"OI! YUKI! Get over here and control your accomplice!" K roared, kicking at Ryuichi's cage and swearing profusely. Ryuichi had hit him one too many times with the cage, and K was ready to start shooting at will if it happened again.
"Here, stop yelling, I'll help you." Hiro answered, jogging over and grabbing one side of Ryuichi's cage. He was secretly glad that Shuichi was easily distracted, as he wasn't quite ready to tell him that Yuki had left. The Prince was currently occupied with examining Tatsuha's donut costume, and Hiro was pretty sure that he was trying to figure out how to steal it without anyone noticing.
"Just hold him still, I've about got this one woken up. Would've been done ages ago if someone would stop BUMPING ME!" K said angrily, feeling snippy. With Hiro restraining Ryuichi, he made quick work of Tatsuha, and in no time, the guard captain was awake, eyes squeezed shut and groaning slightly. "Alright, you, time to get out of the cage."
"But I like the cage!" Ryuichi squalled, sitting down and pouting.
"But I like the cage." K mimicked, rolling his eyes and snapping the cage away. "You'll recover, play with the donut. I'm gonna go find the rug. Hiro, you look around for Tohma and Caspian."
"I'm pretty sure they're long gone."
"And I'm pretty sure I just gave you an order." K replied, in his element. Until everything was back to normal, he was declaring genie martial law, and if Hiro wanted to get uppity, he was ready to play that game.
"Fine, jeez, I'll go and look." Hiro replied, backing up and leaving the room before K could take his bad mood out on him anymore.
"Donut?" Ryuichi asked, cocking his head to the side. He'd missed most of the fight due to his infatuation with his container, and he'd barely noticed when a giant donut and slobbering parrot had come careening around the pillars and landed next to his cage.
"Yes, donut. And don't let him-err, it, fall asleep." K replied, pointing to Tatsuha and waiting for Ryuichi to see him before setting off in search of the rug. It was still just a pile of ashes, thanks to Tohma's magical fire, and K was missing its commentary and Ryuichi-distracting abilities.
"Oh!" Ryuichi cried out, seeing Tatsuha still trapped in the donut suit. He'd been wondering about the state of his bunny companion, but K had given him a mission, and he was going to see it through to the end.
"Shuichi! You're with me, come on." K said, walking back over and snagging Shuichi just as he reached for the zipper on the side of Tatsuha's costume. "No touchie, let's go, move out. Help me find the rug."
"But! I want to play with the donut too!" Shuichi whined, trying to grab a hold of Tatsuha as K dragged him away. "HEY!"
"Oh shut it…go on, make yourself useful, you can play with the donut later." K reassured Shuichi, giving him a shove towards the center of the room. Ordinarily, he would have let him be, but he wasn't sure if he could handle the combined insanity of Ryuichi and Shuichi at the moment, especially without Yuki or the rug to help him. He had no idea where the street rat had ferreted off to, but he was starting to get a little concerned. "Just…listen, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Shuichi replied, understanding that K was stressed. He could hear it in his voice, and he knew that he should probably behave himself for now. There was no need to stress out the genie that had done so much to save them in the end.
"Wait, come here, I'll fix that up for you." K said, turning around yet again and hooking his finger in Shuichi's shirt collar. "Don't want it to get infected or anything."
"Oh, thanks…" Shuichi returned, having forgotten that he was injured as soon as he'd seen that Yuki had needed him.
"Tatsuha?" Ryuichi asked quietly, leaning over the donut and peering down at his friend. "You in there?"
"Yeah…" Tatsuha murmured, still too sleepy to open his eyes. "Just gonna take a nap…"
"No!" Ryuichi squalled dramatically, jumping onto Tatsuha and grabbing the front of the costume. "You can't! K said not to!"
"K said what?" Tatsuha asked groggily, not coherent enough to realize that he was being straddled by Ryuichi.
"You can't sleep!" Ryuichi yelled, shaking Tatsuha violently and starting to cry again. "TATSUHA!"
