Sorry for the wait!

Eh-hem. Hi.

Well, I don't usually have a lot of time to work on stuff. I won't give up on the story, but during the week I have a lot of things that I need to get done, so it is the weekends that I update. Sorry that I didn't warn you ahead of time, because that was kind of a cliffhanger.

So I did have some time on Wednesday, but my laptop (which is more then a decade old) wasn't starting and it was a big issue.

XD
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or any of the characters mentioned.

"How ya doing, Suguru?" K asked, not looking up from Hiro's wound that he was applying pressure to in hopes of making it stop bleeding so hard. However, it wasn't working as planned and though he was breathing heavily, Hiro hadn't regained consciousness.

"Been better," Suguru said breathlessly, he rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling, trying to focus on things other then the bullet lodged somewhere near his stomach.

"What about you, Ryuichi?" K said.

Ryuichi stared straight ahead, he didn't answer at first. Kumagoro was clenched in his fists. He took a breath before finally saying, "I'm fine." His voice was hush.

Yuki stopped struggling against Tohma after awhile, he started to shake even harder then he was previously and slowly, his knees gave in and he sat on the floor. Fully awake, but unable to get up. He wanted to bolt and go get Shuichi, but he couldn't even find the energy to get away from his brother-in-law, so how was he supposed to play the knight in shining armor?

The idea fogged into his mind of Shuichi dying, he tried to comprehend it, understand that on that day, Shuichi was going to die and there was nothing he could do. He put his face in his hands and mumbled this thoughts out loud. It was too hard to figure out. A world without Shuichi. Shuichi being shot in the head, or chest, or maybe even strangled or killed in some other way.

"Eiri?" Tohma prodded, squatting down and putting a hand on Yuki's shoulder.

"Go away," Yuki murmured.

"Eiri." Tohma sighed.

"Get the hell away from me!" Yuki demanded, shoving Tohma away. The boss stared wide-eyed for a moment, but decided that it was his fault for nagging, he shook his head and crawled over to Ryuichi.

"We need to put pressure on your injuries," Tohma said, slipping out of his coat and pushing it against the second bullet wound Ryuichi received. The singer didn't react except for squeezing his plushie harder. Ryuichi squirmed a bit, "That is an expensive jacket," he pointed out, trying to move so that Tohma would stop getting blood on it.

Tohma frowned and held Ryuichi still as he continued to apply pressure, "I don't care about the coat. The last thing we need is you losing too much blood."

"Tohma," Ryuichi mumbled.

Tohma shushed him, "Don't worry about it."

So Ryuichi did as he was told and stayed quiet. Nobody would say it, but they were all thinking about Shuichi. It wasn't possible for him to die, right?

"Sit down," Mao said, shoving Shuichi into a chair.

Shuichi ran into the chair, knocked it over, and fell hard on the side of it.

"Eh," he whined, his rib cage was throbbing

"So cute," Mao cackled, grabbing Shuichi by the arm, yanking him up, then throwing him into a different chair.

"Don't do this, please, don't do this!" Shuichi babbled, the tears coming on quickly and not ceasing once they started.

Mao completely ignored his begging, he continued his plans as though Shuichi wasn't saying a thing.

"We don't need to do anything weird, like chants or something. You know, I looked it up and there are all these weird rituals that have been done before a planned journey. I figure we won't waste our time with any of that. Lets just load and go!" Mao explained, he giggled again and pivoted in a circle.

"You first and then me," he said, raising the gun and pointing it at Shuichi's head.

"No! Please! Don't do it, don't do it!" Shuichi clapped his hands together, he was sobbing and screeching. "I can give you anything you want! Money, sex, anything. Don't shoot me!"

"It has been fun, Shuichi Shindo," Mao said.

"Please!" Shuichi screamed.

Mao smirked and pulled the trigger.

Shuichi bolted out of the chair and plowed into Mao, knocking him over. Out of surprise, Mao lost his grip on the gun. Shuichi snatched it away and jumped to his feet, backing away.

"Shuichi," Mao cooed holding out his hands gently, "I had no clue that you wanted to go first, but I don't think that will work, considering we haven't really created a trusting bond yet. We can work on that in the next life. Luckily I brought a second." Mao reached into his back pocket, in one swift move he pulled a hand gun out and pulled the trigger.

Shuichi threw his body sideways as soon as he saw the second gun. He avoided being killed and he retaliated by shooting back. He felt his body get forced backwards with every shot, rattling him hard. He closed his eyes and stopped shooting after the fifth bullet exited the gun. With every shot he let off, he felt a little bit of his energy draining and he couldn't bare to shoot anymore.

He looked at Mao, three of those shots hit him. One in the head. Mao's eyes widened further then anybody else's had that day. His mouth fell open and a trickle of blood dripped from his forehead into his eyes. He tried to mouth something, but he knees crumbled and he fell to the floor.

Shuichi started to hyperventilate, he held the gun pointed at Mao for a few minutes, ready to fire again if he had to, though he doubted he could make himself pull that trigger a single time more.

Mao didn't move.

Shuichi got on his knees and crawled over to Mao, hesitantly pushing his shoulder as lightly as a needy kitten would nuzzle into somebody.

Mao still didn't move.

Shuichi started to breathe harder, he wasn't crying anymore, but he was barely breathing. He slowly took a pulse on Mao. There was none.

"Oh...oh god." Shuichi panted, he pushed himself backwards as fast as he could and stared. His hands were quivering. He wiped his face and ran his hands through his hair, almost pulling it out as it caught under his nails.

Everybody awake in the other room looked up when they heard the first gunshot. Ryuichi looked down and started to cry quietly.

The room was too tense, nobody could think of something to say.

"Dammit," K said under his breath.

But then, another set of five shots popped, becoming ambient in their studio.

"What does that mean?" Tohma asked himself out loud.

"I dunno," K answered.

Suguru had passed out.

Yuki didn't respond to anything. Completely unsure of what had happened, Ryuichi started to sob harder. Tohma hugged him. Ryuichi didn't hug him back. His fists were so tight around Kumagoro, that he always ripped the pink fabric.

The door slowly opened, it caught everybody's attention. K jumped to his feet.

They expected to see Mao again, or somebody with the police, or god knows who...

...but it was Shuichi.

"Shuichi!" Ryuichi squealed, crying harder with relief.

"Where is Mao?" Tohma asked right away.

Yuki looked up at Shuichi standing there. Was this really happening? Or did the wounds make him delusional? He took a deep breath and looked harder, Shuichi didn't seem to be an illusion and he didn't seem to be hurt either.

Shuichi kept his eyes down and his arms folded across his chest, he cracked out so quietly that it took everyone a minute to really realize what he said. "I killed him."

"I'm going to get the police," K announced suddenly. He ran down the hallway and didn't have to go far, there was an army police forces barricaded just out the front doors.

"In here, men!" K called, going into old habits and motioning roughly down the hall.

Cops, detectives, and paramedics stormed the building.

I would like to thank everybody who reviewed. Good stuff! I'd love it if you keep it up.

What did you think? This chapter actually gave me a lot of issues. It felt too rushed.