Author’s Notes: Well~…we’ve
got a crazy Hyde, crazy nation, a daughter we never knew Gackt had…yeah. Now you get to meet another original
character! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
shat·ter
(shăt’Ər)
His eyes fluttered open before he winced
and snapped them shut with a groan as the sun assaulted him. The arms around his waist tightened and he
sighed, rolling over. Opening his eyes
once more, he gazed at the sleeping man next to him. Cha smiled and played with his lover’s dark
bangs. Leaning forward, he pressed his
lips against the other’s skin in chaste butterfly kisses before twisting out of
the other man’s arms and sitting at the edge of the bed. No sooner had he stood than the
supposedly-sleeping Saito lunged out of bed, grabbed the blond man around the
ribs, and tackled him back to the bed.
Cha cried out as he was pressed into the sheets, lip-locked with the
younger man once again.
When they parted, Cha heaved a sigh,
throwing an arm over his eyes. “Saito…I
have to go to rehearsal!”
“I just got back from
“Yes, I’m quite sure, whether you just got
back or not. I’m band leader,
remember? That means I have to go to
every rehearsal--”
“Unless you’re
sick.”
“…unless I’m sick.”
“So call in sick!”
“Saito…!”
“Fine.” The other man sat back on his haunches, arms
folded over his chest, and pouted.
Cha sighed and rolled his eyes, heaving
himself off the bed. Walking towards the
door, he called over his shoulder, “Though…I do have to take a shower…”
The predatory smirk was all the warning he
got before he was chased into the bathroom by an over-exuberant lover.
*****
He
was in the car. Driving, obviously, but
to what point or why, he wasn’t sure. A
sense of urgency overwhelmed him. No
matter how hard he pushed, he couldn’t get the car to go faster.
He
needed it to go faster.
He
had to get away.
So
maybe he was running from something
rather than to it. But what was he running from? A quick look in the rear view mirror was
enough of an answer.
All
he could see was the grill of a very big truck…if you could call it a truck.
But
that quick look was all that Fate needed.
His car was hit from the side by another car. A green one. He rolled and spun. Glass shattered. There was the squeal of twisting metal. Blood flowed in his mouth. And there was the truck.
A
hand grabbed his arm. In his hysterics,
he turned. The man beside him smiled.
“Saito?”
“Don’t
worry. It’ll be quick.” The man stretched a hand forward, hiding his
eyes to make the world go black—
Ren
awoke with a cry, the alarm on the bedside table shrieking. Rubbing his eyes with a vengeance, the
bassist shuddered, “Fuck…”
*****
Rehearsal had gone well – no mishaps, no
arguments, no computer viruses shorting the systems – and Cha was (almost
miraculously) coming home on time.
Bounding into the building, he flashed his ID to the guard on duty and
practically waltzed into the elevator.
Saito had promised that if he came home on time, he’d treat him to
something special. Whatever that
“something special” was, Cha didn’t care.
As long as it was from Saito.
Because he loved
Saito. With all his heart and
soul.
So when he got to his floor, he didn’t
notice that the door was unlocked. When
he got inside, he didn’t notice the knife in the sink.
…But when he got into the bedroom, he did
notice Saito’s body thrown haphazardly across the sheets.
And that was when Cha screamed.
*****
Cha couldn’t be blamed for the death –
there was, thankfully, a guard on duty when he entered the building and thanks
to Gackt’s paranoid idea of putting a spare security
camera in the light above the studio entrance (gone unbeknownst to the powers
that be), the guitarist was released free of charge.
But that didn’t matter. Saito was dead. And the man who did it was still out there.
Everyone agreed that it wasn’t safe to be
alone that night...no one wanted to be alone that night anyway. So back at the Camui
house, after the sun had set, after Kai had long since been tucked in by her doting
father, after drinks had been served, after beds had been made…they talked.
“Okay…has anyone received any sort of
threat or condemnation or something that could suggest as to why this happened
or if it could possibly happen again?”
They all shook they’re heads.
“Then what the fuck is going on?”
“What do you consider a threat?” Gackt
murmured, staring into the glass of wine, swirling the liquid to see the
transparent legs clinging to the inside of the crystal.
“…I was thinking along the lines of the
‘Join us or die’ variety.”
“Well, none of those, no.”
“What did they send you?”
From under his bangs, he glanced over at
his co-producer. Cha sat in silence,
staring off into space. With a sigh,
Gackt continued. “They sent a
report…saying that they suggested we join the new
From on the loveseat with Mei, Ren questioned, “You don’t think they’ve got anything
to do with this…do you?”
“It’s rather suspicious, isn’t it? Why so many artists in such a short amount of
time? Why so many of their family? They’re friends?”
“No.”
The others turned to Cha, surprised to
hear his voice…after all, it had been almost a week since they had heard it.
“Cha?”
“No, that can’t be the reason…they
wouldn’t do that…they wouldn’t kill Saito…”
Standing, Gackt walked to the other side of
the room, settling down on the couch next to his near-catatonic band
leader. “Cha…” The other lapsed into silence. Gackt sighed and continued, “What if…what if
I reply to them. What if we go ahead and
join…what if it’ll stop all this--”
“And what if it doesn’t stop this?” All eyes flicked back to Cha. “What if they aren’t connected? And who says that even if we DO join that
someone else isn’t going to die?”
“No one but--”
“No ‘but’s Gaku. Saito’s
not dead because of you, so stop being so fucking
cavalier. I won’t have it. Neither would he – he loved your music too
much. He’s dead because of me. Because I told him I loved him. Because that’s all they
need to break us. Love for
someone or something other than the State.
