Disclaimer: Gravi isn't mine. It belongs to the great, the wonderful, Maki Murakami. I just borrow her characters for a while to torture.
A/N: Doesn't seem like much is going on in this chapter, but it's one of those where future chapters will build on it. So enjoy! ;
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Disillusionment
Chapter 10-Don't Go
-----
The blond sitting unmoving in one of the uncomfortable orange plastic chairs in the hallway was pitied by all the people who walked past him. The women (and even a few men) who passed him remarked to each other how handsome he was. A few thought he resembled the famous romance novelist, Yuki Eiri. But they quickly dismissed that idea. What would the arrogant celebrity Yuki Eiri be doing in the emergency room of a hospital?
However, the nurses and doctors that passed him quickly found out through their colleagues that it was indeed Yuki Eiri. And they had also heard about the patient in the room he sat across from, the equally famous vocalist, Shindou Shuichi. Wild rumors of the details of his case flew through the staff lounges and in hallways as doctors or nurses passed each other. Some were true. Others were wild speculation based on the tiniest ounce of truth.
The most controversial rumor was that, for reasons unknown, Shindou Shuichi had attempted suicide.
The man sitting in the orange plastic chair wasn't deaf to all the speculation around him. Each time the word 'suicide' was brought up, he winced. Although it wasn't visible, since his head was bowed as he sat with his hands supporting his forehead and his elbows on his knees while deep in thought. He was reliving the drive to the hospital.
It was a nightmare come true when he stepped into the doorway of his usually spotlessly clean white bathroom to see Hiro sitting in a pool of blood, clutching his lifeless friend to himself. Hiro was close to being hysterical. The vivid ruby of the drops, streams, and pools of blood contrasted sharply with Shuichi's pale skin and the white bathroom.
Somehow though, Yuki managed to stay calm and locate the source of all the trouble. His razor on the ground reflected the blinding light of the setting sun into his eyes. A blood red sun. It was horrible.
Without even bothering to try to pry Hiro off of his unconscious lover, Yuki went to the phone and dialed for an ambulance. Rushing through all the details, he hung up as soon as possible and headed back to the bathroom.
Hiro had regained some of his wits and was now pressing a towel to Shuichi's left arm. That was where the wound was. Neither of them spoke even though the silence was bothering both. Especially Yuki. His apartment had rarely been silent ever since Shuichi had moved in.
Hiro held Shuichi possessively the entire time and didn't even look in Yuki's direction. When the ambulance arrived, Yuki was shoved to the side. But he let them, and he even let Hiro get into the ambulance with his lover while he followed them in his Mercedes. But he didn't really 'follow' since he actually got to the hospital first.
As the hospital staff worked on Shuichi, Yuki had taken a place just outside the room and stayed there. Hiro had tried to do the same, but apparently the hospital had somehow gotten a hold of NG and Tohma had rushed to the hospital with the rest of Bad Luck. Ryuichi had also tagged along, so a group of famous people had burst into the hospital and terrorized the poor secretary with their demands to see Shuichi.
Luckily, they had spotted Yuki and Hiro sitting guard outside a door and guessed, correctly, that Shuichi was inside. With Ryuichi bawling and Tohma trying to comfort him, everyone else who sat silently quickly developed headaches. Suguru finally worked up the courage to suggest that they move into the cafeteria. Tohma agreed readily and dragged his crying friend along. K and Sakano followed wordlessly although Sakano had removed his glasses and was rubbing his forehead and K was still refusing to meet any eyes.
Suguru had somehow managed to persuade an emotionally exhausted Hiro to come with them, but none of them except Tohma even made an attempt at speaking to Yuki. They all knew what the answer would be,
"Eiri, come with us for a cup of coffee," Tohma suggested. Yuki didn't show any sign of hearing him yet he tried again,
"Eiri, you should rest and eat something."
Silence.
