Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Because of You ❯ chapter 24 ( Chapter 24 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Chocho
A witness comes forward claiming to know the whereabouts of Rinjin Karin, but will the police get there before she disappears again? Meanwhile, Shu and Eiri are reunited with the twins, but what is the fate of Riku?

Anime/Manga: Gravitation Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Shounen / Angst / Romance / Fantasy / Hentai | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 11.13.2007 | Pages: 15 | Words: 16.3K | Visits: 313 | Status: Work In Progress

Because of You
 
Sequel to: This I Promise You
 
Written by: Chocho
 
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
 
Summary: The only thing they have in common is their abhorrence for Shuichi. Karin claims he murdered her brother. Scott maintains that he is responsible for the death of his daughter. Karin and Scott's meeting may have been coincidental, but their plan to assassinate Shuichi is not.
 
Chapter summary: A witness comes forward claiming to know the whereabouts of Rinjin Karin, but will the police get there before she disappears again? Meanwhile, Shu and Eiri are reunited with the twins, but what is the fate of Riku?
 
Warning: Angst, drama, m-preg, language, m/m sexual content
 
Inserts: Slight reference to This I Promise You, flashbacks to chapter 18 and 20.
 
A/N: I know this's taking forever to get to the good stuff, but trust me. It's all part of the story. Thank you to all of you who have stuck by me this entire time and took the extra couple of minutes to review. Here's the next installment. Hope it was worth the countless chapters of crap.
 
 
***
 
 
Chapter 24
 
[Shuichi was not sure how they knew they were inside the van pulling up to the emergency room entrance at Osaka University Hospital, the van was brand new, it being a Christmas gift from the Seguchi's, and had darkly tinted windows, but as soon as Tohma turned off the busy main street and drove up to the emergency room doors under the carport on the west side of the hospital, the mass of media personnel swarmed the van like vultures who had spotted a quick, easy meal.
 
Shuichi cringed away from the sight and buried his face in Eiri's shirt. This was not something he wanted to have to deal with right now. All he wanted was to see his boys.
 
Eiri tightened his hold on Shuichi. “Seguchi…!”
 
“Don't worry,” Tohma assured his brother's-in law. “It's been taken care of.”
 
Eiri was not sure what that meant, but he trusted his sister's husband.]
 
 
***
 
The elevator dinged as it arrived from the basement where the vending and ice machines were located, sounding unnaturally loud in the silence of the hotel. The doors slid open and Georg Henri, a graduate student studying Japanese History in France who was on vacation in Japan, stepped out of the elevator as the doors slid open. His eyes landed on who he assumed was a woman given her stature. He inclined his head in greeting.
 
“Evening.”
 
The woman mumbled something as she forced her way passed Georg onto the elevator.
 
Georg, as he started walking down the hall towards his room, glanced curiously over his shoulder and studied the woman. She seemed to be favoring one of her legs. Her head was lowered, causing her long blond hair to swing forward and veil her face. He could tell it was dyed because her black roots were starting to show. Her jeans were shabby and baggy. Sneakers that once were white were now grey with dirt and grim. The collar of her coat was turned up, shielding the lower portion of her face.
 
As the elevator doors began to close, Georg caught a brief glimpse of her face as she reached out towards the elevator buttons. Her eyes were blood shot and red rimmed. They appeared to be slightly puffy from what he assumed was a long stint at crying. He was wondering if he should go see if there was anything he could do for her when the elevator doors closed.
 
Shrugging the strange occurrence off, Georg pulled out his key card from the back pocket of his jeans and slid it into the slot. He pushed down the silver handle and flung open the door. Groping the wall besides the door, the track lights above the sink on the far side of the room went on. Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him. Walking through the small, closet sized room, he rounded the bed and grabbed the TV remote off the bedside table where it sat besides the phone and the courtesy menu which had long since been out of date. He dimly heard the sound of a television from the room besides his as he pointed the remote at the television.
 
