Chapter Eight

Wow, we're already at page 50 of this adventure of Gravitation! I'm rather impressed with myself, considering I started this story last Sunday!

The last chapter made me cry, because it was about my Eiri…poor him. I hate when he's sad. But let's face it, he makes Shuichi stay sane, even if he's borderline psychotic at times.

If this chapter stinks, I'm deeply sorry ahead of time. I'm running on two hours of sleep, but I was trying to finish this update because it was stuck in my head. Tatsuha wouldn't shut up, damn him. ;p

Notice:I will not be updating this story for a few days, simply because I need to finish my term papers. While I do love writing the Gravitation cast, I work six days this week and have two more papers left to do. So if you don't see an update till Thursday/Friday, that's why.

Summary so far: Tatsuha and Ryuichi had kidnapped Shuichi Shindo and had wrecked Eiri's Mercedes. While it wrecked, the car exploded, with the rock star inside. The others have just received a phone call from Ryuichi, explaining that Shuichi was being rushed to the hospital, but would not give a clear definition of what happened to him.

Our novelist, Eiri Yuki, has taken a blow from this incident, and, like the others, is hanging onto some sign of hope that Shuichi will make it through this. When Tatsuha and Ryuichi come to the waiting room, they find out that no one knows how Shuichi is and have to wait with them. Will Ryuichi be able to keep himself occupied, and will Eiri come out to hunt Tatsuha down?

Special props go again to Luciver for adding onto the crazy plot for the hospital adventure, which starts in Chapter 9.

Replies to reviews:

Mustang123: Have you read book 11 of Gravitation? Tatsuha is one of my favorites, but he did a rather devious thing and it involved Eiri's car as well. He just doesn't seem to have luck with that car. As for being a jerk, I don't think Tatsuha meant to be, but it just happened that way.

lady laurannia: The last chapter made me cry as well, when I was writing about Eiri. I don't know if that's because it was almost 1 am or the fact that he wouldn't shut up in my head. Either way, it resulted in a good chapter for me. I don't like the fanfictions that made him cry every time something happens to Shuichi, but I just tried to keep him in character.

liz poling: I'm glad you enjoy it so much. But you'll have to read to find out if Shuichi will survive. That would give it away. :p Eiri and Shuichi are my favorite pairing from the series, so I couldn't make them paired with other people. shudders at some of the combinations she's seen

hokage: I wouldn't damage Shuichi's face :p It's so pretty! But he will have some damage since after all, the car did explode on him. But he's alright right now, I think.

Luciver: I would be like a fangirl too, but you know, I wanted to reach out and hug Eiri when he started crying. I did in the anime too. I like, hugged the television and my parents were like "What are you doing?" But it's okay because Shuichi is alive!

AngelofLight: In response to your PM, it will be total chaos:p I plan on more fun to happen in this chapter. Let's face it, who can be depressed when Ryuichi Sakuma runs the show…alone?

Shu-chan77901: I can't stand when they're sad either. They're like so cute together :p And don't worry, I'm sure Eiri'll be happy again soon. I want that to happen as well.

DemonicDragon666, Amethyst00, and Kittyluvpocky: And here is the next update for you! I'm glad you like it.

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Hiro had pulled into the driveway of his small apartment complex when he heard his cellphone going off. He had stopped the motorcycle and had taken the keys out of the ignition when he heard it ringing again. "Alright, I'm coming," he muttered, putting his hand in his jacket pocket to get the phone. On the fourth ring, he clicked the talk button. "Give me a minute, I still got my helmet on." Hiro did not bother to even wait for a response (nor could he hear one with the helmet on his head) as he took it off and sat it on the seat of the motorcycle. "Alright, sorry about that."

"Hiroshi," K's voice came from the phone. "I need you to come to Tokyo Medical Hospital right away."

Hiro sighed. "You just told me to go back to N-G, and then Sakano said to go back home. You're going to burn me out of gas money, K." He patted the helmet as he picked it up and held it underneath his arm. "Did Mr. Yuki tell you anything about Shuichi yet?"

"He didn't have to—Ryuichi called." K had stopped after saying the last two words, as if he could not bear to tell Hiro what had happened. "I just called Mr. Sakano and Fujisaki. They're heading down your place to get you since you have that motorcycle. Besides that, I know you've been driving all day."

