Disclaimer: I do not own HYD or any of its characters, but if I did I would be one happy woman.

Chapter 10: Life gets a little more complicated

My legs were moving, but I wasn't in control of where I was going. When I finally stopped I looked around at my surroundings. I was in the stairwell. Why was it that whenever I was sad, happy, or angry I always came back here? I leaned against the railing and screamed, "Bastard, Doumyouji! Don't care about other people's feelings. I All that matters is yourself!"

"Yo," I heard a voice mumble from behind me.

"Aaaahhhh!" I screamed feeling my heart jump into my throat. I fell backwards and a pair of arms caught me. I turned around and froze at the sight of a ghost. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing correctly. "Hanazaw Rui.."

"Why do I always finding you screaming at Tsukasa up here?" Hanazawa Rui laughed.

I looked at him in shock. Millions of questions flooded my head. I was at a loss of words seeing him in the flesh.

"How? What the? Why are?" I stuttered.

A smile broke out on my face. A sudden impulse propelled my body forward jumping into his arms. He stood completely still with his arms to his side and I just wrapped my arms around him. He always showed up when I needed him the most. Regaining consciousness I organized my thoughts. "What are you doing back here? Is Shizuka with you?"

He looked at me with those mesmerizing eyes and just smiled and patted my head. "No, Shizuka is still in France."

"What happened?" My heart sank at the thought that he had returned once again rejected by Shizuka. He pushed me away from his body. With a tired face he plopped down in his usual spot on the first step.

His face became somber, but there was a carefree ease in his words. He released a heavy sigh before saying, "She doesn't need me. There's nothing left for us, I left her." With those words he let out a little bitter smile.

I looked at him with utter dismay. How could he be so casual? Wasn't he the same person who left everything for the woman he loved. Now he was returning home alone? I was beginning to feel very annoyed and aggravated by his attitude. He left her once, but went back to her again by his own will and determination to have things work. The only conclusion I could come to for his return was that same reason he left her the first time, he was selfish. He wanted her all to himself. He and Doumyouji did have more in common than I realized. Thinking about Doumyouji I quickly remembered why I was so angry a few moments ago.

"I don't understand. Hanazawa Rui you are an idiot just like Doumyouji with your jealousy! Shizuka loves you, but she has to have her own life, too. Can't you just believe in the one person you love?!"

His face turned dark very quickly. He looked at me with that familiar look. It was that came look that frightened me at times. He bore his eyes right into mine. "Don't talk about things you don't understand," he said in a raised voice.

I could sense the misunderstanding in my words. I backed away frightened by the tone in his voice. It was rare I ever heard anger in his voice. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just angry at Doumyouji. I didn't mean to take out my anger on you." I shook my head in confusion.

His face relaxed. He looked at me with those same caring eyes. He walked away and jumped up onto the railing and looked out into the scenery. I followed him and sat down next to him looking down at how vast and small everything far way looked. Hanazawa Rui leaned in closer to me letting me feel the comfort his warm body against mine. We sat there each quietly thinking about what brought us together at this moment. We each had our own and problems to deal with. It was better to have company along the way.

"Hanzawa Rui, do the others know you are back?"

"No. Don't tell them I'm back yet. I don't want to explain yet."

"Oh, Ok." I murmured under the breath. Once again we were lost in our own thoughts sorting out the confusion that clouded our lives. As we sat there in perfect silence, I couldn't help but think about what Hanazawa Rui's return would mean for all of us. It had been so long since we had last seen each other. I couldn't deny the fact that the second I realized it was him my heart did skip a beat, but he always had that affect on me. I took a deep sigh and stretched my arms in the air. Suddenly the silence was rudely broken by a long moan from the sky. The clouds swirled madly in circles signaling an impending storm. Life would just get a little more complicated.

************ Hanazawa Rui left school unnoticed. I watched him quietly jump down from the railing and walk down the stairs. With his baseball cap on and a lowered head, he was able to walk inconspicuously through crowds of students running through the walkways trying to escape the droplets of rain that had begun to fall. It amazed me how easy it was for him to be lost in the crowd. If it were any of the others in F4 they would have been spotted out of a crowd easily with their rich boy superior attitudes. Hanazawa Rui was different, he could blend into his surroundings as the silent observer of the world. He was the type of person who preferred to study people's actions rather than be a part of them. It was his role as a spectator in the world that gave him his insight to look right through me and know what was wrong.

Walking through the hallway a group of boys ran past me pushing me into the side against the wall. I looked up and watched them jumping and hollering. This can't be good. My mind raced back to that same familiar sound. I looked around at my surroundings. It was eerily quiet. The students seemed to have their senses on alert at the moment. Something was going on and it could be only one thing. Someone had been red-tagged. I wondered who the poor unlucky person could be to have been red-tagged. I walked down the hall closer to the growing crowds forming to watch the public humiliation taking place at the side of the building. I walked closer and pushing through the crowds to see who the poor unlucky soul could be.

The gang of F4 followers had already assembled. They were the usual bullies who followed every order F4 barked at them. They were nothing more than puppets who couldn't act or say anything without the guidance of Doumyouji. I looked to the distance and could see Doumyouji standing from a window. He was staring down at the scene of the beating with that look in his eyes, he wanted whoever that was dead. Next to him were Akira and Soujiro with downcast eyes. They seemed a little uneasy. That was strange wince they usually reveled in the torture of their victims. As I pushed through the crowds, I looked down at the ground.

