A/N: Hey guys! I updated, and I'm very happy! I'm no longer sick, and I fixed the errors in chapter 6. Yeah, sorry 'bout them. I wasn't really thinking straight 'cause of my headache. I hope you enjoy the chapter! It's gonna get suspensful again in the next chapter. You'll see why in the last sentence.
Thanks to all my reviewers! I'd just like to say that I'd rather have someone just review my story than put it on their favorite's list. I really do. And thanks to my friend Luciver, for giving me an "OK" on the chapter! -hugs her- She's too awesome for words...
Oh, and I'd like to say that the more reviews I get, the faster I update. If I get enough reviews, I'll update tomorrow. Remember that when you are about to leave the page after reading...
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation, but I do own Mr. Hiko! -huggles him- He rocks! (he's the paramedic!)
Chapter 7: Darkness Falls
It was dark. So very dark…. It was as if a black hole was trying to suck the light out of everything. But, it felt good, Shuichi had to admit. He was lost, lost among the many miles of darkness surrounding him. And he liked it. No one could get him here, not his father, or the things he brought up. But, at the same time, he hated it. He couldn't see Hiro OR Yuki. He couldn't see anything. It was all just a black blur of nothingness.
It was difficult to breathe, but Shuichi didn't know why. Was the darkness suffocating him? That would explain the heat… He couldn't move. It was like he was paralyzed, but he knew he wasn't. It was so confusing, but so relieving. He could escape, if only for a little while.
He thought about what he saw last. It was the door. He remembered exactly what he was doing. After walking for awhile, he finally got home, his head pounding and his vision blurring. He was almost there, too. He had the keys in his hand, had them go into the keyhole. But, then the darkness came and engulfed him. He couldn't help but fall into it and drop the keys, leaving the last sound he heard as a jingle. It echoed throughout his head.
'I wonder what Yuki will think when he finds me out here' Shuichi thought. 'Maybe he's mad… After all, I probably made a mess right in front of his apartment… Oh darn it; I'm such an idiot…' And then, to stop the pain, Shuichi decided to stop thinking for awhile.
Meanwhile, Yuki twiddled his thumbs anxiously. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked around him, and realized that the redheaded lady had left. Instead, a man, about thirty-five, was sitting next to him. The man was silent and wore a simple black suit. He kept closing his eyes and leaning back, as if trying to grasp something that wasn't there.
"Eiji Kimoto" the nurse at the front desk called. Yuki almost jumped up and ran to the lady when he heard "Ei", but his hopes were diminished almost immediately. It wasn't him. It was another lucky jerk. Yuki sighed miserably. He hated waiting, especially in this situation. A teenager came up to the desk. Yuki glared at him enviously. He looked away, not wanting to invade this kid's personal life.
An hour went by. Yuki was beyond worried. He was practically jumping every single time the nurse called out a name. He desperately wanted the nurse to call HIS name, so that he could see Shuichi. He had to find out what was going on. He hoped that Shuichi could answer his questions, but he wondered if Shuichi would tell him what the answers were. Ever since that phone call, Shuichi had been acting a bit weird, and Yuki was finally going to say something.
Suddenly, Yuki's cell phone rang. He jumped and reached into his pocket. He answered the call in his most deadly voice ever. "Hello?" he demanded. "Who the heck is calling me now?" He glared at his phone.
"It's me, Tohma" the voice breathed. "I found that information you asked for." Yuki's face softened. "It's about Shuichi's dad, as requested. Apparently, his name is Anoiji. He's forty-four years old and just recently moved back to Tokyo." Tohma paused. He took out another document and skimmed through it.
"Anything else?" Yuki asked. "I mean, what does he look like? Where exactly does he live? And what's his background? Has he been in jail or anything like that?" Tohma let out a sigh of frustration. He threw a few papers around until he found the one with a picture of Anoiji.
"He has black hair and reddish eyes" Tohma explained. "He's about as tall as you and, from what I can tell, is a bit on the slim side. It's hard to tell though…" He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He had been reading non-stop for the past hour, and he hadn't had sleep for god-knows how many days. "He lives on Hachi Street, a few blocks away from your apartment. His background? I saw no criminal record. Why?"
"Wait, he lives nearby?" Yuki repeated. Tohma let out a, "Mm hmm" and closed his eyes. "Okay, so basically, he seems okay, right? Nothing out of the ordinary?" Tohma rubbed his temple tiredly. He let a yawn escape him, and frowned, rereading another document.
