Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Yuki ❯ Dead on Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Gravitation does not belong to me. Ne, I doubt Gravitation would be as good if I owned it anyway. I'm not making any money out of this either and am just borrowing its characters….

One: Dead on Arrival

He was running.

The rhythmic sound of his feet moving one after another was almost relief for him as he ran, trying hard not to get lost in the thoughts that threatened to overwhelm him any moment. He knew he couldn't break down right now, at least not until he was sure he was okay.

He tilted his head to his right, stealing a glance of the precious angel lying brokenly on the stretcher, before turning away once more and fixing his gaze on the road ahead of them.

He was going to be all right and he told himself just this over and over again, in hopes of convincing himself even for just a few precious moments. He had to be calm. He had to face this with a clear mind.

It was a fact; after all they'd been through, after all he'd done, he couldn't just die.

If he died, then what had it all been for then?

"You'll be alright," he heard someone say and when he turned to his right he was reminded that he was hardly alone in this. On the other side of the stretcher was Nakano Hiro - Bad Luck's guitarist and Shuichi's best friend.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

He turned his head hesitantly to his right and drank in his lover's features. Shuichi's face was pale and his eyes were closed but there was a faint smile on the boy's lips, one that, despite the situation, brought a smile, though melancholy, to the jaded novelist's face. Shuichi looked perfectly fine, as if he was merely sleeping. True, there were bruises, marks of blue and purple and sometimes red, on his forehead, cheeks and lips but those were faint and almost non-existent compared to his overall features.

Eiri had found out long ago that to prevent himself from hurting he had to learn to ignore and overlook certain things. It was a coward's way out, but it was what had allowed him to survive day after day before a certain pink ball of energy came into his life.

Shuichi had taught him how to live once more, reminded him of what he once was and at the same time gave him something to protect and a reason to love.

Shuichi couldn't die.

There was a long beep - a long and painful beep that jolted Eiri from his thoughts and dragged him back to reality. Confused, he suddenly realized they had come to a halt.

"Dead on Arrival," the words were uttered in a monotonous voice, void of emotion. Those three words tore through him, like bullet across his chest. Three words and it meant everything.

It meant his life. Those three words had shattered whatever little hope he had. Shuichi couldn't be all right any more, not when he'd already died before he could receive proper help. He couldn't and wouldn't fool himself anymore. It would drive him insane, he knew, and Shuichi wouldn't have wanted that.

"Dead on Arrival," he whispered and when he turned to where the boy was he saw that they had covered him and his face with a white blanket.

"Dead."

Eiri's eyes shot open and he blinked rapidly at the dark ceiling above him. Beads of sweat were running down his forehead, trailing down to his cheek while his hair was damp with it. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, fixing his gaze on the glowing screen of the laptop across the room and the blinking cursor on it.

--Dead on Arrival…

He ran a hand through his damp hair and smiled mockingly, feeling foolish suddenly. With his right hand reaching for the pack of cigarettes he'd left on the nightstand, he got off the bed. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag from it before saying out loud;

" 'Dead on Arrival.'

Karl couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. Harel had been smiling at him just minutes ago, looking at him with those soulful blue eyes and moving her soft bruised lips to tell him she was going to be okay."

Eiri stopped and stared long and hard at his laptop before continuing as he padded towards it.

"She had lifted those hands and placed a warm hand on his right cheek to trace the single scar there with her long, delicate fingers. She had told him, reassured him, she was going to be fine in the soft, loving voice she used in their lovemaking. It was the voice she used to tell him she loved him and it was, above all, sincere.

She couldn't have been lying."

With a deep sigh and an emotionless face, he sat himself in front of the laptop and began typing what he had said earlier. For a few minutes, the dark room's silence was filled with the loud sound of his fingers moving over the keyboard to enter the words in his mind. When he was done and satisfied with what he had, he sat back and stared once more.

Moments later, his mouth moved once more as he spoke in a dreamlike state.

"Karl stared incredulously at Birman, his cold black eyes pensive. 'Say that again,' he told him slowly, his words firm.

'I'm sorry Karl. We… did all we could. She's gone.'

He cut them off, not caring if he sounded like a five-year-old as he did so. 'No! Say it… Say it!' He cried, drawing back before bringing his hands to his head. 'She can't be dead….No..,' he hissed before clamping his eyes shut and sliding down the wall behind him.

'…Not her... not…. after.. all he's done… all he's put up to pull me out of despair.. to save me…' "

He trailed away, realizing he had just referred to Harel as a 'he' when she definitely was a 'she'.

Eiri smiled and closed his eyes. "Brat, dammit… I'm working here… stop bothering me-" he told the room as if the pink-haired vocalist were standing behind him, "-go listen to one of those CDs…."

"… just… leave me alone, okay?" His lips trembled and he cursed mildly when he felt something wet rolling down his cheeks.

He sat up once more and began typing what he'd made up earlier, burying himself into the story and letting his pain out in the words.

Harel was dead, just as he'd planned when he wrote the draft for this book six months ago. Karl would find someone else, there would be another big problem and later on Yuki would have to decide whether to kill off that someone else, or Karl, by the end of the book. Either way, it would come to no surprise if he ended the book with yet another tragic ending. It was his style, anyway.

What made him wonder was if he could find someone else.

He…hoped not.

A/N: Hopefully, I didn't screw anything up and got Yuki in-character there. Hopefully. I've never seen the anime yet but I'm asking someone to download subs for me… so this is basing off from what I've read online and the manga itself.. If I get enough reviews, I'll continue so.. uh.. review? :-D Comments and criticisms are welcome and flames… will be dealt with.. uh.. properly?