Disclaimer: Nope, still not rich enough to own Gravitation and its characters. The original charas are mine though… Then again, imagine if I owned Gravitation, it would be one big angsty drama with an 'everyone-dies' finale…
A/N: I almost feel bad for one of the characters in this chapter now. Almost. (coughs) Anyway, I actually have chapter twenty-two finished and all I need to do is go through the beta (I'm such a difficult writer D;)… then I'm off to figure out how I'm gonna include the police into the mix. Asking people around about Japanese crime investigation had my head reeling from all the info that… just… refused to take root. Or much sense. Imagining the great Yuki Eiri detained in a prison cell was scary!
I still can't remember what hair color Yukito last ended up with, so if anyone remembers and it's not brown, then uh… please remind me? The tiny little details are so hard to remember, though I only have myself to blame for that. Anyway, we're closer to the end… just a little more! We're already into December fic-wise. I hope to make the grand finale during Christmas in the fic…. Around that, anyway. Three more weeks. And don't loose hope... Shuichi… is somewhere… I guess, people will be… disappointed next chapter but….
Much thanks to the great kageotogi/HawkClowd, whose amazing beta-ing and godlike grammatical skills make me wanna improve so badly. I keep forgetting what I've learnt…. Uber thanks for the patience! I'll improve, somehow… v.v;;
And uber thanks to the people who are still following this fic Thank you! (hands out cookies to caberwolf, anime-earth, asara kaden, cocoke5, and Dee) Knowing that people are still reading inspire me to work harder!
Btw! (coughs) I'm currently following Never Goodbye by Coco Reed. It's a Weiss Kreuz/Yami no Matsuei crossover with Omi deathness and torture and… yeah, Muraki. Go read and review her stuff D; We need more good Omi-fics…
And now Onto the fic!
Chapter Twenty-One: Death
Kyoko's thoughts were whirling by the time she left the restaurant. Standing in front of her car, she barely registered the fact that her hands were shaking as she slipped it into its keyhole. Yukito had been angry underneath the gentle smile he wore for the duration of their conversation. It was an oddly frightening sight, seeing that smile but feeling the dark waves of anger emanate from him. Kyoko wasn't empathic or anything ridiculous like that, she could even be called self-centered, but still she felt the emotion.
Footsteps sounded behind her: the sharp staccato of high-heeled shoes. She spun around, one hand unconsciously sliding into her purse, and she found herself face-to-face with Yukito's fiancée. Behind her stood a taller woman with fiery red her. She gulped and stood up straight.
"Hello, Mizuki-san," she greeted amiably.
The other woman smiled gently and then clasped her hands together in front of her dress.
"A beautiful evening to be outside, isn't it?" Mizuki Ai asked conversationally in a polite voice that somehow reminded Kyoko that the woman was a Go player. She'd always connected Go with good manners and rituals, even tea ceremonies for some reason.
"Y-yes." Kyoko hadn't meant to stutter but did, and noticed the sharp, calculating gaze the redhead was subjecting her to.
Ai looked downwards, seemingly in thought. For a while, she was silent and then, just as Kyoko began entertaining thoughts of excusing herself from the awkward conversation, she made a simple gesture with her left hand. Kyoko caught the redhead nodding and then there was a gun aimed at her chest in the redhead's hand.
The blonde turned her attention toward her again. "You hurt Yuki," Ai said coldly. "I don't like it when people hurt the people I love—" Kyoko furrowed her eyebrows a bit at the woman's choice of words but said nothing. "—and I love Yuki. He's been… unhappy… lately. Upset. It's your fault, isn't it?" The question was asked softly and Kyoko almost nodded, knowing how she had, indeed, upset the teen tonight, but then she remembered Yuki Eiri and she clamped her lips shut.
A loud click told Kyoko the redhead had just released the safety lock. Kyoko felt no fear, though; they wouldn't dare, would they?
"It's your fault," Ai said finally and then edged closer, locking cold green eyes into Kyoko's. "Don't you ever dare go near my Yuki again. He doesn't deserve to be hurt anymore. If you dare, Amano-san, there are ways I can arrange for you to never be able to hurt him again."
