Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Searching for Shuichi ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

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

A/N: Ohayo, minna-san! A little weird, still… Not much else to note about, here, but here's another little disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't make any money off of this. As I said before, the quotes are from a site. These ones are from episode eight.

Chapter 6

Someone else's P.O.V.

The warmth is completely gone, now. I've noticed that it's been coming and going in different degrees for a little while. The warmest I felt it was just after finishing that vision. But then it left me. I was plunged into a cold darkness.

And now I must wonder about this amnesia I seem to have. It makes me feel sad. And lonely… I think I want to see those two, again…

Yuki's P.O.V.

Amazingly, Mika never woke up after the little episode between Seguchi and me, this morning. I was thankful for that. Seguchi brought me to the studio after a disturbingly silent breakfast. I couldn't blame him. It was strange, though; he didn't have any recollection of what happened, of the terrible things he said. It almost worried me.

When I got to Bad Luck's recording studio, Ryuichi launched himself at me, causing me to fall hard on my ass. Then I had to watch the band working before getting dragged back out and going to the zoo. I had to buy Sakuma some cotton candy, and now we're walking toward the petting zoo.

“You've been thinking bad things, again, Yu-Yu,” Sakuma suddenly whispers, forlornly.

I stare at him out of the corner of my eye.

“Sorry,” I answer.

“Tell me about it,” he urges, offering me some of his treat, “it will help.”

I shake my head at both offers. I think I like Sakuma like this, when he is acting more adult. It's much more comforting. Then I get more adult responses.

“Yu-Yu, You need to be more open. Hiding all your problems will result in you being miserable no matter what you do in life, and we can't have that happening. Was it something Tohma said?”

I look down at him, surprised. “How did you know?”

“I didn't, but Tohma is his right-hand man, even if Tohma isn't aware of it. Tohma can get close to you whether you like it or not, so he works with him in that aspect. That's why I said he was twisted. Don't trust anything he says, especially when it's something about the pink one.”

With a soft sigh, I proceed to tell him of this morning's event. Sakuma nods and shoves a piece of cotton candy in my mouth, nearly choking me. The sweet treat quickly dissolves on my tongue.

“The pink one isn't a dream! This world is!”

“What about you?” I ask. “What are you in this world?”

“I'm just a guide for you. I just want to see you and the pink one happy and together—and alive.”

I turn to him.

“Shuichi can die, here, as well?” I ask, shocked.

The people around us stop doing their activates and stare at us, eyes wide. Sakuma clamps a hand over my mouth and pulls me into a nearby bathroom. After checking the stalls, he leans against the wall and sighs with relief.

“I hate it when they do that; they're so creepy!” he complains. He looks up at me with pleading eyes. “Please don't call out the pink one's name, anymore, especially when there are lots of people around!”

“Sure,” I answer, hesitantly.

“Good. Now, what I meant was that the pink one will die if you don't save him. He is as fragile as you are in this world, if not, even more so, especially since he's not an active participant. His heart is so deep in depression, that it also factors into how much time he has, left. And right now, I'd say he has about one more week in this world.”

My eyes widen as I remember the dream. Specifically, when Shuichi said that he hated me. What the hell did I do to upset him so? I can't remember!

“Stop that, Yu-Yu!” Ryuichi yells. “Don't think like that!” His face softens and he reaches for me. He pulls me into an embrace and gently caresses my head. “I can't read minds, but I know when you're stressing yourself out. It will all come to you soon enough. When it does, think about it with an open mind or make sure that I'm around. You don't have to go through all of this all alone, you know.”

With a small smile, I gently push him away and reply, “Come on, let's go see those animals.”

When the coast was clear, Sakuma and I headed out of the bathroom. I quickly buy my companion another bag of cotton candy and we walk on to the petting zoo.

A llama walks up to us and accepts the singer's hand petting its head. I look around to watch all the people. They're going about their day as if nothing strange had happened. Everything seems normal. And that's good; I wouldn't want a bunch of strangers constantly watching over me, real or not.

Sakuma gasps, “He's taunting us!”

“How?” I ask.

“Well, take a look.”

