Chapter 1

"Kaito nii-chan!" chirped an overly-enthusiastic Len.

I groaned inwardly as I heard his footsteps approaching. Quickening my footsteps to get away from him, I yanked out my earphones and stuffed them in my ear. Vermin played at full volume as I nodded my head according to its catchy beat. Feeling some vibration in my pocket, I whipped out my phone to see who had messaged me. When I clicked on the message icon, black and white text jumped out at me. "Turn around ", it read. I raised an eyebrow. My brain was screaming at me to ignore the message but curiosity got the better of me. As soon as I turned, two slightly scrawny arms wrapped themselves around my torso. I stumbled slightly and placed one hand on Len's head, ruffling his hair slowly.

"I found you. Why do you keep running away from me?" Len muttered, tightening his arms around me.

I extracted his arms from around me and patted his head.

"It's getting late and I've got to study for a killer chemistry test tomorrow. I'll see you later, alright?" I replied, completely ignoring his previous question.

A hint of a pout appeared on his lips. I forced a laugh and bent down, grazing my lips against his. His face coloured slightly as he reached out to touch his lips, as if unsure that I had almost kissed him. After promising that I would message him, I hurriedly made my way home. Unknown to us, there was someone who had been watching our entire exchange.

As I stepped into my apartment, I was greeted with a stony silence. My roommate cum mathematics teacher, Gakupo, was sprawled on the floor of our living room with stacks of marking all around him. He was completely immersed in his work. His eyebrows were knotted together and he was chewing intently on the tip of his red pen. I decided not to disturb him and attempted to make my way across the mini paper jungle.

"You're home," Gakupo said without looking up from his work. At that moment, I lost my balance and fell flat on my face. Sitting up, I rubbed my throbbing forehead and nodded at him. I scuttled to my room, refusing to let him see how red my face was and hear how hard my heart was beating, I threw my school bag on the floor and flopped on my unmade futon, burying my face into my pillow. I hate myself for feeling so helpless whenever I see him and hear his voice. He had no idea much I wanted him to acknowledge me as something more than a student or roommate. Ever since the day we met, which was about three years ago, I had developed a crush on him.

I moved out of my parent's house as my school was too far from where we lived. Sensei was my auntie's neighbour and was starting his job as a teacher, it was a strange of fate when he was posted to my school. My 'wonderfully thoughtful' aunt decided for me that we should room together in order to save money. This is why we are staying together. When my aunt first introduced him to me, I thought he was a girl. I ridiculously held on to that belief and even fantasized about having a relationship with him. I only realised my mistake when he introduced himself that I realised that I was planning a fairytale wedding with a guy. The part that scared me was that I had already fallen in love with him. That was the weirdest mistake that I had ever made but I have never regretted it.

I must have been laying on my futon for a long time as it was around six when he knocked on my door. Ignoring his knocks, I continued to laze about. This continued for a while before he got annoyed and forced the door open.

"Get out and eat," he said with venom lacing his voice.

We go through this routine daily, he calls me to eat and I would ignore him. Afterwards, he would get irritated and drag me on my knees to have dinner with him. Today was no different.

"Why do always do this?" I grumbled as I massaged my sore knees.

It was a good thing that I was wearing pants as they hurt like mad. He smirked and replied,

"Why, you ask? My lovingly prepared food will go cold. You know that I hate eating cooled rice."

My eyes darted towards that table when he mentioned 'lovingly'. Could there be a chance that he likes me? I shook my heard vigorously and pushed that thought out of my head. There was no way that he would like me. No freaking way.

Picking up my chopsticks, I began to eat. Today's fare was simple, jasmine rice topped with seaweed, miso soup and fried tofu. While we ate, an awkward silence clouded the atmosphere. We rarely spoke during meals as there never was anything to discuss. My mind began to drift and I started to review notes on the periodic table. The sound of Gakupo clearing his throat disrupted my thoughts. Slowly slipping back into reality, I asked him what was wrong.

"Is is true that you're together with Len?" he asked, a playful looked danced across his eyes.

I choked on my rice and reached around for my soup. Damn. Why must he so blunt? After drinking my soup, I cleared my throat and composed my features. He looked at me, slightly amused, and repeated his question.