Hiro grabbed his house keys and had walked up to his apartment, sliding the key in the lock and opening his door. He had walked in as he threw the helmet on the couch, hoping to at least have a cigarette before he had to go into a hospital. Seeing Eiri Yuki became a pain because he never understood the actions that the novelist did. Nor did he understand why Shuichi wasted his time with him sometimes.

But in that sense, Hiro understood. He had to waste his time pinning over Ayaka as well before she went on a date with him. And their relationship had been steady ever since . . . except when her father would not let her see Hiro. But that was every once in a while, so he dealt with it.

"Then why did you tell me I had to come down to the hospital?" Hiro asked. "Can I call you back, man? There's just something I have to do and I don't feel like putting you on hold. You know how that goes." He headed to the bathroom and was ready to shut off the phone when K screamed into it.

"Hiroshi, it's about Shuichi! He's being admitted into Toyko Medical Hospital!"

Hiro had stopped. He just could not seem to think of anything else to do at that particular moment as he put the phone back in his ear. "Shuichi?"

"Yes. It's all over the television, so you might want to turn it on. Fujisaki said they should be there in a few minutes. You might want to grab some stuff, since we don't know how Shuichi is at the moment."

Hiro nodded as he sat the phone on the table in his bedroom. "K, hold on, man. If I'm coming to the hospital that's a half hour away, I'm using the bathroom."

He heard K gag on the phone as he walked over and closed his bathroom door, glancing at himself in the mirror.

-----

It was after he used the bathroom that he even thought about turning on the television. And when he did, he realized why K would not know anything about Shuichi's condition as he held the phone to his ear.

"Just now, paramedics arrived at the scene of this vehicle accident. From what we could see, the vocalist of Bad Luck, Shuichi Shindo, was carried off and looked to be in bad condition. No one knows the extent of the damage, but the other two in the car with him walked away from the scene, unharmed."

Shuichi was hurt . . . oh man. What's Mr. Yuki going to do? He wondered for a moment why he even thought Mr. Yuki would care, or at least, show it in the way everyone else would. Would he cry? Would he get angry, like he did at Taki Aizawa? Will he run away, like he did when Shuichi got too close to him?

"There has been no comment from the other people in the car, but we have footage from a shocking scene before this happened. One person with them was Ryuichi Sakuma, who seemed to had wrecked a car like this prior to this incident by ramming it into a fire hydrant. And rumors are flying that Shindo was cheating on his partner, the novelist Eiri Yuki. Footage here shows that he was kissed by another black haired man, who was seen at N-G Productions by witnesses earlier that day."

Tatsuha! It makes sense! He was the one that took Shuichi…I remember now. What Shuichi had told me earlier today about something happening between the two of thme. "I won't say what it was right now, but it had something to do with Yuki and Tatsuha. I have to find out the truth about it."

Hiro was transfixed as he saw that it had flashed back to Tatsuha and how he seemed to be kissing Shuichi. He could see the tears forming in Shuichi's eyes as he tried to weakly push him away. Then he saw that something was being thrown out the window and realized that it was Shuichi's cellphone.

No wonder he had been worried on the drive home from N-G.

"You're watching it now, Hiro?"

The voice on the phone brought him away from the television. "Yes." Then, "I honestly wonder how Mr. Yuki is going to take this. I mean, he seems so cold to Shuichi."

"Tohma looked worried as he ran out of Mr. Yuki's room," K told him. "Apparently he got nasty on the phone with Ryuichi. And I'm saying that lightly. You could hear it from in the waiting room."

…is he serious? He actually showed emotions to someone other then Shuichi? Perhaps he's been rubbing off on him, after all. "That's intense, man." Hiro flipped off the television as he heard a honk from outside, knowing that was Mr. Sakano and Fujisaki. "Mr. Yuki doesn't—"

"He doesn't cry, either…but Tohma said he had started crying after seeing the footage on the television fifteen minutes ago. That's when the nurse kicked him out of the room. I don't know how he is, because she won't let anyone else go in there." As Hiro grabbed a bag and shoved some clothes in and some money, K said, "I have to get going. I'll see you when you get here." And the phone went dead.

"Shit," Hiro told himself. "If Mr. Yuki's crying, that must mean that something's seriously wrong with Shuichi. But I can't shake the feeling that he'll go out of his mind if Shuichi doesn't survive this. Shu . . ." Hiro said as he ran out of his apartment and locked the door again, "You gotta make it, man. You can't let Eiri Yuki suffer alone. You might just get your "I love you" yet out of that man."

