Chapter 7. The Fight

Thursday, Kiku walked in to school with his new sneakers on. He sat down at his desk and noticed that Alfred wasn't there yet. He was hoping Alfred was okay. He had been early though, Mr. Densen smiled at him. Or smiled at his bruises to be more specific. About five minutes before the bell would ring Alfred walked in. He took his usual spot next to Kiku but didn't look at him. He had a black eye and cuts all over his face. The rest of his body was also scraped and bruised. Kiku bit his lower lip.

"Alfred, are you okay?" Kiku leaned over and asked.

Alfred sneered at him. "Fuck off."

Kiku was confused. "What?"

"I said fuck off!"

"I heard you, but I don't understand why! All I did was ask if you were alright..." Kiku whispered. "I care about you." He balled his hands into fists. Kiku was frustrated and Alfred was obviously angry.

"Care about me? Sure you do, that's why you let this happen." Alfred scoffed and ran his hands through his hair. He winced a bit.

"Alfred, what do you mean?"

"What do I mean? This is all your fault that's what I mean!"

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"It was because of you that I was kissing you, and because of you that I said I love you and it was your fault that my dad caught us and caused him to beat me up! If I'd never met you this sort of thing wouldn't have happened! So fuck off!"

Kiku couldn't believe what he was hearing. Alfred was delusional." You can't mean that!"

"Well I do, so get away from me."

"Alfred…"

"Stop talking to me Kiku!" His eyes were set and he looked at Kiku dead on. "We're over."

Tears pricked in Kiku's eyes. He was sad and angry. "Over? Alfred you're not-"

Alfred cut him off. "Leave me alone, before I ask to change seats." He wasn't looking at Kiku anymore. He just looked forward angrily. His jaw was thrust forward and his lips were tight. Kiku sniffed and turned away from Alfred. He was so confused. Why would Alfred act this way? Mr. Densen saw that Kiku was distraught. He smiled.

As the day progressed Kiku became angrier and angrier. He was mad at Alfred, and in passing period he'd heard that Alfred was spreading some rumor saying that he got his bruises fighting someone in a parking lot. Someone that had tried to attack and rob him. That made Kiku angrier. Feliciano and Ludwig had asked Kiku how he got the bruises, but he was too mad to talk to them. He had really just mumbled that he'd fallen down the stairs and continued to walk. On one hand he wanted to cry again, but he was tired of crying. He was more angry than sad. Relationships weren't just supposed to end like that. The worst of it was that someone had leaked to the whole school that he was gay. The bullying was getting bad again. People were shoving and pushing him in passing. Spitting on him and making fun of him for keeping it secret in the first place. He knew that his friends wouldn't leak such a thing, they had no malice toward him. There was only one person who was looking for such revenge and that would be Alfred. By lunch he was fuming. He was hurt and angry and he wasn't really paying attention to his environment. He just wanted to sit down, eat his lunch and finish the day.

On his way to the table, he walked past Alfred's table with the football players at it. One of them stood up. "Hey pretty boy."

Kiku tensed and turned around. "What do you want?"

The boy smirked and looked at his friends. Alfred was the only one not looking at Kiku. He was staring at his lunch. The boy quickly raised his arms and pushed him down on the ground. "That's where you belong, with the rest of the trash." A crowd was gathering around.

Kiku scowled and got up, he didn't approach the boy, but instead approached Alfred. He figured that this might be a good opportunity. "Don't you have anything to say?"

Alfred scowled. "Shove off, faggot."

Kiku lost it. He lunged at Alfred. He hit him twice before two other players pulled him away. He was kicking and crying again and Alfred walked up to him. Kiku scowled and spit at him. "What if I told everyone how you really got hurt?" He smiled a bit crookedly, and tears still streamed down his face.

Alfred's scowl deepened. He got close to Kiku and snarled. "Don't cross me." Kiku kicked around in the grip of the two other boys. They held him tighter. Alfred punched Kiku in the stomach a few times. Kiku's legs went weak, he wanted to double over but the boys held him up.

Kiku tried not to cry more. He looked at Alfred, whose face was a stone wall. "Why don't you fight like a real man?"

A look of pain passed over Alfred's eyes for a split second. Perhaps it had been something his father said to him yesterday. At this point though, Kiku wanted to hurt Alfred as badly as Alfred was hurting him. It was as if Alfred had never cared at all in this moment. Alfred snarled. "Real men don't need to fight to win all their battles." He looked at the two players holding Kiku and nodded, he then turned his back.

"The Fairy thinks he wants to fight? Why don't we let him try...?" One of the guys said and let go of his arm.

