Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Yuki ❯ Hatred ( Chapter 12 )

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….

A/N: I finally got this one done - I was afraid I'd lost touch for this fic after the inspiration for this one just kept slipping away whenever I thought about it. I swear, tutoring drains a lot from me. But! I'm glad I'm done with this and I hope it's not that bad….. It's still unedited, as usual, and it's… a bit… out, or at least it feels like it, still I hope it's okay. I'm so sorry for not getting an update sooner! I'd just been uber busy with school and tutoring. *sighs* Anyway, big thanks to Pato San and the CPV-Phantoms-CTFA (Boogie-chan, Dark, Vince, Payu… am I missing anyone? :-O I hope not!)! Pato San for encouraging me and inspiring me to write this one, thanks to her constant reminder (^^) I finally got this one done! This chapter is dedicated to you even if you deserve a whole lot more, you're an awesome writer and War of Hearts is just awesome! And then Boogie-chan and the rest for continuously reading and review this fic! Your review always makes me uber happy! Hee, I couldn't get the pic done for you though, I'd wanted to draw a scene from the fic, but this (the Yukito one…. ) will have to do for now… I won't give up though! I'll draw something for you :-)!

Pics I did over the holidays:

( www (dot) angelfire (dot) com/games4/white_crescent/_04-30-1_bloodyukto.jpg ) - It's Yukito.. except.. uh… with a touch of X/1999?

This pic, on the other hand, has Ai and Yukito in it: ( www (dot) angelfire (dot) com/games4/white_crescent/_04-30-1_tieddestiny.jpg )

Twelve: Hatred

The morning rays filtered through the cream-colored blinds, marking the arrival of the new day and serving as a reminder to the young man hard at work behind the keyboards placed at the center of the dimly lit room of the time. He turned to the source of the light and, squinting, begged silently for more time before turning to his music once more. Blue eyes watered at the realization that he would not be able to play the song he was given today with the skill he hoped for. Dejected and disheartened, he allowed his fingers to press on the keys to form the kind of sound that reflected his feelings.

"I….I can't…" the declaration came as soft whisper that filled the empty room and left it with a deafening silence. With half-lidded eyes he scrutinized the slender fingers on the keys, wondering what defined the fingers of a skilled and gifted keyboardist.

Slender fingers trailed across his arms, feather-like touches that sent shivers down his spine, before coming to rest above his smaller and slightly darker hands. "You can." was whispered into his ears, soft and gentle. It tickled him with its lull and gentleness as it brought a familiar comfort and yet that comfort was not enough to deny the fact before him. He clamped his eyes shut and tilted his head upwards, becoming fully aware of the warm body pressed against his back. He let out a shaky sigh before shaking his head in defeat.

"I can't!" he cried softly, desperately as tears began to form at the edge of his eyes. "I….I can't be like you, Seguchi-san…. I..can't.." he whispered and was only dimly aware when the hand above his, paler and slightly bigger in size, pressed its thumb against his own, causing a single lonely note to sound and to fill the silence effectively.

The older man rested his head on the crook of his arm and slowly began playing a tune, guiding the younger man's less-experienced hands on the keys. "You can, Yuki. You can."

With a shaky breath, he turned his head slightly and stared into the amber orbs that were Seguchi Tohma's eyes and stayed like that until the older man placed his right hand to rest on his cheek and began tracing his jawbone with feather-light touches.

"You can."

---

Once in a while, either Ruka or Takumi would cast worried looks to the sleep-deprived blonde seated beside the window, a pencil in hand as he tapped it on his notebook, or his desk, or nibbled at its head while deep in thought. Yukito was deep in thought and hard at work to finish something - that something being the lyrics to the piece he'd been working on for what seemed to be forever, both Ruka and Takumi surmised. The boy would stop and jot down a few words occasionally before shaking his head in clear disapproval and then erasing what he had just written before returning to what had become routine for him for the past few hours.