Finally, Tohma sighed and trailed after the rest of the group, leaving Yuki to brood by himself in the hall. None of them came back.
Hours later when the little window at the end of the sterile smelling hallway was dark, the double doors to the surgery room finally swung open as a stretcher was pushed through with a pale, almost unrecognizable Shuichi laying on it. He was completely still and his eyes were softly lidded. Yuki leapt off. The tiniest movements of Shuichi's eyelids tipped him off to the fact that his lover was alive.
The head surgeon headed his way as if to speak to him, but Yuki answered with a terse word, "cafeteria" and turned to follow the nurse who was pushing Shuichi's stretcher to a hospital room.
The surgeon looked as if he wanted to argue, but then shook his head wearily and headed to the elevator down to the cafeteria. It had been a long, hard process, bringing the young man back from the brink of death. He had lost so much blood.
Yuki, meanwhile, had arrived at a hospital room. After finishing all the minor details of setting up her patient's IV, heart monitor, and all the other equipment, the nurse left the room and closed the door gently behind her to leave the two occupants alone.
Yuki now pulled up a chair next to Shuichi's bed. The irony of the situation struck him as he gently pulled Shuichi's uninjured right hand out from under the thin sheet and held it in both his own. He had written about this kind of situation many a time.
-----
'A man knelt at his lover's bedside with her pale hands held in his own trembling ones. He had not yet begun to cry, but it wouldn't be long before he did. Bowing his head over her frail, limp hands, his silent tears flowed over her slender fingers drop by drop…'
-----
Yuki was startled out of his planning of yet another book by a few sharp beeps in a row. He raised his bowed head, searching for the noise and finally found it: the heart moniter. Steady, even green spikes on a small black monitor were interrupted by a few taller, steeper spikes. That must have been what he had heard.
Staring at it, a sickened feeling stirred in the pit of Yuki's stomach. The reality of the situation had blind-sided him.
Shuichi was hooked up to a heart monitor.
Some strange force kept Yuki's sharp golden eyes focused on the spikes as they steadily appeared at one side of the screen and eventually disappeared off the other side. Each appearance was marked by a beep. Although the beeps weren't that far apart, it seemed as if there was an eternity between each one. Yuki's breath hitched at every beep as if any one of them could suddenly turn into a long, dragged-out drone that equaled only the worst news.
Every silence was a second of bliss. Every beep was a terror. It kept his nerves on end so much that a beep that was a fraction too soon after the one before it sent him springing to his feet as his plastic chair fell back with a loud crash. Eyes flying to Shuichi, Yuki's breath and his own heart rate began to steady again after he noticed the slight fluttering of Shuichi's eyelids. He was waking up.
Forgetting about the chair, Yuki cautiously approached Shuichi's bedside. He watched silently as his heart pounded and Shuichi's eyes opened and he saw that amethyst for the first time since the previous morning. Yuki had been next to his lover since the afternoon he brought him into the hospital after finding such a horrific scene in his own bathroom to now, a full night and day later.
But as Shuichi's still sleep-clouded eyes stared straight into his own incredibly sharp ones, Yuki began to back up. After what had happened…he didn't…he didn't know how to react, other than run away. Unfortunately, it was the wrong reaction.
Shuichi blinked, trying to fully return to consciousness even though the drugs that were dripping into his bloodstream through an IV on his uninjured right arm were making it very hard,
"Y-Yuki…?" he finally cracked out, in a very dry and hoarse voice,
Yuki heard his own name on the lips of his lover and panicked. Without a look at Shuichi, he ran his numb hands through his messy golden hair and tucked the other hand in his pocket and turned to leave as quickly as possible. He needed a smoke.
