Saturday, November 22, 2008

Gravitation

Buoyancy vs. Gravity

Chapter 19: Ever Burning Fire of the Heart

Tatsuha realized that no matter how long he lived he would never forget the sight of his older brother's body flying through the air as it was engulfed in flames.

He shuddered as the scene replayed in his head while he and K-san rowed away from NG and toward the shattered remains of the demolished ships. Pieces of deck and mast knocked into their boat with hollow thuds, causing the eerie silence to waver.

The short journey away from the NG with K had seemed to take years. The silence that had fallen over the two happy men oppressed any kind of talk or merry making. This search for a beloved older brother's body wasn't a time to joke or make light of a terrible situation.

When the ship had exploded, Mika had been so distraught Tohma was forced to drag her bellow deck. Tatsuha and K had taken it upon themselves to traverse the stygian (1) expanse in search of the body of Eiri Uesugi.

Swallowing hard, Tatsuha blinked to alleviate the stinging behind his eyes. "I'm glad Shuichi wasn't above deck to see it."

K continued to row as he answered, "Rumiko said he lost consciousness just after the doctor finished stitching him up." K shuddered then continued, "I could hear him crying for Eiri just before the explosion. I-... I don't want to be there when he's told that Eiri-san didn't..."

Tatsuha looked to the left, trying to block out the pain that accompanied K's words. His eyes fell upon the bodies of soldiers and pirates floating lifelessly in the water; wood from decks and rope from rigging drifting on the swells of the calm sea. Then his eyes fell on a body with blond hair clinging unconsciously to a section of deck.

Realization hit Tatsuha like a force as he shouted, "Eiri!"

The deck was frantic as Tatsuha and K carried Eiri's barely alive body aboard the NG. The doctor who had operated on Shuichi came rushing up to examine the new patient.

"He's alive, but barely. I'll need the infirmary prepped for surgery. He has severe burns on his back, a wounded shoulder and shards of wood embedding in his..."

It seemed that the list of Eiri's injuries went on and on; in the excitement for finding him alive and pulling up the anchor to begin sailing toward Japan no one noticed the shaking body clinging to the wall next to the stairs.

"Eiri!" Shuichi was weak and shaking. His back hurt and he could feel the blood begin to seep down his skin again as the wounds reopened, He could feel the pull of his tight skin and the stitches holding his inside in, but all he cared about was his lover lying on the deck bleeding, burned, and wet.

He staggered over to the tall blond man and collapsed onto the deck next to his lax body. Holding his left arm around his aching middle Shuichi reached with his right and brushed blond bangs away from his lover's bruise tinted eye lids. "Eiri? Eiri, love, please open your eyes."

Tears begin to leak from his tired and blurred eyes, but he kept a warm hand on Eiri's chilled skin. "Love, please don't leave me! You just found me, you can't leave me now!"

The blonde's eye continued to stay closed and his body continued to lay unmoving on the deck as people rushed around the two lovers. Shuichi stroked Eiri's left cheek as it was unmarred by burns or injury and clasped his cold hand tightly. "Eiri! Wake up! You have to wake up!"

Warm, tender hands finally wrapped around Shuichi's shoulders and gently tugged him away from his lover as deck hands came forward with a nurse and the doctor to take Eiri below deck.

"No! No! Don't take my Eiri!" Shuichi tried to break away form the arms around his shoulders as clasped Eiri's hand even tighter, preventing the crew from taking him below deck.

Another pair of hands was placed on Shuichi's face as the first began to pry Shu's fingers away from Eiri's cold lifeless hand.

"Shuichi, baby." Rumiko's voice was soft and soothing. "They're going to take Eiri and operate on him. He's injured quite badly."

Looking into his mother's kind violet eyes, Shuichi finally let the tears spring freely and he collapsed into her arms as Maiko clasped his trembling hands and stroked his hair in a comforting gesture. "Eiri was so pale! He was barely breathing, Mama. I can't live if he dies!"

Wrapping her arms around her son's upper shoulders to avoid the bleeding whip slashed etched into his back, Rumiko soothed, "I know, baby. He'll be alright. He'll be just fine." He has to be...

All Eiri was aware of was pain. His whole body felt like it had been through the wringer. The lingering burning on his back and face was almost unbearable and the cold that seemed to encase his body was doing little to numb him from the agony of his injuries. The only good thing that could be taken from such a feeling was that it confirmed, in no uncertain terms, that he was indeed still alive and that he might be able to get back to his love, Shuichi.

"Scalpel! I need a scalpel!..."

Slowly voices began to filter through his hazy senses and pain began to intensify.

"Doctor, I think he's coming around!"

He could see blurred figures rushing around him and smell sea water, candle wax, and blood. Gods, he hurt everywhere.