"I… Yes. Something like that." I muttered, blushing and looking down at my lap.

He laughed softly and said," I saw you two lovebirds just now. You do know that public display of affection is not allowed in school right?"

Annoyance seeped through my brain.

"How is that your concern, Sensei?" I asked curtly.

He reached out and ruffled my nest of hair, making it messier than it already is.

"That's because I'll be blamed if anything happens to you. It's called the curse of being a guardian."

He lifted his hand from my head and collected the empty bowls to wash. He left me sitting at the table with my face planted on it, matching the cheap red tablecloth we acquired from Daiso.

I suppose that it was a good thing that I had no school the next day. Len, affectionately named "Baka 3" on my phone, was messaging me like a demon with fourteen fingers. The constant buzzing of the phone rendered me unable to rest well. Most of the messages sent were of him wanting to know what I was doing and the remainder were just demands from him wanting me to reply to him or he would do something dramatic. I dialled his number and waited.

"Good evening nii-chan! I missed you. Why aren't you replying my messages?" rushed Len.

He blabbered out a series of questions, to which I grunted or laughed at when it was appropriate. We chatted till about one in the morning before I put my foot down and told him that I need to gain back health points by sleeping. Thus, I hung up on him. I switched on laptop and lurked on DragonNest for a while when I realised that my chemistry tutor was giving me a test tomorrow afternoon. Slamming my laptop shut, I crammed as much as I could into my exhausted brain before crashing. I crawled over to my futon and slept.

My dream was vivid but rather strange. I was standing in the middle of a blood soaked field clad only in a ripped shirt and shorts. Bodies were piled up all over the area. The scent of death lingered in the air. Traces of blood and decay were everywhere. Two people approached from opposite ends of the clearing. To my left was a petite figure with tied up honey blond hair and a slight smile. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. In his hands were two daggers. As I looked in the other direction, a man of tall stature was gazing into the distance. His deep purple hair was loosely tied into a bun. He clutched his blade tightly and drew a sharp intake of air. They turned to faced each other. The blond snarled and tightened his grip on his weapons, pointing them at the other man. The tall one smirked. His eyes had a blood-thirsty feel tot them. He got into a fighting stance and waited. The blonde looked towards me and winked, as if to ensure me that he would be alright. The tall one turned towards me, grinned maniacally and mouthed "I love you". They then charged towards each other. Just before the tips of their various weapons could be dipped in the other's blood, a bright light filled the place. I feebly shielded my eyes. A deep baritone voice spoke.

"One physical property of metal is that it has a high melting and boiling point. You must remember!"

I jolted out of my futon and rubbed my eyes. That was indeed a strange dream. I felt around for my laptop and yanked it open. The time was 9.06am. Just six hours till tuition starts. Grabbing my blanket and wrapping it around myself, I slouched towards the kitchen for breakfast. Gakupo was already there nibbling on his nutella sandwich. As I shuffled into the kitchen, he looked at me.

"Did you have fun talking to your chibi last night?" he asked in a slightly mocking tone.

I gave him a dead-pan stare and sat down. As I reached out for my sandwich, he cleared his throat loudly. Ignoring him, I stuffed it in my mouth and let the awesomeness of nutella take over my senses. His eyes widened when he looked at his watch. Gulping down his coffee, he threw the cup into the sink and tried stuffed his feet into his shoes. When he was struggling to wear them, he looked back and said,

"Not going to hug me goodbye like you used to?"

I used to hug him? Why do I not remember that? I blushed and approached him, awkwardly placing my arms around him. He smiled and returned the hug before rushing out of the house, I sighed as he left. Today was definitely going to be a long day.

The mission to survive the day turned out to be a success. My tutor said that my chemistry was up to standard, which was a good thing. I rotted till my tutor, who was generously paid by my parents to torture and bestow knowledge in me, came. After he left, I completed the bulk of my homework and cooked dinner. Just as I finished setting the dining table, the doorbell rang.

"I'm coming!" I sang before opening the door.

Len was at the doorway looking at his feet. A psychotic smile was plastered on his face, heavily contrasting with his tear stained cheeks and red, tired eyes. Long thin lines danced across his forearms and patched of blood covered almost every bit of skin.

