Renaissance~Rebirth~
By ~ Lizzie~
DISCLAIMER: To reiterate a much-used jumble of words that make me not liable for any emotional damage caused to anyone who reads this story, I do not own anyone portrayed herein; and I am not forcing you to read this. So if you oppose to male/male relationships or emotional trauma fictionally heaped upon someone then you�re in the wrong place. Otherwise feel free to read the story (I encourage you to do so!! ^.^)
"Get your damn hands off of me!" An angry man with a shock of bleached-blonde hair nearly screamed; alerting everyone on the floor of his protesting. Soothing voices tried to calm the tirade, but it wouldn�t be helped. "I told you, I DON�T need help!" He tried to stand from the bed where he sat, but to no avail. He couldn�t move his left leg very far due to the cast that was on it, and the fact that it hurt like hell when he moved it too far. "And get that damn chair away from me; there�s no way that I�m going to be wheeled around like some baby in a carriage!"
"Kyo-chan, just listen to them, after all they went to medical school. They DO know what they�re talking about�" Toshiya�s voice came from beside him, trying to settle him. Kyo snarled at him for the pet name, and for taking the doctor�s side against him.
"Bite me, Totchi. I�m not helpless. I will NOT be subjected to this. I don�t have to." Kyo crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest and glared at everyone. Toshiya sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Actually, you do," a timid nurse spoke up. "It�s hospital policy that everyone has to leave with the aid of a wheelchair. We�re very sorry, but you�re going to have to put up with it. It�s only a short ride, and then you can make the rest of the way on your own." She shrugged her shoulders in sympathy. Kyo�s glare grew more intense.
"No." He shot a withering glance at anyone who made a move toward him. Toshiya finally got fed up and threw his arms into the air. His face was healed of all bruises, the only thing that marred it was a frown playing across his lips.
"Fine Kyo, have it your way. Stay here. I�m going home." Toshiya�s hips swung indignantly as he strode out of the room, the heels of his shoes making soft thumps on the sterile tile floor. A doctor followed Toshiya out, protesting weakly. Kyo�s eyes followed him, but his glare didn�t soften at first. But when he saw that Toshiya wasn�t bluffing, that he wasn�t coming back, he broke down.
"Toshiya, wait! Don�t leave me here!" Kyo called out desperately. Toshiya popped his head in the door, never having really left.
"Why shouldn�t I? You�re not going to be able to leave if you don�t follow the rules. I figure I can save myself some arguing and time if I just left now." Toshiya disappeared from the door and Kyo reached after him.
�Why I love him is beyond me sometimes�� Kyo thought maliciously. "Fine, I�ll behave," he conceded. No one answered. Kyo let himself be helped from the bed into the waiting wheelchair without complaint. Well� without audible complaint. Fortunately, by now all of the stitches had been removed from the lacerations on his face and other parts of his body, so the only part that they really had to handle carefully was his broken leg. When they were finished, Toshiya still hadn�t appeared. �Well I know now that Toshiya means it when he says he�s leaving��
The same timid nurse that had told Kyo about hospital policy was put in charge of wheeling him to the entrance where he was supposed to be released into Toshiya�s care. She didn�t exactly know what she was supposed to do since Toshiya had apparently left, but she knew that she had to do her job so she began to push him. Kyo, being of a smaller stature and not weighing very much, wasn�t that hard to push, so little effort was wasted. Once outside the door, she turned and shut the door, spinning around to begin pushing Kyo again; but meeting with a pair of amused eyes. Toshiya had been waiting outside the door, knowing that Kyo would eventually give in. Kyo hadn�t seen him, and was slumping in his chair, looking disgruntled and thinking dark thoughts. Toshiya put a finger to his lips and gently nudged the nurse away from the chair to a spot behind him. She smiled and nodded, giving her permission.
Toshiya took over pushing the chair to the elevator. Kyo didn�t even notice the change. The nurse stayed near Toshiya, in case she was needed for anything.
