Orange Moon

by Barbara Sheridan

  “Go with him,” Rumiko told Jun.

  “To-chan, wait a minute.”

  Toru turned. “I don’t want any company. Stay here, Jun; be happy with your family.”

  “Toru --”

  “I’m okay. I’ve been okay, haven’t I? We had a good tour in the States and we’ll get started on that new single tomorrow. In fact, I thought I’d go and work a bit more on the B-side. That song I was puttering with on the plane.”

  Jun frowned. “If you’re sure.”

  “I am.” He gave his friend a hug and Rumiko a kiss on the cheek, then wandered out.

  Closing the door behind him, he watched Jun pick up the tiny baby in his arms and lean over to kiss his wife. Toru looked away, more empty and alone in the presence of this kind of happiness than ever before.

  He walked down the hallway, his gaze glued to the white tiled hospital floor as he slowly dragged one foot in front of the other. At least when he was working it didn’t hurt so badly. The music let him say all the words he never would be able to ... at least not to the one he loved more than anything else in this world.

  The hospital was not too far from the recording studio, so Toru just kept on walking as soon as he passed through the doors. Winding through some of the busier streets in the metro area and cutting through the park, he arrived at the familiar gray and white cement building with the rows of nondescript black tinted windows on the first and second floors.

  A red Lexus was parked in one of the stalls on the side, a sports car Toru hadn’t recalled seeing at the studio before. Another one of Nakamura’s new discoveries maybe?

  Giving a nod at the security guard, Toru ducked inside the building and headed into the back recording booths. Whoever it was, they were doing a solo sound test in the last room, strumming away at an acoustic guitar while a drum track thumped the beat in the background. The man started singing, and Toru froze in his tracks before he even saw the face.

  That sweet, husky voice, so full of emotion and beauty ... “Hideki,” Toru whispered as he leaned in the booth’s door.

  The young man sat on a stool facing away from Toru, the guitar on his lap as he strummed his heart out into each melodic chord.

  Toru felt tears spring to his eyes involuntarily. He couldn’t have held them back if he’d wanted to. Seeing Hideki like this, in this very room, brought back so many bittersweet memories. The stupid things Toru had done for love ... the sweetness of discovering the affection was returned.

  Hideki strummed the final chord and let the notes fade into silence. He heaved a heavy sigh and rested his chin on the side of his instrument.

  “You’re never going to get the drum line right, are you, Hide-chan?” Toru chuckled softly.

  A lump rose in his throat when Hideki stiffened and slowly turned to look over his shoulder, the guitar sliding from his knee and hitting the floor with a thud, the strings giving off a sickly twanging noise. Toru raised his hands. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m out of here.”

  Don’t go, Hideki’s heart wailed as the older man disappeared from sight. And yet he kept silent, remained immobile, his hurt pride refusing to let his foolish heart override it again. Closing his eyes, he inhaled a deep, calming breath and bent to retrieve his guitar, checking to see if he’d damaged it.

  The guitar being none the worse for wear, Hideki tried to get back into his practice. The music wouldn’t come out right. Neither his soul, nor his mind was into it.

  Defeated, he placed the guitar back into its case and went to the sound booth. He shut off the instruments and turned off the lights, grabbing his guitar case as he left.

  Kutani was expecting him in less than an hour and a half anyway. That gave him just enough time for a shower and a change of clothes ... and a couple of drinks before heading to the man’s mansion. Being drunk wouldn’t make the time go faster, but at least it would dull the pain in his heart.

  * * * * *

  Toru couldn’t get his mind on the music, either, after watching Hideki drive quickly out of the parking lot. He gave it a valiant try, but knew it was just a lot of wasted motion. He rang up Sasao to let her know he was back in town, and she invited him over to her place for dinner. He would have gone for the sake of having sympathetic company even if she hadn’t invited him.

  * * * * *

  “Bottom’s up, Hideki-kun.” Kutani poured the wine right up to the brim of Hideki’s glass. “Tonight we are celebrating.”

  “Yeah,” Hideki agreed flatly.

  His meal was spread out on the black tabletop before him, mostly untouched. He gulped down the wine though, preferring the buzz in his head to the emptiness in his heart.

  “Why so reserved tonight?” Kutani purred between sips of his own glass. “You were so ... spirited about certain opinions before, as I recall.”

