Always Together is SO Embarrassing

Chapter Ten

Truth: Shock and Hurt

A.N//: Thanks to the awesome feedback on the last chapter, I've managed to squash down my complex. Thanks very much for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I own Karin. That's why I don't go to Chapters and make the people who work there look in the back for vol. 5. 'CAUSE I OWN IT!...

Gomen ne, it's wrong to lie. But now that school has ended (two days ago, 2:15). I'm very very booooooooored. Yes, I know I spelt that wrong. That's how bored I am. I had to add 8 extra O's.

Recap
"Are you okay?" Kenta asked, deeply concerned. He touched Karin's cheek, tenderly. She flinched.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed. People from all around stopped and stared at her outburst. All eyes were on them.

End Recap
Everyone was staring. To everyone (except for the participants themselves) this was a planned act created for everyone's amusement. And everyone was finding it very amusing.

"K-K-Karin." Kenta said softly, stuttering from the shock. He wasn't expecting that. He reached out for her and Karin hurriedly drew back and stood up. The 'audience' oooooo'ed. (Karin and Kenta didn't hear.)

It was their world for them, and already the sky was beginning to cry.

If Karin had felt any sympathy for Kenta at all before----

It was most definitely gone now.

"Usui-kun." Kenta flinched now. (Though his was not nearly as noticeable as Karin's.) Karin's head was bowed and he couldn't see her expression. She was scaring him.

"Usui-kun." She said, her voice low and raspy. She looked at him straight in the eye now. He stared. Her reddish brown eyes (usually bright and friendly) were dark, cold and…

Pissed was the only word for it, actually.

"We're not on a first name basis, don't you know." Karin said, a slight sardonic smirk coming into her voice. She was scaring him quite a bit now. This was a part of her he hadn't seen, and he was sure if he had known that such a part existed: he would have preferred not seeing it at all.

'Karin… What happened?' He asked silently.

"I thought I told you, Usui-kun." Karin said, casually. (Dangerously) "We're not on a first-name basis." Kenta blinked.

'Did I say that out loud…?' He thought. In the back of his head, he thought he heard Karin, faintly.

'Can't stop… But it feels soooo good… But I have to stop... I can't...' Kenta stepped back in confusion.

'Her mouth isn't moving… So why can I hear her…?'

'You lied to me.' Kenta heard. He found himself answering.

'I had to.'

'I trusted you.' She said.

'I'm sorry.' She glared at him.

"I don't believe you." She said, in a low voice. "Not now." The 'audience' gasped. Excited whispers rang through the crowd.

"A lover's spat!"

"How exciting!"

"What's she talking about? He didn't say anything…"

"Cake…"

"K----" Kenta started, but stopped. He didn't want to anger her further. He winced. "Maaka. Please, let me explain----"

"Did you really mean it? Truly? Did you really mean when you said you loved me?" Karin asked, malice gone from her voice. Looking into her eyes, he couldn't see the uncharacteristic emotions he had seen before. Her eyes were sadder now, more tame. But distrust was shining through. Kenta felt his (newly mended) heart break all over again.

"I thought you weren't going to doubt me." He said, quietly. The 'audience' had to lean in to hear that last sentence. Karin ignored what he had said.

"Were you lying to me, even then?" She asked. When he didn't answer, she started packing up all of her stuff, and left. Kenta just stood there, shocked.

In their world, there was only him now.

And then there was nobody. Because there was no world anymore.

And you can't live in a place that doesn't exist.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

Rounds of slow clapping clapped him out of his shocked trance.

"Nice performance… Bit choppy though."

"Bit over dramatic…"

"Cake…"

'1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2.' Karin thought wearily as she walked home. She was in the outer forest near her home, but she gave no real thought to it.

'1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2. 1, 2.' She was concentrating on making sure one foot went in front of the other. She tripped.

"Darn it!" She cursed. She rubbed her knee: no blood, just a bruise. "I hate this!" She cried, not making it clear what she hated. There were a few things she could have been talking about.

Possible Meaning #1: She hates the tiring and annoying forest she has to endure through to get home.

Possible Meaning #2: She hates how she handled the truth earlier.

Possible Meaning #3: She hates Kenta for hiding said truth from her.

Possible Meaning #4: All of the above.

She got up, brushed herself off and started home again.

She didn't notice the bat flying off in the opposite direction.

The angsty black parade had started up again. Only this time, the parade was considerably more angsty than last time.

It was a nice night, but it didn't seem real to Kenta. Not after everything that had happened only an hour and a half before. Walking through the street, he was the transparent nobody with the creepy eyes. Nobody took notice of him, and of course, he took notice of nobody.

Unfortunately, there's almost always a contradiction for everything.

