It had been right in front of him, this entire time, but Rin was just a bit too self absorbed to notice.
The first time had been after a long four day weekend. It hadn't been mandatory to go home, so Rin ended up just staying at the school to put in some extra swim practice. Nitori, on the other hand, did go home.
Rin was just finishing drying off from his daily swim when Nitori got back.
"Hello, Senpai!" he said, cheery as ever, "How was your weekend?"
Rin shrugged, "Okay, I guess. How was yours?"
"I got to see my sister, so that was good."
"She goes to that all girls boarding school, right?"
"Yes. I only get to see her every now and then, so I always make sure that I see her when she's home…" Nitori said, slipping off his jacket.
Rin raised an eyebrow. "Thats a nasty bruise," he said, nodding said dark purple splotch decorating the boy's arm.
Nitori just shrugged. "That? I was chasing my sister in the backyard and fell. It's nothing to worry about..."
The next day, Nitori was struggling to get out of the pool.
"Don't tell me you lost this much muscle mass over the break," Rin muttered as he walked over to help the kid out. But when he grabbed his arm-the same arm with the bruise-Nitori cried out in pain.
"It's just fractured, not broken," the school nurse said after she finished plastering Nitori's arm, "It should be off in about a month.
"I'm sorry to injure myself Captain, but at least it's not close to a tournament," Nitori grinned sheepishly. "I guess I fell harder than I thought…"
Later, Rin could have sworn he saw the nurse roll her eyes.
The second time was slightly more subtle.
Seijuro, angry with Rin about something (Rin didn't even remember what) had barged into their room one evening while they were doing homework,
Rin and Seijuro argued (and argued and argued) growing louder and louder, and before either of them knew what was happening, Nitori was in his bunk, face buried in his pillow.
The third time, it was just awkward.
"...Aii?" Rin murmured sleepily. Three am? No way was Nitori up this early…
But there it was again. A whimper, from the top bunk.
"Nitori?" Rin asked again, louder this time. Nothing… but a soft cry and some sheets rustling.
Rin reluctantly pulled himself out of his (warm) bed and climbed the cold metal ladder to Nitori's.
Poor kid. He must be having a hell of a nightmare…
He was drenched in sweat, tossing and turning, with his hands thrown up around his head, as if in defense of himself.
"Oi, Aii," Rin said, gently touching the boy's shoulder. He didn't wake up.
"Nitori, wake up." Rin shook his shoulder harder.
Nitori shot up, gasping for breath, and Rin pretended not to see a few stray tears fall from his face.
"S...Senpai?"
"You, uh, were having a nightmare…" Rin said, "So I woke you up…"
"Oh. Thank you."
"It um, looked pretty bad… do you want to talk about it?"
"Ummm… no, I'm… I'm okay, I think…"
"Oh, okay… if you do want to talk… or something… you know where I am…" Rin mumbled as he climbed down back to his own bed.
The fourth time was just a slap in the face for Rin.
For once, he had actually gone home for a long weekend, although now that he had, he wasn't sure why. His mother had gone out for dinner with a friend, and Gou was 'meeting someone at the mall' (He was 90% sure she was on a date, and he was 100% he was going to have to kill a certain red haired captain upon his return to school), so he ended up just watching tv.
Then, there was a knock on the door.
That's strange… Rin thought as he went to answer it, I don't think mom was expecting anyone… and I didn't tell any of the Iwatobi guys I was home…
"-Nitori?"
Shivering with cold and looking absolutely pitiful in the rain, Nitori stared up at Rin, eerily solem… with a little girl pressed to his side.
"What are y… Never mind, just, come inside!" Rin threw the door open wide and ushered them in, quickly grabbing some towels from the front closet.
"I'm sorry to bother you, senpai," Nitori said after Rin had finished throwing the entirety of his mothers linen closet at the duo, and making sure Nitori's sister, Akira, was happily watching cartoons in the living room, with Nitori and Rin speaking in hushed tones in the adjoining room.
"It's okay… but why did you come?"
