Title: Earthquake

By: Kibethan

Disclaimer: The plot is mine, but most of the characters aren't.

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: Um...I actually don't think there's a need for this...

Chapter 14

Yuki looked at Shuichi, who was sleeping in what looked like was the most uncomfortable position in the world. He looked so cute covered in all that blood. Wait a minute...blood?! Yuki did a double take as he realized that Shuichi was still covered in blood. He immediately started shaking him, trying to wake him up.

"Shuichi! Shuichi!" Yuki whispered loudly.

"Wha-?" Shuichi asked. Even though he had only been asleep for a little bit, he was still half asleep. "Yuki?"

"Get up, we need to get you clean."

"Nah...let's do it in the morning..." Just like that, Shuichi was back fast asleep. Yuki let out a loud growl of frustration, and figured he'd have to work on Shuichi by himself. He walked into the bathroom and fetched some towels and band-aids. He also filled up a bucket of water then carried everything back into the living room, setting the stuff down next to Shuichi.

He dipped the towels into the water and started to lightly clean the skin. On a couple of occasions, clothing blocked him, and by the end, Shuichi was mostly undressed, except for his boxers. Yuki finished up cleaning Shuichi's skin of the blood, and was pleasantly surprised that his injuries weren't as bad as he had at first thought. In fact, save for about two big gashes, the rest of his injuries were quite small. Yuki immediately put band-aids on all of the small ones. He finally got to when he'd have to deal with the big ones; he furrowed his eyebrows. He openly admitted that he wasn't a doctor, but at the moment, he certainly wished that he were one. He didn't have a clue what to do. He thought that he could just band-aid's over them, but after he'd started the first one, he figured out that he didn't have enough band-aid's to completely cover them.

Plus, there was the fact that they were still leaking a bit of blood out. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that they probably needed stitches. He was less than qualified, though, to do such a thing.

His eyes drifted across the room to where the two doctors lay. He debated waking them up for a minute, but decided that it probably wasn't a wise idea; they needed their sleep too. He slowly stood up from his crouched position next to Shuichi and walked into the bathroom, looking for a needle. He searched through all the drawers and cabinets and didn't come up with a single pointed object.

He walked into the kitchen, maneuvered around the fallen debris, and looked through all of the cabinets and drawers there. Again, he came up dry. He searched his brain, trying to figure out where he would keep a needle if he had one. His first thought was the bathroom, and he had already tried there. When he couldn't come up with an exact place, he walked into the bedroom and searched all around in there. Yet again, he didn't find one. He walked into the last place where one might possibly be; his study. He looked through drawer after drawer and still didn't find anything. When he got to the last drawer, he looked inside and saw...a spool of thread. Nothing else. He had a spool of thread, but he didn't have a needle. Red flooded through his vision, and he almost cast the spool of thread out the nearest open window. But at the last second, he caught himself and instead he just stomped out the door. After all, he'd need that thread if he ever got a needle.

Yuki wandered into the living room and plopped down next to Shuichi. He looked at the pink haired boy and when he saw that blood was still leaking out he stood back up again. He was going to find a needle even if he needed to go outside of the house and down the street to the store to find one. In fact, he knew that there were needles at that store; he'd seen them before.

He slammed his fist into his palm as he made the decision to go to the store. With renewed vigor, he started walking towards the door. He was almost there, when he tripped and fell, hard. He whirled around and saw that he had tripped on Tohma's sleeping body. Tohma opened his eyes.

"Eiri? Where are you going?" he asked sleepily.

"I'm going to the store, go back to sleep, I'll be back soon."

"Oh. Okay..." Tohma said. Three seconds passed, and then Tohma's eyes shot wide open. "What!? No! It's dangerous to go out there!"

"I have to go," Yuki tried to explain, "I have to find a needle."

"The store probably won't even be standing," Tohma tried to reason with him.

"I'm going," Yuki stated, "and that's final."

"Fine. I'm coming with you then."

"No."

"Yes. I'm not letting you out of the house unless you let me come with you." Yuki looked at the determination in Tohma's eyes and saw that it would be useless to try and argue any more. He waited while Tohma stood up and shakily walked towards the door.

They exited the house together and walked towards the store. They walked in complete silence. Tohma kept opening his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but then he closed it. Finally, Yuki couldn't take it anymore.

"What is it?" he asked loudly.

Tohma winced at the harsh tone of voice. "I tried to kill Shuichi," he said quietly. Yuki looked at him in surprise. "I was jealous," Tohma continued. "Jealous that you're always worried about him and never worried about me."

"You have Mika to be worried about you," Yuki said, "You don't need me to be worried about you."

