"What a bitch," whispered a girl, the words floating around and hanging heavily in the air.

She ignored it.

"And such a slut, too," giggled another. "Look at how small her shirt is."

In reality, Utau wasn't a slut. She was simply poor.

"I can't see why she bothers coming to school," murmured one guy to his friend. "She only gets hated on."

"I can't see why she bothers to keep breathing," snickered his asshole of a buddy. "She only wastes air."

"Dude, she can hear you-"

"I don't care."

Neither did Utau, really. She sighed and stared up at the ceiling. She thought that if she suddenly ceased breathing right now, fell to the ground stone cold, she wouldn't care.

Just like everybody else.

In the beginning, she was innocent.

In the beginning she was happy.

He could remember her sassy attitude and her fierce will. Those beautiful bright eyes were now dim.

Kukai curiously glanced at her.

She was a mess, to be sure. Her backpack had a gash, and dark purple ringed her dull eyes. Her shirt was too small for her and her pants were too big. Her hair was matted and dark.

But she couldn't be that bad. He had heard the rumors, sure, but he knew her from before. There was nothing that could make her change that much, from being a girl that kept her feelings protected to a girl without feelings at all.

So he got up and sat next to her. "Want to be partners for the project?"

She looked up at him. "Who the fuck are you and what do you want?"

He reeled back a bit. What?

"Uh, I'm Kukai Souma, haha," he nervously chuckled. "We used to be friends in elementary school, I think."

"Okay, Souma, we're obviously not friends anymore. I get it: I'm a bitch, I'm a slut, I should go die, blah blah blah. Unless you've got a creative one, let me fucking sit in peace."

"That wasn't what I was going to say at all," he managed. "I just wanted to be partners with you."

"Nobody wants to be partners with me. I'm not a charity case. I don't care." With that, she rose from her chair and walked to the back corner of the room.

On the way, somebody tripped her and she sprawled to the ground, harsh laughter echoing around the room.

I don't care, she told herself. I. Don't. Care.

She took a deep breath and picked herself back up.

"Hi Mommy," Utau gently said as she laid the bouquet down at the smooth marble tombstone. "How's heaven?"

She rambled on a bit, talking about a movie she had watched, about how hard school was.

She didn't tell her mother about the other kids, about the names, about the endless pranks. She didn't want her to worry.

"Say, what if I joined you? I miss you and Ikuto and Daddy. No one would miss me here."

She was breathing harder now, trying to keep the tears from slipping out. Stay strong, Utau. You've only got yourself now, and if even you break, then you've really got nothing left.

That was when she made a decision. She reached into her backpack for a pen, but could only find the stub of a pencil. She placed it carefully back and picked up a charred match she had used to light a candle. With the ashes, she wrote a number on her arm.

16. "I'm sixteen today, Mommy," Utau said, the tears silently sliding down her cheeks. "And I'll see you in sixteen days."

He saw her while he was out running. It might've sounded weird to some, running in a graveyard, but it was peaceful and he usually went to go pay his respects to his grandparents.

He didn't expect to see Tsukiyomi Utau kneeled over at a grave, gently placing down flowers and speaking with a content expression he had never seen on her.

He stopped for a moment, just as she started trembling a little. His heart sped up as he nervously realized that he was intruding.

Reluctantly, he turned away, about to put his ear bud back in his ear, but not before he heard something that made him freeze. "I'm sixteen today, Mommy. And I'll see you in sixteen days."

"Hey, everybody, my party's on Friday!" Saaya's loud voice cut through the crowd, instantly drawing attention. She strutted down the hallway, passing out invites.

Utau shuffled by, and Saaya flounced to a stop in front of her. "Want one?"

Utau glared at her suspiciously. "Is it going to blow up?"

"Don't be silly!" she giggled. "I've been a bit mean, so here's my apology. Do come!"

With that, she dropped the card and Utau didn't bother catching it. Instead, she bent over to pick it up as Saaya skipped away.

"Why not?" she murmured to herself. "Fifteen days left. I might as well make use of it."

What was he supposed to do? He had definitely heard her say that. Did that mean she was going to kill herself? And would he be responsible, if he didn't do anything?

He nervously twitched, not even noticing that Nagi was talking.

"Hey, are you okay?" Nagihiko's voice suddenly made him snap back to reality.

"Uh, yeah, haha. Hey, are you going to Saaya's party?" He asked, wanting to quickly change the subject.

Nagi shrugged. "Of course. Who isn't?"

Tsukiyomi Utau, Kukai thought.

But she was there. He was shocked, and a churning feeling overcame his stomach. Saaya was up to no good.

Utau had cleaned up a bit. She had washed her hair, and her face, and wore a dress that Kukai knew to be Saaya's. He had no idea why Saaya had lent it to her, but he knew it wasn't good.

It looked good on her, though. Better than it did on the redhead, although if he had said that out loud he would've been ridiculed.

She looked lonely, standing in the corner. And as her glanced at her hand, he winced at the number ten written in permanent markers. Ten days…

He made up his mind to talk to her. Maybe he could change her mind.

"Hey, Utau."

