Title: Blindsided

By: Kibethan

Disclaimer: Does ANYONE on this site own the rights to anything that they write about? I think not. So why would I be any different?

Summary: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his 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: Um, yeah, YOU'RE WARNED! …I'm not sure about what, though.

Happily Ever After

Chapter 19

Pain filled Yuki's entire being. He had no idea why it hurt as much as it did, but all he knew was that he wanted it to stop. He opened his mouth to ask for help, but when he tried to use his vocal cords, they just cracked and refused to work.

Yuki was confused and slightly panicky. He couldn't ever remember being in as much pain as he currently was, and he certainly couldn't remember ever getting into any situations where this kind of pain would be possible.

Exactly what had happened?

Yuki tried to open his eyes. He reasoned that maybe if he could see around him, he would be able to remember what happened. However, when he tried to open his eyes, he found that his eyelids felt like lead.

His heart rate sped up and his breathing became shallow and erratic. All of a sudden, somebody was by his side, touching him.

"I think he's waking up!" the voice exclaimed. Yuki was more confused than ever. Waking up? He couldn't even remember going to sleep. "Come on, Yuki, come on. You can do it." Yuki felt another presence beside him. Whoever it felt for his left hand and then grabbed onto it with both hands.

"Please, Yuki, wake up," it pleaded with him. The voice sounded so familiar, like the kind of voice that he should be able to recognize at the drop of a hat. In fact, Yuki was dead sure that he knew the voice.

And maybe, if he could remember it, he would be able to remember why he was in such pain.

"Yuki, please, please, please wake up. I can't take it anymore," the voice seemed so close to tears. Yuki tried to lift his hand, but again, his body wouldn't respond to him. Yuki was frustrated. Whoever the voice was, he had a feeling that he didn't want that person to be crying.

With more effort than he had ever put forth for the motion, Yuki managed to open his eyes. What he saw astounded him.

A nurse and a doctor were standing beside him, looking hopeful. On the other side of the bed, however, was Shuichi with unshed tears in his eyes and tear-streaks down his eyelids. Shuichi was looking towards him, even if he wasn't looking at him.

"Thank God," the nurse started, "Yuki-san, you've been asleep for quite a while. Poor Shuichi here was almost dead on his feet staying by your side the entire time."

Shuichi had the nerve to blush.

"Yu…ki…are you really awake?" Shuichi's fingers started running down his arm towards his face trying to figure out if he really was awake. With great effort Yuki grabbed his hands and stopped them when they were on his shoulders.

Picking them up, he brought them to Shuichi's cheeks. He brushed his thumbs under Shuichi's eye, wiping away any tears that were starting to form.

Yuki started trying again to speak, to ease Shuichi's fears –as though his hands on Shuichi's face wasn't proof enough. However, once again, his voice didn't work the way he thought it should.

The nurse, however, saw his plight and, after nodding to him telling him what she was doing, she scurried off to get him some water. She returned a few seconds later with a glass full of cold water.

When Yuki tried to sit up to drink it, though, pain tore through his midsection and he involuntarily cried out loud and sank back to the bed. Shuichi visibly winced at the sound of Yuki's pain.

"Yuki, you're awake, aren't you? If you're awake, rub the side of my face with your palm!" Yuki did as he was told and Shuichi relaxed, but not for very long. "Yuki! Stay lying down! They told me that your wound was really, really bad! I mean, you were out for eight days!"

Yuki started at that. Eight days? Surely it couldn't have been that long? What could have possibly happened? Yuki still didn't remember, but he figured it had something to do with the intense pain that was happening in his side. His mind was incredibly fuzzy. After managing to drink the water, he replied to Shuichi.

"Eight days? I was asleep for eight days? I don't even remember what happened."

A look of confusion passed across Shuichi's face. "What…? Don't remember what happened…? But, but, you were,"

"That's enough, Shuichi, Yuki needs his rest."

"Wait! I was what? What happened to me, Shuichi?" Yuki asked the one person who he could trust to tell him the truth.

"That's enough, Yuki-san, sleep now." Yuki started to protest as the same nurse of mercy that had given him the class of cold water inserted yet another needle into his skin to put his to sleep. As his eyes were closing he was cursing the ground that the lady walked on.

The next time Yuki woke up, it was dark out and his head was much clearer. The nurse and the doctor weren't in there anymore, but when Yuki finished scanning the room for people, he saw Shuichi sleeping sitting up in a chair across the room.

Remembering his intense pain from the last time, Yuki was extremely careful when he sat up. It still made him wince but at least this time he was expecting it so he was able to deal with the pain and it eventually went away.

