Ok, I know I've been full of excuses with stories. This one's legit though...I promise. My laptop died, which had my story on it. I've moved since starting this story. And now I'm recently going through a breakup. Yes, my love of three and a half years has left.

Anyway...after much searching and whatnot, I've found this buried in my sent mailbox on hotmail. I've got up to chapter 13 as of now. And I've found hard copies of later on chapters, so I've got to fill in the gap between what I've got on the computer, and what I've got on paper. Enjoy.

Guardian Angel
Chapter 7

Haruka easily passed himself off as Michiru's brother in order to remain informed of the progress of Michiru's surgery. During the ambulance ride to the hospital, Haruka listened to the paramedics as they radioed in about Michiru's condition. He watched as they had to cut the bloody clothing off of her badly burned skin. He couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the sight before him. He knew that spousal abuse happened worldwide; yet, he never expected it to happen to someone he knew personally.

"Mr. Tenou?" Haruka quickly looked up at the doctor. "Will you follow me please?" He stood up and followed him out of the waiting room. They went into a private room before the doctor started to speak again. "The skin graft was successful. In order to aid with Michiru's healing we placed her into a medically induced coma. We're going to keep her under for approximately a week. Unless her body wakes up on its own before that."

Haruka frowned and looked down at his feet. "Can I see her?" The doctor nodded and led him into the room Michiru had all to herself. He bid the doctor farewell as he closed the door behind him.

"I should have known something was up when you just suddenly quit your music." Haruka pulled the chair closer to the bed.

The sight before him caused his heart to ache. There were a few heavy white bandages on her cheeks and jaw, her neck was completely wrapped in a similar cloth. Haruka couldn't see much past the top of the exposed wrapping on her chest due to the hospital blanket, but he could tell that the boiling water had hit most of her torso.

"I wish I could have helped you sooner." He rested his hand on top of her stomach. "How could someone to this to somebody so great?" he let out a sigh before stepping out of the room and pulling out his cell phone to call Itachi.

"Hey Itachi, it's Haruka…I've got a little bit of a problem…"

The voice on the other side turned into that of a frantic one. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"You know the new girl Michiru?"

"Yea, what's wrong, can't she do it anymore?"

"No…it's not that…" he rubbed his temple before continuing. "Her husband nearly killed her. I'm at the hospital now."

"What?! What happened?"

"Apparently he was the reason she quit music. And when he saw me there he completely freaked out. Itachi, he dumped boiling water on her…" Haruka's voice trailed off.

"Do you want me to cancel rehearsal for tomorrow?"

"Yea, cancel it until further notice. I'm going to stay here with her until they release her. I'll talk to you later Itachi." The blonde closed his phone before walking back into the room.

He reclaimed his chair beside the bed and looked at the comatose woman next to him. "If only I had told you sooner…" he spoke aloud to her. "When I first met you, I thought you were gorgeous. I couldn't help myself when I fell in love with you. But you didn't want anything to do with me then…" he closed his eyes as he recalled the event.

"Hey Michiru." Haruka spoke softly to the woman.

"Hey what?"

The blonde hesitated before speaking. "Would…would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Michiru smiled. "Ruka, I'm flattered, really I am…but I don't date women. I'm straight."

"You wouldn't go out with me because I was still a woman six years ago…I was still a woman…" he repeated the statement softly. "I should have told you that I was seeing a therapist for it. I never felt like a female. I thought for the longest time that I was just a lesbian. But I soon realized that it wasn't enough for me. I didn't feel whole…"

He jumped when his wristwatch alarm beeped at him. He stood up and went into the bathroom and pulled a small leather case from his pocket. After sitting on the edge of the tub he opened it up and proceeded to put one of the syringes together. He pulled out a small bottle and filled up the needle. "I always hate this part…" he mumbled before placing the glass tube between his teeth and unzipping his pants to expose his left thigh. He made it as quick as possible. A quick injection and it was over. He fixed his pants and started putting the needle away.

"Are you alright Mr. Tenou?"

He quickly turned to see a female nurse standing at the doorway. "Yea, I'm fine." He picked up his case from the floor.

She tilted her head and watched him. "If that's heroin…I have to report it…"

The blonde man chuckled and pulled the bottle from its spot to show her. "Drugs yes…illegal no. See…?"

She took the bottle from him to examine the seal on it as well as the label and instructions around the outside. "Alright, I'm sorry for assuming that." She smiled before handing it back to him.

"It's quite alright. I've been asked before about it. You never can be too careful." He nodded to her before leaving the bathroom to allow her to clean.

-Later that evening-

Haruka jumped from his slumber when he heard a noise from the hallway. "Where the hell is that bitch at?" The blonde frowned before getting up to open the door. In the hallway he saw several nurses trying to get Takada back into his room.

"Mr. Sato you're in no condition to be up and walking about. You suffered a concussion from –umph!" She gasped for air when he shoved her away from his path. "Somebody call the orderlies."

"You!" Takada's eyes landed on the figure in the doorway. "You have some nerve to be here after what you did to me." He stumbled his way to the taller man.

"Michiru doesn't want to see you."

"I'll be the judge of that. Now I suggest you move your ass before I move it for you."

Haruka simply stood his ground, arms folded over his chest. Over Takada's left should he could see three orderlies running toward them.

The blonde easily ducked as Takada took a somewhat drugged swing at him. Before he could recover enough for another attempt, two of the three men tackled him to the ground. Much to Haruka's amusement.

"OK buddy, its back to your room for you." One of them stated as they both picked him up to place him in the wheelchair that the third on brought over. "Only this time you're getting some special leather straps to make sure you don't go wondering off again."

"You should be tackling him not me! I didn't do anything. He's the one that did this to me!" He pointed to the bandage on his head.

One of the men stopped to turn to Haruka. "Is that true sir?"

Haruka nodded. "Yes sir it is. But I only did it because he did this…" He motioned to Michiru. "If I hadn't stopped him, she'd be in the morgue right now." The other man nodded and walked away.

"Don't worry sir, he won't be bothering you two anytime soon."