Title: Blindsided

By: Kibethan

Disclaimer: The only things I have right now are these blasted hiccups! …meaning…I do not own Gravitation…besides buying 12 volumes of the manga and some of the dvd's…

Summary: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so Yuki's editor decides to shape him up 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: Beware, you know, the usual. And the usual (as you should know by now) is a) swearing, b) yaoi, c) slight ooc-ness, etc, etc. Also, this story is rated M for a REASON. A REASON.

Chapter 18

Hostile

There was no distinguishable way to describe how Yuki felt when he found out that the person who had tortured him relentlessly when he had been in the orphanage had kidnapped Shuichi. Sure, he was shocked, but how do you define shock? A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance (1)? It just wasn't strong enough of an emotion to describe how Yuki was feeling. No single word was.

All of the pages in the longest book in the world –even with the tiniest print- would not have been able to describe how he was feeling.

If he were to be asked, though, at a later date how he had felt, he would have said that his heart had literally felt like it was being ripped out of his body and that he was watching the thing that had pulled it out eat it…slowly. Slowly killing him on the inside.

Pure energy ran through his body, even though he was frozen solid. His mind was trying to think of things he could do to help, even if his body wasn't responding. After a few painstaking minutes, Yuki heard a voice calling his name, snapping him back to reality.

"Yuki! Are you all right? Did you hear what I said?"

Yuki shook his head against the noise, and the voice almost started to speak again, to say what Yuki already knew, but refused, deep down, to acknowledge true. He didn't want to hear it again.

"STOP!"

The voice cut off its speech instantly. He felt somebody put his or her hands on his shoulders, trying to snap him out of his funk, but just Yuki stood with his head in his hands trying to sort out all of his thoughts. It was no easy task, but eventually he got his mind into order. One thing that had sunk in, however, was something that he had completely forgotten about, but now that he remembered, could not get out of his head.

Hiro had mentioned a ransom.

Yuki snapped his head up and the hands on his shoulders came off of them instantly. Yuki, still not quite seeing where he was going ran headlong into Hiro. Even while helping to pick him off of the ground, he was questioning Hiro about the ransom, instead of apologizing for knocking him down.

When Hiro told him that Taki had left a phone number, in an instant Yuki had his cell phone out and was dialing the number –only to remember that he didn't actually have the number, and that he was just dialing some random person.

"Hello?"

A funny look of horror crossed his face when Yuki realized that he had pressed the talk button on his phone. He –quite uncharacteristically- squeaked and hung up on the person, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't have caller ID and try to call him back.

As soon as the phone predicament was over, the gravity of the situation came crashing back down on top of Yuki, and he almost fell to the ground from the weight. Hiro watched the change on Yuki's face with interest, but he could tell as soon as Yuki remembered that Shuichi was missing.

Without missing a beat, Hiro led Yuki into Ezaniya's office.

"Hello, Yuki-san," Ezaniya greeted, the malice and bite in his voice from earlier in the day completely gone. "First, I would like to apologize to you about how I acted earlier. I was completely out of line when I judged you and Shuichi and I hope that the carelessness of my words and how horrible I was doesn't ruin the trust you had for me forever. I understand totally if you are still mad at me –I completely deserve it- but I hope that someday you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Ezaniya finished his monologue and stared into Yuki's eyes. By doing so, he was letting Yuki see into him, to see the sincerity of his apology. Yuki was shocked. Usually he was never one to forgive and forget easily, but unfortunately he had little time for anything else. Shuichi had to be found and saved before something horrible happened to him.

Taking a deep breath, Yuki said that he forgave Ezaniya.

"And now for the important stuff," Yuki continued, "What is Taki's phone number and how much is the ransom?"

Ezaniya and the nurse looked at each other and nodded before Ezaniya answered.