Breathing deeply, Yukito closed his eyes to think and felt the sleepiness threaten to overwhelm his tired body. He yawned, covering his mouth, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before concentrating on the lyrics written on the crumpled piece of lined-paper on the desk in front of him, almost wishing the words he had written would rearrange themselves to form that one missing stanza. He couldn't be sure how long he had been seating beside that window, occasionally looking out in search of inspiration in the sky, the court, the people downstairs, the trees - anything his eyes fell on. It was as if the words he never had a problem on calling on before had fled him and he was left with nothing except this constant nagging feeling that his lyrics would never be, could never be 'right'. He changed the first stanza when he suddenly realized how immature it was, only to realize that by changing it, he was changing the whole meaning of the song and went on changing everything, turning the whole thing upside down. There was a dull thudding at the back of his head, distant and faint, but he knew that if he put his mind into deeper stress then he would end up with one massive headache.

He threw his pencil on the desk and watched as it rolled down and came to a rest just above his unfinished lyrics. Ruka stopped tuning his guitar, looking up to see what Yukito was doing now, before returning to what he had been doing. While Yukito stared at his desk, the look on his face clearly said he was not giving up and so Ruka continued waiting.

Yukito noticed the dark marks on the paper, the crumple-marks caused by impatient and rough erasing and the almost unreadable scrawls all over the piece of paper and wondered how a song could be so short and yet so hard to write. How many words made up a line? He'd done research papers and essays that were much longer and he didn't have as much trouble with them as he did with songs. He'd ever written them in English too and here he was, stumped and unable to come up with less than a hundred words or so that fit.

But it made sense too, he supposed. He eyed the parts of the song he'd finished softly, reading into the meaning behind the words he put together. A song may be composed of only a few hundred words or so but it was meant to hold something more; emotion, stories worth a thousand unsaid words.

He ran a hand through his blonde hair, closing his eyes, as he leaned back on his chair. He shouldn't stop, not couldn't, but shouldn't. He couldn't let the man win. He couldn't let the man be right about him. The man didn't know him, didn't know what he was capable of, and didn't know him enough to judge him like that.

Biting his lower lip, he picked his pencil up and began nibbling on the head of his pencil again, realizing suddenly how he couldn't think of anything else but the man with soft golden hair, eyes that were somehow equally golden and such powerful words.

He sighed and closed his eyes, allowing his mind the freedom to go wherever it wanted to go instead of forcing the words to come.

In order to knock down the times of silence, you who dozed off….

---

Breathing deeply and unbuttoning the first few buttons of his shirt, Eiri leaned back on the bed, using his arms to hold him up, and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. He had called everyone he needed to call earlier just so they wouldn't arrange a search party for him, like he knew a certain blonde Record Company President would, and now it was just him and the companionable silence. He had turned his mobile phone off to make sure nobody destroyed that precious silence he wanted to bask in and needed to clear his cloudy mind.

For the most part of the morning, he had slept, suffering from a nasty hangover, but now he was fine and mentally capable of thinking through what had happened. He was still in a state of figuring out whether it was real or just dream induced by the alcohol in his system. He had all the time in the world, so to speak anyway, with the lot of reporters and such having flocked to his apartment sometime in the morning. He knew they were coming, what with what had been shown on TV last night, or was it the day before yesterday? He wasn't sure of the day, wasn't even sure if it had been real. It had been a good idea to ask to be driven to this hotel.

He stopped and his eyebrows furrowed, remembering something. He remembered the boy he had convinced to driving him into the hotel last night, clearly. How could he forget the boy, with his likeness to Shuichi. It was him that made Eiri doubt the reality of it all. It was him and his face.

He swallowed and closed his eyes before lifting a hand to massage them. He pursed his lips and frowned, finding it hard to shake his mind off the boy.

'He isn't Shuichi.'

