"Why are you here?"

The question slipped out from those lips, cold and foreign, as if this man in front of him didn't know him. As if this man thought he was an enemy. A threat.

Akihito felt his eyes go wide at the same moment those hardened gold eyes narrowed at him. He froze, an unfamiliar feeling running from the pit of his stomach and clenching firmly on his heart. He couldn't breathe.

Involuntarily, he took a step back, and he saw something flash briefly in those golden eyes. Was that…confusion?

Asami's gun was suddenly pointed at him. Akihito glanced down at it. He knew it was loaded, the safety off, his finger on the trigger.

"Where is Akihito? What did you do to him?"

Akihito gulped. So the drug had already kicked in. In his head, Akihito didn't have time to curse whatever crime lord had done this to his lover. But the note- the note that was crumpled in the tight clench of his hand- had said enough.

Hope you enjoy losing your grip on reality, Asami.

The drug was definitely rearing its head now.

Somewhere in his heart, Akihito was sort of touched that the first thing Asami was worried about in his uncontrolled and drugged state was Akihito. But, no, Akihito didn't have time for that right now. He didn't have time.

What to do, what to do.

If he moved too fast, Asami would shoot. But, if he moved to slow, he'd shoot in impatience. Think, Akihito, think.

Slowly. He'd take this slowly.

Akihito took a step forward, slowly, carefully, toward his drugged lover. He'd dealt with these drugs before- he was a photo journalist after all. He'd been the one to take pictures of that particular drug deal, finding out the effects of such a dangerous narcotic through research on the job. And hell would freeze over before he let Asami, his Asami Ryuuchi, fall victim to these stupid pills.

Another step forward, and Asami hitched the gun higher, warning him.

"Where is Akihito?"

The question was voiced a second time, cold and just barely betraying the underlying worry. This time, though, Akihito had an answer.

"I'm right here, Asami."

The narrowed golden eyes widened, and the gun lowered several inches. Akihito took another step, repeating himself by saying words he'd normally never dare to.

"I'm right here, Asami. Here, with you. Forever. With you."

Another step. Akihito was only a few feet away from him now. So close.

The loud, recognizable sound of the gun proceeded the pain.

And suddenly, Akihito was clutching his left shoulder as he fell backward. He landed solidly on the floor, feeling blood already beginning to seep through his fingers.

The click of the gun, and Akihito looked up to find himself staring down the barrel.

"Liar. Tell me where Akihito is or I'll kill you. If he's hurt, I'll kill you. If he's dead, I'll kill you."

Akihito had never, never heard Asami sound this aggressive, this mad. It was goddamn scary. And, holy shit, that bullet hurt.

"Asa-mi…" he managed to breathe out. And there! There it was again! That flash of confusion, of recognition, in Asami's eyes. Taking a deep breath, Akihito sat up, still clutching his wound. He couldn't let this continue. He had to do something. Do something.

Asami had a white knuckled grip on the gun. His beautiful golden eyes were narrowed again, anger pooling around him in an almost perceptible black aura. Akihtio clenched his jaw against the pain. Asami needed him right now, this was no time to be crying on the floor.

With way more effort than it should have taken, Akihito sat up. Panting in agony, he let his hazel eyes meet the crime lord's above him.

Swiftly, so quickly Akihito surprised even himself, his right hand ripped away from his shoulder and back handed the gun out of Asami's grip. He'd learned enough over the years about how to disarm people- the tighter the grip on the weapon, the easier it was to get out of person's hands. Not to mention the fact that even though Asami was Asami, he was still drugged.

Asami's eyes flickered over to the fallen gun, before narrowing back down at the boy beneath him. Asami, as fast as a viper, knelt down and clutched the front of Akihito's shirt, jerking him painfully toward him.

"I'll ask one more time. Where is Akihito?"

His face was so close to Akihito's, his eyes slits of pure wrath. Bloodlust exuded from him in palpable waves. So, of course, Akihito did the only logical thing to do in the situation.

He kissed him.

Asami's eyes widened, but Akihito continued.

The world was getting darker. He was losing too much blood. Well, at least he could say he tried.

He hadn't even realized he was crying until he tasted the salt flowing down onto their lips. Well, shit. At least he was going to die with Asami. He almost laughed at himself for that thought- he thought he'd die before he ever thought something as sappy as that. Well, that wasn't too far off..

