A/N: Oh… this is gonna suck. Damn my writer's block and lack of anything better to do! Anyway… I can already tell you, this is not a happy chapter. Lots of not-happy Akito and Gai stuff. Yeah. Alright, recap. What happened last time? Hmm, lots of bonding. Yeah, I'm fully aware that this Author's note is really… fucked, but who cares, yes? Anyway, let's get this poor piece of shit started.

~*~

Akito was slightly surprised to find Yurika up so early, but greeted her with a smile. "Yurika, what are you doing up?" He couldn't help but notice the slight darkening under her green eyes, but stepped out of the way to let her into the room. Closer scrutiny showed that her eyes were red, as if she had just got done crying, but she had a clam smile across her face. Yurika turned to her boyfriend. "We need to talk."

'Oh shit. What did I do?' Akito may have only gone out with two other people, Megumi and Gai, but it didn't take a genius to realize he was in deep shit when those four words leave the mouth of a significant other. 'Fuck.' Akito sat down on the new beanbag chair he had borrowed from Megumi, who was much nicer to him since he started going with Yurika.

Yurika sat down on Akito's futon, facing the cook. "Akito, I don't feel comfortable in this relationship." Akito rubbed his temples. "Why am I not surprised? Okay, Yurika. How did I fuck up? What did I do?"

The captain of the Nadesico shook her head. "It's not you, it's… Well, Akito, I'm not going to lie to you. It is you." She held up her hand as Akito parted his lips to speak. "Shut up for a minute, will you? God you talk too much. And no, that's not it. The fact is Akito, something is wrong here. I still love you, you know. But… I feel so guilty and dirty and just plain WRONG when I'm with you."

"So what are you saying?" Akito's voice was completely monotone, and the room was growing colder by the second. Yurika shuddered. "Fact of the matter is, Akito, I feel like… Well. You remember when you told me you loved me?" Yurika dared to meet Akito's eyes, and was hurt to find the tears at the corners of his eyes. 'The show must go on.' Akito nodded slowly. Yurika took a deep breath. "You told me that it was the side of you that loved Gekiganger was the same side that was in love with me. Didn't you say that it was childish of you to love an anime so passionately?" Yurika shook her head, her gaze dropping to the floor between them. "In essence, you said that it was the child within you that loved me, not the adult you are now."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Akito's voice cracked and the room became even colder. Yurika felt her nose start to grow numb. She shook her head, meeting his eyes once again. "I knew this from when we Jumped from Mars to here, Akito. It just took me so long to realize what it was I was feeling. I feel guilty and dirty because… I'm in love with a child. You."

Akito ran out of his own room, some of his tears falling to the floor. Yurika balled her fists in her lap. 'You are but a child, Akito. And it makes me feel so wrong to love you. But I want the adult in you as well, and I just can't have it. It will always be the child. I love you, but just not the same way anymore. You're like my little brother, now. Why couldn't I say it to his face? Why did he have to leave early?' She reached to the floor and felt one of the wet spots, from Akito's crying. She wasn't very surprised to find it frozen.

~*~

Gai rolled his eyes as Hikaru and Izumi joined their breakfast group. "Hikaru, I think you forgot that we're supposed to wear a uniform…" Izumi sighed and took her seat next to Itsuki. "Just don't ask…"

Hikaru pulled on one of her pigtails, which were actually pretty long. Her hair seemed short the way she did it everyday, with the curled ends, but when she put it up, it showed that it was at least a little longer than they thought. "It's a very funny story, really. Hasn't anyone else realized that if we don't wear our uniforms, no one is going to care? I mean, we're in the middle of fucking nowhere, so who gives a fuck about if we all wear our uniforms? Besides, it'll get Akatsuki's granny-panties in a twist, and frankly, I really want to see him turn purple." Izumi was getting up to get some coffee, but Hikaru noticed her start to move. "Hey, Izumi-chan, get me a crumb bun will you?" Izumi sighed and nodded, on her way to the ordering counter.

Itsuki squinted, trying to read Hikaru's black shirt. "'Popularity is overrated'? The hell?" Ryoko smirked. "I remember that shirt. Didn't you get it-"

"When Izumi was a popular ho? You bet." Hikaru grinned at her best friend, who had returned in time just to hear the comment. "Oh hell no. You don't get breakfast for that." Izumi kept the Styrofoam plate, with the bun on it, in front of her, out of Hikaru's reach.

"No! Bitch! Gimme my food!" Hikaru's thin arms shot out towards the other end of the table, knocking over Gai's full cup of coffee straight into his lap.