The trip down to the lobby was uneventful. Every few seconds Toshiya and the nurse caught a few of Kyo�s uttered curses. Toshiya shook his head and fought the urge to kiss Kyo�s hair; while the nurse suppressed giggles. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, and Toshiya pushed the chair out carefully, so as not to jar it too much over the threshold and disturb Kyo�s leg. A short walk later, they paused at the front entrance.
"Well, what now? My ride left already," Kyo stated rather grumpily. This time Toshiya didn�t fight the urge, and buried his face in Kyo�s soft yellow hair, kissing his scalp gently.
"No I didn�t, koi; I could never leave you," he whispered into the hair. Kyo�s indignation quickly faded. The nurse watched the goings on with a small smile on her face. Squeezing Kyo�s shoulders soothingly, he moved around to the front of the chair and freed Kyo from it, scooping the smaller man into his arms. The nurse took the hint and led the chair away, bowing respectfully. Toshiya nodded to her as she left, and Kyo didn�t have it in him to protest his new position.
"I�m glad you didn�t leave. I was afraid that I would have to stay here forever�" Kyo shuddered. The hospital had been torture. Not only did he not get very much sleep what with the nurses waking him up at all hours of the night to take his vital signs, the food was horrible! Kyo considered himself lucky to have made it out alive. "All I want is to go back to my apartment and REALLY sleep for a week." Toshiya smiled down at him, Kyo staring back up, memorizing the already familiar look of his love.
"Well there�s been a change of plans," Toshiya informed him. Kyo looked puzzled. "Well, since you�re in no shape to be taking care of yourself, you�re going to come stay with me until you get better." When Kyo looked like he was about to protest, Toshiya quieted him with a look. "I have the room; you know I do. And besides, I could use the company. And you probably can�t even bathe yourself in that thing!" Kyo made a face at Toshiya, who merely looked placidly back at him. Kyo sighed and slumped against Toshiya�s chest, seeming upset but inwardly pleased with how this was turning out.
"Ok, I�ll stay with you�" Kyo said. "Lead onward, master!" Toshiya laughed and nodded, carrying Kyo out to his car to take him home.
* * *
Kaoru set his glass down, feeling sick. He placed his head on the counter and counted to twenty, trying to will the nausea away. Thankfully, it worked. Lately Kaoru had been frequenting bars more often than in the past, in an attempt to forget a certain bassist. He knew that it wouldn�t work, but the drunkenness offered a certain comfort of oblivion that he hadn�t been able to find anywhere else.
He was alerted to the presence of another when he heard the stool next to him squeak softly with the pressure of a body settling its weight onto it. Not bothering to look up, he sighed and concentrated on making his stomach stop hurting. He was distracted when the newcomer tapped him on the shoulder. Kaoru lifted his head enough to look up at the stranger with one eye.
"May I help you? You seem like you could use some assistance," a voice that seemed almost too deep for the person who owned it offered. Kaoru�s eyes widened and he brought his head up higher so that he could examine the man more fully. He was almost� pretty. Not as pretty as Shinya or Toshiya, but more masculine. And yet there was a feminine grace to his features. He was thin, and had sandy brown hair. His skin was perfect, and his voice beyond comparison. Kaoru almost lost his powers of coherent speech just gazing at him.
"No� I uh, I�m fine, really." He seemed to stutter more than humanly possible. The newcomer had a smile in his eyes. Kaoru cocked his head to the side and blinked once. "Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked. The stranger seemed oddly familiar somehow. An eyebrow raised as the man next to Kaoru draped his fingers elegantly around a glass of vodka he had ordered.
"You may, though I don�t think we�ve met personally," he answered in the silky voice. Kaoru�s nausea was forgotten as he racked his brain, trying to think of where he might have seen this stranger before. A few strains of a song reached his ear, and he looked up from his musing. The stranger had been humming. Humming "Kimi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto"�
To Be Continued
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