OK, I've included part three, its been so long since I've written even I've forgotten what its about.
Suffer so alone Part 3
******
Koushiro's heart jumped as he saw the seniors coming towards him, and his walking pace slowed. The seniors continued looking at him, but made no move to speed up their pace or move in on him. He moved over to the left wall of the hallway as they drew closer, and stopped. The seniors kept looking at him, and koushiros heart screamed as they came only a few feet away. He forced himself to not run away, thinking it was better to take what was coming rather than delay it.
The seniors walked straight past him, giving him a few odd looks as they did so, but not slowing down, stopping or making any comments towards him. After they had past him, Koushiro let out the breath he had been holding, and leant his left hand on the wall to steady himself. His beating had been averted for the moment. After a minute or two, he managed to regain his composure, and he came to the realisation that it was impossible for the whole school to know the rumour and know who he was. Looking up at the cafeteria doors, he let out a small whimper, because he knew without a doubt that there were hundreds of people in there who knew the rumour, many of whom who wanted to hurt him undoubtedly.
Many among us would simply decide not to face the situation, to run and hide in the toilets, to cower away and be in fear. Koushiro did not want to be hurt again, but he had lost so must self belief that he had got to the point where he didn't care what happened, a part of him almost wanted him to be beaten, so he would have what was needed to push him over the edge.........push him to the point where he could end it all.
So he sighed slightly and continued walking towards the cafeteria doors, two parts of him each wanting something to happen....conflicting each other. He pushed open the red plywood doors, releasing a barrage of voices, clinking cutlery and plates, punctuated with shout sand laughter at occasions. Looking around, he saw no one had spotted him, so he made his way over to his friends, who were sitting at the same table they occupied every lunchtime.
"Hey Izzy, how's it going?" Asked Sora in a cheery voice.
"Fine." He replied in a rather dull and defensive tone.
"Jeez Izzy I'm sorry, I was just being friendly...." replied Sora in a hurt little voice.
Some friends. Just ignore me and talk about how fantastic Tai is and how good he is at soccer and how much you like him. Thought Koushiro, his face punctuating his thoughts with a sullen, sour scowl.
"Don't you speak to Sora that was Izumi" Tai said in an edgy, sharp voice.
Tai only used peoples last names when he was very angry at them, and because of his blatantly obvious attraction to Sora, it didn't take much to make him angry when anyone spoke poorly to her.
Koushiro didn't reply to this, he just sat there staring at the edge of the table, the scowl on his face getting deeper and he thought about what terrible friends they were to him.
"What do you care" Koushiro grumbled angrily to himself. The others heard what he said and were rather taken back, silently shocked at Koushiro's terrible mindset and mood. They sat there with there mouths slightly ajar, staring at him with dumbfounded eyes.
Tai however, was seething. Since he was 'the leader', he usually took control of these scenes, in his own way. Koushiro was aware of this, Tai had bruised Matt several times back in the digiworld when he was defiant, and he wasn't shy about using his fists to prove a point.
Tai stood up, kicked his chair back with his heel and walked angrily round the small metal table to where Koushiro was, and grabbed him by the shirt collar. He jerked him up violently, much to Koushiros surprise, and pulled him close so his face was only inches away from his own.
"Listen geek, don't you come over here and disrespect us all" Tai said in a quiet voice that was as cold as ice.
Koushiro stared back into Tai's angry brown eyes, rather stunned at how vicious the response to his comment had been. He didn't know what to say. He knew he had been disrespectful to all of them, but he felt angry at the type of friends they had been to him. He felt he had a point he needed to put across to Tai.
"Oh yeah Tai, kiss ass to Sora like you always do, you're just pissed off at everyone cause she won't respond to your advances" Izzy said in a slightly joking tone, not knowing that he had just signed away his friends for life.
"That's it. We're sick of you acting sour all the time and expecting us to care enough to ask you what's wrong. We don't have to take this kinda shit from someone who we once called a friend. Piss off Izzy, we don't want to be friends with you any more".