He thought he was done with this, thought he'd convinced himself enough that the boy couldn't be Shuichi because Shuichi was dead. Dead people didn't come back to life on a daily basis and Shuichi, the adorable idiot that he was, would never forget him anyway. The boy didn't know him and Shuichi practically sang his name like a mantra of sorts. He couldn't forget that, couldn't forget him, period.

Even if the boy had blue eyes just like Shuichi's, a face, a voice - he wasn't Shuichi and it troubled Eiri that he was thinking about someone like this just because… just because…

"He looks like Shuichi…" he whispered quietly before gritting his teeth and sitting up sharply. "Damn…. damn…." He hissed as he buried his face into his hands and began shaking his head in hopes of getting his mind off the offending topic.

He didn't need this, didn't need this boy to confuse him. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to admit it, but deep down there was this voice that urged him to just take the boy and pretend it was Shuichi, not whoever he was. It wouldn't be so hard after all. How long had it been since he last slept with Shuichi? It was all a haze in his head now and he could just as easily pretend it was Shuichi; his body might not be the same but the face was enough, enough to convince and bring comfort to his much troubled heart and soul.

Even if it was wrong.

"I don't want it, dammit!" He whispered angrily, biting his lower lip. He let his hands fall onto his lap and then he noticed the thin sheen of moisture on his palms, glistening in the light.

He had been crying.

---

The room was big and spacious, the floor was carpeted in deep blue and they matched the walls that were a lighter shade, albeit duller, blue. There were several metal cabinets and chairs folded up and stacked against the wall in the right side of the room. On the left side of the room there was a drum set, set aside and neatly arranged with a bunch of sound system equipment amongst other things like microphone stands and such. Then at the northern part of the room was a group of two keyboards, lined up together, their surfaces covered with papers. The room was neat and clean, except for the occasional pieces of what looked to be music sheets on the floor and there was an unmistakable air of melancholy in the air.

Eiri sat on one of the chairs left standing beside the metal cabinets, his head cradled in his hands as he went through the whole situation with himself. How was he supposed to react to this? What was he supposed to do from here? His head was throbbing and there were so many thoughts swirling in his mind at the moment he didn't know where to start. He had been in an accident, or at least that was what a distant voice in his mind was saying, and now here he was and there was a boy who looked so much like Shuichi it just couldn't be possible.

Three things: First the accident, here and then the boy. It all sounded so simple and yet Eiri found it amazingly difficult to choose where to start. He didn't want to start, they were all tied together and were caused by one thing and that one thing was something he didn't want to remember at the moment. He had been drunk, he wanted to die and suddenly there was the boy. And he was sure it had been Shuichi who looked down at him and that he had died. But the boy couldn't be Shuichi because Shuichi had died last year and now he didn't die like Eiri thought he did. Or maybe he didn't die at all.

Inhaling sharply, Eiri forced himself to stop, just stop thinking.

"This isn't working." He declared finally in a breathy whisper as he rose from the chair. He swayed a bit and figured he had drunk a lot more than he should have as he swept his eyes across the room. He hadn't thought about where he was or why he was here when he woke up. The first thing that came to his mind was that Shuichi had been there, looking down at him, and when he heard the voice he felt compelled to do nothing more than look for the source of that voice. And that voice; he thought it was Shuichi's but it couldn't have been. He felt a pang in his heart when he thought about how he shouldn't have thought it was Shuichi calling him in the first place. He was alive, Shuichi was dead and he, he knew he wouldn't have been able to tell Shuichi's voice with any other singer. He didn't listen to his songs enough, didn't listen to him singing enough….

And he thought it was Shuichi singing, thought the voice was like Shuichi's…

He found himself staring pointedly at the door the boy had disappeared into and wondered what lay beyond it. Why had the boy run away from him?

"I don't know." He found himself whispering while he gave his head a shake. The statement answered more than just that, he knew. He didn't know why the boy had run away from him. He didn't know why he was here. He didn't know why it was troubling him like this. He didn't know… didn't know who the boy was.

