The Darkest Hour

Yuki sat in front of his computer silently, not making a move except for the breathing that caused his chest to slowly move in and out. He had been doing this for what seemed like hours at this point, but had in reality only been about twenty minutes. He did this while the home was silent and empty, and he managed to continue this practice even when his loud companion barged into the home suddenly and seemingly as loudly as he could. He barely noticed the appearance of Shuichi though, even when he burst into the dark room he was sitting in, lit only by the computer screen that revealed an empty Word document. Shuichi seemed to notice something was wrong, so he quickly spoke up with a voice that pierced through Yuki's previous silence. "What's wrong Yuki? You didn't even say hi to me! You're being creepy just sitting there like that." Shuichi laughed and poked Yuki in the arm as he tried to get a reaction out of him. It worked, and Yuki was shaken out of his strange trance to look over at Shuichi laughing as he felt a sharp pain shot through his shoulder as if Shuichi had just triggered an old wound to hurt. His voice was harsh and tired sounding. "What are you laughing at? This is your fault you know. You were the one that suggested I branch out in my writing, and now, I have writer's block." Glaring for a moment, Yuki quickly returned his gaze to the blank Word document that had been plaguing him for the last twenty minutes. For Yuki, that was quite a long time to have not written anything, not even one word graced that blank page. The bright white emptiness seemed to be taunting him, so in a fit of annoyance Yuki slapped the laptop shut and sighed loudly. Shuichi smiled at his lover's despair, realizing that this short bit of writer's block was more than normal, and that all Yuki needed was a push in the right direction. Thinking for a moment, Shuichi's eyes glistened with excitement as he seemed to have remembered something. "I know! You are supposed to be writing a Drama, right? Well, how about you write about what happened to us last Friday? That was pretty dramatic! Remember?" Smiling brightly, Shuichi walked over to the laptop and opened it back up again, and with a kiss on the lips he left Yuki to his writing so that he could go and try to work on his less than impressive cooking skills. Blinking, Yuki could hardly believe that Shuichi had just helped him with his writing. Bringing his fingers to the laptop keys, he began to write.

It was a day like any other day, or at least that was how it seemed to the bright, young, and handsome writing talent Yuki Eiri. Little did he know, that this day would change drastically as night fell upon the city he called home. It was a Friday, and he was glad to be coming home at the end of long day with his publishers. He hoped that his annoying roommate of sorts would not be home yet, so that he could relax a little before having to deal with him. Of course, he would probably find a way to enjoy his company if he must. Smirking to himself, he thought of what he wanted to do tonight with his noisy singer Shuichi Shindou. Walking to the front door of his home, he started to pull out his key and suddenly felt a strange sense of foreboding creeping down his spine. Before he could fully react to this, his world went black.

Yuki slowly opened his eyes to realize he was in a dark place that made it impossible to see anything. The second thing he noticed was a throbbing pain coming from the back of his head. Feeling dizzy, he tried to bring his hand up to touch the back of his head, only to find that his hands were bound together making it impossible to move that way. Sighing, he immediately wished he had a cigarette and maybe a beer. When these things did not simply appear, he realized that this must not be a dream. If this was a dream, he could have willed those things into appearing. Feeling a bit worried now; he squinted his eyes and tried to see through the thick darkness that surrounded him. Had he been hit on the head and brought to this strange place? It seemed a bit odd to him really. He certainly had some crazed fans, but this was a little extreme even for them. Enemies were something he had a small amount of, but none that would go to these means to hurt him. Try as he might, Yuki could think of nothing that would warrant this kidnapping. Just as he was about to give up thinking, he heard something very familiar. It was the sound of someone singing, or more like simply muttering song lyrics to himself unaware that anyone else was around. With a dry and flat voice, Yuki called out to the darkness. "Shuichi?"

The moment he spoke, the dark room was suddenly filled with the hyper noise of Shuichi's excited voice. It was loud, and incredibly irritating; yet somehow a bit comforting simply because of the situation Yuki was in. "Yuki?! Yuki, is that you? Of course it is, I would recognize your voice anywhere! Oh I am so glad it is you! Are you here to rescue your captured lover? It is scary in here, turn on a light or something, please?" While Shuichi's voice was filled with his usual excitement, Yuki noticed a bit of shaky fear in there as well. It was obvious he was scared. Feeling like a bit of a letdown, Yuki sighed and then revealed what the situation truly was. "Well…no. Not unless I can rescue you while being tied up. Do you know who did this? Or why?" Pausing for a moment, Yuki added a bit more as he realized he was actually quite pissed about this whole situation. "Whoever it is, they better be able to run fast, because they won't find me to be a very forgiving person once I get out of here."