And with that Tai let go of Koushiro's shirt collar and sat down. Koushiro stood there silent, feeling slightly stunned at what had just happened.
"You heard Tai Izzy, go away." Sora said in a superior, smirking tone.
He remained still for another moment, trying to take in what had just happened. He had cast away his only friends. He was alone now.
Without saying a word, he turned and slowly walked away, out of the cafeteria. Still slightly shocked, he didn't notice the senior that had threatened him earlier in the morning, walking straight towards him circled in a group of friends, all of them staring at Koushiro with evil smiles on their faces.
He was snapped back to reality when the senior slammed him up against one of the banks of lockers for the second time that day.
"Well well faggot, trying to escape?" The senior said in a slightly slurred voice.
Koushiro looked into the seniors glazed eyes, his heart thumped in his chest and he felt weak.
"Wha...what, I'm not escaping, I'm no faggot....." He said in a stressed tone, kicking himself mentally for forgetting about the senior and the rumour.
"Whatever, you look like a fuckin gay anyway, so shut up". " We hate queers, so we're gonna beat the gay out of you so we won't have to hate you" The senior said in a slightly smirking tone, and his jock posse behind him echoed his smirks with dulled laughter. "We'd do it now, but we got practice so you're gonna have to wait." And with that the group walked off, talking noisily, their conversation punctuated by the odd audible swear word and gay slang.
Koushiro closed his eyes and bit his lip, trying not to cry. He had just lost his friends, and had just found out he wouldn't leave here today without being sore again. He beat the lockers slightly with the backs of his fists, angry at himself for being so stupid. He really hated living, and started to think about finally finishing it all after school......
******
Well, there's part 3. I apologise for it, I believe it's far from believable or decent. I hope this part makes up for it.
******
Suffer so alone part 4
"BBBRRRRINGGGGGGG"
The harsh, sanitary sound of the school bell resonated through the classrooms at Odaiba high, jarring Koushiro out of his troubled thoughts back to reality.
"Right class, once you've copied the homework you can go" Said Koushiro's maths teacher in a loud booming voice.
Koushiro looked up at the lines and lines of homework they had, and reluctantly copied it down. He didn't want this school day to end. He was afraid. Afraid of the people who awaited him, afraid of what he might do when he got home. But destiny could not be averted much longer. He sullenly packed his books back into his bag, stood up, adjusted his uniform, and walked out of the classroom.
He silently fought his way through the bustling hallway to an exit, and walked out, onto the school grounds. He moved as one with the mass of people making their way to the front gate, looking around nervously, looking out for the seniors.
A hand grabbed the back of his shirt collar, jerking him back to reality, gagging as his shirt clutched at his throat. He was pulled to the side of the crowd, much to the annoyance of several students, and then dragged along to the other side of the classroom he had been travelling past. His eyes never met the face of the person, he was being dragged sideways, his mind driving at a thousand thoughts a second, and the reality of what was happening never hit him till he was shoved against the wall of the building.
He forced his eyes to look up. The senior who had initially confronted him was standing directly in front of him, his bulk emanating an aura of domination. He was flanked on either side by three other seniors, all of similar bulk, all with the same look of contempt and nieve justice inscribed on their faces.
"Caught ya" The head senior said flatly.
His words were simple. Koushiro expected more, but instead the senior drove his point home with a hard right punch to his stomach.
Koushiro retched, and crumpled to the ground, screeching faintly as he fought for breath. His mind raced again, he fought helplessly to get air, but he plainly heard what the senior said.
"Any teachers round?"
"No?"
"Sweet"
Koushiro's mind was unable to process what then happened. Kicks from three of the group bit viciously at his small form, but he did not feel them. His mind vacated itself to the point where all he felt was one long band of high frequency pain. His face was frozen in a look of horror and fear, showing no real time emotion. His eyes jerked with each kick, their form radiating the fear his face was showing.
The world moved on several metres away, fully cognisant of what was happening, but not stepping in. The crowd of students was punctuated with small gasps of horror as they saw what was happening. They slowed slightly, but kept moving, too shocked to think about interfering, their faces frozen as they took in the vicious kicks and evil grins lighting the faces of the seniors as they dealt their vigilante justice.