And the boy didn't know him.

He tore his eyes away from the door and found himself staring at the northern part of the room, eyes particularly interested at the mess of papers on them. He walked over to the keyboards quietly, secretly glad for the distraction.

The first thing that came to his mind once he was standing in front of the keyboards and looking down at those papers was the word 'music sheets'. Sometimes, before, Shuichi would invite Hiro and Ryuichi to their apartment to work on songs together. Whenever he came home, and they were in the middle of songwriting, he would always be met with the sight of his living room scattered with papers of the sort. Shuichi would be in the middle of it all with Sakuma Ryuichi, a notebook in hand as he wrote done each and every one of Ryuichi's suggestions and there would be a look of extreme serious on his face. Shuichi then would suddenly look up and, upon noticing his arrival, flash him that smile that never failed to warm his heart even after a difficult and tiring day and welcome him back home.

He picked up one of the sheets on top but before he could give scan through it, he noticed the piece of silver glinting in the light, hidden underneath the papers. Paper still in one hand, he used his other hand to pick up that piece of silver only to realize that it was his ring. With a look of disbelief, he checked his right hand and found his ring missing. He checked the writing inside the ring then and when he confirmed that it was indeed his ring, found himself both relieved and curious. He slipped it back on and stared at it long and hard.

Why was his ring there?

When he was convinced he wouldn't be getting the answer by just staring at the ring, he turned his attention to the paper in his hand. After reading the first few lines, he realized that it was the lyrics to a song and judging from the erasure marks on the paper among other things, he surmised that that whoever wrote it was trying to make a song.

"Just like Shuichi." Eiri muttered bitterly after the first few lines, not entirely because of the meaning behind the words on it.

The sound of a door opening caused Eiri to look away from the paper and to the direction of the sound. Golden eyes filled with contempt, he eyed the boy. The boy looked up at him, face visibly drained of all color but with wide, blue eyes, and smiled weakly.

"Awake, ne?" the boy asked quietly, slowly walking towards Eiri. "I… I'm sorry about that. It's just… I was surprised… you see…" The boy laughed weakly and then noticed the ring on Eiri's right hand.

"Oh, you found it? I… I sort of forgot to give it back. I was planning to give it back when you woke up-" The boy let out a nervous laugh. "But, um… I wasn't thinking you'd wake up so early!"

"You wrote this?" Eiri questioned flatly, seemingly boring holes through the boy as he stared at the boy and waved the piece of paper. The boy stiffened and stared at him for a few long moments before nodding his head slowly.

"Uh… yeah. I… I did." A smile broke on the boy's lips and the topic seemed to ease him. He spoke clearer and with much more confidence when he continued. "I'm still not done with it though, I can't figure ou-"

"It's crap." Eiri cut him off, putting the paper back with all the other papers and turning fully to face the boy. "You might as well not finish it because it's sickening." He told the boy matter-of-factly and watched as the boy's mouth opened and his eyes widened in disbelief. A few moments of silence passed between them and with that expression on the boy's face, Eiri found it easier to believe this boy wasn't Shuichi.

Shuichi would have pouted and latched onto him, begging and whining for him to take the words back, but the boy did the exact opposite. "Tell me it isn't crap!" the boy cried suddenly, stomping towards him with a flushed face.

"I've seen enough of these and I can tell this is crap." He told the boy bluntly and it was true. Eiri wasn't talking about Shuichi's lyrics though. Shuichi had learned and improved, matured and learned more about how harsh reality was, all the while keeping optimism in his writings that later on didn't seem so impossible and ridiculous.

The boy looked away, clearly insulted and something else Eiri couldn't name. There was something in the boy's eyes that almost made Eiri regret having said those words. It was almost as if he was doing this to Shuichi and this almost made him want to stop. 'But he isn't Shuichi.' He reminded himself, 'because Shuichi was murdered and this…. isn't him.' Bitterness welled up inside him when he was reminded of Shuichi's murder and he felt hatred towards this boy for looking like Shuichi. He didn't have the right to look like Shuichi, to do these things, to sing, to write songs because then, then he would be so much like Shuichi and it sickened Eiri.

