Title: Blindsided

By: Kibethan

Disclaimer:checks: mailbox: Damn, Maki Murakami STILL hasn't sent me the rights to Gravitation. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. :sighs:

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: Yaoi alert, yaoi alert, oh, and swearing alert. Is that enough of a warning for you?

I wasn't going to do this…but…this chapter is also dedicated to Elements. I told myself I wouldn't do it more than once, but I am :ever: appreciative when people listen to me when I need it…so…yeah…this chapter is dedicated.

Chapter 12

The First Transition

Even as Yuki was eating his words, his mind was thinking about all of the things that he had to do to prepare for Shuichi to come over. In his mind he knew that there was no way he was going to be able to get out of it, so he figured that he might as accept the fact that Shuichi was going to be living with him.

But oh, the amount of work that needed to be done. He needed to blind-proof his house. He needed to buy some food (while Yuki could survive off beer and strawberry shortcake, Shuichi probably couldn't), he needed to find out what kind of medicinal needs that Shuichi had (couldn't have Shuichi passing out from lack of a certain type of medicine), and, most importantly in his opinion, they needed to actually tell Shuichi that he was moving.

Yuki hoped that there wouldn't be too much of a fuss. After all, he didn't really want to do it anyway. But that nun had been so convincing. He didn't really want to be the one who told Shuichi, though.

"Will you be the one to tell Shuichi that he's moving?" Yuki asked Ezaniya.

"Why me?"

"Because I think he'll kill me."

"Fine, Yuki-san, because you are agreeing to take him in, I'll tell him."

Ezaniya walked into Shuichi's room. Muffled mumbling could be heard outside of the room where Yuki and the nun waited with baited breath. All of a sudden, there was a pause of silence and then an angry voice erupted.

Quite obviously the voice was Shuichi's and Ezaniya had just finished telling him that he was going to be living with Yuki. Yuki couldn't blame him for not wanting to live with him. After all, they didn't exactly get along like Gackt and You. Even though they were starting to get along better, they were a long ways away from achieving being the best of friends.

The voice escalated a bit further, but Yuki still couldn't understand what was being said, much to his disappointment and relief. He was disappointed because he was kind of curious; however, he was relieved because who knew what bad things that Shuichi was saying about him.

The door opened and Shuichi was left yelling at nobody when Ezaniya left the room. Ezaniya rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Okay, that didn't go as smoothly as planned." Had it not been such a serious moment (telling Shuichi he was leaving the hospital), Yuki would have laughed. He had known in his mind that Shuichi wasn't going to take the news well. Instead of laughing, however, Yuki told that nun that she should try.

"You're turn, Sister," he said with as much respect as possibly. "Perhaps, you can get Shuichi to change his mind."

"He doesn't exactly have a choice," Ezaniya explained. "He's going to be going with you whether he wants to or not, but we're trying to make it so that he understands that it's for the good of the orphanage and that you volunteered to take him in so that the orphanage will have more money. However, he didn't let me get that far before practically shouting my ear off."

"Alright," the nun said, "I'll try."

With her hands down at her side, the nun entered the room. Shuichi's voice had died down when he realized that there was nobody in the room with him anymore. But, as soon as the door opened he started shouting again.

"He's being a brat," Yuki told Ezaniya. "I don't think that even I protested this much when asked me to take him in."

"But, you have to understand," Ezaniya explained loudly, trying to drown out Shuichi's shouting, "we asked you, didn't tell you. You had a choice to say 'no'; he doesn't. Also, that room has been all that Shuichi has known for a very long time. I have a feeling that the thought of living somewhere else has him terrified. He'll come around once he figures out that it won't be as bad as he thinks. Although, I think he's starting to come to that conclusion."

Yuki furrowed his eyebrows trying to figure out what Ezaniya meant by that when he realized that Shuichi had stopped yelling. Who knew what things that the nun had said to him to get him to calm down. She walked out of the room, a pleased expression written on her face.

"Yuki-san, he wishes to speak to you."

Yuki's eye's widened. He didn't want to have to deal with Shuichi until he was walking him home. With his luck, Shuichi was going to start yelling at him the second that he walked in the door, and he really didn't want to have to deal with that. However, the nun was giving him that look again. He sighed and walked up to the door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened it. He braced himself for an onslaught of words. Weirdly enough, they didn't come. He let out the breath and took a look at Shuichi. Shuichi wasn't even looking towards him; his gaze was directed away.

"You volunteered to take me in?" Shuichi asked, his voice somewhat hollow.

"So what if I did?"

"Thank you."

That comment surprised the hell out of Yuki to the point of him not really being able to respond because he was so shocked. Out of the all the things that he was expecting, that wasn't on the list. He just hadn't expected Shuichi to be grateful.

