A/N: Yuki going a little insane? Where'd you get that idea? Oh, and I just
realized I didn't put a disclaimer here anywhere. No, I don't own
Gravitation. *sob* Now, for some Wudbeiser at Zenny's. Oh, and I did an
illustration! Yay total lack or artistic ability!
Go look at it, please? Ge-chan
wants you too! (Ge-chan is my stuffed polar bear that serves essentially
the same purpose as Kuma-chan)
P.S. Ki-chan's real name is Kichi. If anyone wondered. Which I doubt.
Hiroshi, Shunichi's cousin and best friend, was pacing around the bed when Yutaka arrived. He looked up at the man only he consented to recognize as his long-time partner's lover. "They're going to take him off. They're going to cut the oxygen, DAMMIT!" A feverish light bloomed in his eyes. "Don't let them! Tell them! You've got more right to him than they do!"
Yutaka sighed. He wanted to tell Hiroshi he'd agreed, but desisted partly because he was afraid of the powerful young man but mostly because he didn't know if he had. It hurt him to look into the blank, dead-alive face once so bright with vitality.
Yuki raised a derisive eyebrow at the page and stood. He hadn't been happy with his writing the last two days. Not because it wasn't happy; that was one thing he could stand. It was just that he couldn't seem to close the story. Yutaka had been hovering around waiting for Shunichi to die too long. His self-abusive refusal to give up hope seemed to be out of Yuki's control.
He decided to give himself a break from writing. Sometimes that would solve a block. On a sudden whim, Yuki grabbed his wallet, three packs of cigarettes, and a raincoat and hopped a bus to Yutsuko Nuclear Facilities. He rang the rusty buzzer on the building that looked mostly lead (and might well have been). In reply to the pleasant, tired female voice on the other end, he said, "I'm Uesugi Eiri, and I'm looking for Uesugi Yori. She's my cousin."
"Just a second, I'll page her." Yuki had a vague sense he was the first thing that had happened in all the receptionist's day.
Yori was only his second cousin thrice removed or something like that. She'd been disowned by his father, generally accepted as head of the family however extended, for her refusal to get married, her avid pursuit of a graduate-school education, and her pointedly non-traditional outlook. Yuki sought her out now because her particular field had landed her diagnosed with cancer three times. In fact, she'd once been legally dead. As it stood, she was now breastless, down half a pancreas, and almost completely bald. She also had the only viable outlook on life and death out of anyone he knew.
He waited about five minutes before she stepped out. She snapped out an umbrella to shield the elaborate silk scarf wound around her head more than to keep herself dry. The lab coat under her arm made her look professional despite the jeans and T-shirt she was wearing. "Well, Eiri-kun, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I need an excuse to visit my own cousin?"
"If you haven't seen her in about four years, might wanna call first. You're lucky it's my lunch." She sounded like she wanted to kill him, but looked pleasant enough and started walking with him back to the bus stop. Quite in step with everything he knew about Yori. "Your Dad still hate me?"
"With a passion."
"Next you run in to him, tell him I'm a lesbian now. Figured since I had no more female reproductive organs I might as well drop the whole concept."
"He'll be pleased. ...Last I saw you you still had a uterus and ovaries."
"I've got one ovary, but the rest was all full of nasty, corrosive, cancerous shit. I have it all preserved in salt water and formaldehyde at home, if you're interested." She paid her fare and managed to find two seats on the extremely crowded bus. "So, why did you come looking for me?"
"Erm..."
"It has absolutely nothing to do with the dead singing brat that that writer who looks remarkably like you was supposed to be sleeping with?"
"I suddenly remember why I haven't talked to you in four years." He leaned back on the seat. "How did you do that?"
"I hear from Tatsuha once in a while, if you really want to spoil the illusion of clairvoyance." She looked at him crookedly. "And I can almost see your logic in talking to me. What if you buy me lunch?"
"Uh, sure." They were silent until they'd settled into a booth. "I don't really know what I want to talk about... And I can't believe I'm talking like this. I sound like..."
"You sound like one of your own novels," Yori offered around a cup of tea.
"You read them?"
"One, and I've never digested quite such tripe. Damn your sister for coercing me so." She seemed to be thinking about something. "Is he dead? I mean, certified, cremated, mourned by many?"