"That's the thing, Yuki-san, the ransom is 40,000,000 yen 'for a slight broken but not dead' Shuichi. The 'slightly broken but not dead' doesn't worry us that much, I mean, we're a hospital! However, the 40,000,000 yen does. We just don't have that kind of money to pay for the ransom." Ezaniya hung his head, "we were actually kind of hoping that maybe you…"

"I'll do it," Yuki replied to the question that he knew had been answering. "Even though it will almost wipe me dry of money, I am willing to pay if it means I will get the chance to apologize to Shuichi for yelling at him –again." Yuki continued under his breath, "If Shuichi dies before I get the chance to apologize to him, I will never ever forgive myself."

"Good deal, Yuki-san."

"What is the phone number?"

When Yuki hung up the phone from talking to Taki, he was shaking with anger and a few stray tears were running down his face.

"Yuki-san! Help me! HELP ME!"

Shuichi's pleading cries would not leave his mind. Yes, he had talked to Taki and they had set up an exchange time, and it was, of course, your basic hostage situation. Yuki was to come alone –that meant no cops and absolutely no wires. The money was to be dropped off and, in good faith, (Yuki had guffawed at that), Taki would hand over Shuichi.

Of course, the place where Yuki had to go to drop off the money was very dangerous. It was the stereotypical abandoned warehouse on a wharf, and as much as Yuki truly did not want to go there, he knew that if he didn't Shuichi would be killed. How did he know this?

"If you don't come to the drop-off location at exactly midnight tonight, I will kill precious little Shuichi."

Taki had told him. But then, Taki had continued in his description of what he would do to Shuichi.

"Oh no, I won't just kill him, I will have some fun with him first. You know what I'm talking about, don't you Yuki-san. Oh, how beautiful Shuichi's skin will feel underneath my own. His voice is already hoarse from screaming so much: 'Yuki-san! Help me! HELP ME!' When he screams for us to stop, it will be the one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. The most beautiful thing of all, however, will be the pure unadulterated fear that will be in Shuichi's gorgeous sightless eyes." Taki moaned and Yuki had to stop himself from breaking the phone in half. "Would you like to talk to him, Yuki?" Taki said breathlessly. "Well, you can't," he continued without stopping, "his mouth is currently busy doing something else, if you know what I mean." Taki started laughing. Yuki could hear a cracking noise and the sound of Shuichi screaming in pain. It broke his heart. "His spirit was already broken, so he gave in easily. Anyway, I'm monologueing. Show up at midnight here, or your lover gets it." And with that parting thought, Taki hung up the phone.

Yuki was still shaking as he thought of all the torture that Shuichi was going through. He couldn't help but blame himself for putting Shuichi through that. After all, if he hadn't yelled at Shuichi, then maybe Shuichi wouldn't have run away and gotten kidnapped.

He needed to set things right.

With a quick explanation to the group in Ezaniya's office, a plan of attack was established and soon Yuki was on his way to the bank. The plan of attack was nothing special, Yuki was just to do exactly as Taki had instructed. If Yuki had stuck around a little bit longer, he would have heard the people start to plan something else.

The bank blanched when Yuki took out all the money and they threatened to close his account until Yuki had given them his glare of death. Then they just shut up and handed him the money.

Finally, Yuki was ready.

Midnight couldn't come fast enough for Yuki, who just wanted to get the exchange over with, then head back to his apartment with Shuichi safely tucked between his arms. As he was driving to the warehouse, part of him was reflecting on the fact that because he was spending all the money to get Shuichi back, he would not have enough money to make it anymore. His mind kept trying to convince him that Shuichi wasn't worth all that money and that he should just turn around and go back to his apartment.

The other side of him, however, won the battle. Screw the money, Yuki could survive on instant ramen until he got another book written. He could do it, and he was willing to do it.

Up in the distance, Yuki could see the warehouse looming. He rolled down the window and the smell of sea air wormed its way into the car. He could hear the waves crashing against the poles that the wharf was situated on.

After he had parked his car, he grabbed the bag with all the money in it and walked towards the warehouse. His heart started beating faster as he got closer and closer. What if Taki didn't keep his end of the bargain and just killed both of them and then took the money? Or worse, what if Taki did what he threatened to do to Shuichi and tied up Shuichi to make him watch.