“-na was outraged today as President Bush awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal in a Capitol Hill Ceremony, the highest civilian honor,” came the voice of the news anchor. “While the Dalai Lama claims that this high honor brings joy to the Tibetan people, Beijing is saying that the Bush-Lama meeting hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. Chinese leaders wanted Bush to call off the meeting because they believe that the exiled Buddhist leader is a separatist and is pushing for independence for the Tibetan people, though the Dalai-Lama in his speech today said he wants sovereignty for Tibet under Chinese rule. China calls this a gross interference in Chinese affairs… (1)”
 
China has been getting a lot of bad press lately, Georg realized as he tossed the remote onto the bed. It bounced lightly. He rounded the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.
 
“…And this just in to NKH. The Osaka City Police are looking for this woman, 35 year old Rinjin Karin.”
 
A picture of a small woman with golden blonde dyed hair, high cheekbones and full lips under an aquiline nose flashed onto the screen.
 
“She is believed to have been the driver of the car that was involved in a hit and run accident earlier today involving three of Shindou Shuichi and Yuki Eiri's children. According to sources close to the investigation, Rinjin Karin is the sister of Rinjin Yasashii, the man who several years ago stalked the singer…”
 
 
~*~
 
 
Endou Takayuki swung his legs off the desk and folding his arms on the cluttered desk top, studied the image of the girl on the screen.
 
“…If you have any information relating to the whereabouts of this individual, please contact the Osaka City Police's confidential tip line at 0990…”
 
Takayuki's frown deepened. Pushing away from the desk, he stood up and made his way out of the office to the front desk. The only sound in the deserted lobby was the sound of clacking keys.
 
“Damn,” he whispered. He reached for the phone.
 
“Osaka Police Department Confidential Tip Line,” came the calm voice over the line.
 
“Yeah, this is Endou Takayuki from the Home Lodge Hotel. That woman you're searching for? That woman who was involved in that hit-and-run? I believe she may be staying here at the hotel.”
 
There was the sound of a pencil scratching. “You believe this individual is staying at-”
 
“The Home Lodge Hotel right outside the city, yes.”
 
“Okay, Sir, please hold while I transfer you to the detective in charge.”
 
 
~*~
 
 
He was suddenly staring down the barrels of countless guns.
 
It was a freak storm. It appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. There was still a distant rumble of thunder and the occasional flash of lightening, but as soon as the torrential rains had subsided, they appeared out of nowhere like Green Men (2) and not the ones from Mars.
 
Scott slid on the slick undergrowth as he halted his hurried flight. Catching his balance, he straightened slowly and glanced around him. They were suddenly everywhere. He was surrounded. The rain that had been coming down in buckets until just seconds ago had concealed their movements from him. He swiped at droplets of water that dribbled from his hair plastered to his face. His clothes were completely soaked through and sticking to him. His breath was coming out in white puffs in the chilly early winter morning.
 
Beams from dozens of flashlights cut through the fog that was beginning to roll into the valley. Behind him, police dogs jerked on their leads at him, snarling viciously. They looked like they wanted to tear him to pieces. Their handlers could barely hold the dogs back. Scott shied away from them.
 
He has had an intense dislike of dogs since he was a boy when he was taking a short cut home, from where he could not remember, when a pit-bull the owner of a pizza parlor brought to work with him everyday, a dog that snarled and barked at every single person who happened by, broke loose and bit his arm before running off. It did not bite hard enough to break the skin or leave teeth imprints, but it certainly left an impression (3).
 
Dozens of voices shouted at him from everywhere, each one speaking as one, each voice shouting over the others in order to be heard.
 
“Give it up Keene! There's nowhere for you to go! You're surrounded!”
 
“Hands where we can see them!”
 
“Get on the ground! Get on the fucking ground! Now!”
 
There was nowhere for him to go.
 
He could stand and fight what would be a losing battle, but one look at those sadistic looking creatures behind him and he was on his knees in the muck and lacing his hands behind his head. He snarled and glared at the state troopers as they crept close cautiously with their guns pointed at him, just in case he should try something. Don't he wish he could?
 
