The man in front of him could have been a figure out of his worst nightmares. Well, he actually was and now he knew his nightmares had been reality.
"Your wounds from our last encounter healed quite nicely. Very good."
The dark haired man nodded his head in approval.
"So you're up for another round?"
He grinned at a shaking Shuichi beneath him.
"Aw common don't be scared. It's already the third time you should be used to it by now."
He knelt in front of Shuichi slowly peeling of the layers of clothing. In a matter of seconds Shuichi sat only in his boxers and his open shirt on the cold tiles. He shivered violently. His wide eyes were fixed on the man in front of him unable to move away from him. He had tried that already the other times and only ended up getting beaten to a bloody pulp. Slowly he managed to stammer some words out.
"Why...why are you doing this to me.....Aizawa?"
As soon as he had called the man by his name a fist collided with his face. Pain exploded around him and he could feel blood trickle from his mouth and nose slowly running down his chin dripping on his exposed chest.
"Don't you ever say my name again. I told you you're not allowed to. I don't want you to say it to anybody. It's our little secret between you and me."
His eyes seemed to soften a bit as he looked at a frightened Shuichi.
"No names, okay?! It's just you and me."
He slowly proceeded to caress Shuichi's smooth cheek.
"You don't need to be afraid. He can't hurt you anymore."
Confusion spread over Shuichis face.
'What is he talking about? He couldn't mean Yuki, or?!'
He focused his attention back on Aizawa just in time to see the other man leaning in to kiss him.
"Come let me kiss away your pain."
"No.No. NO. Get away from me!"
Shuichi leashed out trying scramble away from him. He didn't want to be kissed by Aizawa. He could still taste Yuki's kiss on his lips. Aizawa couldn't take this away from him. Before he could reach the other side of the room he received a quick kick in his mid section which brought him to the floor in an instant. Rough hands pulled his head up by his hair and he could feel Aizawas breath at his ear.
"You little whore where are you trying to go? We are not done yet." He hissed into Shuichi's ear.
"We didn't even get started yet." He added seductively.
And then his hands were all over Shuichi. Aizawa pressed him on his back pinning him with his upper body strength to the ground.
"You don't want it gently?! Okay, you can have it the rough way. Struggle all you want. Nobody is coming to your rescue anyway. Who would want a used dirty little whore like you anyway?"
Aizawa licked the skin beneath him with his tongue then biting the sensitive skin at the neck.
"Ts ts ts, what your precious lover would say if he could see you in this position?"
He tried to get Shuichi to look into his eyes but Shuichi tried to look everywhere but him.
"Look at me damnit. Know what he would be?"
He hold Shuichi's chin in a hard grip and grinned maliciously at him.
"He would be disgusted with you and then he would turn his back on you like he did so often before. Face it that's how you ended up in my arms before."
Just as he started to kiss Shuichi's skin again he could hear the pink haired man choke out: "He won't. He won't leave me. I believe in him."
That's when Aizawa lost it. From then on everything was a blur of kicks and punches. His whole body ached and he could feel blood running down his head. Shuichi didn't try to defend himself any longer. There was no way he had the strength anymore. His being just crawled back into the black little hole of his mind trying to shut out what was happening to him - again.
Finally the beating stopped and he could feel the loss of clothes as Aizawa ripped his boxers off to get his final sick pleasure out of him.
'So that is it.'
Shuichi let himself fall into blackness trying to escape Aizawas prodding fingers running all over his body. He waited for the sudden pain to come for the intrusion into his frail body but it never came.
It was cold.
Shuichi began to shiver violently. He curled up into a tight ball slipping into unconsciousness slowly. Somewhere close fighting and mad voices could be heard. But he didn't care anymore. Shuichi just wanted everything to stop and go to sleep.
******
As Yuki had entered the bathroom he couldn't believe what he saw. The first thing what came to his mind where the memories as he was an innocent boy trusting his teacher who sold him for ten lousy bucks. It was like a flashback just it wasn't the man he had trusted back then hovering over the small body and not him who lay beneath the black clad figure breathing heavily. He knew the man.
It was Aizawa Tachi. Lead singer of ASK.
The same who had violated Shuichi before and was just about to take him again. But that wouldn't happen. Not over his dead body. Coming out of his shock Yuki paced over to the man and ripped him away from Shuichi who remained unmoving on the ground covered in bruises and blood. Probably it was just too much to take for Yuki. His own memories and having to see Shuichi in this kind of situation made him snap and with a mad yell he started to kick and punch at Aizawa in a blind rage. The surprised Aizawa turned into defending himself taunting Yuki all along.
"What do you want, Yuki Eiri? You didn't want him remember? You threw him away like trash."
Yuki flinched at his words but didn't back down. A mad grin crawled up Aizawas face.
"Know what? He tasted like strawberries. Maybe you should go and look, maybe there's something left for you."
"SHUT UP."
