Never Say Never

Disclaimer: For here forever and always (so I don’t have to say it again!): I don’t own Gravitation or any of its characters. If I did, no one would read it! Or I’d bring Yuki Eiri to life for my own purposes -

AN: For those who haven’t watched the anime or read…volume 4 and beyond, this story could produce a number of spoilers dealing with Yuki’s past. You have been fairly warned!

All full names are in the Japanese format: Last name First name.

Chapter 1: “Good Morning America”

New York City was a busy, noisy city at any moment of the day. Day or night, something was happening. The time was just after 10:00 a.m. and already the streets were filled with honking cars, shouting people, and whirring sirens. Plenty of that ‘something’ happening and rather loudly at that. Yet in one upscale apartment, these sounds were not to be heard. Instead, other sounds permeated the otherwise quiet air, the creak of an opening door, a voice.

“Oh Eiri-kun…” Poke. Poke, poke, poke.

“Nnnnggafllmm…”

Poke. Pokepokepoke. “Come on, don’t roll over. You have to get up.”

“Nnnn! Go away!” The one referred to as Eiri-kun stuffed his head underneath his pillow and made a blind swat at the one poking him.

“Eiri-kun.” The voice adopted a singsong tone. “Rise and shine, sunshine.”

“I’m tired, go away!”

“That answer doesn’t suffice!”

Eiri groaned and his head burrowed further under his pillow. Seconds later, a set of fingers gripped his sides with the evil intent to tickle him out of bed. “Seguchi-san!” he wailed- or he tried. Most of his breath was taken up by peals of hysterical laughter.

“I’ve got you now!”
“Stop!” he gasped. “That tickles!”

“Well, yeah, that’s the whole point.” But the tickling stopped. “And I see you’re awake now.”

“You think?” Pillow knocked aside, Eiri looked up at the one who had been tickling him as he gasped for breath amidst short bursts of a giggle or two. Seguchi Tohma was beaming down at him.

“Now get up, sleepyhead.”

“Ah… I’m up, I’m up.” Eiri sat up and promptly hiccupped. “Now look what you -hic- did! You shouldn’t have tickled me! Now I’m -hic- going to have the -hic- hiccups all morning!”

“Well, you wouldn’t wake up, sunshine.” Tohma reached over and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Anyway, hurry up. Don’t you have meet up with Kitazawa-sensei in about an hour? You were so excited yesterday because he was going to take you to see…what was it again?” He smiled at the reaction the boy gave.

“Much Ado About -hic- Nothing! How could you for-hic-get?” Eiri sat up quickly and shook his head. “He said he’s going to test me to see how much I understand… and it’s all in Old English, can you believe it?” But he looked thrilled just at the thought. “Eh…? My hiccups are gone!”

Tohma chuckled. “Right, right. Well… come on, get up, get up, sunshine. You’re wasting daylight.”

Eiri reached up and tried to straighten his mused hair. “Why do you keep calling me sunshine?” he asked, smothering a yawn.

“Because it’s cheerful and bright, just like you, of course. What other reason would I have?” With another grin, he reached out and ruffled his hair again.

Eiri made a noise of protest but there was a smile on his face. He smiled a lot- laughed too- during the past year, more than he probably ever had in his entire life. For this, this boy’s beautiful smile and light-as-air laughter, Tohma was very proud of himself. Up until a year ago, Eiri had lived in Japan with his family, the prestigious Uesugis. Wealthy and the owners of a local temple, anyone would have believed such an upbringing would be best. Not so for Uesugi Eiri.

The middle child of the Uesugi family was cursed with pale hair and eyes. Such appearance was very much un-Japanese and in a society where everyone was quite Japanese, Eiri was not fairly accepted by most, including his own parents. Such treatment from even his own family really messed with the boy’s psyche. Tohma had been a friend of the eldest child, Mika, when she came to him with concern.

“He’s losing control of himself,” she had said, wringing her slim hands nervously. “He’s been getting into fights at school, he’s been short-tempered with everyone, he’s doing such… odd things. And heaven forbid our parents do anything to help. I feel like I’m his mother instead, for all that I look out for him! And really, I shouldn’t be so concerned about it, but I can’t help it. I can’t stand seeing him picked on and no one else do anything about it!” She sighed. “He used to be so happy…”

That was when Tohma offered to take Eiri to America. “I have an apartment in New York. I could take him there for a while- perhaps until he finishes school?”

“Oh, I just know that would be wonderful for him! But… wouldn’t that be asking a lot from you? Taking care of a… forgive me for saying this but… a messed up teenage boy?”

Tohma smiled. “Forgiven. Anyway, weren’t you just saying that you couldn’t stand that no one was helping your brother? I’m offering. I wouldn’t offer to help if I didn’t really want for him to grow up… feeling normal, like the rest of us. I’m sure he’d love the chance and your parents have to see that this would be best for him.”

Not more than three days later, Tohma and Eiri left Japan. As expected, the boy was ecstatic.

“Have a good trip?” Eiri had said as his parents wished him farewell. He smiled, but there was no joy behind it- only chill humor, as though the idea of their well wishes amused him greatly. “Trip? This isn’t a trip. I’m going away… forever. I hate you, I hate this temple, I hate Japan… and I’m never coming back.”

“He’s in good hands,” Tohma said, somewhat apologetically, as if it was his fault Eiri was being so hateful. He bowed respectfully to the Uesugis and then guided their son out the door. He put an arm around the boy’s slim, almost fragile shoulders and frowned to find that they were trembling. “Easy there. Just breathe, Eiri-kun.”

“I’m leaving… I’m really leaving.” His head bowed and a tear trickled down his cheek. This startled Tohma.

“Eiri-kun, are you sure you…”

Eiri looked up. Several tears had followed the first one, but the look in his pale eyes was not sadness. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I’m leaving… I never have to come back to Japan or this place or these people again.” He flung his arms around Tohma and buried his face in the young man’s jacket, staining it with his tears. “Thank you, Seguchi-san.”

He smiled, stroking the boy’s hair. “Don’t mention it. Now come on, we’re going to miss our flight.” They climbed into the car and headed for the airport. Not once, did Eiri look back.

“It’s real,” he murmured to himself as they sped along, listening to Tohma talk of New York City and how he would love it there. A faint smile graced his lips. ‘Sayonara, Japan. Can’t say I’m too heartbroken. You’ll never have to see my face again.’But had he ever heard the phrase “Never say never” and understood the curse that was generally linked to that single, deceitfully harmless word, he might have chosen his words more carefully that day.