The wonderful Murakami Maki owns Gravitation and all of it's characters. All I own are my own thoughts and imagination. I would like to give her thanks for allowing me to take extreme liberties with her creations.

For those of you with weak stomachs I do not suggest reading the following story as it does become very violent in the upcoming chapters with both torture and rape being featured, and thus the mature rating.

For those of you have read some of my previous stories I hope you will welcome me back. I have gone through a rough time in my life and am just now getting back to writing after a few year's absence. I have left one story unfinished and I hope to be able to finish it as soon as I can, once I am able to find the handwritten copy again.

Piecing Together The Past

Prologue

Yuki smiled to himself. The apartment was quiet even though he could hear the stereo softly playing a Nittle Grasper CD through the closed door of his study. He had actually begun to enjoy listening to soft music as he wrote, it was great for setting a particular mood. Well, that really depended on the type of music being played. Hard rock was definitely not an option, but most other types were all right. Depending on the type of music he was listening to it would not only set the mood but sometimes it would set the tone for the entire book.

The blond author sat back from his notebook with a loud sigh and with a deliberate stab of his long finger clicked "save". He had managed to finish this book in record time even with his sometimes annoyingly loud lover being home. After setting the document to print Yuki stood up to stretch with a groan. He must have been sitting longer than he thought. He might have a few aches and pains but the reaction of his editor, Mizuki, would be very pleased to learn how quickly he had managed to push out this final chapter.

Since he had finished the book early maybe he and his lover could afford to take a few days off and get away from all the pressures they had been under recently. Yuki was under constant pressure to finish his books and Shuichi was nearly consumed with all of his scheduled appearances and concerts. Sometimes being famous could be a total bore.

Yuki ended his stretch and stood for a moment just trying to picture what Shuichi might be doing right this moment. In his creative mind's eye he could picture his young lover stretched out on the couch working on lyrics while on his stomach, stockinged feet swaying back and forth in the air to the time of the music. Yuki's mind then drifted to the picture of Shuichi sprawled across the couch sound asleep. He could only smile at the pictures that were popping into his head.

Yuki and Shuichi had been together for five years now, and unlike most couples that tended to get into a comfortable routine after several years, he and Shuichi found their relationship was always changing. He thought this was because their jobs kept them both away from home and each other for long periods of time. Especially Shuichi who had just the day before returned home from a two month long concert tour where their time together could only be counted in hours rather than days, months, or even years like other couples.

Now Yuki's smiled turned into a sardonic chuckle at himself. He could rationalize things to himself all he wanted but he knew the truth. It wasn't really the time they spent apart that kept their relationship fresh and exciting, it was Shuichi. His young lover deserved all of the credit. The singer lived every day as if it were his very first. Everything was new to him no matter how many times he had seen or done it before. At times Shuichi even managed to make the author's jaded eyes see the world in a new light. Mostly gone were the days when he felt anger or resentment for Shuichi's behavior. As a matter of fact he loved nearly everything about the singer's behavior.

It had taken Yuki a long while to be able to admit to himself that he actually loved Shuichi and it had taken him a couple of more years to be able to admit it to Shuichi. No one ever said progress happens quickly.

Shuichi had done a great deal of growing up in the past couple of years. Yuki still thought of his as a kid because he was still overly hyperactive and probably always would be. Yet Shuichi had learned some boundaries. It really hadn't taken him long at all to learn that the less he interrupted Yuki while he was working, the faster Yuki would be able to get his work done and they would have more time to spend together. Now Shuichi rarely disturbed him while he was working. The kid would even do little things to help. Things like coming into his office quietly to bring him a fresh beer, change his dirty ashtrays, or leave sandwiches if he had to work through dinner. On those rare evenings when he found himself working really long hours Shuichi would even come in and rub and neck and shoulders all without saying a word.

Yuki found himself starting to pace back and forth in his office as he waited for the final chapter of his last book to finish printing. He just wanted to get this done so he go in and cuddle with his lover. Maybe all of this thought had made him sentimental all of sudden. Since he now remembered hearing this same Nittle Grasper track for at least the fourth time this evening he figured that Shuichi must be asleep. Not even Shuichi could stand to listen to the same CD this many times in a row. The also seemed to have some kind of sonar tuned into Yuki's printer. Whenever Shuichi would hear the printer start he would usually be in the room within seconds. The only times this didn't happen was when the kid was deeply asleep. After what seemed an eternity the author finally grabbed the moderately sized stack of papers just as last page landed on the pile and dropped the entire mess into a manila envelope addressed to his editor.

Once the chapter was sealed and ready to go Yuki peeked his blond head our of the door. He didn't see Shuichi's head sticking up over the back of the couch. Deciding that Shuichi was asleep Yuki walked quietly to the couch and looked over the back. He was surprised and shocked at what he saw. No Shuichi. He thought maybe the kid had actually went to bed for once, but a quick check of the bedrooms and baths gave him the same result—still no Shuichi!

As he was looking through the apartment Yuki began to get a weird feeling in his chest. This was totally not like Shuichi. The kid never left the apartment without letting him know first and at the very least leaving him a note. With that thought Yuki realized he hadn't even looked for a note and they had put up an eraser board by the door just for that purpose. Yuki hurried from the back bathroom to the door only to find the board was blank. The board itself seemed to laughing at him with a curved slash of wiped out chalk leftover from the last message written there.

Confusion took over at the top of Yuki's emotions as he ran his long fingers through the tussled blond mess atop his head. He tried to think if he done anything recently that would have Shuichi angry. He had been working all day, he knew that much and simply could not remember anything. Maybe the kid was angry that he had been working all day. But, even if he was mad, Shuichi would not have left without leaving a note.

Still confused Yuki walked over and turned off the stereo and went to sit on the sofa. It was possible Shuichi had forgotten to leave a note and it was also possible the kid thought he would be back well before Yuki was finished for the night. Whatever the case the kid would surely be home soon, Yuki would just have to wait. But, that nagging feeling in his chest just wouldn't go away.

Starting to feel agitated Yuki reached for the television remote hoping to able to catch at least some of the news for the day. The remote always so neatly placed on the table in front of the couch was not in it's usual spot. It was only then that Yuki began to notice the mess. There was a half-eaten sandwich on the floor, an overturned glass of milk also on the floor, and corn chips scattered everywhere. Shuichi hadn't left a mess like this in years. First no note and now this, he and Shuichi had not had any sort of fight in a while but it looked like one was coming tonight when the kid got home.

With an agitated grunt Yuki leaned over to begin cleaning up the mess, only to have his catch on a glint of gold shining up from the table. The tight feeling in his chest now began to squeeze like a vise. And, his hand was shaking as he reached out to pick up the ring. Even before he picked it up he knew it was the ring he had given Shuichi as a sign of his love. It was Shuichi's wedding ring. The gold felt cold in his hand as if Shuichi were dead to him now. Hiding under the ring Yuki finally found the note that he knew Shuichi would have written. The note was Shuichi's handwriting and the one word caused Yuki's world to spin into blackness. Written on the note was only one word--"Goodbye".

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