"Can I stay over for the night? My family's love is suffocating me." He choked out.

I hurriedly ushered him in before my knees gave in from shock. As soon as the door clicked shut, I fell to my knees and hugged him as tight to as I could. I pressed my face to his chest as he placed his hands on my shoulder. We stayed in that position for a long time.

Len managed to clean up the blood on his arm and rejected any help I offered. By the time Gakupo came home, Len had managed not to look deranged and was busy eating. When Gakupo saw him, he beckoned me over. I did so and folded my arms, bracing myself to what he had to say.

"He's staying over am I right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Try not to have too much fun. If you know what I mean."

My eyes narrowed and I nodded. I had to control the sudden urge to flip him off. I turned away and headed to the dining table. Extending my hand towards him, I asked,

"Shall we?"

He looked at me glassily before placing his small hand in mine. I held it tightly and led him to my room. This was the first time he had ever entered my room. He took in the sights of it with his mouth ajar. I could see him tracing the decorations that I had put up. Two signed posters by The GazettE, pictures of my family members and lastly, a drawing of a purple haired samurai. A picture which I sketched had while I was waiting for my tutor. I was quite pleased with the results which led me to paste it on my wall. He walked towards the drawing and gingerly outlined the samurai with his index finger.

"Did you draw him?"

"No. I stole it from my account on Deviantart."

Len giggled at my sarcasm and poked me. I retaliated my tickling his stomach. He burst out in peals of helpless laughter and fell on my futon, feebly attempting to swat my hands away. The addictive feel of complete domination over Len clouded my mind and I viciously tickled him for a while longer, he pleaded with me to cease the torture and I complied. Lying down, he breathed deeply for a few moments before turning towards me, smiling. He looked angelic whenever he did so. As I started to close the distance between us, an image of Gakupo sleeping on his futon hit me. I slowly got off the floor and grabbed a blanket along with a few pillows. Len made himself comfortable while I set up my own bed next to where he was to sleep.

"Could you get my IPod for me? I think it's in my bag." he asked while looking at me idly.

I reached out to grab his bag and rummaged through it, searching for something metal in the jungle of clothes and other strange assorted items. His arms snaked around my waist and he pulled me towards him. I discarded the bag to a corner and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. Using my fingers, I trailed them along the scars before kissing each one.

"Thank you for letting me stay over."

"You're welcome. Want to tell me what happened?"

He tightened his hold around me and nuzzled his nose against my neck.

Few minutes have passed before he spoke with a small voice.

"Rin brought her best friend, Miku, home. To my parents, she was perfect in every way. Top in the cohort, she was also pretty and kind. A person with a heart of gold and the heir to the Vocaloid Music Empire to boot. Needless to say, everyone loved her. After she left, my parents started to glorify her and started pressing me to ask her out. I kept refusing, telling them that I wasn't interested. They let the matter drop. We talked a bit more before my sister brought up the subject on examinations. I proudly announced that I was top in class for English and Physics. That was when all hell broke loose."

He absentmindedly played with my hair, letting my blue locks, which I had dyed during my rebellious streak and decided to stick with them, fall through his fingers. I nudged him gently on his stomach, my way of asking him to continue with his tale.

"My father got angry and started hurling insults at me. He said that I was pathetic and useless for only scoring well in two subjects. He added salt to the wound by saying that I only knew how to make him angry and that I should have been aborted. What made it worse was that neither my mother nor Rin stood up for me. By that point, I was already crying. I ran to my room, locked the door and grabbed my penknife. I dragged it all over my arms, laughing softly each time I felt pain. To me, pain meant that I was slowly winning the battle against my parents. They went out for dinner at about five. I packed my bag and scribbled a note that I would be at your place."

Listening to what had happened to Len made me feel guilty. Whispering to him, I said,

"Don't hurt yourself. Every cut you make on your skin make ones on my heart."

Len nodded and lay down on the futon, pulling me down with him.

"Good night nii-chan,"

"Sleep tight, Len."

As I drifted off to the land of slumber, I heard Len muttering,

"I love you."