Title: Blindsided
By: Heather...ACK...I mean Kibethan!
Disclaimer: If I owned Gravitation I would be a very happy person! As it happens...hmm...I am a very happy person! But not because I own Gravitation, because I don't!
Summary: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?
Half-warning: I'm warning you here...there's some swearing in this chapter...even though you might not be able to actually spot it because it's so minimal...
Chapter 8
It's been so long!
With a skip in his step Yuki skipped towards the hospital. The sun was shining beautiful and there was nary a cloud in the sky. The weather was still a bit chilly, but that was quickly overshadowed by how gorgeous the day was looking to be.
It was the day that Yuki was going to force Shuichi out of his shell and into the real world. It was the day that Yuki introduced real food back to Shuichi, not the crap that they serve at the hospital. It was the day that Yuki took Shuichi to the park and pushed him on the swings, telling him to hold on tight so he wouldn't fall off. It was the day that Yuki described to Shuichi all of the things that were around him.
Sure, it sounded like a date, but Yuki didn't care. The weather was reflecting his mood and right then all he wanted to do was dance.
He could only hope that Shuichi wouldn't hate him in the end.
He entered the hospital and quickly sprinted up to the floor that Shuichi's room was on. He didn't even bother checking in with Ezaniya; he had told him two days ago that he would be taking Shuichi out.
Only two days ago some unknown thing in the hospital room had freaked out ago Shuichi. And here Yuki was, two days later, ready to use any means necessary to pry the information out of Shuichi.
Sure, the real reason for getting Shuichi out of the hospital was to get him…well…out of the hospital. He had been cooped up in there for way too long and needed to get a big of fresh scenery. However, Yuki did have an ulterior motive. He was determined to find out when Shuichi had been so depressed.
He would leave Shuichi somewhere by himself if he wouldn't tell him what happened. Okay, maybe that was a little bit harsh; he wouldn't actually do that. He would threaten to though; he would threaten through the tears that he knew would probably come onto Shuichi's face.
He reached Shuichi's room and threw the door open. It shocked Yuki to see that Shuichi was still sitting in the exact same place that he had been two days ago, in the exact same position. The only difference between then and now was the fact that now Shuichi was holding Mamoru, who was wet from the tears that had fallen onto him.
Carefully, Yuki walked across the room and gently lifted Mamoru out of Shuichi's grasp. Shuichi whipped his head to face Yuki, giving Yuki a stare that was making him feel guilty. He continued to pry Mamoru out of Shuichi's grip.
"No," Shuichi said quietly, refusing to release his grip on the bear. Yuki was afraid that if he tried any hard, Mamoru would tear. He certainly didn't want that to happen; he had spent forever trying to find that bear and Shuichi would probably kill him.
Rather reluctantly, Yuki let go of Mamoru and let Shuichi continue to hold him. Somehow, he needed to get Shuichi out of the bed. Being the rather blunt person that he is, he grabbed Shuichi's arm and dragged him out of bed.
Shuichi fell unceremoniously to the ground. The only thing that was in the air was the arm that Yuki was still holding. Yuki gave a loud drawn out sigh and tried to lift Shuichi up.
"Come on," he urged, pulling the pink-haired boy up. Shuichi kept all his weight on the floor, giving Yuki a hell of a time trying to pull him up. It was working. Sure Shuichi didn't weigh that much, but right then he felt like he weighed a ton. "Come on," Yuki tried again. He really wanted to go outside and didn't want Shuichi to miss the beautiful day that was forming.
If they waited too long it would be over.
"Why?" Shuichi whispered so quietly that Yuki almost didn't hear him. "Why are you grabbing me?" Yuki face-faulted. He forgot that he hadn't explained to Shuichi what he wanted to do.
"Oh! I'm going to take you outside!"
Shuichi's eyes went wide, first with shock, and then with fear. He started shaking and saying "no" over and over. Yuki couldn't figure out why.
"What's wrong? I promise you'll have fun."
"But," Shuichi countered, "what if I get abandoned or lost?"
There went Yuki's plans to threaten to abandon him if he wouldn't tell him what had happened two days ago.
"You won't. I promise I'll protect you." Uh-oh. There, he'd said it, the "p" word. No, no. Not promise. Protect. It was the same thing that Shuichi had named the teddy bear. It started with Yuki just protecting Shuichi while they went for a walk. But where would it end! Would Yuki eventually become so protective of Shuichi that he would be offering to let Shuichi live in his home, his home that he would have to make safe for a blind person?
He could only hope that it wouldn't come to that.
Shuichi's eyes widened slightly. Yuki could only guess what was going through his mind. Maybe, maybe he'd relent and come outside with Yuk—
"No."