A few moments later, Tai and Sora walked past the point. Sora gasped and grabbed onto Tai's shirt
"Oh my god Tai, is that Izzy over there?" she asked faintly
Tai craned his neck slightly to see above her, and he was shocked to see how viciously savage the beating was that was taking place. His initial reaction was to run over and help, but he caught himself, remembering what had happened earlier
"Tai, we have to do something...." Sora said
"N....No Sora, remember he said he didn't want us as friends anymore.., and look at those seniors....the,..they'd pulverise us if we tried"
"What? We can just leave him there!" Sora said, horrified to hear what he was saying
"Just leave it Sora, we....I don't know, look, he said we were bad friends or something like that, he was rude to you and you know how he's been acting, so come on, just keep walking"
With that Tai took Sora's arm and firmly pulled her along. Sora looked back in despair, and locked eyes with Koushiro for a brief moment. She felt her heart retch as she saw the pain and disbelief in his eyes. Her eyes held his for a moment more, until she collided with the back of another student, forcing her to look away. As Tai pulled her further along she could not shake the memory of his eyes, she felt sick she hadn't stepped in.
******
The apartment door thumped against the plaster board wall, and Koushiro staggered through it to the hallway. He blindly grabbed for the door and knocked it closed, before collapsing into a shaking heap in the corner of the entrance and the left wall of the hallway. He closed his eyes tightly, grasped his torn, wet shirt with trembling hands, and huddled in the corner shaking, whimpering slightly. Through his shaken mind he could feel the cold of his sodden clothes against his bruised skin.
Shortly after the seniors had finished laying into him, leaving him as a bloodied and crumpled heap it had started to rain. He had remained where he had fallen, his only movement an unconscious whimpering, his anthracite eyes vacantly watching the falling rain, his mind emptied of thought. A time later he had woken up to what had happened, which spurred his emotions. He had staggered home, breathing in rasping spurts, each step shaking him up more, making him feel worse physically and mentally.
Now as he sat huddled in the corner, sobbing slightly, his emotions flooded back to him. He remained there, shaking and whimpering for several hours, while the world outside moved on and the light in the apartment faded.
"Tai, you're dinners getting cold, come to the table and eat honey"
Tai was shaken out of his thoughts by his mothers calling
"Uhh,...coming mom" he called in a voice, lightly tinged with uncertainty.
He could not shake the thoughts of what had happened that day. He could not quite believe how he had reacted to Koushiro earlier in the day, and he could not shake the image of his small form huddled on the ground, cowering in fear. He could not figure what had caused him to drag himself and Sora away from it, he could not believe he had left his friend....
Koushiro squinted as he turned on the bathroom light and walked in. He staggered to the fittment in front of the mirror, and propped himself up on the basins edge. He was still breathing in rasps, and he raised his eyes slightly to the image on the mirror. He cringed slightly when he saw his face. Both his eyes had deep black bruising circling them, and his left one was swollen to a purple slit. His nose was dark with dried blood and both nostrils were clogged with the stuff. His left cheek had a long, oval shaped bruise which was the colour of a ripe plum, the result of the only kick delivered to his face. It was by far the worst looking injury, and in conjunction with his mangled eye, the whole left side of his face was a swollen, purple blotch. His lips were cut and swollen in many places, thankfully all his teeth remained, although the front ones were stuck to his lips with dried blood from his haemorrhaged gums. He uttered a slightly humoured grunt. Oh how the teachers would react to this. His mind drifted on slightly further, and he was glad his parents were away for several more days, his mother would be horrified if she saw him..........
His mother.
He had known about the death of his real parents for some time now, but the mere thought of it still cut him up inside. He laughed slightly, then his lip began to quiver and he dropped down slowly to his knees, his eyes closed and brimming with tears. He coughed slightly, and then began to cry again. He abandoned his hold on the basins edge, and slumped down into a heap on the ground, his body racked with sobs as he thought of his parents, his friends, his life.......