Goddamned son of a bitch, he cursed in his head. It was all up to Rinjin now. And she'd better finish the job too.
 
 
~*~
 
 
The sounds of the television could be heard over the rumblings of the shower as they drew nearer. It certainly sounded like someone was in there.
 
One of the uniformed officers glanced over the partial wall to his left down two stories to the lobby and pulled immediately back. He did not suffer from vertigo but staring straight down thirty plus feet with nothing more than a flimsy looking half wall, even if it was nearly five feet high, would make anyone a little light headed.
 
Takayuki used his master key to open the hotel room door. He stepped aside, plastering himself against the wall as the police swarmed the room with their weapons drawn. He inched his way out of the way.
 
Other than the light that was shinning out from under the bathroom door, the only light in the room came from the television that had been left on to the local news station.
 
“...And the Spice Girls are back...!” (4)
 
The room was not much larger than a broom closet so it did not take long to conduct a thorough search. The room was empty.
 
“Shit,” Detective Shigeno Shin cursed. “Clear!”
 
Detective Misawa Ren stood with his gun at the ready before the bathroom door. He motioned for one of the officers. The door was flung open. Detective Misawa rushed inside the steam filled bathroom. Water thundered down from the shower head into the bathtub. He could not see any sort of silhouette behind the shower curtain. He suddenly had a bad feeling. But just in case, Detective Misawa reached out for the shower curtain cautiously. Grabbing hold of it, he tore it open.
 
“Dammit,” he cursed. He lowered his gun. He knew it! “Clear!” he called.
 
They were too late.
 
*
 
“Are you sure, Mr. Henri? Take another look,” Detective Misawa told the graduate student.
 
The woman in the elevator flashed through Georg's mind. “Yeah,” he nodded as he studied the picture. “Yeah. This's the woman I saw,” he told the officer.
 
“Are you absolutely certain?”
 
“Yes, Sir.”
 
“Thank you, Mr. Henri.”
 
Georg nodded and watched the swarm of officers curiously before disappearing back into his room. He wondered what all the fuss was about.
 
“What you find out?” Detective Shigeno asked as his partner joined him.
 
Detective Misawa shook his head. “She's long gone. This guy,” he pointed over his shoulder at Georg Henri's room, “saw her a little while ago getting onto the elevator.”
 
Detective Shigeno nodded. They had expected as much.
 
“She doesn't change the plates on her car and checks in under her own name. She's either very stupid or very smart.”
 
“Well, considering that she always seems to be one step ahead of us, I think that would be the latter.”
 
They knew that all criminals made mistakes. That was how they were eventually caught. They were careless. But this woman was different. It seemed like she did not care whether or not she was caught or whether or not people knew who she was and what she did. In fact, she was deliberately making sure everybody knew who she was and what she was doing. She was shoving it in their faces. Was it in fact true that she was out for revenge for the death of her brother? If that was the case, then they had a very dangerous criminal on their hands.
 
“Excuse me, Officers?” came a heavily accented voice.
 
Detectives Misawa and Shigeno turned to find Georg Henri sticking his head out of his room.
 
“Mr. Henri?”
 
“What can we do for you?”
 
Georg stepped out of his room. “I don't know if it'll be ok any help, but I remember something about that girl you were asking me about.”
 
Detectives Misawa and Shigeno exchanged a glance.
 
 
~*~
 
 
Much to Eiri's surprise, Tohma drove the van right by the emergency room without so much as slowing down. Eiri glanced over his shoulder out the back window as the gaggle of reporters and photographers who had gathered around the emergency room entrance hoping for the slightest glimpse of the infamous couple grew smaller. The various news crews, realizing their mistake, or so they thought, at the occupants of the van, drew back and went back into waiting mode.
 
Eiri smirked. Idiots, he thought.
 
“Hey,” he called out to his brother-in-law. “What the hell are you doing? The ER was back there.” Not that he particularly cared, not with the vultures from hell guarding the entrance.
 
“I know,” Tohma replied cryptically.
 
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Where are you taking us?”
 
