So, I updated! YAY! I hope you guys like this chapter! I worked on it for two hours straight! -whew- It was hard work, but I wanted to finish it to make you guys happy! Thank you so much reviewers! Oh, and I tried to make this a little bit longer because a reviewer wanted it to be longer. -bows- I'm glad all you guys like my story! I thought that I'd only get one review and it would say,'Get a day job.Your writing sucks.' But it didn't! I'm so happy:)Oh, and some of you may cry during this... This is just a warning...

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Gravitation. One day I will, but not today... -cries-

Chapter 5: The Rose of Truth

Shuichi stared at the origami rose on the table. It was done quite nicely, if Shuichi could say so himself. He had learned how to make origami roses from his sister, Maiko. It took him a long time to learn, but he did, and Maiko was happy. She even made him cookies!

Next to the rose was a pen that Shuichi always left there. He smiled softly. He began to wonder…. 'If Yuki returns, I won't be able to ask him if I should leave…' Shuichi thought. 'I can't say a word. My throat is too dry and irritated for that. What can I do? I have to ask Yuki… I need to know how to make him happy….'

Suddenly, Shuichi had an idea. He got out of his slouching position and sat up straight. Immediately, his head felt lighter. He felt dizzy, very dizzy. He groaned again and put his hand on his face. Then he put his hand down and sighed. Shuichi grabbed the pen with shaky hands. He reached for the rose and put it closer to him. Then, with vibrating hands, he began to write on it.

The handwriting was extremely sloppy and rushed looking. There were stray marks everywhere on the rose from the shaking of Shuichi's hand. Also, Shuichi started crying, so tear drops were shattered on the origami rose. Shuichi looked at the rose and frowned. It read:

"Dear Yuki,

I'm sorry that I had to write this, but my throat is too itchy for me to talk to you. I made this rose for you. Yeah, it sucks, I know. But it was all I could think of. Also, I cleaned the place for you. I know that after running to New York with your illness tired you out, so I did it for you. (Tohma told me about it) I just wanted to tell you this: I'll leave if you want me to. I don't want you to get sick again. So, if I make you unhappy and sick, I'll leave. I promise. I won't whine at your door or anything either. I'll love you forever either way.

Love,

Shuichi"

Shuichi's hands felt like they were ready to fall off. He placed the rose back on the table and leaned back. He watched the ceiling spin with interest. The tears were still flowing freely. Shuichi wiped all his tears in one swift motion. He bit his lip fiercely.

"Yuki…where are you?" Shuichi tried to say. But all that came out of his mouth was choked sobs. He yelled at himself mentally for being too weak to even speak. 'Yuki…I love you…' Shuichi thought, since that was all he could do.

The rose would never be able to describe how he felt, and Shuichi knew it. But it would get the message across for Yuki. Yuki would know that Shuichi knew where he went. He would realize that Shuichi would leave him if it made him happy. He would know that Shuichi loved him no matter what. That was the most important part, Shuichi believed.

Shuichi's stomach growled. 'Man, I'm starving!' Shuichi thought. His eyes darted around for something to eat. Then, the guilt returned. 'Wait, what if Yuki is starving?' Shuichi thought for the second time that week. 'I can't eat!' Shuichi tried to ignore the growls coming from his stomach. He had absolutely nothing in his stomach, so he was understandably hungry.

All Shuichi could do was wait, and wait, and wait. He started to cry again, after thinking of what could've possibly happened to Yuki in New York. The thoughts horrified Shuichi to no end. Shuichi then started coughing again. This time it was worse, and Shuichi couldn't breathe for at least a minute. Shuichi took a deep breath and tried to stop coughing.

After a few more coughing fits, Shuichi could finally breathe clearly. He sighed in relief. He hoped that that was the last of the coughing fits. He didn't exactly like coughing so much that he couldn't breathe. And it made his throat hurt even more, if that was possible.

'Water…' Shuichi thought. 'I need water…' He tried to stand again. His throat was so dry… Shuichi couldn't stand, or even move. But he wanted a drink so badly. 'I'll never take my mug for granted ever again' he thought. 'Not after this…'

Shuichi complained a lot about being 'starving' or 'thirsty to death' but he never knew how it really felt. Now he did, and he didn't like it. He had no strength, no food and no water. All he had was the couch, the remote and the origami rose. Was it just Shuichi, or was it getting hotter?

'Maybe Yuki will be on TV, waving at me' Shuichi thought. He grabbed the remote and pressed the on button. The news was still on. Shuichi listened with half his mind. On the TV, he saw a blonde man.

'Yuki!' Shuichi cried. He stared at the TV with interest. The TV had Shuichi's full attention now. Shuichi stared at the man. The blonde had a green coat on with green leather pants. He was talking about a lady that was killed earlier that day. Obviously, he was a news caster, but Shuichi didn't believe that right away. 'Yuki's on TV!' Shuichi cried in his mind. 'Yuki's coming home to me!' After that certain news segment was over, Shuichi realized, after looking hard at the blonde, that the man wasn't Yuki.

