The Off Track

By Aoi Umi

A/N: Well, we're finally nearing the end of the trip. I can't believe it's already been more than a year since I started this fic. x.x This is most likely not the last chapter, but it's time for things to wrap up a little. I tried for some overdue affection in this chapter, although I hope I stayed safely enough away from "corny." While writing this, it actually became difficult to restrict it to PG-13 (or whatever the new equivalent is). Hee hee. So I strived for a bit of carefully "implicit" yaoi. (Do try to pick up on it all:smile:) Enjoy!
------

Chapter 15: "Until the Morning Light"

"Shuuichii!..." Eiri coughed. He'd been straining his vocal chords for at least an hour, calling out in an attempt to locate his missing idiot. "Why did he fucking have to run off like that!" he kept asking himself, irritated. The answer was consistently, "Because he's a stupid moron, but a stupid moron who was trying to help you because you placed too much value on a stupid cigarette lighter." Ouch. After taking a back seat for so long, a conscience like Eiri Yuki's tends to be as blunt and as loud as possible when given the chance to be heard.

Eiri was worried. He really was. He had only the faintest idea of where he even was, and of course he had no idea about what he or Shuichi could possibly be up against, lost and alone in the dark, foreign wilderness.

He hoped that Shuichi would pull his undoubtedly panicking head out of his rain cloud of "stupid" long enough to realize that he could use the cigarette lighter for light if he needed to. That was, assuming Shuichi had caught up with the fuzzy tomato of an animal, and assuming that the animal hadn't bitten him and infected him with some gripping, hopelessly incurable virulence that would seize him mercilessly before the night owls returned home...

He scowled at himself. There was his cursed writer's imagination, nearly getting the better of him again. If I know that kid, he's sitting in one spot and crying senselessly like a fool right now, he reminded himself.

-----------

In fact, at that moment, Shuichi sat, bleary-eyed, in a low crook of a tree, still not daring to make a sound or motion for fear of violently becoming something's du jour special. (Not necessarily in those terms, however. French? The kid doesn't even know English, for god's sake.)

I hope I don't violently become something's midnight snack, Shuichi worried. Eep! He tried to make himself smaller at the rustling sound of a nearby branch. It's coming for me, he silently sobbed.

Two bright yellow eyes reflected light from an unknown source. Is my spine supposed to feel like Jell-O? Shuichi wondered. The eyes came closer...and closer...until they were only about two feet from Shuichi's own. They stared.

Despite his first inclination to panic senselessly, Shuichi suddenly had an idea. He fumbled in his pocket for Yuki's lighter. Wielding it, he revealed that the monster on the branch in front of him was...only that stupid fuzzy thing from earlier. Shuichi lowered his eyes. "Oh, it's you," he greeted flatly.

The raccoon chirruped and screeched at him. When it began to bare its teeth as well, Shuichi feared a bit for his safety. (That thing doesn't look big enough to eat me, but you never know...) He shoved the lighter nearer to the animal's face and it backed off.

It returned a few minutes later with an army of friends and relatives.

This is going to be an interesting night, Shuichi sobbed.

-----------

Eiri was tired and crabby, and at this point starting to believe that his best efforts would be fruitless. "Shuichi!" He gave one last empty, echoing call before settling at the trunk of a tree to take a rest. He looked east and caught sight of a spectacular moonrise.

Funny that this whole stupid "vacation" has come to this, he thought. I don't know what that brat thought would be fun about this...

Looking into the illuminated cloudy haze floating about the horizon, Eiri saw Shuichi's grinning face. Always, always that ridiculous smile. Why? When Eiri reflected on the events of the previous several days, he could think of nothing fortunate that had happened. Nothing enjoyable, nothing pleasant, nothing remotely deserving of such a smile. Why, then? Why does he constantly look at me like that? He smiles when he's eating the most disgusting food in the world. He's happy when he's in an old rowboat catching nothing but the stench of fish. He looks like he's having the time of his life even if he's nearly killed us and it's raining and we're stranded and we have nothing to eat.

For some reason his thoughts lingered on that particular moment. The rain pattering on the rooftop, Shuichi's warmth in his lap. "At least we're with each other," Shuichi's voice echoed in his head. Words of such optimism. Corny ones, at that. Yuki snorted.

"I love you, Yuki. I can't even stay sad when I'm around you."

"...I love you."

Eiri was unaware that the moon had risen past the spot at which he was staring. About now would be the time for a novel's character to have some sort of stupid "epiphany," he thought with a scoff. But that smile refused to leave his mind's eye. The vacation had been horrible, but...perhaps it was a matter of perspective?

