Disclaimer: I still don't own Gravitation!

The author would like everyone to know that the opinions of her characters do not in any way reflect her own sentiments. She happens to Love Japan (obviously she's completely obsessed with Japanese anime and manga!) and she thinks that Japanese is one of the most beautiful languages she has ever heard.
That is all!

Kaori Nakamura burst excitedly into the apartment he shared with his twin sister Yori.

"It's here, it's finally here," he yelled as he danced joyfully around the room.

"What's going on?" Yori asked although she had a pretty good idea what it was already. There was only one thing that would make her idiot brother this excited.

"Bad Luck's latest CD…it was finally released in America!" Kaori had already removed the plastic wrap and was now opening the case with trembling hands. "Yes! There are pictures in this one!" He shoved the thin booklet into Yori's face. "Just look at him! Isn't Shuichi Shindou the most adorable guy you've ever seen?"

"Kaori you moron, you're a guy! Shouldn't you be drooling over someone like Heather Graham, Nicole Sutter, or at least Cherry Blossoms?"

"Hey, wait a minute. Isn't Cherry Blossoms a guy too," he asked in confusion.

"At least he dresses in drag and looks like a girl!" Yori taunted throwing a hand towel in his face.

"Quit picking on me! Can't you see that I'm in love?" He looked once again at Shuichi's picture. "I wish I could meet him…just once."

Shuichi sensed that it was very late in the morning when he finally awoke. Yuki's arms were still wrapped reassuringly around him. He snuggled closer to Yuki and sighed contentedly. There were several perks to all of the therapy that Yuki has undergone. Shuichi's favorite by far has always been cuddling with Yuki like this. When they got back together, for some reason Yuki let him sleep in his bed. He still got angry when Shuichi tried to snuggle up to him, but at least they had gotten to the point where they could sleep in the same bed. Then Shuichi had a nightmare about that awful night. After Yuki calmed him down, he held Shuichi the entire night and he was in heaven. The next morning, when Shuichi asked him about it, he simply said 'I know how disturbing nightmares can be.' Now, every time he has a nightmare, Yuki always holds and comforts him. It almost made Shuichi wish it would happen every night.

"So, you're finally awake." Yuki said as he gently disentangled himself and stretched lazily. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm much better today," he said trying to smile. "Ouch!" Shuichi touched his left cheek gingerly. "I guess my cheek is still pretty sore."

"That's to be expected. You have one hell of a bruise!"

"I don't understand why I was attacked. I keep thinking about last night, and I just can't figure out what I'd done wrong." He looked at Yuki sadly. "What did I do? Please tell me so it won't happen again!"

Yuki looked down uncomfortably. "You were beaten simply because they thought you were gay."

"Well I am gay! What does that have to do with anything? I didn't," Shuichi shuddered at the thought. "I would never want to do anything with them!"

"Whether you'd try anything with them or not is not the issue with the bastards that attacked you last night. Those kind of people are convinced that their way of living is the only one that is acceptable." Yuki looked sadly at Shuichi's bruised face. "They blindly hate anyone, who doesn't fit into their narrow minded view of what is normal."

"But why me…do I really look so abnormal that I'd be targeted by them?"

"Well…guys don't usually have pink hair, and you do look a little effeminate…" He glared at Yuki in warning and he smiled knowing that it made Shuichi bristle, "but I'm probably to blame for what happened last night."

"What did you…?" He began to protest all of his anger disappearing beneath his curiosity.

"I let my guard down too much last night." Seeing the confusion in Shuichi's eyes he added. "We were talking too intimately with each other; we looked too much like a couple. That's usually all it takes to push idiots like that over the edge. The fact that they were drunk didn't help matters either." He got up and started to get dressed. "From now on we'll have to be more careful when we're in public."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Shuichi asked rising angrily out of bed. "Last night we were just enjoying a meal together. I mean…we were just talking. It's not like we were kissing or embracing. We didn't even hold hands." His hands were shaking as he roughly got dressed. "What are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to walk around like emotionless mannequins just to keep a few mindless idiots from trying to beat the hell out of us?"

"It'll just be for a few days." Yuki said trying his best to make his voice soothing. "Once we get back home, we can carry on as we always have."

"I hate this!" Shuichi walked to the window and looked out at the city that had been so enchanting just yesterday. "Why do we have to hide who are? Why can't those people just leave us alone?"

"Please, just do this for me…so you'll be safe."

He could sense that Yuki was behind him. Shuichi wanted Yuki to embrace him and to finally tell him 'I love you.' "Why do you want me to be safe?" He asked in a small, quiet voice full of emotion.

Yuki sighed heavily. "I…I just don't want anything to happen to you."

Shuichi knew it meant there was more Yuki wanted to say, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. If Shuichi pushed the matter, it would only make Yuki angry, so he buried his disappointment deep within his heart and changed the subject. "Have you decided what you're going to do today?" Shuichi turned and looked into his troubled eyes and noticed that he was looking toward Central Park.

"I have to go to Kitazawa's favorite spot in Central Park, but let's have some breakfast first." He looked at Shuichi thoughtfully for a moment. "There used to be a coffee shop a few blocks away that served a great breakfast."

"I think I'd rather stay here and order breakfast from room service." He answered moodily. "At least in here we can still act normal."

Yori was in the kitchen packing the food she'd been preparing for their family's annual summer picnic. It was her turn to bring the bento, and she hoped that it would meet with her father's approval. Kaori suddenly dashed out of his room and headed for the door.

"Just where do you think you're going?" She asked in surprise.

"I just read on the internet that Shuichi has come to New York with his lover Eiri Yuki," he breathlessly explained. "It's rumored that they're staying in a high class hotel near Central Park. I'm going to systematically stakeout each one of them until I find him!"

