(As mentioned in the previous chapter, I do not own Gravitation or any of its cast. Although... stiIl would like too...Technically, just mostly Eiri. -sneaks over to Tokyo Pop.-)
In the background, the bass of "Rage Beat" sounded as Shuichi danced around with some invisible microphone. He was scavenging around the kitchen for the ingredients for Yuki's beloved Strawberry Cake. He had never cooked it before, but he figured the same ingredients go into every cake. So, what did he need? Eggs and Flour...water...sugar...and strawberries! That sounded right. He slid across the kitchen in his socks and made a violent collision with the counter, nearly knocking the wind out of himself as he clutched the fridge.
Opening the door and examining the contents, he smiled to himself. Eggs. Just like he expected. He carefully lifted them out in their Styrofoam container. Stealthily glancing around, he made sure that Yuki was no where in sight; he didn't want to ruin the surprise. He wasn't there, as Shuichi expected. He was probably in his room, cooped up, typing on the laptop in his chair and drinking coffee. Sometimes Shindou wondered if the coffee was the only thing that kept Eiri awake. He shuffled back into the kitchen and turned the stove on. He had no idea what the temperature should be; only that it needed to be hot enough to bake quickly. So, turning the knob, he set it to 450 degrees. More than enough, unknown to him.
The next thing he did was rummage through the cabinets until he found a large mixing bowl. He had no clue why it was there; he never saw Yuki cooking, really—nonetheless he was happy for it. He dragged it down and set it on the spotless counter. Looking at the bowl thoughtfully, he tried to judge how much flour, eggs strawberries and sugar he could fit in there. After emptying over half of the decently-sized flour bag and five or six eggs, strawberries and a mountain-load of sugar it occurred to him that he hadn't put in the water yet. So, gingerly, he placed the bowl directly under the faucet and let it run. The mixture was beginning to look a bit odd at this point, a murky mess of beige slop. It didn't resemble a cake mix at all, but perhaps it was because it hadn't really been mixed yet?
Searching through the drawers, Shuichi found a white spatula, which he used to stir the clump of disfigured cake. It was hard to get any stirring done, near impossible even. His arms were straining just to get the spatula to move maybe a centimeter.
--
Yuki Eiri sat unaware in his room, the door shut. He could hear the faint sounds of the music in the next room, but where they came from was a bit uncertain. He figured it was probably best to ignore Shindou and let him expend all his hyper energy elsewhere, as long as it didn't involve him. The soft clicking of his fingers striking the keys was all he would let impress on his thinking. His mind was firmly locked in writing mode, as he had more than a quarter of this to finish. He flicked the ashes of his lighted cigarette into the ashtray next to him and read over what he had written, only to get rid of and re-word over half of what he had just done. Nothing was good enough. He felt himself slipping into a bout of writer's block and he scoffed quietly, refusing to quit. Not now. Too much to do.
Part of him was still wondering what it was Shuichi was doing...
He stood, shoving the chair back for room to move, and walked to the door. He opened it, and then decided against it, turning back to his chair and laptop. He situated himself again. At least he could look out at Shuichi now. He didn't want any problems from the boy. He stared at the screen in front of himself for a moment and then leaned back, peeking out of the door.
Nothing. Where was he? What was he doing? Probably something destructive or stupid. That was Shuichi all right.
BOOM!
...Eiri twitched. He knew this meant bad news. He stood again, turning the screen of the laptop off, and made his way to the door. He glanced out, and all he could see was smoke. Heavy smoke. The smell of it weighed heavy on his senses as he tried to see through it. His hand went over his mouth, fingers lightly poised as he coughed, and made his way further onward. What the hell happened? His eyes were narrowed, and stung from the heavy toxin around him. Sure, he was used to cigarette smoke, but that definitely wasn't what this was.
When he came into the kitchen, he could see the threatening orange dance that only a fire was capable of giving.
"Shit," he muttered as he made his way to the opposite end of the house, searching for the thing that would be the house's savior. When he spotted the white-framed glass case of the fire extinguisher, he brought his elbow hard into the fragile covering, and the glass broke. He grabbed the red instrument and made his way to the kitchen, spraying the contents of the container into the smoky oblivion, edging closer so he could get the fire itself. When the white foam fully extinguished the fire, his eyes went across the floor, and laying, limp and askew was the body of Shuichi Shindou. His face was darkened with the effects of the smoke, and there were bruises that were in obvious view. Eiri had no idea why, but there was blood. He couldn't even imagine what it was that had caused that.
His eyes traveled to his oven, which lay in ruin, and he narrowed his eyes. Stupid brat. He really shouldn't even try to cook. Shuichi was no good when it came to Culinary Arts, or anything else really, but especially Culinary Arts. He glared down at the boy as he made his way over. His eyes held no concern for the boy. He was constantly hurting himself, so what did it matter? He bent down and grabbed the singed hems of the shoulders of Shuichi's shirt and dragged him out of the kitchen and into the hall way. He was tempted to kick the boy, really, but restrained himself. He seemed to be stuck between being angry at Shuichi and being worried about him. Right now, the angry part was showing through more than anything.
He rolled his eyes. Hiro would probably get angry if he found out Shuichi had been injured and Yuki did nothing about it, so he shuffled away to the phone, to call some sort of medical help. After giving his address to the operator, the woman on the other end seemed to pause for a moment.
The man she was on the phone with sounded familiar. He also didn't sound very concerned about who ever it was that needed medical attention. She paused again...Technically, small talk wasn't allowed on calls like these but she had already told the dispatcher, and help was on the way. Normally, she would ask the caller to stay on the line anyway.
"Um, excuse me?"
On the other end of the line: Silence. No dial tone. He must have still been on, just not talking...
"You sound...really...really...well, like I've heard you before."
'Oh great...' Yuki wrinkled his nose and grunted softly. He didn't feel like being swooned over right now.
More silence from Yuki's end of the line.
"U-umm...this may sound silly but...could I get your name?"
"You already have my address, baka. Why don't you just look it up for yourself." And after that, the line went blank. A fast-paced busy signal ensued. Yuki had hung up the phone. Not in the mood.
The blare of the sirens was quiet at first and quickly became louder as Yuki glanced out the front window and saw the white emergency vehicle approaching and come to an abrupt stop in front of his house. His eyes sharpened in enhancing irritation as he made his way to Shuichi, propping him up against the wall near the door. He seemed to be completely unconscious.
Eiri opened the door just as the medical staff got to it, and they seemed to recoil, pausing at the sight of him before making their way inside after Yuki had cleared out of they way for them. They were dumbfounded, but still found Shindou easily. They began swarming over him, talking amongst themselves. Eiri had drowned it all out, paying not the slightest bit of attention. This would be over soon enough. He didn't like people in his house. He didn't even really like Shuichi in his house, but something about him made it harder for him to make him leave permanently.
He was prodded by one of the ambulance staff, and he looked over irritatedly.
"We have to take him in and get some blood in him right away. He's lost a lot, and he's unconscious."
Eiri nodded absently. 'Of course he's unconscious you idiot...'