A/N- Yay, new chapter ^^ Sorry it took me a while to upload this... But OMG, reviews! I have 13 reviews already! That's more than I have on my 13-chapter story :D You guys are awesome~


What felt like eons later, although it was probably only an hour or two at most, I lifted my heavy lids. I looked around frantically, disoriented because my surroundings were entirely unfamiliar. I was laying on a bed, in someone's bedroom, somewhere. I could tell it was a boy's room, by the way everything looked hastily put away, and the dull white color of the walls. (Also, the sports posters were a dead giveaway.) I pushed the warm blankets off of me, and tried to stand up. I say I tried, because I didn't get very far at all. I suddenly felt dizzy, and had to lean back against the bed for support.

What had happened...? I tried to look through my jumbled memories for anything that might have caused my very painful head injury. Mom... bottle.. ..right. ..Len! I forced myself to shake off the rest of the fatigue, and set out to find Len. The house, I quickly discovered, wasn't very large (though significantly bigger than mine). It only took me about a few moments to find him, what with my stumbling and all, in the kitchen.

"Len..." I said, and my throat felt hoarse. I could only assume I sounded that way as well. Len whirled around, apparently startled by my presence. "S-sorry..." I took a half- step away from him, but he grabbed my wrist.

"Why... Nobody know about... Could get help, you know." I pieced together the sentence, and shook my head. Nobody needed to know about my less-than-perfect living situation. I could deal with it on my own, just like I had for a long time. It was easier that way, me against the world, without having to rely on anybody.

"I can help, you know." I shook my head again, my unvoiced argument still holding firmly. "How about... Going to... No argument." I cocked my head to the side, pointing to my ear. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote out, 'How about, I'm going to help you. No argument allowed.'

*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*

Len pulled at my hand, clearly exasperated by my slow speed of walking. But really, I didn't want to go back home. I'd rather take a walk through the park or sit on a bench by the side of the road, which I'd actually done before. It was already getting dark out, I could just sleep outside. There were some really comfy benches near the playground. Something. But no, Len wasn't having it-from what I could tell, he was going to tell my brother about the fact that I was deaf. At least he didn't seem to have any intention of telling my mom-I'd lost enough blood on her behalf for one day already, thank you very much.

At first, I thought the walk back seemed longer, even though we were moving at a quick pace. Then, I remembered that I'd collapsed while we were going to his house. How he'd gotten me five blocks when he didn't seem particularly muscly was beyond me, but I didn't question it.

Much sooner than I would have liked, we were standing on my front porch for the second time that day. I tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked, which was convenient since my key was still upstairs. Len followed me inside, more cautiously this time since it was even darker than before. The foul odor still lingered, but I was used to it. I made my way upstairs and down the hall, and stopped for a moment outside Rei's bedroom door before knocking in what I hoped was a quiet way.

Len nodded, which I assumed meant Rei had said I could come in. I pushed the door open, and he looked up from the homework that was spread across his bed. Wednesdays were his day off work, so he always tried to do as much school work as he possibly could then. He looked confused, and said something that I think was close to, 'Why are there two of you, Rinny?' It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, before I noticed he was referring to the fact that Len and I looked so much alike.

"Um... Rei, can I talk to you? It's... kind of important..." I had an urge to look down at the carpet, but knew I couldn't if I wanted to see his reply.

"Sure, what is it?" He moved so that he was sitting on the floor, and gestured for Len and I to join him. "And what... your head?" I shook my head, I'd explain later.

"You know how a while ago, Mom messed up my ears pretty bad?" I rested one hand gently against a scar-covered ear. Rei nodded in encouragement.

"And?" He looked confused as to why I was bringing that subject up at the moment. There was a silent pact between us that we always acted like Mom's abuse didn't happen.

"Well... I..." I couldn't do it, I couldn't make myself form the words. I looked down, pulling at the carpet anxiously. I assumed he said something, because I felt his fingers gently tilt my head up. Not as though he was about to kiss me, or being forceful-it was simply to make sure I was looking at him.

"Can you hear me?" I could see tears gathering in his eyes, and he was fighting to keep them from falling. "You can hear... Rin? Please? You... Hear me, right? It's... Joke?" I shook my head slowly. I assumed Len had told him while I was looking down, so I hadn't seen their exchange.

