hides behind Ryuichi, avoiding various things being thrown Hey! It's not my fault Erika is the lucky girl who gets to pick Shuichi up. avoids a piano I swear! I only designed the plot… avoids a coffee table… not the characters… I swear! raises a white flag I give up! pants There! shoves next element into opponents' hands Now go read the next element… and review afterwards…

Disclaimer: I already said that I already disclaimed everything I needed to disclaim.

Rating: Uhm… P-13? Not really that much sure… I guess I'm too wholesome

Note: Read my previous notes in the previous elements… I'm tired of copy-pasting it… :) Yo, in case you guys are confused about Erika/Eri, she is a daughter of a very rich designer (and she has her own money… she used to model her mom's clothes before she rebelled) and she's a karate black-belter.

ELEMENT 5:

Sadness

Eri took Shuichi and his backpack to her new apartment.

'Oh… he looks REEEAALLLLYYY cute!,' she thought, as she put him on the couch, 'and really light too…'

Shuichi stirred.

Eri stared, then she realized that she wasn't just carrying some boy, it was Shuichi.

Shuichi looked at the masked Eri carefully.

"Hello," said Shuichi politely, "do I know who you?"

"Uhm… well… actually…" stammered Eri.

"You're a girl…" he said, noticing the femininity of her voice, "you must be very strong…" 'and you can't be a kidnapper, right?'

"I— uhm… well… I actually thought my car hit you hard… You're not hurt, are you?" she asked, looking into Shuichi's purple eyes.

"Nope!" Shuichi replied cheerfully, "I've had worse accidents before."

"Yeah… so I heard…"

There was an awkward silence in the living room. The only sounds that could be heard are the gentle tapping of the trees on the glass window and the whistling of the kettle.

"Wait here, k?" said Eri, going to the kitchen to get the kettle and a cloth.

Shuichi looked around the cozy living room. He noticed that everything in the room screamed feminine. His eyes lingered at the book shelf where he could see some titles that were written by Yuki.

He stood up and touched the cover of one of Yuki's books. 'I never actually got around to reading one of his books,' he thought sadly, 'how he must hate me for that… he went to every one of my concerts yet I never read…'

"What are you admiring there, Shuichi-san?" Eri asked mildly, while soaking a cloth in a lukewarm water.

"Books," said Shuichi, "why are you covering your face?"

'Oh shoot! I forgot about this…' she thought as she touched her face.

"I'm ugly," was the pathetic excuse.

Of course, that was a lie.

Erika was pale, but not ugly. Her black hair (with pink highlights) was long and straight, and her eyes were aquamarine blue, subtly accenting her pink lips.

But she never considered herself as anything other than cursed (much less pretty).

"I don't think that's it," said Shuichi, staring into his captor's eyes.

"You shouldn't move around too much," said Eri, wringing the cloth, "you might have some bruises…"

"Don't worry… I've suffered worse. Won't you at least show me your face so I can thank you properly?"

Eri looked away, "I… I can't… sorry…"

"Well… um… I have to get going now okay?" Shuichi said, standing up to leave, "It was nice meeting you... um…" 'what's her name again?'

"Erika..." muttered Eri. 'If I said Eri, he'll think I'm a Yuki Eiri fanatic of some sort… I heard they had something a few years ago… well, goodbye Shuichi— it was nice while it lasted.'

Shuichi looked at the girl one last time, alarmed to see tears (or sweat) trickle down her mask.

Yuki knocked purposefully on Hiro's door. There was little time left, since Hiro would be coming back soon… There won't be enough time to hold Shuichi close and tell him everything that he's been wanting to hear… Everything… He had to tell him… Or risk losing him forever.

"Open up," Yuki said.

Hiro opened the door with a gloomy look on his face.

"Well, where is he?" asked Yuki impatiently.

"I was about to ask you the same question," said Hiro, showing the blond author Shuichi's letter, "he left…" "Do you know where he might be?"

"I'm just as baffled as you are," said Yuki. 'Damn brat… he had to make things hard for all of us…'

"What are you going to do now?" asked Hiro.

"I guess, for now, I'll go home and contact anyone he might have run into…"

"Are you crying?" Shuichi asked. 'So this is how Yuki feels whenever he sees me cry…' he thought as he bent down and looked at the girl's eyes.

"N-n-no…" Eri lied.

"Don't cry, k? We can be friends you know… there's no need to hide yourself," said Shuichi, wiping the moisture from the mask.

"… just go home Shuichi… just go home…" said Eri.

'home…' Shuichi repeated in his head, 'I don't have a home… not until winter ends anyway.'

'I can't believe I thought the famous Shuichi would want to stick around in this 2-million-dollar hellhole… This house is too small for him,' she thought sadly.

"… do you want me to stay, Erika-san?" asked Shuichi. 'well, that's how I reacted once when Yuki said he'll leave (it turned out to be a joke…)— I'm just assuming she'd want me to stay…'

Eri looked at the pink-haired singer and nodded shyly. 'yes… duh… who the heck wouldn't want the great Shindou Shuichi to hang around?'

"But… you don't need to stay forever… Just for the season," said Eri. 'I don't have forever…'

Shuichi wanted to sigh at that statement, but thought better of it. "Thanks…" he said.

He didn't want to ask her why— she might extend it.

—end of element—

note: um… to sum it all up… Shuichi decided to stay at Erika's 'two-million-dollar hellhole' (a.k.a. the apartment they were in…) but he's only staying there for the winter… that's a good thing I guess…

thanks to everyone who reviewed... although there are only a fair few... :s