Tōshirō had been rather surprised when Byakuya had told him he would take him home before his curfew. He had thought that the elder was arrogant and cared about no one else. At least, that was how the rumours went about Kuchiki Byakuya.

Now that he was curled up in the passenger seat of Byakuya's black four-wheel-drive, he couldn't help but think that maybe the raven wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

"Your brother is strong to have done what he has," Byakuya spoke suddenly without taking his eyes off the road.

"P-pardon…?" Tōshirō whispered, frightened of the elder. It was only with reassurance from the others that he was in no danger that he got into the car alone.

"Jūshirō. It's a smart move for him to have planned out his entire future just for your sake, and to have followed through with it all so far, despite how hard a dream it would have been."

"I-I don't understand…"

"He's studying medicine not only because he knows he can make big money from that profession, but because he wants to make up for all of the times he's been unable to help your pain. He hasn't told you this?"

"No…"

"It's true. He's thinking only about you. All he wants is to give you a future that you will enjoy."

"H-how…" Tōshirō bit his lip, not sure how to phrase his question. "…How do y-you know s-so much about u-us…?"

"I've known Jūshirō for a while now. It was usually just us and Shunsui while we were in school. I was always second-best compared to Shunsui, but I guess that was to be expected, seeing as the two had grown up together."

Tōshirō closed his eyes as a single tear slipped past his long lashes. "…Is it w-wrong if I… f-f-feel angry… for him… l-leaving me…?"

Byakuya was silent for a minute before he spoke. "No. It's understandable. He left you in the place you are most vulnerable in, even if it was to try and help you."

With that said, Byakuya had gone silent again until they arrived on Tōshirō's street ten minutes later.

"I'm going to drop you off here so you can walk the rest of the way," Byakuya said as he pulled over. "Your parents will know if they see you getting out of a car."

"O-okay…" Tōshirō whispered. He grabbed his bag and exited the car. He watched as Byakuya drove off before he became lost in his thoughts.

Byakuya had been so nice to him, despite Tōshirō having been terrified of him at first. And Rukia had even said that the elder Kuchiki was having a hard time and yet, the long haired man had taken him home just so he didn't get in trouble.

Tōshirō wasn't sure how this had happened, but he felt as if Bykakuya could possibly be someone who could be trusted, despite what he had heard from Rukia and the rumours that flew around town. Rumours about wealthy families were never nice.

Shaking his head free from his thoughts, Tōshirō slung his bag over his shoulder and began the walk home. He kept his head down low, tensing with whimpers as people walked past him. He was sure that if he hadn't have gone to school today, he would still be a cowering mess the second someone got close to him, but thanks to Matsumoto's warm embrace, he felt as if he had the strength to try and trust others again – no matter how little trust he would put into them.

When Tōshirō got home, he was horrified to find that the living room was full of other men, his father leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. It was clear that he had been waiting for his son's return.

A loud sob escaped Tōshirō's lips as he dropped his bag to the floor. He staggered backwards, wanting to put as much distance between he and Hidori as possible. However, his attempt was futile as his back soon hit the wall.

Hidori lunged as if he were a wild animal, grabbing Tōshirō by the hair. He dragged the now-screaming boy into the living room, laughing at the younger's thrashes. With a grunt, he threw the spiky-haired child onto the floor before all of the men.

"Do as you will with him," Hidori said. "I have no use for him anymore."

There was laughter all around the room, amidst Tōshirō's petrified hysterics.

"But, Hidori," one of the men began as he approached the boy curled up in the foetal position, "what about the other one? What have you done with him?"

"Oh, no need to worry about him," Hidori replied with a sniff. "He's overseas at the moment. He's good, though. I still have use for him."

"I find it amusing that you treat your eldest with respect while this one lives in hell." Another one of the men laughed.

"Oh, Jūshirō was never my son in the first place. He just accepts the fact that his real father died before he was old enough to remember him and I was the one there to fill the void. He's a smart boy. He'll make me proud one day. Besides; I still have my uses for him."

With that said, Hidori left the room, ignoring Tōshirō's screams of absolute horror. It was as he said; he still had use for Jūshirō and to have that purpose fulfilled, he needed Jūshirō to be as stable as possible – but having grown up witnessing his father-figure bash his mother and scream profanities at her every single day, and then having to watch his brother go through the same abuse had still done its damage to Jūshirō, unbeknownst to Hidori.

Tōshirō's screams for his brother and pleas for the men to stop whatever they saw fit to do to him was like music to Hidori's ears. He slipped up the stairs and opened the door to his bedroom, finding his wife sitting on the bed.

"What have you done to him this time?" Hana whispered.

Hidori shrugged. "Got some of my drinking buddies over to teach him a lesson about biting me where it hurts most."

A small smirk crossed Hana's face. If she had ever truly cared about either of her children in the first place, she certainly didn't anymore.

-XX-

"Morbidity rates had risen over the past years and…"

Jūshirō kept his eyes on his notebook, writing down what his class was being told. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was really wrong back home. It was enough to drag his attention away from what he was so desperate to learn about, despite how much he tried to focus.

"Are you alright?"

Jūshirō looked to his left, noticing the concern on his fellow student's face. Her eyes were wide and she was biting her lip. He nodded.

"You're sweating," the girl pointed out, "and trembling. And you look as if you're going to cry. Are you sure you're okay?"