"ITAI!" shouted the youngest pilot, jumping out of his seat and grabbing napkins. Hikaru's brown eyes got as wide as saucers and her jaw dropped. She grabbed the entire pile of napkins and started cleaning off his crotch as well. "Oh, shit, Gai, I'm so fucking sorry, I didn't mean it, honest. God, I hope there's no permanent damage, lawyers are evil rats, oh hell…"

Itsuki stood from her perch on the bench, leaning over the table to evaluate the damage. "Calm down Hikaru. He's gonna live to masturbate again. It was just a little burn." Ryoko grinned. "Look on the bright side, Gai, at least you have an actually excuse to not be getting any sex." Itsuki glared at her girlfriend. "And my excuse is-"

"Knock it off!" yelled Izumi, glaring at the two women. "Wait until we're not all together, all right? I'm sick of you people at each other's throats every five seconds."

Hikaru smiled, once she got over her initial shock of dumping coffee on Gai's groin. "Wow, Gai-chan. This is probably the closest a girl has come to you, isn't it?" She grinned up at the taller man, who glared at her. "And it's the closest any girl is gonna get." Itsuki smirked at her childhood friend. "Jiro finally admitted it. He's as gay as I am."

Gai rolled his eyes. "And if it's anyone's fault for making me switch teams, it's you, Itsuki." He headed in the direction in the bathroom, looking over his shoulder to see Itsuki blow him a kiss. He flipped her off as he pushed the door open.

Gai was very surprised to find Akito in the cafeteria men's bathroom, scrubbing his face until it was read and muttering, "Damn the air conditioners on this boat…" Gai felt his anger bubbling up, just by looking at his ex, but said nothing, wetting some paper towels and tried to get whatever stain would end up being on his pants out.

Akito heard the door open and close, and someone else in the bathroom, but he didn't care who it was. He was intent in getting rid of the ice trails on his face, rubbing at them with paper towels until his face grew red. He brought a finger to each eye and blinked several times, feeling more salty wetness flow from them. Setting his contacts down on a paper towel, he brought another of the brown sheets to his nose, blowing it.

It was only when Akito balled up his multitude of paper towels and started in the direction of the garbage can that he realized the person in the bathroom with him was Gai. Or, at least, he thought it was Gai. Akito's relatively large eyes were squinted in attempts to identify the red and black blob.

Gai threw his own paper towels into the garbage before turning back to the Martian and placing his hands on his hips. "Are you going to glare at me some more, or are you going to whine to me about what's wrong?" Akito lowered his head, and, trembling, pulled a thin pair of glasses out of his pocket and slid them onto his face before examining the man before him again. "I'm… I'm sorry…" Akito could feel another round of crying rising in his throat, but he swallowed harshly, and started to leave the bathroom, frantic to not be alone with this person. He didn't need anyone's sympathy but his own.

Gai caught his arm however, not letting him leave so easily. Gai easily spun him, forcing the Martian to face the Earthling. "Well? What the fuck is your problem?" Gai suddenly felt the temperature in the room drop, but he was also energized, as if someone put new batteries in him.

Akito glared at his former boyfriend from behind his thin metal frames. "What business is it of yours?" he spat, his sadness melting into raging anger at the person who once loved him.

"What makes you think you can just abandon us because you're with Yurika? It makes sense that you don't want to talk to me, but why cut them off? Hell, do you realize that you haven't a friend in the world now, except that bitch? Even fucking Hikaru hates you, she's tried so hard to get you to come back to our little group, but you just keep rubbing it in her face. She couldn't care less if you died right now! And neither do I!" Gai was silenced by a slap from the much smaller man before him.

Akito stood defiant and lowered his hand, sadistically satisfied with the red hand mark across Gai's cheek. Gai glared at the cook before punching him, a small spatter of blood falling onto one of the white walls around them. Akito retaliated, kicking Gai in the stomach with this newfound hardness. Gai lost his breath for a moment, but was able to regain concentration as he wrapped his hands around Akito's neck, wringing his throat. Akito tried to pull Gai's large hands off his neck, scratching at the arms and wrists attached, drawing blood that stained onto the yellow of Akito's uniform.

Gai gritted his teeth as he shook Akito like a rag doll. "You hurt us. You hurt us all, you bastard. You hurt me. You fucking hurt me. Who gave you any fucking permission to hurt me? You asshole, answer me!" He shook Akito a bit too hard and made him hit his head against the wall. It was only then that the temperature rose from below freezing in the bathroom and Gai loosened his grip on the Martian's neck. Akito's eyes rolled back into his head and, without Gai's hands holding him up, he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Gai's brown eyes widened and he shook his head, disbelieving. 'I… I attacked him. Oh god, how could I do such a thing? Do I really hate him so? Oh, I don't. I don't, god. I love him, but I hate him at the same time. He hurts me and I hurt him back. How can that be justified?' Gai felt sick, but he had to tell someone. He covered his mouth with his hand and ran out of the bathroom.

