".... What?"

"I know.. Fucked up, isn't it?" I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the rage that began to blur my vision. I slumped deeper into the sofa, a small growl grew in my throat. "Love, please calm down... He apologized.." She placed a hand on my face and gently caressed my cheek. I sighed and looked at her.

"I'm trying... But I mean, seriously... He can NOT keep doing this to you... I will snap eventually, I swear... I'll fucking crack his face..." I felt her hand pull me close to her; before I knew it, a pair of sweet and tender lips pressed against mine. She pulled away and hugged me tightly.

"See, this is why I'm always scared to tell you whenever it happens."

I felt my arms wrap around her. "I'm sorry... I guess I just really care..."

She slightly pulled away to look at me, pressing her forehead against mine. The feeling of her against me always seemed to calm me down. "I know. That's why I love you so much..."

I chuckled. "So why aren't you with me?"

She sighed and layed her head to my shoulder. "Y'know why I can't. He just knows what to do to me if I ever tried that. He knows how to break me down... All the blame would be put on me, and everything would just... agh...."

"Hey don't worry. I understand... He's just a fucking dick and it pisses me off that's all.. And I hate it when he hurts you.."

She lifted her head and looked at me. "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself love."

I rolled my eyes. "Y'know what I mean. I just really love and care--" She kissed me again, then rested her forehead to mine again.

"I know love... I know..."

We spend a moment like that, in each other's arms.

"I feel bad.."

A confused look crossed her face. "Why's that?"

I let a small sigh escape. "Well... As much as I hate it everytime he hurts you and how stupid he can get.. Zetsubuo's still my best friend.. And I'm making his girl cheat on him..." Her expression saddened. I immediantely regretted my words. "Hey.. You know damn well that I love you.. I just feel terrible for tearing you apart like this..."

"And I also know," she began, "whether you want to admit it or not, that you're hurting inside everytime you see me in his arms.. especially after moments like this.. I bet everytime you see me with him after kissing you, a moment of doubt crosses your mind, and you feel like everything I did and do for you didn't mean a thing to me.."

I bit my lip. She's fucking good.. "It's not that I doubt you.. I just wish I was the one with you.."

She kissed me once more. "I can't... I can't for the time being... But I'm never going to let go of you.. Never.. Call it cheating, I don't care. I know deep in my heart that loving you is something different... I do love you. And everything I do, I do mean."

I felt a small smile grow. "I love you Akane..."

"I love you too Shiyo..." This time I kissed her, passionately. I pulled away and looked at her right arm again. Her sleeve was still rolled up, exposing the marks of a murderous behavior. I moved one of my hands to gently place it over one of the bruises. I felt anger increasing in the pit of my stomach again.. I looked up to her throat to see more scratches and marks. I leaned in and lightly kissed her neck; I could smell the sweet perfume that she always wears.

"Take care of yourself, Akane.. I don't want you to get hurt anymore." I whispered my words against her skin.

She wrapped her arms around me and held me close. "I will Shiyo.. I will.."

I moved from her neck to face her. "I'm always here for you, okay?"

She leaned, giving me another kiss to remember. "I know.. Thank you love..."

I smiled, then pulled my phone out of my brown jacket-hoodie pocket. I sighed. "Fuck.. 5:09 already?"

She layed her head on my chest. "You should probably go love.. You're gonna get in a lot of trouble if your mom wakes up to an empty house.."

"Tell me about it.." As against it as I was, I forced myself to gently push her away and stand off of the couch. I turned around to look at Akane still sitting on the sofa, the blanket covering the bottom half of her amazing body. My eyes trailed down from her eyes to examine her more. Her black hair was drapped over her left shoulder, her dark brown eyes glistening to the dim morning light beaming from the window to the side. She had her amazing "You're a friggen dork, but I love you anyway" smile on; the look I always thought looked best on her next to her lust filled gaze she sometimes gives me. My eyes trailed lower to see her loose white sleeved shirt. One of the shoulders were falling off, showing off the strap of her black bra. I placed my hands on the couch either side of her, leaning in to kiss her for the last time that morning. "Love you love..."

She gave a small laugh and smiled. "Ditto."

---

It's not fun running back home after a long night without sleep. Have you ever seen a fat kid running after a bus because they were late? I haven't, but that's how I fucking felt by the time I reached home. I made it in less than ten minutes, with still enough time for me to get ready for school. I looked at myself in the mirror. I wore my white shirt with green plaid print on it. Complementing that was my loose fitted black jeans that had a few cuts on them, and black and white converse shoes. My shoulder length hair was a mess. I shook my head and looked again. "Okay.. I'm a little dizzy, but it works." I sprayed some Old Spice on, grabbed my headphones and ipod, and my messenger bag and headed out the door for another day in college.

---

Buzz... Reeeeee...

"Shiyo."

Vroom.. Crank, crank..

"Shiyo!"

Crank, crank...

Suddenly, I heard the high pitch screech from my bitch of a friend.

