"I always wished I had a daughter- That's her favorite thing to say."

Nagisa sat on the floor in front of Karma's bed, his knees tucked against his chest, his arms pulling them close. His hands gripped tightly at the fabric of the sweatpants he wore. Karma sat next to him.

It had been two days since Nagisa had called his best friend for help. Two days of hiding in Karma's house. Two days of not going to school. Karma had been so kind to him in this time. He never asked any questions about what had happened. The redhead would just make sure that Nagisa was calm and taken care of, and that the old wounds were healing, and no new ones were being made. There had only been one incident of Karma finding new cuts on Nagisa's body. The smaller teen had tried to hide them by making smaller cuts on his hips. But Karma had seen them when the two were changing, and now he made sure to check there as well.

At this point, Nagisa felt almost as though he owed it to Karma to explain the situation. At the same time, he wanted someone to talk to. He'd been scared into silence for so long. But now that he was finally trying to tell his story to someone who would listen, someone who would care, Nagisa felt his throat closing up on him. His body trembled.

"I've heard her say that time and time again." He continued. "Every day she stood behind me, playing with my hair. She won't let me cut it, that's why I have to tie it up like this." Nagisa pulled at one of his pigtails. A few strands of blue came out as he withdrew his fingers. He stared at them for a moment before shaking them off. "Then she'd pull out one of the dresses, and hold it in front of me and make me look in a mirror. Her eyes would always sparkle at the thought of braiding my hair as I sat in her lap. My eyes would always go dull."

"And this is your mother?" Karma asked. Nagisa looked up, making eye contact with pure gold. Karma's gaze never wavered, and he never looked even remotely uninterested. He only just looked concerned.

"Yeah." Nagisa nodded his head.

"And you couldn't do anything?"

"There's only one time where I ever went against her. I rejected the bows she was trying to put in my hair. 'I don't want to be a girl. Please stop', is what I said. Just those words alone took all the courage I had. I don't know why I tried though." Nagisa's voice began shaking. Tears built up in his eyes, but he didn't even bother choking them back. Karma had already seen him in such a poor state, that he didn't even care at this point. "I just- I felt like I had a chance to making her stop. I felt like if I said something, she might stop with this strange obsession already."

Karma reached across Nagisa to grab the box of tissues on his night stand. He put the box down between the, ripped a few out, and handed them to his friend. "You don't have to force yourself to say anything more Nagisa."

The blue haired boy shook his head. He had already started, he might as well finish. "There's not too much more to say, so I can keep going."

"Are you sure?"

"All I can really say is that the second I said what I did, her face changed. The best way I can describe it would be black." Nagisa was quiet for a minute. He whipped the snot off his face with a tissue. "My- My head hit the floor. Then she was over me. She…. She w-was screaming, and- and she ripped my clothes." The teens voice was cracking. Tears ran uncontrollably down his face, which was reburied into his knees. "She tried to force the dress on me and…."

"Maybe I really just don't understand what's she's thinking. But somehow I got away from her and got to my room." Nagisa balled up the used tissues in his hands, then wrapped them up in a clean one and put them on the floor. Then he grabbed another new one and began rubbing it against his red eyes. The friction stung. The skin directly underneath his eyes were puffy and sore. Without even looking in a mirror, Nagisa could tell he looked like hell.

"Was that similar to what happened this time around?"

That was the first time Karma had asked about that night. It shocked Nagisa. The blue haired boy stiffened. He just shook his head, signalling that he didn't want to talk about it. He heard what might have been a sigh from Karma. Of course his friend would be disappointed that Nagisa wasn't willing to divulge all information on the matter.

"Right." Karma's voice sounded calm, as per usual, but Nagisa could feel something much more similar to the bloodlust the redhead would get during assassinations or when facing off against students outside of Class E. All the bloodlust was hidden behind many layers, until all anyone else would see was a smile. "Thank you for telling me what you did Nagisa. I know it was hard."

"Thank you for listening Karma." Nagisa did his best to smile. "I don't deserve you."

"Don't say that about yourself." A hand reached up and clamped itself around Nagisa's shoulder. "You're worth a hell of a lot more than you feel right now. You've gone through a lot of hard times alone, and you just can't see how great you are."

Nagisa shied his head away. "You don't know that."

"Nagisa," Karma's hand moved off of his friend's shoulder and moved to the back of the boy's head. He pulled it just enough to force Nagisa to look at him. The shock was probably the only reason why Nagisa made eye contact with him. "You know I'm not the type to sugar coat things. You are special. You are important. You're mother does not get to define who you are."

Two hands found their way onto Karma's shirt, then gripped onto the cloth until knuckles turned white. Nagisa's forehead leaned in and pressed against Karma's shoulder. The hand on the back of the bluenette's head turned soft and comforting, stroking between the locks. The collar of his shirt started to become wet, a feeling he would have been quite used to at this point. Nagisa quieted himself quickly, separating himself from Karma just enough for there to be space between them, but still sit within inches of each other. He whipped his eyes with the back of the bandages on his wrists. "I think I want to go to school tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Concern filled Karma's voice, but Nagisa only nodded in response.

"I don't want to miss too much." The smaller teen explained. "I don't want you to miss any more either."

"I'll be just fine. Those classes aren't hard anyways."

Nagisa let out a sigh. "I wish I was even half as smart as you sometimes."

Karma shrugged. He began to move his hand that was still on the back of Nagisa's head, running his fingers though the hair the stuck out of the pigtails. "I'm just good at test taking. But yeah, I am pretty much a genius too."

"And you're modest." Nagisa joked. Both boys laughed. It was light hearted. Just another way to ease the tension. But at this point, it was enough. Nagisa knew he wasn't going to be okay, not right away at least. Having someone with him was new. Normally he would keep it all inside, but this time he had someone to listen; he had someone to tell him that everything would be alright; someday, somewhere. That's just it. It would take time.

Authors note: Hey there guys! I somehow managed to publish two chapters within just two days of themselves... This is pretty much a miracle. Don't expect this to happen frequently. (I'm so sorry guys.)

Anyways, I normally don't write any authors notes because I personally don't like them very much. But, I wanted to let all of you know that this story may change rating at some point. I have some ideas for future plot points that would require this for become a Rated M story. I'm just letting you know this now so that I don't have any conflicts with any readers about this in the future.

Thank you all for your support thus far!