Hey everyone! Thank you for all the reviews, this story has now broken 100 o.O I'm still kind of shocked…

Disclaimer: own plot and nothing more.

This chapter is dedicated to LoveMeNine love you and thank you!

-xXx-

It had been a week since Shuichi had come home. Eric had brought him up to his house, just like Yuki had promised though he had left before Shuichi was actually reunited with any of his family. Shuichi rolled over onto him stomach, burying his face into his pillow.

Yuki.

Shuichi still couldn't believe how terribly things had ended between them. Not like he had any idea as to how he could have fixed it; after Yuki had left Shuichi was constantly fluctuating between different levels of anger, hatred, and depression.

Eric had remained incredibly patient throughout the whole ordeal, calming Shuichi down, cheering him up—or trying in any case. How much Yuki had told him about the situation, Shuichi still wasn't sure but he never brought it up and neither did Shuichi. There were times when Shuichi would adamantly demand to see Yuki but Yuki must have told Eric not to let him because it was never "possible". At one point, Shuichi even considered going back on his word and turning Yuki in…but in the end he knew he couldn't. Besides, turning Yuki in would more or less mean killing Eric as well.

A light touch fell on the back of Shuichi's head, pulling him back from the thoughts that were constantly plaguing his mind. Shuichi turned his head to the side, not really wanting to interact with anyone but knowing it was rude for him to ignore whoever was trying to talk to him now.

"Shuichi?" Maiko's soft, hesitant voice floated down to his ears and Shuichi resisted the urge to turn his head back into his pillow. Of all the people, his sister was most concerned about him, constantly checking in and trying to get him to open up. It was really starting to annoy him.

"Hmm?" Shuichi mumbled sleepily, pretending that he had just woken up. He lazily reached out to play with Rue's fur as she lay sprawled in a warm patch of sunlight beside him. At some point the little kitten he had rescued had grown into a bigger—though not less playful—version of herself.

"I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were ok."

"Really, Maiko, you don't have to check on me every single day like this. I'm fine, just tired." Maiko gave a sigh and sat down on the chair she had permanently relocated so she could sit next to Shuichi when he was in bed.

"Shuichi. You've been moping around like this for a week." Shuichi stayed quiet, not really knowing how to reply to that statement. Although reuniting with his family had been incredibly joyful—especially since his mother had promised to never dress him up as a girl again—Shuichi had quickly fallen into a depression of sorts. Both his mother and father just thought it was due to his readjustment and that he would bounce back soon enough. Shuichi felt that the only way that was going to happen would be for him to find Yuki again. But he also knew that the pirate was gone and now more than ever had a reason to stay the hell away.

"Very well. Since you won't talk to me, someone else is visiting." Shuichi sat up, the sly look in Maiko's eyes piquing his interest.

"Who?"

Maiko glanced towards the door to Shuichi's room and the pink-haired boy followed her gaze. As if on cue, a head of dark brown hair poked around the door.

"Ryu—"

"SHUICHI!" Shuichi yelped as Ryuichi practically pounced on him, barely managing to pull Rue out of the way before she was squished. As soon as Rue deemed it was safe she darted away from Shuichi and off the bed, wandering over to Maiko who obliging picked her up to cuddle.

"What are you doing here?" Shuichi asked once he had managed to at least push Ryuichi off his chest though his friend was still clinging to him.

"Erm he was coming down to help find you. Either that or attend your funeral." Maiko cut in before Ryuichi could respond for himself.

"I wasn't dead." Shuichi stated with annoyance.

"How were we supposed to know that? Anyway, I'm off, mom and I are going shopping for a new dress."

"What for?" Maiko usually only got new dresses for special occasions. As far as Shuichi knew there was nothing happening anytime soon.

"Uh…well…I have a date! So bye then! Have a nice day!" Maiko said hurriedly before dashing out of the room so Shuichi couldn't ask anymore questions.

"Weird." Shuichi muttered to himself before turning his attention back to the person who was still latched onto his body. "Hey… You can let go now, you know. I'm not going anywhere."

"But Shu~ I was so worried!" Ryuichi whined, refusing to release him.