"No... He's in a coma."
"You know, I think those books are infecting your life." She paused. "Well, he's probably been hanging around at that annoying light with all the Latin chanting coming out of it—And don't laugh, that's what I saw—for a while now, but he may be back. Don't loose what hope you might have."
"I want to." She cocked her head at him like a quizzical dog, albeit a dog wearing green and blue silk dragons around her head. "I know he won't recover. I want this to be over, to get around this stupid hope so..."
"So you can go ahead and shoot yourself." Yuki nodded, slumping forward and resting his chin in his hands. "Well, I'll pull the trigger for you if you're sure that's what you want."
He stared at her, half scared, half grateful. "...Really?"
"But, are you sure that's what you want?"
"Uh..." He noticed she had the most obnoxious smug expression while he was tumultuously pondering. It reminded him of Tatsuha. Which meant it was probably just the expression people complained about on him. "No. When he's dead, yes, but while there's any chance at all..."
"That's what I thought." Yori finished off her tea. "Well, my dear Eiri, hope makes crazy fools of us all, springs ever eternal, and various other quotes I can't seem to call to mind. I hope you get your little cutie back. From the posters and such I've seen, you could do much worse. And, I have to say, I think you will. Call it a hunch." She stood to go, leaving her share of the bill.
Yuki waved after her languidly, feeling he'd benefited somehow but rather disappointed. Suddenly, she turned back around. "Oh, Eiri?"
"Yeah?"
"I assume you heard through the filial grapevine that my hair had been zapped by too much radioactivity, and the follicles are just dead, and there was really no reason to think about it, because the whole thing was a done deal?"
"Er, yeah..." He was completely lost.
"Actually, I'm just so used to this veil I think I enjoy it." She pulled off the silken scarf, and thick, shining raven hair tumbled to her waist. "Bye, favorite little cousin."
Yuki stared after her for a long time before he went home.
A/N: Oh, I was so close! I almost managed to write a fanfic without introducing my own characters for my convenience! Dammit, I can never work completely with someone else's world. I just couldn't think of anyone else Yuki could talk to. Mika and Tohma would flip out if he said anything along these lines, and Tatsuha would either be freaked out or laugh it off. It was either Yori or a Shakespearean soliloquy. I don't know if she'll enter the story again or just stay a very odd plot device. Does anyone like her? Oh, and the hair thing obviously had some symbolism, but if Yuki understood it, I didn't.
Hiroshi, Shunichi's cousin and best friend, was pacing around the bed when Yutaka arrived. He looked up at the man only he consented to recognize as his long-time partner's lover. "They're going to take him off. They're going to cut the oxygen, DAMMIT!" A feverish light bloomed in his eyes. "Don't let them! Tell them! You've got more right to him than they do!"
Yutaka sighed. He wanted to tell Hiroshi he'd agreed, but desisted partly because he was afraid of the powerful young man but mostly because he didn't know if he had. It hurt him to look into the blank, dead-alive face once so bright with vitality.
Yuki raised a derisive eyebrow at the page and stood. He hadn't been happy with his writing the last two days. Not because it wasn't happy; that was one thing he could stand. It was just that he couldn't seem to close the story. Yutaka had been hovering around waiting for Shunichi to die too long. His self-abusive refusal to give up hope seemed to be out of Yuki's control.
He decided to give himself a break from writing. Sometimes that would solve a block. On a sudden whim, Yuki grabbed his wallet, three packs of cigarettes, and a raincoat and hopped a bus to Yutsuko Nuclear Facilities. He rang the rusty buzzer on the building that looked mostly lead (and might well have been). In reply to the pleasant, tired female voice on the other end, he said, "I'm Uesugi Eiri, and I'm looking for Uesugi Yori. She's my cousin."
"Just a second, I'll page her." Yuki had a vague sense he was the first thing that had happened in all the receptionist's day.
Yori was only his second cousin thrice removed or something like that. She'd been disowned by his father, generally accepted as head of the family however extended, for her refusal to get married, her avid pursuit of a graduate-school education, and her pointedly non-traditional outlook. Yuki sought her out now because her particular field had landed her diagnosed with cancer three times. In fact, she'd once been legally dead. As it stood, she was now breastless, down half a pancreas, and almost completely bald. She also had the only viable outlook on life and death out of anyone he knew.