Hearing all this, Shuichi cautiously raised his head and saw that they were driving around the back of the hospital. Straightening, he rubbed at his tear stained face with the palm of his hand.
 
They drove by the adult care facility which was attached to the rear of the hospital then passed the loading docks and finally ended up at the east side entrance which was on the opposite side from where the emergency room was located (5).
 
Tohma pulled the van up under the carport. He turned around as much as his seatbelt would allow and glanced at Eiri behind him. “Told you it was taken care of.”
 
Eiri snorted.
 
Tohma's glance shifted from Eiri to Shuichi. His signature know-it-all smirk slipped slightly. “Are you alright, Shindou-kun?”
 
Shuichi placed a hand over his belly and swallowed a grimace. “I want to see my boys,” was all the young singer said.
 
Tohma nodded.
 
“Those wouldn't happen to be yours Seguchi would they?”
 
Shuichi and Tohma glanced out the van's side windows and saw a group of men and women emerging from the hospital. There were six of them. Three women and three men. All were dressed in black. All carried guns. Eiri wondered how Tohma managed to pull that one off, seeing as the only legal gun was a toy one, but Seguchi Tohma could get away with murder, and Eiri was sure he has, if he bribed or blackmailed the right people.
 
Tohma just smiled mysteriously.
 
Eiri gave his sister's husband a look that said it all.
 
Tohma chuckled. As he opened the driver's side door, one of the women stepped forward. She bowed as Tohma stepped out of the van and onto the sidewalk.
 
Eiri slid open the van's side door and helped his expectant partner, who was clutching his swollen belly, out of the van.
 
The woman slid behind the wheel after Eiri slid the van's side door closed. Shuichi watched her pull away.
 
“Eiri-kun. Shindou-kun. They will be your guards,” Tohma introduced.
 
Shuichi's eye went wide. Guards? Why would they need bodyguards? It was then that he remembered how Eiri had reacted when he mentioned that he saw the same car earlier today outside their house that he saw at his grandfather's funeral.
 
 
***
 
 
[“The car you saw. What kind was it? What color was it?”
 
“It was a dark grey almost black Honda Civic.”
 
“Did you get the license plate?”
 
“No.” That had been the last thing on his mind. “Why?”
 
Eiri remained silent.
 
“Eiri, what's going on?”
 
Again his husband said nothing. He just kept staring off into the distance.
 
“Does it have something to do with what came in the mail that time?”
 
A look of surprise flashed across Eiri's face before he could school his face, but he was not quick enough because Shuichi had seen.]
 
 
***
 
 
Till this day, Eiri refused to talk to him about that mysterious package that came in the mail last month. Now his boys had been in a serious accident. Was it all connected somehow? It had to. You cannot watch as much television as he has and not picked up a few things.
 
 
***
 
 
[“It was her,” Eiri whispered, deliberately cutting off Tohma mid-sentence. His voice did not sound like his own.
 
Shuichi focused his dazed mind on Eiri as much as the fog in his mind would allow.
 
“It was her,” Eiri reiterated. He lifted eyes glazed over with shock and disbelief. “She's been stalking us for months and now this…”]
 
 
***
 
 
Who was this mysterious “her”? Did it have to do with that package Eiri refused to speak to him about? And was it all linked to the accident?
 
The wheels in Shuichi's head started spinning. Something was definitely going on, something that Eiri was not telling him and it obviously had something to do with the near fatal accident that almost killed his boys.
 
“I'm sure we'll be fine in a hospital, Seguchi.”
 
The sound of his husband's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
 
“Humor me,” Tohma was saying. He indicated the bodyguards with a sweep of his hand. “You remember Marcus and Blade.”
 
Eiri turned his attention to the two black men who stepped forward.
 
“I'm sorry we have to meet again under these circumstances, Sir,” Marcus said as he shook hands with Eiri. He inclined his head at Shuichi. “Sir.”
 
Shuichi stared at Marcus flabbergasted.
 
“You speak Japanese now?” Eiri asked him. He was impressed.
 
