Title: Kinmotsu
Chapters: 1/??
Author: lunachaos
Genre: Fluff, maybe smut later on
Warnings: Angst, bad language, heavy intimacy
Rating: PG-13 to R
Pairings/Characters: Ruki/Uruha
Synopsis: "Aoi smirked. “Uruha, I don’t think it’s safe for you to expose your thighs anymore. Ruki watches us.”" As the GazettE write a new album and prepare for a new tour, Uruha and Ruki spend some extra time together through guitar challenges and writing new songs. Maybe Ruki does like Uru's thighs.
Comments: My first jrock yaoi. And surprisingly these two were easier to write than I thought they'd be. But please be patient with the relationship. I like taking things at a realistic pace ^^;

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Ruki’s footsteps echoed across the empty stage. He gazed out at the vacant seats that reverberated with the hollow clink of his boots. A ghost crowd; with only the memories of his previous live performances to fuel the fiery conviction behind his lyrics. No screaming, no cheering. It was ideal for practice.

Ruki walked over to the microphone. He gripped the cold stand, and paused for a moment. Kai and Reita were in a meeting with the managers, negotiating their next tour dates. Everyone was planning on meeting in the concert hall when the meeting was over, but Ruki decided to arrive early.

He opened his mouth to sing the first words of Agony, but he stopped. Ruki looked to his left, and saw Uruha’s guitar leaning against its stand, gleaming in the dull light that illuminated the stage. He licked his lips, gripping the mic tighter. Uruha had never been possessive of his guitar, but maybe he wouldn’t appreciate Ruki taking it without permission…

Biting back his doubts, Ruki went over to the guitar and picked it up. Gingerly he pulled the strap around his shoulders, the weight of the instrument digging into his neck. Ruki walked back to the microphone, strumming the strings lightly to make sure it was tuned appropriately.

Of course it was. Uruha always had his guitar ready before anyone began playing. Grinning slightly, Ruki launched into Agony. He played Uruha’s part to the best of his memory, the words of the song flowing automatically from his mouth. His fingers danced along the neck and fingerboard of the guitar, striking the notes in rhythm to the words of the song.

His voice filled the large area. It resonated against the walls in perfect cadence with the notes he played on the guitar. Ruki got lost in the music and forgot where he was, forgot that Kai wasn’t leading the rhythm with the drums, and that Reita wasn’t there to smooth out the sound with his bass.

Like a pattern sewed together seamlessly, Ruki transitioned into Gentle Lie as the last notes of Agony faded. His heart was beating to the pulse of the song, almost acting like a drum in the absence of Kai. Ruki wasn’t as familiar with Uruha’s part in Gentle Lie as he was Agony, so he stumbled over a few notes in the beginning of the song.

As he reached the chorus, Ruki almost dropped the song in frustration. But before he stopped singing, he heard another guitar replacing the sound of his own playing. He nearly faltered in his singing from surprise, but he gripped onto the mic tighter, closing his eyes as the familiar sounds of the song filtered through his mind.

It was Uruha. Ruki knew without looking. He felt a pang of guilt for keeping his guitar hostage as they played through Gentle Lie, but he was too swept up by the song to stop.

As the song closed, Ruki turned back to look at the guitarist. Uruha grinned at him, glancing down at the guitar slung around Ruki’s neck.

“You’ve gotten better, Ruki-kun,” he said. His voice was a melodious tone of amusement, Ruki noticed. He felt his face growing warm. He knew borrowing the guitar was a bad idea.

“I’m sorry, Uru-chan,” Ruki apologized quickly. He took the guitar and hastily put it back on its stand. Ruki glanced back up at the taller man, who was cradling Aoi’s guitar against his abdomen.

Uruha laughed. “Don’t be sorry, Ruki-kun. I thought you played nicely. I never knew you paid so close attention to my parts.”

Ruki felt his face growing hotter. Why was this embarrassing him? “I pay attention to Aoi’s too.”

“You’ve been practicing guitar, haven’t you?” Uruha asked. He was still smiling, a thin veil of blonde hair concealing a small portion of his face.

Ruki sighed. “I have, but I’m not nearly as good as you – or Aoi.”

Uruha cocked his head to the side, appraising Ruki in his simple black jeans and white T-shirt covered by a black blazer. The guitarist walked closer, still cluching Aoi’s guitar. Uruha picked his own up from the stand Ruki had returned it to, and offered it to the vocalist.

Ruki frowned. “What-?”

“Let’s see what you can do,” Uruha proposed, smirking at Ruki.

Ruki raised his eyebrow. Was Uruha challenging him? The guitarist knew Ruki couldn’t compete with him. Nevertheless, the vocalist took the guitar and straightened it along his shoulders.

Uruha grabbed Ruki’s right hand and forced it to the strings on the guitar. Instinctively Ruki placed his fingers on his left hand along the neck in the proper positions for their recent song Guren. Uruha released Ruki’s wrist, causing his fingers to tumble over the strings. A stunning note escaped the guitar, and it was Uruha's cue to join the song.

Ruki wondered if Uruha felt any difference playing with Aoi's guitar, but the way he leaned into the music made it seem like he didn’t care.