Something was nagging at the back of his mind, like something incredibly important had happened, but he couldn't remember for the life of him what had happened. His mind puzzled over it for a while when all of a sudden he noticed bandages wrapped around Shuichi's head and arm.

How he had not noticed them earlier, he would never know, but he had a feeling that whatever had happened to Shuichi had something to do with what had happened to him. More importantly, who had dared to hurt Shuichi? The Shuichi that he had come to know would never hurt anybody intentionally –unless they deserved it, of course.

Yuki gasped; he had just realized something very important.

Perhaps it was just the wound talking –surely the real Yuki would never feel this much emotion at all- but before he knew it, he'd been blindsided by love.

That's right, before he'd known it; he's fallen in love with Shuichi. Yuki gasped again at his revelation. He couldn't figure out when it had happened, but there was no use denying it. Somewhere between arguing with Shuichi and trying to save him, he'd fallen for Shuichi, hard.

Just watching Shuichi lie on the chair was almost too much for him to take. He needed to let Shuichi know how he felt –but what if he didn't feel the same? Yuki started reasoning in his head that Shuichi just HAD to feel the same, after all, when they had shared their little kiss together, he was certain that Shuichi had added a little something to it, and not on accident either.

Yuki felt at peace while he was watching Shuichi sleep. The pink-haired brat –for, he had been a slight brat at the beginning- looked very peaceful in his sleep. Suddenly, as though sensing that he was being watched, Shuichi stirred in his sleep.

His eyes blinked open, and he carefully made his way to the bed. The entire time Shuichi was moving, Yuki was keeping perfectly still, breathing at appropriate intervals, trying to portray that he was still asleep.

Shuichi felt for the bed and put his hands on Yuki's, "I'm sorry, Yuki, I'm so, so, so, sorry." Yuki was confused. What could Shuichi possibly be apologizing for? "It's all my fault you almost got killed –that you got shot."

Yuki was reeling. Shot? How? Well, that certainly explained the pain. Why the doctors wouldn't tell him, he couldn't figure out. Wait, shot?

It was like the floodgates of his mind had opened. Everything that had happened from before he had gone into a coma ran into his mind and he had to bite hard on his lip to keep from crying out.

Taki. What had happened after Taki had shot him? What had he done to Shuichi? He shifted his position and he heard Shuichi take a sharp intake of breath. Shuichi started to retreat when Yuki grabbed his arm to keep him there.

"Yuki, you were awake?" Shuichi blushed at being caught talking to Yuki in his sleep.

"Yes."

"Did you…hear what happened? They told me I was supposed to not tell you because it could send you into shock! You're not going into shock, are you? If you're going into shock, please tell me! Because I can't see, so I can't tell!" Yuki was about to answer that he was fine when Shuichi just kept talking, apparently the floodgates of things that Shuichi needed to admit had opened to. "It was just like that night! I couldn't see, so I had no idea what had happened! I heard the bullet; I heard you drop, but I still couldn't tell if it had hit something fatal!" Tears were spilling openly down Shuichi's eyes again. "I couldn't tell whether or not you were dead; I called and called you, but you never answered me. I was so, so worried."

"Shuichi," Yuki started. Shuichi turned towards the sound of his voice. "What happened after I got shot?" Shuichi turned away from him and his voice got somber.

"All hell broke loose. And I couldn't see any of it, which was the worst part. What was told to me that happened, though, is unbeknownst to you, Hiro had followed you to make sure that you did it right. When he had heard you begin to hand over the money, he looked in and when he saw the crazy look that was in Taki's eyes," Shuichi paused to sniffle, "he had called the cops that were apparently hiding a few blocks back. Taki hadn't been very thorough in his search. They had showed up and after the shot had been fired, they had burst in and had somehow managed to take over the situation. Taki and his crew were arrested."

"I see." Yuki was definitely a man of few words.

"I'm still trying to figure out why Taki did it. I mean, he couldn't have done all that out of pure hate, right? I can't even figure out why Taki hates me. Isn't that pathetic? You got shot for a reason that I can't even begin to fathom."

"Shuichi, hate does a lot of things to a lot of people. Hate has led to some of the worst crimes committed in the world. Do not blame yourself. Taki has his own reasons, whatever or however petty they may be." Yuki decided that he needed to lighten the situation a little bit. "So, where did Taki get those goonies of his, anyway?"

"Apparently Taki confessed to just about everything. He had stolen a few ladies' purses –you know, the people that flaunt off all their money- and had used that to buy them. They weren't very loyal, though. From what I had heard, as soon as they had heard the cops come in, they had tried to run away as fast as they possibly could. I'm starting to get a little bit of faith in the police system around here –at least they managed to catch them."

