Title: Earthquake

By: Kibethan, who's currently down on her knees apologizing for the long time between updates.

Disclaimer: Ki-chan (I love that nickname!) doesn't own Gravitation, and neither do I! Just kidding, we're the same person.

Summary: When an earthquake occurs in Japan and Yuki is in America, how will Yuki and Shuichi cope with being away from each other during this time, and will Shuichi even survive long enough to be able to be with Yuki again?

Half-warning: As is customary, I give a half-warning before each chapter to warn readers of language that might appear in the chapter. And, there is SLIGHT language in this one.

Chapter 13

Yuki collapsed, but he wasn't unconscious. His legs had just merely been unable to support his weight. That didn't stop Shuichi from worrying about him though. He asked Yuki over and over again if he was all right. Only when Yuki yelled at him to shut the hell up was Shuichi appeased.

Shuichi looked sadly at Kousuke. Never again would he look upon his parents. Never again would he laugh. There was so much stuff that he would never get to do. All of the other kids in the group were crying, and even the doctors couldn't get them to stop. It didn't help that the doctors were crying as well. K took off his jacket and placed it gently over Kousuke's body, blocking it from view.

"What do we do now?" Shuichi whispered to himself. He wracked his brain thinking of something that they should do, but he couldn't think of anything. "What should we do, Yuki?" Shuichi thought that if he directed his question at another person, they might come up with the idea. Yuki had always been a sort of solid figure for him, so he thought that Yuki would definitely be the best person to ask.

Yuki mumbled an answer.

"What?" Shuichi asked him again.

"I dunno. Let's just go home." Yuki sounded so unsure of himself that Shuichi was hard pressed to follow what he had said. But, it was Yuki who had said it, so it had to be right, right? Besides, it sounded logical. Although, if they did want to go inside it, they should inspect it first, to make sure that no major structural damage had occurred. They would do that when they got there.

There was, though, the question of all the other people that they'd collected over the course of time. The kids, the doctors, and the bigwigs at N-G; not to mention they had the dead body of Kousuke. Who was going to volunteer to carry that? I mean they couldn't just leave it there.

"I'll carry him," Yuki said, reading his thoughts. "If that's what you're worried about."

"Yeah. What about all the other kids, though, and Suguru? Who is going to look after them? Can they come with us?"

"Yeah, just let them come with us. It'll be better if we all stay together too. Tell everybody that."

"Right." Shuichi then immediately announced that they (Shuichi and Yuki) were going to go home, and that everybody else was welcome to, nay, were encouraged to come with them. All of the adults (including the doctors) decided that that was probably a good idea, and made the executive decision for the kids that they would come with them.

"Okay, then, lead the way," K said. Shuichi nodded and helped Yuki stand up. Once he was sure that Yuki was able to be standing on his own, he moved over to Suguru. Shuichi had been carrying Suguru the entire time, and figured that an extra hour or so wasn't going to kill him. In the meantime, Yuki was busy picking up Kousuke.

Shuichi stuck Suguru onto his back and started leading the way towards where he and Yuki shared a house. Every once in a while, Yuki would chime in and tell Shuichi that the way that he was walking would lead to a dead end. The first couple of times he did that, Shuichi hadn't believed him. After he had walked into three dead ends, though, that Yuki had warned him about, he started to trust what Yuki was saying.

It took way longer than it usually did to get to their house, but eventually, they made it. By then, it has almost dark and the kids had to form a chain of hands to keep from getting lost. Luckily for them, the earth seemed to be finally starting to calm down, and save for some very minor aftershocks, they made their way to the house with no dangerous incidents.

They walked pretty much in silence the entire time, and by the end of it, Shuichi was positive that the silence was so loud that it was deafening. He willed somebody to start a conversation.

His prayers were answered when the little kids started complaining about how their feet were starting to hurt. He almost didn't care that they were complaining, and was just happy to have a break in the silence, but he gave a huge sigh anyways and was about to tell them to tough it out and that they would be there in just a few minutes, when the bigger of the little kids (the kids ten years of age and older) turned around and picked the smaller ones up, deftly shutting them up.

The experience was really beginning to bring the kids together, and Shuichi had no doubt that by the end of it (assuming that they were all alive), all of the kids would be great friends. They would be friends with the other kids, and with the adults as well, for Shuichi was really starting to like them. He silently wondered why the kids were in the hospital, and if they were going to get worse from being away from medicine that they might've been taking. He made a mental note to ask the doctors about that.

When they got to the house, Shuichi was shocked and amazed to find it still standing. Not only was it still standing, it was actually standing in relatively good shape. In fact, upon further inspection of the outside of it, he couldn't find anything wrong with it, and deemed it safe to go inside of. He was a little confused as to why it had stood up to the earthquake, when the hospital and the N-G building had not. He didn't ponder that subject for very long, however, because he wanted to get inside.