Or maybe it was going to take just a wee bit more persuasion on Yuki's part. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to resort to this.
"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please," Yuki started. And kept going, and going, and going. He was not going to give up. Eventually either he would pass out from the lack of oxygen going to his brain, or Shuichi would give in and come outside with him.
He hated resorting to such tactics. Especially when, at the moment, it looked like Shuichi was going to win. Little black spots started to dance in front of his eyes. If Shuichi didn't give in soon, Yuki was going to end up on the floor, just like Shuichi had been a couple of days ago.
Yet, Shuichi didn't give in. Yuki felt his mind grow foggier as it felt like he was being thrown farther and farther away from his body. The black spot became complete blackness as he felt his legs give out from underneath him.
He was out before he hit the ground; his last thought being, "My God, I'm so lame that I passed out trying to get Shuichi to come outside."
Yuki started waking up to the sound of someone calling something. It certainly wasn't his name, but it sounded like the person was trying to get his attention.
Why weren't they just calling his name? Wouldn't it be easier if they called "Yuki" instead of "person"? What was going on?
Someone was shaking his body, trying to wake him up. He was so comfortable on the floor though, the coolness was seeping into his skin and it felt really nice.
"Person! Person who gave me the bear! Please wake up!" Yuki heard again. Well, someone was trying his or her hardest to get Yuki to wake up, but Yuki was having none of it. He was perfectly content on the floor. "Please wake up!" the voice pleaded with him again.
Curses, why wouldn't it just let him rest? Hadn't they ever heard of the expression "let a sleeping dog lie"? Sure, Yuki wasn't referring to himself as a dog, but couldn't the same expression be applied to people too?
But the person wouldn't give up; they were relentless and just would not stop. The shaking on his shoulder was progressively becoming stronger and stronger; it was beginning to shake his whole body.
Whoever was shaking him was quite strong. A groan escaped from his lips. The person shaking him and calling him started shaking and calling him faster. He wrenched his eyes open.
"Would you stop? My name is Yuki!" he yelled at the person. Shuichi reeled back in surprise.
"I'm sorry," he said meekly. "You wouldn't wake up," he explained. Yuki looked at Shuichi in surprise. Sure, now it clicked that if anybody would be trying to wake him up it would be Shuichi, but before it had seemed like Shuichi would be the last person to want to wake him up. Shuichi gave no indication that he had heard Yuki give him his name. But at the moment Yuki didn't care and didn't bother trying to get Shuichi to memorize his name.
He shook his head clear and sat up.
"Will you come with me outside?" he tried again. Maybe the guilt would be on Shuichi's conscious that he had made somebody pass out. It was the only hope that Yuki had. "I promise that I'll protect you." There was that bloody
word again. It seemed to be started to slip easily past his mouth unchecked. He was going to have to start watching what he said, or soon he would say something he regretted. And he definitely didn't want that to happen.
"I'll go," Shuichi said quietly. Yuki almost didn't hear it, except he had been waiting to hear those words forever and now he was finally hearing them. With a whoop he stood up quickly and grabbed Shuichi's hand. They were going outside. "Wait!" Shuichi protested. "I need to get changed!" For the first time Yuki noticed the garb that Shuichi was dressed in. With a small blush on his face Yuki let go of Shuichi's hand and let him get into some clothes that weren't in the pajama family.
Ten minutes had passed. How long did it take for somebody to get dressed? Yuki was sitting on the bed tapping his finger on the blanket. Any second Shuichi would enter the room all dressed and ready to go. Yep. Any second now…any second now.
Where the hell was he? This was worse than waiting for a girl getting ready for a date. The tapping of his fingers sped up, as he got more and more impatient. If Shuichi wasn't out in about thirty seconds he was going to rip into the bathroom and drag Shuichi out, whether he was dressed or not.
One.
Shuichi still wasn't there.
Two.
Nope, still not there, what was taking so long?
Ten.
My goodness, Shuichi was more like a girl than he thought.
Fifteen.
Time for Shuichi was counting down.
Twenty.
Ten more seconds, and Yuki was so going to go into the bathroom.
Twenty-four.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Twenty-nine.
Well, that's it, Yuki thought, I'm going into the bathroom.
Thirty.
The door opened and in walked Shuichi, just as Yuki was starting to stand up. Yuki lost his balance at seeing the person that he was just going to get and fell back onto the bed. Shuichi heard the sound and cocked his head.
"What happened?" he asked. A small blush tinted Yuki's face and he was quite happy that Shuichi couldn't see him.
"Nothing," he quickly explained. "I just lost my balance."
"Oh. Okay!" Shuichi sent a bright smile in Yuki's direction. Yuki started to head out the door. He was almost all the way down the hall when he noticed that Shuichi wasn't following him. He slapped his palm against his head.