Shuichi was happy.

Eiri blinked and found the moon again. A howling echoed in the distance. It was probably coyotes, but it reminded him of wolves. And the plush animals that Shuichi had gotten from his Happy Meals. I'm a wolf, huh?

...It's time for me to find that stupid pet and bring him home, then.

---------

The distant cries of the coyotes also reached the ears of Shuichi Shindou, who was padding through the dark forest like a wanted man on the run. No longer did he worry about bears, as he had recently discovered the terror of making enemies with a pack of screeching, clawing raccoons.

He was sure he must have outrun them, by now, though...

He slowed down, panting, but due to the coyotes, he still could not feel safe...

He sighed. At least the moon was out now; otherwise, he probably would have run smack into at least fifty trees by now...He laughed to himself. Yes, he probably would have done that...And imagining fifty bruises in addition to the raccoon scratches and not-quite-healed mouse bites was almost morbidly funny. People would probably think Yuki had beaten him, or something. But Yuki would never do that, and it wouldn't be fair for people to think something like that about the man he loved...

Shuichi's smile faded. He reached out a hand and touched an unusual blossom on the end of a small tree branch. Poor Yuki. He's even gotten hurt, too, and it's my fault. He hasn't had any fun at all on this vacation, and that's my fault, too. I really shouldn't have made him come... And now, we're separated anyway, and this is bad...Um, his cheeks flushed slightly. I wonder if he's looking for me...

His face fell. I can't be sure if he is or not...

Well, he decided. His face became resolute. I can't just wait for him to find me, anyway. I've got to find him! And I'll apologize to him as soon as I see him...

He set off, completely unsure of where he was going, but now with resolve and with less fear of imminently being attacked (although the thought still lingered uncomfortably...).

----------

After about an hour, Eiri heard a piercing shriek off to his right. The voice, though cracked and earsplitting, could only belong to one person.

Sure enough, when he turned and squinted, the moonlight reflected into his eyes off a dully magenta mop in the darkness. It was scrambling up a tree, then clicking some small object, and cursing and panicking at it.

Eiri grimaced. His lighter must have run out. But the comedic spectacle before him was almost enough to make him forget all about that. The whining, whimpering, and growling issuing from the figure were enough to tell Eiri that he had indeed located the correct missing pet.

"Get back!" Shuichi warned. "I'm...uh, armed!" He mis-stepped as he climbed higher into the branches, and nearly fell out of the tree, but fortunately caught a thick branch in the crook of one of his arms. The other arm waved wildly in front of him before also latching onto the branch.

"Armed"? Not for long, Eiri thought, glancing the other way reproachfully.

"You're not going to eat me today! Er, tonight, or whatever; I don't care about technicalities..."

What is he talking about, anyway? Eiri wondered, shifting his position behind some overgrowth, from where he was watching. He could easily have walked up to Shuichi, grabbed him, reprimanded him, and dragged him through the forest until he could locate the campsite, but watching him freak out was undoubtedly more interesting, for some reason...

"Just, just..." Shuichi pointed hysterically...in his direction? It dawned on Eiri that perhaps he was being mistaken for some sort of predator... He smirked.

"Look over there, it's Goldilocks!" Shuichi shouted, pointing somewhere off behind, into the forest. With that, he leapt from the tree and completely tailed it. He ran and ran, as fast as he could...

Dammit! Eiri cursed. He leapt from behind the overgrowth. He wasn't losing Shuichi again; he swore he would not spend another four hours looking for that asshole...

Shuichi sprinted, fearing for his life. He didn't bother looking back until he reached the summit of a small, nearly treeless hill. Here he stopped and turned around. After scanning the forest tensely for a few seconds, he relaxed a bit and chanced sitting down to rest. He breathed heavily.

Eiri, meanwhile, had been remarkably stealthy in his pursuit. Luckily, or unluckily (he couldn't decide), Shuichi had not looked back once. He smirked at the idea that Shuichi probably still thought he had been chased by a bear. I should keep it that way; might teach him a lesson about running off and getting himself lost like a stupid little kid...

Yuki crept nearer, watching and waiting. Shuichi stared with annoying intensity at the forest below him...

Then, Shuichi sneezed and turned away. In that brief second, Yuki seized upon his chance...

He bounded uncharacteristically up the slope and tackled Shuichi, ensnaring him in his arms and pinning him to the ground with mock violence.

Shuichi screeched. Extendedly, loudly, and in a pitch as of yet possibly unheard by mankind.

The horrible screeching drew on for far longer than necessary. Eiri lowered his eyelids angrily, waiting for it to stop. That idiot had to open his eyes at some point before dawn...