The other one of them snickered and let go of Kiku's other arm. Kiku brushed himself off. "Come on Rainbow Boy, show us what you've got." About five or so players began to surround Kiku.

He was angry though, fuming. It brought him back to those days when he had been a bully. He was going to fight until he couldn't move anymore. One of the players went to throw a punch but Kiku was focused. He used to take jiu jitsu and the training came flooding back to him. Kiku caught the guy's fist and everything after that was a blur. He remembered hitting a lot of people, and he remembered Alfred never turning around and him feeling hurt, he remembered trying to get to Alfred but a wall of athletes stood in his way, and he remembered getting hit a few times himself.

When Kiku woke up he was in the infirmary. His head hurt. He looked over to his side but there was just a curtain that had been drawn. The details wouldn't come to him. He sat up slowly and hung over the front of the nurses bed. The nurses office was a few feet away, the walls were just big windows. She was typing something out on her computer, though she saw Kiku in a matter of minutes and came around to talk to him.

"I see you're up again." Her lips were tight and she distanced herself from him.

Kiku rubbed his head. "What happened?"

The nurse flared her nostrils. "What happened? You almost beat three boys too death. Two of them had to be sent to the hospital. If the authorities hadn't come to break you all up I don't know what would have happened." She shook her head. "They brought you in here and you had this…crazed look in your eye. I had to give you a sedative and call your mother."

Kiku's heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach. "My mother?"

"Yes, she'd said something about you having this problem a long time ago. She said it was more under control though, or so she thought."

"I-I blacked out. I'm usually…much more under control of such a behavior."

"Well, you're going to have to speak with the principal so long as you're feeling alright now."

Kiku rubbed his face. "Of course, I understand."

The nurse came over slowly. "Just, let me take your temperature and make sure your cuts are alright."

Kiku nodded and let the nurse stick a thermometer in his mouth. While that was there she replaced his bandages and put on new disinfectant. After a minute she took the thermometer out. She told Kiku that he didn't have a fever and that he should gather up his things and go down to the principals' office now. That's just what he did, too. Though very slowly. He knew what was coming when he got there and he didn't really want to face it. He put his jacket on really slowly, mostly because that's where he must've gotten his the most and that's where it hurt the most. He'd already been sort of bruised from Alfred's father yesterday and the new injuries didn't help. He wasn't planning on putting his backpack on his back. Instead he'd just carry it. Gingerly he put his lunch box back inside and zipped it closed. Now he was ready to go.

Kiku stepped out from behind the curtain. Three of the boys from the fight were taking up the other three beds. There were only four in the nurse's office. The boys looked like they had been hurt much worse than Kiku had. He turned away quickly, not wanting to think about what he might've done. Quickly he exited the nurse and into the hallway. Kids immediately started whispering and pointing. He felt uncomfortable. They were jumping out of his way it seemed as he walked down the hall, it was as if the kids were afraid of him. Better than them poking fun, Kiku figured.

He walked into the main office and saw Alfred there. Alfred wouldn't look at Kiku in the eye and Kiku didn't feel angry at him any longer. All the anger had drained from him, it seemed, in the fight. He felt sorry for Alfred and he felt sad that he couldn't be with him. He glared at Alfred though, not because there was any hint of anger, but that he wanted Alfred to at least acknowledge him again. Before Kiku could sit down, the secretary called him over.

"You are Kiku Honda I presume? We've just received a call from the nurse that you were headed over."

Kiku nodded. "Yes, that's me."

"Glad to see you're feeling better." The lady smiled. "Mr. Braginsky wanted to see you as soon as you came in so, I'll let him know you're coming." The secretary picked up her phone and began to dial a number.

Kiku swayed back on his heels. "Which way is his office again?"

The lady paused in mid-dial. "It's just down this hall; the door at the end of the hallway."

Kiku licked his bottom lip. "Alright. Thank you, ma'am."

The secretary just smiled at him as he began to walk down the hall. Before he entered Mr. Braginsky's room, Kiku paused for a moment. He wasn't sure he wanted to go through the door, but if he ran away, the consequences would be much worse. Kiku took a shaky breath. He reached out slowly and opened the door. Mr. Braginsky was at his desk, smiling in the way that made Kiku feel fear all the way down to his toes.

"Please, have a seat." Mr. Braginsky said, and motioned to one of the chairs in front of his desk. Kiku walked inside with care. There was a large vase of sunflowers sitting on Mr. Braginsky's desk and he was still wearing the same scarf that he had been wearing when Kiku had seen him in the summer time. Maybe he really did never take it off Once Kiku was seated, the principal turned to him and folded his hands. Kiku could see, though, that he was gripping them tightly. "Why are you here, Kiku?" He said, and Kiku could have sworn that that evil smile grew larger.