He had made a tactical error. He walked back into the hospital room. Grabbing Shuichi's hand he yanked Shuichi off balance and out the door before Shuichi had any time to protest.
Still holding Shuichi's hand, Yuki led him to the elevator. Shuichi gave a start when he felt Yuki yank Shuichi into the little box. Yuki had a feeling that Shuichi wouldn't ever get used to the initial pull. Shuichi stiffened when he felt the elevator begin its descent down. He was so lock-kneed that when the elevator stopped, he was jolted and he lost his balance. He quickly recovered it though, but he wasn't prepared to feel Yuki yank his out of the elevator after he heard the "ding" of the elevator doors open.
He completely lost his balance and fell right into Yuki who, in turn, lost his balance and fell onto the floor. Just like dominoes they fell with Shuichi landing right on top of Yuki. Of course they had to be in the lobby of the hospital and the lobby just had to be full of people.
Shuichi sprawled out on top of Yuki presented quite an eyeful to the people who had turned their heads to see what the loud "thump" had been when the two had fallen.
Oh yeah, big time embarrassing. As gracefully as he could, Yuki shoved Shuichi off of him and picked himself up and then he reached down and grabbed Shuichi's hand. Shuichi was very disoriented and he had no idea where he was supposed to be going.
"Man, those two need a room," Yuki heard. The evidence was there that Shuichi had heard it too, because his face was blushing bright red. Feeling sorry for the boy, Yuki gave a gently pull and led him out of the hospital. Shuichi stopped dead as soon as he felt the sun on his face.
Sure, it was quite nippy out, but nothing could replace the special thing that happened when you felt the sun on your face, especially if you haven't felt the direct sunlight on your face in months.
Yuki watched as Shuichi basked in the glow. While watching Shuichi stand in the sun was fun, if they didn't get moving then they wouldn't get to do any of the things that Yuki had planned to do. And Yuki had plans to do so many things.
Yuki grabbed Shuichi and dragged him, by the hand, towards the park. As was mentioned before, it was a beautiful day out and Yuki would be damned if he let it go to waste.
There was a change in Shuichi's step when he went from walking on concrete, to walking on woodchips and he almost lost his balance for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. But he regained it quickly, thankfully.
Yuki led Shuichi until he came to the spot that he had been heading to.
"Shuichi, sit down." Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows, confused. If he sat down wouldn't he fall onto the ground? Would Yuki pull an evil trick like that?
Well, the old Yuki might have, but the new –and slightly improved- Yuki wouldn't do something like that.
Yuki watched the mental battle in Shuichi's eyes as he decided whether he should trust Yuki or not. Biting his lip, Shuichi decided to take the plunge and he sat down, slowly. He was surprised when his bottom was met with something that seemed to fit up right next to him.
Yuki led the hand he was holding to one of the metal chains holding the swing up.
"Grab this," he told Shuichi. For once Shuichi actually did something that Yuki asked right away. Yuki grabbed his other hand and led it to the chain on the other side. "Hold on tight," he said warningly.
Very gently he gave Shuichi a slight push. Shuichi, once again, stiffened when he felt the swing move. Eventually he relaxed and even started to pump his legs with the rhythm, forcing the swing to move higher and higher.
Shuichi giggled. He hadn't felt the wind in the hair for so long and here he was feeling it over and over as he swung back and forth. Yuki just sat on a swing next to Shuichi, watching as Shuichi had the time of his life. A rare smile graced his lips.
Shuichi looked so happy and Yuki couldn't help but be happy in return.
Shuichi just swung and swung and swung never once stopping. An hour passed and Shuichi was still swinging. Yuki didn't want to stop him though, because it was obvious that he was having so much fun.
Wait a minute; if he was having so much fun, wouldn't this be the perfect time to ask what had happened two days ago?
"Shuichi!" he called as Shuichi passed by him.
"What?" Shuichi yelled back to him.
"What happened two days ago? Why were you so upset?" Yuki did not the answer that he was looking for.
"It's a se-cr-et!" Shuichi yelled back, a big grin on his face. That was possibly the last thing that Yuki had expected him to say, but the more that Yuki tried to pry the information out of Shuichi, the more adamant Shuichi seemed to become against telling Yuki what had happened.
It was very obvious that Yuki was getting absolutely nowhere, but that didn't stop him from trying to get an answer.
In fact, the only reason that he stopped asking why was because his stomach growled, loudly. Shuichi heard it and dug his heels into the ground to stop himself.
"Are you hungry, Yuki?" Shuichi asked, using the name that Yuki had been sure that Shuichi hadn't heard him tell him. Yuki nodded, then felt foolish when he realized that Shuichi couldn't see him.
