Title: Trials of the Heart
Author: Amaniblue
Contest Category /Genre: Angst
Main Pairings: Takamiya x Izumi; Reiji x Naoya
Rating: R – for the boy-smex, cursing and a bit of violence
Disclaimer: The legal rights to these fine characters belong to Yuki Shimizu, lucky gal. Only the OC characters are of my own creation.

"Text" – flash back conversation
Text – thoughts
"Text" – present conversation

--Izumi's POV--

"Please, just leave."

Those words from his lover echoed in Izumi's head for the umpteenth time that day. And like all the other times, outrage quickly came to the forefront. How dare Takamiya ask me to leave!?

"Please, just leave."

The anger he'd felt from hearing those disbelieving words hadn't lessened one bit since he had quickly grabbed his already packed luggage bag and slammed the front door to their cottage this afternoon.

"How could you!?"

It was an accident. I didn't mean to. Izumi had wanted to say, but instead he opted to remain silent. He couldn't help but feel the overwhelming urge to be on the defensive though, especially given that unfamiliar look of disgust and disappointment that shown so blaringly from his older lover's usually soft, doting eyes. Then, Takamiya just had to say those words.

"Please, just leave."

Izumi's eyes had widened from hearing that. It wasn't the words so much, but the exasperating tone that spoke volumes of how Takamiya felt about him at that moment. It made him lashed out in reaction. He couldn't control what he had said then.

"Fuck you! I didn't do anything wrong! If someone should be leaving, it's him!"

It wasn't my fault! It was all because of him. Yet, Izumi hadn't expected what happened to him next. Takamiya, who had never raised his voice even once to Izumi since the seven years that they've met, had hit him. Shocked with disbelief as blood dripped from the corner of his lips, Izumi with his head twisted to the left from the blow, tentatively raised a hand to touch his injured right cheek. Swiftly, his rage boiled from within and he couldn't contain it. Izumi spat out the blood onto the pristine shale tiles of the kitchen floor and stomped out of the cottage while he growled out his parting words.

"I fucking hate you. I wish I had never come here with you."

When he left without a backward glance, that had been hours ago. Nightfall had already descended down on the little town just south of the cottage. It had been hours since he had sat here at this quaint little café that Takamiya had happily introduced him too. The translator had frequented the establishment with his uncle when he was younger and now has become one of their favorite places to haunt as a couple. It had been hours since he had heard from his older lover, but that was partially due to his own fault. Upon his tirade out the door, Izumi had forgotten to grab his mobile phone from the foyer table. Thoughts of what Takamiya was doing now crossed his mind.

Argh! Disgusted with his own sentimental thought patterns regarding his aggravating older lover, Izumi paid the tab in a huff and stormed out the café with his luggage bag in toll.

Damn it! He'd hit me and here I am wondering about that idiot. Blindingly trudging down the path to who knows where, Izumi finally realized that he was heading back to the cottage. Shit! Fuck! Why the hell am I coming back here for!? To be accused of something again? To be hit again?

Just remembering that look on his lovers face and then the sudden hit, made Izumi boiled with outrage as he quickly ignored the nagging feeling of hurt yet again. Although the numbness from being hit has long since gone, the right side of his cheek still stung from the blow. A bruise had already appeared when he had last checked back at the café's lavatories. The inside of his cheeks had been badly cut as well. It was very painful to eat with that too; Izumi had to avoid the right side of his mouth the whole time he ate at the café. Fortunately, the hot tea he had ordered with his food at the last minute had helped sooth the sting from the cut. Just thinking of that made Izumi fume all over again. How dare him!? Hit me will you? I'll absolutely won't forgive you, Takamiya!

Thinking along that line and the retribution he wanted to exact, Izumi quickened his steps towards the cottage and quietly approach the unlit front porch. He dug out his keys from his coat pocket and opened the door to find the cottage eerily quiet and apparently empty of Takamiya and their pest of a guest.