He waited about five minutes before she stepped out. She snapped out an umbrella to shield the elaborate silk scarf wound around her head more than to keep herself dry. The lab coat under her arm made her look professional despite the jeans and T-shirt she was wearing. "Well, Eiri-kun, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I need an excuse to visit my own cousin?"
"If you haven't seen her in about four years, might wanna call first. You're lucky it's my lunch." She sounded like she wanted to kill him, but looked pleasant enough and started walking with him back to the bus stop. Quite in step with everything he knew about Yori. "Your Dad still hate me?"
"With a passion."
"Next you run in to him, tell him I'm a lesbian now. Figured since I had no more female reproductive organs I might as well drop the whole concept."
"He'll be pleased. ...Last I saw you you still had a uterus and ovaries."
"I've got one ovary, but the rest was all full of nasty, corrosive, cancerous shit. I have it all preserved in salt water and formaldehyde at home, if you're interested." She paid her fare and managed to find two seats on the extremely crowded bus. "So, why did you come looking for me?"
"Erm..."
"It has absolutely nothing to do with the dead singing brat that that writer who looks remarkably like you was supposed to be sleeping with?"
"I suddenly remember why I haven't talked to you in four years." He leaned back on the seat. "How did you do that?"
"I hear from Tatsuha once in a while, if you really want to spoil the illusion of clairvoyance." She looked at him crookedly. "And I can almost see your logic in talking to me. What if you buy me lunch?"
"Uh, sure." They were silent until they'd settled into a booth. "I don't really know what I want to talk about... And I can't believe I'm talking like this. I sound like..."
"You sound like one of your own novels," Yori offered around a cup of tea.
"You read them?"
"One, and I've never digested quite such tripe. Damn your sister for coercing me so." She seemed to be thinking about something. "Is he dead? I mean, certified, cremated, mourned by many?"
"No... He's in a coma."
"You know, I think those books are infecting your life." She paused. "Well, he's probably been hanging around at that annoying light with all the Latin chanting coming out of it—And don't laugh, that's what I saw—for a while now, but he may be back. Don't loose what hope you might have."
"I want to." She cocked her head at him like a quizzical dog, albeit a dog wearing green and blue silk dragons around her head. "I know he won't recover. I want this to be over, to get around this stupid hope so..."
"So you can go ahead and shoot yourself." Yuki nodded, slumping forward and resting his chin in his hands. "Well, I'll pull the trigger for you if you're sure that's what you want."
He stared at her, half scared, half grateful. "...Really?"
"But, are you sure that's what you want?"
"Uh..." He noticed she had the most obnoxious smug expression while he was tumultuously pondering. It reminded him of Tatsuha. Which meant it was probably just the expression people complained about on him. "No. When he's dead, yes, but while there's any chance at all..."
"That's what I thought." Yori finished off her tea. "Well, my dear Eiri, hope makes crazy fools of us all, springs ever eternal, and various other quotes I can't seem to call to mind. I hope you get your little cutie back. From the posters and such I've seen, you could do much worse. And, I have to say, I think you will. Call it a hunch." She stood to go, leaving her share of the bill.
Yuki waved after her languidly, feeling he'd benefited somehow but rather disappointed. Suddenly, she turned back around. "Oh, Eiri?"
"Yeah?"
"I assume you heard through the filial grapevine that my hair had been zapped by too much radioactivity, and the follicles are just dead, and there was really no reason to think about it, because the whole thing was a done deal?"
"Er, yeah..." He was completely lost.
"Actually, I'm just so used to this veil I think I enjoy it." She pulled off the silken scarf, and thick, shining raven hair tumbled to her waist. "Bye, favorite little cousin."
Yuki stared after her for a long time before he went home.
A/N: Oh, I was so close! I almost managed to write a fanfic without introducing my own characters for my convenience! Dammit, I can never work completely with someone else's world. I just couldn't think of anyone else Yuki could talk to. Mika and Tohma would flip out if he said anything along these lines, and Tatsuha would either be freaked out or laugh it off. It was either Yori or a Shakespearean soliloquy. I don't know if she'll enter the story again or just stay a very odd plot device. Does anyone like her? Oh, and the hair thing obviously had some symbolism, but if Yuki understood it, I didn't.
