~Aoi’s POV~

            I knock on Uruha’s door but there’s no answer. Maybe he’s gone out and forgot to tell me. Well as long as he’s not hurt. I’m just about to turn around and go back home when I hear a moan. He really is hurt! I try the door handle and it’s unlocked so I let myself in. I don’t get far. I can see his sofa from here. I can see what he’s doing. Ruki smirks at me and I turn and run. I won’t let Uruha see me cry. He doesn’t deserve that satisfaction.

            How can Uruha do this to me? He told me he loved me and I believed him. I ignored the small whisper of jealousy I felt when he talked about Ruki. Why had I been so blind? How could I be so badly fooled?

            I was mad at Uruha for what he had done to me. I was furious at myself for being fooled by his lies. One thing could be said about Uruha, he was a good actor. Even Kai was fooled.

            By the time I leave his building I’m too mad to cry. I want to hurt someone. No not someone, Ruki. The way he had looked at me haunted my thoughts. So spiteful, so arrogant, so cruel. I wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. Make him feel the pain I felt. I’d even let Uruha watch as I knew it would hurt him to see his precious Ruki in pain. His beloved Ruki.

            Ruki was the reason why Uruha wouldn’t sleep with me. If Ruki was his boyfriend what was I? A toy? A plaything? Something to entertain him when he was bored? Maybe he just wanted to know how long he could lead me on.

            You know what? Ruki can have him. I don’t want him. I don’t need him. I never want to see him again. He means nothing to me. Nothing.

            But if he means nothing, why do I feel so bad?

~Kai’s POV~

            When I get home Aoi isn’t here. Usually I’d think nothing of it. He’s a grown man after all. We don’t check up on each others every movement.

            However tonight was different. The front door wasn’t only unlocked it wasn’t even shut. Aoi is always careful to lock the door. Have we been robbed? I go straight for my jewellery. That’s there. So’s Aoi’s. Nothing appears to be gone.

            My next clue was Aoi’s phone. He never leaves without his phone. What caused Aoi to leave in such a hurry?

            Aoi’s mobile phone rings and I pick it up. Should I answer it? It’s Uruha. So he’s not there?

            “Uruha it’s me Kai.” I say as I decide to answer it.

            “Where’s Aoi?” Uruha asks. He sounds like he’s in a panic.

            “I don’t know.” I admit. “Isn’t he there?”

            “No. He ran off.” Uruha said. What on earth happened?

            “Did you have an argument?” I try.

            “Sort off.” Uruha confesses. “When he gets home make him call me. He won’t want too but I really need to talk to him.”

            “Sure.” I agree. I didn’t know the truth then. I felt genuinely sorry for him.

            An hour later Aoi still hasn’t returned. He’s hit a bar. I know he’s hit a bar. He must have been devastated. I know how much he loves Uruha. With as little fuss as possible I lock up the house and get in my car. I know Aoi enough to know his favourite bars. I try there first but he’s not there.

            Next I try the bars closest to Uruha’s place. The closest one reveals results. I sigh. I hadn’t wanted to be right but I had always known I was.

~Aoi’s POV~

            I don’t know how much I drank. I don’t really remember much at all. Kai tells me when he found me I was so drunk I couldn’t walk straight. He’s taken me home and I’d cried the whole way. Kai had already heard my drunken explanation of what had happened.

            It had been Kai who’d stopped me from doing any more damage to myself. He had stayed up half the night keeping an eye on me. And though I didn’t care at all, Kai had the decency to call Uruha to let him know I was alright.

            By the morning we both felt awful. I had a hangover and he was exhausted and worried sick about me. He should have been furious with me but he wasn’t. His anger and mine was both directed at the same target. He blamed Uruha for what I had done. I knew I was at least partly to blame.

            Kai looked after me that morning and when he had to leave for work he had called Youko to come and take care of me. He’d told her I was sick but when she arrived and Kai had gone I told her the truth. After all Kai had done so much for me it wasn’t fair to make him lie to her as well.

~Uruha’s POV~

            I had stayed up crying and feeling sorry for myself until I got a call from Kai. He sounded mad at me and only stayed on long enough to let me know Aoi was home in one piece. I had collapsed unconscious not soon after. I was exhausted and drained and only worry had kept me up.

            The next morning I had woken up and felt the familiar hang over symptoms. The only way I knew to get rid of them was alcohol but I’d learnt one last time why I was banned from that evil drink.

            What was I meant to do now? I had lost Aoi. Lost myself. How could I fix the mistakes I had made? Could they be fixed at all?

            In my lounge sits that empty bottle of the devils drink. My anger boiling I grab it and throw it hard against the wall. It smashes. I laugh hysterically as the pieces fall to the floor. That bottle is my life. A broken mess that can never be fixed again.