'Yuki…?' Shuichi thought. 'Where are you? Are you shivering to death in the freezing cold? Are you starving and thirsty? Are you tired and weak? Are you hurt? Do you even care about me anymore? Are you mad because I made you sick? You should be. I'm just a stupid, heartless kid who doesn't deserve you!' Shuichi scolded himself mentally. 'I make you sad… Don't I Yuki?' Shuichi growled at himself.

Once again, Shuichi looked around for something sharp. His eyes gleamed. 'I hurt Yuki' he thought. 'I have to hurt myself now. It's only fair.' He reasoned with himself silently.

There! The piece of glass from yesterday was on the floor, practically begging Shuichi to pick it up. Shuichi snatched the glass from the floor and pulled down his sleeves. He smiled. 'This is my punishment!' he told himself. He scraped the glass against his skin. A few drops of blood emerged from the cuts. Shuichi grinned.

'I'm paying for what I did to you, Yuki' Shuichi thought. 'I'll pay until you come back to me!' He placed the glass on the table so that he could find it later easier. He felt so relieved. When he had cut into his skin, he felt all his pain drift away. He felt less guilty, too!

Shuichi watched as the bleeding stopped. He enjoyed his pain, because he knew he deserved it. He sat back and relaxed for a few minutes. Then, he felt uneasy again. 'How long has it been since Yuki was home?' Shuichi thought. He looked at the clock. It was 4AM. That meant that a whole other day had gone by while he was drowning in guilt and despair.

The ceiling started spinning again. His thoughts of the ceiling and Yuki were interrupted by a loud growl from his stomach. 'Be quiet' he willed his stomach. 'I know you're hungry! Shut up!' He made a note to himself to never have a conversation with his stomach again. His stomach was rude and only kept growling at him.

'Now even my stomach hates me' Shuichi thought sadly. He sighed and yawned. He was tired, yes, but he wouldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep not knowing where Yuki was and if he was safe. It just wasn't an option. Yuki was too important to be ignored.

'So tired…' Shuichi thought. 'Can't sleep… I have to be awake when Yuki returns… I have to be awake…' He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them. Shuichi rubbed his eyes and lowered his head. Sleep was trying to take over.

'No!' Shuichi yelled in his mind. He stood up straight and stared at the TV with determination. 'I will not let something as insignificant as sleep prevent me from seeing my Yuki! NO! NO! NO!' He cursed at himself silently and angrily.

Shuichi started to cry again. He couldn't take it anymore! He was tired, hungry, thirsty and lonely! Even after cutting himself, he felt horrible. His whole world was blurry and spinning! 'Why me?' he asked himself. 'WHY?'

Shuichi leaned to the right, letting his head rest on the couch. Whenever he sat up straight, he got dizzy and lightheaded. He thought that if he let his head lie on the couch, he wouldn't get dizzy.

Shuichi looked at the door, the one thing that kept him going at the time. It was his only chance that Yuki could return. Shuichi had never noticed before, but the door was actually quite nice. It didn't have any cracks or marks on it. It was mahogany red and its doorknob was shiny and gold.

Shuichi wondered what Yuki thought as he closed the door behind him. Or maybe Yuki slammed it, wanting to get out as soon as possible. Maybe he thought, 'I can finally get away from that brat'. Shuichi winced at the thought of it, his Yuki hating him so much.

'I wonder how tired I look…' Shuichi thought. 'Not that I can get to the mirror anyways…' He looked at his unmovable legs with dismay. They were no good to him at the moment. Suddenly, he heard a click.

"Oi brat, I'm home!" a familiar voice cried out. Shuichi leaped up and looked around anxiously. There stood….Yuki! It was Yuki! His blonde hair, his beautiful face, his golden eyes, they were all Yuki's! Yuki came back!

'Yuki!' Shuichi thought. He tried to stand, but his wobbly legs didn't allow him to do that. He looked into Yuki's beautiful eyes and smiled. He lifted up the origami rose and smiled. Yuki grinned and walked over to the couch. He knelt down beside Shuichi and smiled.

'Yuki!' he thought. Suddenly, Yuki began to disappear. His body looked translucent at first, but then he completely disappear. Shuichi gasped and tried to grab the air that used to be Yuki. He began to cry again, this time even harder.

'He was right there!' Shuichi thought through sobs. 'How did he disappear? Yuki! Yuki! Come back! Please! I love you Yuki, come back home!'

Shuichi's stomach continued to growl. His head continued to ache. His arms continued to sting. His legs continued to feel like jelly, and his heart continued to break.

A/N: WAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I feel so bad for torchuring Shuichi like that! He really thought that Yuki came back to him... -slaps myself- I'm so mean... Anyways, the BIG EVENT is gonna happen next chapter for sure! If you like the other chapters, this one will rock your world! (well, at least I think so...) My next update won't be as soon as the others because I have a project to do for school... -curse you school! curse you!- Well, thank you so much for reading my story! -smiles- KEEP ON REVIEWING! IF YOU HAVEN'T REVIEWED, PLEASE DO! THE MORE REVIEWS I GET, THE BETTER THE CHAPTERS ARE! AND I'LL UPDATE SOONER TOO! Yayness!