Yuki screamed and delivered a blow that was followed by a sickening crack. Just then Ryuichi and Tohma showed up taking in the situation with horror on their faces. Yuki was still kicking Aizawa and it took awhile until Tohma managed to get through to Yuki.
"Eiri snap out of it. You have to take care of Shuichi. Are you listening?!"
He shook the other blond before Yuki settled his wild gaze on the smaller man.
"Shuichi?!"
A sick feeling hit Yuki as reality hit him. Shuichi had almost been raped by Aizawa.
'Oh god, oh god what am I gonna do?'
He ran his hands through his hair and walked over to Shuichi in a kind of trance dropping onto his knees beside him. He carefully lifted the small body up into his arms.
"Shu...Can you hear me?"
Yuki touched his lovers bloody cheek but didn't get an answer only a soft moan.
"Shu? Please open you eyes. Talk to me. Please."
Yuki felt his heart clench painfully seeing his love laying helplessly in his arms. Something wet made his way down his cheek as he buried his face in the crook of his lovers neck.
******
Something wet tickled his neck. Shuichi struggled to open his eyes. It was difficult since his eye lids felt so heavy. His body hurt a lot and he felt kind of dizzy. A body was pressed to him with a familiar smell. As he managed to open his eyes a little he could see blonde hair.
"Yuki?" He whispered.
Instantly the blondes head jerked up starring unbelievingly down at him.
"Shu...?"
"Don't cry!"
Shuichi couldn't stand seeing Yuki sad and like on reflex tried to cheer him up.
"Hey, you know that's my job - being emotional."
He tried to give Yuki a smile but failed miserably. It hurt too much.
"Sorry."
Yuki shook his head and gently caressed his cheek.
"No. It's not your fault. I should have been with you to protect you and I wasn't. All my fault but not yours."
New tears began to fall from his eyes.
"It's okay, Yuki. Don't cry. It'll be alright."
Gently he wiped Yuki's tears away. Yuki couldn't help but wonder how this frail little person could possess so much strength. Where he had been broken Shuichi tried to assure him that everything would be okay.
'I should assure him not the other way round. He needs my strength now. I have to be strong for him.'
"Yuki?"
Shuichi had trouble to keep his eyes open. The darkness was calling him.
"Can you promise me something?"
Confusion spread over Yuki's face but quickly changed into determination. He took Shuichi's hand in his and answered.
"Everything."
Shuichi managed a small smile.
"No, just this would be enough."
Yuki nodded.
"I want you to come to my concert. I want you to hear me sing."
Yuki frowned. It couldn't be that Shuichi was surely considering giving the Christmas concert being in the state he was in. Shuichi somehow sensed what Yuki was thinking. He gripped the older mans hand.
"I will sing." He said determined. "And I want you to be there. I need you there with me."
He pleadingly looked up to Yuki who could feel his heart melt at those trusting blue eyes.
"Alright, Shu. I'll be there."
"Promise?"
Yuki smiled.
"Promise."
Giving him a small kiss on the tip of his nose. The last conscious thought Shuichi had was that he liked Yuki's smile. Yuki could feel his lover slip back into darkness and whispered in his hear hoping he would still hear it.
"I'll be strong for you."
******
In the meanwhile Tohma had taken care of Aizawa and had him taken out by guards to be looked up in an office. Tohma wanted to talk to him himself and he felt it safer to keep Aizawa out of Yuki's reach. Although it was more to Yuki's sake than Aizawas.
As he entered the room again he saw a strange look on Ryuichi's face who stood quietly in a corner of the bathroom watching Yuki cradling Shuichi in his arms. He seemed lost in thought. It was unnerving. Tohma prefered his long time friend as the cheerful person he usually dealt with. The sorrowful expression almost like pain felt wrong to be seen on Ryuichi's normally smiling face.
But he had to take care of that later. Yuki and Shuichi were more important right now. He walked over to where Yuki was kneeling with Shuichi's body close to him whispering to the smaller man. The sight of Shuichi almost made him vomit. The singers body showed a wild picture of blue and purple bruises with blood smeared over it. His hair wasn't pink anymore but changed into a dark reddish purplish color. There were marks on his neck and chest. His earlier white shirt was drenched in crimson blood sticking to the open cuts on his body. Tohma couldn't tell if something was broken he just hoped it wasn't as bad as it looked. He took a deep breath calling out to Ryuichi over his shoulder softly.
"Ryuichi, can you please get a car ready waiting at the back door? We'll be there shortly."
Ryuichi didn't answer but Tohma could hear his retreating steps. Now he was left to deal with Yuki and he had a feeling of what was going through him. The situation was all too familiar. Carefully he settled himself next to the blonde man. He needed to take Shuichi to a hospital quickly but one wrong move and he would find himself smashed into the next wall. He knew that Yuki could be very violent. Quietly he began to talk.
"It's alright Eiri. Shuichi is safe now. You can let him go."
Instantly Yuki shot a furious glare at him.
"Nothing is alright. If it was he wouldn't be laying in his own blood now."
Yuki shook his head hiding his eyes behind his bangs.
