A/N: Because everyone needs sad rintori. WARNING: this fic is triggering, so if any abuse in any form bothers you, please go back!

"I'm fine."

Rin Matsuoka looked down at the shivering boy in front of him. "No you're not. You're lying Nitori." Said boy bowed his head on the park bench. Rin stood in front of Nitori Aiichiro, confronting him. "I know you're not fine. You've been missing practice, acting edgy, and you've been avoiding everyone."

Nitori stood up suddenly, blue eyes locked to the ground. His light grey hair was messy, being blown in the wind. He held his bag tightly to his chest and pushed Rin out of the way. "I'm sorry, I need to go." He mumbled and ran away.

Rin growled, not knowing what was up with Nitori. "Fine! Just run, Nitori! I'm trying to help!" Rin yelled after him. Nitori stopped suddenly and turned to Rin.

"You can't help, senpai. I'm so sorry." He turned and ran again.

The red-head stood there, helpless. He couldn't help his kouhai if he didn't know what was wrong. Maybe he was adjusting back to living with his parents; since they came back to town, Nitori had an option to live with them. It was lonely without the boy at night and the weekends, but Rin figured he was having fun with his parents.

The teen saw Nitori walk away quickly, and Rin did the same. Rin grumbled to himself about Nitori, complaining about how Nitori wasn't telling him anything and how Nitori had better show up to swim practice the next day.

As he started to unlock the door to his dorm, the captain of the Samezuka swim team, Mikoshiba, stopped him. "Did you talk to Nitori?" He asked, wondering about the kid.

Rin sighed and rested his head against the door. "I did. He didn't say what was the matter and he ran away. If he doesn't show up for practice tomorrow, I'll go by his house and see for myself what's wrong with him." He needed to know what was wrong.

"Alright. Just don't pressure him too much, okay?" Mikoshiba opened his own door and went inside.

Rin couldn't stop thinking about his ex-roommate. He couldn't sleep, and the emptiness of the room wasn't helping. He angrily punched the top bunk. "Yo, Nitori." He paused. "That's right." He let his hand fall back to his chest.

Rin was worried, no, terrified of what was going on with Nitori. He was acting weird, secretive, and more emotional than usual. He may have been over reacting, but he couldn't help but worry. Nitori was his best friend- like a brother.

The red head snorted. "Ai, you're a handful." He said to himself. He rolled over and managed to go to sleep.

The next day, Nitori was late. "Why are you late, Nitori?" The teacher asked. Nitori froze.

"O-oh." Nitori's tensed shoulders fell. "I just tripped when I was walking up the front steps. My books fell and they went everywhere. It took me more than expected to pick them all up." He smiled and went to his seat.

The teacher wrote something in his notebook. "Alright. Don't let it happen again." He left it at that.

Nitori noticed his hand was shaking. 'Matsuoka-senpai isn't in my class. Hah. How can I forget that?' He thought. He tapped his fingers, looking around the room.

He was still shaking as the third bell rang.

It was last block, gym. Nitori use to love gym, but now he hated it. People would stare at his pale and skinny figure, trying to figure out why he tried to cover himself up now more than usual. For Nitori, it had a small crack of freedom; he got to talk to Rin and Mikoshiba. It was the only "class" he had with them.

"I hear you were late today, Nitori. You know I don't tolerate that." Nitori wasn't expecting Mikoshiba to scold him on the bleachers.

Nitori turned away, trying to hide his face. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." He whispered.

Rin sighed and crossed his arms. "Cough up. What happened?"

"N-nothing. I just fell." Nitori bowed his head, leg nervously bouncing. "My books went everywhere, and it took me a while to pick them up."

"Liar." Rin scowled.

The grey-haired first year flinched. "W-what?"

Nitori yelped as Rin took his wrist and held his arm up. Rin quickly pulled the jacket sleeve up to reveal a bruise on his upper arm. "If you fell, explain this." Rin demanded.

"Nitori?" Mikoshiba's golden eyes were wide.

The smaller cowered away. "I hit my side on the stairs. I tried to protect my face, so I turned to the side." He quickly said.