"Tai, what's the matter?"
Tai shook his head slightly and came out of deep thought for the second time that evening.
"Nothings the matter Kari, I was just thinking about something..." Tai replied to his little sister, who was watching him with anxious eyes.
"Thinking about what Tai, has it got something to do with what you and Sora were arguing about when she called before?" Kari asked, referring to the tense conversation Tai had had with Sora, who had called, worried sick about Koushiro. Tai had tried to maintain the facade he had put up earlier, that Koushiro didn't deserve them as friends, and that he deserved what had been coming to him. But he didn't believe himself. He was aching inside for what he had done and witnessed with Koushiro, and after some deep thinking, it had become apparent to him that Koushiro may have been making a plea to them for help when he was angry and quiet. Tai knew that he was being bullied, he knew how he tried to cover up his anguish over his parents death, he knew that he needed his friends. Tai knew he had over reacted earlier, he knew he had lashed out as his friend, he knew he should have tried to help. Over the space of a few hours Tai came to realise that Koushiro was actually one of his best friends in a different sort of way, and he realised that he needed to see if his friend was ok, he needed to say he was sorry, and make things better.
"Kari, I have to go and see Izzy, I'll be back in a bit ok?"
"Sure Tai, say hi to him from me"
Tai huddled into his jacket as he ran through the driving wind and rain pelting down on the city to Koushiro's apartment block. They were quite close, so it was only a couple of minutes before Tai stood, shivering infront of the Izumi's apartment door.
He knocked heavily on the door and waited, moving back and forth as he tried to get warm. There was no answer so he knocked again. Still no answer. Tai was too cold to wait any longer, so he tried the handle, and was slightly surprised when the door opened. He stepped through the doorway and looked around the apartment, then closed the door behind him.
There were no lights on in the apartment, and it was as cold as it had been outside. Tai shivered, cleared his throat and called Koushiro's name. There was no answer, but Tai thought he heard a shuffling somewhere in the dark. He slowly walked further into the apartment, checking each room as he went. He came to the bathroom, pushed open the door and felt for the lightswitch.
"Do..don't turn on the light, please, tai, don't" A shaky voice said from the dark
"Izzy, whats...why...umm, Izzy, I don't know what to say...." Tai blurted out, not exactly sure what to say first.
"I..i thought you hated me..." Koushiro whispered, before the tears got to him again, and the darkness was punctuated by a choked sobbing"
"Man Izzy, I don't know what to say......I'm so sorry...." Tai whispered in reply, with tears beginning to well in his eyes.
Koushiro made no reply to this, the only sound was a gentle sobbing. Tai's eyes had become adjusted to the dark, and he could make out a shape, hunched up on the floor, shaking slightly.
"Wh..why can't I turn on the light?" He asked softly
"Because you can't, jus..just don't, please"
Tai stepped forward into the room a bit, and suddenly grabbed onto the doorframe as his foot slipped out from, under him. He stepped forward gingerly, and lifted his left foot slightly. It felt gluggy, as it he had stepped in something more than water. He bent down and touched the liquid...it definitely wasn't water.... He raised his hand up to his face and rubbed his fingers together....
"What the..." He whispered absently, as he smelt the liquid...
He stepped back slightly, and fumbled for the light switch, ignoring Koushiro's earlier request.
He found it, and flicked it on. The fluorescent tube flickered several times, and Tai gasped at what he saw in the strobe like effect.......
******
Well there you go! I hope that wasn't too bad. I was going to make this a long and very eventful part, but I thought a little more suspense might help. I once again apologise for the very long delay for this part, and I promise you part 5 will be out much faster. Thankyou for reading this, please review it, and I must say a big thankyou to all those people who reviewed my other stories and said they couldn't wait for this part, I hope you all got to read it, and I hope the rest of the series is worth the wait I made you endure. I also suggest you read the latest fanfic of my pal Genevieve, which should be out soon, and is called congratulations. Before you do so I suggest you read her 'week at the kamiya' series though, cause all her pieces are linked.
Thanks again for waiting so patiently for this piece, and I promise part 5 will be here soon.
