"Please and Tang Soo"

Written By: Emilyz Da Koolest

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. But, as far as I know, I do own this plot... I really sincerely doubt that anyone else has decided to take Eiri and Shuichi and make them practice Tang Soo Do... I mean, it's not like I'm giving Shuichi or Eiri amnesia or getting Shuichi pregnant, or having Shuichi run away from Eiri to England or America and have him come back with a bunch of OCs as a new band and giving him black hair and clothes from Hot Topic and then having Eiri cut for no reason... You can tell I've run accross many of those, can't you? Not that I really have anything against those stories, it's just insanely overdone. So, yes. As I was saying, I don't own Gravitation or any of the characters. They all belong to magical, lovely, amazing, fantastic Maki Murikami. My gods, I love her to death... le sigh

Summary: Six months ago, something happened to Shuichi Shindou, a struggling musician, and ever since then he hasn't been the same. Unwilling to go to therapy, his best friend and fellow musician, Hiro, suggests learning self-defense to help him through his tough time. Enter Eiri Uesugi, 4th degree black belt and Tang Soo Do dojo master. He too has his own painful secret. Will the relationship stay strictly professional between the two, or will a new romance bud from the ashes of their past? AU, Romance, drama, slight angst, slight fluff... really depends on the chapter. Pairings: Shuichi/Eiri and Hiro/K Read and reveiw!

Author's Notes: The idea for this came into being when I went to my friend's Tang Soo Do dojo's open family fun night (isn't it so hideously American? But I loved it!). They did a alot of demonstrations and I got to break a board! Go me! Anyways, they talked about all the reasons why someone persues Tang Soo Do, and one of them, of course, was self-defense, even though most people stay will Tang Soo Do long after they learn how to cope with almost any situation where they would need to use it. So, then I thought, 'what if, after the whole Kitazawa thing, Eiri decided to never be helpless like that again, and began to take Tang Soo Do?' And then, that question immediately led to, 'what if Shuichi did the same thing after Taki? And what if it was Eiri who was his sensei?' And this immediately led to me visualizing this deeply dramatic scene that will be in a later chapter. So, yes. That's where the whole thing came from. Also, as a side note, all the information I am getting on Tang Soo Do is all second-hand. I'm getting it either from the internet or from my friend Susanah, because I don't have the time or the money to pay for lessons (damn you, high school musical practice and all my other extracurricular activites! Damn you, unemployment! Damn you, you damn, dirty apes!). Ah, yes... Nothing brightens up the day quite like a Planet of the Apes reference... Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story and, please, if there are any inaccuracies with the Tang Soo Do, don't hesitate to tell me. I'm hardly an expert. So, sit back with some girl scout cookies or a tub of low fat popcorn and the beverage of your choice, and enjoy 'Please and Tang Soo'. (Ha ha, that title cracks me up, yo!)

Prologue: The Cyclone In My Head

"Shuichi?" Shuichi Shindou stared deeply into his mug of coffee, swirling the liquid around until it formed a cyclone of cream, mocha, and sugar. It reminded him of the steep, funnel cloud of a tornado and he could picture one in his mind's eye at the thought, all the while staring at the coffee. Spinning, spinning, the winds twirling and howling with a violence that Shuichi knew all to well now. He remembered his father telling him about the tornado that had hit his neighborhood whenever he had been a child. It had left nothing but rubble and wreakage in it's path. That's the way he felt now. Wrecked. Ruined. A path strewn with thorns.

"Shuichi...?" The tornado was whirling, twirling madly, destroying everything in it's path. Snapping trees, smashing the rice paper houses, breaking bones, breaking hearts... It didn't seem like the destruction would ever stop. The funnel cloud would never recede back to the sky. It would always be there, in the back of his mind, slowly killing the person he once was. The person he had been before--

"Shuichi!" Shuichi almost dropped his coffee, his head snapping up, at attention, eyes focused no longer on the swirling liquid, but on the eyes of his friend sitting across from him. Said friend frowned slightly in worry, leaning forward a little to survey Shuichi closer. His long red hair spilled over his shoulders, framing his face handsomely, warm chocolate brown eyes swimming with concern. Shuichi remembered when his own eyes were like that. Filled with warmth. With emotion. With love. It seemed so long ago now. So much longer than six months. He jumped, nearly knocking over his beverage whenever he felt a hand on his shoulder, before he realized that it was only his friend. Cautiously, the other man removed his hand, biting his lip slightly. "Are you okay, Shuichi?"