"Eyaaaaaaaahhhh, can't you see, you can't eat me, PLEASE don't eat me, I have a family...well, alright, not really, if you must know, Yuki and I can't have kids, and we haven't talked about adoption yet, and what am I saying, I don't even think we'll ever...er, but I HAVE A MOM AND DAD AND A SISTER WHO LOVE ME and a great career and everything; I could sing you something if you want, Waaahhhhhhh--"

"Will you shut up!" Yuki shoved his hand roughly over his captive's mouth.

Shuichi blinked. "Oh," he said, surprised. "Yuki!"

"No, it's Carmen Miranda!" Eiri spat.

"...Then, shouldn't you have some grapes and stuff on your head? And – oooooh – a watermelon?" Shuichi giggled.

Eiri grumbled, but at the same time was beginning to feel very, very aroused by the moonlit boy held firmly captive in his arms...

Shuichi's breathing had begun to return to normal. He looked up into Yuki's eyes, shadowed on the other side of the moonlight. Shuichi also found most of his own self in shadow, although unbeknownst to him, his shiny hair reflected illusory glimmers into the same dark eyes he was watching...

"Yuki." Shuichi willed himself to state before he allowed himself to get too lost in the moment. "I'm sorry. Really. All of this disaster was my fault."

"Well, you did run off, yeah..."

"No, I mean everything," Shuichi looked away. "This whole vacation. You're right; it was a stupid idea, and if it weren't for me, none of it would have happened, and you wouldn't be so miserable."

Eiri blinked. It was hard for him to seriously consider these kinds of words right now. Instead, he ignored them and went for the area of skin he'd been dying to caress with his lips and tongue... He called this miserable?

Shuichi pushed him away.

Eiri stared, irked and a little perplexed. He went for it again, but received the same reaction. He shot his partner a stronger look of "What?"

"I don't think I deserve any of this right now," Shuichi mumbled.

"Cut the drama, stupid," Eiri chided.

"But really, will you listen to me for a second? I feel really bad that you're so miserable because of me."

"I – am – not – miserable," Eiri stated. Although I will be in a few seconds if he doesn't cut this out and let me get my hands on his...

"Are you telling the truth?" Shuichi questioned skeptically. "All you've ever done over the last several days is complain, and call me an idiot, and..."

Eiri stopped. "Listen, Shuichi," he explained impatiently. "You live with me. Every single day I complain about something and call you an idiot."

"Yeah, but..."

"Okay. Look. Maybe it wasn't much fun for me. Maybe I complained. A lot. So what? I'm still here, aren't I? Are you worried about me leaving you, or something equally monumentally idiotic...? Or what?"

"Uh...uh..." Shuichi searched. "Maybe, something like that?"

Eiri was losing his patience. "I've said it 4,251 times and I'll say it again. You – are – a – moron."

"No, it's more like 4,519 times," Shuichi replied.

Eiri regarded this statement in all seriousness. "You've been counting...?"

Shuichi laughed and pushed some of Yuki's hair out of his face. "Of course not, moron. See, I guess we really are meant to be after all," he laughed.

"So, now are you ready to let me have some 'fun' on this vacation?" Eiri half-whispered, bringing his face nearer.

Shuichi nodded eagerly. Even he regarded his attitude of a moment ago as foolish. How could he pass up love-making with Yuki outside in the moonlight, alone in a foreign land?

Eiri began by softly taking in the slightly salty taste of his lover's smooth face. Shuichi returned the gesture with a firm, wet caress of Eiri's left ear. Eyes closed, they found each other's lips and locked them for several heart-pounding seconds. (Neither of them bothered to count the seconds, of course.)

Without quite paying attention to how or when it happened, Shuichi found himself shirtless, the heat of his lover's embrace causing the grass to suddenly feel rather cool on his backside.

Eiri's shirt was unbuttoned, and Shuichi's foot twitched a bit as his excitement mounted. As suddenly as his shirt had disappeared, his pants somehow managed to work themselves halfway off his butt. (He gets sneakier every time...Shuichi thought fleetingly.)

Yuki no longer restricted his touches to his boyfriend's face and torso.

Shuichi issued a short "squeak" that fell into a satisfied coo-ish moan. He half-opened his eyes and stared into the fuzzy, silent moon above his head. Yuki won't leave me. This feels too good to be tr-- All thoughts escaped his head except for a vague comparison of not just his spine, but his entire body, to Jell-O.

Yuki, busy at the moment, could not have spoken even if he'd been having coherent thoughts. After that, it was his turn...working toward it gently, feeling himself inside, it was sensational, it was complete...for now...