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Ryuichi and Tatsuha had rushed to get to the floor that Shuichi was being transported to. They had gotten a ride in the ambulance, since they were worried about him. But Tatsuha had remembered the venom in Eiri's voice when he was on the phone before. He really did not want to face his brother for this. In fact, he never meant for this to happen.

It just simply did.

But Eiri would not hear it, since after all, he was clobbered in the head by Ryuichi. And they had taken Shuichi without telling anyone. He really wasn't hoping that the kiss would not be shown on television. But knowing his luck, it probably did already. Tatsuha sighed.

He noticed that Ryuichi was pulling on his arm and stopped a moment to gaze at the leader of Nittle Grasper. Or former leader. He was supposed to be in Japan, filming for a movie in America. He saw sadness in Ryuichi's eyes and damned himself for it. He loved Ryuichi's singing.

Wait . . . back up. It was all he had time to think before Ryuichi put a hand on his shoulder.

"Tatsu, you going to be alright? You look kind of pale." Ryuichi's eyes looked at his and Tatsuha closed his own, thinking of Eiri and his fury in the rooms to come. "I know we were supposed to steal Eiri from Shuichi . . . but . . ."

Tatsuha had started walking again, seeing that there was an elevator nearby. If Shuichi was going to be admitted to the fifth floor, then he would have to get an elevator. They were only on the third floor and the steps were killing him. He hated elevators, but there was no choice.

As he went to press the button to get the elevator to their floor, Ryuichi had grabbed his hand, holding it softly. Tatsuha inwardly gasped. His heart started to pound. This was not how it was supposed to go. He wanted Shuichi . . .

. . . didn't he?

"Ryuichi . . ." Tatsuha said, turning around to face him. "It's alright, man. We can still do it, if you want. I know you like Shuichi too. Who doesn't? He may be—"

"Tatsuha." Ryuichi said it softly as the elevator went ding and opened up the doors. Luckily, it was empty and they headed into it. Tatsuha looked annoyed at the elevator as he pressed the 5th floor and waited for the elevator doors to start closing.

"Ryuichi, what is it, man?" Tatsuha became worried as Ryuichi just kept looking at him. He saw that Ryuichi was yawning and had rubbed one of his eyes. "Besides the fact that you're tired." He was surprised to see the elevator door close and Ryuichi had put his head on his shoulder, if just for a moment. His eyes closed.

Tatsuha lifted an eyebrow and was trying not to flip out.

Wait a minute! Hold on! Ryuichi! I thought I wanted Shuichi! I thought I WASN'T GAY! I just----damn it, shut up, you stupid thoughts!

But . . . what if Shu was right? What if I do love Ryuichi?

Didn't you just realize that in the car? Why are you having second thoughts now? Get over yourself, Tatsuha.

The younger man had patted Ryuichi's back as he heard soft snores coming from the older one. Apparently he had fallen asleep standing up and was trying to take a thirty second powernap. Tatsuha smirked as the elevator doors went ding again and opened up.

Ryuichi was still asleep, his head on his shoulder.

Tatsuha glanced around to make sure no one was looking before moving slowly and balancing Ryuichi's sleeping form. He then put an arm underneath Ryuichi's knees and one behind his back to carry the man, holding him in his arms as he walked. He had to admit, this felt a lot different then when he carried Shuichi.

It did not feel wrong, or that he was stealing him away from somebody. He could look at the man sleeping peacefully with his bear around his arm, and he had conflicting feelings as he did. But he managed to get someone to open the door for him and he sighed softly.

Shuichi'll be alright, I'm sure. But how . . . how does that brat know things that are oblivious to me? Is he even right? Is this what's supposed to happen?

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Tatsuha walked into the waiting room and had stopped dead. He almost dropped Ryuichi as he saw a figure walking out of the hallway and into the waiting room. He saw that Tohma and his sister were sitting on one side, talking. He also saw a reporter with wavy brown hair talking to a blonde haired American, who he assumed was the crazy manager that Eiri bitched about one day. He also saw that they were rather concerned and seemed nervous.

Ryuichi had started to stir and Tatsuha freaked out once again, but this time in front of everyone that was watching.

"Come on, make up your mind! Do you have like an autotimer on how long you powernap or something?"