But, just as he broke the kiss and his whole world faded into nothing, Akihito could have sworn he heard his name slip from the man's lips.

When Akihito woke up, he blinked furiously at the bright white lights blaring at his eyes. It took him a moment of staring blankly at the white tiles of the ceiling and the dripping IV just in the corner of his peripheral vision before he realized- oh yeah, he must be in the hospital.

He breathed for a minute, letting that bit of information set it. He was at a hospital. Did that mean-

Akihito tried to sit up.

Big mistake number one.

Pure agony ripped through him as he tried to move his shoulder, and he couldn't contain the semi-muffled yelp and low pitched whine that followed. He clenched his teeth, slowly sinking back down onto his pillow, waves of pain throbbing from his shoulder.

It took him several minutes before he could breath normally again. His shoulder still stung, but he refrained from craning his neck to see the damage he'd done. That would no doubt result in further anguish.

He was alone. One quick glance around the room had told him he was the solitary resident in the room of white equipment.

Where was Asami?

The memories flooded him, suddenly, like he was watching a movie on fast forward. Asami. Asami needed him. Asami was drugged, and he needed him-

Big mistake number two.

He tried to sit up again.

If it hurt the first time, it sure as hell hurt the second time. It hurt a lot.

This time, he screamed. Not a very long scream, but a scream none the less. He bit his tongue, the tangy, metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. He didn't stop, though. He wouldn't stop. He kept his forward motion until, finally, he was sitting up.

He had been so focused on sitting up that he hadn't noticed the door burst open, two men in dark black suits rushing in with guns raised. Even when he successfully propped himself up, Akihito's vision had gone blurry, and he could just barely make out the two black blobs calling out "Takaba-sama!" in alarmed voices.

He whimpered when one of the men placed a supporting hand on his shoulder. One of the men said something to the other- Akihito missed it, he was trying to regain his breath- and suddenly the bed was moving underneath him.

Instead of leaning on a hand, he was now leaning on soft downy sheets. Oh yeah. Hospital beds were electronic now. He'd almost forgotten.

Suddenly a nurse was smiling in his face, her eyes glistening brightly with concern as she glanced down at his bandage.

"It's going to be okay now, sweetheart. Just give me a minute as I recheck your bandage. You seemed to have reopened your wound."

Akihito wasn't really paying attention to her though. He'd regained his vision (somewhat) and had managed to lock eyes with one of the men dressed in black, a man he didn't know, a guard.

"Asa…mi…" he managed to breathe out. The guard merely nodded at him, before glancing over at his partner, who was currently talking on the phone.

Akihito didn't take that so well.

"Wh-where…is…As…a…mi?" He whispered desperately, more than a little bothered by his lack of energy and his inability to catch his breath.

The nurse was in his face again.

"Sweetheart, you're going to have to calm down for a second, okay? We don't want you to bleed anymore."

But how could Akihito calm down when he didn't know if Asami was okay? What if he wasn't okay? What if he was dead, and Akihito didn't know it? What if he was hurt? What if-

The guard interrupted his desperate thoughts.

"Asami-sama is fine. He should be coming here in a few minutes sir."

Akihito visibly relaxed, failing to see the grateful glance the nurse shot at the guard. Asami was okay. He was okay. He was going to see him in just a while. Just a few minutes. Just a few more minutes…

The nurse began to redo his bandage with practiced movements. She peeled away his old bandage- the amount of blood staining it almost made Akihito throw up. That…that was a lot of blood. All of that was his? Akihito didn't want to think about it, so he ignored the nurse and stared at the clock hanging on the wall across from him, counting the seconds until Asami's arrival.

When Asami finally came, Akihito wasn't sure to be unbelievably happy or scared shitless.

He burst through the hospital room door, flanked by a pensive Kirishima and a stone faced Suoh. His jaw formed a thin line, and his shoulders were taught with a tangible tension that triggered huge concern within Akihito's heart. His golden eyes- the same golden eyes that Akihito had begged for recognition- now where alight with a fury unparalleled by any form of anger he'd thought he'd seen before.

As soon as he caught sight of Akihito, his expression changed.

If he thought he'd looked angry before….oh man.

He was so dead.