"Pam." Kyoko's legs collapsed beneath her at the sound and she slid against the body of her car. When she looked up, she found the redhead smiling slightly as she looked down at her with calculating eyes. The redhead had put away her gun.
"Goodbye, Amano-san," Kyoko heard Ai say, her eyes suddenly transfixed onto the cold ground. "I pray we never meet again."
000
The door opened before Seguchi Tohma with a welcoming creak and he let himself into his brother-in-law's new apartment armed with groceries and other provisions. He knew all too well how Eiri hadn't come out of his apartment for almost a week and, even when he had, it certainly hadn't been to fill the empty stores of his new home.
"Eiri-san?" Tohma called out as he quietly closed the door behind him. The apartment was dark and silent, almost as if there was no one at home, but Tohma knew better. He deposited the bags he carried at the doorstep, removed his shoes, and walked to the living room. He sighed softly and shook his head as he recognized the blond head peeking out from one of the sofa's backrest
"Eiri-san," he whispered as he sat on the armrest and began idly stroking the younger man's hair. Eiri stirred slightly beneath his touch but his eyes remained closed. Tohma turned his attention toward the center table beside the sofa, noting the number of empty beer cans on it: eight. Eiri had been busy.
Tohma knew he had been weak, had been unable to bring up the proper defenses before any damage could be done. It hurt to see Eiri so defeated again, to watch him slowly but surely regress into the self-destructive habits he had picked up shortly after Yuki Kitazawa's rape. He had only barely been able to prevent Eiri from doing so when Shuichi died and that had taken gargantuan efforts from both him and his wife… and the whole Uesugi clan.
He swallowed hard and knotted his eyebrows, focusing on the harsh lines on the younger man's face and thinking. Amano Kyoko had made fresh the wounds Eiri bore from Shuichi's death, sprinkled it with salt with her so-called 'truth'. And then, there was Ryuichi – his own Ryuichi – coming to torment Eiri more. He hadn't thought it possible, hadn't foreseen it, but the damage was done and here, he knew, lay the broken remains of what had once been Uesugi Eiri.
Tohma bent down and pressed his lips against the novelist's forehead in a kiss. Eiri's forehead was cold with sweat and he reeked of alcohol, but Tohma could only think of the pain he must be suffering even in his dreams. He pitied Eiri.
"Eiri, I'll protect you," he whispered as he carefully wrapped his arms around Eiri's shoulders. "You have to be strong. You have to pull through this… so I can fix you. Don't leave me…"
Tohma closed his eyes and pressed their foreheads together. He half-hoped Eiri would wake up and acknowledge his presence with a sharp glare and a gruff greeting, but when the novelist didn't, he was thankful. When awake, the novelist would never let Tohma hold him like this and it had been so long – so very long – since he last held the younger man in his protective arms. He held onto Eiri for several long minutes and then reluctantly pulled away.
The cans on the coffee table caught his attention again. With a smile and the image of Mika shaking her pretty head hopelessly at him in his mind, he began crushing the cans one by one. With that done, he collected them in his arms and walked into the kitchen, where he thoughtfully deposited them into the bin for recyclable items.
"What would you do without me, Eiri-san?" Tohma found himself asking as he looked over his shoulder to the general direction of the novelist's sofa. He frowned then, remembering suddenly the reports that had greeted him on the bright morning that day.
Apparently, the same Amano Kyoko who had unwittingly provided the media with footage from that night had come to meet with Eiri. What they talked about would remain the subject of Tohma's calculating imaginations, but he was sure that whatever had gone through between them at the Red Cavalier had certainly hurt Eiri and pushed him further to the brink. He wondered how long it would it be before Eiri fell into insanity. Or, how deep into it was he?
There was nothing much left to keep Eiri from falling into the deep end. He had even given up on his writing career a while back. Tohma knew Eiri had said he would be taking an 'indefinite break', but he knew his brother-in-law well and knew that 'indefinite break' could well stretch into the rest of his life, however long that could be now.