After he closed the door to Shuichi's room quietly, so as not to wake any of the other patients, Yuki suddenly collapsed just across from the room on one of the plastic chairs that lined the sides of the sterile smelling hallway,
"Shit." H said softly to himself as he regained his breath. Why was it so hard to face Shuichi? Not because he faulted his lover, not at all. Instead, Yuki realized he couldn't face Shuichi because it was probably his fault. It seemed as if he caused every unfortunate event in Shuichi's life. All the self-doubt, guilt, and feelings of worthlessness from when he had raised his hand to Shuichi just a few days ago came flooding back.
This was his fault, he knew it. He had pushed Shuichi too far. Much too far. He didn't deserve Shuichi and now whatever God or fate or destiny was rubbing his nose in it. But thankfully Shuichi hadn't been taken away from him. Thankfully he hadn't driven away his love. If that happened…Yuki didn't know what he'd do.
Running his fingers through his hair again, Yuki thought about what he could do. On one hand, he had been fully ready to just up and leave. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't corrupt Shuichi anymore than he already had. Yuki had planned to run away; escape to New York again. But there was another, tiny glimmer of hope that shined through his nightmare of the hell of a life without Shuichi created.
That Shuichi would survive this told him that maybe he had another chance. Shuichi wasn't being taken away from him. In that case, why shouldn't he simply enjoy it and not run away from what they could still have?
But all that was thrown out of his mind when a loud clatter inside Shuichi's room had Yuki on his feet and through the door in a flash.
Shuichi had tried to climb out of bed as soon as he saw Yuki running away. Filled with shame over what he had done and what he had almost done, Shuichi's instant conclusion was that Yuki was disgusted with him. And why not? He was disgusted with himself.
His eyes, misting over with angry tears at his own stupidity, blurred his vision so that when Shuichi tried to climb out of bed to go after his lover, he tripped and fell on the ground. In the process, Shuichi had tore out several IV. One still had a blood transfusion going and another was dripping a cocktail of drugs into him. Now both began to leak on the ground.
The clear fluid of the medicine was quickly contaminated by the blood and the blood was diluted into a color that vaguely resembled Shuichi's hair color, a light pink.
In an instinctive reaction to falling facedown, Shuichi's arms came up to brace him. But one of them had a deep gash that had not yet begun to heal and was only sealed by a few stitches, which were now torn out.
The pain of having two needles and a line of stitches ripped out rendered Shuichi immobile for a few minutes as he gasped for breath and struggled to keep from crying out. His eyes were squeezed shut in pain and the roaring of what sounded like an ocean in his ears blocked out the noise of Yuki returning until a big shoe came into view from his position on his stomach on the ground.
Feeling himself getting turned over and lifted gently off the ground, Shuichi opened his eyes to see that his lover had come back. The tears of pain that had leaked out now turned into tears of joy,
"Yu-Yuki," Shuichi said, his voice still as hoarse as before and now choked with pain and emotion,
"Baka," Yuki replied as he laid Shuichi back on the bed. Suddenly, the door to the room burst open as nightshift nurses swarmed into the room to see what all the racket was about. Shortly after, a few doctors had arrived, again due to the fame of their patient, and they looked around the room with grim faces.
Then, Shuichi's bed was getting wheeled out of the room with a protesting pink-haired patient being restrained by nurses. In the crowd, all Yuki could hear were a few words, 'bleeding', 'stitches', 'too deep', 'got to'.
One of the words stilled both he and Shuichi's hearts, 'cauterize'.
Meeting eyes for a moment, Shuichi's fear-choked words somehow reached Yuki over all the commotion,
"Don't go."
Looking away, Yuki's heart warred with itself. He wanted to run away. But he couldn't leave Shuichi. No.
He looked up and found Shuichi trying furiously to catch his eyes again. Meeting his lover's eyes, Yuki nodded. It was tiny movement, but resolved. Shuichi finally settled down on the bed as the hospital staff wheeled him off with Yuki following close behind.