The boys were learning English in school and after much pleading and begging from Shuichi, Eiri started tutoring him to help improve his English. He gave up halfway through their very first lesson. Now Eiri knew why the baka nearly failed school. It was not that Shuichi was stupid; in fact if Shuichi had applied himself like Hiro-kun had, like he had in his music and PE classes, then he might have become valedictorian, salutatorian or at least made it into the top ten of his class. Hell, the baka could have made it into the top one-hundred. Shuichi's problem was that he just suffered from a serious case of short attention span syndrome, on top of being bi-polar and suffering from severe bouts of depression and possibly multiple personalities, and had a very limited list of things that interested him; things that he cared to spend more than five seconds on.
 
“Perfectly,” Tohma replied. “I made sure they took some classes.”
 
Marcus and Blade had been hired as Shuichi's bodyguards after Jacob and Koji were murdered by Rinjin Yasashii. At the time, neither one could speak Japanese outside of a few key phrases. It had been a good thing that Eiri was able to speak English flawlessly.
 
“I'm sorry to hear about your boys,” Blade said when he shook hands with Eiri.
 
Eiri's heart gave a painful lurch, but his face betrayed nothing. He figured it was due to hanging around Tohma all of these years. At least one good thing came out of the older man being where he was not wanted.
 
“This is Satoshi.” Tohma indicated a man that reminded Eiri a lot of Koji, small and weak looking, but if this Satoshi was anything like Koji then his frail appearance hid a world of hurt. Otherwise Tohma would never have hired him.
 
The man inclined his head at the couple.
 
“That buxom beauty with the snow white hair is Maki.” Tohma indicated the woman that was walking towards them. It was the woman who parked the van.
 
“Better not let my sister hear you say that,” Eiri warned his brother-in-law. Mika was bossy, hard headed, and tough as nails and took nothing from nobody. She was the only one who would ever dare stand up to one Seguchi Tohma, besides Shuichi, but that was different. Shuichi was an idiot.
 
Tohma petted the air. “Not to worry. Mika knows she is the only one for me.”
 
Eiri shuttered. That was something he would rather have not known. It was like finding out your parent's had a sex life.
 
“This is Kaoru.” Tohma waved his hand at a woman with short cropped hair. “And Sanami.” She had long black hair slicked back into a ponytail. “They will escort you to your boys.”
 
Tears prickled Shuichi's violet eyes. “Thank you, Tohma.” He bowed.
 
Tohma inclined his head in return.
 
“Come on Shu-chan.” Eiri reached out for him. Taking Shuichi's hand, he laced their fingers together. The six men in black circled around them as they stepped through two sets of automated doors into the hospital.
 
Shuichi halted just inside the second set of automated doors. His sudden immobilization forced Eiri to jerk to an immediate halt besides him.
 
“Shu?” Eiri glanced down at his partner with concern. “Wha-?”
 
“I want to know everything,” Shuichi said with an emotionless voice.
 
Eiri blinked. “What?”
 
Shuichi turned to face his lover and father of his children. “Everything. I want to know everything that you're not telling me.”
 
Suddenly getting the meaning of what Shuichi was saying, Eiri gulped and nodded. He should have been open and honest with him from the very beginning. But his old habit of doing everything he could to protect the singer was a hard thing to ignore.
 
“Sirs?” Marcus called out to them.
 
“Yes, we're coming,” Eiri told the other man. He gave Shuichi's hand a little squeeze and escorted the contingent up to the front desk.
 
 
*
 
 
Tohma watched them through the tinted lobby windows before turning away and pulling out his cellphone.
 
“Ah, Seguchi-san,” the male voice greeted over the line. “I was just about to call you.”
 
Tohma perked up. “What's happened?” he asked the man.
 
“Actually, Sir, Keene was just arrested about a mile from the home of his sister.”
 
Tohma felt his mood lighten ever so slightly. “His sister's?”
 
“Yes, Sir. It seems his sister, Matilda Schild, was hiding him. She's been taken into custody and will most likely be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive.”
 