It was an insult.

"It's not even finished yet. How do you know it's going to be crap?" The boy tried again, walking up to him and folding his arms. Eiri felt those blue eyes on him, accusing and filled with anger. The boy was livid and Eiri didn't understand what was so important about those lyrics.

Just like he didn't understand Shui-He stopped himself and gritted his teeth. Silently, he reprimanded himself for thinking of such a thought. No, Shuichi was a different case. He shouldn't be comparing Shuichi with this….

…boy

"Because it's going to." he told the boy finally. "Would you please just shut up now and stop this?" He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm before the boy could come up with another argument. He glowered at the boy, displaying his immense displeasure and almost immediately, the boy shut up, shrinking and withering under his glare.

"You ran over me." Eiri said finally after a long moment of silence. The boy's mouth opened and closed, seemingly at lost for words before finally yelling angrily. "You're the one who jumped into my car's way, you suicidal jerk!"

Eiri froze but he kept a straight face. "And you didn't see me?"

"I didn't see yo-Well, you appeared out of nowhere before I could do anything! And I wasn't drunk either!"

"I didn't ask if you were drunk or not, idiot." Eiri pointed out, earning him a groan from the boy. "So you were drunk - it's clearly your fault then."

"It is not. I wasn't drunk, a few glasses don't make you drunk-" The boy paused, taking the time to catch his breath before continuing, "You're the one who should have known better than to walk into a road like that."

"You're just trying to justify yourself, you definitely look guilty." Eiri said calmly, sounding very convincing even if deep down he knew he had been in the wrong. The boy was right, he had been suicidal to an extent, and it was his fault. But his pride wouldn't let him stoop so low as to admit that.

The boy bowed his head down in defeat and was quiet until Eiri spoke again.

"I need you to drive to a hotel, since I don't know where the hell I am." 'And my apartment would be swarmed by reporters by tomorrow.' He told the boy, eyes fixed on the boy's brown head. He found perverse pleasure in seeing the boy defeated like this, humbled with the truth beaten verbally into him.

"Why should I drive you to anywhere? Can't you walk? I'm sure you can find your way by yourself." The boy asked, the bitterness clear in his voice, as he stared at Eiri in the eye, blue eyes clouded and a mixture of emotion. The harmless stare turned into a withering glare when the boy spoke again, "I'll take the other car, follow me." The boy turned his back on him and began walking away quietly.

There was a total of three cars in the garage Eiri was taken to - a blue Toyota Supra, a black Mercedez and a black BMW. Eiri recognized, only vaguely however, the blue Toyota Supra to be the car the boy had been driving in and when the boy walked past it he arched an eyebrow.

The boy got in the car and once he was in the driver's seat, opened the door beside the front passenger seat and then rolled down his window. "Get in." the boy told him quietly and after that, throughout the whole drive, not a word more was exchanged between them.

The boy, under his instructions, drove him to a high-class hotel downtown which he was a member of. He stepped out of the car in silence when it was opened for him and just as he was about to walk away, he heard the sound of a window rolling down mechanically and then his driver's voice.

"Wait - next time you want to die, Mister, try jumping in front of another car, okay? Not mine."

Before he could whip around and say something to the boy, the car had gone. Recalling the words, a sense of déjà vu hit him. He'd said the same…. before….

---

"Sorry I took so long na no da!"

Ryuichi bounced into the office happily, catching the attention of everyone in the room. He gave Hiro a wave and ran towards them. "You didn't tell my decision to him yet, ne, Hiro?" he asked, eyes twinkling with something Hiro couldn't identify. Hiro shook his head with a smile.