-----
Finally we're kind of leaving the angst. Sort of. There's a little more to go. Can you tell that I was setting Yuki up for a fall? He's reassuring himself that, ooh, this is his second chance, etc. and later when it's all revealed to him (with Hiro's help! hehe) well...all I can say is, poor Yuki. I don't mean to torture him, I really don't. I like Yuki. But for the sake of the story, he has to suffer a while longer.
-----
Reviews!! (Um...I don't know if these are allowed...but I'll do them until ff.net tells me that I can't. And after reading over the rules a couple times, I don't see anyplace where it SPECIFICALLY says that review replies are not allowed, since this is in no way a 'message board' type thing, etc.)
GoldenWings: Sorry!!! I know, I know, we ALL love Shuichi!
Burned Vamp: ehehe? .
goddamned: oops, sorry. I wasn't aiming to nauseate anyone. Angst, yes. But it'll lighten up for a little bit at least from here. I'm not completely sure, but 9's probably going to be one of the angstiest chapters in the fic. And maybe the last or second-last chapter. But I'm not sure yet. Wait and see!
Black Dios: Hi again! lol. SHE KILLED-- hehe, no I didn't!!
:): Um...hehe, two :) people have reviewed this chapter! (I suggest a penname, lol) And yes, I'm sure we'd all like to have Shuichi alive. ;
Lara: aww hands tissue Thanks!
katie: lol
Mizuki97: This chapter's a little longer. And I confess that chapter 9 was...not something I usually write, let's just leave it at that.
Natsume: Well, the reason I cut chapter 9 off shorter was so some people could skip it if they wanted to. But hey, you start seeing part of his reaction this chapter before...insert dramatic music
StrawberryPockyPoo: lol, oh crap, I'm going to kill another person with my cliffhangers? runs from cops, again.
Kadzuki Fuchoin: Yes, I am still alive!! lol, and I'm still evil. XD Getting used to my cliffhangers?
HikariChang: Authoress. Wow, thanks, I can't believe I have such dedicated readers that are up to 4am!! Sorry about the cliffhanger, eep, but it just HAD to end there! ; 500 reviews? Hehe, if that happened, I might actually post some Gravi fanart that I've been working on for this fic.
Ikari Shinji-kun: Eep. I'm frightened of Yuki and Shuichi's reactions too! But for a different reason, probably. I wonder if they're OOC?
Aesthetic Angel: hehehe, you wouldn't let me read YOUR fics!! Anyway, I do NOT write better than you do, so just stop saying it since it's not true. And I'm not sure if this is believable, it seems kind of OOC to me, hehe. Yuki's a hard character to write, ne? Hehe, bothering me about writing doesn't work. You should know that by now! hehehe. You love Suguru? Surprise, surprise, considering that he's like a miniature Tohma. lol! Suguru is Tohma's mini-me. ; Cliffhangers! Wheee!
SlightlyPsycho: Aww, your review really made me un-mad that people found my fic. hugs Although, I'm not an 'insanely awesome writer'. Insane, yes. Writer, yes. Awesome, I doubt it. Hehe, and of COURSE I know you, Kaylee! Geez, give me a little credit, ne? lol, just kidding. ;
:): hehe, thanks
Krisskittie: lol! Tohma DEMONSTRATING the birds and bees talk with Ryuichi?? Although it'd be a kind of...skewed version, ne? ; Buying off the author with pocky? does Yuki eyebrow arch Sure! grabs Pocky, munches happily while writing Tohma/Ryu hehehe Thank you, thank you, thank you for telling me about the Gravi DVD!!! You are soooo awesome! I can't wait until it comes out! I wonder who they're gonna get for the voice actors? I wonder if they'll redo the songs? In english? I can't wait!! ;
Sweet Chaos: Um...thanks? lol
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Ehehehe, 18 reviews?! 135 total?! Wow, thanks so much to everyone, your reviews make me laugh, cry, and get weird looks from people wondering why I randomly start grinning. See you all soon, and review again!!
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For some reasons, some special characters won't show up, so I can't do my old dividers. I'm using these now -----. Hope no one gets confused and sorry about this! (Complain to ff.net!)