Suffer so alone Part 3
******
Koushiro's heart jumped as he saw the seniors coming towards him, and his walking pace slowed. The seniors continued looking at him, but made no move to speed up their pace or move in on him. He moved over to the left wall of the hallway as they drew closer, and stopped. The seniors kept looking at him, and koushiros heart screamed as they came only a few feet away. He forced himself to not run away, thinking it was better to take what was coming rather than delay it.
The seniors walked straight past him, giving him a few odd looks as they did so, but not slowing down, stopping or making any comments towards him. After they had past him, Koushiro let out the breath he had been holding, and leant his left hand on the wall to steady himself. His beating had been averted for the moment. After a minute or two, he managed to regain his composure, and he came to the realisation that it was impossible for the whole school to know the rumour and know who he was. Looking up at the cafeteria doors, he let out a small whimper, because he knew without a doubt that there were hundreds of people in there who knew the rumour, many of whom who wanted to hurt him undoubtedly.
Many among us would simply decide not to face the situation, to run and hide in the toilets, to cower away and be in fear. Koushiro did not want to be hurt again, but he had lost so must self belief that he had got to the point where he didn't care what happened, a part of him almost wanted him to be beaten, so he would have what was needed to push him over the edge.........push him to the point where he could end it all.
So he sighed slightly and continued walking towards the cafeteria doors, two parts of him each wanting something to happen....conflicting each other. He pushed open the red plywood doors, releasing a barrage of voices, clinking cutlery and plates, punctuated with shout sand laughter at occasions. Looking around, he saw no one had spotted him, so he made his way over to his friends, who were sitting at the same table they occupied every lunchtime.
"Hey Izzy, how's it going?" Asked Sora in a cheery voice.
"Fine." He replied in a rather dull and defensive tone.
"Jeez Izzy I'm sorry, I was just being friendly...." replied Sora in a hurt little voice.
Some friends. Just ignore me and talk about how fantastic Tai is and how good he is at soccer and how much you like him. Thought Koushiro, his face punctuating his thoughts with a sullen, sour scowl.
"Don't you speak to Sora that was Izumi" Tai said in an edgy, sharp voice.
Tai only used peoples last names when he was very angry at them, and because of his blatantly obvious attraction to Sora, it didn't take much to make him angry when anyone spoke poorly to her.
Koushiro didn't reply to this, he just sat there staring at the edge of the table, the scowl on his face getting deeper and he thought about what terrible friends they were to him.
"What do you care" Koushiro grumbled angrily to himself. The others heard what he said and were rather taken back, silently shocked at Koushiro's terrible mindset and mood. They sat there with there mouths slightly ajar, staring at him with dumbfounded eyes.
Tai however, was seething. Since he was 'the leader', he usually took control of these scenes, in his own way. Koushiro was aware of this, Tai had bruised Matt several times back in the digiworld when he was defiant, and he wasn't shy about using his fists to prove a point.
Tai stood up, kicked his chair back with his heel and walked angrily round the small metal table to where Koushiro was, and grabbed him by the shirt collar. He jerked him up violently, much to Koushiros surprise, and pulled him close so his face was only inches away from his own.
"Listen geek, don't you come over here and disrespect us all" Tai said in a quiet voice that was as cold as ice.
Koushiro stared back into Tai's angry brown eyes, rather stunned at how vicious the response to his comment had been. He didn't know what to say. He knew he had been disrespectful to all of them, but he felt angry at the type of friends they had been to him. He felt he had a point he needed to put across to Tai.
"Oh yeah Tai, kiss ass to Sora like you always do, you're just pissed off at everyone cause she won't respond to your advances" Izzy said in a slightly joking tone, not knowing that he had just signed away his friends for life.
"That's it. We're sick of you acting sour all the time and expecting us to care enough to ask you what's wrong. We don't have to take this kinda shit from someone who we once called a friend. Piss off Izzy, we don't want to be friends with you any more".
And with that Tai let go of Koushiro's shirt collar and sat down. Koushiro stood there silent, feeling slightly stunned at what had just happened.