In the cafeteria, his friends, including Jun, now, were standing around, waiting. "What took so fucking long?" asked Itsuki, hugging Ryoko from behind. 'They made up while I…' Gai swallowed harshly. "Akito needs help…"

Jun snorted. "You're damn right he does. Mental help, I mean of course." Hikaru smiled sadly at yet another insulting joke in Akito's direction. Hikaru caught Gai's eyes, and she was puzzled at the naked fear in the gray-brown irises. "Gai-chan? What's wrong?"

Gai shook his head, his eyes wide. "I… He's in the bathroom… I hurt him." He whispered, realizing how ugly his deed was. 'To attack him…'

Jun's eyebrows jumped to his hairline, but he walked calmly into the men's bathroom, intent on finding out just what the hell Gai was talking about. Ryoko turned the man that was a close friend to her girlfriend and lover. "What happened?"

Gai opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a shout from Jun in the bathroom. "Bloody FUCK!" All those present ran towards the bathroom, all but Gai, who walked slowly, staring at the floor and cursing himself.

They found Jun kneeling on the floor next to a glasses-bearing, placid Akito. He was checking the Martian's pulse and, within finding it, looked up at the younger man. "What the fuck happened, Gai?"

Gai just stood there, shaking his head, trying to speak but finding that he could not. Izumi could sense the pure fear emanating from him; she just shook her head sadly. None of them were too happy with Akito, but none of them had ever actually tried to hurt him. She also knew that Gai wouldn't have knocked Akito out either, if he were actually thinking. The man in question was shaking uncontrollably, frightened out of his mind. Izumi reached up and patted his shoulder, shaking her head.

Itsuki was the only one who had her head running in the right direction after seeing Akito. She turned her communicator to Inez. "Miss Fressange?"

~*~

Inez was just finishing her evaluation of her experiment with Ruri and Omoikane when Itsuki's serious face appeared in a window before her. "Miss Fressange?"

Inez didn't move her line of sight. "Yes, Kazamo-san?" Inez certainly wasn't in the mood to listen to people's problems. She had problems of her own, thank you.

"Akito's unconscious. We need a doctor or someone down here." No sooner had the sentence left Itsuki's mouth, a green flash of light appeared in the cafeteria and Inez was behind them.

Izumi gave her a funny look. "I thought you specifically said no Jumping?" Inez shook her head, pushing past them into the bathroom. "I have no qualms about endangering myself. Now," she looked Akito over, "what the hell happened to him?"

Gai bit his lip and held his hand up. Inez glanced at the pilot, but her jaw actually dropped when she saw that his hand was covered in blood. "Jesus Fucking Christ!" Gai gazed at his hand, puzzled by the blood that covered it. He rolled up his sleeve with the other bloodied hand to show that it came from the long scratches that zigzagged along both arms. Inez looked over her glasses at the tallest pilot. "I want to see you in the infirmary as well. Be a dear and get Ruri for me. I'll need her again." She smiled reassuringly at him, and pulled Akito in her arms and, in a flash of green, Jumped him to the infirmary.

Gai started walking quickly to the bridge, and all the other pilots stood in the cafeteria. Breakfast was long over, but they still stayed in the room that had come to be called by them, the breakfast room.

Ryoko shook her head slowly. "Wow." Hikaru plopped into her seat at their table. "Well, now, that had to be the most sobering moment of the year. Or at least this month." Itsuki sat down slowly, contemplating something. Jun raised his eyebrows at Itsuki's expression. "What?"

Itsuki blinked. "Huh? Oh, just thinking…" Her purple eyebrows knit. "Didn't anyone else think it was strange that Miss Fressange Jumped Akito to the infirmary? After she just said she didn't care about endangering herself? Didn't she just put Akito in jeopardy?"

Izumi shook her head. "I don't know Inez would do that, but since the Jump, she's been obsessed with it. Figuring out what they could do with it, the long-term effects." Hikaru furrowed her brow. "Since when were you on first-name terms with her?" Izumi shrugged. "Since the Jump."

Jun gasped, something coming into realization. "Akito had been crying!" he shouted. Ryoko gave him a puzzled look. "Yeah, Jun. Most people would cry if they're getting the shit beat out of them." Jun shook his head, his longish blue hair smacking his forehead. "No, no, no, no, no, he was crying before that! Tear stains, red eyes, the whole bit! But," he bit his lip, "I wonder why…"

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Wow… that was not happy. At all… Anyway. I had been seeing that about to happen for a while, so I suppose you did too. It explains why Yurika's been acting funny lately, at least, yes? Sorry for all the Akito-literal-bashing, but oh well. Drama can be fun when the true plot hasn't even reared its ugly head yet. Anyway, the plot/conflict WILL be showing up soon… within the next chapter or so… but anyway. Keep in mind anything strange that has happened, for you will be surprised. All right, as always, review me please, and I hope you'll still stick around to read it!