A/N: Doesn't seem like much is going on in this chapter, but it's one of those where future chapters will build on it. So enjoy! ;
-----
Disillusionment
Chapter 10-Don't Go
-----
The blond sitting unmoving in one of the uncomfortable orange plastic chairs in the hallway was pitied by all the people who walked past him. The women (and even a few men) who passed him remarked to each other how handsome he was. A few thought he resembled the famous romance novelist, Yuki Eiri. But they quickly dismissed that idea. What would the arrogant celebrity Yuki Eiri be doing in the emergency room of a hospital?
However, the nurses and doctors that passed him quickly found out through their colleagues that it was indeed Yuki Eiri. And they had also heard about the patient in the room he sat across from, the equally famous vocalist, Shindou Shuichi. Wild rumors of the details of his case flew through the staff lounges and in hallways as doctors or nurses passed each other. Some were true. Others were wild speculation based on the tiniest ounce of truth.
The most controversial rumor was that, for reasons unknown, Shindou Shuichi had attempted suicide.
The man sitting in the orange plastic chair wasn't deaf to all the speculation around him. Each time the word 'suicide' was brought up, he winced. Although it wasn't visible, since his head was bowed as he sat with his hands supporting his forehead and his elbows on his knees while deep in thought. He was reliving the drive to the hospital.
It was a nightmare come true when he stepped into the doorway of his usually spotlessly clean white bathroom to see Hiro sitting in a pool of blood, clutching his lifeless friend to himself. Hiro was close to being hysterical. The vivid ruby of the drops, streams, and pools of blood contrasted sharply with Shuichi's pale skin and the white bathroom.
Somehow though, Yuki managed to stay calm and locate the source of all the trouble. His razor on the ground reflected the blinding light of the setting sun into his eyes. A blood red sun. It was horrible.
Without even bothering to try to pry Hiro off of his unconscious lover, Yuki went to the phone and dialed for an ambulance. Rushing through all the details, he hung up as soon as possible and headed back to the bathroom.
Hiro had regained some of his wits and was now pressing a towel to Shuichi's left arm. That was where the wound was. Neither of them spoke even though the silence was bothering both. Especially Yuki. His apartment had rarely been silent ever since Shuichi had moved in.
Hiro held Shuichi possessively the entire time and didn't even look in Yuki's direction. When the ambulance arrived, Yuki was shoved to the side. But he let them, and he even let Hiro get into the ambulance with his lover while he followed them in his Mercedes. But he didn't really 'follow' since he actually got to the hospital first.
As the hospital staff worked on Shuichi, Yuki had taken a place just outside the room and stayed there. Hiro had tried to do the same, but apparently the hospital had somehow gotten a hold of NG and Tohma had rushed to the hospital with the rest of Bad Luck. Ryuichi had also tagged along, so a group of famous people had burst into the hospital and terrorized the poor secretary with their demands to see Shuichi.
Luckily, they had spotted Yuki and Hiro sitting guard outside a door and guessed, correctly, that Shuichi was inside. With Ryuichi bawling and Tohma trying to comfort him, everyone else who sat silently quickly developed headaches. Suguru finally worked up the courage to suggest that they move into the cafeteria. Tohma agreed readily and dragged his crying friend along. K and Sakano followed wordlessly although Sakano had removed his glasses and was rubbing his forehead and K was still refusing to meet any eyes.
Suguru had somehow managed to persuade an emotionally exhausted Hiro to come with them, but none of them except Tohma even made an attempt at speaking to Yuki. They all knew what the answer would be,
"Eiri, come with us for a cup of coffee," Tohma suggested. Yuki didn't show any sign of hearing him yet he tried again,
"Eiri, you should rest and eat something."
Silence.
Finally, Tohma sighed and trailed after the rest of the group, leaving Yuki to brood by himself in the hall. None of them came back.
