Chappy 2! This one's longer then the first chapter. Sorry if the first chapter was short. Yeah, it took me forever to update, but thats cause I was having problems loggin into my account. oops, turns out I was just being blond. my bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hands Off!

Sorry

By: ani-chan7

Ch 2: Truth

Kotarou's Pov.

My life sucks, I think to myself as I walk down the street. Everyday for the past week I've been doing this. I take long walks through the city. They are usually pretty long, raging between two to three hours. It's the best way for me to escape right now. It's been one month since grandpa passed away. One month of pure hell. If possible Tatsuki's gotten even worse. He barely ever talks to anybody, especially me. I don't know where he goes anymore. He comes home with blood and gashes all over his body. I don't know what to do. Yuuto doesn't know what to do either. We've tried talking to him, but he doesn't seem to listen. We tell him that fighting is no way to get over the pain, but he does it anyway. It hurts me to see him like this. It pains me to see him come home early in the morning with cuts and gashes all over his body.

I don't know how long I can live like this, how long either of us can live like this. We haven't gone to school yet. We are supposed to go back tomorrow, but then again we were supposed to go back yesterday, and the day before that. I don't think that either of us has gotten over the pain. I don't know how, but we need to find a way to get ourselves back together. We can't keep living like this, He can't keep living like this. I can see it in Tatsuki's eyes, his almost lifeless eyes, the sadness and depression.

I keep walking, hands in my pocket, staring at the ground in front of me. I don't know where I have gone. Usually I just go where my legs take me, and today is no exception. I stop as I see a familiar face. I look up. "Koutari?!?" I say to nobody in particular. It's definitely Koutari. But what's he doing? He leaning over the edge of the bridge, looking down at the water below. He's not going to jump, is he? I run toward him, yelling his name, I suddenly feel a sense of urgency. I need to stop him! "KOUTARI!" I yell as loudly as possible, getting the attention of passing motorists. He stops and looks at me, surprise and confusion written on his features as I grab his hand and yank him away from the edge.

"What are you doing here Kotarou?" He asks me confused and slightly annoyed.

"What do you think I'm doing here?!? I'm stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life!" I accidentally yell at him, I guess I haven't calmed down yet. My hearts beating so fast that it feels like it could hop out of my chest.

"My life's not worth living, I've already messed it up enough." He says looking away, "Not to mention yours."

"What do you mean by that?" I ask, grabbing one of his hands in what I hope to be a comforting gesture.

"It's my fault that your grandpa died!" He said, looking into my eyes for the first time. His eyes are welling up with tears threatening to fall any second now. "If it weren't for me your grandpa would still be alive," tears are now cascading down his delicate cheeks.

"…" I am completely speechless. I don't know what to say. "W-what do y-you mean?" I stutter, my voice quivering with fear.

"The night I came over to talk to Tatsuki,I cut Tatsuki's breaks. It was my fault that he got into that accident. I didn't mean for your grandpa to get hurt. I don't know what I was thinking I just…"

"Why?" I ask, now my eyes are welling up with tears as well. "Why would you want to hurt Tak-kun?"

"…"

His silence angers me, "What did he ever do to you!" I yell.

"..." He remains silent as if he doesn't want to answer, or as if he has no answer at all.

I wipe my eyes with sleeve, trying to calm myself down. It's probably not a good idea to yell at a suicidal teenager. I calm myself down and quietly ask again, "Why? Please answer me." I ask extremely calmly. I gently grab his other hand so that both of his hands are within mine, and look up into his eyes.

It took him a while, but Koutari finally answered me. "When I was little I saw this boy getting bullied by a bunch of boys. He was wide eyed, and kept pointing to the corner of the lot that they were in. They threw around his bag calling him all sorts of names. After a while they left. I picked up his bag and brought it to him, but something strange happened to me when I touched his hands. I looked to the corner where the boy was pointing at and saw what he was talking about. There in the corner was a dead dog, just lying there. After that I was never the same. I saw all sorts of weird things after that. I saw terrible things, things that nobody else could ever see. I received this…" He paused as if searching for the right word, "This curse from that boy. I drove my mother crazy. She never believed me, nobody did. Except for Mina. My sister always believed me. My mother resented me. People thought that she had raised a crazy child. One day she had enough; she put me and my sister into a car, and rolled it into the ocean. My sister died that day. I should have died too. I should have died too, but I lived damn it!" He stopped and looked me in the eyes again. His eyes glistened with tears. "That boy was Tatsuki."

I was shocked. To know that Koutari could see such awful things. Then understanding dawned upon me. That's why Tatsuki changed so much through childhood. That's why Tatsuki never seemed like a care free Tak-kun anymore. I was still taking in all this when Koutari spoke again, "When I touch you, I can see the past more clearly,"

I understood. That's why Tatsuki hated it when I made physical contact with him, and why he wore gloves. It would also explain why he randomly touched me while we were searching for something. Koutari kept on talking, "That's not all. When I touch you, I feel better. I feel like I can't dodge my feelings anymore. It's hard to explain. It's kind of like a healing power."

I looked down at my hands, could it really be true. I was overcome by so many different feelings, that I didn't know what to think.

"I'm to blame for all this trouble Kotarou. It's my fault." Koutari completely broke down. He finally let all of his tears flow freely. "I'm so sorry Kotarou!" He hung his head down in shame.

I didn't know what to say, so I said the only thing that came to my mind, "I forgive you…" Koutari looked up eyes full of confusion; this obviously wasn't the answer that he had expected at all.

"What?" He asked, wiping at his tears. He looked as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "What did you say?"

"I said I forgive you. But I won't forgive you if you try to do this again." I pointed at the bridge, "You have a lot to live for. I know that you made a mistake, but…" I trailed off, crying again. I was overcome by my sobs, my body started to shake. This time it was Koutari's turn to do the comforting. He reached in and pulled me into a friendly embrace. It felt so good; it was just what I needed. Then suddenly I remembered something. Tatsuki. I have to find him. Maybe now that I understand him, I can help him overcome his depression!

"I have to find Tatsuki. There's something I have to tell him." I looked at him. He still looked a little depressed, and I wasn't sure if he would be okay if I left him alone like this. He was just about to jump off a bridge a couple moments ago. So I called Yuuto and told him to pick Koutari up. While we waited for him to arrive Koutari told me about the remaining detailsHe sounded confused, but I told him I would fill him in on the details later. Right now I have to find Tatsuki.

How was it? If you bothered to read the whole thing, could you pretty please review?!?! Please… I'll add the next chapter faster if you do!