A/N: WOW! Over 100 reviews and counting! I am so beyong happy right now, you have absolutely no idea! Even when the review count hit the 90's I didn't really realize how close I was to getting my first ever 100 reviews. Each and every one of my reviews deserves and big thanks and something special, but since I'm no stalker I can't really give you anything but A MILLION VIRTUAL HUGGLES!!!!!

Best Christmas gift ever you guys, honestly. Thank you so much for sticking with me and always letting me know what is bad and good about my writing. Please keep commenting. We're slowly nearing the end!!!

Author's Warning: Please understand that I have absolutely no medical training of any kind. I'm basing most of my content on information from the internet and my own common sense. What I have been writing and what I will continue to write will most likely be medically false, but works well for the storyline. I ask that you keep a completely open mind and don't judge this story based on my mistakes. I apologize in advance for any obvious errors that I make.

Forgotten
Chapter 13: Recovery

His head was sleep ridden, foggy and distorting his thinking. His eyes didn't want to stay open, though he was fighting defiantly to keep awake. He sighed deeply, his lungs filling with purified oxygen. The action made him woozy and he reached up to take the oxygen mask from his face but a pair of gentle hands stopped him. He looked up blearily, having to move his face to get the object of his sight into focus.

"Yu…ki." He said again. "You're… here…"

"Of course." Eiri responded softly, his deep voice reaching a tone that sounded like a gentle caress. "I said I would be, didn't I?"

Shuichi tried to smile, but was unsure if Yuki could see it.

"Wait a minute," Eiri whispered. He turned to and said something so quickly Shuichi's befuddled brain couldn't catch it. A blob of color in the corner of the room nodded and fled to the hallway, bringing a different blob back in with him. Shuichi had to blink quite a few times in his attempts to get the world around him to focus. Once he'd managed to shake most of the fog from his head, the first thing he saw clearly was the doctor smiling down at him, pulling a pen from his pocket as he immediately rushed to the singer's side.

"Mr. Shindo, do you know where you are?"

"A… hospital?" He said it like a question. The doctor nodded.

"How about why you're here. Can you remember that?"

"Surgery… Tumor…" Shuichi squeezed his eyes shut with the effort of remembering. It was coming to him in small amounts, flashes of his most recent memories, but pulling the visions together into a logical order was proving impossible.

"My name is Dr. Kuroi. Do you remember me?"

Shuichi shook his head no.

Kuroi smiled. "Do you recognize any of these other men in the room?"

Shuichi nodded, looking to study each face. His brain immediately connected the name Yuki to the tall blond beside him, Hiroshi to the thin, brooding red-head in the corner, but there was one man he could recognize, but the name alluded him completely. "Yuki…" he said, nodding slightly to the blond. "Hiro…" he made the same motion to the red-head. "And…" he paused over Tohma's name. "I recog…nize him. I just… I can't…"

"It's alright Shuichi. It'll come." Tohma smiled at him. Shuichi tried to return a small, apologetic smile.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor continued, bringing Shuichi's full, yet meager, attention span back to him.

"Tired."

"Any pain at all?"

He had to think for a moment. There was a dull throb in his head, but he couldn't really call it pain. "Not…exactly."

The doctor gave him a concerned look. "My head… is throb…throbbing. But it… doesn't… hurt," he slurred and sighed, the words coming out like mush.

"Alright." The doctor said, pulling a tiny flashlight from his pocket. He flicked it in front of Shuichi's eyes while holding up the index finger of his opposite hand. He did it a couple times and then put away the flashlight and grasped the oxygen mask and lifted it from Shuichi's face. "I think you're doing alright. You seem to remember most everyone around you, an excellent sign, and you know where you are. I'd say you're surgery was a greater success than we hoped."

Shuichi sighed and took in a gulp of air tenderly, testing the feeling of the air around him, rather than the purer substance that had been pumped into his lungs for him. It felt okay. He closed his eyes.

"Can you breathe alright?"

"Yes." Shuichi sighed.

"Alright." Kuroi turned to Eiri and the rest. "If he starts having trouble breathing, call us in immediately. I think he's strong enough to continue by himself, but we'll keep the machinery close by, just in case." He smiled and clapped Eiri's shoulder. "Congratulations. I think he's back."

"All of his memories?" Eiri asked worriedly, looking past the doctor to Shuichi's peaceful face.

"No." Kuroi's expression was suddenly hard, letting no hope crack through his features. Eiri's face crumpled slightly. "I don't think that's a possibility given any amount of time, but he at least remembers you and Mr. Nakano. I'm sure more will come with time. Do you have any questions?"

"How long until he regains a fuller consciousness?" Tohma asked

"Probably about three weeks, maybe more. The pain medication we have him hooked to is extremely strong. He'll be out of it for a while."

"What about recovery time?" Eiri asked, still watching Shuichi's face worriedly.

"That," Kuroi said gruffly. "Will take much longer."

End-14