"Really. I'm perfectly fine." Shuichi said with a half-hearted smile, attempting to pull Ryuichi's arms from his body. His friend pulled away and gave him a curious look. It lasted only for the briefest of seconds but Shuichi was certain it was there and left him feeling slightly unnerved. However, in a blink it was gone and Ryuichi was bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Get up! Get up! Get up! You've been in bed too long! Let's go play!"

Shuichi smiled a little bit more. Ryuichi's childish charm always managed to lift his spirits. Perhaps he could indeed make him feel better. In any case, it was worth a shot.

The day passed easily, Shuichi finding himself at ease in the carefree attitude of Ryuichi. Ryuichi hadn't brought up his absence once, nor had he asked Shuichi if "anything was the matter." It was a welcome change. What made it even better was the fact that both his mom and sister were in town and his dad was entertaining some guest who had shown up early in the morning meaning it wasn't even possible for him to run into his family and see their pitying, worried stares.

Currently the two were out on a balcony attached to Shuichi's room, relaxing on chairs they had dragged out so they could sit under the stars after eating dinner in Shuichi's room.

"Hey Shuichi…" Ryuichi said, breaking the silence for the first time since they had gone outside.

"Yeah?" Came the distracted reply.

"You know your family is starting to worry about you."

Shuichi withheld a sigh; he should have known Ryuichi's silence on the subject was too good to be true. "I know. I'll snap out of it soon enough, I'm sure. I just need a little more time."

"It helps if you talk." Ryuichi said, turning away from the stars so as to fix Shuichi with one of his rare, serious expressions. "You know you can tell me anything."

Shuichi got up from his chair, walking over to lean on the stone railing of the balcony and stare out at the darkened world. "I'm not sure I could explain it."

"Try." Ryuichi encourage, coming to stand next to him.

Shuichi wrestled with himself, not sure if telling Ryuichi was a good idea or not. Ryuichi had never known Mika, the two had met after Shuichi had moved from England down to the colonies with his father's new job as Ryuichi had been in a similar situation. Even so, when Mika had died, Ryuichi had been his saving grace, bringing him back from his grief. But perhaps since Ryuichi never actually knew Mika, maybe he would bear less hatred towards her murderer and maybe he could understand Shuichi just a little…

"I met the man who killed Mika." Shuichi stated bluntly, forcing the words out before he or the tears that were suddenly starting to build could stop him. Out of his periphery, he saw Ryuichi's head snap up to look at him. A few seconds later Shuichi found himself pulled against Ryuichi's chest as tears began to slip from his eyes.

"Shuichi…I'm so sorry." The older man breathed, holding Shuichi tightly to himself. "But…if you tell me where he is, we can catch him, we can bring him to justice." Ryuichi said, attempting to cheer up and reassure his friend. He was shocked when he felt Shuichi shaking his head against him.

"I can't." Shuichi whispered over choked back tears.

"What do you mean?" Ryuichi asked, pulling back to try and look at Shuichi's face.

"I…I love with him." Shuichi refused to make eye-contact with Ryuichi as he spoke, not wanting to see what sort of reaction his expression would show.

"…What?" Ryuichi grip on Shuichi's arms slackened considerably, something Shuichi didn't take to be a good sign. He pulled away from the shell-shocked Ryuichi, sinking to the floor of the balcony as he sobbed into his own arms.

"Shu…" Ryuichi's voice came from next to Shuichi's ear and momentarily Shuichi felt arms encircling him once more. Ryuichi just let his friend cry in his arms, realizing that what he really needed at the moment was someone to lean on, to talk to, someone who wouldn't judge him. It was no wonder Shuichi hadn't spoken a word about this to his family; it was a hard thing for even Ryuichi—who had no connection to Mika Uesegi—to accept.

As the sobs started to decrease down to the occasional hiccup, Ryuichi readjusted their position so that Shuichi could still lean comfortably against him and Ryuichi could use the balcony railing as support.

"Tell me?"

"The three weeks I was gone, I was on a ship. It was so wonderful, Ryu! I really loved it—I loved him. He could be jerk, certainly, but he had this really sweet side. He kept me safe. I didn't know it was him…not until right before I came back." Shuichi stopped for a moment, the tears starting to build up again. "Ryu…I just don't know what to do from here. I feel like I've betrayed Mika but I can't bring myself to do anything about it."