Uesugi Eiri, the little boy he had known, had always aspired to be a writer. The reason for the career choice was simple – because it would allow him to weave stories and always, always make what he wanted happen. Little Uesugi Eiri was a victim of circumstance and the idea of controlling little, fictional lives and directing their every action and orchestrating the consequences that followed difficult choices naturally enticed the boy. To think that he had given up on that, too…
Before he knew it, he was halfway to the sofa again, but he knew he couldn't stay too long. Eiri would wake up soon and break the enchantment.
"You've fallen hard, Eiri," Tohma whispered, not knowing himself whether he was referring to the difficult patch his brother-in-law was in or the simple fact that he had loved Shuichi much too deeply. "I hope… I want to…." He paused and continued in a steadier tone, one wrought with strong conviction. "I will catch you."
Against the strong desire to place one last kiss on that sun-kissed head, he spun around sharply and headed down back toward the front door. He schooled himself to wear a mask of indifference. Weakness had no place in his being. He had to be strong. If for even one moment he allowed himself to fail, it wouldn't be him to suffer the consequences but them: the people he loved and held dear in his heart.
Once outside Eiri's apartment, he found himself thinking about Ryuichi.
The man had hurt Eiri, had gone against him, had done something terrible, but Tohma would continue to love him. And like a parent to a wayward child, he would have to find a way to discipline his friend to prevent it from ever happening again.
"I have to be strong," he reminded himself darkly as he produced a pair of sunglasses from his coat and slipped them on. "If I have to be harsh, I will be. I will be."
000
"You're looking down, chibi. Whas'sup?"
Craning his head slightly, Yukito regarded Ruka with a slight nod but remained silent. He was leaning against a window, arms folded on the windowsill as he looked out into the school building's courtyard.
"Seriously, you pouting like that is enough to worry anyone –" Ruka placed a hand on his shoulder. "How many as it been? I think three or five girls came up to me at lunch to ask me what happened to you…. Juni, of course, was worried sick."
"I'm okay, don't worry," Yukito said simply and continued his to silently look out of the window.
"Yukito." Ruka's voice was serious. "Did something happen between you and Ai?" he asked quietly.
Yukito turned sharply to him and shot him an incredulous look. "No! I mean… No, it's got nothing to do with Ai… we're fine. I love her." His face softened. "And she loves me… no, it has nothing to do with Ai…"
"Then what is it?" With the arm he had on Yukito's shoulder, Ruka forced the younger teen to face him. The clouded blue eyes that met his had him frowning. He asked again, "Tell me what's wrong, Yukito. I know that look. What can be worse than almost killing Yuki Eiri?" Ruka had meant it as a joke but Yukito's face darkened instantly.
The brunet pushed his redhead's friend's hand from his shoulder and leaned onto the windowsill again.
"Fukuyama-san wants to meet me later at the concert site," Yukito said finally. At the edge of his vision, he saw the arched eyebrow and confused look on Ruka's face. He sighed and slumped forward, keeping his gaze straightforward.
"What's wrong with that? Obviously, the girl's infatuated with you—" Ruka paused to snort. "—but you have Ai, you love her and couldn't you just tell her off now, chibi? Oh wait, you didn't know she liked you…?"
"…I had an inkling," Yukito said softly, his voice muffled by his arms as he pressed his head against it.
"Then what's the problem…why so upset?"
"She asked Nanae-san to tell me," Yukito said again. "I was… mad at her. She… did something last Saturday… I…" He gritted his teeth and hoped Ruka didn't notice his tension. "…I didn't like it." His voice came out hard and harsh but he didn't realize it did until he noticed Ruka watching him with worried eyes.
Yukito smiled at his friend.
"It's not as bad as it sounds… I… was just upset." Furious. She brought Yuki Eiri with her. As if stalking him wasn't bad enough. Yukito bit back the words and hoped it didn't come out on his face. Lately, it had become easier for him to become angered. He wasn't like this before, hadn't been for a long while. Tohma had taught him how to approach difficult subjects calmly and with a sound mind. Lately, dark voices filled with hatred and contempt sounded at his mind whenever little grievances happened upon him, fuelling the small sparks of displeasure he felt into full-blown anger.