Hours later when the little window at the end of the sterile smelling hallway was dark, the double doors to the surgery room finally swung open as a stretcher was pushed through with a pale, almost unrecognizable Shuichi laying on it. He was completely still and his eyes were softly lidded. Yuki leapt off. The tiniest movements of Shuichi's eyelids tipped him off to the fact that his lover was alive.
The head surgeon headed his way as if to speak to him, but Yuki answered with a terse word, "cafeteria" and turned to follow the nurse who was pushing Shuichi's stretcher to a hospital room.
The surgeon looked as if he wanted to argue, but then shook his head wearily and headed to the elevator down to the cafeteria. It had been a long, hard process, bringing the young man back from the brink of death. He had lost so much blood.
Yuki, meanwhile, had arrived at a hospital room. After finishing all the minor details of setting up her patient's IV, heart monitor, and all the other equipment, the nurse left the room and closed the door gently behind her to leave the two occupants alone.
Yuki now pulled up a chair next to Shuichi's bed. The irony of the situation struck him as he gently pulled Shuichi's uninjured right hand out from under the thin sheet and held it in both his own. He had written about this kind of situation many a time.
-----
'A man knelt at his lover's bedside with her pale hands held in his own trembling ones. He had not yet begun to cry, but it wouldn't be long before he did. Bowing his head over her frail, limp hands, his silent tears flowed over her slender fingers drop by drop…'
-----
Yuki was startled out of his planning of yet another book by a few sharp beeps in a row. He raised his bowed head, searching for the noise and finally found it: the heart moniter. Steady, even green spikes on a small black monitor were interrupted by a few taller, steeper spikes. That must have been what he had heard.
Staring at it, a sickened feeling stirred in the pit of Yuki's stomach. The reality of the situation had blind-sided him.
Shuichi was hooked up to a heart monitor.
Some strange force kept Yuki's sharp golden eyes focused on the spikes as they steadily appeared at one side of the screen and eventually disappeared off the other side. Each appearance was marked by a beep. Although the beeps weren't that far apart, it seemed as if there was an eternity between each one. Yuki's breath hitched at every beep as if any one of them could suddenly turn into a long, dragged-out drone that equaled only the worst news.
Every silence was a second of bliss. Every beep was a terror. It kept his nerves on end so much that a beep that was a fraction too soon after the one before it sent him springing to his feet as his plastic chair fell back with a loud crash. Eyes flying to Shuichi, Yuki's breath and his own heart rate began to steady again after he noticed the slight fluttering of Shuichi's eyelids. He was waking up.
Forgetting about the chair, Yuki cautiously approached Shuichi's bedside. He watched silently as his heart pounded and Shuichi's eyes opened and he saw that amethyst for the first time since the previous morning. Yuki had been next to his lover since the afternoon he brought him into the hospital after finding such a horrific scene in his own bathroom to now, a full night and day later.
But as Shuichi's still sleep-clouded eyes stared straight into his own incredibly sharp ones, Yuki began to back up. After what had happened…he didn't…he didn't know how to react, other than run away. Unfortunately, it was the wrong reaction.
Shuichi blinked, trying to fully return to consciousness even though the drugs that were dripping into his bloodstream through an IV on his uninjured right arm were making it very hard,
"Y-Yuki…?" he finally cracked out, in a very dry and hoarse voice,
Yuki heard his own name on the lips of his lover and panicked. Without a look at Shuichi, he ran his numb hands through his messy golden hair and tucked the other hand in his pocket and turned to leave as quickly as possible. He needed a smoke.
After he closed the door to Shuichi's room quietly, so as not to wake any of the other patients, Yuki suddenly collapsed just across from the room on one of the plastic chairs that lined the sides of the sterile smelling hallway,
"Shit." H said softly to himself as he regained his breath. Why was it so hard to face Shuichi? Not because he faulted his lover, not at all. Instead, Yuki realized he couldn't face Shuichi because it was probably his fault. It seemed as if he caused every unfortunate event in Shuichi's life. All the self-doubt, guilt, and feelings of worthlessness from when he had raised his hand to Shuichi just a few days ago came flooding back.