"Well, he left the Shindou family house ten years ago" Tohma said flatly. "He divorced Sakura Shindou, Mr. Shindou's mother, around that time. It seems pretty normal to me. But, people said that the divorce was a bit sudden. Many were surprised, but none were upset."
"Ah, anything else?" Yuki asked. He felt guilty for asking Tohma this when Tohma was obviously exhausted, but he had to find out if his suspicions were correct. It was more important at the moment. "Does it say if he got along with Shuichi?" Tohma shook his head, not caring that Yuki couldn't see him.
"No, it doesn't say anything of the sort" Tohma confirmed. "It also doesn't say anything to support the claim that he didn't get along with Mr. Shindou either, so I can't be sure." He groaned again, unable to keep his eyes open. "But it did say that Mr. Shindou didn't make any effort to visit his father, and neither had his father. Why do you ask?"
"I was just wondering" Yuki lied. "Alright Tohma, I'll see you later…" Tohma yawned and said his goodbyes to Yuki before hanging up the phone and falling asleep. Yuki frowned. Something didn't seem right.
'Well, that destroys my idea of his father losing contact of Shuichi because he found out his son was gay' Yuki thought. 'So, why wouldn't he try to talk to Shuichi until ten years later?' He sighed and then remembered that Shuichi was in the hospital. He put his phone in his pocket and looked over to that man in the suit.
The man was crying now, silently, rocking back and forth. Yuki pitied the man slightly, because obviously he was going through a similar situation, or the man was just dramatic like Shuichi could be, crying ten times a day. He was covering his face with his hands, and he was trying to stop his tears, but he couldn't.
"Eiri Uesugi?" the nurse called. Yuki jumped up immediately. He felt like a giant weight had fallen off of his shoulders. He power-walked instead of ran, so he wouldn't be caught in an OOC moment, towards the desk. The nurse smiled kindly at him, and he took that as good news, unless this nurse was a twisted freak to nature… She had green eyes and blonde hair.
"Ah, hello" she said. "You are here for Mr. Shindou, correct?" Yuki nodded firmly. "He's okay, Mr. Uesugi. He's still asleep though, because his fever is lingering. We're sorry for the wait. There were a few 'code-red' emergencies at the time." She paused and asked the question Yuki was willing, and as he admitted later, praying, for her to say. "Would you like to see him?"
"Yes!" Yuki barked. He stood up a bit straighter and stared directly into the nurse's eyes. "What floor is he on, and what's his room number?" The nurse looked down at her sheet and nodded slowly. She smiled at him again and opened her mouth to speak. Yuki thanked God, or whoever was up there causing this, that this girl either didn't recognize him or was a normal, civilized person. Either way was fine with him.
"He's on floor five" the nurse instructed. "Do you know where the elevator is?" Yuki nodded quickly. "Okay, his room number is 444. Got everything?" Yuki nodded. "Okay, good luck with your boyfriend, Yuki!" she called as he stormed off.
Yuki ignored the blonde and kept walking until he found the elevator. He pressed the button and waited impatiently, tapping his foot angrily. He wanted to get to Shuichi as soon as he could. The elevator door opened and Yuki walked inside without a second's hesitation. A fat lady was in the elevator, and she kept talking to him, but Yuki ignored her and pressed the button that said 5. The elevator zoomed up, and in seconds, they arrived at the fifth floor.
Yuki ran out of the elevator and walked down the hall. It was filled with nurses and doctors, some scrambling and some walking slowly down the hall to another room. Yuki rushed past them, looking only at the numbers on the rooms. '440…..' he thought as he walked. '441…… 442….. 443…. 444!' He smiled weakly before looking at the door to room 444. He opened it quickly.
Inside, it was white. The room looked exactly as he had pictured it. It had the desk, the bed, the machines and the dullness. Yuki frowned and slowly walked over to the bed. There lay Shuichi, his eyes closed and his breathing now normal. Yuki sighed in relief. He dragged a chair next to the bed and sat down, watching his lover's every breath.
It was soothing, almost like music. Breathing was a sign of life, as was music, if you really thought about it. You could be singing about death, but you're still alive. You could be listening to a song by a dead guy, but it still means that the singer had lived and made a song, so really, the person still lived on. So, Yuki enjoyed Shuichi's breathing for the time being.