"Yes," he said aloud, "let's go get some food."
"Okay."
Shuichi hopped off the swings then raised his hand up for Yuki to take. Yuki grabbed it and then led Shuichi to his favorite restaurant.
The person who seats people sat them and told them that their waiter would be there in a minute to take their orders. Since Shuichi obviously couldn't read the menu, Yuki asked him what kind of food that he liked.
He answered with he didn't know. Yuki gave out another sigh and when the waiter came just ordered the same that he was getting for Shuichi.
A gleam lit up in the waiter's eye.
"Oh! I just love it when couples order the same thing! It's so cute!" Yuki sputtered on the glass of water that he had just been trying to take a sip of.
"Oh," he quickly tried to correct, "we're not a couple."
"I see how it is," the waiter said, "you're afraid to admit that you love him in public." The waiter turned to Shuichi, "Ditch the dude, he doesn't love you."
Shuichi cocked a head. He had no idea what was going on, but Yuki thought that it was probably better that way.
Yuki gave the waiter a glare and he "eeped" and ran away to give their order to the kitchen. The only other time that they saw that waiter was when he brought their food and again when he brought their bill.
Shuichi took a big bite of his food and got really starry-eyed. For the past few months the only food that he'd eaten was the hospital food, if you could even call that food. He ate the food really slowly, enjoying every single bite. And he was really into it.
While this was a good thing for Shuichi, it was rather boring for Yuki because he had nobody to talk to. But he didn't mind too much, because seeing the look of ecstasy on Shuichi's face was enough to make it at least a boring that was relatively bearable.
Yuki paid for the food and then rather reluctantly took Shuichi back to the hospital with a promise that someday he would take him back out again.
Shuichi didn't want to go back, but he realized that he had to whether he wanted to or not.
As Yuki was leaving Shuichi's room to go home he heard Shuichi shout out rather quietly, "Thank you."
End Chapter 8
Wow...that's the fastest I've EVER gotten a chapter of Blindsided out. Five days! A new record! Maybe next time I'll be even faster!...hahaha...yeah right. I swear if that fly doesn't spot buzzing around me...
Man, this is lame, I've got nothing to say! So I'll do a review of reviews!
Dark Mimiru-chan: It'll come back, eventually, it'll come back, soon..., Shuuichi-chan: Meh, this chapter was longer than the last one..., Soralover1: WOOHOO! SATOSHI IS MINE, Johnny-Depp Luv: The angst will come back...it'll be back, don't worry, Sailor Epyon: O.O...Dir en Grey is scary...but cool, clari chan: I promise that eventually that will come in...soon..., DarkMetalAngel of Destruction: I hope you like this chapter, Syaoran is kawaii: Yep the pillow is alright, and Gackt and You both love you...Ren does too...as does Masa..., Anna Sartin: hehehe...I'm glad that you like it, Shado-fyre: And as of now...you should still be curious, WhiteTopaz: Sadly enough, this is asap..., ichigo-chan: Yay! I'm glad that you like it, Kitsune Thief: This is weird...a lot of people seem to feel sorry for the pillow..., Ookami and Kitsune: Yeah, you're right, she did have a point...I'll try and keep it in mind, Ruby631: yeah, sugar, that's definitely what Shuichi needs..., Cheley: Hurray! I'm glad you like it, Oompalicious: Yep! This is Yuki, goku-the-saru: Katie! For shame! Do you use that mouth to talk to the kids, Shirubaa Kitsune: Where are you that's it's 3 a.m.? I saw when I got that review and it was only, like, 11 here..., Grimy Grunhilda Grunt: For shame! You must review! I crave the reviews! ..., Wilson: OO...pika pika..., Aizawa Sakura: My dear, I never laugh at bad grammar seeing as how many people I've talked to that have bad grammar...a lot of my friends aren't english as a first language people..., PyrokineticFeral: That is such an awesome name...and I'm glad you like my story, Tokyo kitsune: I hope that this chapter was up to your standards..., Wish: And more you shall have, Bram: Yay! I'm glad that somebody is seeing my foreshadowing, Elements: Well, wind is crazy...but like that bothers me! Seeing a review from you always puts a smile on my face, NeedlePoint: ACK! My fingers hurt from how fast I typed, Ivin Artemis Draconis: Yep...Gackt likes us all! And man...he's insane!
That's it! My hands are starting to get really tired from typing...
If you're ever bored...I'm always on-line...my AIM name is Kibethan, my msn name is Kibethan at msn dot com, my livejournal is Kibethan, my neopets is...holidaycookie! Woo-hoo! Not Kibethan, because I hadn't read the book yet!
That's it for now! Remember! Gackt loves you! You loves you too! (Do any of you know who You is?)
Ki-chan!