Yuki nodded, then shook his head when he realized that Shuichi couldn't see him. "Yes. Shuichi. Remember back when you first got to know me? You mentioned it. What was it exactly that had happened?" Shuichi's eyes darkened.

"It was just a horrible, horrible accident. It was a car accident, to be more specific. My entire family and I were taking a drive around the countryside, but, unfortunately, the roads were icier than we thought and the car ran off the road," Shuichi paused.

"And…everybody except you were instantly killed?" Yuki questioned quietly. Shuichi shook his head.

"No, that's not the case at all. What happened was worse. My little sister was instantly killed, as was my father. My mother, so enraged with sorrow went completely crazy and tried to kill herself and me so that our entire family could be together. Luckily –or maybe unluckily, I suppose- a neighbor heard my mother making an awful racket and called the cops. They stopped her and took her to a mental institution where she is today." Tears were flowing down Shuichi's cheeks. "You have no idea how much I wish sometimes that she had succeeded. Especially when Taki shot you. All I could think was, 'If mom had killed me, then Yuki would never have been hurt.'"

Yuki's heart broke. "Shuichi, never ever, ever think like that again. If you had died, then I would never have met you." Yuki was still clearly being more emotional that ever. He reminded himself to talk to his nurse when he got the chance. However, while his mine was being very emotional and caring, a thought of what might help Shuichi popped into his head. "Shuichi, come on up here."

Shuichi's eyes widened.

"W-what?"

"It is okay, come on up here."

Shuichi looked down, embarrassed at the thought of it. "B-but, what about your injuries?"

"Baka, I'm fine, just crawl up here." Shuichi, still embarrassed managed to climb onto the bed. Sure, Yuki was still injured, and indeed it did still hurt until they got settled together, but once they did, the pleasure that Yuki felt lying next to Shuichi was able to overcome any pain that Yuki still felt.

Shuichi grabbed on tight to Yuki's arm. "I was scared, so scared," he reiterated over and over. Yuki shushed him.

"It's okay, Shuichi, it's okay. I'm okay, we're both okay, everything is going to be okay." Yuki turned slightly onto his good side and planted a kiss on Shuichi's forehead. "Calm down, everything is okay."

Shuichi's breathing evened out a bit. "You know," he started, "Everybody came to visit you while you were out. Hiro. Suguru. K and Ryuichi. Ezaniya. All of the kids that you had ever hung out with had also came. Everyone was so worried. Even your editor came in to make sure that you were okay."

Yuki raised an eyebrow at this. "Really, did she say anything?"

Shuichi's face knitted together in a laugh. "Yeah, she said that if you didn't wake up soon that you would miss your next deadline for your story, and what would your fans think if you did something like that?"

Yuki furrowed his eyebrows. "Of course she said that."

Shuichi giggled, "Of course, she also said that if anything ever happened to you over something that she had made you do –volunteer, apparently?- then she would never forgive herself."

"Well, it's a good thing that I woke up, then, isn't it?"

Shuichi smiled. "YEP!"

Yuki couldn't resist capturing those lips into another kiss. It wasn't the short chaste kiss that he had given Shuichi earlier, and it wasn't one that was forced on him, either. No, this one came entirely from Yuki himself.

When they finally had to break for air (breathe through their noses? Why would they do something as obvious as that?), Yuki brought his lips to Shuichi's ear.

"I love you, Shuichi. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I love you. I would have taken a bullet for you any day."

Shuichi started crying. "I love you too." After another short kiss, they both fell asleep, holding each other.

The headline for the newspaper the next day was:

"Yuki Eiri, famed author has woken up finally after being shot last week protecting his very good friend."

Yuki's editor smiled as she flipped through the article. Good publicity. Her plan had worked after all.

End Chapter 19

End Blindsided

:starts crying: Oh my God. It's over. It's over. It's over. It's actually over. It's been almost a year and a half since I started writing this story and it's finally over. (And yes, I'm actually trying not to cry right now).

I hope that you guys liked the ending –I don't think it was too short, especially since I really didn't want this story to drag on forever.

By the time I post this, it will be April 4th. I picked this date for a reason to update this (some of you may know). Because, it's…MY BIRTHDAY!

HAHAHAHA…not only THAT, but it's my 19th birthday as well. So, basically, I finished Blindsided with the 19th chapter on my 19th birthday. Slightly corny, I know, but still.

It's important.

Thank you everybody who's reviewed and stuck with me through this entire story; it means more to me than you could ever know.

This is Kib-chan saying for the last time for this story, over and out.