Tohma's grip on his cellphone tightened. His knuckles turned white. Fury hardened his expression. So his information had been correct. Sympathizers had been hiding the attempted murderer. Family or not, how could someone deliberately harbor a man who tried to kill someone else out of some twisted sense of revenge? It was not like there was the slightest chance that Keene was innocent. He had been caught red handed. But then again, if this Matilda Schild woman was of the same mind as her brother, then that would explain why she would conceal Keene. (6)
 
“The police apparently received an anonymous tip that Keene was spotted lurking around his sister's house. They're not absolutely positive, but they believe that the anonymous caller was in fact Albert Schild, Keene's brother-in-law.”
 
That peaked Tohma's curiosity. “You don't say.”
 
“Yes, Sir. Apparently, Albert Schild works nights for the Department of Transportation and according to my sources, there's been bad blood between them for years since before Keene's arrest.”
 
This was perfect. One down and one to go. “Has the suspect who nearly killed my nephews been identified?”
 
“Yes, Sir. She has.”
 
“She?”
 
“Yes, Sir. They have yet to confirm that it was actually her, but as of right now the police believe that Rinjin Karin is behind the hit-and-run incident.”
 
Rinjin Karin.
 
Tohma's blood froze. He forgot to breathe. “Is she…?” Part of him was not sure if really wanted to know.
 
“Yes, Sir. I'm afraid that she is.”
 
Forgetting himself, Tohma cursed.
 
She was indeed the same Rinjin Karin he had been told about not more than two hours earlier who has been in contact with Scott Keene for the past seven or eight years.
 
Things began to click into place.
 
He remembered what Eiri said after they received the devastating news about the accident.
 
 
***
 
 
[“It was her,” Eiri whispered, deliberately cutting off Tohma mid-sentence. His voice did not sound like his own…“It was her,” Eiri reiterated. He lifted eyes glazed over with shock and disbelief. “She's been stalking us for months and now this…”]
 
 
***
 
 
He knew. Eiri knew as soon as he heard about the accident that Rinjin Karin had been behind it. How?
 
 
***
 
 
[“Her name.”
 
“Excuse me?”
 
“Her name? What's the name of this woman Scott Keene has been keeping in touch with over here in Japan?”
 
“…Eiri-kun-”
 
“Tohma. Please.”
 
Tohma sighed heavily. It was one shocking revelation after another, but this was one revelation that his brother-in-law might not be able to handle. “Eiri, I don't think-”
 
“Who is she Tohma?!”
 
“Karin,” he sighed.
 
“Karin?”
 
Tohma gulped. “Rin…”
 
Eiri went pale.
 
“…jin.”]
 
 
***
 
 
[“She's been stalking us for months and now this…”]
 
 
***
 
 
If Rinjin was indeed the woman Eiri had been referring to, then why had he not said anything? Why had Eiri not come to him for help? Why had he let it go this far? There was something more going on then he was privy to and before this day was over, he would find out what that something was.
 
“Her car was found abandoned in a parking garage in downtown Kyoto.”
 
Tohma perked up instantly. “And?” he prodded.
 
“And a witness came forward claiming to have seen her in a hotel outside the city, but by the time the police arrived she was already gone.”
 
“…Gone.”
 
The man gulped. He was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. “Yes, Sir.”
 
“…They let her go.” Tohma's voice had gone very soft and even.
 
“Yes, Sir. But-!”
 
Tohma raised an eyebrow.
 
“They believe that she couldn't have gone too far!”
 
“Oh?”
 
“The witness claims she was limping like she hurt her leg and with her face plastered everywhere someone is bound to spot her.”
 
It seems his nephews had not been the only ones hurt in the crash. “So, what you are telling me is that she is still in the city.”
 
“…Yes, Sir. They believe that she is.”
 
“I want her found and taken care of. Now!”
 
Tohma snapped his phone shut, ending the call without waiting for a response. He fisted the phone in anger. If she was indeed still in the city, then it was possible that she might be even now be making her way here to finish what she started.
 
