Bound by Blood
Track Two: Voiceless Screaming
Background for the Story: Yoshiki and Shinya are cousins. Shinya is present day 17 years old and Yoshiki is 19. ^__^
ummm... here:
"..." - dialogue, what is really said
'...' - tv dialogue, what is on tv
~...~ - thoughts, what the people think
//...// - flashback, what they remember
**...** - what Shinya hears come out from people's mouths
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Once again, the profound silence in the music hall was broken by the expert playing of both young men. The same blood coursed through their veins, the same need to be perfect filled their hearts.
And once again, one was perfect, the other had but one flaw. And once again, the crowd cheered, Yoshiki gave his sayonara speech and Shinya quietly left the stage without a word to anyone and without any sign that he was leaving in the first place.
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Before he knew it, Shinya was alone in the house. Well, not 'alone' completely per say, he had quite a large family after all, but alone meaning that no one in the house was around his age. And no one in the house bothered to understand his predicament. The range of ages all went around him: newborns to ten years, twenty-five years to 'secret'. His mother continued to urge him about seeing a therapist and he never answered her, save for a slight shake of the head.
There came a time when Shinya was so bored and lonesome around the house that one could hear him hitting a pot which he placed on his head with a laddle in the kitchen. He had quit school and his mother and father couldn't understand why. Of course, they asked him, and of course, they received no reply besides a hard stare or an angry glare of some sort. Other times he simply watched tv and 'gained weight' on the couch. After those five or six hour sessions, when Shinya would weigh himself, he would weigh two kilograms more, but still didn't reach over 50 kilograms.
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Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Yoshiki and his band, X Japan, were rising in popularity. They were: Yoshiki on drums and piano, Toshi on vocals, hide and Pata on guitar, and Taiji and Heath on bass: A drummer, a pianist, a vocalist, two guitarists, and two bassists. All life was good.
They were gaining popularity fast and soon enough were one of the top hit bands in all of Japan. Of course, this wasn't a good thing for Shinya.
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'X JAPAN - making their debut as a major scene band! This is a great event for the extremely popular rock band led by a wonderful composer and musician.'
Shinya listened with one ear to the tv and was peeling an apple with the rest of his attention span. His ear perked a little.
'This band, having only been in the music scene for three weeks, has shown great progress and skill. They are led by a drummer and pianist-' That ear twitched again... 'Hayashi-' Shinya turned his head towards the tv... 'YOSHIKI-SAN!!'
A loud crash and the sound of electric sparks was heard then. Shinya, panting, holding onto his arm where a piece of flying glass had cut. Terachi-san, running, grabbing her son and pulling him away. The television, sparking and destroyed, a remote control sticking out of its screen.
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~Why that evil bastard...~ Shinya was lying on his futon on the cold floor, looking up at the ceiling of his white room. ~He left the house already, but he continues to haunt me! What a jerk... always throwing it in my face that he was always a much better musician, well, I've had it! I'm not waiting any longer! I have to beat him at least once! ONLY ONCE!!~
And with that, Shinya packed what little items he had and found himself on the next and last train headed towards Tokyo.
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"Omedatou!" "Omedatou gozaimasu!" "Arigatou!" "You're the best!" "Keep up the good work kids!"
Yoshiki smiled as the people around him shook hands and gave high-fives and continued on with other sorts of congratulating. The air was filled with words of good cheer, just like the days before when he would play piano duets with his cousin. Speaking of his cousin, Yoshiki was suddenly worried. His mind recalled the last few memories he had of Shinya, slapping his mother and yelling words filled with pure contempt in her face. Yoshiki shook his head. He would have to call him again later.
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"Why do you have to be such an annoying child? Why are you so disobedient?" His mother was rattling on the other side of the phone as Shinya listened quietly, every now and then tapping his side so she would know that he was in fact listening. "Why didn't you tell us you were leaving? Honey, you worried us so much. Please come back, dear." She waited a while and when she received no answer she cried, "Shinya! Why can't you be more like your cousin-?"
And at that, she heard his cell phone click.
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"So, you play drums?" The pink-haired scary looking man faced the orange-brown haired boy. He received a slight but noticeable nod. "Wanna join our band?" Shinya nodded again. "You don't say much do you?" Shinya tilted his head to the side. "I figured as much. Anyway, welcome to La'Sadies." Kaoru put out his hand, Shinya accepted.
La'Sadies quickly turned to Dir en Grey after the bassist ditched. Shinya as well wanted to leave, but he stayed due to a red-haired guitarist's pleadings.
"I hope to someday be just as good as X Japan, ne?" Kaoru dreamed day and night of simply meeting Yoshiki, while Shinya dreamt of nothing more than escaping, defeating his childhood playmate, his own cousin. Unfortunately, those feelings never reached Kaoru. After all, Shinya wouldn't say anything. Shinya didn't say anything. But all the while, he was screaming voicelessly inside.
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Then, possibly the worst turn of events struck. Yoshiki helped Dir en Grey...
"Ohayo, you must be Dir en Grey, ne?" Yoshiki smiled at Kaoru as Kaoru's mouth fell open. Die dropped his guitar, Toshiya's eyes lit up, Kyo fell clear off the stage. Shinya dropped his drumsticks, though not in awe. He was simply angry, shocked. "I suppose I don't have to introduce myself. I would like to help your band out a little, not really anything too extravagant. I was hoping in supplying you with better equipment, possibly help with cleaning up your sound. So, what do you say?"
"Sure!" The band chorused almost too happily. Shinya simply picked up his drumsticks and retreated away. Yoshiki's eyes followed the orange-brown haired figure thinking, ~Is that... Shinya?~
Shinya felt his cousin's eyes on him as he left. ~That bastard... following me again? Ugh...~
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~Once again, he casts his shadow over me,~ Shinya thought, tearing a piece of music he wrote into very small pieces. ~He'll never stop following me! I have to prove I'm better than him, at least once! If I could only do that, then I could die a very happy person...~
Nonetheless, Dir en Grey was helped by Yoshiki and after his help, they flourished. This made most members proud, however it shamed a certain drummer who never communicated his feelings to begin with. Of course, then something even larger happened.
Shinya was sifting through their mail when he came across a letter that actually looked important. He slowly tore it open wondering, ~Now what could this be?~ Shortly afterwards, Dir en Grey was busying themselves trying to write a song together which would help them win the song competition. They were invited to a small musicians' competition and probably wouldn't had joined had Shinya not seen that X Japan was also invited.
To Be Continued
To the next part