Chapter 6

Hello, my friends, and welcome to the sixth chapter of Pills. Thank you for being so patient about the updates - once again, this chapter is short, but I still hope it will suffice in sating your curiosity.
I would like to welcome Penpal678910 to this fanfic. This chapter is dedicated to you!

And to answer GoldenAngel999's question: the chapter names are kind of medically related, to connect to the title...but I just think of them right before I post the chapters most of the time.

Feeling quite mellow today, my friends, though it's probably because I'm tired. I do all my fanfic work by night... : )
Please feel free to review. All your comments are greatly appreciated.

If I go a month or more without updating, NAG ME. This is done best in the review column.

Everyone in the dining room gave a relieved chorus of joy as Masamune finally stepped into the dining room.

"Masamune!"

"You came!"

"Hey!"

"Hey, Masamune!" Ginga called out. "Where have you been? Your food's getting cold." A ripple of amusement passed through the group, everyone having been familiar with Masamune's binging habits.

But Masamune looked dejected, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, his feet scuffing the floor, and his eyes downcast and gloomy. The cheerful mood in the dining room turned to one of worry and inquiry. "What's wrong, Masamune?" MeiMei queried. "Is something the matter?"

As always, Madouka was the first to catch on. "Did something to wrong with Zeo and Toby?" She asked, recalling Zeo's reaction earlier in the day.

Masamune opened his mouth to reply, but a nagging thought of feeling in the back of his head stopped him. Something about their concern was stopping him, he realized. Madouka and Ginga had a tendency to be...well, overly helpful. But the moment they got involved, he knew, they would take over all his actions and try to teach him lessons through it, and constantly point out what he was doing wrong. In simpler terms, they would treat him like a child.

His eyes met the solid gaze of Klaus. There was someone sturdy he could trust. But...not in front of all these people here, he decided. He didn't want more of them getting involved than the mess itself could handle.

Forcing a huge grin, he straightened up and sat down between Tsubasa and Klaus at the table - if he sat next to either Madouka or Ginga, they would just nag him all night about what was wrong. "Yeah, I'm fine!" He chuckled. "I got to talk to Toby; it was fine, really."

Madouka's brow creased, though Ginga relaxed. "But what about Zeo?" pressed the mechanic. "Why did he run away in the street?"

Masamune laughed. "He said he got freaked out because he didn't recognize me, is all. Once Toby saw me, well... I guess he made the distant connection." Everyone relaxed, even Madouka, although the bey mechanic's eyes were twitching suspiciously.

As Masamune slid into his seat, Klaus gave him a glance that no one other than Masamune could interpret as a question. He let his expression slide back into that same hopelessness he felt at the hospital, and Klaus nodded with understanding. Masamune breathed a sigh. 'Thank you.'

No one had noticed their small exchange, thankfully enough, as Tsubasa, Julian and Hikaru were sharing stories about the office, and the other three girls were gabbing away (though Madouka glanced back Masamune from time to time). Wales and Klaus kept a light but airy conversation alive between themselves, though it would die from time to time through the interruption of chewing food. Both Masamune and Ginga were left to mull over their own thoughts, scraping the food on their plates.

For a change, Masamune didn't feel like eating. He didn't feel like anything - except bad, maybe.

But he'd give up all the food in the world if it just mean that he could talk to Toby.

The lazy sleeper shuffled to the window. Sweat still shone on his neck from his previous nightmare, and his breathing was still ragged.

Breathing hard, he leaned out the wide-open window, closing his eyes and letting the rough winds and the sounds of revving engines, honking horns, and puttering cars embrace him. He was in the city, far from the bright, beating sun and the dunes of sand. No longer should the sound of ringing bullets echo through his head. Though he'd left those sensations long ago, they sure as hell hadn't left him. He didn't have to check to remember that there was still a nine-millimetre pistol tucked just under his pillow.

It was still dark outside. Grumbling to himself as he ruffled his hair, he trudged from his room, into the living room, and glanced at the couch. His roommate wasn't there, although there was a mess of blankets that showed where he'd slept the night before.

With a sigh, he walked around the couch to grab the remote on the coffee table, planning to watch some TV. The floors seemed to lightly creak with his every step, and he could even feel them shift each time his foot pressed down on one. He didn't care quite as much; it was something he'd become quite accustomed to - and perhaps fond of. After his paranoia from "involvement in international conflict", the creaky boards had become, in a way, a source of comfort.

"OW!"

The scream sent his nerves into hyperdrive; he jumped back and almost ran back to his room for the gun.

A hand grabbed his foot with a groan, but he didn't panic, as he already knew who it was.

