Chapter 2 of Awakening

by: Amber Hermione and Casseia

Disclaimer: Gravitation, its characters, setting, etc are not mine or Casseia's. The plot belongs to us equally.

Thank you to all our reviewers, and enjoy.


'Three days, three days without him; without the brat… the Baka… Shuichi… my Shu-chan'

Eiri had been discharged this morning, and they had all come to see him. Everyone but the only person he wanted to see, to smell, to hear, to hold in his arms if only for a little while.

Flashback

Eiri stepped out of his hospital room, and was confronted with a mass of people on their way to see him. He frowned as they came to a stop in front of him. Hiroshi Nakano stepped to the front of the group, and spoke to the novelist alone. "It's not your fault."

That had surprised him. It had surprised everyone; they had all been standing close in case the guitarist became violent.

"It was an accident Yuki-san" was all Hiroshi said. Then he turned and walked out without another word. The others had allowed him to go; everyone stood in silence. Eiri too walked past them, and headed for the front desk to complete his discharge papers.

Now, well at that moment Tohma was driving. Eiri was the one sitting staring out the window. The silence was just as tense, the scene was the same, but again it was completely different and wrong.

"Do you want me to join you Eiri?"

He hadn't realized they'd stopped; and he looked out at the cemetery. The ground was littered with cherry blossoms. Oh, yes it had been that time of year, and Shuichi had been excited to see the trees in bloom.

"Oh Yuki, you should see it. The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom, and everyone's taking their lunch out to see them. It's so pretty, and I wish we could go out to see them; just you and me."

Eiri could hear Shuichi in his mind; trying to convince him to see the yearly spectacle; for the two of them to share in it. He looked at Seguchi shaking his head.

"No, I'll go alone" he stepped out of the car and was about to close the door.

"They were at the height of their bloom four days ago" was all Tohma said. His smile was sad, and once again he knew what Eiri was thinking. The writer closed the door to separate them.

Eiri walked along the pink carpeted ground, and the beauty around him drew his eyes all around the quiet cemetery. The sound of the wind rustling the branches; the scent of the flowers so light and sweet; the feel of the fallen petals under his feet; was all paradoxically 'Perfect? Beautiful? Yes, and the only thing that's wrong is the location…'

He approached the newly disturbed earth in the place where he'd been directed. He looked up and around postponing for a moment the proof he'd needed, and still could not accept. Sunlight radiated from a blue sky warming his face while the wind ruffled his hair and blew his clothes against its force. This spot was situated between two of the bloom-laden trees.

Eiri sat back on his heals, and raised a hand to brush aside the pink flecks that obscured the words.

Here Lies Shuichi Shindou

Our Brightly Shining Star

December 16, 1986 – April 3, 2008

His fingers traced the cold letters as his heart, for the second time, was broken. He was left alone, and as he clenched his fists he felt the sorrow, fear, and … anger close around his heart.

"Why, Shuichi? Why did you have to die and not me… without me… without…" Eiri Yuki lent down upon his knees not caring who saw or what the ground would do to his suit. "That's… that's why… because you were so excited to go somewhere anywhere with me; so excited for us to do something together…" The novelist's hands were pressed flat against the headstone as he spoke his voice broke with the tears that he allowed to fall, "I'm here now, and…. I'm only sorry Shuichi… because it took loosing you to see… what I had all along."

The nerves in his skin sent the message of a familiar stimulus; the gentle touch Shuichi often gave him when the singer thought he was sleeping. "Shuichi…." Eiri breathed not wanting to break this moment, this feeling; that they were indeed together sitting under the sakura trees.

"Eiri this wasn't your fault."

The feeling vanished, and Eiri's eyes narrowed into slits. He slowly returned to his feet, and only then did he turn to face Tohma. "This isn't New York Seguchi, I'm not sixteen, and Shuichi Shindou is not Yuki Kitazawa!"

"Eiri I didn't say—"

"You left that message." Eiri grabbed the front of Tohma's shirt and shook him as he spoke, "You're the reason he was so insistent on going. Now, when I tell you I'm going alone you come anyway, and interrupted my time with Shuichi!"

Tohma's eyes grew wide with shock as he was shaken. He knew better than to speak, and just allowed Eiri to vent. When Eiri thrust him against one of the near by trees he managed "…Eiri…."

The man's breathing was heavy, but something changed in his golden eyes. His grip slackened on the other's clothes, but he did not release him. Lowering his head as a look of pain marred his features, "Answer just one question. Why did you want to see us?"

Tohma's face relaxed slightly, "It was to announce the new project Nittle Grasper and Bad Luck were to be doing together. We wanted you to be a part of it because the album would be dedicated to you, and Mika, and Tatsuha, and Ayaka, and Maiko Shindou. It was to be dedicated to the ones the two bands hold most dear."

Eiri lowered his hand, and walked back to the car. After a moment Tohma followed him. Not a word was spoken as the President of NG drove the famous novelist Eiri Yuki home. They were once again who the world saw them as, and not the brothers that they were.