"I feel bad though," Tohma admitted, "the doctor's said it was because I had a fever. But that's not the truth at all. I knew what I was doing. I knew that I was trying to hurt him." Tohma's eyes started tearing up. Yuki's eyes widened. So the Ice King actually had some emotions?

"Don't worry about it," Yuki comforted, "I'm sure that Shuichi will forgive you."

Back at the house, Shuichi was tossing and turning. "YUKI!" Shuichi shouted as he shot sitting straight up. His eyes frantically searched around for the person who's name that he had just called. He didn't spot him anywhere, so he started to panic. "Yuki?" he called quietly into the darkness, "Where are you?" He stood up too fast and got really dizzy. He held his head in his hands for a few seconds, while the dizziness pasted.

He ran into the other rooms, to see if Yuki was in any of them.

"He's not here." Shuichi turned around to face the voice. "He's not here," K-san repeated.

"Where is he?" Shuichi asked K-san quietly.

"He went to the store with Tohma. I heard them talking."

"He went out!?" Shuichi just about screamed. He took off in the direction of the store. He got a stitch in his side from running so hard that he had to slow down. Why had he gone out? It was dangerous to go out at night when there had just been an earthquake. After he felt his side start to loosen up, he started running again. Just up ahead, he spotted two blond heads.

Yuki and Tohma were walking along, when all of a sudden Yuki spotted a giant crack in the ground. It was right in front of them. Yuki started to shout a warning to Tohma, but it was too late, and Tohma just toppled right in.

Tohma -jerked to awareness by his sudden lack of footing- grabbed on to the nearest ledge. He just held onto the ledge, waiting for help.

A split second later, Yuki heard someone call him name. Yuki turned around just long enough to see Shuichi come running towards him with his arms open wide in order to grab him. Unfortunately, Shuichi missed Yuki and went toppling right into the crevasse where Tohma had gone. Tohma looked up and saw Shuichi come barreling down into the crack a few feet away from him.

Just like Tohma had done, Shuichi grabbed a hold of the ledge. Yuki looked down on the both of them and saw them hanging there.

"Yuki! Help!" they both screamed up together. Yuki immediately laid himself flat against the ground the reached his hand down to them. It didn't reach. He tried to stretch his arm even farther, but he still couldn't reach. In fact, he wasn't even close. He stood up fast, mindful to not fall in, and looked around for people who might be able to help him. Of course, because it was so late out there wasn't anybody there. He turned his attention back to the two people in the crevasse.

They were both looking up at him with wide "please save me" eyes. Next, he saw something that made his heart almost stop. The ledge that Shuichi and Tohma were both holding on to was starting to crumble.

Yuki looked around for something, anything, which would help him. He spotted a rope close by. He quickly ran and got it. He got back on his stomach and started to put the rope into the crack.

Shuichi and Tohma were far enough apart that they wouldn't both be able to grab onto the rope at the same time. Fear was evident in their eyes as they realized that Yuki would only be able to save one of them and that the other one would fall down deeper in the crevasse.

It was up to Yuki to choose who would live.

Tohma and Shuichi both wondered...whom would Yuki choose?

End Chapter 14

Okay...so it's been over a week since I last updated. I'm sorry! I keep meaning to update, I swear, I swear! But...the writer's block...it's torturous! Anyway. There should only be 1-2 more chapters of this story. Fear not, though, there will be a sequel.

The review of reviews:

lemur130: Pocky for you! All of the other people are still at home..., Suzaku no Miko Miaka-sama: Wow...that name is long to type...I'm glad you like this story, goku-the-saru: Then, I'm sorry I killed him off..., MC-88: :CRINGE: A 10.5 earthquake isn't really possible. That'sHollywood for you...anyways, thanks for the review, sol-nemesis: sorry that this one wasn't quite as "prompt"as others had been, Shirubaa Kitsune: virtual pocky for you!, Kittyin the Box: Yes...poor Kousuke, Nekura-chan::re-reads story: I guess you're right, I kind of did make him better. I hope this works better..., Anna Sartin: virtual pocky for you!, emerald-jade: I promise that I won't discontinue this fic...and...virtual pocky for you, Kimika: I'm glad you like!, SoraLover1: Wow...I'm really glad you like it..., mizukychan: You live in Chile?! That's so cool! I'm glad that you survived the EQ, Elements: Asalways, I love the review! Please, review me again! I always look forward to it!, Dookin:I'll try to put some snuggly bits in eventually..., StrawberryPockyPoo: No, no, I don't take offense to your help. In fact, quite the opposite, I'm glad you took the time to write such a long critique. THANK YOU...I'll try to keep in mind what youtold me to do...,Miyael: I'm glad you like it..., baka-onna2003: I'm gladthat you still like it!

And that's that! I should probably type up an excuse as to why I haven't updated in so long...but I'm not going to.

Please, review! Thank you.

-Ki-chan