cough cough cough* *cough cough cough cough* she spit blood out not so soon after that. "Minako, minako. It's alright, it's alright" he said rubbing her back as she spit in the bin. He had tears in his eyes as he watched his wife suffer from pain. He held her hands shakily and felt how cold they were. She had become so weak over the course of time. Her skin was pale, colorless. Her lips were dry and torn, her eyes droopy and lifeless with huge black depressions surrounding them.

"Minako, it'll be alright, everything will be fine" he tried to assure her but was rather assuring himself. She let out a chuckle that turned into a cough. With a weak smile on her face, she took his face in her palm and whispered, 'we both know that I'll die soon. I at least don't want to see you cry when I do *cough cough cough* *cough*'

He started to cry a ton and put her hand to his forehead, "don't say that minako, don't say that, don't say that, don't leave me, please please please please..."

She just smiled grimly, what had life done to her, what had she done to herself *sigh*

"Shall we do it in a few days?" She questioned.

"Whenever you're ready minako, whenever you're happy" he assured her.

Meanwhile, at the apartment:-

She rolled over, and found nothing but coldness. She moved her hand around wondering, 'cold... cold? warmth? where'd it go?' She slowly opened her eyes and was surprised to see that the curtains were closed. Well at least today her eyes wouldn't be pierced by the sun, 'phew'. But the thing that bothered her was, where was he?

That empty hole, that void, that numbing pain, it appeared again. She thought about what she did last night, she reflected on her actions. How could she ask someone to do that for her. How was she supposed to face him now. Wouldn't he question? Wouldn't he judge her? How can everything be just like before where she could just ignore him...

Her hands started to quiver, she wanted to feel something physical. 'I don't like this, I don't like this, this void left by the past, left by THEM. I hate this. I don't want to be numb, yes, yes, I can feel physical pain, I can feel pain, I won't be numb anymore, no more numbness...' A little chuckle escaped her throat. Not being patient enough to find her little friend, she tried to do it with her nails. She brought them up to her arm, looking off at the wall and tried to scratch them.

Feeling something other then her skin, she looked down and noticed that it was bandaged up. "Did he...do this" she whispered. It was a statement rather than a question. Why... Did he think that she needed some pity? Her eyes narrowed. Who was he to take care of her. She hardly knew him. Did he really think that just because of the circumstances he could get closer to her, he-he could violate her privacy?!?

He must be disgusted of her right now, he must think she was an eyesore. A dark chuckle escaped her throat. "I want to hear what you'll say usui takumi" He was gonna spread rumors about her now, she was sure of it. More gossip was gonna start, more bullying, more stress, more pressure, more pain, more headaches... It was good that she decided to take some days off but what was going to happen when she went back. 'I don't want to deal with this...' She proceeded on with her morning routine. She took a bath, taking off the bandage and changed into a new pair of PJ's.

Her hand started shaking as she brought it up to the door handle, she didn't want to face him, she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to justify what she did. Taking in a deep breath, she opened the door and saw that the lights were turned off and no one was in sight. Huh? That's when realization hit her. It was Friday and 10:03am at that. Why would he be home.

Sighing in relief she stretched her arms hissing a bit as her wounds stretched, but it was fine. It was way better than that numb feeling. This felt good compared to that muted sensation. She felt something trickle down her cheek. She brought up her hand to feel what it was and felt something wet... Was she crying? She went ahead to look at herself in the mirror, she was crying.

Why? She didn't know. Pain? But it didn't hurt. Her mom? But she never cried because of that. U...sui? But what even was he to her. She violently covered her mouth to stop any noises from escaping. It didn't hurt, nothing was that wrong, then why was she crying, she didn't even feel sad, why was she crying? She was supposed to be fine, nothing bad happened yet, she didn't deserve to cry, these tears didn't need to be spilled but then why... Why was she... 'Why am I...' 'I don't want to, please no stop'

Falling to her knees, she covered her face and let out a scream. After what seemed like forever she got up. As she about to reach kitchen, her head started to feel dizzy and her vision started to blur. 'Oh...am I falling?' Flailing her arms she caught the chair and fell to the ground but not on her head thankfully. One hand covered her eyes and the other gripped the chair.

Waiting for her vision to come back, she just sat there with her head on her knees. She got up and walked over to open the fridge. She saw a dish with her name on it. "Did he cook it? Wait he can cook?! But i guess his mom did say that he can cook, oh well. Let's eat then" she talked to herself. She warmed up the food and ate a small portion, anymore and she might vomit.

It wasn't as if the food was bad, in fact it was actually amazing, but the thing was that she wasn't used to eating a lot. I mean not eating breakfast, usually skipping dinner, not eating anything at all for days and when eating, just eating ramen and cup noodles. What else could you expect. She covered the food up and with a blur vision went back to what seemed like her room, what else did she have to do anyways.

