A/N: Hey look, a long chapter. Been a while since that's happened. Idk if I can call it epic. But it is very saucy. (Blame my ELA teacher for that phrase) I don't even know what saucy means. xD But I'm sticking with it. Because it sounds funny.

Anywho. This chapter is pretty...emotional. (Trust me, I almost cried writing it. But maybe that also has to do with my slightly depressed friend whom I'm talking to who just won't stop being sad no matter what I do.)

-Chapter Twenty-One-

It had been a couple days since Tadase had found where Amu was. He'd check in on her every night through that grimy, dirt covered window, constantly considering at least cleaning the side he was on. Sometimes, Amu was aware of him, other times, Tadase tried to make sure she didn't, just in case something bad happened because of it. They couldn't talk much because of the window, and also fear of being heard, but just being able to see Tadase seemed to brighten up Amu's mood, despite how she looked.

Tadase had brought a pen and pad with him on the third day. Today, Amu looked especially beat up and broken that night, but as soon as she spotted Tadase at the window, she smiled slightly. She noticed something in Tadase's hands and tilted her head in question. Tadase held the pen and pad up for Amu to see, and wrote something on it.

'So I can talk to you.' Then he added. 'All you have to do is nod or shake your head.'

Amu smiled again, then seemed to wince. Tadase sighed slightly, eyeing Amu worriedly. He considered writing if she was okay, but figured she would just lie and nod her head in response, even though it was clear that she wasn't okay. Instead, he turned the page and started writing something else.

He turned the pad for Amu to see. It read, 'I'm going to talk to all of our friends.' Amu tilted her head, slightly confused and mouthed out, 'why?' Tadase turned the pad back to add something else. Amu grinned brightly when she read what he had added.

'We're going to get you out of here as soon as possible.'

Amu got caught looking out the window for Tadase on the fourth day. Tadase wasn't there yet, but Amu had been waiting for him to come. Then those men barged in and caught her. Her punishment was brutal. It hurt a lot. She fought, but just ended up getting more hurt. Typical. She was already bruised enough, yet they still insisted to bruise her more. She was already broken enough, yet, they continued to break her even more.

Sometimes, Amu wondered how she was still sane enough to try to fight back after a week or so of being abused and tortured. Maybe it was just because of Tadase. She fought back and took all the pain because she knew Tadase would be there for her. And her friends too.

With one final hit, blood dribbled out of her mouth and the men threw her back into her room, causing the blood to spatter out in a string and land on the floor and wall. Her head nearly hit the hard concrete. She groaned, not wanting to move from her spot. Everything hurt too much. She didn't even care to move to wipe the blood off her mouth. She stared up at the ceiling, feeling half dead. She groaned and rolled over ever so slowly.

A tap on the window caused Amu to look up quickly. She groaned again and rolled over, slowly attempting to get up onto her feet. She stumbled slightly, grabbing the wall. Concerned, crimson eyes with a spark of blond hair appeared in the window. Amu self-consciously wondered if Tadase had seen or heard anything that had went on just outside her room with the door open. She bit her lip (gaining the unpleasant taste of blood in the process) and forced a smile, despite her appearance.

Tadase had arrived earlier than usual. He wanted to…watch Amu—if that didn't sound creepy. Even though it was complicated because the window was small and dirty, sometimes, if Amu was far enough in the room, or standing close enough to the window, Tadase could see a shock of (now mauve-ish from dirt and dust) pink hair. This time, though, what he seen was disturbing. He had moved slightly, as to not be seen, but still watched in horror as his precious Amu got beat for about 2 minutes, relentlessly.

He didn't know why he didn't look away. He wanted to, but he just…couldn't bare look away, fearing something worse might happen to him if he even looked away for a second. He watched, hit after hit; kick after kick, even a little jab here and there by a small dagger or knife. Tadase felt really bad watching this, but…at least he understood what happened to Amu now, and why she always looked worse and worse every day he seen her.

Amu disappeared onto the floor, thrown, and didn't reappear into Tadase's peripheral vision until several minutes later when he had (accidentally, he swore) tapped on the window when trying to stand up, not wanting to see anymore. She stumbled slightly. Her lips were red; blood was dripping down her chin. If Amu weren't Tadase's girlfriend, he would've pitied her. But all he felt at that, staring at Amu, broken and severely beaten, was utmost concern, worry, and loathing towards the people who have been doing that to her.

Tadase noticed Amu force a smile; her teeth were also stained with red. It was disgusting, but Tadase still couldn't bring himself to hate such a face. All he wanted to do was grab her and hold her close. Comfort her and tell her everything would be okay. Alas, he couldn't. As much as he yearned to hug her again; kiss her again…there was no way until he got her out of this hellhole.