Yukito shook his head and sighed. "I'm just… thinking about whether I should go," he said. "I'm still… y'know… not cooled down enough—" He broke into a nervous chuckle and that action seemed to ease Ruka. The redhead smiled and brought a hand up to Yukito's head where he gave bleached hair a playful ruffling.
"Go, Yukito," Ruka told him with a grin. "It'll cool you down, I think. You're not the type of person to hold grudges and—" He sighed. "—seriously, you keeping it to yourself until you 'cool down' will do you more bad, the way I see it. Tell her you were upset with whatever she pulled last Saturday – let her say sorry; that might be why she wants to meet with you, and then tell her you're taken. Heck, tell her you got your fiancée pregnant and have to marry her by the end of the year to keep her away if you have to!"
Yukito paled at the mention of pregnancy. Ruka laughed.
"…wait, you didn't really get her pregnant, did you, chibi!"
Yukito began blushing. "We… we used….she takes…." He turned away from Ruka sharply and frowned. Of course, he and Ai naturally used protection. He wasn't an idiot – he didn't….
A slight pain behind his eyes had him instantly rubbing at the affected area. Ah, there, he was remembering that night. He shook his and managed to meet the once again worried look on Ruka's face with a weak smile.
"I'm going to the clinic to get some painkillers," he said as he pushed himself away from the windows, one hand still at his forehead. "Thank you, Ruka… I'll meet up with her tonight and tell her off like you said."
"Yukito…" Ruka said, at first in a worried tone before finally breaking into a smile. "You do that, chibi. Then you tell me about it later, okay?"
"I will."
And Yukito was out of the classroom.
000
Juni was on his way to meet with his band when he caught Yukito walking slowly toward the clinic. He'd have followed him if it weren't for the dark look on other's face, one that made Juni's heart wrench with worry and fear. That and the fact that he was running late and knew his bandmates would murder him if he forwent another practice in favor of sticking with Yukito and his group.
Later on, though, after several hours of repeating the same five songs over and over, he was free for the night. Remembering the dark look on Yukito's face, he quickly set out to look for him. But Yukito was nowhere to be found. He was, however, fortunate enough to find Ruka and Takumi conversing with some of the school council members about some arrangements for the music festival and was soon quizzing them on Yukito's absence.
"Where's Yukito?" Juni all but yelled, as he slowed into a jog toward the pair. Takumi regarded him with an arched eyebrow and Ruka shrugged.
"Home early?" the redhead suggested playfully. Juni frowned, knowing by the tone of the redhead's voice that this was far from true.
"I don't buy that," Juni said darkly and then narrowed his eyes at Takumi. "Do you know anything about this?"
"I've been busy helping with arrangements, as usual. So, no," the dark-haired teen said simply, tossing his ponytail back. He jerked a thumb towards Ruka, "He was with Yukito earlier on, though; ask him."
"I knew it!" Juni yelled and turned a potent glare towards Ruka. Ruka began chuckling.
"You'll be jealous though." The redhead bent down to meet the shorter boy's eye-level. Juni suddenly became conscious of his less-than-adequate height.
"Why?" Juni pouted.
Ruka grinned widely, flashing perfect, white teeth. "….He's off to meet with one lovely Kyoko."
The admission had an incredible effect on Juni. The half-Japanese boy's eyes widened and his jaw slacked as he stared disbelievingly at Ruka.
"You…. You…" Juni stopped himself. "Why?" he cried instead.
The redhead shrugged and gave Takumi beside him a slight smile. "Dunno, maybe he just wanted to enjoy the night breeze with her?"
Juni found himself stealing a glance out the windows beside them, noticing the darkened skies. "How long ago was this? When did he leave?" Ruka began laughing at him again. "Tell me!"