She shifted her gaze slightly towards him. "You again, Souma? What is it this time?"

"Uh, nothing. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Bullshit. Nobody wants to talk to me."

"That's not true!"

"Then why am I alone?" She challenged. And he couldn't say anything.

"Well, I'm here," he managed.

She sighed. "Because you feel bad for me."

"I think a lot of people are really mean to you," he offered. "But I'm sure you're just misunderstood."

"I don't know," she said, smiling wryly. "I just know everybody hates me and I'm better off dead."

"Don't say that!"

"I'll say what I want."

He winced at her next words. "People think I'm a freak, and you know it."

"I don't."

"You don't know me yet, I guess."

She said she didn't care, but he could tell she did, the way she stood tense and hostile, defensive. She said she didn't care but he could see the cuts lining up her wrist and showed her pain. Suddenly he was sick to his stomach and hated himself for standing and watching for two years as this happened.

"Come with me," he said, gently taking her wrist and leading her outside.

"What-"

"Here." He sat down under a tree in the yard. "It's quieter, so we can talk."

She remained standing. "Are you going to rape me or something?"

He looked up, shocked. "No!"

"Are you sure you don't want something in exchange for talking to me?"

"What do you view yourself as?" He blurted out. "You're a person, not a vending machine!"

"You're right. People actually want vending machines."

Her matter-of-fact tone saddened him. He firmly patted the ground next to him and she sat down, sighing.

"What's your full name?"

"Tsukiyomi Utau."

"I'm Kukai Souma. Let's pretend like the rest of the world doesn't exist, and we just met. We're like babies; we have no history. Okay?"

"Okay," she said, but cautiously.

"I think the weather's nice today. I've always liked fall. What about you?"

"Yeah."

"The air gets cold but not too cold, and school starts. I get to see all my friends." Immediately he stopped, knowing he had said something wrong.

Her expression didn't change, but he knew she was hurting. Because she didn't have any friends.

"Anyways," he hastily carried on. "What hobbies do you have?"

She was silent, debating whether to let him in. Finally, she curtly replied, "I sing."

"Can I hear?" He asked excitedly.

She stiffened instinctively and he wished he had a filter on his mouth. This was too much for her.

"It's okay, you don't have to-"

"Do re mi fa so la ti dooooo," she sang, a little shyly. What surprised him was how good she was. Her voice was full and clear, perfectly on pitch. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

And a tiny smile crept on her face as well, until her eyes widened and she paled.

Saaya stood behind Kukai, clapping slowly. "Wonderful! Sounds like a dying seal!"

Utau stared in horror. Saaya's voice was as sweet as sugar and smooth as honey. "Wittle Tsukiyomi Utau likes to sing, huh? Little birdie? I didn't know you were related to Ikuto. I mean, who could tell? He's so hot and you're so… ugh. Where did he go, anyways? Ditched you because he hates you so much?"

Utau was trembling. She put her hands on the ground, about to get up, but Saaya smirked. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. The seams are rigged so that if you sit and stand again, the dress will rip."

Utau was breathing heavily and blinking rapidly, eyes wide. She looked scared, like a trapped animal. Kukai frowned.

"Hey, is this really-"

"Thanks, Kukai." Saaya nonchalantly winked. "Without you, this plan wouldn't have come together. You sure are a good actor!"

Utau's eyes darted to him. "You were acting?" Her voice came out high and panicked.

"No, I was-"

"Of course dear, no one would actually talk to you," Saaya cut in, blinking innocently. "Now why don't you run along? Oh wait, you can't." Now she laughed harshly, marching over to Utau and forcibly yanking her up. Kukai heard a rip and Utau struggled against the redhead's grip.

"You're disgusting filth," Saaya hissed, her tone no longer sweet. "Get out. I never want you near my house again!" She shoved her towards the street and Utau blindly stumbled, narrowly avoiding a hit with a car.

Kukai felt his stomach twist when she looked back at him with a betrayed look before dashing away, swaying unevenly.

Saaya watched her retreat with satisfaction, and then shot Kukai a dirty glare. "God. I don't see how you can stand her. Talk to her again, and I will ruin you." With that, she tossed her hair and stalked back into her party.

Kukai knew he had a choice. He had ten days. In that time, he could go on like he always had, being nice to all and judging none. He could be that bystander, unwilling to interfere with problems that weren't his. His social status would stay the same.

But he could also try and save someone who was broken and damaged, someone who needed him. Someone who currently thought he had betrayed her, and in that moment, he knew that in ten days he would completely throw his life away to try and change the number on Utau's hand to one with two zeroes instead of one.

"You're just being stupid again, Utau," she drawled slowly, dragging the blade across her wrist, watching the blood well up. She felt numb and closed her eyes, letting her arm drop into the tub.

Of course no one would talk to me.

"Mommy, I miss you. I'll be there soon."

She dried herself off, and scrawled the number nine right above her new wound.

Either a two or three shot that I'll finish over the weekend. And I know I haven't updating AMI in FOREVER but please forgive me...

Also, bullying is just awful. Don't ever do it. (And just a warning, YES, this is an angst fic. Don't read if you don't want to feel sad.)

~Sea