Beta read by Seerstella

Chapter 6

KUON'S POV

I knew there was something wrong the moment I stepped out of the door. But when I came back and Nanao's room was empty, I realized my biggest fear came true. I knew it had to be my father who had taken him.

Running all the way, I arrived at the torture room and what I saw made me lose control. My Nanao was tied up, bruised, naked and barely conscious with my father standing next to him. Without thinking, I ran to him and punched him so hard, he fell to the floor.

Getting near Nanao, I realized he was drugged. He was probably given some aphrodisiac and then they put a ring on him to prevent him from coming. As I was about to take it off, I noticed him shaking and heard a low buzzing sound, then I noticed the blood trickling down his legs.

A vibrator.

Of course. My father would never touch a man, but he'd be more than happy to torture one. A huge vibrator seemed to be the logical choice.

I stepped behind Nanao and switched it off. Immediately, I felt him relax. After that, I had to pull the damn thing out without causing him more pain. That wasn't easy. Slowly, I tried easing it out and all the blood made it easier to do so. It probably hurt a lot, but the only thing that left Nanao's mouth was a groan.

Next, I had to remove the ring. He was so swollen, that the only thing I could do was to cut it. The moment it loosened, Nanao came hard, but what worried me was the blood in it. That was a really bad sign which meant that something was seriously damaged. He moaned as he came and didn't seem to notice me standing in front of him. My heart clenched as I watched him.

"It's going to be okay. I'll take you to a doctor. You'll be just fine." I kept repeating, in case he understood. But it was also to convince myself.

I'm scared to death that he won't survive.

He just looked so broken and defeated.

I untied his hands and caught him before slipping to the ground. He was shaking badly. His skin was very pale under the bruises and the blood kept oozing out, dripping from his legs. Picking him up bridal style, I ran back to his room. After putting him on the bed, I pulled out my phone and called the only person that could help me.

After two rings, he answered.

"Yes?"

"Aniki, please come to Nanao's room and bring all of your supplies!"

With a quick 'okay', he hung up and I was left in the room, listening to Nanao's quietly whimpers on the bed. By that time, I was panicking.

What do I do? What do I do? So much blood!

After a few minutes that felt like hours, my brother arrived. He knelt down next to the bed and looked at Nanao for a moment before opening his medical kit.

"First, we need to stop the bleeding." He said to me and pulled out gauzes. "Bring in a lot of warm water and towels and a glass of water too." Aniki ordered calmly and started working on Nanao as I stood and left the room.

By the time I was back, the bed was filled with medical stuff and Nanao looked paler than ever. I placed the warm water next to Aniki.

"Here," He gave me some pills. "Make him swallow them." I took the medicine and put them in Nanao's mouth, but it was hard to make him swallow. Eventually, the pills went down and as I looked up, I saw Aniki working on Nanao's lower body. The bleeding almost completely stopped and soon I noticed that Nanao was no longer shaking.

I couldn't do much to help, so I just sat on the bed and took Nanao's hand, softly massaging it. I couldn't look at him. I was so scared he'd die.

For a long time I just sat there as Aniki attended to him, but after about an hour or two, he sighed and looked at me with a tired smile. All of Nanao's injuries were bandaged nicely.

"He's going to be fine," he said, but the smile soon disappeared from his face. "But… his lower body was badly damaged. He'll probably have trouble urinating for a while and he's probably going to be impotent. I'll try giving him a medicine that he'll have to take for about a month. If there's no improvement by then, then there's nothing we can do."

"Also, he might throw up, so no solid food for a week, and his rectum is badly damaged and can start bleeding anytime, so check it very often in the next couple of days. I'll leave some painkillers you can give him. But these are very strong ones, so you have to wait at least 12 hours before giving him another one. And they are highly addictive, so he can only take them for a week. It seems that only one of his fingers broke so I put a finger brace on it, but his hand had to be bandaged just in case."

"Thank you, Aniki."

With that, he left me alone with Nanao. As I looked at him, I noticed that he was starting to shiver again, this time from the cold, so I put a blanket on him. Since there was nothing for me to do, I just sat back on the bed and held his hand.

We stayed that way until the next morning. I felt emotionally exhausted, but couldn't get any sleep, so I just stared at him all night long, hoping that he'd recover both physically and emotionally.

I should've never left him alone.

The only thing that bothered me was why Towa didn't contact me to say anything. He should have seen that the room was empty when he came with the food.

Nanao didn't move all night, but his temperature rose. I sat there, wiping his sweaty body with a wet towel. I spent the rest of the time holding his hand, praying for him to get better.

The next morning Nanao suddenly opened his eyes. He looked up, but didn't seem to know where he was, or what has happened to him.

"I have to get out of here." He murmured.

"Nanao, are you…" I tried asking him, but he just continued.

"I want to go out… enjoy the sun… smell the flowers… run… go out… sun…" he kept on muttering these words over and over for fifteen minutes then he stopped, closed his eyes and was unconscious again.

I changed the bandages and made him swallow some pills. It was even harder than the first time, but I, somehow, managed.

Later that day, Towa appeared at the door. He looked at Nanao for a moment and then spoke with that innocent look on his eyes.

"What happened to him?"

"Why didn't you tell me he was missing?" I could barely hide my anger, but I wasn't sure who it was directed at. Towa? Me? Or my father?

"He was missing?"

"Yes. You didn't notice he wasn't here when you brought him food?" I asked, trying to be patient. You should have the patience of a saint if Towa is concerned.