Nitori stared uncomfortably down at the ground. "It's just… my father, he got drunk… again, and he was really angry… and I had to get Akira out of there… sorry…"
Rin was shocked. "Your father… you actually had to leave the house?"
Nitori nodded, still not looking up.
Fuck. Rin felt like he'd been punched. Fuck. I should have know. I should have fucking know. Because now it all made sense to him, the flinches, the anxiety, the bruises, the broken arm, the nightmares. The fucking nightmares. You dumbass, people don't have nightmares like that for no reason, you should know that… And you actually believed that story about the broken arm? You fucking retard, it was right in front of you all along. You should have known.
He was pissed off, at himself, at Nitori for not telling him, and of course, he pissed off most of all at Nitori's father.
"Where do you live?" He growled, grabbing his jacket.
"Wh...what?" Nitori looked up at his senpai questioningly.
"Where do you live?"
"What are you going to do?"
Rin snarled. "I'm going to beat the shit out of your father."
"No!" Nitori threw himself across the kitchen to clutch the front of Rin's jacket. "You can't!"
"What, you don't think I can take your father?"
"No! I mean yes! You could, but you can't! If you do, the police will find out and they'd take us away and I'd never see you or Akira ever again! Please… Don't…" he trailed off into a whimper.
"...Fine." Rin shrugged his jacket back off, throwing it over a nearby chair. Nitori smiled weakly up at him. That was when Rin noticed something else.
"Are you bleeding?"
This, of course, started another frenzy of Rin running around, this time to find the first aid kit.
"I think the bleeding's stopped," Rin muttered, taking the washcloth away from Nitori's head to check. "Yeah, you're good."
"Thanks," Nitori said, as Rin washed out the washcloth.
"Anywhere else?"
"Hm?"
"Is there anywhere else he hurt you?"
Nitori looked away. "...no…"
"Ai…" Rin placed his hand heavily on Nitori's shoulder. Too heavily, apparently, as Nitori winced at his touch.
He quickly removed his hand, feeling it clench and unclench involuntarily as he fought the unmistakable urge to punch something, in particular the person who did this to Nitori, in the throat- but he knew violence was not what his friend needed right now. His anger would have to wait.
"Take off your shirt," he said as gently as he could. After a moment of hesitation, Nitori complied without complaint and showed Rin his bare back.
Well. It's not as bad as it could be… But Rin took little comfort in that. Bruises- light bruises, but bruises none the less, were scattered over his back, and heavier on the left side of his rib cage. As if he had fallen… and been kicked repeatedly in the side.
"How's it look?" Nitori murmured.
"Not good, but not bad," Rin answered truthfully. "Just bruising, no open wounds… but I wouldn't go to swim practice for a few days if I were you..."
Nitori nodded and slipped his shirt back on.
"Why do you let him do this to you?" Rin asked quietly.
"He… he was going to hurt Akira…"
Rin nodded. No question he'd do the same for Gou in Nitori's position…
"Okay, so I won't kick your dad's ass tonight, but the moment you and Akira move out, me and Seijuro might have to go over and have a little chat with him…"
"You're going to tell the captain?"
"Well, we kind of have to, if you're going to be skipping swimming practice… Don't worry though, I'll make sure he doesn't… do anything… but he might want to talk to you…"
Nitori nodded.
"Come on," Rin said, gesturing to the hall, "Let's go find some blankets and something for you to sleep on…"
Nitori looked up at him in surprise. "You're letting us stay?"
"Well you're not going back to him, I can tell you that much. What, you think I'm going to kick you out? You know I wouldn't, especially in the rain..."
The words were barely out of his mouth before he had a teary but grateful Nitori wrapping his arms around him.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you…"
"Whoa, kid," Rin said, smiling gently and returning the hug, "Don't think I'm stopping there. From now on, whenever you or Akira have a mandatory holiday, you're staying here."
"...You mean it?"
"Of course."
"Thank you… are you sure your mother won't mind?"
Rin just grinned. "After seeing that sweet faced angel you call your sister? Her and Gou will insist, I guarantee it…"