Ruki mimicked the notes Uruha played, his efforts to impress the guitarist overcoming his reluctance. It wasn’t long before they played through Guren and switched to one of their older songs, Silly God Disco. Ruki grinned at Uruha, who shook his hips and threw his head back at the introduction of the song.

Ruki bobbed up and down to the beat of the song, watching Uruha the whole time. He didn’t have to reassure his hands were playing the right notes. He just felt it.

Uruha moved closer to Ruki, his hips swaying as he bent his knees and lowered his body. He was eye-level with Ruki now, and the vocalist moved closer still. 

It was an uplifting experience to create the music from a different point of view. Ruki was tempted to sing instead of strum, but watching Uruha’s hands fly over his guitar as naturally as breathing, Ruki reminded himself to ignore his desire to sing.

They were close enough to play each other’s guitar. They eased out of Silly God Disco and started playing a spontaneous mix of fast chords and rough plucking.

At first Ruki worried Uruha would outplay him while there was no specific beat they were following. But soon his tension dissipated and he gave himself over to the music for the first time that evening. He closed his eyes, his body still shaking in time to the beat. His hands moved automatically across the strings, playing music that complimented what Uruha played.

It wasn’t long before he felt words escape him. The music they were playing didn’t sound like their normal style. It was inspiring. Words flowed through his mouth, an unconscious reaction to the music.

Ruki could sense the conclusion was fast approaching. He fell to his knees, playing out the last chord on the same exact note as Uruha.

The guitarist gazed down at Ruki, breathing hard. He smiled, his eyes gleaming from the rush of euphoria that consumed them both.

Clapping greeted their finish. Ruki looked away from Uruha and stood up. Kai, Reita, and Aoi were sitting in the front row of seats, staring at the two in awe.

“That was…incredible,” Kai remarked.

Aoi nodded in agreement.

“Where the hell did that all come from?” Reita asked, walking up to the stage. “Such pent up emotion!”

Ruki raised his eyebrow. He had never realized it had felt like he was pouring out his repressed emotions. He glanced over at Uruha.

Ruki shrugged. “Uru-chan challenged me to play guitar against him.”

“When did you get so good?” Aoi teased. “Uru-kun giving you private lessons?”

Ruki sent him a glare. “I’ve been watching you and Uruha and memorizing your parts to our songs.”

Aoi smirked. “Uruha, I don’t think it’s safe for you to expose your thighs anymore. Ruki watches us and our...parts.”

Uruha laughed. “Don’t worry Ruki-kun, I’ll keep showing them for you.”

Reita and Kai laughed. Ruki scowled, feeling his face flush. “I’m not staring at his thighs!”

Kai chuckled. “Well if you were having private lessons with Thigh-chan, tell us now. We could use some of that stuff on our new album.”

Uruha looked up. “New album?”

“Manager-san thinks we should make another album since Stacked Rubbish was so successful,” Reita answered. "It would do well with the upcoming tour."

Ruki smiled. Finally some good news!

“There is a catch though…” Kai said hesitantly.

“…What?”

“Manager-san wants us to go to America this time,” Reita said gently, aware of Ruki’s embitterment towards the U.S.

“What the fuck? Why does he think we need to go there? The fans are insane…” Ruki muttered, looking away.

“Manager-san thinks it’ll be a very inspiring place to write our new album. Plus, he says there’s a lot of fans there that we haven’t touched yet…” Reita explained.

Uruha giggled. “Reita likes touching our fans.”

“The idea of new fans to touch probably makes him too happy,” Aoi added.

The bassist sent them cold looks over his noseband. "Fuck you."

“We have fans in other places,” Ruki insisted.

“But we haven’t played in America yet,” Kai said. “And I’m actually looking forward to it.”

Ruki sighed in defeat. “When are we going?”

Kai shrugged. “It hasn’t been decided yet. Manager-san is planning a tour.”

“We’ll be the first Jrock band to tour America, by the way,” Reita added.

Ruki sighed. He knew it was a nice place to tour, but he was never keen on going due to the crazy fangirls.

Uruha came up behind him and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. Ruki looked up at him.

“Don’t worry Ruki-kun, I know you’ll like it,” he smiled. Ruki felt warm reassurance spread through his chest, and he quickly looked away from the tall man.

“I guess.”

“So what was it that you two were just playing?” Kai asked interestedly. Aoi went over and took his guitar from Uruha, casting him a cool look.

“I hope you took care of it,” he commented, staring intently at the guitar.

Uruha grinned. “Hai, Aoi-chan.”

“It just kind of transformed into some random music that we thought up at the moment,” Ruki answered Kai. The drummer was sitting at his drum set, twirling the drumsticks in his hands.

“What about what you were singing? It sounded good, Ruki-kun,” he said.

“That…was random as well,” Ruki replied softly.

“Hmm, maybe we’re going to have to try this ‘random’ technique sometime soon,” Kai said, winking at Ruki. Reita chuckled.

They started playing Guren. After the first two lines of the song Ruki was already missing Uruha’s guitar. Playing it had filled him with a strange sense of power and energy.

As he sang, Ruki spun around and faced the band, sending Uruha a furtive look. The tall guitarist caught his eye, and winked as he launched into his solo.

Maybe going to America wouldn’t be so bad...

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