He gestured for her to wipe her face, knowing it would kill him inside to watch Amu with blood on her face for another hour. It was also a gesture that asked if she was okay, to which Amu understood, but just shook her head. Tadase wasn't sure if it was a no to his unspoken question, or if she was just brushing it aside as if it didn't matter. Both Tadase didn't want to think about. He sighed, touching the glass slightly.

Amu seemed to understand and placed her own bruised, fragile hand on the glass, despite the dust and grime that would probably come out on her hands later. Amu seemed to mouth something, which Tadase had barely understood. But he did, and it caused him to smile sadly.

'I miss you.'

'I miss you, too…' he mouthed back, using his free hand to kiss his hand and send it in Amu's direction. He noticed the tears form. But he never said anything; he was also fighting back tears.

"WHAT!?" everyone on student council exclaimed in shock.

"What…what do you mean, Amu has been kidnapped?" Rima, who had just started to grow attached to the pink haired teenager.

"I mean exactly that." Tadase responded. He was tired, but tried to seem serious and alert. "Saaya did it. No doubt."

He waited for it to sink in to everyone's heads. His tiredness was weighing him down slightly, and it was obvious to everyone that something was wrong. Ever since Amu had gone missing, Tadase couldn't sleep, and just lost interest in making an effort to looking good. Still, for the sake of his friends, he tried to act like he was just tired from homework. He even made up a lie that Amu was really sick and wouldn't be coming to school for a while.

But it had been getting to the point where everyone was saying that they should visit her. ("Why do you get to see Amu but not us?" was what Rima said.) A week had already gone by. So the excuse was starting to get obvious. So, he figured it would be best to tell everyone about what had actually happened.

"I thought you said she was sick…" Ran mumbled.

"I did…" Tadase admitted. "But I lied. I couldn't tell you guys yet—you'd get too worried. But…now I really need your guys' help. I'll be calling Amu's old friends tomorrow. We'll come up with a plan tonight at my place, and I'll relay the plan to them tomorrow."

"You say all this as if you know what you're doing." Miki said in an indifferent voice that she never seemed to lose no matter how she actually felt. "There's a long process in saving a princess from a castle."

"I do know what I'm doing." Tadase responded, ignoring Miki's metaphor with the princess and castle. "That's another reason why I withheld telling you guys. I wanted to do some exploring first."

"So…you—you found her?" Niki asked, finally saying something after being silent for so long.

Tadase nodded. "I've known where she was for a little while now. I'll see if I can find her later tonight after we're done discussing how we're going to do this. She told me she was afraid she'd get moved to a different room soon, though."

"How did you guys talk…?" Nagihiko questioned.

"There's a window. And we talk through mouthing or pen and pad." Tadase replied. "Or gestures. Yesterday, she got caught looking out the window for me. She's afraid they'll move her to a windowless room."

"How do you know she got caught?" Rima asked. "Is she that good at gesturing and signing?"

Tadase looked down. He couldn't sleep at all the previous night because of what he had witnessed that evening. He sighed and curled his hands into fists slightly. "Because I watched it happen. I watched her get hurt because of me… I had just come a little early to check on her…but she was anticipating my arrival…and they hit her. And kicked her…"

Tadase fought back the tears. A silence fell over everyone as they took everything in, imagining what Tadase had seen and understanding his pain. And Amu's pain, too. Tadase sobered himself up enough to end the student council meeting and tell them all to meet at his house at 6. Then they all went away with sombre expressions and comforting hugs.

Amu spent most of her days crying now. The level of abuse had increased to the point where they would stick needles into her that caused painful convulsions in her skin, and even slash her occasionally. If this was what Hell was like, she never wanted to go back. If she even got to leave. She just really wanted Tadase to get her out of here.

She was surprised those men didn't force her to move rooms after catching Amu looking out the window for Tadase. But at the same time, she was grateful because then she could still see Tadase. Plus, for some reason, they were even nice enough to open up the window a smidge to give Amu some air. (Or maybe it was just because the room started to smell and they couldn't stand having to constantly visit a vulgar smelling room, which totally wasn't Amu's fault.)

She was anticipating Tadase's return. Yet at the same time, she was afraid they'd both get caught. And she was already ugly enough by now. How could Tadase stand to see her in such a condition? Even she didn't want to see what she looked like (which is why she was glad this building had no shiny surface.) Yet Tadase still kept coming back, every day, to see Amu. Amu wasn't sure if that was dedication to his love or just…pity for her.

She appreciated Tadase's company. But she felt like there was no point in him doing so; she was a lost cause by now. She was practically a mutant by now. She sighed and leaned her head against the wall. Everything hurt. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up…

"I'm sorry, Tadase…" she whispered into the air.

A/N: Ohohoho. The suspense.

I'm sorry. I suck at suspense. But I tried. I haven't used much Japanese recently. Maybe I just just stop all together. With writing kpop fanfics without Korean shit (besides words like 'yah' or honorifics), I guess I grew out of using Japanese in my fics. I hope y'all don't mind that.

Anywho, until next time~