"You heard Tai Izzy, go away." Sora said in a superior, smirking tone.
He remained still for another moment, trying to take in what had just happened. He had cast away his only friends. He was alone now.
Without saying a word, he turned and slowly walked away, out of the cafeteria. Still slightly shocked, he didn't notice the senior that had threatened him earlier in the morning, walking straight towards him circled in a group of friends, all of them staring at Koushiro with evil smiles on their faces.
He was snapped back to reality when the senior slammed him up against one of the banks of lockers for the second time that day.
"Well well faggot, trying to escape?" The senior said in a slightly slurred voice.
Koushiro looked into the seniors glazed eyes, his heart thumped in his chest and he felt weak.
"Wha...what, I'm not escaping, I'm no faggot....." He said in a stressed tone, kicking himself mentally for forgetting about the senior and the rumour.
"Whatever, you look like a fuckin gay anyway, so shut up". " We hate queers, so we're gonna beat the gay out of you so we won't have to hate you" The senior said in a slightly smirking tone, and his jock posse behind him echoed his smirks with dulled laughter. "We'd do it now, but we got practice so you're gonna have to wait." And with that the group walked off, talking noisily, their conversation punctuated by the odd audible swear word and gay slang.
Koushiro closed his eyes and bit his lip, trying not to cry. He had just lost his friends, and had just found out he wouldn't leave here today without being sore again. He beat the lockers slightly with the backs of his fists, angry at himself for being so stupid. He really hated living, and started to think about finally finishing it all after school......
******
Well, there's part 3. I apologise for it, I believe it's far from believable or decent. I hope this part makes up for it.
******
Suffer so alone part 4
"BBBRRRRINGGGGGGG"
The harsh, sanitary sound of the school bell resonated through the classrooms at Odaiba high, jarring Koushiro out of his troubled thoughts back to reality.
"Right class, once you've copied the homework you can go" Said Koushiro's maths teacher in a loud booming voice.
Koushiro looked up at the lines and lines of homework they had, and reluctantly copied it down. He didn't want this school day to end. He was afraid. Afraid of the people who awaited him, afraid of what he might do when he got home. But destiny could not be averted much longer. He sullenly packed his books back into his bag, stood up, adjusted his uniform, and walked out of the classroom.
He silently fought his way through the bustling hallway to an exit, and walked out, onto the school grounds. He moved as one with the mass of people making their way to the front gate, looking around nervously, looking out for the seniors.
A hand grabbed the back of his shirt collar, jerking him back to reality, gagging as his shirt clutched at his throat. He was pulled to the side of the crowd, much to the annoyance of several students, and then dragged along to the other side of the classroom he had been travelling past. His eyes never met the face of the person, he was being dragged sideways, his mind driving at a thousand thoughts a second, and the reality of what was happening never hit him till he was shoved against the wall of the building.
He forced his eyes to look up. The senior who had initially confronted him was standing directly in front of him, his bulk emanating an aura of domination. He was flanked on either side by three other seniors, all of similar bulk, all with the same look of contempt and nieve justice inscribed on their faces.
"Caught ya" The head senior said flatly.
His words were simple. Koushiro expected more, but instead the senior drove his point home with a hard right punch to his stomach.
Koushiro retched, and crumpled to the ground, screeching faintly as he fought for breath. His mind raced again, he fought helplessly to get air, but he plainly heard what the senior said.
"Any teachers round?"
"No?"
"Sweet"
Koushiro's mind was unable to process what then happened. Kicks from three of the group bit viciously at his small form, but he did not feel them. His mind vacated itself to the point where all he felt was one long band of high frequency pain. His face was frozen in a look of horror and fear, showing no real time emotion. His eyes jerked with each kick, their form radiating the fear his face was showing.
The world moved on several metres away, fully cognisant of what was happening, but not stepping in. The crowd of students was punctuated with small gasps of horror as they saw what was happening. They slowed slightly, but kept moving, too shocked to think about interfering, their faces frozen as they took in the vicious kicks and evil grins lighting the faces of the seniors as they dealt their vigilante justice.