"Sorry, Kyoya," his roommate groaned. "Didn't mean to - that just hurts..."

"S'okay," Kuoya mumbled back to lumpy mess of blankets on the floor. He brushed his bangs behind his head and shut his eyes, breathing hard. "Just...startled me is all."

Startled was just a slice of what he'd felt, not that he'd admit it. Not before, and not now, though there were varying reasons between the two times.

With a sigh, Kyoya stepped over his roommate, flopped on onto the couch and searched for the remote - it wasn't on the coffee table after all. After some fumbling amongst the wrinkled couch cushions, he located the remote and turned on the TV. The first channel that showed up was some kid's show he didn't completely understand; it was in English. His English was good, but not entirely fluent, like his companion.

His roommate sat up, wrapped from head to toe in worn, blue-grey blankets, fuzzy with age, as it they were some kind of religious robes. He pulled the sheets even tighter around his body as he shivered. "Switch it to the weather report. It's damn freezing in here; how're you walking around in those damn shorts?"

Kyoya tasted the air for a chill. Ah. So it was. He'd come to quite never notice anymore. But he complied with his roommate's request, flipping to the news station.

"Today in Afghanistan-"

Click.

"Protestors in Ukraine-"

Click.

"Israeli war continues to-"

Giving up, he turned off the damn TV and flopped to his side on the couch. His friend groaned beside him. "Did you have to give up so easily?"

"It's almost summer," Kyoya mumbled back, his voice muffled by the cushions. "It doesn't matter what you dress in, just make sure it's light." His friend sighed. "But the weather here is so unpredictable!" He complained. "I need the weather report. C'mon, Kyoya, please," he begged, shaking the green-haired veteran's shoulder.

Kyoya hid a smile by burying his face into the couch. He'd become rather accustomed to this regular nagging, enough to realize that his roommate only used it as a distraction from Kyoya's less pleasant thoughts. Of course, knowing him so well, he should have clued in that Kyoya would figure his out eventually, but not everyone was Kyoya. Their brains didn't work quite as quickly as his did. With a yawn, he sat back up. "Think I'll go visit Miju."

"Are you sure? It's still dark."

"Yeah." Kyoya rolled his neck in circles, sighing with relief as his spine cracked back into place. "If the registration lady protests, I'll show her the nice new pocketknife I bought in NY."

His roommate gave a chuckle, though somewhat nervously. "I'll come," he offered. "I won't get much done around here anyways, all by myself."

"Sure," Kyoya agreed. "Just hurry and get dressed. I'll wait by the door."

Once he'd changed into his usual drooping dark green hoodie and baggy jeans, he waited by the doorway for his roommate, whistling as he spun the keys on his finger. Sure, he knew the suspicious looks everyone cast him on the street, but in his opinion, at this hour, it was dangerous not to make oneself appear so. His roommate stepped out, but once he saw what Kyoya was wearing, ducked back back into his room and reemerged a few minutes later, dressed similarly. He gave a roguish grin. "If I have to sit next you on the bus, I'd at least better look like I fit in with you."

Kyoya grumbled. "Just because I dress sloppy doesn't mean you have come out in alley clothes." His roommate only flashed him with a playful grin, his eyes shadowed by the hood pulled over his head, before he skipped out the door tauntingly. "Very funny," Kyoya growled, but followed him with the tiniest of smiles all the same.

Sunday met Masamune like a slap in the face.

Actually, that was because Ginga hit him with a pillow.

He ran out the room cursing in agony, with Ginga in hot-pursuit, armed with a pillow. The redhead was yelling about breakfast and how he'd slept until noon yesterday and ought to wake up earlier, though Masamune was only half-listening. Fortunately for him, he wound up discovering the breakfast when he stumbled upon the dining room by accident, and saw what the others were eating (others able to take the optional luxury of sleeping in, excluding Tsubasa, Hikaru and Julian), he spent no time deciding whether or not to dig in.

Needless to say, not everyone around him was pleased he'd woken up after that scene.

Madouka tried to pressure him about the previous day's events again, but Masamune dodged all questions, insisting he was going to see them again today - or at least try to, his heart knew.

No one asked too many questions, thankfully, and he was able to leave within the hour. Before he left, though, Klaus stopped him and gave him a stern nod.

"Good luck."

Madouka had walked in the room just then, however, so Masamune could only give a small nod and a bright smile.

The hospital looked even more like an office building in full sunlight. The dark windows rippled with reflections of passing cars, as the building stood grand and tall.

Masamune entered nervously, hoping the receptionist had either taken a day off, or she would let him in.

