Looking at the singer of his band sceptically Tetsu scratched his head.
Hyde stared back at him and then blinked.

"Something not right, Te-chan?"

"Your voice..."

"What about it?"

Tetsu thought of a nice way to put it, but obviously there wasn't one.
"It sucks." he blurted out.

The singer glared at the band-leader. Then he pouted.
"What?"

Ken softly put down his guitar and reached for a cigarette, before he said.
"He's right. Your voice really is not very pleasant today."
Only Yukki shrugged behind his drums indifferently. He probably hadn't listened.

"You really smoke too much, Hyde. Maybe you should cut down." Tetsu said, earning serious death-glares not only from the singer but also from the rest of the band, being the only non-smoker around.
He rose an eyebrow. "Well, you really should!"

Ken marched over and patted his friend a on the head.
"Enough of that Tetsu!" breathing used cigarette smoke into Tetsu's face.
The bassist coughed theatrically and shook his head.
"But this way the single will suck! Simply suck! No need to record at all, when Hyde's voice sounds like he's been gargling with nails."

Now Hyde came over and tipped on Tetsu's chest with some impact.
"Don't say it is all my fault, oh flawless one. My voice would be sweet as ever, if you wouldn't keep us so busy!"

Tetsu caught Hyde's hand and rubbed the sore spot on his sternum with the other.
"What do you mean, eh?" he asked, a little angered at the slight pain.

"If...if you wouldn't keep me from home I would have my sweet voice." Hyde pouted, while Ken began to laugh softly.

"So, you're a little sex-deprived, ne?" Ken laughed on, Hyde scowling at him in his best manner.

"Sex...deprived?" the drummer asked from behind his drums, with a broad and knowing smile. Hyde was beside Yukki in a second, giving him the same treatment.

"Enough of that..." he hissed.

"Or is being married not as much fun as you may have believed?" Ken teased again.
Tetsu blinked. He studied the aggressive singer, who was back at Ken's throat, gripping the hem of the guitarist's shirt, pulling him down.
"Everyone can hear you. Shut up!"

Tetsu sighed and tenderly set his bass aside. He closed up to the singer in three long strides and pulled him into a dark corner.
Hyde pouted at Tetsu, giving him his all-your-fault glare.

"So in conclusion this means - if you don't get sex, we won't anything good out of you?" Tetsu asked, voice hushed and full of pressure.
"Remember Hyde, recording should be done today. Schedules have to be kept."

"Who cares?" Hyde shoved the frail bassist aside, stomping back into the room, growling at staff and friends.
Tetsu stood in the dark corner, thinking and drifting off from the real world into leaderism.
Hyde meanwhile had a cigarette, Yukki beside him sipping a cola, everyone around glad having an extra break.
Seeing the condition of Hyde's love-life, the guitarist decided to do something for his own.
Ken called his wife, making a date for a the evening, romantic...promising.
Strolling up to Hyde he told the singer to do just the same.
"Maybe a little intimacy will sugar-coat your voice." Ken tried to be helpful.
Hyde looked at the leader, still standing in his little corner in his unstable state, seemingly thinking of something.
"No use, Ken." Hyde sighed but then clenched his hands into fists. "Damn that Tetsu!"

A frightening glint lit up in the eyes of the band-leader, as he was beside Hyde in a flash, grabbing his upper arm and pulling the singer to his feet.
"I've got to talk to you in earnest." Tetsu said in his no-joking voice.

Yukki and Ken exchanged worried glanced and gulped in unison.
Their leader was pissed. Better hide while one still could.

Dragging the still dark-faced singer behind him, Tetsu left for a small room at the end of the corridor.

"Tetsu is pissed..." Yukki's voice was flat.

"Not often I get to see him like that." Ken was really thoughtful.

"Poor Hyde."

"Hn. Poor guy, never made too many mistakes." Ken's voice was full of sentimentality.
Yukki wondered if this meant, he wouldn't see Hyde alive ever again.

"Maybe we should help him?" he suggested carefully.

"Do you want to expose yourself to the wreath of the leader?" little clouds of smoke escaped from his mouth, drifting off.
Yukki had a picture of a long-toothed, wild-eyed Tetsu in his mind. He gulped again.

"Not necessarily."
The guitarist offered him a cigarette full of sympathy.

"Neither do I."

Silence ensued.

More of it followed.
Nothing happened.

Maybe Hyde never had the chance to scream, Yukki thought.

Suddenly the door of the small room opened and Hyde stumbled out on rather unstable legs. His face hooded by his hair, he somehow reached his mic and clung to it like it was a lifeline.

"Hy...Hyde-kun?" Yukki asked, relieved to see him alive, even if it wasn't the old Hyde he had known before.
"Oi, Hyde?" Ken asked, concerned and surprised to see Hyde still intact.

"Everyone back to positions! We have some recording to do!" Tetsu orders woke him from his musings. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his beloved guitar and was on position before Tetsu could say another word. Yukki also hurried back behind his drums, still fearing the vengeance of their leader.
The techies hurried out, fearful glances shooting at the frail figure of the bassist.

Music started and Yukki hoped that Hyde would be up to practising anyhow.
The first few chords passed and the part, where Hyde was supposed to sing came up.
The eyes of Ken and Yukki settled on the singer with concern.
Hyde's lips opened a little and released the sweetest voice either of them had ever heard.

More than surprised, Ken failed the notes on his guitar and stopped altogether. He simply stared at Hyde with big eyes. Then he studied Tetsu, his looks alternating between the singer and the bassist.

"Ken-chan, that just sucked." Tetsu stated the obvious.

"Hyde...you just...sang...perfectly!" Ken declared.

Tetsu came up to him, looking into the eyes of his long-time friend. "So, what's wrong with that?" Ken just managed to shake his head in disbelief.
"Don't tell me... you have love-life problems too..." Tetsu sighed.

When he dragged the guitarist in the small room, followed by the longing looks of the singer, the band-leader just thought with an internal big sigh:

"The lengths I go through for having a band..."