"I'm making an incision. The first layers of skin have been burnt off, but the shards of wood are still embedded into his muscles!"

A sharp agonizing pain started at his left shoulder and slowly began to slice toward his spine. He needed to get out! Needed to find Shuichi. Shuichi...

"Hold him down! He can't be moving while I'm working on him!"

Fear began to mix with the pain and Eiri struggled harder to get away from the painful hands clasping him. Then a pair of strong, but gentle hands gripped his forearms and held them down to the operating table.

"It's alright Aniki. It's going to be okay."

Tatsuha... "Shuichi... Have to..." His voice was cracking like shattered wood, his throat burned from the salt water he had inhaled.

A hand left his arm and was transferred to his wet blond hair, stroking in comforting movements. "Shuichi's fine. He's waiting for you, Aniki." Tatsuha's voice was soothing and familiar in the sea of pain, darkness, and confusion. "You have to lay still. They're trying to help you, Eiri. They're trying to help you stay alive for Shuichi."

Alive for Shuichi... It cut through the agony induced haze and Eiri stilled his struggling to quickly drift into unconsciousness, escaping the pain to wait till the time when he could go to Shuichi.

Tatsuha sighed in relief as his older brother passed out and went limp on the operating table. "He's out. Hurry up and do what you need to do. I'll stay incase he comes to again."

The Doctor nodded and went back to his work. The burnt skin on Eiri's back would have to be removed and the splinters of wood removed. The gaping whole in his shoulder sewn up and the burns and gash on the right side of his face tended.

With a heavy sigh, the Doctor bent over his patient and continued to hunt for wood and slice away the dead skin and tissue. This poor lad was in for a lot of pain when he woke and an extremely long healing process. The scaring on his face would be minimal but his back...

The Doctor shook away the images and focused back on his task.

The sound of a long heavy sigh from his sister brought Shuichi out of his restless sleep. His back was a mixture of cooling ease and burning pain, but that told him that his sister was doing all she could to patch up his back.

Now that he was lucid and awake, he needed to know what had become of his crew on their mission to rescue him. Clearing his throat Shuichi asked, "Maiko-"

Maiko turned back to the tube of medicine and as if reading his mind, cut him off. "We didn't lose anyone. Only a few people are seriously injured..." She paused. "Hiro being one of them."

The Pirate King stiffened and tried to sit up only falling back rather painfully as his sister pushed him back down. "Don't move!" Her nerves and fright for her brother and their crew were finally getting to her. She almost never snapped at her beloved brother.

Glancing over his shoulder to look at his sister, Shuichi asked, "I really scared you, didn't I?"

The young pirate smacked her brother in the back of the head and gave a shaky chuckle. "Damn straight you did. You and Hiro, both."

Taking a calming breath, Maiko told of how she had found them; Suguru about to be shot and Hiro bleeding to death with a gaping whole in his shoulder. Both Shindous were tense by the end of Maiko's tale. They had come dangerously close to losing their adopted brothers and that was not a pleasant thing to think about.

"He should be recovering, though. His injury wasn't too severe, but Suguru refuses to leave his side." Maiko helped Shuichi to sit up so she could wrap his back in bandages to keep his wounds clean and covered.

Getting into a comfortable position, Shuichi gritted his teeth against the small amount of pain as Maiko wrapped the gauze tight around him leaving no room for error or slipping of the bandages. He looked down at his left forearm where the long gash from elbow to wrist was sewn tight.

When Maiko was finished with wrapping the bandage around her brother's back she moved to his front and began to wrap his arm. "Shuichi, I know you're scared, but Eiri won't leave you. He... He was so frantic when he found out you had been kidnapped. I couldn't imagine he would leave you here alone."

Her voice trailed off as her own memories of love from long ago, and unexplained disappearance flitted across her mind. Shuichi watched his sister's eyes cloud over in thought then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He'll return, Maiko. Yuuji wouldn't have left without a reason."

Jumping in surprised, Maiko gave her older brother a nonchalant grin. "Here I am thinking about old flames and your lover is fighting for his life. What a sister I am."

Letting the subject drop Shuichi chuckled, "You're the best little sister I could have asked for." Then lifting his newly bandaged arm for inspection, he noted that the gauze was tight and secure.

Just as he was dropping his arm to lie in his lap, the door to the cabin open and two men struggled through the door with Eiri lying on a stretcher between them.

The sight of this lover almost caused Shuichi to cry out in despair.

Eiri was laying his stomach. His torso was completely covered in gauze, but the traces of fresh blood on his back and left shoulder revealed that his injuries only extended to those parts. The right side of his face was bandaged from temple to jaw. His beautiful blond hair was matted and dirty and his eyes were closed, but he was breathing and alive and that was all Shuichi cared about.

