This is it! Zero thought to himself as he was getting dressed for the party at Yuki's house. Yuki and I have been best friends since grade school and today's the day I confess my love to her. He put on his black pants, buttoned up his white long-sleeved shirt, put on his black dress coat, and finally, he tied his tie… or at least attempted to.

Zero was struggling with the slick piece of clothing that had always seemed to have mocked him. "Over then under… or is it under then over? Don't I have to put it through some sort of loop? Gah! I can't stand these things!" That's when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his roommate and, possibly his only other friend besides Yuki, Senri.

"Having a little trouble there, Zero the hero?" Senri smiled teasingly. Senri calls him "Zero the hero" because in school Senri was always the quiet and shy type of person who got teased by the cheerleaders and picked on by the jocks. Then one day…

Senri was sitting in the back of the class after school hours studying in the detention room. He was late too many times because of the beatings from Hanabusa so he got detention for multiple tardies. The bell rang and Senri started to pack up when sure enough, here comes Hanabusa.

"Hey! Sen-geek!" Hanabusa walked over to him with his girlfriend, Rima, in arm. "You got my project?"

Senri was paralyzed in fear. He was afraid to tell him but he had to. "I'm… I'm sorry Hanabusa but I only had time to do mine."

Hanabusa leaned down bringing their faces inches away from each other and scowled, "Then give me yours."

"B-but I worked so hard on it! It took me three whole days without sleep to finish it!" Senri pleaded.

"Senri, Senri, Senri… THIS IS NOT UP FOR DEBATE!" Hanabusa screamed.

Rima put a hand on Hanabusa's shoulder, "C'mon babe, let's just go. A stupid project isn't worth a beating…"

Hanabusa turned around, "SHUT UP RIMA!"

Senri stood up, slammed his hands on the desk, and screamed, "DON'T YELL AT HER!" His eyes quickly grew wide as he blushed. "Oh no…" he thought.

Hanabusa got a wide grin on his face and put his hand on Senri's head and rustled his hair like you would a child's. "So little Senri Shiki has got the hots for my girlfriend, huh? Well then I guess you'd hate to see me do this." Hanabusa then kissed Rima and forced his tongue inside her mouth. He started sliding his hand under her shirt and up to her breasts.

Senri clenched his fists and started to cry when suddenly he heard a loud crash that made him jump. He opened his eyes only to see Hanabusa in a pile of metal desks and chairs holding back tears, staring up at his attacker. It was Zero!

Zero looked at Hanabusa in disgust as Rima ran out the door crying. Not because her boyfriend got the shit beat out of him, but because she felt violated and she now didn't have a boyfriend. Senri looked down and started crying when he felt a warm embrace around him. Senri looked up and saw Zero… hugging him! Zero never shows emotions toward anyone. "It's alright…" Zero said as he pulled away from the hug and put his hands on Senri's shoulders. "If anyone messes with you again, you just tell me, okay? And by tomorrow morning in homeroom, you'll be feeling much better." Zero walked out of the classroom and left Senri standing there speechless.

Homeroom the next day:

Senri walked in and was immediately greeted by Rima who looked a little nervous. "Senri," Rima said rubbing her hands together, "do you wanna go out Friday night?" Senri blushed and couldn't believe what he was hearing! Rima, the girl of his dreams, SHE was asking HIM out! He then looked over at Zero who looked up from the book he was reading and winked at him.

Senri smiled and said, "Sure Rima, I'd love to."

Senri was finishing up tying Zero's tie. "C'mon." Zero said anxiously. "The party starts in 15 minutes!"

Senri chuckled, "Relax man, we live like, two blocks away." Then there was a knock on the door and Rima walked in.

"Hey Zero. Hey sweety." She said smiling at Senri and kissed him. "Everyone ready to-" before she could finish Zero bolted out the door saying, "Yup lets go."Rima and Senri shrugged and followed him. They ended up running to the party just so they could keep up with Zero. Zero got to her front door and barged in with a smile. He was 10 minutes early so he would have time to confess his undying love. He even brought roses. It's all he could afford with his job at the movies. In fact that's where he got the idea from. "Hey Yuki!" Zero said as the door slammed open. "I have to tell you some-"

Just then his smile turned into a frown as he saw it… Yuki was on the sofa laying on top of another guy, making out with him. Yuki and the other person sat up as she straightened out her dress. When he looked at the person she was with, it was none other than Kaname Kuran. His heart sank deeper than the deepest ocean. His throat felt like it had been tied in multiple knots. And his eyes… his eyes wanted to become two faucets yearning to pour out all the love and emotion Zero had for this girl for so many years. He wanted to punch out Kaname Kuran for stealing his only true love. He wanted to run out the door screaming into the night air how much he hated life at this very moment! …..But he couldn't. He couldn't do that to Yuki. Because even though she broke his heart, he still loved her. So he put on a fake smile.