This was his fault, he knew it. He had pushed Shuichi too far. Much too far. He didn't deserve Shuichi and now whatever God or fate or destiny was rubbing his nose in it. But thankfully Shuichi hadn't been taken away from him. Thankfully he hadn't driven away his love. If that happened…Yuki didn't know what he'd do.
Running his fingers through his hair again, Yuki thought about what he could do. On one hand, he had been fully ready to just up and leave. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't corrupt Shuichi anymore than he already had. Yuki had planned to run away; escape to New York again. But there was another, tiny glimmer of hope that shined through his nightmare of the hell of a life without Shuichi created.
That Shuichi would survive this told him that maybe he had another chance. Shuichi wasn't being taken away from him. In that case, why shouldn't he simply enjoy it and not run away from what they could still have?
But all that was thrown out of his mind when a loud clatter inside Shuichi's room had Yuki on his feet and through the door in a flash.
Shuichi had tried to climb out of bed as soon as he saw Yuki running away. Filled with shame over what he had done and what he had almost done, Shuichi's instant conclusion was that Yuki was disgusted with him. And why not? He was disgusted with himself.
His eyes, misting over with angry tears at his own stupidity, blurred his vision so that when Shuichi tried to climb out of bed to go after his lover, he tripped and fell on the ground. In the process, Shuichi had tore out several IV. One still had a blood transfusion going and another was dripping a cocktail of drugs into him. Now both began to leak on the ground.
The clear fluid of the medicine was quickly contaminated by the blood and the blood was diluted into a color that vaguely resembled Shuichi's hair color, a light pink.
In an instinctive reaction to falling facedown, Shuichi's arms came up to brace him. But one of them had a deep gash that had not yet begun to heal and was only sealed by a few stitches, which were now torn out.
The pain of having two needles and a line of stitches ripped out rendered Shuichi immobile for a few minutes as he gasped for breath and struggled to keep from crying out. His eyes were squeezed shut in pain and the roaring of what sounded like an ocean in his ears blocked out the noise of Yuki returning until a big shoe came into view from his position on his stomach on the ground.
Feeling himself getting turned over and lifted gently off the ground, Shuichi opened his eyes to see that his lover had come back. The tears of pain that had leaked out now turned into tears of joy,
"Yu-Yuki," Shuichi said, his voice still as hoarse as before and now choked with pain and emotion,
"Baka," Yuki replied as he laid Shuichi back on the bed. Suddenly, the door to the room burst open as nightshift nurses swarmed into the room to see what all the racket was about. Shortly after, a few doctors had arrived, again due to the fame of their patient, and they looked around the room with grim faces.
Then, Shuichi's bed was getting wheeled out of the room with a protesting pink-haired patient being restrained by nurses. In the crowd, all Yuki could hear were a few words, 'bleeding', 'stitches', 'too deep', 'got to'.
One of the words stilled both he and Shuichi's hearts, 'cauterize'.
Meeting eyes for a moment, Shuichi's fear-choked words somehow reached Yuki over all the commotion,
"Don't go."
Looking away, Yuki's heart warred with itself. He wanted to run away. But he couldn't leave Shuichi. No.
He looked up and found Shuichi trying furiously to catch his eyes again. Meeting his lover's eyes, Yuki nodded. It was tiny movement, but resolved. Shuichi finally settled down on the bed as the hospital staff wheeled him off with Yuki following close behind.
-----
Finally we're kind of leaving the angst. Sort of. There's a little more to go. Can you tell that I was setting Yuki up for a fall? He's reassuring himself that, ooh, this is his second chance, etc. and later when it's all revealed to him (with Hiro's help! hehe) well...all I can say is, poor Yuki. I don't mean to torture him, I really don't. I like Yuki. But for the sake of the story, he has to suffer a while longer.