Something interrupted the breathing. It was a soft cry coming from Shuichi's mouth. Shuichi started to toss and turn furiously in the bed. "Stop…." he murmured. "Please, don't do it…. No, I didn't mean to…. Please…" The next part was inaudible, but Yuki could tell that Shuichi was in distress.
'Should I wake him up?' Yuki wondered. 'Or does he have to sleep more? Darn it!' He growled and watched Shuichi groan and start to whimper. He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. When he opened them, he saw another pair of eyes locking with his. They were violet; they were Shuichi's eyes.
"Yuki?" Shuichi mumbled. He had bags under his eyes, and he yawned cutely. "Is that you?" Yuki nodded slowly. "Oh, hi…. Are you mad at me?" Shuichi didn't even bother to look around. He just stared at Yuki and tried to sit up.
"Whoa!" Yuki called. "Don't sit up so quickly! You have a fever, dimwit!" Shuichi's face fell. "No, I'm not angry at you. How can I possibly blame you for getting sick?" Shuichi sighed and gave a pleading look to Yuki.
"Well, I…." Shuichi said softly. He looked at his surroundings, finally. He gasped. "Hey, this isn't your apartment… Where am I?" Shuichi started to panic, but Yuki put his hand on his shoulder.
"You're at the hospital" Yuki informed him. "Calm down. You're not dying, and no one's gonna kill you." Shuichi let out a sigh of relief. He rubbed his temple because his evil headache was returning, along with the dizziness, though not as bad as before. "Why didn't you call me if you knew you weren't feeling well?" Yuki demanded. "It would've saved me a lot of trouble."
"I'm sorry Yuki…" Shuichi said quietly. "I didn't think of that…. I'm so sorry! Please forgive me…!" Shuichi gasped and started swaying. "Hey, everything spinning…." Yuki caught Shuichi before he fell down.
"Ugh, don't be so loud" Yuki demanded. "You're gonna hurt yourself. Haven't I told you that you're sick? That's the whole reason you're here." Shuichi nodded slowly and leaned back into Yuki's embrace. Yuki rolled his eyes. "Who were you talking about?" Shuichi blinked.
"What are you talking about?" Shuichi questioned. "Just now? I was talking about you, of course! Remember, I was apologizing…" He closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm sleepy… and my head hurts."
"I'll get the doctor" Yuki said. He carefully placed Shuichi back on the bed and left the room. He returned with a doctor, who was called Dr. Kik. Dr. Kik checked in on Shuichi, asking him all sorts of questions and stuff. He left the room a few minutes later, after he gave Shuichi a pill for his headache. The doctor advised for Shuichi to stay calm and not to bounce around before he left.
"Well, that'll be hard for someone like you to do" Yuki teased. "You're always bouncing off the walls. I might have to send you back here again…." He smirked evilly at Shuichi, and Shuichi growled.
"Meanie…" he pouted. "Hey, when do I get to leave?" He tugged on Yuki's shirt lazily. He was still a bit tired and dizzy, so he used it partly for support and partly for comfort. He looked up at his lover and smiled weakly.
"Dunno" Yuki replied flatly. "No one told me. If I could guess, I'd say tomorrow. I can probably take care of you at home by tomorrow." Shuichi's eyes became hearts.
"You're gonna take care of me?" Shuichi asked happily, forgetting about those memories tugging at the back of his head. "YAY! Yuki loves me! He's gonna take care of…me…." Shuichi collapsed on to Yuki's chest and closed his eyes.
"Baka, I told you not to get too excited…" Yuki mumbled and he rolled his eyes. He smiled down at his sleeping lover.
Meanwhile, a certain black-haired man walked into the hospital.
A/N: That wasn't a cliffy, right? PLEASE TELL ME IT WASN'T! Even if it is, I'll update tomorrow if people are really interested. So, no worries, right? -avoids meat hook- I just never know where to end my chapters! GAH! XX Don't yell at me! Or I won't update at all because I'll be avoiding the meat hook of doom! And that'll just make things worse! So, please just read and review. If you do, I'll update tomorrow! (if I get enough reviews)
Oh, and if you like the convos, tell me in the review. If you don't, just don't say anything. I'm gonna see how many people enjoy them, so I don't write them for nothing. ADIOS!
