Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or any of its characters.
A/N: Welcome to the sequel to Gender Confusion. Thank you for all of my reviewers in the past story, I hope you enjoy this one too!
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Japan. Home.
It took three whole months, but finally Ryuichi Sakuma was home. It was an exciting moment in his life actually, knowing that any moment now Shuichi Shindou was going to greet him, smile, and tell him how excited she was to move in with him. It took an awfully long time to get to this place, and now that it was here, he couldn't be happier. Shuichi was his, Eiri Yuki, take that! The disguised singer grinned, his eyes sparkling beneath the thick black plastic of his sunglasses. Any minute now, she was going to pop out of nowhere and go:
"RYUICHI!"
He turned, arms held out wide to catch his lover. She would certainly want a hug after his three month absence.
"Sakuma-san." A second voice joined the earlier one, easily recognized as his band's manager.
"Ah, Sakano-san, what's up? Where's Shuichi?" The male glanced up to see K polishing some new toy. Him and his guns, it was almost an obsession. But it must have been his voice the first time. "Hey, K."
"Yo," the blonde haired man muttered, not leaving his eyes from the brand new magnum. It was almost as if he had something to say with his silence.
"Sakuma-san." The raven haired manager stated again, hoping to gain back the attention of Nittle Grasper's singer. "We are here because of Shuichi-san actually." He strangled his hands together, unsure exactly how to put the next statement. N-G didn't need another scandal and the male had a tendency to cause a disturbance.
The other male, manager to Bad Luck, frowned and shifted his position to face his former friend. The gun was moved to aim at Ryuichi, finishing the last half of the speech for Sakano. "Don't freak out or anything, but he's in the hospital."
It was funny how people tell you not to freak out, because as soon as they say that, you freak out. It is almost always bad news you receive, so why bother saying don't freak? Just say, freak ahead, you'd freak out anyway. But, to get back with the story.. Yeah, he freaked out.
"Hospital? Shuichi? No loving? No moving in?!" Ryuichi yelped, throwing himself into the bustling crowd. Hospital? His Shuichi? It didn't even matter what hospital it was in Tokyo. At his point, Ryu would find it.
"Sakuma.." The manager of Nittle Grasper whined, his hand held up in the air to pitifully try and catch his lead singer. "Don't cause a panic.. It'll be bad for N-G.."
K chuckled, his face smoothing out the thin frown lines. It was worth ruffling up Ryuichi's feathers whenever he could. Pocketing the metallic gun, he turned towards his co-worker. "I hope he doesn't kill my singer trying to see what is wrong. I already claimed that job."
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Hospital. Shuichi.
Yuki.
Yuki did this, didn't he?
He hurt my Shuichi.
I know it!
It took some time to find the right hospital. It wasn't because he hadn't been looking, but Tokyo was large and filled with many of them. By pure luck of a passing phone call by Tohma Seguchi though, he finally found the right place. And honestly, he shouldn't have been surprised by its location next to N-G Studios. Tohma probably paid a little money under the table to get it so close. But without much more thought, Ryuichi threw himself into the building, surprising nurses and patients by the lot.
"ShuichiShindouplease!" The man cried at the closest nurse behind the waiting desk, his words becoming muddled into something intangible. "Hurryuplady!"
"Sakuma-san, over here."
Ryuichi looked up from his assault on the bewildered nurse to see a red-haired fellow by the name of Hiro. It was Shuichi's friend and fellow band mate. He had a most disgruntled face, his mouth molded into a deep frown and his eyes carried dark circles around them. It would have been amusing to point out the raccoon look had Ryu not been in such a hurry for information.
"I was just about to see Shuichi. I suppose you came for him too?"
The singer from Nittle Grasper nodded once and scurried over to the guitar player's side. His face held a million different questions, the most prominent one being if Shu was hurt badly. "Yeah, I did."
"This way, not very far."
Hiroshi Nakano walked ahead with a certain air like he had been there before. It only made the older man worry, his stomach clenching in angry knots. How hurt was his lover? What happened? How long had Shuichi been here? And why didn't the girl call him..
The Bad Luck member broke the silence as they moved along another corridor. "Shuichi's too stupid to be hurt much, you know. He's-" Hiroshi paused to gather his thoughts together. "-Or rather she's - here for other reasons." The younger man glanced down to check out Shindou's lover's face. He hadn't been quite sure if Ryu was on the secret too, but how the she hadn't fazed him at all, it became clear.
"Other reasons?" The singer repeated, wondering if other reasons were a good thing or a bad thing.
The guitar player stopped in front of a door then, halting the question and answer rounds. "Shuichi's room. I'll stay here for now, you can go on ahead. I should probably go search for a vending machine anyway. The food here is terrible I hear." If Ryuichi did know the girl's secrets, then there had to be a better reason than just a 'friend' visit. Surely the man would like to see Shindou alone.
Sakuma silently thanked the man for letting the two of them be alone as he entered the dark hospital room.
"Shu-chan?"
A young female was laid out on a bed that reminded him of a metal cage. Her face was what caught his eye first. It held angry purple and blue splotches, and beneath it, a yellowish tint from probable past abuse. It held his eyes for what seemed like eternity, and only released as he noticed the colors moved down her cheek to her neck and over on her arms. He couldn't help but stare at her battered frame, his hands moving to cover any gasps or growls. What in the hell happened to her? Why had anyone let this go on for that long! Who could be so heartless?
"It doesn't hurt as much as it looks." The figure stirred, her face shifting to position in front of the male's. She held a cocky, defiant smile on her lips, contrasting the shape of her body. "How was America?"
"How was America?" Ryuichi muttered, his nose wrinkling at her earlier comment. "Apparently safer than Japan. What happened?"
Shuichi sighed, knowing that this was going to come up sooner or later. "What do you think happened?" The girl countered, still smirking.
"I think that bastard did this to you." The male replied, irritation growing at her circular thinking.
~"Bingo."~ The girl announced in English, her attention following down to the clenching fists of her lover. "Calm down. It's okay, you know." She moved her nearest hand to grab his own. "Do you still love me, Ryuichi?"
His eyes had traveled down to her palm. It just looked so small and weak compared to his. At the sound of her question, his eyes moved back to her face. "Do I love you Shuichi? Of course I do! I missed you so much! I don't think I'll ever think I can leave you alone again!"
She nodded at him uneasily, her face slowly draining of color. "That's nice." Shu added in meekly.
"Hey you don't look so-"
HUUURRRKKK!
"-good." Ryuichi finished, trying to keep in his lunch unlike his dearest friend.