"God, I'm just so stupid. I should have known something like that would happen."
"That's not true. How can you expect him to try to hurt Shuichi again after all this time?"
Yuki sighed bitterly.
"Because he promised back then he would find something to hurt us. Both of us. And he managed just fine. If I wouldn't have been so selfish and careless he would have never gotten the chance to get him."
"Yuki, listen to me. You can't change what already happened. Right now only Shuichi is important and he needs medical help."
Hearing Tohma's words Yuki snapped back to reality. For a moment all he could feel was endless pain but Tohmas words made him focus on what was really important. Shuichi. He was hurt badly because of him. Pushing the pain back he took off his suit jacket wrapping Shuichi carefully in it. His lover was still unconscious as they proceeded down the halls to where Ryuichi was waiting.
******
The hospital was quiet with empty floors beside a nurse checking up on patients from time to time. The three had been waiting for about an hour now for some news of the doctors. As soon as they had entered the hospital Shuichi had been taken care of thanks to a call Tohma made while driving to the hospital. The time spent waiting seemed to stretch for hours. None of them uttering a word. All of them were lost in their own thoughts.
Ryuichi was huddled in a chair clutching Kumagoro to his chest caressing his soft plush fur. He seemed to starring into nothing almost as if he was in another place.
Yuki was now standing at the window after endless cups of coffee and pacing the floor making everybody even more nervous. He looked pale and his hands shook slightly. He needed a cigarette badly but he didn't want to go outside for he could miss the doctors telling them about Shuichi's condition.
Tohma's gaze traveled once again towards the room where Shuichi was in. Thousand things were going through his mind. He couldn't believe how it could happen. Mika and him had planned through everything to take care of Eiri and Shuichi.
'Damn, I failed.'
Tohma buried his head in his hands. Something like that wasn't supposed to happen. He had known that there were some sick people out there craving Shuichi and Yuki but he thought he had taken enough precautions. Ryuichi had been looking over Shuichi as well as other guards from NG. Then in January Bad Luck would have been going to America and he had hoped that Yuki would make a deal with Ryan Springer leaving Japan as well for a couple of weeks.
Maybe he had been wrong about how to deal with their safety. Doubts kept bothering Tohma. He had thought it would be best to protect both Shuichi and Yuki. Shuichi was as carefree and innocent as Ryuichi appeared but on the contrary to him he knew nothing yet about the life of a famous idol. The harassment, groupies, the paparazzi and crazy fans.
And Yuki.
Tohma hadn't thought that Yuki would actually care what happened to him so Tohma kept looking out for him as usual. Tohma sighed once more.
'I guess I should call Mika.'
******
After another half an hour waiting a nurse came out giving them the details of Shuichi's condition.
"Well, you see Shindou-san was quite lucky. He has a lot of bruises, cuts and his rips received some minor damage. Due to the wound on his head he'll probably have a headache for a day or so but we gave him pain killers and he will be alright. We would like to keep him here until he wakes up. He will be very exhausted but other than that he will be okay."
Yuki raised an eyebrow at that making the nurse nervous. She hastily explained.
"You see you luckily intervened pretty quickly. So there are no internal wounds. Another question although is his mind. It could be that he'll need psychotic attention because of his rape some time ago...--"
"WHAT?!"
Yuki stared at her in shock. The nurse seemed uncomfortable.
"I supposed you knew that Shindou-san already had been victim to rape before. The action was carried through back then."
The nurse fell quiet not knowing what else to say. The tall blonde man looked like he would start screaming any second. She could almost see the anger swell up in him. Yuki was ready to explode.
"DAMN!!! That dirty bastard!"
He wiped in one swift motion medical supplies of a small table beside him. The tools fell down clattering on the floor attracting the hospital guards. Tohma snapped out of his shocked state as well as Ryuichi at Yuki's outburst. The former one tried to calm Yuki.
"Please Yuki, calm down. I gave orders to take care of Aizawa. I...--"
"What? Like you did back then when he attacked Shuichi the first time? Very well done Tohma." Came the sarcastic answer.
A look of hurt crossed the smaller man's face but he caught himself quick enough. But before he could reply anything Yuki stormed off.
"Yuki wait!!! Where are you going? What about Shuichi?"
Panic crept up in him, he was loosing control of the situation and he certainly didn't like that. Yuki stopped in mid-movement. Not turning around he said cooly.
"I'll take care of him myself. Nobody's going to hurt Shuichi ever again."
And with that he left.
Tohma starred after him flabbergasted. This night was getting worse and worse. He turned around to Ryuichi only to find him gone.
"He's with your friend." Came a shy voice right next to him.
A young nurse smiled at him pointing towards the room Shuichi was in.
"Thank you."
She nodded and headed off. Tohma sighed and walked back to the seats lined up at the wall. He should call the others now, they were probably anxious to hear what happened. He just didn't know what he should tell them or better how.
*****************************************************
One more. I'm almost done. ^_^ Tell me how you like it. I appreciate criticism.