empty silence.

 

But moments later, the apartment door burst open and a panting Riku stepped inside. His spiky hair was mussed, his face flushed and his clothing askew. Setting his book bag down on the floor, he grabbed his sneakers that were sitting neatly besides the door along the wall and as he tried to stuff his feet into them without untying the laces, he grabbed his bag and rushed out of the apartment, shutting the apartment door behind him, the whole time muttering angrily to himself.

 

*

 

With the phone still held lightly but securely in his hand, Eiri stepped onto the patio. He rested his free hand on the newel and glanced over his shoulder. The backyard was still, but most of all it was empty. The writer's golden eyes scanned the shadow strewn yard trying to scrutinize the darkness. He was not sure what he had expected to find, but after a quick search of the backyard turned up nothing, he was not as relieved as he knew he should be. Maybe he was being paranoid. Or maybe he was just being cautious. What he did know was that after receiving surveillance photos anonymously in the mail of his family for the past three months, he was not going to be able to rest easy until the culprit behind these incidents was caught. With a frown, he looked over the yard one last time before crossing the patio to the back door.

 

He grabbed the polished brass door handle and swung open the door, but then an uneasy feeling came over him. He glanced out into the backyard suddenly feeling as if he were being watched. Though he could see nothing in the darkness the night created, he could feel eyes on him from somewhere out there.

 

He had to remember to talk to Seguchi in the morning about having motion sensor lights installed. They already had security cameras stationed around the house and grounds and had one of the best security systems, but the addition of the lights would be an added benefit, especially after what he received in the mail this afternoon. It was also probably why he was so jumpy. Unfortunately, there was not much more he could do tonight. All he could do was wait and see what tomorrow brings. Frustrated and annoyed, Eiri gave the yard one final glance before stepping into the house and shutting the door firmly behind him.

 

*

 

A figure appeared from out of the shadows at the far corner of the yard. A face hidden within the veiled confined of a hoodie lifted and turned to glance at the darkened house. Hardened eyes flashed. A low snarl emanated from within the shadows. Taking a step backwards, the figure melted into the shadows.

 

***

 

(1) My little sisters say this.