A few moments later, Tai and Sora walked past the point. Sora gasped and grabbed onto Tai's shirt
"Oh my god Tai, is that Izzy over there?" she asked faintly
Tai craned his neck slightly to see above her, and he was shocked to see how viciously savage the beating was that was taking place. His initial reaction was to run over and help, but he caught himself, remembering what had happened earlier
"Tai, we have to do something...." Sora said
"N....No Sora, remember he said he didn't want us as friends anymore.., and look at those seniors....the,..they'd pulverise us if we tried"
"What? We can just leave him there!" Sora said, horrified to hear what he was saying
"Just leave it Sora, we....I don't know, look, he said we were bad friends or something like that, he was rude to you and you know how he's been acting, so come on, just keep walking"
With that Tai took Sora's arm and firmly pulled her along. Sora looked back in despair, and locked eyes with Koushiro for a brief moment. She felt her heart retch as she saw the pain and disbelief in his eyes. Her eyes held his for a moment more, until she collided with the back of another student, forcing her to look away. As Tai pulled her further along she could not shake the memory of his eyes, she felt sick she hadn't stepped in.
******
The apartment door thumped against the plaster board wall, and Koushiro staggered through it to the hallway. He blindly grabbed for the door and knocked it closed, before collapsing into a shaking heap in the corner of the entrance and the left wall of the hallway. He closed his eyes tightly, grasped his torn, wet shirt with trembling hands, and huddled in the corner shaking, whimpering slightly. Through his shaken mind he could feel the cold of his sodden clothes against his bruised skin.
Shortly after the seniors had finished laying into him, leaving him as a bloodied and crumpled heap it had started to rain. He had remained where he had fallen, his only movement an unconscious whimpering, his anthracite eyes vacantly watching the falling rain, his mind emptied of thought. A time later he had woken up to what had happened, which spurred his emotions. He had staggered home, breathing in rasping spurts, each step shaking him up more, making him feel worse physically and mentally.
Now as he sat huddled in the corner, sobbing slightly, his emotions flooded back to him. He remained there, shaking and whimpering for several hours, while the world outside moved on and the light in the apartment faded.
"Tai, you're dinners getting cold, come to the table and eat honey"
Tai was shaken out of his thoughts by his mothers calling
"Uhh,...coming mom" he called in a voice, lightly tinged with uncertainty.
He could not shake the thoughts of what had happened that day. He could not quite believe how he had reacted to Koushiro earlier in the day, and he could not shake the image of his small form huddled on the ground, cowering in fear. He could not figure what had caused him to drag himself and Sora away from it, he could not believe he had left his friend....
Koushiro squinted as he turned on the bathroom light and walked in. He staggered to the fittment in front of the mirror, and propped himself up on the basins edge. He was still breathing in rasps, and he raised his eyes slightly to the image on the mirror. He cringed slightly when he saw his face. Both his eyes had deep black bruising circling them, and his left one was swollen to a purple slit. His nose was dark with dried blood and both nostrils were clogged with the stuff. His left cheek had a long, oval shaped bruise which was the colour of a ripe plum, the result of the only kick delivered to his face. It was by far the worst looking injury, and in conjunction with his mangled eye, the whole left side of his face was a swollen, purple blotch. His lips were cut and swollen in many places, thankfully all his teeth remained, although the front ones were stuck to his lips with dried blood from his haemorrhaged gums. He uttered a slightly humoured grunt. Oh how the teachers would react to this. His mind drifted on slightly further, and he was glad his parents were away for several more days, his mother would be horrified if she saw him..........
His mother.
He had known about the death of his real parents for some time now, but the mere thought of it still cut him up inside. He laughed slightly, then his lip began to quiver and he dropped down slowly to his knees, his eyes closed and brimming with tears. He coughed slightly, and then began to cry again. He abandoned his hold on the basins edge, and slumped down into a heap on the ground, his body racked with sobs as he thought of his parents, his friends, his life.......
"Tai, what's the matter?"