"I'm not…sleeping." Tatsuha responded slowly, struggling to get all of the words out. A weight was pressing down on his lungs, and he had yet to identify the cause. He opened one eye and looked around, nearly having a heart attack when he realized what was assaulting his chest. One of his steamier dreams had finally come true; Ryuichi was sitting on him. "Ryuichi!"
"Yeah?" Ryuichi asked, scratching his head and looking down at Tatsuha with concern. He didn't know what would happen if Tatsuha fell asleep, but K has sounded serious and he was afraid for his friend. If Tatsuha broke his brain, his life would be so dull. Yuki hated playing midnight tea party, and Kuma would be really sad if his new favorite playmate got busted.
"I found it!" Shuichi's voice echoed around the room. He was hopping around a pile of ashes and energetically pointing to his find. "K!"
"Great!" K said enthusiastically, snapping to disappear and re-appear next to Shuichi and the dust. "Wait…Shuichi, this is a charred mop…"
"OK!" Shuichi responded, bounding off to look some more. He wasn't really sure what the carpet's remains would look like, but he was eager to help nonetheless.
"You're sitting on me." Tatsuha whispered, not wanting to scare the moment away. He usually had to trick the thief into doing something like this, and he was reveling in his glory.
"Mmm hmm, K said not to let you sleep, so I gotta keep you awake!" Ryuichi answered quickly, shaking Tatsuha a few more times for added emphasis.
"Oomph…" Tatsuha coughed out, his head banging into the floor every time Ryuichi shook him. He scrunched up his face and endured the pain, reminding himself that Ryuichi was on top of him.
"I found it!" Shuichi yelled again, skipping in a circle around what he thought was the rug.
"It'd better not be another mop…" K muttered, again wondering how, and why, Yuki put up with Shuichi.
"It's not! I think so anyway…" Shuichi replied, ceasing his skipping and rocking back and forth, waiting for K to examine the fruit of his searching.
"Shuichi." K said when he'd reached the Prince.
"Yeah? Yeah? Is it the Rug Man?"
"It's Caspian's wig."
"Oh…" Shuichi responded, disappointed but far from deterred. "I'll try harder, don't worry!"
"Wait…no, oh jeez…" K started to say, giving it up when Shuichi took off at the speed of light and disappeared behind a pillar. "I'd better find it, this could take forever…"
He continued searching for fifteen minutes, feeling antsier by the second. If he was left to corral the insanity in the room without Yuki or the rug's help for much longer, someone might die. Ryuichi had been bouncing up and down on Tatsuha, squealing each time the fluffy suit sent him flying. He knew it wasn't the best thing for Tatsuha to be subjected to, given his state, but he looked happier than K thought he should, and he wasn't eager to get involved in whatever was happening in that area of the room. He'd made the mistake of getting involved in Yuki's personal life, and that had been bad enough. He couldn't imagine what Ryuichi's might be like, and based on Tatsuha's strange facial expressions, he was getting the impression that his might be even worse.
He was about to search the throne room for a second time when Shuichi interrupted him for the tenth time.
"I FOUND IT!" Shuichi screamed, his voice hoarse from his heralding. "Really, really, really!"
"Shuichi, so help me…if it isn't the rug, I might have to hurt you." K replied, pinching his nose and zapping over to where the Prince was standing, barely containing his desire to bounce.
"OK!" Shuichi answered brightly, sure of himself this time. He'd found a bluish pile of ashes off to the side of the room, hidden under a few scraps of curtains that K hadn't gotten around to cleaning up yet. Every few seconds, the pile would twitch, and he was convinced that it was the rug; if not, they might have to do some Caspian removal.
"Alright, let's see it." K said, sighing heavily. So far Shuichi had shown him some burned up cushions, a rat that he'd trapped in one of his shoes, and the singed remains of Tohma's boa.
"Ta da!" Shuichi sang, pulling off the curtain and gesturing sporadically to the pulsing clump of ashes.
"Well, well, well, look at you, I think you actually found it…" K said in awe, bending down to get a closer look.
"YES!" Shuichi exclaimed, jumping up in the air and jiving around the area.