"SHIYO!"

My head shot up from the engine I was working on just for the back of my head to Rick James bitch slap the hood of the car; hard. "Agh!" I dropped my wrench and clenched the back of my head in pain, leaning on the engine. I heard nothing but ringing in my ear. For a while, the ringing didn't go away. I thought I went full on deaf till I realized the ringing I was hearing was just the electronic hardware echoing throughout the auto shop. I then turned my head to face Dante. "What?! What the hell is it?!"

"It's your turn to buy lunch today, dumbass. C'mon I'm friggen hungry."

I picked up the wrench I dropped and put it back in the tool box next to me. I then grabbed the rag and wiped my hands. "You're an asshole, you know that?"

Dante turned around and began walking to my car. "I never get tired of hearing that. Now c'mon, I got something I wanna talk to you about."

I rose an eyebrow. Wonder what that could be about...

---

I slowly sipped away the last of my drink as I sat across from Dante, watching him scarf down his subway like someone was burning his ass with a flame tourch. "Er... So... What the hell did you wanna talk about?"

Dante shoved the last giant chunk of his meal into his mouth and tried to talk. All I heard was muffles of what I thought was words. I sighed, then slapped his head. "Chew your damn food, and try again moron."

He swallowed his food (Thank God) and tried to talk. "So, is everything alright?"

I rose my eyebrow again. This isn't really like him to ask random questions like this. "Uh.. I'm fine? Been breathing, y'know, the works."

He scoffed. "Idiot. I ment Akane. What's going on?"

I nearly choked on my coke. I coughed and cleared my throat. "W-What do you mean? What the hell are you talking about?"

Dante leaned in closer and spoke in a near whisper. "Saw her walking to class today, caught up and talked. Saw this, marks, these bruises and scratches under her scarf. Asked her 'bout it, didn't say much. Just said she fell or a cat attacked her, some stupid excuse. What's the real story Shiyo? What's bothering her?"

I hesitated. "Oh that?..." I took another sip of that. "Beats me man.. Asked her the same thing and she didn't say a word."

He scrunched his trash into a ball and threw it to the nearest trash can; he missed, that loser. "Damn.." He then turned back to me. "Well.. If you find out something let me know. Everyone's worried 'bout her."

I threw my empty cup to the same trash can and made it. "Everyone? Like who?"

Dante brought a hand up and began counting his fingers. "There's like... Mugen, Miamoto, Handaiyo, Fuu... Even Zetsubuo."

I flinched when I heard that name. "Zetsubuo.. doesn't even know what's wrong with his own girlfriend?"

"Yeah man. He askes everyone if they know what's going on too. He's real worried. I mean, I don't see why he doesn't just ask her himself, but whatever.."

I closed my eyes and let my head drop. I sighed, trying to calm myself down.

Dante stopped talking long enough to realize I suddenly had a change in mood. "Hey.. Shiyo, everything alright?"

".. Yeah man I'm alright." I lifted my head back up and opened my eyes. "Ready to go?"

"Nah." Dante leaned back on hisf chair. "I'm gonna chill here and wait for my date. I'm pretty stoked."

I chuckled. "Heh, alright. See you later." I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.

---

"12:00... Great, got nothing to do till three..." I leaned back in my seat inside my car. I stared at the view in front of me; the ocean breeze felt nice coming through my open window, and the crashing of the waves against the shorelines was pretty damn nice... I sighed, looking back down at my ipod to choose the next song to listen to. I felt kinda bad for hiding what I knew about Akane from Dante.. But I had to. I made a promise to keep her secret and guard it with my life; I rather die then break a promise to her. Besides, what was I suppose to say? 'Oh by the way, Zetsubuo beats up Akane on a daily bases, and the only reason why he askes everyone if they know what's wrong with Akane is to make sure she doesn't tell anyone what's going on or else he'll beat the crap out of her even more. Terrific, ain't it?'

I scoffed to myself. "Yeah, right..." I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I reached in and pulled it out to see what was up. It was Akane, sending me an IM.

Akane: "Hey love.."

Shiyo: "Hey.. What's up?"

Akane: "I just finished class.. Zetsubuo picked me up. We're going to the mall for lunch right now."

Akane: "What are you up to?"

Shiyo: "Lol sounds like fun. I'm at the beach again just enjoying the view.. You want me to go to the mall and intercept you guys?"

Akane: "Cool."

Akane: "It's up to you.. It would be nice.. Keep me sane.."

Shiyo: "That's more than enough to convince me to go.. Okay I'll be there soon."

Akane: "Okay.."

I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat. With a twist of the key in the ignition, my car started up and I was on my way to save Akane from insanity.

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So yeah... Lol, reviews would be cool... I'll try update Joker and the Theif soon... I was inspired to begin this story though because of what I'm experiencing right now... It's hard to explain... Whatever! Lol just, Hopefully you enjoyed it. More to come soon... Pray for me ^^;