-----
Reviews!! (Um...I don't know if these are allowed...but I'll do them until ff.net tells me that I can't. And after reading over the rules a couple times, I don't see anyplace where it SPECIFICALLY says that review replies are not allowed, since this is in no way a 'message board' type thing, etc.)
GoldenWings: Sorry!!! I know, I know, we ALL love Shuichi!
Burned Vamp: ehehe? .
goddamned: oops, sorry. I wasn't aiming to nauseate anyone. Angst, yes. But it'll lighten up for a little bit at least from here. I'm not completely sure, but 9's probably going to be one of the angstiest chapters in the fic. And maybe the last or second-last chapter. But I'm not sure yet. Wait and see!
Black Dios: Hi again! lol. SHE KILLED-- hehe, no I didn't!!
:): Um...hehe, two :) people have reviewed this chapter! (I suggest a penname, lol) And yes, I'm sure we'd all like to have Shuichi alive. ;
Lara: aww hands tissue Thanks!
katie: lol
Mizuki97: This chapter's a little longer. And I confess that chapter 9 was...not something I usually write, let's just leave it at that.
Natsume: Well, the reason I cut chapter 9 off shorter was so some people could skip it if they wanted to. But hey, you start seeing part of his reaction this chapter before...insert dramatic music
StrawberryPockyPoo: lol, oh crap, I'm going to kill another person with my cliffhangers? runs from cops, again.
Kadzuki Fuchoin: Yes, I am still alive!! lol, and I'm still evil. XD Getting used to my cliffhangers?
HikariChang: Authoress. Wow, thanks, I can't believe I have such dedicated readers that are up to 4am!! Sorry about the cliffhanger, eep, but it just HAD to end there! ; 500 reviews? Hehe, if that happened, I might actually post some Gravi fanart that I've been working on for this fic.
Ikari Shinji-kun: Eep. I'm frightened of Yuki and Shuichi's reactions too! But for a different reason, probably. I wonder if they're OOC?
Aesthetic Angel: hehehe, you wouldn't let me read YOUR fics!! Anyway, I do NOT write better than you do, so just stop saying it since it's not true. And I'm not sure if this is believable, it seems kind of OOC to me, hehe. Yuki's a hard character to write, ne? Hehe, bothering me about writing doesn't work. You should know that by now! hehehe. You love Suguru? Surprise, surprise, considering that he's like a miniature Tohma. lol! Suguru is Tohma's mini-me. ; Cliffhangers! Wheee!
SlightlyPsycho: Aww, your review really made me un-mad that people found my fic. hugs Although, I'm not an 'insanely awesome writer'. Insane, yes. Writer, yes. Awesome, I doubt it. Hehe, and of COURSE I know you, Kaylee! Geez, give me a little credit, ne? lol, just kidding. ;
:): hehe, thanks
Krisskittie: lol! Tohma DEMONSTRATING the birds and bees talk with Ryuichi?? Although it'd be a kind of...skewed version, ne? ; Buying off the author with pocky? does Yuki eyebrow arch Sure! grabs Pocky, munches happily while writing Tohma/Ryu hehehe Thank you, thank you, thank you for telling me about the Gravi DVD!!! You are soooo awesome! I can't wait until it comes out! I wonder who they're gonna get for the voice actors? I wonder if they'll redo the songs? In english? I can't wait!! ;
Sweet Chaos: Um...thanks? lol
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Ehehehe, 18 reviews?! 135 total?! Wow, thanks so much to everyone, your reviews make me laugh, cry, and get weird looks from people wondering why I randomly start grinning. See you all soon, and review again!!
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For some reasons, some special characters won't show up, so I can't do my old dividers. I'm using these now -----. Hope no one gets confused and sorry about this! (Complain to ff.net!)