K shook his head and snapped his fingers, restoring the rug to its original glory. Shuichi stopped dancing immediately and started 'oohing' and 'ahhing', thrilled with K's magic. K rolled his eyes and turned away from Shuichi, focusing on the rug. He patted it on the back and considered giving it a hug. Now that it was back, he could worry about finding Yuki and the two maniacs, it could worry about the twins.
"Welcome back , Rug-" K saluted the rug, stopping short when it flew off towards Ryuichi without a backwards glance. "HEY!"
"Guess it has other friends?" Shuichi offered, shrugging and wandering off, starting to wonder where Hiro and Yuki had disappeared off to. He really wanted to know what Yuki had been about to say, and he wanted to make sure that Hiro knew how much he appreciated him coming back like he had. It was new for him to have a friend like Hiro, and he was scared that he might lose him like he thought he'd lost Yuki.
The rug skidded to a halt in front of Ryuichi and spun around a few times, trying to get his attention. When Ryuichi stayed focused on Tatsuha, it grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled a few times, trying to unseat its friend.
"I can't let him sleep, K said so!" Ryuichi explained, shaking Tatsuha again. The latter groaned, but smiled, breathing through the pain. He'd been straddled by Ryuichi; he could die happy.
The rug kept tugging, intent on removing Ryuichi from Tatsuha. The only reason that it had returned was to save Ryuichi, and here he was, paying more attention to a gigantic pastry. When the street rat continued his mounted vigil on Tatsuha, the rug sighed to itself and swooped forward, picking up Ryuichi in the process. It soared around the throne room, doing an internal victory dance. Tatsuha couldn't reach them up here, and Ryuichi loved flying more than anything else.
"WHEEEE!" Ryuichi squealed, throwing his arms up and making motor noises whenever the rug accelerated.
"Hey, K, have you seen Yuki?" Shuichi asked, ignoring the screams echoing around the room in his quest for his returned lover. "He's been missing for a while…"
"Nah, haven't seen him. He's probably napping in a corner somewhere, the lazy ass." K responded stiffly, still feeling put out by the rug's preference for Ryuichi.
"Alright…" Shuichi answered. He'd walked around the room and hadn't seen any sign of his lover. He didn't think he'd be sleeping somewhere, and he was sure that he hadn't left again, but he had no idea where to look beyond the room. He cleared his throat and started calling his name, hoping that the older man would hear him soon; he was starting to get impatient.
"Lost cause…" K muttered, wandering around the room and snapping his fingers intermittently to finish the clean-up. The throne room was still coated in a thin layer of dust, and it was started to bother him. If Eiri was off somewhere and didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. He sighed and flipped his bangs back, squinting around the room for more debris to destroy. He glanced towards the entrance and noticed that Hiro had returned from his task. "Hey, you find them?"
"Negative." Hiro responded. "They're long gone, no sign of them. No feathers, no cursing, no boas, no gloves, nothing."
"No cereal crumbs?"
"Nada."
"Well, have you seen the other trouble maker then?" K asked offhandedly, blasting a broken vase out a window.
"Other trouble maker?" Hiro asked, starting to get nervous. He could hear Shuichi calling for his mate, and it was tearing him up. On the other side of the room Tatsuha was doing a wonderful impression of a bug stuck on its back, and Ryuichi and the rug were doing cartwheels around the ceiling.
"Yeah, Eiri. Err, Yuki, sorry. You seen him? He's missing too."
"I…" Hiro started, unsure of what to say. He knew that he had to tell the truth eventually, but he had no idea when that would, or should, be. Before he could make a decision, Shuichi ran over and tackled him, giving him a quick hug before repeating K's line of questioning.
"Hiro?" Shuichi asked, sensing that something was wrong. Hiro's face was contorted strangely, and he felt off. He shuddered and touched Hiro's arm, pausing only when Tatsuha's yelling made it impossible to hear himself thinking, let alone what anyone might be saying.