Laying inside her blanket, the warmth covered her. 'It smells nice' she thought as she cuddled herself inside the blanket. She kept scrolling on her phone and unknowingly she had fallen into deep slumber.

-meanwhile-

'Rrrrring' the bell rang as the students were alerted that the eighth lesson had started. As for usui, he was just on the roof, staring off into the sky, admiring the clouds. Sometimes he wished he was a cloud. Why you ask? To him, clouds were just so carefree. Floating off into nowhere and everywhere at the same time, not having a care in the world.

sigh* did he want to go home or did he not? He wanted to because he was worried, he didn't want to cause he didn't know how to face her. What should he say, would she even want to see his face? And how was gonna mask his worry for her after seeing her wrists, her whole arms in fact in that state. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he wanted to so bad but it was as if a wall was obstructing him from comforting her. The only reason he got through at that time was because her walls were weakened but what now? How was he going to get through.

She self-harmed and that day she was trying to suicide. Her whimpers when he applied an ointment to them, her cries in her sleep for reasons he didn't know, her holding him close as if scared to let go, scared that he'll fade away, these thing wouldn't go away from his mind. She was so... Fragile. Like a flower petal that'll turn into dust with anymore harshness.

It really broke his heart, he had a never ending pain in his chest. He even cried for her a few times in the night, she didn't deserve this. He wanted to show her love and he will, God had given him a chance to be closer to her and he wouldn't let it go.

"Sometimes I just wish I was a cloud" he sighed and stood up. It was the middle of December, and freezing at that. Light droplets of rain started to pour as he was walking on his way to the door. Such a depressing weather, he thought and proceeded on going home.

~time skip~

"I'm home" he announced as he walked in the apartment. The lights were off and on the kitchen table laid a less then half eaten dish of food that he had prepared. Well, at least she ate. He clicked open the door to his room and threw his jacket on the chair. He went to the bathroom, took a bath with hot water and came out with a towel wrapped around him. As he was changing he noticed that there was someone in the blanket?!?!

He wore pants and quickly wore a shirt on top, unbuttoned. *wink wink wink wink*

He walked over and there laid a peacefully sleeping Misaki.

Usui's point of view

What...why... Did She mistake the rooms? Oh geez~ now I have to place her back or else I don't know if I'll be the one trouble or would it just be extremely awkward. But then again... She looks so peaceful like that...

I took a strand of her silky Raven hair, her soft breathing, her calm expression, she was truly such a beauty. I softly removed the covers off of her and took her gently in my arms. She didn't seem to notice but she cuddled up closer to me. 'Ba'dump' my heart skipped a beat as I blushed at the sight. She laid limply in my arms as she cuddled close to me, in her pjs which showed *ahrm* a bit of cleavage.

But even their laid some cuts, what was she doing to herself. I sighed and held her close as I walked over to her room. Their laid the bandages that I had wrapped around her arm. I laid her in bed and walked over to pick those up. After throwing them out i got new bandages and started to gently apply some ointment to her wounds. Every time I touched her scar, she would flinch in pain.

"Honestly, why would you do it if it hurts huh?..." I whispered to myself and slowly but surely wrapped her arm again.

Authors p.o.v

As he was exiting the room, she opened her eyes, fully aware of everything that had happened as she woke up when he laid her in bed. She turned to her side and held her arms close to her chest as tears slowly started to skip form her eyes. 'Why was he so nice to me? Why are you doing this for me?' Her thoughts had disturbed her mind. 'Is it out of pity? Out of pride? Do you just look down on me?'

She tried to sleep but couldn't. The pain in her chest grew but due to hunger this time. She grabbed her stomach and groaned lightly. As she was deep in her thoughts, a sudden knock on the door made her jolt in bed.

"Ayuzawa, dinners ready... I don't know if you want to eat or not bu-"

The door opened to reveal none other than Ayuzawa Misaki. "I'll eat" she said as she walked over to the kitchen and sat down on the table. It surely smelled delicious.

He placed both plates on the table and sat across from her. As they both started to eat she questioned him. "Why did you bandage my arm? Did you do it out of pity? I bet you've already spread rumors. And I guess you also find me disgusting" she showed him a bitter smile with a bone chilling gaze. "Did you have fun making a joke out of me in school? I bet you don't even want me in your house any-"

He stuffed a fork of spaghetti in her mouth to shut her down as he then started to speak, "I don't think you're disgusting, if you were I wouldn't be doing these things for you. I've never believed any rumors about you and only a fool would spread one. Misaki, I'm truly worried about you. You don't know the pain I felt when I saw your scars. I genuinely care for you. And I want you to depend on me when you have a hard time, I promise I'll try my best to make it go away, I will make go away." What had he just said.

His shocked expression mirrored hers and she soon let out a grim laugh. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth curved up in a sly smile, "I look forward to it then." A heavy silence followed as not soon the plates were empty. He took them to the sink and washed them, while she just went back to her room.

He placed his head on his arm and sighed. 'What now?' He wondered.

~boredotaku