The moonlight faded in both pairs of eyes as they shut themselves to the world. Both men fell beside each other, breathing, on the soft grass. A moment later, they caught each others' tired gazes, but the two of them knew that their excitement was far from over for the night...

------------

A ray of light, soft but quite stronger than a moonbeam, danced across the young man's sleeping face and pried itself playfully into his sleeping eyes. He opened them reluctantly. He felt like he had a slight hangover, although he hadn't been drinking last night...he tried to remember...

Shuichi glanced down at his half-naked self and at the lightly snoring man beside him. He grinned broadly. No longer was he reluctant to wake up; a childish thrill shot through him as he realized that he was at this very moment about to glimpse a sunrise of unparalleled magnificence.

Gleefully, he shook Yuki. "Hey, wake up, Yuki," he whispered. "Hey hey heeeeey..." He tried to keep his voice down in order to be gentle (Yuki hated being woken up), but his excitement was uncontainable. Precious seconds were being wasted. "Yuki!" he practically shouted. "Yuuu-kiiii!"

Yuki's eyes shot blearily open. "What—the—fu—" he hissed, but Shuichi shushed him and pointed at the sun as if it would refuse to rise without the cooperation of the two of them keeping silent. Eiri still mumbled to himself as he sat up.

Shuichi inched closer on the grass and worked himself into the crook of Yuki's arm. He snuggled and watched the angelic orb cast pale yellow and pink light across the horizon. "It's our light, Yuki," he breathed sappily. "All for us. I want it in a jar like a firefly." He grinned stupidly, but for once it was on purpose, as he knew very well that a jar can't keep sunlight...(And besides, fireflies die if they're kept in a jar...)

Eiri ignored the attempts to be cute. He scratched his ear and squinted ahead, although it was hard to determine whether he was looking at the sunrise or simply staring into space. "Your fly's open," he said off-handedly.

Shuichi turned to glare at him, mouth open indignantly. "What's the difference, you always see anyway...!" Nevertheless, he pulled on his pants properly in a huff.

"Stupid," Eiri enunciated with some affection as he smacked Shuichi lightly upside the head.

Shuichi crossed his arms.

Eiri wrapped his strong arms about Shuichi from behind. Shuichi allowed himself to be awkwardly pulled onto his lap. "You see that," Eiri began, head on Shuichi's right shoulder and speaking into his ear as if to a child. He pointed toward the sunrise, which was steadily growing brighter. "That is called, 'The earth turning enough so that the sun is visible just a bit.'" There was no detectable anger or malicious sarcasm in Yuki's voice, and so Shuichi, extremely glad for this fact, played along.

"Is it..." he nodded, following.

Eiri had expected even his gentlest sarcasm to invite a barrage of whiny objections. "Uh...yes," he replied lamely.

"So if the earth stops right now," Shuichi postulated, "We can watch the sunrise forever?" He tilted his head back and questioningly glanced at Yuki upside-down.

"What are you talking about...idiot..."

Shuichi turned his whole body around and smooched Yuki deeply. It lasted at least half a minute. When he turned back around to check, the sun had not stopped, but had risen even noticeably higher. "Damn."

Yuki rolled his eyes. "Only an idiot like you would take such a cliché so literally," he commented. But still there was no sign of hostility in his insults.

Shuichi assumed no hostility either, and indeed poured all his heart into a gigantic squeeze-hug. (Americans might call this a 'bear hug,' Shuichi giggled. He snuggled his would-be attacker of the previous night.)

"Yuki, this is all I ever wanted," he said, now blissfully on the receiving end of a hug he'd managed to work out of his stubborn man.

"...What?"

"Just for us to be like this," Shuichi explained, still with a sappy warmth in his voice and glitters in his lavender eyes.

"For god's sake, if all you wanted was a hug, you could have told me so and we wouldn't have had to travel halfway across the fucking globe..." Eiri muttered.

Shuichi placed a hand on Eiri's lips for silence. "You're ruining my moment," he said squarely.

Eiri said nothing more. He supposed there was no harm in letting the poor, deluded boy have his special "moment." He squeezed a bit tighter. The sudden warmth he felt was definitely attributed to the harsher rays from the nearly-risen sun. Though that didn't explain why it issued from his chest most strongly...

No sense in being stubborn, he tried to remind himself. If I can just enjoy this moment...I won't go back home emptyhanded. This trip doesn't have to be a complete waste of my time...

Forcing himself to enjoy something had never been this much fun, as he discovered when his little lover caught him squarely on the mouth and initiated a passionate make-out session in the glittering birth of the coming day.