Rin's head dropped. "Okay. I believe you. Next time, just tell me what happened and don't make me worry, okay?" He squeezed Nitori's hand reassuringly.

"Thanks, senpai." Nitori smiled.

As Mikoshiba and Rin walked away, the captain of the swim team leaned closer to the second year. "You don't believe him, do you?"

Rin sighed and shivered. "Not for a second."

At swim practice, Nitori was even worse. He was trembling the entire time, terrified of what the others would say about his bruises. Luckily, Mikoshiba had lectured the team before Nitori, who was often the last one out of the locker room, came out for them not to ask any questions.

When Nitori got to his platform, he almost fell in he was so off-coordinated. His time got worse, too. Instead of slowing down by half a second, or even a full second, Nitori had slowed down a total of 4 seconds. Normally, Mikoshiba would scold him and make him do extra laps as punishment, or Rin would tease him about it. Instead, the two gave him a sympathetic look.

When it was time to get out of the pool, Nitori couldn't get out. No matter how hard he tried, his shaking arms would give out and he'd fall back in. After the 5th try, he started to cry. Rin helped him out, careful not to pull hard on his bruised arm.

The walk home was awfully quiet. "Are you truly okay, Nitori?" Rin stopped in the middle of the path.

"Yes, senpai, I am. You're not my mother." Nitori rolled his eyes and smiled, his shaking going down.

"Well you see, Nitori, we're just worried about how your home life is. How is it?" Rin questioned. He needed to know who to beat up; bullies or Nitori's family.

The grey haired boy paused for a second. His blue eyes dulled. "Oh, it's fine. Mom is nice; she feeds me and helps with my homework. Dad works at home, so he doesn't leave often. It is kind of hard, not having any privacy." He giggled.

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure." Rin smiled. He looked up at Nitori's house. It wasn't too big or too small. Nitori took his keys out and unlocked the door. "I would ask to come in, but we have a lot of homework tonight."

"Yeah, mom and dad don't like visitors that much." Nitori smiled and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, see you later, senpai."

Rin waved as he walked down the path to the house. As Nitori shut the door, Rin felt a pang of guilt in him. 'What if he gets hurt? What if they kill him? God, I should have gone in there.' He stopped as he reached the road. He huffed and turned back around.

When he knocked on the door, there were heavy footsteps, and then the door was swung open. Instead of being greeted by Nitori, an older man was standing there. He had messy grey hair, and he stunk horribly. "Who the hell are you?" The man took a puff of his cigar.

"Oh, I'm Matsuoka Rin. I'm a classmate of Nitori." Rin introduced himself, trying not to gag from the smell.

"Go away, Rin Matsuoka, Nitori's busy." Rin struck it odd that Nitori's parents would refer to him by last name.

Rin needed to go check on Nitori, to make sure he was fine. "H-He needed some help in math, and since I'm an upperclassman and his ex-roommate, I thought I could help him." He hoped his story was convincing.

The man yelled up the stairs near the door. "Oy, Nitori! Get your ass down here!" He yelled. The sudden loud voice startled Rin.

Nitori came down the stairs quickly. His eyes looked wild and afraid. "Yes, sir?"

"Who is this?" A cigar was pointed at Rin.

Nitori bit his lip. "My friend and ex-roommate, Matsuoka Rin." He said quickly.

"And why is he here?"

"T-to…" He didn't know why. Nitori looked down.

Rin butted in. "You needed some help in math, didn't you Nitori?" He quickly answered.

"I-I do. I'm sorry." Nitori apologized.

Nitori glanced up at his father. He snarled. "Nobody can help my stupid son!" With that, the door was slammed in Rin's face.

His heart dropped. He just screwed Nitori over. He couldn't do anything about it, but he desperately wanted to help him.

Rin had to walk away from the house hearing screaming and yelling.

"I swear I will help you, Ai." Rin whispered under his breath. The pathetic 'I'm sorry' rung in his ears. 'Ai, don't be sorry.'

A/N: This is a multi-chapter fic, so stick around peeps!