Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Moments ❯ One-Shot

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own, just have the idea.

Note: Although I have a Gravitation obsessed friend, I haven't seen very much of Gravi
(right now, just two episodes), so I don't have the personalities down pat...

Also, I've had a little experience with the medical field. There's one thing I'm going to
put in here that I've actually witnessed, and it's going to be a touch graphic... Some of
the other stuff, though, I'm going to have to ask my aunt, who's a hospice nurse...

Moments
By Silver Angel

The doctors said he wasn't going to wake up. That... there was too much damage to the brain,
and it was a miracle that his body was still functioning on its own. An oxygen flow was
hooked around his ears, sending the air straight down his nose to his lungs, but it was his
own body that pushed the carbon dioxide out. The little beeps in his ear weren't when the
machines made his heart beat, but just monitoring when each electronic impulse arced across
the muscles of the heart.

A hand convulsed on the blanket. The doctors were full of shit. The baka was going to be
alright. He was right, this was nothing. Yuki slid his hand under the bandaged, pale one,
and told himself again, that the brat was going to be fine. Those endless eyes were going to
open and he was going to whine about how uncomfortable he was in the unfeeling environment
of the hospital.

The hand twitched, and Yuki looked up into the bloodless face, his breath catching in his
throat as he willed the idiot's eyes to open, for a soft whisper of... what? Who would the
baka call for when he came back to himself? Hiro? Ryuuichi? Perhaps... Yuki? But those
colorless lips stayed closed as the muscle spasms passed, leaving the author without his
sudden hope.

His scratches itched. Whenever he brushed the bandage against anything, Yuki could almost
imagine the feeling of just one piece of gravel still scraping along the abraded skin. The
blond was tired, but sleep wasn't a thing he dared entertain. His brat could wake up at any
time, and he wanted to hear that energetic voice first. Yuki's head gently rested against
the warm chest, and he stared at the familiar visage of the singer for Bad Luck, his lover.


"Shuuichi no baka."

***

Something was wrong. Adult hands squeezed synthesized pink fur as words were tossed around
carefully. Accident... parking lot... brain damage... Bad Luck... Shuuichi... Those were the
only words the childish Nittle Grasper member could make out. He wanted K to place his gun
against someone's head and demand them to say what was going on, but the American just led
him to a chair.

"Ryuuichi, something bad has happened."

He shook his head. "No." Ryuuichi didn't sit, even though K tried to guide him into the
seat. "It's Shuuichi, isn't it. Nothing happened to him, he's invincible, na no da! He's
fine, right?" Why were Hiro and Touma giving him pitying looks? "Yuki-san will agree with
me. I know it!" With those words, Ryuuichi started for the door, only to be held back by
strong arms.

"No, Ryuuichi." K sighed into Ryuuichi's hair, and whispered, "Yuki isn't letting anyone in.
You won't be able to talk to him, or see Shuuichi."

A thought touched Ryuuichi. "Not even to give him Kumagoro?" He held the stuffed rabbit in
K's face. "He would make Yuki-san happy, wouldn't it? Kumagoro always makes me h-happy." His
breathing was erratic, but he didn't care. Ryuuichi's new friend wasn't healthy, and his
lover was hurting too. What Ryuuichi felt didn't matter as long as Shuuichi and Yuki became
happy again. "Eh?" There were new watermarks on Kumagoro's fur. "D-did the sprinklers leak?
Kumagoro's getting all wet..." K ran his thumb across the shorter man's cheek, and he
realized his face was wet too. "Oh." Ryuuichi pressed his face into K's chest, trying to
keep his face dry. The American's strong arms surrounded him just as Ryuuichi realized his
breaths were coming in sobs.

***

Shuuichi stretched, and patted his stomach. "Ne, Yuki, you can't deny that wasn't one of the
best dinners you've had in a long time." The pink haired vocalist smiled at his lover as he
held Yuki's arm in a death grip.

"Hn. Baka."

Instantly, two watering eyes appeared in front of Yuki's face. "Yu~ki!"

The author scanned the parking lot for his car instead of answering his hyper ball of
energy. Over there, on the far end. A cigarette was produced from a pocket and placed in
between two pale lips. "Come on, brat. The car's this way." He fumbled with his lighter for
a bit as he walked, mentally grumbling about the lack of fluid in the device. It was about
time to change it out...

"And of course, the soup was really really good. I haven't had American soup in ever, and I
can't believe what I was missing. I didn't like my steak though, I can't believe you didn't
warn me!"

Yuki filtered out Shuuichi's babbling again. The pink haired energy particle hadn't said
anything interesting. A flame finally caught, and he raised it to his cigarette when a gust
of wind blew it out again. "Damn it!" Another try, and Yuki had finally lit his cancer stick
when bright lights flooded his vision. He was pushed out of the lights just as the
screeching of brakes filled the air, and a heart rendering scream...