Jūshirō nodded again. "I am fine… I just –"

Before Jūshirō could finish his sentence, a past memory made itself known. He played the video in his mind of his mother being beaten viciously by what was supposed to be his father before his younger brother was attacked next. When that had happened, Tōshirō had barely been a year old.

A single tear leaked from Jūshirō's eyes before he fell into a violent coughing fit. He tried to cover his mouth and hide the fact that he was coughing up blood, but said liquid only slipped through his fingers, coating his hand in a shiny red as rivers of blood fell onto his clothes and notebook.

The class teacher stopped talking and instead ran to Jūshirō's side. He grabbed the white-haired male's shoulders and pushed him down to sit back in his seat.

"Someone call an ambulance!" the teacher shouted as he wiped at all of the blood with his sleeve, having no idea what he could do to help while his student struggled for breath. In the back of his mind, he knew he should be checking the medical forms he had on his desk, but he was in too much of a panic; he had never had a student appear to be dying in his class before.

The last thing that Jūshirō could think about before he passed out was about his brother. He was vaguely aware of screams around him, but the only thing he could see was his brother's crying face before everything went black.

-XX-

Matsumoto stared out of her classroom's window, wishing with all of her being that Tōshirō would walk up in and into the school building. No one had seen or even heard from him for nearly two months now, and the fact that the last time he had been seen was when he was taken to Rukia's home only caused great concern amongst the Hitsugaya's group.

"What are you doing, Tōshirō…?" Matsumoto whispered to herself as she realised that today was another day with the spiky-haired boy.

When the lunch bell rang, Matsumoto met up with the group at their usual meeting spot these days; Tōshirō's locker.

"No sign of him?" Ichigo asked as everyone gathered.

"No."

"I think now would be a good time to pay a visit to his home," Chad said in a quiet tone. "Something has really gone wrong if he's been missing this long."

"Yes, but the only problem with that is that Hidori will only hurt him more if even one of us rocks up at their home," Matsumoto pointed out. "He's always been that way. Tōshirō has never had anyone over before because of the threats he has been given."

"That doesn't matter!" Ichigo cried out. "Tōshirō could be hurt badly!"

"And if that's the case, then we should stay here," Ishida added. "If he is badly hurt, we'll only make things worse for him."

"We can't ring the house and ask to talk to him, can we?" Orihime added.

Matsumoto shook her head. "No. Tōshirō doesn't have a phone and if we rang the house phone, that will just cause more problems."

"Where are Renji and Rukia?" Ichigo growled in frustration. "They could be helping us work something out!"

"Rukia is ill and Renji skipped again," Ishida pointed out. "Said he didn't feel like coming to school so he was going to hang around with Rukia and keep her company."

Ichigo sighed. "Someone ring them and ask for their help when we get home. I would, but I'm going to be home late tonight."

"I'll do that," Orihime offered.

Matsumoto chewed at her lip as she became lost in thought. Just because Tōshirō couldn't have visitors when his dad was around didn't mean that she couldn't show up if the boy's parents weren't home… Maybe she should stop in on her way home from school and try to see what was happening?

-XX-

The home bell couldn't have rang fast enough for Matsumoto. She flew to her locker, wasting no time as she packed her books into her bag and then fled the school. She knew she had to be extremely careful about how she invaded upon Tōshirō's home, but her love for the younger boy was too great to just leave things alone.

When she arrived outside of the run-down home that Tōshirō lived in, she looked around carefully. There were no cars in the driveway and she couldn't hear anything coming from inside the house. She snuck around the back, ducking carefully underneath windows until she stood outside of the one she knew was Tōshirō's. The boy had confided in her that he was kept at the very back of the house in order for his screams and cries to be silenced easier.

Matsumoto gasped at what she saw. Blood was everywhere. There was blood all through the bed, over the walls, staining the carpet and even splattered across the small stack of clothing that was in the corner of the room. The bed sheets were ripped and looked as if a great struggle had taken place in the bed. But what horrified her the most was how there was a trail of blood leading out of the room, looking as if someone had been dragged across the floor.

Matsumoto threw up before she ran from the house, needing to get as far away as possible. When she arrived back at her own home, she rushed into her bedroom and slammed the door closed before she collapsed into a sobbing heap. She knew how bad things were for Tōshirō, but how could she had allowed it to get to that?

-XX-

Blood. Aching. Absolute agony. Terror. They were what Tōshirō felt as he staggered uneasily throughout the night. He was unable to remember exactly what had happened to him, but he remembered enough to know that after weeks of torture from many different people, he had eventually been dumped by the canal, seemingly left for dead.

The only upside to this that Tōshirō could see throughout his blind terror was that he knew Rukia's home was close by, seeing as Byakuya had driven him past the canal all that time ago.

What felt like a lifetime had passed before Tōshirō found himself standing outside of the gates that led to Kuchiki Manor. He gasped for air desperately as blood dripped from his body. He reached up with a shaking hand and weakly pushed at the buzzer.

It took a few minutes for a reply to come, but he knew that voice to be Byakuya's. The Kuchiki sounded tired, and it was only then that Tōshirō realised he had no idea what time it is.

"Who is it…?" Byakuya's voice asked through the speaker. "Do you realise what time it is…?"

"P-please…" A hacking cough left Tōshirō's weak body as he collapsed against the post. "…P-please… H-h-help…"

"…" Byakuya was silent for several seconds before a stunned reply sounded. "Tōshirō…?"

"H-help…"

With that said, Tōshirō's eyes slipped closed and he fell into oblivion.