Spinning on his heels, his long trench coat flying out around him, Tohma marched into the hospital.
 
 
~*~
 
 
Panic surged through him. The beating of his heart was the only thing he could hear. His legs carried him faster and ever faster as Marcus and Blade guided them through the winding, twisting maze-like halls of the hospital from the eastside where they entered to the emergency room on the westside where the lady at the front desk told them they would find their boys. She had called ahead to inform the emergency room that they were heading in their direction.
 
Satoshi and Maki flanked them on either side while Kaoru and Sanami protected them from the rear.
 
The closer the ER became the more urgency and panicked Shuichi became. He forgot about all the secrets his husband was keeping from him. His sole focus became finding his children.
 
His chest felt tight. With a lump lodged in his throat, tears prickling his eyes and blurring his vision and an ache in his heart, Shuichi burst through yet another set of swinging doors.
 
“I want Mama!”
 
“Mama!”
 
Gasping, his eyes going wide, Shuichi's heart just about stopped as he heard the unmistakable cries. “Keitaro. Kane!”
 
He would know his boys voices anywhere. His heart beating a wild tattoo, Shuichi dropped his husband's hand and shoved his way through Marcus and Blade and, ignoring their voices calling out to him, Shuichi, with one arm wrapped around his belly, followed the whimpering as fast as his pregnant self could carry him passed a curtained area where muffled hurried voices could be heard. He barely heard Eiri and the contingent of guards following behind him.
 
Shuichi crossed over another threshold and panting heavily, found himself in an open area with a dozen beds lining the far wall. Doctors in long, white lab coats and nurses in brightly colored uniforms scurried about here and there. He paid them no mind as they glanced at him briefly in passing as he stood there searching the open room.
 
“Shuichi,” scolded Eiri as he finally caught up to the younger man, panting lightly. He would have to start working out again. It was either that or quit smoking again. He was not sure which one was the more evil of the two.
 
Shuichi's eyes lit up. There!
 
“I know you're-”
 
Without hearing a word Eiri said, Shuichi took off across the recovery room towards a curtained area.
 
“Hey! Shuichi!” Sighing heavily, Eiri motioned for the guards and they followed the runaway singer. He was just as worried about Riku, Keitaro and Kane as Shuichi was, but Shuichi needed to take it easy.
 
 
***
 
 
[Tohma's glance shifted from Eiri to Shuichi. His signature know-it-all smirk slipped slightly. “Are you alright, Shindou-kun?”]
 
 
***
 
 
And it was obvious that he was not the only one who was worried. All this stress over the boys could not be good for Shuichi in his current condition. Him being male and pregnant was stressful enough as it was. This added stress was just a disaster waiting to happen.
 
Shuichi reached the far side of the recovery room where the whimpering was coming from and tore aside the curtain. His hands flew to his mouth as he gasped, tears streamed down his cheeks. “Keitaro! Kane!”
 
Two blond little heads turned towards him, their gleaming golden eyes bloodshot. Their hysterical sobbing was instantly cut short. “Mama!” came the chorus of voices
 
Overwhelmed, Shuichi collapsed to his knees as Keitaro and Kane jumped down from the hospital bed and flung themselves into Shuichi's outstretched arms. Shuichi held them and cried as he rocked back and forth. His babies were okay. They were okay. At first, Shuichi thought he was seeing things when he saw them sitting on the bed when he opened the curtains, but having Keitaro and Kane in his arms again made the dream a reality. He thought watching them drive off earlier with Riku to do some last minute Christmas shopping was going to be the last time he saw them, but everything was going to be okay now.
 
Eiri fought to keep his tears at bay as he watched Shuichi reunited with their boys.
 
Thank God, he thought.
 
“Uesugi-san? Shindou-san?”
 
Eiri turned to see a smiling man in a white lab coat and a stethoscope hanging around his neck walking in their direction.
 
“I'm Dr. Li Ikuo.”
 
Inclining his head in greeting, Eiri shook the doctor's hand.
 