  Hideki drained the glass. “That was disrespectful of me,” he breathed evenly. Kutani was referring to the way he’d stood up for his love of Toru all those months ago, rubbing in the fact he’d lost more than face.

  “Very good.” Kutani laughed, a dark and ugly sound that Hideki quickly learned to hate.

  Kutani finished his meal, clucking his tongue that Hideki didn’t do the same to his.

  “I’m sorry, Kutani-san. Could we have that meeting now to discuss my comeback? I’d like to go home and get some sleep.”

  The older man’s expression grew grim as he rose from his seat. “Oh, we’ll discuss things ... in depth. But I think it will take longer than you expect. Don’t oppose me on this.”

  Hideki sighed. “I won’t.”

  “Then, come.”

  Hideki followed his employer out of the dining room and upstairs to his office. Kutani gestured for him to take a seat on a wide leather sofa, then took a sheaf of papers from his desk and sat beside Hideki. “This is your new contract. I’m sure you’ll find the terms as favorable as before.”

  Favorable to Nippon. Nonetheless, Hideki signed, and once he did, Kutani gave him a wide grin.

  He took the papers from Hideki and set them on a side table, then scooted closer and rubbed Hideki’s shoulder and the back of his neck. “Now, you’re home, right where you belong.”

  “Yeah,” Hideki mumbled. Kutani’s hand toyed around his shirt collar, the smooth pads of his fingertips cold and clammy on Hideki’s skin. The touch sent a shiver of disgust through Hideki.

  “Relax,” Kutani hissed. The man’s voice sounded more serpentine, more revolting, than ever before. His hands slipped around the front of Hideki’s shirt, slowly undoing the top buttons. “These past six months have been hard on you. Especially hard.”

  Kutani’s hand slipped inside the shirt, grazed Hideki’s chest. Those cold, thin fingers pinched and twisted at Hideki’s nipple.

  Hideki jerked away, winced, and stood. The older man laughed.

  “You can’t be that sensitive,” Kutani sneered. “Unless you’re trying to seduce me ...” He followed Hideki around the side of the sofa, then groped between Hideki’s legs, clutching and squeezing at his balls.

  Gasping, Hideki pushed away. “Stop it.” He clenched his jaw against the pain.

  Kutani frowned. “What’s that?”

  “You heard me -- knock it the fuck off!”

  Kutani backhanded him, his diamond ring lacerating Hideki’s cheek. “You shut your mouth, boy. Now.”

  Hideki rubbed his fingers on the cut.

  “I own you, boy. I made you before, and I broke you. If you want to taste stardom once more, you’ll do as I say. Otherwise, you won’t even be able to get a job scrubbing toilets anywhere in Japan.”

  Hideki simply stared, his mind confused. What the fuck did it matter anyway? If he gave in, he’d get something out of the deal besides a broken heart. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s more like it ...” Kutani grabbed Hideki’s shoulders and pulled him forward. He roughly shoved his lips against Hideki’s, forcing them open with his thick, slippery tongue. Hideki almost gagged on it, but Kutani’s grip kept him fr
om pulling away.

  The man shoved him back against the edge of the sofa, never breaking that coarse, disgusting kiss. Kutani kicked Hideki’s legs apart and shoved his knee against the young man’s crotch.

  Kutani broke the kiss and dragged his tongue across Hideki’s uninjured cheek. “I’ve wanted this for a long time, Hide-kun. Come on, get hard for me, boy.”

  The slobbery kisses felt like a slime trail along Hideki’s neck and torso as Kutani ripped open the bottom shirt buttons and moved down. He tried to pull away, to push the older man back. “Kutani-san. Wait. I’ll ... Let me use my mouth on you.”

  With a wicked laugh, Kutani pulled away. “Yuki gives great head, but he’s a poor fuck.” He fondled Hideki through his jeans, leering when Hideki’s body involuntarily responded. “I bet you’re a good fuck, aren’t you?” He squeezed hard enough to make Hideki yelp. “I wanted to be the one, Hide. I had every right to get the first sample of your beautiful ass.”

  “Kutani-san. Let me pleasure you.” Hideki nearly choked on the words, the very thought making his stomach queasy and his head ache.