Tai shook his head slightly and came out of deep thought for the second time that evening.
"Nothings the matter Kari, I was just thinking about something..." Tai replied to his little sister, who was watching him with anxious eyes.
"Thinking about what Tai, has it got something to do with what you and Sora were arguing about when she called before?" Kari asked, referring to the tense conversation Tai had had with Sora, who had called, worried sick about Koushiro. Tai had tried to maintain the facade he had put up earlier, that Koushiro didn't deserve them as friends, and that he deserved what had been coming to him. But he didn't believe himself. He was aching inside for what he had done and witnessed with Koushiro, and after some deep thinking, it had become apparent to him that Koushiro may have been making a plea to them for help when he was angry and quiet. Tai knew that he was being bullied, he knew how he tried to cover up his anguish over his parents death, he knew that he needed his friends. Tai knew he had over reacted earlier, he knew he had lashed out as his friend, he knew he should have tried to help. Over the space of a few hours Tai came to realise that Koushiro was actually one of his best friends in a different sort of way, and he realised that he needed to see if his friend was ok, he needed to say he was sorry, and make things better.
"Kari, I have to go and see Izzy, I'll be back in a bit ok?"
"Sure Tai, say hi to him from me"
Tai huddled into his jacket as he ran through the driving wind and rain pelting down on the city to Koushiro's apartment block. They were quite close, so it was only a couple of minutes before Tai stood, shivering infront of the Izumi's apartment door.
He knocked heavily on the door and waited, moving back and forth as he tried to get warm. There was no answer so he knocked again. Still no answer. Tai was too cold to wait any longer, so he tried the handle, and was slightly surprised when the door opened. He stepped through the doorway and looked around the apartment, then closed the door behind him.
There were no lights on in the apartment, and it was as cold as it had been outside. Tai shivered, cleared his throat and called Koushiro's name. There was no answer, but Tai thought he heard a shuffling somewhere in the dark. He slowly walked further into the apartment, checking each room as he went. He came to the bathroom, pushed open the door and felt for the lightswitch.
"Do..don't turn on the light, please, tai, don't" A shaky voice said from the dark
"Izzy, whats...why...umm, Izzy, I don't know what to say...." Tai blurted out, not exactly sure what to say first.
"I..i thought you hated me..." Koushiro whispered, before the tears got to him again, and the darkness was punctuated by a choked sobbing"
"Man Izzy, I don't know what to say......I'm so sorry...." Tai whispered in reply, with tears beginning to well in his eyes.
Koushiro made no reply to this, the only sound was a gentle sobbing. Tai's eyes had become adjusted to the dark, and he could make out a shape, hunched up on the floor, shaking slightly.
"Wh..why can't I turn on the light?" He asked softly
"Because you can't, jus..just don't, please"
Tai stepped forward into the room a bit, and suddenly grabbed onto the doorframe as his foot slipped out from, under him. He stepped forward gingerly, and lifted his left foot slightly. It felt gluggy, as it he had stepped in something more than water. He bent down and touched the liquid...it definitely wasn't water.... He raised his hand up to his face and rubbed his fingers together....
"What the..." He whispered absently, as he smelt the liquid...
He stepped back slightly, and fumbled for the light switch, ignoring Koushiro's earlier request.
He found it, and flicked it on. The fluorescent tube flickered several times, and Tai gasped at what he saw in the strobe like effect.......
******
Well there you go! I hope that wasn't too bad. I was going to make this a long and very eventful part, but I thought a little more suspense might help. I once again apologise for the very long delay for this part, and I promise you part 5 will be out much faster. Thankyou for reading this, please review it, and I must say a big thankyou to all those people who reviewed my other stories and said they couldn't wait for this part, I hope you all got to read it, and I hope the rest of the series is worth the wait I made you endure. I also suggest you read the latest fanfic of my pal Genevieve, which should be out soon, and is called congratulations. Before you do so I suggest you read her 'week at the kamiya' series though, cause all her pieces are linked.
Thanks again for waiting so patiently for this piece, and I promise part 5 will be here soon.