            I pick up the biggest junk and slam it down my arm breaking the skin. I cut myself again and again until my arm seems to be one big cut. I switch hands and try to cut my other arm but it’s now too weak to do real damage. Instead I cut my chest. My thighs. My legs. Any skin I can reach ends up cut. Eventually I collapse to the floor to weak to sit any longer. My blood is slowly pooling around me. My vision blurs a little. I’m dying and I’m glad. I don’t deserve to live.

~Kai’s POV~

            I’m furious with Uruha. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have been so cruel? I knock on his door angrily. Some things can only be said to a persons face. I knew Aoi wouldn’t want me to fight his battles so I had lied. It’s probably better for him to think I’m at work. Finding his address had been easy enough. Aoi stores all his friends contact details in his phone. I remember the disaster of the last time his phone broke and everything had been lost. He never learns.

            Uruha’s not answering. Smart move. Angrily I pull at the handle and the door opened. So not that smart. I storm into his apartment and am met with a scene of horror. Of everything I had expected to find it wasn’t this.

            “Uruha?” I gasp. The angers still there but even I can’t help but be concerned when I see him lying half naked in his own blood. There is so much blood. I’m terrified he’s dead. He’s done this to himself. How can he be so depressed over something that was his fault?

            “Kai?” he says in a weak voice. He’s still alive.

            “I’m calling an ambulance.” I say calmly as I do just that.

            As we wait I try to stop the worst of the bleeding but there’s so many cuts it’s almost impossible.

            “Don’t cry Uruha.” I whisper. He’s making me feel sorry for him. I don’t want this. I want to remain mad. “You did this to yourself you know.”

            “You think I wanted this?” Uruha asked. “I don’t deserve to live.”

            “You do.” I say. “Nobody deserves to die.”

            “I do. I’m horrible. I must be. Why else would Aoi let Ruki rape me?” Uruha says and like that my anger disappears.

            “Rape?” I repeat but the ambulance staff arrives and he says no more. I’m suspicious of Uruha’s story. Aoi would have know if he was been raped. Uruha would have screamed, shouted, fought back. Aoi wouldn’t have left. Unless maybe Uruha hadn’t done any off that. Perhaps Ruki had used drugs? Maybe Uruha had been barely conscious.

            “Don’t leave me.” Uruha begged. He looks so helpless and scared.

            “I’ll come with you.” I promise. I remember to lock his door and follow him to the ambulance. He’s unconscious now and I’m seriously worried. Uruha can’t die. Not until he’s at least had a chance to share his half of the story.

            I sit and hold his hand as the ambulance staff try there best to treat his wounds. He’s attached to a blood bag to try and bring up his blood levels. His hand is so cold and lifeless.

            He’s taken into the hospital and I’m forced to wait as they try there best to save him. I’m handed some forms to fill in but I don’t know him well enough to answer any of the question. I don’t even know his full name. There’s absolutely nothing I can do to help him. I can only wait and be here when he wakes up. If he wakes up, right now even that’s questionable.

~Aoi’s POV~

            “You’re boss called. I told him you were sick.” Youko announced as she returned to my room. I froze. Oh god my job! I have to go to work! But then he wouldn’t believe I was sick. What should I do? I’ve lost the job. I know I have. No everyone gets sick. We can’t control it. If I turn up tomorrow maybe he’ll accept Youko’s lie. He liked me. I know he did. Everything will be fine. At least work wise. I can’t handle being fired right now. My job is the only good thing left in my life. Kai the only one I felt like I could trust.

~Reita’s POV~

            So he’s pretending to be sick. I feel disappointed. He could have been honest. He could have called me himself. I’d seen him in the bar. I know he was drinking. So he was skipping work with a hangover. I was going to have to fire him. It was a shame. I liked him but I needed an employee I could trust.

            “Are you Aoi’s boss?” asks a small man who’s just entered the shop.

            “Yes.” I respond carefully.

            “Is Aoi here?” the man asks.

            “No. He’s sick.” I reply using his excuse.

            “Do you know where he lives? His phone number? It’s important that I contact him.” The man asks. No begs is more the word to describe it.

            “I can’t give you that information.” I respond. So he’s not Aoi’s friend then.

            “Oh. Could you pass on a message then?” the man asked.

            “I can do that.” I agree.

            “Tell him Ruki is sorry.” Said the man before turning around and leaving the shop. I watch him go. Was he Ruki? Had something bad happened to Aoi? Something bad enough to lead him to drink?

            I had to ask him. Tomorrow I’d give him one chance to explain himself. Ruki’s apology could be nothing or it could explain everything.

            Aoi had loved this job. He was kind and friendly. Hard working. Everyone liked him. He had been determined to prove he was reliable. He wouldn’t ruin that chance over nothing. The more I thought about it the more convinced I became. Aoi would come in tomorrow and explain himself and I would forgive his lie. Well he’d better do. I really didn’t want to have to fire him.