With Suguru still on his back, he cautiously entered the house, looking for signs of damage that he hadn't caught on the outside. The inside of the house was a mess. All of the things that hadn't been strapped down had been flung every which way when the shaking had started. Of course, almost everything (except the hot water heater) had been strapped down. He found things that belonged in Yuki's study in the living room. The cake that he had baked from Yuki's homecoming had flown off the kitchen counter and was lying upside down on the floor.

Shuichi started pouting; it had taken him a long time to bake that cake, and he resisted trying it until Yuki came home so that they could discover what it would taste like together. He had even taken a painstakingly long amount of time using icing to write, "Welcome Home, Yuki" on the top of it. Of course, now that the cake was upside down, it could no longer be read, and of course, it couldn't be eaten anymore either.

The house was going to be hell to clean up, but from what Shuichi saw of it –and he admits that he is no architect- the house looked safe enough to be in. He somehow managed to flip the sofa back on its feet (he heard a crunch as it fell on top of something) and he gently set Suguru on top of it. He then went outside to report that the house was safe and to invite all of the other people in.

Everybody gratefully went into the house. The doctors made a beeline directly for the phone, and after asking Yuki if they could borrow it, tested it to see if it would work. Unfortunately, no matter how many times they turned it on, they didn't get a dial tone. That complicated things greatly because they wouldn't be able to phone the kids parents and tell them that they were okay. They would have to do it the old fashioned way; they would have to go door to door.

That could wait till later though. After all, they had just gotten to this house, and the kids needed some more sleep. Yuki wasn't a hundred percent sure what to do with Kousuke's body, so he just set it down on the ground in his study, and covered it up again with some blankets. They would later have to be burned, but that didn't matter.

The kids walked into the house and immediately found some place amongst the clutter that they could sit down and they fell asleep. Shuichi started going around the house picking up things that he could here and there, setting them on tables that he turned over. With Yuki's help, the living room looked halfway decent. It was a little bit weird, having to keep moving kids out of the way (and even weirder when they didn't wake up when you moved them), but Shuichi did it anyway. In a couple of hours, the living room (not the house) was in the state that it had been in before the earthquake (completely clean because Shuichi had cleaned it in preparing for Yuki to come home).

Suguru was still on the couch, and the bed in the bedroom was in complete disarray, so Shuichi lay down on the ground besides the couch –amongst a bunch of kids- and went to sleep.

End Chapter 13

I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! It's been (checks date) A WEEK, since I last updated. I'm sorry! It's been so long! But, I've had a lot of homework, so I haven't really been able to update. Also, I had a minor case of Writer's Block (I thought I was immune, but I guess not), but I'm all over that. I had a CPR class, and a book to read. I'm very sorry, but I did manage to get a chapter out, I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner.

A review of reviews:

Kitty in the Box: I know, I liked Kousuke too!, emerald-jade: I LOVE Ki-chan! Please, call me that! I'm sorry it took so long!, goku-the-saru: Did you actually like Kousuke, Katie?, razatip: I know, I know, I'm working on them, trying to keep them to a minimum (although, they keep popping up! the grammar errors), Soralover1: I'm glad that you like my story still!, Cupcake: Yeah, I know I'm making it a bit melodramatic, but, it's fanfiction..., also, he knew who Suguru was, he just couldn't remember his name. And! Finally! I'm happy that you're okay after you were in an earthquake! (which one was it?), MC-88: Um...it took me even longer this time...sorry... I hope you forgive me, na no da, lemur130: Did what I wrote you help at all? And thank you for the websites, manga costs so much!, Seven7: I feel bad for killing him, but more stuff will happen, don't you worry..., Rai-chan: I'm glad that you like it!, PoetTears: I'm glad that you like it, and I will keep going, Elements: Thank you, again for the review! I'm glad that you still like, and please stick with me!, Lenora: I'm glad you like it! I certainly do...except for Chapter 12, didn't really like that one..., mizukychan: What earthquake were you in?, Jules: It means a lot, even coming from a stranger. I'll be sure to finish it, Dookin: Please don't explode! Um...here's some Pocky to keep you together!, Sirith: Here ya go, a chapter.

All done!

If ya'll are ever bored, feel free to AIM me, (I've said this before), my Aim name is Kibethan. I love chatting with people!

Quiz...what is a bigwig? (I used it in the above chapter). All who win will receive virtual strawberry pocky.

Please review! They mean a lot to me! Man, the 13th ending of One Piece is awesome! (I listened to it the entire time I wrote this chapter...)