"Oh now, come on, don't be jealous." Ruka shook his head and folded his arms. "They just need to sort things out, 'kay? He's not interested in Kyoko or any other girl. He's still engaged, y'know?"
"But…"
A familiar DDR tune, which Juni remembered dancing to but couldn't name, beeped into life and Ruka was suddenly reaching into his pockets for his cellphone. With a pout, Juni folded his arms impatiently.
Ruka's face darkened suddenly and his eyebrows drew together in a tight frown. "Yukito, what's wrong? Yukito…."
That immediately got Juni and Takumi's attention. The two of them edged closer to the redhead.
"I… I don't understand you. Calm down... where… what happened…? Yukito… Get a hold of yourself!… Yukito--" Ruka stared at the cellphone in his hand.
"What happened?" Takumi was the one to ask. Juni could only stare mutely at Ruka.
"I don't know!" Ruka cried and threw his arms up in frustration. "I couldn't understand him… he was panicking and then… he hung up…" He trailed away, lost in thought, before continuing sharply, "We have to go to him. I know where he is—"
"Drive my car, Ruka!" Juni offered suddenly, grabbing the taller man by his shoulder. "It's faster… it'll get us there faster—"
"It's okay… I'll drive mine. I'll drive you two, if you want to come… It's near anyway. He's… he said he was going to be at the concert site…"
Reluctantly, Juni released Ruka from his hold and silently trailed behind him.
000
Kyoko was standing with her back away from him wheYukito arrived at the concert site. The dark-haired woman was dressed in a trendy mismatch of clothes – he was sure that was a high school mini-skirt over her jeans – with her arms lined with different kinds of colorful bracelets. She wore a cowboy hat to accentuate her wild apparel and it reminded him immediately of Tohma's little obsession with hats.
"Fukuyama-sa—" he began and was instantly cut off by an irritated Kyoko, as he'd predicted.
"Kyoko-san!" she corrected, spinning around sharply, one manicured hand with purple-painted nails resting on her hips. She regarded him with a frown that eased into a look Yukito couldn't name. His mind told him it was pity, but what was there to pity with him?
He tried to keep a plain expression on his face.
"I'm here," he said simply. Kyoko walked closer to him. It was getting dark and the silver matchstick earrings dangling in her ears glinted in the strong white lights around the concert site.
Kyoko breathed in deeply and then exhaled. "I'm glad you came!" she exclaimed. "I thought you wouldn't come… I was getting kinda desperate! … I even broke my phone…."
"Kyoko-san…. Why..." He amended himself and said firmly, "What do you want?"
The dark-haired woman frowned, thin eyebrows drawing together in a frown while her lips pressed together tightly. Yukito noticed the wetness of her lips, the way bits of bright red seemed to line it – had she been peeling off dried lip skin, or biting at it nervously until it drew blood?
"You love her, don't you?" Kyoko avoided his question and drew closer until she was within his arm's length.
"I do, of course," Yukito replied and wondered if that was her reason for calling him; if all she had wanted was a firm declaration of his love for his fiancée for her kill off whatever allusions she had of being with him.
Silly girl, a dark voice remarked amusedly in his mind. Yukito waited and watched Kyoko closely as she seemed to choose her next words with great care.
"Yukito," Kyoko said finally. The way she said his name sent slight shivers coursing through his body. "You need to open your eyes!"
Yukito blinked at her rapidly before frowning. He said nothing and waited for what else Kyoko was poised to say.
"She's using you! She's… Mizuki Ai… she's definitely using you—" Kyoko was shaking her head and making wild gestures with her hands. "—Yukito… you're… you're not what you think you are, who you think you are!"
Kyoko grabbed him by his shoulders and began shaking him. Her blue eyes burned through his and Yukito saw the desperation in them.
Yukito found himself bursting into a loud laugh. "Fukuyama-san, you've gone insane… haven't you?" He wrapped his hands around her wrists and gently pushed her back. "I don't know what's going through your head at this very moment but… this is insane." The desperate look remained on the woman's face but Yukito could only see the situation as being ridiculous. One moment she was asking him about his love for his fiancée, the next she was spouting nonsense about his identity….