"Nah, you go ahead Ryu-chan." He said with a nod, gesturing towards the Principal seated behind the desk. Ryuichi whipped around, a wide grin plastered on his face before bouncing towards the Principal. Noriko had to smile at their vocalist's antics and she gave Hiro a look, but the brunette guitarist was watching Ryuichi closely, the expression on his face dead serious.

"Ne, I've decided that my band will play on your Fes-" Ryuichi began, turning serious as the grin on his face became less innocent and more impish. "-under two conditions though."

Noriko snapped her head to Ryuichi's direction and everyone was surprised. Hiro's eyes narrowed, knowing beforehand Ryuichi had something in mind. It was just something with the way the singer had been acting all morning.

"First, I want your Ryu-chan and Shu-chan to sing Shining Collection because I like that song, na no da-" The vocalist explained, "The next… I have a tiny favor to ask of Yuki-chan. If he does it, I'll have the band play, if not…" Ryuichi's eyes narrowed, "Then no…."

The room was silent and then Ryuichi laughed suddenly. "It's not gonna be so hard though, no da! For sure Yuki-chan will be able to do it… and it'll only take a week too. So, do you agree?"

---

Yuki?

He felt like he was swimming in water, unable to open his eyes, unable to think properly, unable to move. He breathed in and out, a slow and almost painful movement that he wished he could just opt not to do but was a necessity, nevertheless, to continue living. On the second breath, he wondered just how long he had been in this state and tried to remember how he got here and strained his ears for any form of sound.

He remembered sleeping, or something like that, the darkness creeping from the edges of his sight, and a dull pain… at the back of his head? He heard the faint sound of engines, of faint conversation and felt, vaguely, the tough material underneath his bare arms. He heard his own breathing, but it felt so far away, so distant. Was he making up things? He didn't know, couldn't be sure, but he knew he heard those things. Now or Before, it didn't matter.

Or was he hearing it still? He couldn't think straight, as if a thick fog had descended upon his mind and that was obscuring everything. Everything.

He remembered his Yuki's voice, though, crisp and clear, albeit sounding just a tiny bit distant.

Where was he?

He didn't know.

---

And, as usual, response to the awesome reviewers from both Gurabiteshiyon.net and FF.net (hee, you guys keep me going!):

Pato San - Your reviews are just awesome! I just find myself reading it from time to time whenever the inspiration doesn't want to come and it motivates me to do better! Gah! I love you! Can I hug you? :-O Lol, but anyway, I hope you liked this chapter - even if it's probably not what you expected… and I hope you keep working on War of Hearts because it's awesome! I love Hatori-chan! Hatori! Hatori! Will you kill me if I root for Hatori/Shuichi? :-P

Boogie-chan and Dark - Hee, found another way to refer to you guys : 3! I'm glad you're starting to understand it, but I'm pretty sure.. or at least I hope… I still have a trick up my sleeve… Can I say plot twist? Well, I hope you all liked this! And Boogie-chan, your guess is good, I can't tell you how close it is to the truth though… : 3 But it's good - *whispers* Can I steal your plot and use it for this fic? j/k

Hopemia - Hee.. I'm flattered you think it's the best… XD *flattered* I don't really think so, you see… there are a lot more fics out there that are so much better (like yours…)…XD

Sozoku - ^__^ Update! Update! Here's an update ^_^

silver_dager - *hugs* Mwahah, you don't mind me doing that as long as it's online, right? Hee :-P Yeah, we know you don't like slash :-P I'll keep my evil, perverted mind in check when I'm writing FA then; remember not to make any of the cuter guys bi… or gay.. just "eccentric".

Joan Mistress of Magic - I think I'll bring Shu back, sometime… later in the chapters or something. Hee, or not. j/k. But I love Shu so much this looks like it'll have a fixed ending.. or something… hee, we'll see :-)!