Ryuichi had smiled. "Awww, you carried me here? That's sweet, Tatsu. But I'm awake now so you can put me down."

"How can you fall asleep like that!" Tatsuha cried.

"Mr. Uesugi," he heard someone behind him say. "If you would please leave that for after we know about Mr. Shindo. You have some explaining to do. But we will leave it at when Shindo's condition has been discovered."

God dammit, I really hate Tohma on days where he's premenstrual, or hasn't gotten it up the ass, Tatsuha thought as he put Ryuichi down. Ryuichi, who seemed oblivious to the fact that Tohma was mad, ran up to him and hugged his friend.

"Tohma, are you alright? How is Yuki-san?" Ryuichi asked. "I really didn't mean to hit him so hard, but I thought he was going to attack Tatsu. So I thought that maybe I could redirect his attention. I didn't think I'd knock him out."

Tohma smiled softly. "It's alright, Ryuichi. Eiri is fine for now, I think."

"Well when we know how Shuichi is, can you tell me? I want to see him when he can let people in his room. And Kumagoro wants to see him too! And Tatsuha!"

Wait, I never---Ryuichi? I don't know if you understood why Eiri was going to do what he was doing, but you just want to make sure Shuichi's alright . . . why can't you stop and look at the whole picture?

…now I know why I wanted Shuichi. He reminded me of Ryuichi.

How could I be so blind? I did the same thing Eiri did with Yuki. He saw Shuichi as Yuki and looked right past him.

Damn, I'm a fool.

"Well, of course I want to see if Shuichi is alright," Tatsuha replied. "But I don't think it'd be such a good idea right now." Then a thought came to his head. "Did anyone call Shuichi's parents? I don't think—"

"That's just it, Tatsuha," Tohma said softly. "You didn't think and now Eiri is hurt." The man rose from his seat, brushing his hair back with a hand. "I wanted to take Shindo-san away from Eiri as well. But gravitation won't allow it with those two, it seems."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ryuichi asked. "This is a huge conversation, Tohma."

"With them, the force of love simply will not be denied," the blonde American said softly. "You notice how every time someone does something stupid, they always come back together?"

"It sickens me," Tohma hissed, before putting on his cheery face again. "Well, of course we do, Mr. K."

"Tatsuha, what were you thinking?" Mika asked, finally taking a part in the conversation. "Do you realize that if we couldn't do it, that you couldn't? What makes you think that you could!"

Tatsuha glared at his sister. "You had a part in it?"

"Until Eiri came back to Japan because the kid went after him. Tohma knew too. So we stopped. But what made you think that you had a right to try after we said to leave him alone, Tatsuha?" Mika growled out slowly. "Because of you, that boy might very well die. And as for your question, his parents are not available. His sister said they were on vacation but to tell Eiri to take care of Shuichi." She had walked over to Tatsuha and looked at his face. She did this for a moment before slapping him hard against the face.

Tatsuha just stared in shock.

"You made Eiri cry."

Those four words rang inside his head.

"Eiri bawled because of the stuff he saw you doing to Shuichi on television. He wants to kill you. I don't think you should even be here right now, Tatsuha."

Ryuichi had pushed Mika aside and back toward Tohma. The woman protested but stopped when her husband caught her. "You alright, Tatsu?"

Ryuichi . . . is like Shuichi. Tatsuha nodded. "Yeah. But we need something to do to ease all the tension in this room."

Ryuichi brightened, looking through his pockets. "Well, don't they have board games or something here for kids?"

"I'd hardly classify you as a kid," Tatsuha pointed out. "You are in your mid twenty to thirties…and yet you almost robbed a candy store." When he saw Ryuichi pout, he patted his head. "Almost, I said. But maybe there's something to do."

"Oh, I know!" Ryuichi had laughed as he hugged Kumagoro and looked around at everyone else in the room. There were several spectators who were just giving them weird looks. Ryuichi did not really notice. "I can make a board game!"

"…suddenly I'm scared, Ryu," Tatsuha whispered. "You better not make something perverted like "Spin the Bottle"."

The other had sat at a table that was near them and began rummaging though his pockets again. He had pulled out a board game box and Tatsuha had no idea where the hell it came from. The same looks from the others signaled that they thought the same thing. He did see that the game was called "Risk" and laughed at the irony.

He had a feeling that the waiting room would get interesting very soon.