A/N: Hi everyone, and I'm so sorry for the long wait!!! I've resolved to make more time for my writing, even through the piles of schoolwork! This chapter was shorter then I first expected, also didn't have some of the key elements I wanted to put in...but they'll be in the next chapter, probably in flashbacks. And, on to my review responses because everyone knows I love my reviewers to death...(and I give them candy!)

/......./ thoughts

[.......] Inner thoughts

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CHAPTER 7

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At this point, Yuki began to shake even more violently, bleeding at the mouth and gagging. Kyo was freaking out, and the nurse was yelling for a doctor, but it seemed so faint to Kyo...all he could hear was the ragged breathing of Yuki...

/Please Yuki, please don’t am I so cold? Why can’t I see anything?/ Yuki tried to move his hands but discovered he could only move one. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Finally he realized other things around him, like ceiling lights, white sheets, a bedside table.

“Where am I,” he asked no one in particular. Painfully he sat up to see a smiling lady in a nurse’s uniform.

“Why, you’re in the hospital dear,” she said, pinching his cheek and bustling over to open his curtains.

“The hospital...” he muttered, rubbing his sore cheek. “Ow...” he said in an afterthought.

/So if I’m in here, then where’s Kyo and Hiro and Kisa...or was that all a dream, and I’m really in here because of Akito. But that can’t be right, I’d be in Hatori’s office if it was something Akito knew of.../

Yuki rubbed his temple with his one free hand. His entire body screamed at him in pain. He could feel his other arm now and it throbbed. Various parts of his body all sang the same song of soreness. Yuki frowned at the sunlight filtering through the windows; it hurt his eyes.

“You’re awake,” Kyo said from across the room. Yuki recognized his voice, but couldn’t look over.

“Yeah,” was all Yuki could say. The nurse smiled knowingly and left the room quietly.

“You feelin’ ok?” Kyo asked, pulling up a chair beside him.

“Not really. I’m very sore,” Yuki mumbled, flexing the hand that wasn’t in a cast.

“Yeah, that’s understandable.”

“How’d I get here?”

“Well, what do you remember?”

“Uh,” Yuki racked his brains for a memory that wasn’t fuzzy, “a bench.”

“Well, you pretty much passed out on us so we took a taxi to this hospital, in a different city. The doctors wouldn’t let you in unless I filled out all this paperwork, but when you fainted in the middle of their lobby with blood pouring from your mouth, they saw my point.”

Yuki was willing to bet that it took more then a few threats from Kyo’s end to make them see, but he didn’t say anything. There was a small silence, which was broken by an elderly looking doctor entering the room.

“Well Yuki,” he said. Yuki noted that he didn’t use a last name. “You seem to be recovering well, but we’re still a bit worried--”

“Where can he get the best treatment?” Kyo asked, interrupting. The doctor looked flustered, but answered.

“Well, there’s a hospital a few miles from here, but the best would probably be all the way up in the U.S. Chicago, to be exact. But it’s quite expensive...”

“Money isn’t an option,” Kyo snarled. The doctor didn’t take the hint.

“Well, I really would recommend---”

“I said money isn’t an option!” Kyo yelled. Yuki managed to twist so that he could grab Kyo’s hand.

“Kyo,” he said in a composed tone. Furious, Kyo took a step back and flopped down on his chair.

“I’ll get the transportation papers done right away. You’ll be out of here in less than two hours, sir.” And with that the doctor was gone.

“Thank you,” Kyo said sarcastically. He looked over and saw that Yuki was once again sleeping, and took the opportunity to slouch in his chair and sigh.

“How’s Yuki?” Kisa asked as soon as Kyo walked out of the private room.

“He’s fine. We’re moving him to a different hospital.”

“Where?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s too risky to talk now.”

Kisa nodded and sat back down beside Hiro, who was flipping nonchalantly through a magazine as if these sorts of things happened everyday.

“And now, we wait,” Hiro mumbled to himself, so that no one heard. But it summed up the situation quite well.

About an hour into it, Hiro finally looked back up from his magazine to snap at Kyo, “stop pacing. You look like a moron with nothing to do.”

“You little twerp, take that back!” Kyo flushed with anger.

“Whadd’ya gonna do, hit me? Go on, with all these people around to arrest you and all...”

Kyo scowled.

“Hiro, you’re not being very nice,” Kisa admonished. Hiro looked down a bit, but didn’t apologize to Kyo. Kisa dropped it when she looked up at the receptionist’s desk.

“It’s Shigure,” she squeaked, and before she could say any more, Hiro whisked her away and they were bolting down the corridors.

“What about Yuki,” Kisa managed to gasp.

“Don’t worry about him. You guys just hide!” Kyo pushed them down another hall and continued on himself. He slowed down as to not draw any more attention to himself, and he hurried to the first floor, halting when he heard a familiar, icy voice. It chilled him to the bone, made him feel like hiding in a corner and curling up into a little ball. But instead he stayed where he was, safely hidden by the wall, but still within earshot. Akito’s voice slithered in and out of Kyo’s mind, like a snake. Kyo repressed a shudder.

/I’ve come too far to be caught now. Three people are counting on me, that’s probably the most people in my entire existence that trust me. Getting caught would be failing. I’m not going to lose, I won’t prove that I really am just some stupid cat./

So caught up in his thoughts he was, that he didn’t realize Akito’s voice coming nearer and nearer, until it was too late... the shadow appeared around the bend and Kyo was frozen to the spot. Game over, he thought.

“Excuse me,” a woman appeared in front of Kyo, speaking to Akito and effectively hiding Kyo from Akito’s line of vision. It was the nurse from Yuki’s room, her round smiling face still in check.

“You’re looking for a Yuki Sohma, correct?”

“Yes,” Akito replied, less than courteously.

Kyo wiped his palms on his jeans, wondering if she would tell him, or not.

“Ah, well I was his charge while he stayed here.”

“Was?” Akito questioned.

“Yes, he was discharged a few hours ago, left in a hurry.”

Akito didn’t even bother to say goodbye. The search party left t he hospital building, never doubting the stout nurse for a moment. She turned to head to look at Kyo, and winked.

“You boys better had been getting out of here quickly though,” she said, and Kyo nervously thanked her, muttering that he didn’t really need help, before strolling off to find Kisa and Hiro.

/Damn Akito and Shigure and Hatori...Damn all of them!/

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::grins:: see, no cliffhanger! And I promise to update very quickly, as long as you review!