  “I don’t know.” Kutani licked his lips and planted a wet kiss on Hideki’s navel. “A blowjob isn’t going to make up for the disappointment. I wonder if you’re even tight anymore.”

  Kutani pried open Hideki’s jeans and worked his hand underneath his briefs. Roughly stroking his finger along Hideki’s opening, he shoved three of his fingers at once up into the passage.

  Hideki choked back a cry, squirming as those hard, rough fingers pushed deep, painfully stretching him open. Kutani laughed, his eyes glittering as he worked his fingers in further.

  “My mistake,” the man said huskily. “What a tight little asshole. Did Nakai even fuck you after all?”

  Hideki clamped his eyes shut. “Let me go. I can’t do this. I changed my mind.”

  Kutani laughed and thrust with his fingers again. “I’m not letting you go. I own you.”

  “You don’t!” Hideki grabbed Kutani’s arm and forced him away. He backed away from the sofa and pulled up his pants. The room began to spin around him, and he had to grip the sofa arm for support. Shit! He shouldn’t have drunk so much on an empty stomach. He looked at Kutani, who leered at him. “I’m out of here.”

  Hideki took a handful of steps and stumbled into a table. His head was really spinning, and his body felt heavy, as if he could barely control his muscles. “You drugged me!”

  “I only wanted you to relax,” the man purred as he got up. “You’ve been under too much stress.”

  “You ... b-bastard ...” Hideki’s words garbled in his throat. He slumped against the table, toppling over a crystal decanter. The smell of the spilled liquor nauseated him, but he clenched his jaw and tried to pull himself up. His legs wouldn’t support his weight, and he crashed to his knees.

  Kutani grabbed him by the collar and yanked him backwards. Weak and dizzy, Hideki tried to kick out. Kutani pinned him down at the shoulders and straddled his waist.

  “Now, now,” Kutani growled. “Easy, Hide-kun. Relax.”

  “Get off of me!” Hideki demanded. The room spun around them; Kutani’s face loomed over his.

  Kutani laughed. “I’ll get off in you -- how’s that?” He reached between them and Hideki heard the low rippling sound of a zipper being tugged down.

  “No!” Hideki spat out. That rough hand swatted at his cock and squeezed his balls. He tried to push the man away, but had no strength in his arms.

  “Don’t struggle, boy,” Kutani growled again, this time angrily. “This isn’t a rape -- shut up and relax, damn you!”

  Hideki summoned what strength he could and hit Kutani in the groin. It enabled him to get out from the under the older man and pull himself to his feet once more. Kutani cursed, but Hideki didn’t look back, his attention focused over the banister and on the door to the mansion’s front hall.

  He fell just outside the office door and cried out, startling a maid who was coming up the stairs. She rushed forward to help him, but Kutani came out of the office.

  “Get out of here, bitch!”

  “Help me,” Hideki said, reaching out to the maid. “Please.”

  “Go!” Kutani roared, throwing a vase at the woman.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Toru took a sip of the beer before him and made a face. He’d left Sasao’s after half an hour, frustrated with her attempts to get him to change his mind about the breakup with Hideki. “This draft tastes like shit, Kyoru.” He slid his half-full glass across the bar top and turned his attention back to the cigarette in his hand.

  The drummer was too plastered to do much more than give Toru the finger. “You should drink anyway.” Kyoru leaned his elbows on the counter and pushed some of the rumpled blond hair out of his eyes. “We’re celebrating Jun-san’s baby. Aren’t you happy for him?”

  Kyoru hiccoughed and lost his balance on the barstool, and Toru reached out to catch him. “Just don’t make yourself sick over it.” Toru rolled his eyes, and Kyoru burst into a fit of giggles that slowly died away.

  “You haven’t smiled in weeks, To-chan,” Kyoru said softly.

  “Sure I have.”

  Kyoru shook his head. “I know you haven’t.”

  “You’re just too drunk to remember.” Toru stubbed out his smoke in the full ashtray.

  “I’m sorry about Hide-kun.” Kyoru’s lower lip quivered. “I’m sorry about the shit I said.” Now Toru knew the drummer really was drunk.

  “Forget about it,” he replied dully.

  “You don’t mean it.” Kyoru clutched the front of Toru’s jacket.