Asami immediately strode, gold eyes never leaving hazel, until he stood opposite the nurse bandaging his wound. Akihito wanted to shrink back into the sheets underneath that intense gaze, which pinned him place.

Surprisingly, Asami broke the eye contact first, glancing down at the nurse and his wound. If Akihito wasn't watching his face so closely, he would have missed the twisted, sick expression that crossed over his face.

As soon as the nurse left, Asami murmured a "Leave us" and a herd of black suits filed out of the hospital room. Akihito almost found the sight funny, if it hadn't been for the worry in his heart. What would Asami say? Was Asami really alright?

As soon as they had all left, Asami took a step forward, golden eyes once more locked on Akihito.

Silence.

Asami was completely expressionless, wearing a cold and detached mask. He noiselessly dragged a chair up to Akihito's bedside, taking a seat with the same elegance he always had.

Akihito watched his lover's impassive face, whose eyes were locked on his bandage, and for a brief moment Akihito wondered what this whole situation must be like for his older lover. After all, Asami had shot him. Shooting somebody you cared about would have been…

Akihito mentally shook his head at the mental image. A little voice whispered in his ear that the experience would've been traumatizing if you actually cared about the person you shot, but Akihito shook that thought away too. At that moment, he didn't really care if Asami actually cared about him or not; their whatever-the-heck-this-was relationship didn't matter right now, especially because Akihito would really start hurting if he thought about it.

He just wanted to know one thing.

"Asami."

The man's golden eyes flicked away from his bandage and up to his hazel eyes.

"Are you okay? The poison…you're alright now, right?"

A part of him- really, a good 99% of him- hated the way his voice wavered with palpable concern. Asami obviously didn't need to be comforting him right now- that would only be adding to his problems. His lover had almost died after all. Those drugs were potentially fatal.

But the other part of him, the part of him that was probably bigger than Takaba would like to admit, didn't care about his pride at all as long as he could only find out if the man in the black suit from earlier hadn't been lying to him about Asami being alright.

As soon as he asked the question though, something strange happened to Asami's blank expression. His cold mask momentarily shattered, and a sea of overflowing emotions flashed across his face.

Before Akihito could discern any of them though, Asami had stood up and had turned his back to him.

"Yes, I am completely fine. The poison is completely out of my system."

Asami's voice was cold and his answer was worded with a strange and foreign-sounding formality, as if he was talking to a business associate instead of Akihito. The tension in the air became almost unbearably taught, and Akihito hated it.

In a desperate attempt to ease the atmosphere, and to get Asami to even just look at him properly, Akihito laughed halfheartedly.

"Haha, I guess I'll be kicked out of the penthouse now! Some housewife I was! Letting you eat poisoned food! How useless am I?!"

Even though Akihito had said it jokingly, his voice light and airy, he could not deny the lingering truth to the statement. After all, it was all his fault for not realizing that the takeout he had ordered was poisoned.

He'd made dinner for the both of them, but because Asami had been incredibly late Akihito had went ahead and eaten his shitake mushrooms and meat by himself. However, when Akihito had been about to lay out leftovers for his lover on the kitchen counter, he'd tripped and spilled everywhere. He'd been forced to clean up the mess- and soon realized that Asami couldn't come home and not eat dinner. Quickly, Akihito had ordered take out and set it aside for the man, watching anime so that he'd be awake when his lover had finally arrived. He should've checked to make sure it was alright. He should have checked-

His thoughts were suddenly cut off when Asami visibly tensed. Uh oh. Did he just make the situation worse? Of course he did- that was all Akihito was good for, anyway. Not that he often showed that he cared, but the massive weight that seemed to bear down on Asami's squared shoulders made Akihito wince.

"You're not useless."

Asami had said it so softly that Akihito actually looked around to make sure there was no one else in the room who could have whispered those three words.

Wait…what?

Abruptly, Asami whirled around, his tailored suit billowing slightly as he strode away.

"Asami!"

But he didn't stop or look back, and the loud slam of the hospital door rang deafening in Akihito's ears.

VFVFVFVFVFVFVF

And that, my friends, is my first foray into the Viewfinder universe! Special thanks to Kadzuki Fuchoin for the support! Also, don't worry everybody about my other fanfic Protect What Was Hurt...the next chapter should be coming soon (crossing fingers). Thanks again and please review!