With a gasp, Yuki opened his eyes. That scream hadn't happened. When... it happened,
Shuuichi had fallen without a cry. Slowly, the blond author stood from the hospital bed, and
opened the door.

The Nittle Grasper singer... Ryuuichi... was hitting K with his stuffed rabbit, screaming
the entire time. And the American let him, even as Hiro wrestled the man to the ground.

"Are you alright?"

Soft, feminine, yet oddly masculine... "Touma, I always tell you that you don't need to
worry about me." Yuki turned back to Shuuichi's bed, leaving the door open.

Touma pulled the other chair away from the wall. "And I keep telling you I do. What woke you
up?"

The feeling of Shuuichi's hand twitching against his was an unnerving one. "Something that
wasn't part of the dream." Yuki was hurting again. That deep stab, residing around his
heart... He raised one hand to his chest, and rubbed at the skin above that organ. Touma's
slender hand grabbed his, and pushed two pills into his hand.

"They're the current prescription."

Yuki dropped the tranquilizers. "No, I don't..." Tears slipped down his face unbidden as the
ache sharpened. "It's too soon," he told the producer. "I-I took some not too long ago..."

The screaming had stopped. If Yuki had looked up, he would have seen Ryuuichi slip in.
Instead, he felt a soft roundness pushed under his hand. "You need to be cheered up," the
childlike man said seriously. "Kumagoro cheers me up, so he should cheer you up too, na no
da."

"Please..." Yuki's face turned back to the unconscious Shuuichi. "Leave me alone."

***

Each hour, Shuuichi's respirations and blood pressure went down steadily. But Yuki could
hear the frantic pounding of the pink haired brat's heart under his ear. Like... his heart
was trying to keep his body living, even though everything else was dying. Each hour...

Yuki was hoping that there would be another hour after this one. The baka wasn't supposed to
die. He was too full of life itself to be stopped by such a stupid thing such as death. The
muscle spasms had started to taper off, leaving an eerily still hand in his. Yuki wasn't
sure if it was good or bad. His eyes closed to rest for a moment, only to have the screaming
of brakes fill his ears, the feeling of someone body slamming him, and a sickening thud...

They were aiming at him. The people in the car... they hadn't meant to hit Shuuichi. They
had wanted to put Yuki Eiri in the hospital bed, his life slowly being extracted from his
body. Shuuichi's hand twitched again, and a sigh filtered through the air. A twitch, that's
all that was given to Yuki. That's all that was left of the former pink energy bundle...

Yuki pressed the pale hand against his forehead, trying to will the idiot awake. Wet salt
drops fell down the author's face, but he ignored them, just as he ignored his own thoughts
and pains. Shuuichi wasn't going to die.

"Shuuichi no baka."

Those words were the only ones that would escape Yuki's lips. With his tears, the litany
came more frequently, and each time, more pained. Another twitch, and the flow of words
stopped, blocked by a sudden sob rising in Yuki's throat.

"I know. Shuuichi no baka."

The weak voice filled the air, and Yuki looked up wildly, hoping he hadn't imagined it.
Shuuichi smiled faintly at the blond, and said, "Ano, Yuki, that hurts."

He let go of Shuuichi's abused hand, and pressed his lips against the bedridden man's.
"Baka. You scared me." Yuki brushed Shuuichi's pink hair off his forehead, and swallowed.
"You really scared me."

The singer yawned, and blearily looked up into Yuki's golden eyes. "I'm tired, Yuki," he
mumbled.

Yuki snorted. "You've been sleeping for hours now. Only you could say you're tired."

Shuuichi blinked innocently at his lover. "But I am!" He yawned again, and started to cuddle
into himself when he heard Yuki whisper something. "Hm? Yuki?"

"Brat. It's nothing. Go to sleep." Yuki placed another kiss on Shuuichi's cheek when he
started snoring softly, and whispered, "Shuuichi no baka. I love you." Slowly, he went for
the door when a choke stopped him. Yuki turned around, trepidation gripping his heart in a
tight vise.

Shuuichi had curled up, his hands clawing at his chest. That portion of his body just
twitched, trying to pull air into his body. His face went red, then purple as he attempted
to breathe. An alarm went off suddenly, and Yuki looked up frantically as he saw the lines
on the monitor went flat. There wasn't anymore electrical activity in his heart...

"Sir! You're going to have to get out of the way." Yuki heard the nurse speaking, but he
couldn't move. All he could see was his lover's twitching chest. Strong hands pulled him
out, and he saw the doctors and nurses hurry into the room, wheeling a cart in as they shut
the door behind them.