  “Sure I do.” Toru pointed to his lips, his face as drawn and unhappy as ever. “Just look at my smile.” He managed to keep up the charade for a short time more, then called it a night.

  Leaving Kyoru at the bar, Toru stepped outside the club and decided to just fuck the whole night. It had been a mistake to come to Jun’s party anyway. His cell phone rang in his jacket pocket, and he sighed. “Kyoru ... I’m not getting wasted with you tonight,” he muttered, taking the phone out and flipping it open.

  A woman’s voice surprised him on the other end of the line. “Nakai-san, you have to come and help him -- right away!”

  “Who is this?” Toru frowned. She sounded so frightened, almost in a panic.

  “Hideki-san -- he’s in trouble,” she blurted out. “Please, please -- I don’t want to call the police -- Kutani-san will fire me. Come help him!”

  “Where?”

  “Kutani-san’s house.”

  The line went dead, and Toru stared at the phone. The number was a blocked ID one.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Toru turned to Jun, who was a lot more sober than his friends still inside. “Some woman just called me and said Hideki is in trouble at Kutani’s.”

  “It’s probably a bullshit call.”

  “I don’t know,” Toru said, a sick feeling hitting him low.

  “Then go check it out.”

  “Yeah. I will. Would you call the cops, ask them to run by, too?”

  Jun’s phone was out even before Toru turned away to get to his car.

  Like most of the other business hotshots in the area, Kutani had a mansion in one of the priciest real estate havens just outside of Tokyo. Ryu Nakamura had a house there, too, and Toru had spent enough time with the eccentric record label mogul to know his way to the neighborhood.

  Pushing forty-five kilometers an hour faster than the speed limit allowed, Toru reached the gated community in less than ten minutes. He screeched to a stop in front of the security post and one of the guards sauntered out.

  “This is a gate -- oh, Toruhiko Nakai, right?”

  “I’m in a rush.” Toru gritted his teeth.

  “You’re late for the party at Nakamura-san’s, huh?” The guard chuckled.

  “Just move the fucking gate,” Toru growled. “I don’t have time for this.”

  “Okay, okay.” The man retreated bac
k in to the post and the motorized gate swung open. Toru sped through and didn’t hit the brakes until he got to Kutani’s mansion.

  A woman was waiting outside the house. She started flailing her arms when she saw him run up the stone steps, and she pushed a set of keys at him. “He’s inside,” she said in panicked rush. “Go, go!”

  Before he could ask any questions, the woman dashed down the steps to get to her own car parked out front. Toru used the key the woman indicated to unlock the front door and step inside the mansion, the sickening feeling in his stomach worsening.

  * * * * *

  Hideki thought he heard Toru's voice, but dismissed it as a drug induced hallucination.

  “Hideki! Hideki, answer me!”

  But, no, it was real! That was Toru’s voice! Hideki shoved at Kutani, who’d dragged him back into the office, pulling off his jeans in the process. They’d been struggling for what seemed like forever, with Hideki’s punches doing little more than making Kutani pause while the older man’s martial arts-style hits bruised Hideki’s ribs and bloodied his nose and mouth.

  “Toru!”

  “Shut up!” Kutani landed another punch that snapped Hideki’s head back into the wall. He grabbed him by the shoulders, shoved him over the back of the sofa, and tugged at Hideki’s briefs.

  * * * * *

  Toru followed the sound of Hideki’s voice upstairs. A loud bang and crash came from the closed room at the end of the hall.

  The handle wouldn’t turn -- the fucking door was locked. Toru pounded his fist against the thick wood.

  “Open the fucking door!” he roared. “Hideki!”

  “Toru!” Hideki’s muffled shout carried through the wood. Toru heard the young man cry out again, followed by more loud crashes and Kutani yelling for Hideki to shut up.

  Anger like nothing he’d ever felt before exploded inside of Toru. He rammed his shoulder into the door, grunting as it held fast. “Fuck!” He lashed out with a kick to the lock, then another. The maple door gave way with a deafening crack. He tumbled into the room, a growl catching in his throat.

  Hideki was bent over the top of the sofa, Kutani’s hand on the back of his neck to hold his face against the cushions. Hideki’s pants were gone, his underwear pulled low and his legs forced open from behind by Kutani’s knees.