"Uhm, you're welcome," he answered lamely. "If you don't mind me asking, what did the nun say to you to get you to calm down?" he added as an afterthought.

"She explained to me that the orphanage was tight on money and that, while I could stay here if I wanted to, it would mean that the orphanage would have to cut funding for other things, such as presents and blankets and such. She told me that they could still afford to pay for my medical care, but were having a hard time paying for letting me stay in the hospital. She kind of opened my eyes to the fact that I'm wasting the orphanage's money. I'm not a bad person; I grew up in that orphanage and know how short on money that they already are. I can't let them spend more money on me.

"But that doesn't mean that I'm not scared out of my mind. I have no idea what your apartment is like. I just need you to tell me that you'll keep me safe. Don't get any wrong ideas by that last sentence; I just don't want to die in your house. So, can you keep me safe?"

"Yes?"

"You don't sound so sure."

"Yes. I can keep you safe. I'm going to go back out and talk to Ezaniya. Do you want to come with?"

"Nah, I think I'll stay here in my room for a while. I want to give it its proper goodbye, okay?"

"Sure."

Yuki left the room by himself. Ezaniya immediately bombarded him with questions and Yuki answered each question to the best of his ability. After Ezaniya had questioned him about what Shuichi had asked him, he immediately started telling Yuki about Shuichi's needs. Yuki gave a start and was slightly annoyed because he actually had to listen, rather than answer mindlessly.

And man, Ezaniya was giving him all kinds of instructions. Yuki's eyes crossed slightly as he tried to remember everything that Ezaniya was telling him. Mostly the instructions were about what medicine that Shuichi took for his eyesight because there was always that chance that his eyesight might come back. You never know.

And if the doctor who prescribed the prescription said that it was possibly, then it was possible.

A thought crossed Yuki's mind.

"So when is Shuichi going to come live with me?"

Ezaniya looked down sheepishly.

"We were hoping, maybe, today?"

Yuki immediately thought to the state of his house. He knew that he had thought about how he had to blind-proof it earlier, but was it clean enough to have a blind person live in it? Sure, he was planning on making it better –he had been planning on it as soon as he went home that night, actually- but was it ready in it's current condition?

No.

But, if he led Shuichi around by the hand for a couple of days, then it would probably be ready.

"I suppose," Yuki said out loud. Inside his mind he was yelling at himself for becoming such a pushover.

"Wonderful!" Ezaniya exclaimed. "Since I know that you most likely didn't get all of what I told you before, I'll give you the instructions. They're in my office and I've long since memorized what I had to do, so I don't need them anymore."

"Thanks."

"Well then, shall we get the little guy?"

It didn't take Shuichi that long to pack since he had very little things. And, as reluctant and as nervous as Shuichi had seemed before, he now seemed positively eager to be in a new place.

Yuki was absolutely sure that Shuichi just had to be bipolar.

While Shuichi was packing, Ezaniya and Yuki excused themselves to go get the instructions.

Since it was absolutely freezing out, Shuichi had gotten changed into some cold weather clothes. He moved around in them a bit because he was most definitely not used to wearing them. The hospital's temperature was always kept at around 70 degrees.

Right as Shuichi had started getting changed into the warmer clothing, Yuki had barged into the room.

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! PERVERT!" Shuichi screamed when he smelled Yuki enter the room. Yuki quickly ducked back out into the hall, a blush on his face. He kept trying to convince himself that he hadn't seen anything, but he was having a hard time doing that.

A few minutes later Shuichi exited the room. "I'm ready!" he announced, his packed clothes in one hand and his walking stick in the other. Shuichi had told him when he took him out, though, that he didn't like to use it that much –only in emergencies. It's not like he couldn't use it (Yuki had made Shuichi show him that he could use it and was impressed when Shuichi managed to avoid many obstacles), he just didn't like to. Call it a preference thing.

"Yuki!" he called out.

"What?"

"Take my hand and my luggage, Yuki-san and lead the way! I'm ready for brighter pastures! Ready to see the world –not literally of course…"

"We're only walking maybe two miles, carry your own damn luggage," Yuki mumbled.

"No! I want you to carry it! That way you can hold my hand and guide me! It'll be easier that way." The turnaround that Shuichi had had was still shocking Yuki. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to deal with an overly cheery teenager living in his house.

Well, it was probably been than the alternative. Yuki shuddered to think what it would be like having an angsty, the-world-hates-me teen living with him. Yuki decided that he was quite grateful and just took the luggage out of Shuichi's hands, but he hadn't taken Shuichi's hand yet.

Yuki stared dumbly at the hand that Shuichi was patiently waiting for him to take. He shook his head clear and grabbed Shuichi's hand, feeling as it tightened around his own.