One of the men, who had carried Eiri in, stepped forward and addressed Shuichi. "Seguchi-san gave us orders to inform you of all of Uesugi-san's injuries."

The young Pirate King could only nod. His eyes were still locked onto his still sleeping lover, but his ears were open and aware.

The man took a deep breathe and recounted all of Eiri's injuries in detail and explained what had been done to heal them. Shuichi could only stare and listen till the man was done and had left.

Burns... Scaring... These things meant little to nothing to Shuichi. He was only concerned that his love was alive and going to recuperate fully. That was all he cared about.

The sound of the door quietly opening and closing, signaled Maiko taking her leave to leave her brother and his lover in peace.

They had placed Eiri on the recovery cot right next to his and Shuichi carefully extended a hesitant arm to gently thread his fingers through Eiri's hair. The heat of his scalp almost made Shuichi cry. It was such a relief to feel the life heat of his lover as opposed to the numbing cold he had last felt.

Shuichi lowered him self onto his side and reached with his other hand and clasped Eiri's tightly. Eiri was alright. They were together now. Everything was alright.

K watched as his two agents, Ma and Ken, walked out of his office to grab some down time.

The things they told him in the debriefing were disturbing. Shuichi's torture and Ma's rape were the worst, but it was astonishingly clear that a dead Aizawa was a good Aizawa.

That Pirate King was beyond insane. The seas are a much better place without his insanity marring its waters. But something puzzled K to no end.

Taki Aizawa was Shuichi Shindou's older half brother. How could that be possible?

"It's very possible, K-san." K's eyes snapped to his open office door.

Rumiko stood in the doorway leaning against the jam with her arms crossed over her breasts and an unhappy frown etched in between her perfect pink eyebrows.

"Rumiko-san?"

The Madam held her hand up to stop K's questions. "Before Taki was old enough to be a captain, his father was the most feared and cruel pirate on the Eastern Seas."

She took a step inside and walked over to the window and stared out at the ocean passing by. "He would make frequent stops at Pleasure Port. He would bring good business, but I knew what kind of men sailed under his flag and forbid any of my girls to service them."

Her voice cracked ever so slightly. "Then one night, he came to my room and forced him self upon me. My dear, dear Shuichi was the product of that union, but he seems to have inherited everything from me, thank the Lord."

K stood and walked over to Rumiko and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Shuichi is a good man, Rumiko-san. It was my honor to help recover him." She turned to face him and K continued.

"I have been in the pirate hunting business for quite sometime now. Your son is one of the most honorable I have had the pleasure of stalking." They both chuckled at the irony in that admission.

The pink haired madam let a couple of tears leak from her eyes which K wiped away and smiled at her. Rumiko looked up into K's eyes and smiled. "It's been a pleasure working with you, K-san."

Turning away from the tall blond she stepped to the door and opened it. "If you are ever in Pleasure Port, do come and visit. You and Judy will be most welcomed." With that she stepped out of the doorway and shut it behind her, leaving K standing in front of the window with a small smile on his lips.

"That woman sure is something else."

A pained groan alerted Shuichi to Eiri's return to consciousness. Struggling to sit up Shuichi returned his hands to clasp at Eiri's and run through his blond hair.

Eiri had never felt so lethargic or pained in his life. The only reprieve from the agony and darkness were familiar hands comforting him and a soothing, loving voice whispering in his ear.

"Eiri, love, I'm here. It's alright." Shuichi was whispering into his ear. He could hardly contain his excitement of finally being able to talk with his lover.

Groaning, Eiri opened his heavy eye lids to be met with the angelic sight of Shuichi sitting before him. The light from the window behind the Pirate King casting a glow about his body making him seem like a celestial being.

"Shuichi?" His voice was rusty and dry, but his concern was evident.

Leaning closer to his love, the pirate captain gave him an amazing, loving smile. "Eiri, my love, everything will be alright now. We're finally together. It's finally over."

Eiri let his chapped and slightly burned lips curve into a smile. "Shu, I love you. I couldn't leave. Not yet."

Placing a tender and whisper of a kiss on his lover's lips, Shuichi whispered with tears in his eyes, "I'm glad you stayed." Then stroking his hair gently he said, "Rest now, love. I'll be here when you wake up; right here."

The blonde's eyes slide shut and he let his body relax. The feel of his lover's ministrations and the sound of his soft, whispered voice lulling him into the first restful sleep he'd had since sailing out of Pleasure Port.

Yes, he was with Shuichi. He would never let Shuichi go. Not as long as he lived.

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update this. There isn't really an excuse except for lack of interest and failing muse. I hope I still have readers that are interested! Review and enjoy the rest of this story!

(1) Stygian refers to the River Styx. In Greek mythology it's the river that flows between Earth and Hades.