Shuichi's voice did not ring out with a response immediately, as if he was trying to figure out why Yuki was also tied up. How could he save him if he was also in need of being saved? "I-I don't know what is going on Yuki…but a scary man took me here and said I should wait for you to come save me." He stopped speaking there, becoming quite silent so that it was almost as though he disappeared in the darkness. Yuki could tell that Shuichi was quite frightened at this point, and was even trying to push back tears with little success. Before he could say anymore, the lights flashed on with bright intensity so that the whole room appeared white for a moment. Looking around Yuki heard Shuichi scream with surprise and he noticed they were in some kind of barn. Turning his eyes to Shuichi, he found he was unharmed but obviously shaken up quite a bit. Hearing another voice, Yuki turned his attention to the front of the barn to see a man he had never met in his life standing before them with a gun in his hand. Glaring, Yuki wasted no time and quickly spoke up in a harsh tone that masked any fear he might have had. "What the hell is this? Explain yourself, right now." With a maniacal laugh, the stranger moved closer to Yuki as he spoke. His eyes were a deep red color that seemed to be the color of blood, while his hair was jet black. He didn't appear to be overly strong, but he looked dangerous and his voice was rough. "You must be Yuki, then you are the one I get to hurt." Smirking, the evil looking man walked straight up to Yuki and pulled out a sharp knife. Putting it close to his cheek, he pressed the blade against his skin just hard enough to break the skin and cause a bit of blood to ooze out. Shuichi, who was able to see this, screamed out angrily and moved about as if trying to release himself from the bonds that kept him on the ground, as he and Yuki both had their legs tied to large wooden beams. "Don't touch my Yuki! Stop it you freak!" His voice was quite loud, but not at all intimidating. So while the stranger cringed at the loud noise, he was not frightened of the little Shuichi's screaming, as they simply caused him to laugh and cut deeper into Yuki's cheek. Yuki cringed in pain but did not yell out or show much emotion at all. He glanced at Shuichi for only a moment, and then locked his eyes on the stranger once again. As he did this, the man spoke once more. "Now that I have your attention, I will tell you why you are here. It is simple enough really. My client wants this stupid brat to quit his sad excuse for a band and leave music to the real talents out there, Simple enough really. Do it, or the grumpy lover dies." Shuichi gasped in disbelief, which only caused the man to laugh again. Obviously gaining enjoyment from this, he punched Yuki's cheek right where he had cut him, letting his blood smear on his fist. Yuki cringed again and felt his heart racing as he tried to think of a way out of this. He felt his legs were a bit loosely tied, so he figured he could slip out of that easily enough and he even believed he could break the cheep rope that bond his hands, but then what to do? As he thought this, he noticed that man licking his blood off his fist as if he found pleasure form the act. Pulling back in disgust, Yuki thought it was quite obvious that escape would not be easy even if he could free his body. As he thought about this, he heard Shuichi do something quite unexpected. Looking in his direction, he saw that Shuichi was kicking violently as he tried to free himself while calling out to the man. "Don't hurt my Yuki! I won't let you get away with that! I don't care about quitting music, just stop it now!" This behavior seemed to confusion the red-eyed man and he looked at Shuichi intently. Taking this opportunity, Yuki kicked his feet forward as hard as he could, causing his rope to break free from the wooden beam and allowing him the freedom to stand. Feeling woozy, he still managed to lunge at the man before he realized what was happening, while always ripped apart the rope around his hands. However, the man reacted quickly and pulled up his gun shooting it off loudly. Yuki immediately felt a sharp pain fly through his shoulder as the two fell to the ground together. Shuichi screamed again and continued to try and kick his way free, without success. Tears now rolling down his face, he simply had to watch as the person he loved the most struggled for his life. The man laughed as Yuki's blood poured down over him, but Yuki still managed to have the upper hand right now, as he firmly held the man to the ground and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand. Getting desperate, Yuki leaned forward and bit the mans hand as hard as he could, drawing blood before he dropped the gun, causing it to skid across the floor until it landed at Shuichi's feet. With new determination, the man used more force now to wrestle until Yuki was pinned underneath him while he stabbed his bullet wound with the knife. It was now that Yuki finally cried out in pain, unable to hold back any longer. This cry was what caused Shuichi to pull the trigger, aiming straight for the man. He had been shakily holding the gun in his hands for a bit now, but had been too afraid to shoot. Now he found the courage to kill this man, and that was exactly what he did with a lucky shot. Stunned, Yuki pushed the dead man's body off him and pulled the knife out of his shoulder as he cringed in pain. Sweating, and covered in blood, he crawled over to Shuichi and untied his hands and feet before blacking out for the second time that night.

When he came to he was in his bed at home, bandaged up and feeling numb. Looking over he saw Shuichi fast asleep in the bed next to him as he clutched his hand tightly. Revealing a rare smile, Yuki squeezed his lover's hand and was honestly grateful that he had Shuichi in his life. Although he was supposed to be the one saving him, it seemed as though in the end the most unlikely hero saved him instead. Letting out a happy sigh, Yuki drifted off to sleep with his lover nearby. Never had he slept so well as he did that night after the lovers' darkest hour.

- Yuki Eiri -

Yuki saved the Word document with a feeling of satisfaction that only came from finishing another project. Closing the laptop, he looked around and realized he had been writing all night long and had missed the dinner he believed Shuichi to be making. Making his way to their bedroom, he smelled the remnants of burnt food floating around the home, and was a bit glad he missed dinner tonight. When he got to the room he found Shuichi fast asleep on the bed with a smile on his face. Finding a smile of his own, he slipped into bed next to his lover and fell asleep after pulling Shuichi's body close to his.

- smokingpoetry -