by
Kin Ryu
'Shuichi.'
He had fainted in my arms. The air was so damp. I wouldn't be amazed if he had caught a cold in the walk here. Struggling for each step. I wonder how many people saw him. It's not that I was worried for Bad Luck's popularity, but if Shuichi had purposefully taken the long way around so that no one would ask him about it, how long had he been like this?
As I picked him up, his head rolled back slightly, exposing his neck and part of his chest. All of it, blue, purple, black. What had they done to him? What had he done to deserve so many bruises?
Yuki...
Shuichi had mentioned Yuki. What did he have to do with this?
I carried my friend up the stairs and pushed the door open with my shoulder to make sure it wouldn't bang against the wall. The blankets on my bed were rumpled already and pushed down, so I slid him from my arms into the bed.
'Yuki ...'
Just a barest breeze of a whisper. I watched him, staring at him. Hoping he would say another word. One eye opened slowly and focused on me. Or maybe it didn't.
'Yuki ...'
'Shuichi.' I put a hand to his chest and he winced from the pressure on his skin. Snapping it back, I leaned forward to make sure he was still breathing okay. Shallow, quick. They sounded painful, but at least he was still using his lungs to some extent.
His eyelid fell closed again.
'Shuichi?' He didn't respond. I couldn't imagine how he could love that cold-hearted bastard this much. But if that's what he was going to do, I was going to stand by his side.
I pulled the blankets down and slid in under them. I put one arm out for my head to lay on, splaying it over the pillow behind his. One hand on his shoulder. In his sleep, he rolled over onto my arm and opened that eye again. 'Hiro...'
'Don't worry, Shuichi. I'm here.' As a tear slid down his cheek, he closed his eye again and lost consciousness with one hand clasped to my shirt. I pulled him tightly to my chest.
I knew he was hurt, but I wanted to protect him. This happened because of Yuki. I told him, if Shuichi had reason to cry beyond his own naivety then I would make sure that he paid the price for it.
So, I pulled Shuichi into my arms, held him close to me. And fell asleep, with a tear on my cheek.
Dedicated to Aurora-chan who is possibly the biggest fan of Gravitation ever and stole these wonderful characters out from beneath my nose.
Story copyrighted to me. Characters copyrighted to ... I'm not sure who owns the rights to Gravitation.