Damn. It was the same one, the tall Brazilian woman with the short hair.

As Masamune approached the desk cautiously and hopefully, she shot him a dirty look that made his insides turn to jelly. She crossed her arms as he took another step, and removed her glasses at the third. 'God-dammit-I-can't-do-this!'

Masamune fled from the hospital, arms flailing. With a sigh, he wandered onto the lawn and flopped to the ground. How was he ever going to see Toby at this rate? He'd called his old number, but it didn't work, as expected, and he couldn't find him in the phone book, either.

Just for the sake of being depressed, he rolled back and forth across the lawn, lying in the sweet grass. It had been warmed up by the sunlight, and felt feathery and ticklish on his skin. After a while, it was starting to make Masamune sleepy. His eyes were starting to close, and mind beginning to drift...in fact, he almost swore he could see Zeo opening one of the windows...

Shit!

Zeo's eyes widened as he saw who was lying down on the lawn. It was Masamune!

Without hesitation, he pulled away and pulled the curtains over to cover him, but the black-haired Japanese boy had leaped to his feet.

"...they don't really get how I'm going to continue if I haven't really learned or am gonna retain everything they give me," Toby was saying. Zeo leaned against the wall, sitting beside the window but well out of view, pretending to listen. Toby was excited about starting high school again next year, though he had tons - and quite literally, TONS of learning to catch up on.

Toby cast a warm smile over to Zeo. "Oh yeah, I've gotta thank you for letting me borrow your textbooks from the grade nine to eleven curriculum. They were really useful."

"Huh?" Zeo jumped, startled from his thoughts. "Oh, not me! Thank my school, honestly. Mr. Copland's the one who let me sign them out."

Anyone could tell Toby was excited, because he was talking loud. Really loud. Loud enough to practically make Zeo's ears ring - but he shouldn't grumble. He'd been suffering from a pretty nasty headache for the past few days. With a small groan, he rubbed his temples - only to hold back a scream at the loud blast that sounded from outside.

"TOOOOBYYYYY!"

Zeo allowed himself to push the curtains outside and peek at who was making such a ridiculous ruckus - surprise, surprise. It was Masamune.

"TOBY!" He screamed.

Zeo cast a glance in Toby's direction worriedly, but the brown-haired boy didn't seem to notice anything. Was he deaf? Or was Zeo's sense of hearing simply more acute than others? Either way, he thanked the universe for Toby's ignorance, reached out and pulled the window closed. "Sorry." He frowned at Toby when he caught the other boy staring at him. "Someone sure is making a ruckus out there. Who ever knew that such damn expensive cars could be so loud with the horns?"

Toby laughed. "I know. Just getting a parking spot's a pain in the ass around here."

Zeo did his best to laugh alongside him. "So, um, which subject's been your favourite?"

"Honestly?" Toby gave a shy smile. "It's math."

"What?" Zeo bolted forward, momentarily forgetting about Masamune in the heart of conversation. "Are you kidding? You don't know how many people flunked that shit up in my year. Isn't it impossibly hard?"

Toby stared up at the ceiling, a smile playing on his lips. "Not really..."

Zeo groaned. "Man, I wish I always had you in my math class!"

Plunk.

Zeo flinched at the sound, and Toby did too, but as silence stretched between them, Toby continued chattering away happily again. Meanwhile, though, Zeo snuck over to the window to investigate - though he was almost certain of the guilty party.

Masamune. And he was throwing -

Plink!

-rocks at the window.

Plonk!

'Stop that,' Zeo mouthed angrily before storming away. Thankfully, Toby didn't notice as he happily continued chatting away. With each feeble click of a pebble as it struck a window, though, Zeo was tense, as he waited for Toby to notice something out of place, and see Masamune.

He couldn't let Toby see Masamune, Zeo decided firmly. That was it. Toby was still stuck in the awful illusion that they were still best friends, even after Masamune and left them both so readily to rot uselessly in America.

He glanced out the window, only to see that Masamune had completely disappeared. Only, he wasn't sure whether to be worried or finally satisfied.

"NO! You HAVE to let me IN!"

Kyoya and his friend both conveniently slipped past the ruckus, where some air headed kid with a ridiculous, spiky Afro was being forcefully escorted away by a pair of security officers.

"I HAVE TO SEE TOBY!..."

Their voices drifted away as they continued down the hall, though, allowing his friend to chuckle curiously. "Wonder what that was all about."

Kyoya shrugged. "Who knows?" They turned the corner, past room 308, to continue down to room 311. They paused by the door, as eyes followed the unusual-looking pair down the hall.

