Chapter 7

It was a bright, sunny morning. The sunlight seemed to pierce Misaki's eyes as soon as he opened them. It had been a long time since he had slept properly. A weird smell was in the air, an unfamiliar scent. His eyes were still not adjusted to the brightness of his surroundings but he could make out a figure, seated on a chair right beside the bed on which he was sleeping.

"Usagi-san…?"

"Misaki! Thank god. I was so worried!", the figure exclaimed and embraced Misaki.

The voice was a bit different from the usual deep voice he was used to hearing. Once he could open his eyes and properly make out his surroundings he realised that he was in the hospital and the one hugging him was his Nii-chan.

"Nii-chan!", Misaki returned the hug but his grip slowly loosened when he remembered what had happened.

He slowly pushed his brother away from him and started trembling ever-so-slightly. He couldn't face Takahiro after what had happened. Usagi-san must've called Nii-chan while I was unconscious. Dammit! I didn't want Nii-chan to go through this pain all over again.

I didn't want Usagi-san to see it.

"Misaki… please come here. I'm not angry at you, just please come here and talk to your Nii-chan. Please Misaki.", Takahiro's voice was trembling and Misaki could tell that he was in pain.

"Nii-chan.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened. I'm sorry you have to witness this all over again. I'm so.. sorry."

At this point Misaki was sobbing uncontrollably, his emotions had taken over him and he couldn't stop his tears. Seeing Misaki cry all alone hurt Takahiro. His younger, fragile, kind-hearted brother looked so lonely on the bed and he moved forward and hugged him tightly once again.

"Misaki.. don't apologize when I should be the one saying sorry. I'm sorry for failing to recognise what you were going through. I'm sorry for not being able to help you when you were in so much pain."

"Nii-chan, there's no reason for you to say sorry for all of that. I.. just.. I'm sorry for causing you and Usagi-san trouble. It's all I ever do. Right now, I'm sure I'm a burden to Usagi-san but even so I want to stay with him. I love him. But… if he wants me to leave, I will."

A tall, lean figure was standing right outside the door, listening to the conversation taking place inside the room. It was Akihiko. He had returned from the police station, after giving his statement to the police which would then help put Arata in jail for life. He stopped outside the door when he heard voices.

He was scared. He didn't know how to face Misaki after hearing all of that. The young brunette loved him, Akihiko knew that but he still pushed him away. If he hadn't done that, maybe he could resolve this issue together with Misaki instead of leaving him alone. He could've saved Misaki from going through all that trauma, but he didn't. His ego got the better of him.

He knocked on the door before entering. Misaki looked up and was scared, and let go of Takahiro. He didn't know what Usagi-san was going to say to him, he didn't know if… Usagi-san loved him anymore.

"Misaki.. let's go home."

After filling in the forms required to discharge Misaki from the hospital, Akihiko brought his car and helped Misaki sit into it.

The drive back home was a quiet one. Neither of the two men spoke. They quietly entered the elevator and reached home. Akihiko helped Misaki remove his coat and shoes and then made their way to the living room.

"Usagi-san.. I'm going to take a bath first, and then I'll make our lunch."

Akihiko remained silent and just nodded. Sitting there in the living room brought back memories of the previous night.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!", Akihiko had yelled. He kept yelling after each punch he landed on the unknown man.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH HIM?!"

"I'LL KILL YOU, BASTARD!"

The man being hit, finally spoke up, seeing Akihiko slow down, visibly tired. He dabbed his lip and spit out the blood that had accumulated in his mouth due to the ferocious punches thrown by Akihiko.

"Eh? Misaki didn't tell you? About what happened years ago? When he was just a young boy?", Arata smirked, purposely taunting Akihiko.

"I'm the man that took his first time."

Akihiko was enraged and kicked Arata in the stomach.

"Argh… as for why this happened… why don't you ask him yourself?" , Arata told Akihiko. He was enjoying the look on Akihiko's face. An expression of pain and anger. He loved seeing people being hurt.

It wasn't long before Arata passed out. Seeing how he had been hit, it would've been a surprise if he could've stayed conscious.

Akihiko was brought back to the present on hearing a loud crash from the bathroom above. He rushed to see what had happened and on opening the door he saw Misaki on the floor. He quickly moved forward to help Misaki but was pushed away by him.

"Don't look!", Misaki screamed at the top of his lungs pushing Akihiko away, with one of his hands covering Akihiko's face.

Akihiko ignored him and tried to calm the younger man down. When he could finally see, he was shocked. Bruises. All over his body. Cigarette burns, bite marks, slashes, numerous such wounds covered Misaki's pale body which had spoken a thousand words. Akihiko knew that that yesterday wasn't the only time this happened. It was happening for a while. The signs were there. He just ignored them. He saw Misaki isolating himself, not eating any food, drinking all night but he never made any effort to know what was going on in Misaki's life. He was at fault. He was to blame, not Misaki nor anyone else. It was him. His pride had blinded him from loving his own lover.

"PLEASE DON'T LOOK USAGI-SAN!", Misaki was sobbing at this point, throwing his hands and legs all over the place trying get Akihiko out of the bathroom but he was injured, the doctor had discharged him but he was still in pain. He didn't have any strength left.

Akihiko moved forward and hugged Misaki tightly. He didn't say a word. He just held Misaki in his arms.

"We'll order in food. You need to rest.", Akihiko had said and walked out of the bathroom.

About 20 minutes later Misaki came out of the bathroom and made his way to where Akihiko was sitting.

"What do you want to eat Misaki? I'm gonna order food now.", Akihiko asked.

"Anything.. Usagi-san."

There was a brief silence in the large condo and before long, Akihiko had called and placed the order for their lunch at their favourite restaurant.

Akihiko spoke up first.

"Why did this happen? Why did you let him do that to you? Why didn't you speak about this to anyone?", Akihiko asked Misaki.

Misaki didn't know how to answer Akihiko and remained silent.

"MISAKI TELL ME WHY! I NEED TO KNOW!", Akihiko raised his voice out of frustration.

"It's because… he had pictures. Pictures of us.. kissing that day in the alleyway after your signing event. He said that he'd leak them to the media.", Misaki meekly said.

"So?! You should've let him sell it to whomever. Why.. did you do it?", Akihiko's voice made it clear that he was hurting.

"Because.. I'm not worth throwing your reputation away. I didn't want to be a burden. I didn't want to you take any extra stress. I just wanted… to help you."

"U..Usagi-san.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I betrayed your love.. and I'll understand if you don't want me to stay here any longer…", Misaki slowly added on.

Akihiko looked up with a pained expression. These words from Misaki pierced his heart. He saw Misaki's pained expression, his shivering body and was suddenly hit with a wave of guilt.

"Misaki! Please don't say that.. please… I love you and I know.. what I did was wrong, I should've never pushed you away because of what you said but please… don't ever say that you want to leave me. I won't be able to take it. You… you made me feel what it's like to be loved and what it's like to love.. so please don't take that away from me. I'll do anything to make things right."

"Usagi-san, can you love me knowing the fact that I was raped? Can you love this body of mine, this body full of burns and wounds? Can you love me like you did before?"

Akihiko fell silent but he already knew what his answer to Misaki would be. He would never leave Misaki again. Never. He would always stay with him and fight whatever comes their way.

"I won't repeat the same mistake again. I will never leave you alone again. What happened is in the past, I want to make my future with you Misaki, together.", Akihiko held Misaki's hand and with the other he turned Misaki's face towards his, wiping his tears away saying something he should've said a long time ago.

"I love you, Misaki."

TBC.