"You can't help who you fall in love with." Ryuichi whispered softly, threading his fingers through Shuichi's hair soothingly, wishing he could do something, anything to stop the pain; he had never seen Shuichi this broken before and it was killing him that he was so helpless. "But that said, Shuichi, I don't want you to think about him anymore. I mean look at you, just one thought of him is tearing you apart. It's not healthy."

Shuichi gave a soft sigh. "You said it yourself; this isn't exactly something I can control."

Ryuichi didn't say anything for a long time until he finally turned Shuichi face towards his, wiping away any tears and tears tracks that remained on his cheeks.

"Well, at the very least you know you can count on me for anything." He said, pressing a soft kiss to Shuichi's forehead. Shuichi slowly nodded, staring at Ryuichi questioningly; his friend had never done anything like that before. Shuichi, however, didn't have too much time to dwell on the subject or inquire as to what it meant as Ryuichi suddenly stood, pulling Shuichi to his feet as he did so.

"In any case, time for bed." He said, cheerful once more, and quickly set up tucking Shuichi in, artfully ignoring all complaints that Shuichi wasn't tired, before bouncing out the door and presumably off to his own room.

Shuichi watched his friend disappear curiously but quickly shrugged it off; no matter how close the two were, there were times when even he didn't understand Ryuichi. Leaning over to blow out the candle next to his bed, Shuichi froze, staring at the object that lay on his bedside table. Hardly daring to believe what he was seeing, Shuichi picked it up with a shaking hand, tracing the golden heart with a finger as it lay in the palm of his hand. If this was here, then that must mean that Yuki… Shuichi's head snapped up, glancing wildly around the darkened room for any sign of the blonde pirate.

But there was nothing. Just silence.

With a sigh, Shuichi looked back down at the locket. He remembered picking it out, the intricate twisting pattern around the edge of the heart had caught his eye initially and he had just known Mika would love it. His fingers traced the design, pausing as they came to the clasp and Shuichi found himself suddenly curious to know what—if anything—was still inside. Shuichi popped the clasp open and a small piece of folded paper fell into his palm along with the remains of an old, dried purple flower he had given Mika years ago. He smiled at the memory of the flower and slipped it back into the locket before closing it. The piece of paper, he could tell was new and he could see the faint trace of black ink showing through. Intrigued, he unfolded it to see a brief note written in neat, flowing handwriting.

I think this belongs to you. –Yuki

The note fell from his fingers and Shuichi gripped the locket tightly in frustration, a sad mixture between a laugh and a sob escaping from his throat. It wasn't fair, he thought as he curled up around the necklace and his pillow, none of it was fair.

"I miss you, Yuki."

-xXx-

So…I have a feeling that some of you will be upset that Yuki wasn't in this chapter. And as sorry as I am, it would have been far too easy for them to just kiss and make up so I did this instead. But he will come back, this is Shuichi/Yuki after all I just had to push Shuichi a little further into hell before I save him, it makes the rescue that much more beautiful—at least that's what the hope is haha.

Lilgurlanima: so... if I were you I wouldn't get my hopes up for a quick reunion…hehe

Fedski: Aww thank you! And you are absolutely correct about…Yuki ^.~

Angel Wings-008: aww sorry, although my goal was to make people sad... :D But unfortunately I don't think this chapter will be what you want it to be…

LoveMeNine: I already kind of responded so instead this update is my gift to you…even if it isn't very satisfying as a chapter haha

Yaoifangirl89: hehe well…you'll see it should make more sense in chapter 13

KyouyaxCloud: unfortunately, as a matter of fact, he shall, stupid Yuki.

RavenshadowPhantomhive: hehe indeed it is. But thank you! ^.^

Ray: hahaha well at least you didn't have to wait long :)

ES: haha yep, you came back just as it reached the turning point ^.~

Cc: hahahah please don't lose your mind, I updated quickly, see! :D

JasLine: Mika is older than both Shuichi and Yuki, their relationship was more that of an older sister and younger brother :)

AnimeWolf524: haha maybe he did, maybe he didn't, I won't say until the next chapter ^.~