"No, I can't. I-I'm deaf, Rei."

The next thing I knew, his arms were around me, holding me tightly. I wasn't sure if he was saying anything, but I could tell by the way his whole body shook that he was crying. I could only sit there, my arms wrapped around him hesitantly, as he sobbed.

"It's okay..." I said, unsure if I was whispering or yelling. "I'm okay. Really..." I felt his hand stroke my hair gently, and I couldn't help the few tears that trailed down my own cheeks as well. After what felt like a hours, he pulled away from me, one hand resting on each of my shoulders, like he was examining me.

"So... Really can't hear me?" I shook my head. He pushed the hair away from my ears, and looked carefully. One was visibly worse than the other, although I heard an equal amount of silence from both. They were laced with scars, from being beaten in the ears with the crushed end of a bottle repeatedly. I winced at the memory, and looked up slowly so that my eyes met his.

"I'm okay. Really, I am. I do okay at pretending, right? Even you didn't notice..." I knew the moment the words were out of my mouth that they were the wrong ones to say. Rei looked like he wanted to hug me and punch me at the same time. (I didn't really expect him to do the latter, but he looked so devastated that he might as well have.) Instead, he just sat and stared, wide-eyed.

"...Should have told me, I... have helped you... Stupid." That was the second time in a day I'd been called stupid, but in entirely different situations. I didn't care about the gils at school, I'd stopped caring about that kind of thing a long time ago. But hearing it from my beloved brother was something entirely different.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder, and turned 'round to see Len holding out a piece of paper. He handed it to me, and I read it quickly. I'll leave you guys here to talk things out, I guess. See you after school tomorrow. I looked up and nodded, and watched as he left the room.

Instead of continuing my 'conversation' with Rei, I got up from where I was sitting on the floor, and walked to my room without saying another word. I know Rei pretty well, if I do say so myself, and he would probably just want to be left alone for a while.

*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*

When I reached my bedroom, I flopped face-first onto my bed. I felt like crying again, but it seemed like that would take too much energy... It really had been a long day. I rolled into a slightly more comfortable position (or at least one that didn't feel like it was going to make the gash on my head start bleeding again), and closed my eyes...

I wasn't sure when I fell asleep, but the next thing I was aware of was cracking my eyes open to see light streaming through the stained curtains on the window. Great, I thought, Another lovely day in the life of Rin.

I got up, got dressed, and was relieved to see that my mother was still asleep, presumably sleeping off however much alcohol she had consumed the night before. I was ready for school about twenty minutes later, and when Rei entered the kitchen, I was sitting at the table eating an orange. (My stomach was rather empty because I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, yesterday.) He didn't bother to say anything, just grabbed an orange for himself and sat across from me. Although the whole world seemed quiet to me, I could feel a tangible amount of awkward in the air around us.

"Y'know, you can still talk to me..." I said. He looked up in surprise, and I could see bags under his eyes. I assumed he'd stayed up late the night before, possibly working on homework, or, what I thought was more likely, worrying about me. His expression showed that I'd guessed correctly.

"You can still hear awkward silences?" he enunciated carefully. I nodded, with a halfhearted shrug.

"It's intuitive, I think. But is there something.. on your mind?" He nodded slowly, pensively. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but didn't form any words. Instead, he got up and rummaged through the drawers, returning with a pencil and an old homework assignment. He wrote on the back of it, before pushing it towards me.

I know you won't agree, but I really think you should switch schools- To a special school. I have some money saved up. It probably won't be enough, but it might help. I know you'll say you don't want to, but are you really learning anything at school now?


E/N: Hehehe sorry, I did it again! Cliff hanger ending ftw.. XD Aren't I mean.. but if it keeps you guys reading, then it means I'm still pretty good, huh? B) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that chapter.. I know I shed some tears.. x'(

A/N: So.. Anyways.. Sorry my editor is really weird. :P

E/N: I am not!

A/N: Either way, this story is coming along pretty well-

E/N: You know it's all because of my delicious editing. B)

A/N: Delicious?

E/N: Yes.

A/N: Okay then.. Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW~~ Reviews are author god food. ^_^

PS A/N- Yeah, my editor writes these author notes sometimes... This kind of thing is usually the result... :P