One Year Ago:

"You're an idiot, you know that, Takuya?" Koji asked, his hands shoved into the pockets of his ripped jeans.

All he wanted to do was get out of the stupid school parking lot, but so far, he wasn't even out of the school yet. Checking out a couple girls on the way down the hall, he was snapped back by Takuya's reply.

"Of course I do, buhhh-ddy! But in this case, I'm not trying to be." He grinned brightly.

Koji smiled back and arched an eyebrow. "So, its just become effortless now?"

Zoe giggled at his remark, and grasped Takuya's arm, beaming up at him with her bright green eyes. "You know he's kidding, Takky, you're amazing to me!"

Koji groaned. "Are we gonna sit and talk about how great of a faggot Takuya is or are we gonna go?" he asked, pulling a set of car keys out of the pocket of his jeans.

"Let's go!" Zoe squealed, pulling Takuya by the sleeve of his jacket into Koji's car.

"Where exactly are we going, Koji?" Koichi asked, expecting a smartass response.

Koji started the car, turning the key, and checking his mirrors. "Where do we always go, Koichi?"

Of course, living with him, Koichi had learned to put up with his twin brother's behaviors. "Shut the hell up, I was just asking." and they both flipped each other off.

The route to the Shibuya mall was dug deep into Koji's mind, along with the sound of Takuya and Zoe making out the whole way in the backseat, freaking out Koichi, who was sitting in the passenger's seat, desperately trying to tune it out.

"Honestly Koichi, how are you ever gonna be able to watch the good porn if you can't handle this?" Koji joked.

Koichi didn't like it, and threw up a finger. "This is completely different."

Koji smiled and shrugged, turning to look at Takuya, pink lip gloss all over his face and neck. This hat was turned forward instead of backwards and his goggles were around his hicky-covered neck. A frazzled look was on his face. Zoe sat next to him, her head rested on his shoulder, a naughty look on her face.

"Jeez, would you get a room?" Koji screamed.

"Ahh, Fridays…" Takuya sighed, putting an arm around Zoe, who sighed in reply, leaning into him.

Koji parked the car three blocks from the mall, as not to let his step father see that he and Koichi were there. He worked near there, but not in the mall itself, so they were safe. They wouldn't get into trouble if their step dad found out, but he would want to talk to them, and being teenagers, Koji and Koichi didn't want to be seen.

The four stepped in, the over-air conditioned haven slipping over them. Koji wasn't too interested in shopping, but a bunch of girls from their area would always be there, scoping out guys. Koji wasn't bad looking, but he had gotten bad reputations at school about his depression and ADD, not to mention the suicide attempts. Girls were afraid of him, even though he was a cute kid.

The thought rushed through his head, and as he shuddered, he pulled the sleeve of his hoodie up his forearm halfway, exposing scars that wouldn't go away. Some were deep, and some were light, some were still new and scabbing. But it didn't matter, everyone knew about them…ever since he had been suspended for cutting in the boys bathroom. He still didn't know who turned him in, but whoever it was told the whole school what had happened, and it spread like wildfire. The girl he had currently been going out with dumped him, and even Takuya and Koichi looked at him differently. It had been a difficult year.

"Koji?" Koichi called. "We lost you there for a sec, huh? What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing…" Koji answered, pulling his sleeve back down. "So what are we doing now?"

Takuya scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly. "I don't really know. What do you guys want to do?"

Suddenly, out of no where, it seemed, girl with long black and brown hair ran and hit behind Koji. "Sorry," she whispered. "but I'm being chased."

"What?" Koji asked, his eyes widening, as she crawled under the bench behind him.

"Shhhh! Please!" she put her index finger to her mouth, her pale face poking from under the bench.

A guard ran past, stopping to look at their group. "Have any of you seen a girl run this way? She's about 5'2" with long dark hair. She was wearing a red t shirt and jeans." The group of teens just stared at him. "Well have you seen her?!" he asked, sweat forming on his caterpillar brow.

They shook their heads in unison. He sighed and went off running again. Koji knelt down and looked at her. She looked up at him with wide brown eyes. The first thought that went across his mind was, "wow, she's really pretty."

She stood up and looked around. "Thank you so much." she said, smiling nervously. There was a pause until Zoe spoke up.

"Hi, I'm Zoe. What's your name?"

"Chiharu." the girl said shyly. She was a tiny little thing. At first glance, she appeared to be about fifteen, but looking closer, she had the expression of a younger girl, maybe about ten.

"Wh-Why was that guy chasing you?" Koichi asked.

"He just does that with people that come around here a lot." she answered quietly. "I don't know why."

"Why don't you go somewhere else then?" Zoe asked. "Or stayed home?"

Her pupils shrank and her eyes widened. "I-I can't be at home." she said, gasping slightly. "I mean-I like being out."

Koji looked at her suspiciously. Her eyes were nervous. He knew a look like that only because he had made that face a lot as a child. Back, before he started living with his mother and step father with Koichi. The memory dashed across in the back of his mind.

He would get into hour-long fights with his father that would result in beatings. He told the other guys in the locker room that he had fallen off his skateboard when they asked about the cuts and bruises. That was when he noticed the bruise on her left arm. It was just above her elbow, dark, probably new.