Polite as ever, his companion knocked before he entered.

"Come in."

A green haired girl sat casually on a hospital bed, her arm swathed in a cast and her legs scarred. Aside from the scars, she was in much better condition than she was three months past. Her blue eyes lit with more life than pain, and the cuts on her face had almost completely disappeared. Even so, Kyoya's heart was racked with pain every time he saw the occasional and unfortunate, deep gouges that were still embedded in her skin. Her face broke into a smile as they walked in. "I told you guys you didn't have to knock if the door's open."

"We didn't want to scare you," his roommate put in.

All he received was a scoff. "That shirt would scare me. What the hell? You two look like you came to mug somebody at the hospital! Is that how you're paying for this? You do hits?"

"Haha." Kyoya rolled his eyes. He'd been criticized about the way he dressed far too many times. "Of course it's like you to act so ungrateful."

"Aww," she cooed. "Is my little brother upset?"

He gave a light-hearted grin. He wasn't really in the mood for screwing around like this. "Well, the other reason I came was to get some of those antidepressants the doc recommended...but I'm thinking twice." Upon hearing this, their friend cackled with laughter.

"God, I swear. All those did was give you a sugar high."

Kyoya smirked. "Never taking those to a pub or a party ever again." His sister and his roommate giggled. His sibling'a eyes warmed as they cast over his friend, glowing with affection. "How are you?" She asked. She glanced pointedly at Kyoya. "Have our parents responded yet?"

Kyoya shrugged. "Nada. For all I know, they don't even know about the accident. We're not exactly kids anymore, so they're not listed as the emergency contacts..."

"...and the only other people we have listed is each other." The female's voice dripped with exasperation. "Lovely to see that our parents enjoy calling weekly. You'd think that such a protective couple would send us every message they could."

Their roommate snickered. "Look out for a billboard reading your names. Or maybe some clouds in the sky, written by plane." Kyoya's sister smiled sweetly, and this time it wasn't forced or threatening. "Aww. C'mere, you."

Kyoya looked away to give them some privacy as they snuggled. "You don't have to look so ashamed," his sister sighed mockingly. "It's okay, hon, not everyone's a part of a couple."

Kyoya grinned. "The two biggest asses in the whole world just happen to hook up, and I'm around. Wouldn't you call me single?" He backed out the room, waving. "See ya, Miju. I think I'll grab those drugs after all."

Mijuki shrugged. "Okay. Your loss."

However, as soon as her brother was put of sight, she pulled her boyfriend closer. "We have to hook him up," she hissed. "You didn't delete that secret eHarmony account we made him behind his back, right?"

Her boyfriend shook his head, a coy and cocky smile on his face, and she grinned wickedly. "I'll set him up with the next best girl who calls," he promised, climbing into the hospital bed

Noon was fast approaching when Zeo finally emerged, with his bike in tow.

And the very instant he did, Masamune jumped him. "What the-?" Zeo didn't have time to react before Masamune wrestled him up against the wall.

"What the hell?" He snarled in Masamune's face.

"I want to talk to Toby!" The hot-headed Japanese boy demanded.

Zeo's eyes cooled over. "Arrange it yourself."

Masamune bared his teeth. "You know I can't do that. Put me on the friggin guest list! Just let me speak to him. Just once, Zeo, to apologize." His voice dropped to a pleading whisper, and he even dropped the arm he was using to pin the American boy's neck, but Zeo's face was like a stone-carved expression.

"Never," he sneered. "Toby doesn't want to see you. Toby doesn't want to talk to you ever again."

Masamune recoiled. "Liar!" He fought tears as he clenched his fists, feeling once again like a child. "Let me see him! I want to explain!"

"What is there to explain?" Zeo's tone was harsh. "Everything we needed to know was in your departure. When you left that airport, you left us behind." He shouldered his schoolbag over his back again, giving Masamune one last cool look. "And now I'll do the same. Bye, Masamune."

His farewell held no trace of warmth; no trace of the old friendship they bore. Jumping back on his bike, Zeo steadily pedalled away across the grass, the chain rattling.

Masamune glowered at the ground, tears falling silently down his cheeks. His fists trembled with unusual bursts of energy, fuelled by anger. The grass would have burned, if looks could kill. With a small growl, Masamune stared at the American boy's back as he pedalled away. Then, with an ugly snarl writ over his face, he lunged forward and pelted after him with a speed he'd never used.

Zeo is definitely going to be waking up with a couple of bruises... 0.0

Did anyone recognize Celine Garcia as the receptionist? : D

I apologize so greatly for the short chapter, and the way things are running along...It seems a bit rushed, I know.