"Listen to me!" Kyoko cried sharply, forcing her hands back onto his shoulder. "Mizuki Ai… that redhead friends of yours – Seguchi Tohma!—" Yukito flinched at the mention of Tohma's name. "—They're all using you! They're playing with your mind…. Keeping you here! You don't know who you are… but I… I do! I know who you are!"
She knows who you are, of course. It was the dark voice again, the sly existence that existed to pepper and stroke the fires of hatred and contempt in him. He was suddenly gripped by an unnamed fear and he froze.
"Fukuyama-san," he breathed. "Kyoko-san. Get a hold of yourself." He ordered calmly and was relieved when the older woman stopped. She released her grip on him and distanced herself from him.
With a smile, she apologized. "I'm sorry," she said softly, but Yukito saw the look in her eyes remained unchanged.
"I don't… " Yukito stopped himself and continued in a softer tone. "I don't know what's… happened… or what you're talking about… but… Tohma-kun and Ai – don't talk badly about them. You might be desperate for—"
"I'm worried for you, Yukito!" she cried suddenly. "It's not normal! I'm not a genius… I… I probably don't have the mind for this like I claim to, but I know… I know what's normal and what's not and your fiancée… she's not normal! She's using you! Everything is so clear when you look at it… my way... when you've seen something I bet you haven't, Yukito!"
"Kyoko-san…"
"And Tohma… Seguchi Tohma's lying through his teeth, Yukito," she turned away from him sharply and was silent for a few moments. "He knows, I'm sure he does." She closed in on him and took his hands into hers. "Yukito, it might seem far-fetched… but—Yukito, where were you two years ago? Why… you had amnesia, didn't you? Where did you have a car accident?"
Surprised by the question, Yukito instinctively backed away from her, but her hands on his kept him from gaining the distance he wanted. "How did you know?"
"I was snooping around hospital records, Yukito. I was looking for traces of Shindou Shuichi's murderers—"
"You're looking for what?" Yukito thought back to the accident weeks back. An uneasy feeling swept him as he remembered why the older woman had been adamant about it not being an accident.
"I found your record, Yukito. I was looking for Fujima Kouji's record and I found yours. So tell me, Yukito… how much of your life do you know? Where were you two years ago when you had an accident, hit your head hard enough to forget about everything?"
Each word Kyoko spoke went through his heart, planting seeds of doubt in places where there had only been certainty and faith. "I was in America. I had gotten a new car – I was in New York. I was reckless," Yukito said haltingly. To his dismay, Kyoko's lips broke into a triumphant grin.
"See? Yukito? That's where you're wrong." She produced a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and showed it to him. "Wonderful thing, these reports are, aren't they, Yuki?" She sniffed and shoved the paper into his face. "Read it," she ordered.
Hands trembling slightly, Yukito accepted the piece of paper while Kyoko continued her monologue. "How did you think I knew about your memory loss? Your injuries? The fact that you were in a car accident – but… you weren't in a car accident, where you? Why would you have a gunshot wound through your left shoulder if you were in a car accident, Yuki?"
"A gunshot…" Yukito whispered as he read through the printout. The information within it was brief – it looked like a summary report but the words amnesia, bullet wound, coma, and seizure stuck out.
"That's one of the earlier reports you had on your file—" Kyoko trailed away and gently placed her hands on his shoulders again. She pulled him into a hug. "Yukito, you didn't transfer to a hospital in New York until after a month here in Japan – here in Japan." Kyoko repeated the three words with more conviction. "You were in a coma, Yuki… you… didn't know—"
"Shut up," Yukito managed to whisper hoarsely, his voice muffled in her clothes.
"Yukito…"
"I said shut up!" he yelled and shoved her away from him. He crumpled the piece of paper in his hands into a ball and tossed it at her face. Kyoko winced.
"You're lying, bitch. You're lying!" He switched from Japanese to English fluidly.