"What happened here?" he asked her.

She looked at it, touching it with her right index finger. "I was playing basketball with my brothers…but they're too rough now." Her eyes looked up at Koji, but her face looked to the ground. What was it about her?

"Well, we were gonna go look for some summer stuff. Bathing suits and junk, you wanna come?" Zoe asked.

"Sure." she replied, smiling. Koji took her hand, and they both blushed bright red.

"You know, Takuya, I think Koji and Chiharu are really starting to like each other." Zoe said, as Takuya walked out of a dressing room in a pair of Levi's.

"What makes you think that?" Takuya asked, checking out his ass in a mirror.

"Just look over there." Zoe said, pointing and smiling. She pointed to a bench across the store. Either of them wanted to shot at all so they just ended up talking. He was smiling and telling her something that was apparently funny because all she could do was blush and giggle.

Takuya craned his neck to look and smiled. "Ah, who would have thought Koji would find a girl like that?" he said sarcastically.

Zoe's eyes narrowed at Takuya. "A girl like what?" she snapped.

He looked at her quizzically. "Well…um, she's nice…pretty…seems good enough. Maybe too good for Koji."

Zoe nodded. "Maybe they were both hoping for this." she said, smiling.

Koji looked her straight in the eyes and they didn't burn his like most people's. Her smile was cute and real. The sound of her voice comforted him in a way that he had never felt before. She was so much like him, he discovered.

"My mother took me and my sister and remarried…after my father killed my brother." she had told him. "He had been out drinking, and came home a little hazy, I guess. And I don't remember how it happened, but the imprint it still there. If you think about things enough times a day…they never fade."

He sighed. "I guess that's pretty much me and Koichi…but our father never killed. But I got into fights with him all the time…so I went to live with my mom."

"Your father was a druggie/alcoholic too?"

"Still is." he muttered with a smile.

She grinned back at him, the corners of her mouth curled just slightly. First, they were just talking about their miserable lives…but having fun. But then their faces touched. They were cheek to cheek. Chiharu felt his breath on her neck. He whispered into her ear, only loud enough that she could hear, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?", and she replied with a long, passionate kiss. When it was over, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Of course I do."

Present

Zoe gazed at her reflection in the mirror, pulling out the top drawer in her bathroom, opening a round tin of birth control pills. She dry swallowed one and smiled. She and Takuya were set for a wild night.

"The first thing you have to know about buying condoms is the protection." his father had told him once. Now he was standing in that aisle in the drug store, aimlessly walking up and down with no guidance, and feeling like an idiot. He wondered if they had enough sizes and types. It was just confusing to him.

"Can I help you?" a young man wearing a smock with the drug store logo asked him.

Takuya jumped, startled by his sudden appearance. "N-No, thanks." he answered, nervously sweating through his backwards baseball cap.

The man raised an eyebrow and walked away, murmuring something obscene under his breath. Takuya sighed angrily. How the fuck do I do this? he thought. He grabbed the first box he saw and ran with it, making sure to check it out with the young man that asked to help him. With the box in his gloved hand, he suddenly felt weak and stupid, not how he had wanted to feel at all…and suddenly he was feeling like he wasn't quite ready to do it anymore.

"Hi, Chiharu. Koji's just fixing his hair or something. Come in." Koichi said sweetly, opening the door. Chiharu stepped in, smiling at her boyfriend's brother.

"Thanks, Koichi."

He held the door as she stepped in. Koji walked in at that moment. He walked up and kissed her on the forehead. "You look beautiful." he whispered.

She beamed at him and took his hand. "I love you," was all she could respond with.

They got into Koji's car and made out for a good eight minutes before Koichi came and told them to go because their mom was about to come out and drive for them. As soon as Koji started the car, Chiharu put her head on his shoulder. He blushed but quickly went back to normal when she turned to look at him, her chin still on his shoulder.

"Koji…" she began. "Have you ever had a girl take your shirt off with her mouth?"

He smiled and turned to her. "No, why?"

"Happy one year anniversary then, baby." she said, jumping on him, attacking his shirt with her teeth.

She didn't stop there, she took off his bandana too, tearing it off like an animal. Then she began to unzip his pants, then reaching across to unlock the car. "Backseat," she said in a whispery voice. He clumsily got up and opened the back doors, getting in, laying with her straddling him.

She ran her hands up and down his chest, down his stomach, and right to the point of interest. She unzipped his jeans, not being gentle either, hearing a pained grown from Koji as he lay across the seats. "Sorry," she said sweetly, then pulling his penis out of his boxers then out of his jeans.

They smiled at each other…and the forbidden act began.

Zoe lay with her head on Takuya's bare chest. "Pretty awesome, huh?" Takuya asked her. She nodded sheepishly.

"Oh, Takuya. You were amazing." She grinned at her lover, her eyes shining and bright. His glance was returned. "When are you gonna get rid of the condom?" she asked, her hand running up and down his abdominals.

He sat up. "What are you talking about, you said you were using birth control."

"TAKUYA!" she screamed. "You told me that you bought condoms!"

"Yeah, but Koji and Koichi came over and we blew them up like balloons." he said, looking down. "It was fun…"

"Screw fun, Takuya, I could be pregnant!"