"You can't do that today! Did you forget?" She looked at him and threw her hands up in disgust. "You really are a moron! You're so obsessed with Shuichi Shindou that you've completely forgotten about our annual family picnic!"

"Come on Yori," he whined practically falling to his knees. "I have a chance to see, and maybe even talk to Shuichi! Couldn't you just tell mom and dad that I was sick? Please…just this once!"

"I could, but I won't," she answered coldly. "You know how important this is to mom and dad. They've been doing this with us ever since we were babies. It's very important to them."

"Damn it! We're almost twenty years old," he yelled in frustration. "It was kind of cool to hear all of the old stories and folklore about Japan…when I was twelve! If I have to listen to all of that nonsense again, I swear I'm gonna puke! And to top it all off, we have to speak Japanese the whole afternoon. It's a complete pain in the ass.

"Look, I'm getting tired of all the old stories myself, but mom and dad really look forward to this all year long." Yori took Kaori by the hand and looked beseechingly into his eyes. "Please come…for a little while at least. The picnic is in Central Park after all. After you've inhaled the bento and listened to a couple of stories, you can conveniently remember that you have a paper due and excuse yourself to go stakeout the nearest hotel. That way, you can still pursue your idol and keep from hurting mom and dad's feelings."

"Alright, I'll go for a little while," he reluctantly conceded.

Shuichi walked nervously with Yuki trying his best to keep his distance and yet still be close enough to give Yuki his support. His face was pale, and Shuichi could tell that he was beginning to regret eating the large breakfast he'd ordered this morning. As they walked around a group of large bushes, Yuki abruptly stopped in his tracks. Shuichi was about to ask what was wrong, but his question died on his lips when he saw the haunted look on Yuki's face.

Yuki froze in place. This was it. This is where he met Kitazawa. He remembered it like it had happened yesterday. He was with Tohma that day. They had even walked along the same path, and when they had walked around the same group of bushes, Kitazawa had been there sitting under that same tree. When Tohma introduced him, Kitazawa smiled warmly at Yuki. He'd become enraptured by that smile until that horrible day when the man he admired and loved smiled at him as he was being raped – as he pleaded for help.

"Yuki…are you alright," Shuichi tentatively asked. Yuki looked awful and he wanted more than anything to hold him and physically give him his support.

"I…I'm fine," he answered tensely. "I need a moment alone. Why don't you take a walk down that path? I'll catch up with you in a little while."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" He really didn't want to leave Yuki like this.

"I said I'll be fine," he snapped at Shuichi harshly.

"O…ok," he answered meekly. "I'll be waiting for you."

Shuichi tried unsuccessfully to keep himself from crying as he walked along the path that Yuki pointed out. He knew the reason Yuki had been so short with him was because he was probably remembering something painful, but it still hurt Shuichi's feelings. I want to help him so much. Why does he have to shut me out like that? I wish he would let me help him bear this burden. Why does he always have to do things like this alone? He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't even see the large man standing in his path until he'd actually bumped into him.

"Well lookie here Emmet," he loudly exclaimed. "It's the same little faggot from last night!"

"Bless my soul it is him," he said pulling Shuichi's hair so that he was forced to look into his hateful eyes. "Where's your faggot body guard hidin'?" He shoved Shuichi hard enough to send him tumbling to the ground.

Even though he knew they wouldn't understand him, Shuichi mumbled, "Please excuse me" as he scrambled to his feet and backed cautiously down the path. He hadn't gone more than a few feet before he bumped into another large man.

"Is this the faggot y'all ran into at the restaurant Billy?" He asked shoving Shuichi toward the other two.

"Yeah, he's the one," Billy answered as he shoved him back to the ground.

Shuichi was really beginning to panic now. He scrambled to his feet and took a deep breath. "Yu…" The one standing behind him slapped a dirty hand over his mouth and began dragging him from the path into the bushes.

"Come on you guys, don't you think you've scared him enough?" A fourth man asked. Although he wasn't as big as the other three, he was still bigger than Shuichi.

Billy let out an evil laugh as he punched Shuichi hard enough in the stomach to knock the wind out of his lungs. He grunted and buckled over, but was caught before he made it to his knees. Shuichi felt his arms being pinned roughly behind him. "Aw, we don't want to scare him." Billy threw a wicked right hook that landed on Shuichi's left cheek. "We're gonna make this little faggot sorry he was ever born."

Billy and Emmet took turns pummeling Shuichi's body. Mostly they aimed for his face, but occasionally they would hit him in the stomach knocking the wind again and again from his lungs so he couldn't call for help. Please don't hit me in the ribs! Anywhere but the ribs, Shuichi thought desperately until one of them kicked him in the groin. He screamed in pain scattering the blood that poured from his lips.

"Enough already," the smaller man yelled. "You're gonna kill him!"

"So what if we did," Emmet asked incredulously. "One less faggot would be a good thing!"

"Will killing him be worth it when you're spending the rest of your life in prison," the smaller one asked trying desperately to reason with him.

The one holding Shuichi's arms abruptly released him and he landed hard on the ground. "Jason's right y'all. We've had our fun. I think the faggot's had enough."

"Y'all have gotten too soft livin' up here with all these damn Yankees," Emmet said as he kicked Shuichi in the stomach.

Shuichi coughed up blood. They're really going to kill me! Yuki, please come and find me…before it's too late!

"Damn it Billy! This has to stop," Jason yelled in desperation.

Shuichi looked with pleading eyes at Jason. "Please help me," he weakly implored hoping Jason would understand the emotion even though he wouldn't understand the words.

Billy kicked him again. "Come on Billy, that's enough," Jason demanded as he tried to shove the larger man away from Shuichi. "NO! Emmet don't…"

The world seemed to explode against the left side of Shuichi's head and he fell into darkness.