I turn to see the llama's face. The eyes are large and purple. Ryuichi points in the distance at a cow. It's pink and black…

The smiling face of that Kumagoro lands on my face and I find myself being dragged around town, again.

“Don't look, Yu-Yu! We need to shield your eyes! I bet he has evil pink and black zebras around, too! It's time to get out of here!”

“Sakuma, can I walk on my own, now?” I ask.

“Oh, sorry!”

Sakuma had been dragging me around town for what seems like several hours. And not once did his stuffed animal fall off. But now, we're walking to Seguchi's house. Again, Ryuichi seems upset. It worries me.

“Are you okay, Sakuma?”

“I'm sorry, Yu-Yu…”

“For what?”

He turns around and buries his face in my chest.

“I'm doing my best, but there's no way I can really protect you; you're stuck with Tohma and I can't find him or the pink one! And he's always popping in and out of this world, which makes it even harder to find him and protect you!”

Uh! Damn it! I hate Sakuma when he's like this. I force him to look at my face.

“You don't have to worry, Ryuichi,” I insist. “I'm old enough to take care of myself. And you don't have to worry about my brat; I'll get him back all hyper and happy.”

Sakuma sniffs a bit more. I wave his Kumagoro a bit in his face until he giggles and grabs it, strangling the stuffing out of it.

“Okay,” he whispers and wipes his eyes on the rabbit's ears. “So, what gift are you gonna get for Hiro and Ayaka-domo's wedding?”

“What wedding?”

The singer giggles with glee. “Boy, you really don't pay attention in the studio, do you? Hiro and Ayaka-domo are getting married next week!”

My eyes widen. Hiro and Ayaka are getting married in my world, as well. Though, I think the ceremony wasn't due for a quite a while. And I remember I made some promise…

Something's wrong. I can't breathe! I feel myself collapsing to the ground.

“I-I can't dance…” I wheeze.

“What do you want?” I ask from my doorway. Strange. I can't identify the stranger.

“You asked me to come,” the stranger replies. I can't identify the voice.

“Oh, yeah… Come in.” I lead him to the couch and go to the kitchen. “Want anything?”

“Oh, no, that's quite all right.”

I get myself a beer and walk into the living room. I stare at mug, uncomfortably.

“What's wrong?” he asks.

“Can't dance…” I mumble.

“What?”

“Nakano and Ayaka's wedding. I made a promise to dance with Shuichi, then…”

A warm smile lights his face.

“Well, then, let's get started,” he replies.

“Yu-Yu, what's the matter?” Sakuma asks.

I can breathe, again. Sakuma tries to comfort me by embracing me. I pull away from him.

“I remembered something…” I stand erect, trying to smile, a bit for him. “Sorry for worrying you.”

“Oh… It's okay. But Yu-Yu, remembering can put a lot of stress on people who are not in the world it belongs... Be careful if you have another attack like that…”

I glare at him, skeptically.

Someone else's P.O.V.

“, Are you all right? Did anything happen? Did that lazy eye 1 say cruel things to you? Did he do something to you?”

I'm back with those two in a completely different environment from what I'm used to. The blond is sitting on a couch, looking down at the pink guy who is kneeling before him. They don't seem too happy. I have no clue what the hell is going on.

The pink one reaches for the blonde's face but the blond catches his hand.

“You're the one he did something to, aren't you?”

What happened to the pink one? I don't understand…

“Oh, but I'm okay, now,” pinky says, trying to enlighten the other.

“It was my fault. Because of me, you're the same as I.”

The pink one yells something in distress, but I can't understand it, at all.

“I really wanted to be with you, but I couldn't. I didn't want to chase you away.” The blonde's voice seems to be breaking. He's crying! “When I remembered how I always betray others… No. I absolutely can't go back to that time.”

They hold each other as the blond continues to sob. Wow. He's never struck me as the type to cry. He's always seemed so cold and aloof. I would have thought he'd kill anyone who upset him. Now he seems so vulnerable, so helpless, as if drowning in whatever terrible memories he has. This completely changes my opinion of him.

I watch as the blond shifts to lie on his stomach. His lover lays a hand on his head.