"W-Well Sir, I-I'd say it would be b-because I got into a f-fight." Kiku couldn't stop stuttering.

"That's right." Mr. Braginsky stood up and Kiku leaned back from him in his chair. The principal came around Kiku's chair though, and put his hands on the back edge of it. "Kiku, I like tough kids. I think they show a lot of spirit. If it were up to me, I'd keep you around the school. I think these kids could use a little more fear in their hearts among these parts."

"I don't understand, Mr. Braginski." Kiku furrowed his brows together and looked up at Mr. Braginski from where he was sitting. The principal had this strange look on his face and continued to talk.

"More of these children need to succumb to the rules of the school. Most of them have, but a select few have escaped me. That's not why you're here though, Kiku. I wouldn't have called you in if I was going to keep you here." At that point Mr. Braginski walked in front of Kiku's chair.

"I didn't want you to be expelled because I'd like to see you back here again. I pulled some strings and got you a one month suspension. Take it while you can, because I don't do such things very often, and I do them for a price."

"A price?"

"Yes, I've heard quite a bit about your brother Yao, you know." The principal chuckled a bit. "I'd really like to speak with him, if that's okay."

Kiku thought about it and figured that it wouldn't be so bad if the principal just had one conversation with his brother. Besides, this was in exchange for an expulsion! He would take the offer. "It's a deal, sir."

Mr. Braginski grinned. "Perfect. Just give me his number and you head home with your suspension."

Kiku couldn't get out of the office quickly enough. He hastily scribbled Yao's phone number down on a small slip of paper and bolted out of there. He thought about waving to Alfred as he left with his small pink slip, but he didn't. Alfred looked like he didn't want to be bothered. He quickly jogged out of the school and off of the grounds.

Kiku could walk home from school. His family lived close enough. When he felt like he was far enough away, he stopped jogging. His arm hurt, anyway, from carrying his backpack separately from his back. He decided to sit down for a moment on the grass . He didn't know what his mother would do when he got home. She would be furious. He probably wasn't going to get supper tonight, and his parents would find something for him to do while he was home. It could be chores, yard work, extra work books... When it came to punishing kids in a constructive manner, Kiku's parents took the cake. He didn't want to face them though. He knew that what he did was unacceptable to them. Especially now that he was much older than he used to be when the problem arose. He scrunched his face in his hands. He was going to have to explain everything to Feliciano and Ludwig too. He was sure that Arthur, Francis, Elizabeta and Gilbert would also want to know. How had he managed to get himself into such a horrible mess?

After at least ten minutes Kiku got up and walked the rest of the way back home. His mother was waiting for him at the door. Her lips were tight and her arms were crossed. Kiku also noticed that she was tapping her foot.

"Hello, Mother." He looked down, as he couldn't bear to look her in the eye.

"Kiku Honda, I can't believe the phone call I got today. What is that?" She asked and snatched the pink slip out of his hand. Kiku barely tried to grab it back, as his mother would find out about the suspension one way or another. "A suspension!" Her eyes went wide and she grabbed Kiku by the ear. "Come inside right now! We're having a talk."

"Ouch! Mother!" He was dragged inside by his ear and forced down at the table. He covered his face up with his hands as his mother sat across from him.

"What happened today?" She asked.

"I just lost it." He whispered and tears started to fall again. "I'm sorry mother. It won't happen again I can assure you."

"You assured me last time."

"I know, but I was provoked." He sniffled into his hands, still trying to hide his face. Kiku suddenly felt a pair of warm arms around him.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, Kiku. America was supposed to be a better place for us. I just didn't think this would come up again…"

"I didn't think that either."

"I know." She backed away from Kiku. "We're just going to have to watch ourselves. For now though, you've still managed to get yourself suspended. Go spend the rest of the day in your room, your father and I will think of something for you to work on for the next…" She looked at the pink slip, "month."

Kiku uncovered his face. "Food?"

"I'll think about it." His mother put the slip down on the counter and was no longer facing him.

Relieved that his mother had not done more, Kiku went upstairs to his room with his backpack. He sat down at the desk and looked out the window. This was going to be a long month.


Sorry for posting so late! I was at an MUN conference all weekend! Anyway I just wanted to say wow! The fic got so many views last week I am so flattered! You guys are so great and I just want to thank you all for being so supportive!
I hope your first week of March goes well!

M.O.