"Hey! No, wait, come back!" Tatsuha spat out, struggling to sit up in the ridiculous costume. He rocked back and forth, trying desperately to get righted. He finally managed to pull himself up and fought back his desperate tears. The rug had stolen away his sweetest fantasy, and it was getting farther and farther away from him with every second. He hugged himself and rubbed his arms, stopping his panicked motions when he encountered a mysterious lump in his constricting suit. He reached into the costume and fished out the invader: Kumagoro. The rabbit was still on his person, and was his saving grace. If anything could recall Ryuichi from the clutches of the rug, it was his rabbit. "RYUICHI!"
"Hmm?" Ryuichi murmured, ceasing his screaming and looking over his shoulder and the seated guard. As soon as he saw his favorite pink friend, he started flailing around on the rug and leaped off suddenly, intent on reclaiming his floppy eared buddy. "KUMAGORO!"
Tatsuha grabbed a column and pulled himself up, holding the bunny out in front of him like a beacon for Ryuichi. As soon as Ryuichi hit the floor, he catapulted towards the guard captain and bowled him over, grabbing the bunny and rolling off into the distance.
"Hey!" Tatsuha squalled, stuck on his back again. At the entrance, K sighed angrily and snapped, removing the costume. Tatsuha's complaining had grated away his last nerve, and he was eager to hear what Hiro was chewing on.
"KUMA!" Ryuichi sang, bouncing up and down and hugging the bunny. "You saved him!"
"I saved him?" Tatsuha asked quietly, confused. Ryuichi had apparently forgotten about his daring rescue mission until now, and Tatsuha was starting to wonder if he'd been hit in the head one too many times for his own good that day. Up above, the rug shot him a dirty look and landed, looking sulky.
"You saved him!" Ryuichi chirped again, spinning around. When he was facing Tatsuha again, he stopped and looked at the guard captain with awe. He let Kuma fall to his side and started walking towards Tatsuha, his mind full of all of their times together. Even though they'd been enemies in his former life, the guard had been his friend, and had just risked everything to save his Kuma. "Tatsuha…"
"Yes?" Tatsuha replied, perking up. He stood still, watching Ryuichi walk towards him. In the distance, K rolled his eyes and tried to get Hiro's attention; the Prince had been staring fixedly at the Ryuichi-related proceedings and was clearly using any excuse to avoid spilling the beans on Yuki.
"You saved him, you saved me. Thank you." Ryuichi said softly when he reached Tatsuha. He reached up and grabbed his friend's face, pulling it down to his level. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You don't?" Tatsuha asked incredulously, his entire body numb.
"Nope." Ryuichi answered simply, standing up on his tiptoes and kissing Tatsuha on the lips.
"You've got to be kidding me…" K sighed, shaking his head exasperatedly. "What next? You gonna make out with the rug?"
"Who? Me? Or Hiro?" Shuichi asked, rapidly looking from person to person. After a few seconds he started swaying in place and almost toppled over, staying on his feet due only to Hiro's intervention. "Dizzy…"
"I'm surrounded by morons." K said under his breath, clearing his throat and tapping Hiro on the shoulder. "Alright, you, spit it out please. What do you know about Yuki?"
"He…" Hiro attempted, desiring to rib off the band-aid in one fell swoop. Looking at Shuichi's face stopped him dead though, and he could feel the words catching in this throat. He coughed a few times and took a steadying breath, knowing that he was about to shatter Shuichi's world. "He left."
"He what?" Shuichi sputtered, unsure of what he'd heard. "He left the room?"
"No…he's gone, Shuichi. He…didn't want to say goodbye, he told me you'd…understand." Hiro barely managed, watching Shuichi start to shake.
"He's gone?" K asked sharply, waiting for Hiro's half-hearted nod before jogging out of the room. He'd seen the way Yuki had looked at Shuichi, and something was definitely wrong if he'd left without any sign of a struggle. He skidded to a halt outside and whipped out a rocket launcher, shoving Mika's lamp inside with a grunt. Before he could leave the palace, he had to wrap things up, and he was going to do it properly. He propped it up on his shoulder and pulled the trigger, hurling Mika's prison into the expanse of the desert. His mission accomplished, he dashed down the long stairs leading to the palace and disappeared into the city.