"Yukito…"
"Bitch, I said shut up! You're putting lies into my mind… what do you know?" Yukito stopped himself and began taking deep breaths. He staggered away from her, panting while his heart beat madly in his ears. The words had been real, his name had been on the record, but he refused to believe it. Why should he? He was just an ordinary teenager, he had nothing on him, why was Kyoko doing this?
"I don't know what you want—" Yukito hissed, reverting back to Japanese without even knowing it. "—I'm just a high school student – if you wanted me badly… don't stoop so low!"
"I'm not doing this… " Kyoko closed the gap between them again and began shaking him again, to clear his mind maybe. But Yukito's mind was already reeling to process the new information. The voices were getting louder. Yukito wanted to bolt, to jump into his car and drive away – far away – from here. "Yukito, listen to me. You… you aren't Fujiwara Yukito. Maybe… you're not who I think you are… but you're not Fujiwara Yukito! They're lying…. Your fiancée, for example… what did she tell you about your engagement?"
Yukito said nothing and he hung his head dejectedly. Kyoko shook him harder and repeated her question.
Finally, in a quiet voice, he answered her. "It was arranged."
"Wrong! Until two years ago, Mizuki Ai was engaged to someone else and guess who… guess who she was engaged to!"
"Stop it!" Yukito cried and then he began whimpering as he brought his hands to his ears. "Please stop it," he begged. "Why are you doing this? I don't want to know! I don't need to know! I'm happy this way… please—"
He remembered suddenly how they looked at him back then, the way they would converse behind held-up hands around him. They didn't like him. They mocked his engagement with Ai, they laughed at him, they pitied him.
"Yukito, look at me."
Yukito did so, slowly. His whole body was trembling. He saw her smile, saw the calm in her face. Kyoko looked happy that he had… what? Lost? Accepted?
"I don't want to believe it," Yukito said with all honesty. His feet moved on their own, toward Kyoko. He frowned. She smiled wider but said nothing.
"I love Ai…" He insisted and the look on Kyoko's face seemed to ask: Even if she's lied to you?
She didn't lie.
"Get a hold of yourself, Yukito-kun," Yukito told himself. He began gritting his teeth. Kyoko watched him quietly.
Their eyes met. Blue.
And there was red – bright red that covered his sight completely. He tasted salt on his lips. Copper. Blood. The sounds registered later. A beep. It sounded like a beep. A thud. Two thuds.
When the red cleared, he was kneeling on the ground. Grey. Red.
A mass of different reds – dark, light, pink – splattered on the ground before him. Beside him. A bloodied head, a mess of broken bones and more blood on his lap. The words refused to come. His voice took a brief vacation. The voices laughed. The image repeated itself over and over in his mind but it was wrong. It was dark but it was bright now. Red.
Red.
He brought his hands up to his face, noticed they were drenched in blood, and covered his face – wet – with them.
His phone rang. He barely registered picking it up.
The dark voice was on the other line, louder than ever. Metallic. Cold. Hard. Taunting.
Familiar.
"It's done. You wanted her gone, didn't you? Aren't you relieved?"
A terrible calm overtook him. He called for help, then panicked as the words, the thoughts in his mind began swirling.
He was screaming before he knew it.
000
The putrid smell of rotting flesh and dried blood woke him up. He opened his eyes and was met with bright red letters written in blood set on many pieces of paper. The letters formed one word over and over again; "Die. Die. Die."
He curled up into a ball and leaned against the glass wall.
"You should've listened, Shuichi."
He looked up and found a pair of small glowing orbs in the dark. He sniffed and pressed his back against the wall more.
"Go away."
"You should, if you want to leave."
"I can't leave…." The smell of blood came stronger. He drew his breaths more slowly. "Go away, please… pleasepleaseplease… please go away…."
"I can't leave too, Shu-chan. It's your fault… your fault… all your fault…"
Shuichi closed his eyes and hugged his knees. He cried and smelled the decay on him.
"I don't want to die, please. Pleaseohgod,don'tletmedie... please…"
A cold hand touched his head. It smelled of death.
"We all do, Shu-chan."
000