"Oh! Hey guys heheheheh!" Yuki said with a nervous voice and a nervous look. "You know you're ten minutes early right?"

"Yeah." Zero said as if he hadn't just gotten his heart shattered. "I just came by to give you these roses as your birthday present."

"Oh how sweet!" Yuki walked over and pecked Zero on the cheek. He was about ready to throw up. The amount of torture and taunting that little peck on the cheek did was unbearable. It's as if it were saying, "There's a sample… but we're all sold out of the real product."

"So what's all this about?" Senri pointed to Kaname who was wiping the lipstick off his face.

"Guys, this is Kaname Kuran. We started talking about a month ago and we turned out to have a lot in common so we just started going out." Kaname leaned down and kissed her. "So guys, should we be the ones to get the party started?"

"Sure." Zero said. "In fact I'll get my own party started right over there by the beer." Zero walked over to the cooler and grabbed a can and started to drink. He saw Yuki look at him worriedly and he put the beer down and went up to her room.

Later that night

Zero had sat up in Yuki's room for hours playing her acoustic guitar until his fingers bled. He decided he needed a couple band-aids and headed towards the bathroom. Except when he got to the bathroom door he could hear voices. "Kaname, we shouldn't be doing this right now. Wait till everybody leaves." He heard the girl moan. No doubt about it… it was Yuki in there.

"Don't worry." Kaname said, "No one will hear us over the music." Zero was tortured by it all. But he couldn't move from that spot. He was choking on and holding back tears. It was taking all he could not to cry. Then he realized something… how often do drunk people knock before entering a bathroom? If someone were to enter the bathroom while they were having sex, Yuki would be humiliated. Not to mention Kaname is the type of guy who would try to save his own ass even if it meant saying, "Oh she begged me to do it." He nearly got sick just by the thought. So he decided to stay there till they were done. He leaned against the door and slid down slowly until he was sitting. He could hear everything; the lewd sounds, the sexual tones…. the dirty talk.

Six people must've come wanting to use the bathroom and every time he would just keep looking down and say quietly "occupied". Then, Yuki finally opened the door hugging Kaname and kissing him over and over again. "Kaname you were ama-" She saw Zero sitting there. "Z-zero. H-how much did you hear?" Yuki asked blushing.

"I heard all of it…" Zero said standing up. "You should've picked a less public place… I've been sitting here for an hour and a half shooing away drunks."

Kaname put his hand on Zero's shoulder and smiled, "Thanks man. It's so hard to find good friends like you now-a-days."

"No problem…" Zero said expressionlessly. "Hey Zero I know!" Yuki said. "How about you and Senri do a concert for everyone! That'd be the best birthday present ever!"

"Even better than the one I just gave you?" Kaname said smiling and kissing Yuki. "Give me a fuckin break!" Zero thought. "Sure." He said as he put on a fake smile. "What songs do you want us to play?" Yuki thought for a moment then said, "How about… Woke up this Mornin', Comatose, aaaaaand…. Broken by Seether." His eyes grew wide then he looked down in sorrow. Broken… The first song I ever played and sang for her. This day just keeps getting better. Worst part is I'm not sure I'll be able to… He smiled again, "I'll do it." Yuki hugged him, "Yay! Thank you so much Zero! You're the most awesome best friend a girl could ever have!" Fuck me… He thought.

So about an hour passed and they set up the stage and got a drummer and Senri got his bass. They played the first two songs and was now up to Broken. "Now," Zero said, "for the last song in this three song set list… Broken by Seether." Zero took a deep breath. "Hey, you sure you're up for this man?" Senri asked aware of Zero's situation. "Yeah…" He said. "Let's just get this over with." So they started playing it but Zero's hands were less firm then usual and his teeth were clenched. He started singing:

~I wanted you to know

That I love the way you laugh

I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

Away~

Yuki noticed he was singing with his teeth clenched and his hands were now trembling. She looked at him with worried eyes, "Zero?"

~I keep your photograph

And I know it serves me well

I wanna hold you high and steal your pain~

Tears now started to hit the top of the guitar.

~Cus' I'm Broken

When I'm lonesome

And I don't feel right

When you've gone away

You've gone away

You can't feel me

Anymore~

The guitar he was holding dropped to the ground and all 6 strings vibrated on it. He dropped to his knees and hands looking down at the ground crying. "I can't do it… I can't do this… I'm… I'M SORRY!" He yelled and ran out the door as Senri and Rima chased after him. Both of them giving Yuki a "What are you doing?! Go after him!" look. Yuki just watched concerned as all three ran out the doors. Zero headed back to his house and locked himself in for the rest of the night, not even letting Senri in. No one saw him at school the next day… or the day after that… or the day after that…