Something snapped in Yuki, and he strained in the restraining arms. "No, Shuuichi, he's...
He's fine, he was awake and talking to me..." Each word was squeezed out around a sob. "He
can't be dying. Shuuichi no baka, you were supposed to wake up and come home with me! You
have a tour coming up, another album... Baka! B-baka..."

The arms shook him sharply. "Yuki! Get a hold of yourself!" K's voice roughed out, holding
the author tightly. "They're going to make sure Shuuichi comes back. He'll be fine."

Ryuuichi stood down the hall, feeling helpless as all the activity took place. That was all
he could do... stand there. He didn't think Kumagoro would cheer Yuki up here, and he
couldn't help the doctors. The singer's fingers dug into the rabbit as he watched the
happenings.

"Shuuichi!" Yuki collapsed, curling around the pain in his heart, the pain he usually hid
with tranquilizers. He didn't know which pain was which... which was the wound still gaping
open from his past, and which was his lover dying in the room before him. "You baka...
Shuuichi..."

He couldn't wait. Yuki rushed forward, and threw the door open. The first words that echoed
in his ears... "...calling it. Time of death..."

Baka. Baka. Shuuichi no baka. He wasn't supposed to die.

Yuki knew he was hitting the floor. Feeling was numbed to the point he couldn't feel.

Shuuichi no baka.

The golden tressed man hit the floor on all fours, nausea burning in his throat as tears
squeezed out of hard chipped eyes.

Shuuichi no...

He vomited on the clean floor, tears mixing into the mess as visions of Shuuichi's last
moments filled his head.

Baka. Baka baka baka. Shuuichi...

***

An empty glass tumbled to the floor, and was slowly picked up. "The police ran the license
plate through the system. An ASK sympathizer was in the car. She thought... if you were out
of the way, Shuuichi wouldn't have any reason to go on." Hesitation, then the pill bottle
was picked up. "Eiri, I thought the last time you upped your dosage... it would be the last
time..."

Instead of answering, Yuki placed his lit cigarette between his lips and took another drag.
The golden tressed author hadn't responded to anyone since Shuuichi passed away right before
him. Irritated, Touma plucked the cigarette out of Yuki's fingers. "You can't keep doing
this, Eiri. Are you really that eager to join Shuuichi?" When Yuki just watched his hands,
the delicate looking man's temper snapped. "You will answer me, Uesugi Eiri," he hissed at
Yuki, watching with some guilt as a red mark, the precursor to a bruise, appeared on the
author's face. "Oh, I get it. You're too tanked."

The sound of an empty pill bottle hitting other garbage caused Yuki to stir slightly. Golden
chipped eyes blinked as Touma, one by one, dropped a tranquilizer pill on the floor and
ground it with his heel. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Waking you up." Touma finished destroying the pills, and looked up at Yuki, his eyes
shimmering with continuously unshed tears. "I had to force you back to the living before.
Don't make me have to go through that again."

Yuki looked around the apartment, still very dazed. "Hiro... and Ryuuichi. They were there
too."

"We can't get a hold of Hiroshi," Touma told him quietly. "And we might as well not be able
to get a hold of Ryuuichi. There's no way of getting him sane. What happened... K said it
broke him." He sat down next to Yuki, and asked what had been on everyone's minds. "What
happened, that night?"

His hands clenched on his knees. With a sigh, Yuki started speaking, the words coming
distantly to his ears. "We went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants here. On our
way out, Shuuichi was babbling as usual, and I tuned him out as I tried to light a
cigarette."

-"And of course, the soup was really really good. I haven't had American soup in ever, and I
can't believe what I was missing. I didn't like my steak though, I can't believe you didn't
warn me!"-

"Baka," Yuki whispered affectionately to the memory. "I had to park far away, because the
lot was full when we arrived. I had just got my cigarette lit when there was a bright
light... and Shuuichi slammed into me, pushing me away..." The pain was too distant, too
hidden under the medication, but it was still there. "The car hit him, and drove off. I had
seen the license plate before it left, but..." He trailed off, and Touma placed one hand
over Yuki's.

"Eiri." His other hand tangled in Yuki's hair as Touma kissed his forehead lightly. "It
isn't your fault. I don't know where you think it is, and how you got to that conclusion,
but stop punishing yourself. I'm always here to help you. I've always been here." The soft
speaking man stood up, and placed a CD case on Yuki's lap. "It's the first CD made of Bad
Luck's second album. The first and only CD. It's yours."

Yuki didn't watch Touma as he went into the bedroom to make arrangements on his sleeping
situation. Slowly, he raised the plastic to his lips, and kissed Shuuichi's picture.

"Shuuichi no baka. I love you."

The End

Author's notes: Stupid plot bunnies. See, I wrote it. Done. I've now depressed myself. But
what are you waiting for? Review!