Dr. Li was an older man slightly taller then Eiri with salt and pepper hair. His eyes behind the glasses were sharp and dark. His tanned faced was deeply lined.
 
“How are my boys, Doc?” Eiri asked.
 
He turned and watched Shuichi, who was weeping openly as he hugged the twins so tightly they would probably need a crowbar to pry them apart as he continued to rock the twins gently. The twin's loud wails echoed miserably in the stale environment. Four of the guards, two of them Marcus and Blade, surrounded them. Satoshi and Maki had remained with him.
 
“Other then some relatively minor cuts and bruises, both Keitaro and Kane will be fine.”
 
It was a clichéd saying, but it did feel as if he had been holding weights ever since news of the accident reached him and now that he knew that his boys were truly going to be alright, those weights had been lifted. A huge surge of relief flooded through him.
 
“They may suffer from some whiplash and some other aches and pains in the morning due to the accident,” Dr. Li was saying. “So I'm going to prescribe some aspirin for them.”
 
“That's fine.” Eiri nodded. “Hm?”
 
He glanced over his shoulder when he heard his husband's soft, melodious voice. A gentle smile graced his face. Somehow, Shuichi had been able to pry the boys off of him long enough to get up off the floor. They were even now lounging on the bed, the boys clinging to Shuichi like there was no tomorrow. Their hysterical sobs were lessening as their otokasan, or “mama” when they were either sick or scared, sang softly to them. They looked just about ready to call it a night. And who could blame them after the day they've had?
 
Speaking of his boys…
 
“What about Riku?” he asked Dr. Li turning back towards the man.
 
“Ah! Yes. Kitazawa-san. He is in surgery.”
 
Eiri froze. His eyes went wide. In surgery? Dear Lord! His heart starting beating wildly in his chest. “Is he okay?”
 
He read a study on line from one of the local universities some time ago that claimed that the safest place to be in a car during an accident was in the back seat. The safest place in the backseat was in the middle, which strangely enough was the least popular site in a vehicle to sit. From that, he would assume that the least safe place in a car during an accident was more than likely the driver's side. (7)
 
“He's being taken care of by Dr. Amada Hirofumi so I don't know much about his condition, but I do know that he may have suffered some spinal injuries during the accident.”
 
Eiri went white. He felt woozy.
 
“Someone will be out here to talk to you shortly,” Dr. Li told the distraught father. He patted Eiri lightly on the shoulder and turning, vanished down the hall, leaving Eiri to try to cope with the devastating news.
 
Eiri turned slowly to watch his husband and their sons. How was he supposed to tell Shuichi that Riku might have been left paralyzed in the crash?
 
 
***TBC***
 
 
Dalai-Lama getting medal: Real news story from October 17, 2007.
“Green Men” (aka Cernunnos, Arddhu, Atho, the Horned One, Jack in the Green, Brown Men, Moor Men, Oak Men) are “faery-like creatures [that have] green human forms and [wear] scanty outfits made of leaves. Non-threatening beings, unless you [are] a woodcutter or game-keeper, the Green Men [care] for trees in the dense forests. The Green Men [are] seldom seen by the average human.” (Conway, D.J. Magickal, Mythical, Mystical Creatures. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2001)
True story. (Stupid people and their untrained dogs).
True. Believe it or not. Their tour is sold out apparently…
The lay out of the hospital I based on DeGraff Memorial Hospital which is the hospital in the city where I live.
In real life, there is the possibility that Keene would have been found not guilty by reason of insanity, but in my opinion that should not be allowed. “Mental incompetence” is not an excuse, no matter what psychosis you may be suffering from. Guilty is guilty.
Real study I read online from UB (University of New York at Buffalo)
 
A/N: I hope that this was worth the weight. 21 pgs according to Microsoft word. What fate lies ahead for Riku? Next time: “Confessions are made. Conferences are held. Dr. Amada brings news of Riku. And a strange woman is seen lurking about the hospital.” Oh! That bit about Shuichi suffering from bouts of depression I got from one of the Gravitation novels. If you've read them, then you know what I'm talking about. See ya!