“It's okay,” he comforts. “You can't betray anyone, and I won't let anyone hurt you. I'll protect you…”

Why is it that I'm witnessing the events of these two lovers?

Yuki's P.O.V.

“All right, Sakuma. I get the fact that this is a sort of dream world, but what's the story, here? I mean if it weren't for Shuichi, then I would have never been acquainted with anyone Seguchi associates himself with.”

Sakuma and are almost at Seguchi's.

“Oh, that,” he laughs. “It's kind of a funny story, how it started and all, as far as this world goes. You see, one day, I decided to play hide and seek with K, so I came here from America. Then while I was running around, I tripped Hiro. And after running around, I took him to the hospital. Somehow, while he was disoriented, we became good friends. Then we wanted to form the band. So we talked to Tohma, got Suguru to join, and then we became a big success.”

I smile as I try to picture Nakano being tripped by Sakuma. It's quite an amusing picture what with the singer panicking pathetically and Kumagoro's ears flopping about.

“When Bad Luck first got to the top of the charts,” he continues, “Tohma somehow managed to get you to come to dinner with us.”

I chuckle and ask, “And the whole `Yu-Yu' thing?”

“You got a little tipsy during the dinner and spilled wine on poor Kumagoro's head, and I got so shocked that I could only say, `Yu…Yu…' and passed out! I've supposedly been torturing you with the nickname since! Lucky for us, Kumagoro was able to get all clean and sparkly or else you'd be in big trouble!”

Sakuma raises his doll into the evening sky and spins around, happily. How the hell can he come up with such a stupid story? I let out another chuckle.

“I wish I knew where to find the brat,” I say out loud.

“I know, but this world was made so you can't find the pink one and so you'd focus more on him,” he answers.

Inwardly, I growl as I clamp a hand on his shoulder.

“And, yet, since I got myself into this world, the one person I've been focusing on more than anyone else is you, Sakuma-san. And it seems to me that you know pretty much everything there is to this dreamland.” I tighten my grip on him. “How do I know you're not this `he'?”

Sakuma begins to giggle.

“Good question, Yu-Yu, and the answer is: you don't! But I'm not. Really, I'm not bad enough to trap someone in another world for my own selfish needs, no matter what alternate universe I'm in!”

I can see the sincerity beneath the humor in his eyes. I close my own, tight. I really thought I'd catch him off-guard or something and get some answers. I've been searching as discreetly as I can for Shuichi, but still no fucking luck. My patience is running thin. I might just kill this he.

Sakuma hits me over the head with his doll.

“We're here!” he chimes.

We're in front of Seguchi's house, now. I didn't even realize. Did I really space out that much?

“Thanks.”

I dig into my pockets for the keys. Sakuma's arms come around me in an awkward embrace.

“Any time you want me to teach you to dance, talk to me, and we could try in a studio, okay?” he whispers.

“Hn. We'll see.”

“Yay!” he cheers. “Bye, Yu-Yu! I'll see you tomorrow!”

He bounces away.

I open the door to see Seguchi by the stove. I can't tell what he's cooking; I can't even seem to smell the food. Not that I would really care. Without greeting him, I walk past him and go to my room. Seconds later, there's a knock.

“Eiri?” Seguchi calls. “How was the zoo? You're here pretty early! Knowing Ryuichi, I would have expected you to be back after it closed.”

I glare at the door, hoping for it to burst into flames and take Seguchi with it to the depths of hell. When he calls my name, again, I sigh and answer, “It was fun, but we came home because I didn't feel well. Now, leave me alone.” Damn, I almost sound like Sakuma.

“Will you at least join me and Mika for dinner?”

“Probably not. Good night, Seguchi.”

I hear the footsteps of his departure. Sitting on my bed, I open the bureau, take out another stick of pocky from the box, and slowly chew on it.

1: I don't know if they have that in the manga, but in case they don't, “lazy eye” refers to Taki Aizawa.

A/N: If there's anyone who cannot wait until next month for the next update, the entire fic is on fanfiction.net. It has the same name, but my penname there is New Light.

Please review! Plus, it's nice to hear from people… Hell, I don't care if you just put a letter. Yeah…