As he passed by a dark, scanty alley, someone took hold of him and pulled him in.

"I told you once; you hurt my sister, I beat the shit out of you." Kenta stared blankly at Ren while he said this.

'Am I supposed to care at this point?' He thought. Ren sighed.

"But considering that this is also my fault, I won't." He glared at Kenta, though it held less fire than his glares usually did. "Consider yourself lucky." At this, Kenta started laughing; his fangs flashing. He couldn't stop. It was if all the pent up emotion was coming out, and he couldn't stop it.

"Lucky? Lucky! You think this is lucky? I'd prefer if you'd beat the shit out of me, it's what I deserve." He screamed, through his hysterical laughter. It was a miracle no one came to investigate the noise. "You said yourself, the guilt from knowing the truth would kill her! Well then this makes me a murderer, doesn't it?" Ren stared.

"You can still fix this." He said, quietly.

"Fix this how! I can't kill myself or anything, because that would mean I'd be killing her at the same time!"

"Idiot." Ren said, harshly. He punched Kenta in the face. "Killing yourself? You give me more of a reason to hate your kind." He started waving his hand around in exaggerated hand gestures. "You humans think killing yourself is always the answer; so selfish. I doubt half of those suicide cases ever really think about what their death will bring to the people around them.----"

"Stop giving me more reasons to laugh." Kenta said, just as harshly. A purple bruise was blossoming on his cheek from where Ren had punched him, but he took no notice. "Human? You're calling me human?" He brushed a finger against one of his canines, cutting himself in the process.

"You're even more of a fucking idiot than I thought!" Ren yelled. "You're the most idiotic human I've ever met! If you killed yourself and Karin survived, how do you think she'd feel?" Kenta said nothing. "She already feels like absolute shit right now. If you killed yourself and she survived, how much worse do you think she'll feel?"

"I----…"

"Exactly. Pfft… Selfish stupid humans…" Ren said. He softened his voice. (A rare occurrence)

"Like I said, you can still fix this."

"How?" Kenta asked, miserably. He was going to take all the help and advice he could get.

"Go talk to her. Go beat some sense into her thick head. She's probably just freaked out right now." He sighed. "Though I don't advise doing it any time soon. Give her some space for a while. She's in a mood that even I wouldn't want to approach her right now." Kenta nodded. Ren sighed, yet again.

"That's all I wanted to say, I'm taking off." He licked his lips. "I'm hungry." He turned to go.

"Wait!" Kenta said.

"What?" Ren replied, exasperated. Kenta gave Ren an odd look.

"There was this odd moment where it kind of seemed like me and Karin were… Talking in each other's heads." He said, nervously. (Slowly) Ren scoffed.

"Don't you remember?" He asked, annoyed. "You guys get a link mixed into this mess as well. That was probably it."

"Oh…" Kenta said. He was too tired to give a longer answer.

"Was that it? Good. Finally." Ren said, hurriedly leaving.

It was only until Kenta was standing outside his home that he realized that he had been (and still was) crying, not laughing.

Karin lay on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. After everything she had gone through that day, she was so desperately tired.

But she couldn't go to sleep, no matter how she tried.

She clutched her pillow to her stomach and sat up.

'Why… Why did I react like that?' She thought. She was embarrassed, confused, but above all: depressed. 'I couldn't stop…'

She started to cry. Not the loud, snotty kind she was most accustomed too, but a soundless, anguished sob. An odd pain was in her cheek, but she paid it no heed.

Possible Meaning #5: She hated herself for being the reason all of this happened.

Anju felt, rather than heard, Karin's anguish. She sighed.

'Onee-chan…----' She thought longingly in her head. A lone tear fell down her cheek and onto Boogie-kun. She shook it off and went to her room.

A.N//: Ah… Some of you might kill me for this, but…

This wasn't as angsty as I would have liked. Heh he… Ahem. I can be pretty angsty, but… (shrugs) Oh well. There's enough angst in here I suppose. They've been through enough in this chapter.

Yet again, I did not reference anything in this chapter.

I liked this chapter, actually. It's a nice change from all the fluff I usually write. And (in my opinion) it makes the seriousness of this story stand out more. That's what I was missing from the anime; the seriousness. The seriousness from the manga (and the novel, which I started with) got me into Karin in the first place. The anime was too light hearted in comparison. Not that I didn't enjoy it.

Chapter Eleven: A Little Sister's Thoughts

Anju's thoughts on everything that has happened so far.

Reviews and constructive criticism please. I really appreciate them (what writer doesn't?) and it's always a joy to reply to them. Flames? Well, I've only had one flame in my whole "career", and that was for my first fic. Please don't add another to my almost spotless record.