Tearing his eyes away from his friend's, he looked down at his hands, ripping at an already torn fingernail. "It's nothing, Hiro. I'm fine." He looked up at him again, feigning a smile. "Really. You shouldn't worry so much."

Hiro sighed, shaking his head and taking a sip of his black expresso. "I can't help but worry. You've been my friend since we were kids. I know when something's wrong with you and I wish you would do something--anything--that would help you work through this whole thing..." He looked deeply into Shuichi's eyes with pity. Shuichi hated it. "I really wish you would consider therapy."

"No!" Shuichi's black hair tumbled into his face as he violently shook his head, eyes wide. He took a deep breath and calmed, before going on. "No. Hiro, I... I appreciate your concern, really, I do... You've been here for me through all of this, and I can't thank you enough for all that you've done for me, but... I'm just not ready to talk about this to anyone else... The only person who even knows about this is you... I don't want to think about it... I can't think about it if I want to function at all... It's too painful..." He gazed at his friend with pained brown eyes, trying to make him understand.

Sighing, Hiroshi nodded, giving in. "Fine. No therapy. But will you at least do something? I get so worried about you, living alone the way you do. You're apartment doesn't have the greatest security in the world..." Shuichi knew that. The sound of the air conditioner or the heater scared him nightly. Any small noise, any imagined movement in the corner of his eye, scared him to the point of crying some nights. The night had been taken from him.

"...What do you suggest?"

Hiro smiled softly, brushing some of his hair out of eyes. "K told me about this Tang Soo Do dojo not too far from where you live. He said that the guy who teaches there is supposed to be amazing and he does one-on-one lessons if you pay extra, in case you don't want to be around a lot people."

Shuichi stared. "K? K told you? You didn't tell him why, did you? He doesn't know, does he?" He felt panic seize him and he tensed, staring desperately at his friend. "K can't know, Hiro! He can't!" He felt his chest tighten and he couldn't breath save for a few short gasps of air as he started to hypervenilate.

Gently, Hiro placed his hands on Shuichi's shoulders, trying to calm him. "Shuichi, I didn't tell him anything, I promise," he said calmly, squeezing his shoulders to reassure him. "I just asked him what the best martial arts dojos were in the city. He didn't even ask." Hiro smiled fondly for a moment, a small curl of his shapely lips, and Shuichi felt as if Hiro weren't really talking to him at all anymore. "You know him, any excuse to talk about weapons and violence and he can go on for hours." His eyes snapped back to Shuichi's, all warmth and love. Things that felt so foreign now to someone so broken. "I didn't tell him it was for you, okay?"

His fear subsiding, Shuichi nodded, taking deep breaths. Hiro removed his hands from his friend's shoulder in a seemingly reluctant way, allowing his fingers to linger a little longer than was nessicary. Shuichi appreciated the sentiment. "I'll... I'll think about it, alright, Hiro? I can't promise you anything, but... I'll look into it." He didn't feel like it was own mouth forming the words. They seemed so empty, meaningless... But he would have to do as he said. He owed it to Hiro for taking him in that night when he showed up at his doorstep, battered and bleeding, barely able to walk due to the violence of what had been done to him, without a single question or a bat of the eye. It was nice to have a constant pillar of support in his life right now. He felt a sudden surge of affection for the man in front of him. "But can you do me one favor?"

The redhead nodded readily, long tresses bobbing up and down from the movement. "Of course, Shuichi, anything. You've been my best friend since we wore clothes picked out by our mothers. There isn't anything that I wouldn't do for you. Just name it."

For the first time in months, Shuichi gave Hiro the first real sign of emotion. It was small, unremarkable to anyone who happened to be passing by, but to Hiro, it meant so much more than words could possible describe.

Shuichi reached accross the table and grasped his hand, an action which shocked even Shuichi.

"Can you come with me?"

Hiro smiled and nodded, stroking the back of his friend's hand in a way that comforted Shuichi immensely. "You didn't even need to ask; I was going to anyway."