And that’s all.”
*****
He
was in a plane. A big
plane. A
passenger plane. But he was the
only one in it. Where was he going? Why was he going there? Why was he alone? A sense of urgency overwhelmed him. He twisted in his seat, anxious. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
He
was running from something again. There
was something vile on the ground. Something evil. He
was running from that evil thing down there.
He
had to get away.
The
plane took a sudden dive, causing his stomach to flip up into his throat before
shuddering violently. Air masks dropped
from the ceiling. Looking out the window
he saw the engine burst into flames. Behind
him he heard more than saw the tail of the plane fall away.
A
hand grabbed his arm. In his hysterics,
he turned. The man beside him smiled.
“Saito?”
“Don’t
worry. It’ll be quick.” The man stretched a hand forward, hiding his
eyes to make the world go black—
Ren
awoke kicking and screaming, twisting in the blankets, and fell out of the
bed. Yuri stared down at him. “You okay?”
The bassist looked up at her before letting out a shudder and wrapping
his arms around himself, curling into a ball on the floor.
*****
It rang twice.
“Hello?”
“Yoshiki-san?”
“Aa?”
“It’s Gaku.”
“Gaku. I—it’s—ano—how are you? How’s Kai?”
A pause.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need favor…a few
actually.”
“Gaku, you know that anything
of mine is at your disposal.”
“I thought I should ask
before I unintentionally take advantage of your generosity.”
“What is it you need? Are you being tapped?”
A small laugh, then, “No –
this is the American line. They don’t know it…not yet.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“I need ten thousand USD.”
There was stunned
silence. “You’re not going to go buying
more cell phones, are you?”
“No, it’s not that.” He sounded tired. “I need to bribe a couple of airport
guards. And I need a birth
certificate. Do understand?”
“I think so. The bribe for sure, but why
the certificate? You don’t need
me for that…unless you’re planning on…but why?”
“I’m not going.”
“Ah. But…still, why…?”
“It’ll be suspicious
enough. But we need the paperwork to get
her out.”
“When do you need it?”
“As soon as
humanly possible. Sooner.”
“I’ll do my utmost best.”
“Thanks.”
And he hung up.
*****
He
was in the house, sitting in the living room.
There was a sense of peace. Yuri
wasn’t home. He was alone.
But
that was okay.
There
were flames enveloping the walls, the television, the books and magazines on
the shelves, melting the plastic covers of the CDs and DVDs, swallowing the
furniture whole.
But
that was okay too.
The
fire licked at his arms and legs.
It
hurt. But that was okay too.
Because he really wasn’t alone.
Striding
towards him, Saito stood in the flames.
Reaching out a hand, he hid Ren’s eyes to make
the world go black—
“Don’t
worry. It’ll be quick.”
Ren
awoke lying flat on his back, tears streaming down the side of his face as
silent sobs wracked his body.
*****
Ren stepped out of the car, pulling his
keys out of his pocket. Yuri moved to
follow him but he waved her back. “I
just need to grab some things and I’ll be right back.”
“You do realize we’re parked illegally,
right?” Nao asked from the driver’s seat.
“Yeah, I know. It’ll only take a few minutes and the meter
maids don’t show up till after hours anyway.”
“He has to go get his porn stash,”
whispered Yuri.
Shaking his head, Ren headed into the
apartment building. He caught an
elevator and as the car moved, he let his head fall back against the steel
siding. He had a migraine. A fucking migraine. And it wasn’t going away. Rubbing his temples, he sighed. It had been a long day and all he wanted to
do was sleep, but he had promised Nao and Yuri he
would spend the night at their place because they had to go over a few riffs
and chords before rehearsal tomorrow. He
just HAD to promise, didn’t he?
And the incessant ‘ping’ing
of the elevator as it ascended wasn’t helping much either.
With a curse, Ren stepped out from between
the sliding doors onto his floor, flipping through his key ring. Upon
entering his apartment, however, Ren stopped in his tracks. A shiver ran down his spine. He looked around the apartment. Nothing looked out of place, but looks
could be deceiving. Taking another
tentative step into the familiar living room, he shuddered, the hairs on the
back of his neck standing on edge. There
was a rustling of fabric behind him and the short man whirled around to face
the intruder.
“Hello Ren.”
He gasped --
Outside, Yuri screamed as the building exploded.
*****
Cha took the stairs three at a time – quite a stretch
for his short legs – and consciously tried not to think of how high up he had
already climbed. He had just missed the
elevator yet again and this information could not wait for another moment. Reaching Gackt’s
floor, he raced down the hallway and burst into the man’s apartment, surprised
it was unlocked.
You looked up from his spot on the floor where he was
clinging to an unconscious Gackt. The
vocalist had collapsed and was very pale and deathly cold. “What’s wrong? What’s going on? What’s wrong with Gaku?”
Seeing Gackt’s state, Cha
tried for a few moments to form coherent words.
Giving up entirely, he moved to the television and turned it on,
flipping channels until a smoking apartment building appeared on the screen.
“…reported to have gone off at 5:13
this evening. Investigative damage reports at the moment
suggest that the bomb was set off on the 24th floor. Currently, there have been no survivors of
those residents near the blast area’s ground zero, and residents on the floors
above and below have reported critical injuries and death and have been
transported to…”
You stared at the television, the blood draining from
his face.
Gackt shifted in his arms. “…Ren…”