No, that would never happen. Yuki would absolutely not let that happen. With a steely look in his golden eyes, he decided that he would rather die than watch Taki rape Shuichi. Yuki got to warehouse door and looked at it. He almost started to open it before he decided that maybe it would be a good idea to knock first, since the people who were taking the money had guns and were probably trigger happy.

A few moments after he knocked a big burly man opened the door. A huge whiff of a the smell of fish came pouring out and Yuki had to do his best not to throw up instantly from the odor. The man –who seemed completely unaware of the smell around him- asked Yuki who he was. With complete confidence in his voice, Yuki told him who he was and why he was there.

The man stared him down for a while, then decided that Yuki was indeed who he said he was and he let him in, looking around to make sure that nobody had seen Yuki walk in. After doing a full body search on Yuki (which Yuki was not pleased at all to do) to check for wires, he deemed Yuki satisfactory. The burly man closed the door and Yuki was surrounded by complete darkness.

Is this what Shuichi saw everyday? He didn't know if he would be able to take not being able to see anything. Yuki found new respect for Shuichi.

Shuichi, right, that's why he was here. Yuki was about to call out to the pink-haired boy –who knows, maybe he was there?- when the lights flooded on. After a few seconds of squinting, letting his eyes adjust to the light, he saw someone (who he assumed was Taki) standing in front of him. What caught his attention more, however, was Shuichi kneeling in front of him, facing Yuki, with tears flowing freely down his face onto the gag that was in his mouth; his head was bowed.

"How nice of you to join us, Yuki-san," Taki began. Shuichi's head sprung up at the sound of Yuki's name, and Yuki could tell that Shuichi was desperately trying to hear him; the fish aroma around him had badly distorted his sense of smell. "Did you bring the money?"

"I did," Yuki said, breaking his silence. Yuki could see as Shuichi started shaking his head in a 'don't give them the money, don't give them the money' kind of way. There was no way he would do that. He needed to save Shuichi.

"Drop it over here on the ground, then slowly walk away," Taki instructed.

Yuki shook his head, "Give me Shuichi first, then I'll give you the money." There was a greedy look in Taki's eyes and he decided whether or not to give him Shuichi. Finally, slowly, Taki nodded and he picked Shuichi up by the scruff of the neck and threw him at Yuki.

"Now give me the money!" Taki screamed, a certain lust for cash growing in his eyes.

"Fine, here's your blood money," Yuki spat out in disgust. He tossed the sack of money at Taki, and then turned to run away, pulling Shuichi with him.

A low cackle came out from somebody behind him and Yuki felt as a shiver went down his back. He pulled Shuichi closer to him, feeling the danger all around and wanting to protect the teenager as much as he possibly could.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, Yuki-san." Taki said quietly. "Do you really think that I would give Shuichi up that easily?"

From behind him, Yuki could hear someone cock a gun. He gulped. He had figured that Taki would try to do something like this, but that didn't mean that he was properly prepared.

"Oh yes, I will have fun playing with little Shuichi. I don't, however, need you here."

Yuki heard the shot being fired. Pain blossomed in his side, and his left side pitched him onto the floor. He put his hands to his side and when he looked at the blood that was quickly leaving his body. Black started edging into his vision. The last thing he heard before he passed out was Shuichi screaming his name and somehow he also managed to hear the waves continuing to pound themselves up against the poles.

End Chapter 18

(1) definition taken from the website of Miriam Webster.

Woot! Guys! Guess what! There is only one more chapter of Blindsided left and I will post it in ONE WEEK, exactly. On the 4th of April. Just you guys wait.

So, I went to Sakuracon this year. It was at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center and it was SO MUCH FUN. Did anybody else go? If you saw a girl dressed as blond Nana in her cream colored dress with black shirt, brown/black socks, platform sandals, and black headband, that was totally me! (not many people knew who I was, though ;;;)

Anyway, had a great time, and on Saturday night, I got to see the last 20 minutes of the Belle and Sebastian concert for free! Go me!

Onto a review of reviews…actually, I'm really tired, and I really want to finish this, so I don't think I'm going to do a review of reviews for this one. But I will say this:

Thank you, everyone, who reviewed, they made my day!

Sorry for grammatically errors, this is Kib saying over and out!