Yuki jerked Shuichi, getting him to follow him.

The ride in the elevator to get to the first floor was much more graceful than the first time they rode it. Yuki was delighted to see that Shuichi had gotten used to riding in it and was pleased when Shuichi braced himself for the elevator to stop. He was also prepared for the tug that Yuki would give when it was time for him to get moving.

Shuichi had obviously gotten so used to walking with Yuki that the walk to Yuki's house went fairly smooth.

Only once did Yuki not see a patch of ice and fall down, bringing Shuichi on top of him. Just like the time when they had spilled out of the elevator, a lot of people stared at them. After many attempts, though, Yuki finally managed to stand back up again.

He had nearly left Shuichi lying there on the ground until he remembered that he had changed from his old habits and was no longer the horrible, mean Yuki that he had once been. Grabbing Shuichi under the armpits he had hoisted him up effortlessly.

"Yuki-san, thank you again for letting me stay with you," Shuichi told him, breaking a long silence.

"Oh, it's not a problem," Yuki reassured him.

"But you probably have a lot of things going on over the holidays." Yuki fell silent as he tried to remember if he had any plans. He couldn't actually think of any.

"Nope."

"Well! Then we'll have our own Christmas together! It'll be so much fun!" Shuichi said, a bright smile on his face.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Yuki still trying to figure out how he was going to clean up his house, and Shuichi with his bright smile still on his face. Only when they were almost there did Yuki speak.

"Well, here we are," Yuki said as they walked up to the door. He let go of Shuichi's hand and unlocked the door. Walking behind Shuichi, he gently pushed him in. He led him to the living room where we sat him down.

"Welcome home, Shuichi."

End Chapter 12

Well, as you guys might be able to tell, I'm trying, oh so trying to get these chapters out fast. Trying to finish Blindsided before I go off to college. I apologize for any errors. I have an excuse though! I do use spell check and such, but since I have a laptop (an iBook G4) that doesn't have Internet Explorer, the preview window where I usually check for all of my errors comes out totally in html, and I don't really want to mess with that, so I just leave it. So, I apologize for errors.

Oh yes! Is anybody else going to go to the Bite of Oregon? I'm going on Friday, if any of ya'll'll be there! I'm also thinking about going to Kumoricon, but I don't know if that's any good or not…

Onto a review of reviews:

Robuddi: HAHAHAHA…I watched "Elf" last night and laughed so hard when a nun came on that was like the nun in Blindsided, jenjenjen: sorry it didn't make sense, Yuki is going to be taking care of him, not adopting him, rebelyell59: I'm curious, where were you that it was 4 in the morning, FullMetalRitz: MUWAHAHAA…I have no idea why I just did that, dark5731: Oh man, I am going to have SO much fun with that, Tiki-chan: I rather liked my disclaimer too. Man, I wish that K and Hiro would hook up, bram: Sorry about the whole waiting forever thing…my bad…, pikapikaryuchan: Hehehe, it'll be fun having them live together, ne, ayu: Well, it's not quite finished yet, shuxyuki: I promise, eventually they will kiss, okay, Akeatia Mochidzuki Ookami: Right, right, Japanese, Anna Sartin: I am fast! It's been…six days, I have no name: You have no name? That's sad…, Classy Raven: Your e-mail didn't show up :cries, if you review again put it like Kibethan at msn dot com (like, completely write it out, I can figure it out from there), checkmarks: It is a wonderful day, Flame-chan: It was a long time in the making, ne, tammy-love: I'm getting a lot better at updating, Sailor Epyon: Will do, Grimy Grunhilda Grunt: Well, of course that was gonna happen, xunxin kohaku: I'm going to go to Western Washington University in Bellingham, Mizuky: Yeah, sorry about the long time…and I hate Taki too, Kaylariana: Thank you! It's hard explaining to someone that having a life makes it difficult to update, and yes, Gackt is AWESOME, WhiteLightning: Yay! I'm so glad that it did, Elements: As usual, your review was awesome, lemur130: It was always in the back of my mind, Lina-Yuki: Practice makes perfect as far as English goes, Kloudy Reignfall: The soap opera thing was so much fun to write, PyrokineticFeral: Oh, well, of course Yuki is a pervert, riya-chan: I'm so glad!

Alrighty! That's it! I should mention, because I'm planning on updating faster, I'm sad because I won't get as many reviews (yes, reviews ARE my life) so I'm just asking, BEGGING people to review. I want to try and keep my average past 30 reviews a chapter, so please, PLEASE, review!

And if you want to talk! I'm not snooty (I promise!)! Kibethan on AIM. Kibethan at msn dot com, and Holidaycookie on neopets.

Until next time,

Kib-buddi