"Father told me he'd take care of him."

Oh, man. He didn't know how much of a sadist our father was. Towa only saw the strict father, not the monster in him. I was afraid I'd explode and vent my anger on him, so I asked him to leave, and was again left alone with Nanao.

He seemed so fragile, young, broken and still so beautiful. How could someone hurt a beautiful person like him?!

I'll kill him! I'll kill my father!

I desperately needed something to do before I went crazy, but I couldn't leave Nanao alone. From time to time, he whimpered and shivered, and I couldn't tell if it was because of nightmares or pain or fever. I wanted to hold him, take him in my arms and rock him, telling him words of comfort, but I didn't dare touch him in fear of causing him any more pain.

"No… don't… please…" I was brought out of my misery by Nanao's quiet pleading. He started trashing around, trying to keep someone away. I had to stop him before he hurt himself, but it wasn't easy. As soon as I touched him, he started to back away and trash around even more.

"It's okay. It's me." I tried calming him down, but he just kept repeating that sad plea.

"Please… don't… hurts… no…"

"It's me. I'm not going to hurt you."

I had to calm him down, but it wasn't working. When I noticed the red stains on his bandages, I decided to take action. I leaned closer and held him down while whispering into his ears. "Shhh… it's okay. I'm here. You're safe now."

After a few minutes, he finally started to calm down. I sighed in relief when he settled back down and I had the chance to look at his injuries. One of the cuts on his upper body reopened and was bleeding. After attending to it, I gave him more pills and sat back on the bed.

This time, I couldn't keep my hands from touching him, and I soon found my fingers running through his silky hair. He didn't move at all, so I kept my hand there, while the other was holding his hand.

He never stay awake long enough to let me feed him, so I asked my brother to do something about it. He was clearly starved, and it didn't help that I couldn't get anything in his stomach. Aniki arrived and we had to use intravenous feeding and tie his hand down, so he wouldn't yank the IV out.

The sight made my heart clench. I wanted to run away, to not see him like this, but at the same time, I wanted to stay by his side, hold his hand in case he woke up.

I knew I probably lost the smiling Nanao I loved so much. He's probably never going to smile and let me kiss him again. My father was a cruel man and if anyone could break my Nanao, that would be him.

And looking at Nanao begging in his sleep, I could tell that my father had done a good job in that.

The next day I woke up to Nanao murmuring things. I didn't even notice when I fell asleep, but I was sitting next to the bed, holding his hand. When I looked up, I noticed Nanao looking at me, but not really seeing me as he kept on repeating the same words from yesterday.

"I have to get out of here. I want to go out…"

"I'll take you out when you're feeling better." I reassured, hoping he'd understand me.

"I want to go now, Mom…" He seemed to understand what I was saying, but didn't know who I was. "I want to play with Nee-chan and Mikado." He kept on begging like a child.

I couldn't say no to him. The look in his eyes made me unable to look away. He acted and sounded like a small child, and I wanted him to feel at least a bit better.

"You have to sleep now, but when you wake up, I'll take you out."

A hopeful expression I've never seen before appeared on his face accompanied with a small, grateful smile.

"Promise?" He asked, and I found myself unable to refuse.

"Promise."

He smiled and nodded once before his eyes closed again. I slumped back and let my head rest on the edge of the bed, next to his.

Please get better soon!

I kept repeating in my head as I felt frustrated tears clouding my vision, but didn't let them run down my face.

I couldn't cry now.

I never cried, and now, I had to be calm and patient. Nanao needed me now more than ever.

I wished I could take him away from here. Take him back to his family. To his 'Nee-chan and Mikado'… But my father would find us, and Nanao would be in trouble then. I could imagine my father killing him for running away and I didn't want that to happen.

There was no place in this world we could hide in. He was a powerful man. He always got what he wanted.

And he never let any of the slaves free.

Later that day, I started to think about how to approach Nanao once he regained consciousness. He most probably will be scared and in pain, but I didn't know what to say. I've never been in a situation like this before. I've never had to think about how to keep someone from hurting himself.

As that thought appeared, I suddenly was scared of the future.

What if Nanao tries to hurt himself?

I couldn't let that happen. I removed everything he could use to inflict pain on himself from the room, but I knew that didn't help much. If someone wanted to commit suicide, he could always find a way to do so.

As I was looking around the room for potentially dangerous object, I heard movement from the bed. When I turned back, I saw Nanao looking at me and whispering in a weak voice.

"Aikawa…"

My eyes widened, for this was the first time he recognized me, but I wasn't sure if he was fully conscious yet. I wanted to lean closer, to take his hand, but my body wouldn't cooperate. I was frozen a few inches from Nanao, trying to come up with something to say, or do, but I couldn't. I just looked at him, my mouth half open as he stared at me.

There were no emotions in his eyes or in his voice. I was sure he didn't know what happened, or he was damaged beyond repair. His soulless eyes scared me, but I knew I had to be strong and calm, for that was the only way I could help him.

I willed myself to move closer and say something.

"Nanao. Are you…"

My question was stopped by the look he gave me. Tears appeared in his beautiful blue eyes and he tried reaching out for me as his lips quivered.

"Aikawa… Aikawa… Aikawa…"

It was heartbreaking to see him like that. The way he kept repeating my name and reaching out for me made me want to take all his pain away and hug him close, but all I could do was staring at him. I was about to say something to comfort him, to tell him I'd never let anything happen to him again… but, before I had a chance to open my mouth, he spoke again.

"I'm sorry…"