CJ-Chan - Yes! Yes! Ryu-chan suspects Tohma ^^ Hee… Try downloading the manga off the net, scanlations, I mean. I'm pretty sure if you look heard enough you'll find it, I came across a site which hosts up until early volume 7 of the manga the other day so you should find a site or two :-O!

fireydragon97 - Thank you :-) I'm glad you like it ^__^

rulerofthecows - Um… this chapter doesn't answer much of your questions, but maybe next chapter? I'm planning to have more Eiri and Yukito interaction anyway… I hope you like it! *looks nervously at the cows…* ^^;;

Dearest - Freesia was smiling because… um… somethings wrong with the picture? ^^;; *zips mouth* I can't give out! :-O Lol, but I hope you like this chapter (I keep saying this…)! >.<!

Seishirou - ^__^ Um, I'm not sure what'll happen to Fukuda, but I know what'll happen to Tohma… : 3

Animegirl9 - No way it puts your fic to shame! Your fic is awesome! So awesome! It was your fic that really bugged me enough to want to actually write Last Song finally - I wanted to write Tachi/Taki and I still feel like writing a Tachi-fic at the moment…. @_@ Gah, I think you capture characters' personalities better, sometimes I find myself staring at this fic and wondering why my original characters are just… there. I wish I could do more for them! Bwah! Hee, I'm glad you like them though… they're bouncing… happily… in brain… ^^;;

Lara - ^^ Thanks… Well, I suppose I'll finally have more plot next chapter … or not, but I hope you like where this fic will go ^^;;

dark-kagome2 - No! Don't kill yourself is Shu isn't Yukito…. Or do I have to make Yukito, Shu? *thinks* Hmm….

Bunny-chan - *glomps* How can I not mention you (and your fic) again? :-P You're an awesome writer I melt whenever I read your stories. XD And lol, yes! Yes! Yes you gave the plot twist away! Lol, j/k. ^__^;; We'll see, ne? I want Sweet Nothings *pouts* and Your Song…. Still have to download that song…*dies*…

Fangel - Um… I suppose I should be glad those two characters *coughs* are getting to some people's nerves, tells me I'm doing something right… I think. ^^;; Ryu does know something, though it may not be what everyone thinks it is, or something. :-d Glad you like the last chapter and I hope you like this one too.. >.< More plot next chapter, I promise.. I think I'll even start working on it the moment I post this chapter up…

Nyoko - Yes, yes I waited for your review ^^;; We have more flashbacks this time because I had some parts between the last chapter that wouldn't fit anywhere else really (the big chunk of Eiri/Yukito exchange up there and the first flashieback….) I hope you like them! I don't know where I'd heard about K being an ex-CIA though - it's not the in the anime though, that's for sure. Must be one of those fanfics I read waaaay before. I forgot one teeny detail last chapter though and I hope that even if I forgot to mention it (I might just insert it somewhere next chapter too) everyone has the idea… um… the darts.. tranquilizer… *coughs* Got them off Metal Gear Solid 2 : Sons of Liberty which my little brother was crazy about some time before…. Anyway! I promise to work harder! YES! I'll finish this…>.<! I hope this chapter was good though :-)

Yay! And wow, um, I didn't realize I got this lot of reviews for this chapter. *coughs* Hopefully this was good - if not, then sorry! Tutoring killed creativity and pushed muses to the back wall of my mind for most of the time, I swear, I'll never take a tutoring job that's Monday to Friday (while I'm still in high school, anyway)! No more! Reading War of Hearts by Pato San, The Opposite of Gravity by Animegirl9, Your Song by xxTsukimiOdangoxx and Je Suis Desole by CassiToThestars at the moment. Lovely stories… make me doubt my writing skills…. Need more Phone Call and Breaking Away and Sweet Nothing…. Too many good fanfics to read and to follow…. Must see how plot revolves for Shuusama - I think I'm reading too many fanfics for my own good… Finally, will anyone murder me if I started another series fic while doing Yuki? Hmm….

^_^