"He left?" Shuichi repeated, losing all feeling in his limbs. "He left…"
"Shuichi, I'm sorry, he…he said you would understand…" Hiro tried, waiting for the floodgates to break open.
"Understand? Understand!" Shuichi spat, his voice rising and getting higher. "How the hell could I understand this? He said he wouldn't leave, he said he'd stay, he can't do this, he can't, no, no, NO!"
Shuichi fell to his knees and crumpled onto his face, his agonizing screams echoing around the room. Yuki was gone, for real this time, and there was no way for him to stop him. He pushed Hiro away when the older man tried to comfort him, crying out with the effort of it. He'd prepared himself for this earlier, but to hear Yuki promising that he wasn't leaving, and then to know that he was really gone was a torture worse than death. He'd have given anything to see him one last time and to get a real goodbye, not some cheap lie, but he didn't have that option; Yuki was really gone.
"He can't do this, HE CAN'T DO THIS!" Shuichi yelled, slamming his palms against the marble floor. "NO!"
Ryuichi broke away from Tatsuha and looked over, concerned. He kissed Tatsuha on the cheek and made his way over to Shuichi, wanting to find the reason behind the dying water buffalo impression.
"Shuichi? What's going on?" Ryuichi whispered, shoving Hiro out of the way and sitting beside Shuichi.
"He left me…he lied…" Shuichi moaned, sitting up and hugging himself, rocking back and forth. "He lied…"
"It'll be OK…" Ryuichi said quietly pulling Shuichi into his lap and stroking his hair. He could feel the prince writhing under his grasp, and it hurt him to realize that he had to leave him there, but he was sure that Yuki was probably doing even worse somewhere out in the city. He'd caught sight of his captain's face before he'd been let out of the cage, and he'd been sure that Yuki would never, ever want to leave again. He'd never seen his old friend look like that about anyone or anything, and he recognized it as the same way he himself looked at Kumagoro. "You'll see him again…"
"Unlikely." Hiro muttered, upset that Ryuichi had shoved him aside so easily.
"No, no I won't, he's gone, I can't, I don't know what to do, I can't breathe…" Shuichi gasped, unable to maintain a hold on reality. He couldn't grasp what had happened, and it was ripping him in two.
"Here, take him." Ryuichi whispered to Hiro, sliding Ryuichi out of his lap and over to the other man. "I have to go."
"Alright." Hiro said, nodding. He knew that Ryuichi was going after Yuki too, and it was all the better for him. The less that Shuichi saw of anyone connected to Yuki the easier it would be for him to recover. "Thank you."
"I'm not doing this for you, trust me. There's no way in hell he left of his own free will, and I'm on to you." Ryuichi hissed, resisting the urge to throttle Hiro. As soon as he'd realized that something serious was amiss, all of his playfulness had vanished. His rare moments of insight always proved useful, and this was no exception. He had a strong feeling about what had gone down, and he was extremely disappointed in Hiro's shortsighted handling of the situation. He rubbed Shuichi's hair and dashed over to Tatsuha, not wanting to hurt him like Shuichi had been.
"Ryuichi? What's going on?" Tatsuha questioned, sensing that something was going to steal his love away from him.
"Eiri needs me, I have to leave, I'm sorry." Ryuichi explained quickly, kissing Tatsuha again. "Bye."
"Wait, no…" Tatsuha said, watching Ryuichi disappear out of the room, followed by the rug. As soon as he'd managed to win the thief over, he was gone. "DAMMIT!"
"Hiro…"Shuichi said, his voice barely a whisper. "I can't…"
"Shh, shh, it'll be alright Shuichi…I'm here…" Hiro said, pulling Shuichi up and into his arms. He held him tight, afraid to do more with Shuichi in his current condition. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
"So did he…" Shuichi cried, throwing his arms around Hiro's neck and letting the tears overcome him again. "So did he…"
The way I see it, there's one chapter to go. It'll probably be a long one, and if it gets too out of hand, I'll split it into two parts or something like that…wow, I can't believe it's this close to the end...as the end draws nearer, thanks for all of the reviews and support, it really means the world to me.
Over and out,
Amaya