Laying on the ground was a boy his face was covered in blood and mud. His face was badly bruised as well as his arms. He lay there breathing heavily convulsing as each member of the gang took turns kicking him. With each kick I could see his face wince in pain. He didn't try to get up, but just lay there as if he were pretending to be dead. Every few kicks a dark red spurt of blood would spout from his mouth staining the green grass. I looked to the side of the crowd and noticed Fujio and Jin watching silently. It must have been their first encounter with a red-tagging. I wondered if they had been informed beforehand about the way things worked around Eitoku. I could see the look of horror in their eyes, but at the same time there was a fiery anger in them. They seemed as if they were restraining themselves. Jin moved forward a step about to run in and try to break it up, but Fujio put his arm out blocking him from moving forward. I sighed in relief that he was stopped from interfering. There were repercussions that I had already learned from interfering in another's red- tagging.

As I watched in horror the brutal beating continue. I looked towards the muddy ground around him. Something shiny was glimmering underneath all the messy grime caught my eye. I stepped forward a little to examine it closer. It was a green stone. In horror, I felt a scream rise in my throat. "HARU!"

I ran towards Jin and Fujio in panic. "What happened?! Why don't you help him?!"

Jin and Fujio kept their eyes intently set on what was going on. They didn't even acknowledge I was standing there for a few moments. Still looking at the scene Jin solemnly replied, "We don't know. After our last class we went back to our lockers. Haru opened his and found this."

He passed a tiny red slip of paper to me. I looked down at the red tag. I don't understand how could he have gotten one. Doumyouji wouldn't. He didn't do anything.

"Haru told us not to interfere. He said he would deal with this in his own way. We have to respect his wishes," Fujio said in a low voice.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I looked up towards where F3 stood and ran out into a clearing screaming at them to get their attention. "Doumyouji! Stop this! You have to end this now!"

He looked down at me with a blank expression. I knew he could hear me. He looked directly at me and said nothing. He just turned around and walked away. I ran forward and without thinking jumped on top of Haru's limp body on the ground taking the final hard kick from one of the boys. It hit me hard knocking the wind out of me. I felt my insides revolt in pain.

"You hit Doumyouji's girlfriend!" one boy yelled with fear in his voice.

The boy who had so violently thrust his foot into me trembled. "Let's get out of here before he finds out!"

With as much energy as they had taken to brutalize Haru they ran as fast as they could. They scattered through the crowds parting ways to find a somewhere to hide from Doumyouji's backlash.

I looked down at Haru's face in front of mine. "Why didn't you fight back?" I whispered with hot tears streaming down my face washing away the blood flowing out from the gash in the side of his head. I looked around for any signs of help, but the crowd of spectators had already disseminated. The only ones left were Haru, Fujio, Jin and me. Haru reached his trembling hand to my face and pushed a strand of hair from my face. "Don't cry." he murmured between coughs of blood and let out a faint smile.

Fujio pulled Haru off the ground and sat him up. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around Haru's arm that had a long flow of warm blood dripping down it to apply pressure to the cut. I knelt down beside him and picked up his jade necklace and placed it in my pocket to give it back to him later.

"Get up!" a voice called from behind me. I swung around and saw Doumyouji standing there with his arms folded across his chest. Akira and Soujiro stood behind him and off to the side.

"Tsukasa! Enough of this. We don't even understand why you did this," Soujiro yelled towards him. "Stay out of this!" Doumyouji bellowed.

"Fine. If you won't listen to us, then we want nothing to do with it," Akira replied.

Soujiro and Akira walked over to Fujio and Jin with apologizing looks on their faces not understanding why their friend had ordered the red tag.

I stood up to Doumyouji with a burning hatred inside of me. "Why did you do this?! What did he do to you to deserve this?!" I shrilly screamed at the top of my lungs.

He remained unmoved. With a low calm voice he answered, "You told me to trust you and I listened. I was a fool to believe you. You betrayed me you bitch! I saw you two before at the emergency stairs. I saw you two hugging and talking. How could you do this to me? You are nothing compared to me and you betray me! You're nothing more than a cheap whore!"

I stared at him in disbelief. "What are you talking about?! I was never there with Haru!" It finally struck me. Those words, 'I don't like him staring at you'. I remembered the jealousy in his voice showing his growing dislike for Haru. He had seen us, but it wasn't who he thought it was. It was Hanazawa Rui he saw me with not Haru. He must have thought it was Haru.

"You saw me before, but it wasn't Haru! It was Hanazawa Rui I was talking to. He came back and I was just hugging him because I was so happy he came back. I'm telling you the truth!" I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pressed Hanazawa Rui's number. "Here! He'll tell you he came back!" I could hear the sound of Rui saying 'hello'.

Doumyouji stared at the phone I held out in front of him. He reached his hand out to grab it, but knocked it away letting it fall to the ground with a thud. "I won't listen to anymore of your lies! Don't speak to me ever again! All of this is your fault. You betrayed me and this is what happens. I don't understand why you do this to me. Whenever I'm around you I can't control myself. I lose control."

He grabbed me and began to violently shake me. He pushed my up against the wall bearing all his weight against me. I looked at him in fear with those wild eyes and that strained voice.

"This is all your fault!" He raised his hand raise and I watched it come straight towards my face at full force. I closed my eyes cringing at the impending blow.

"Let go of her!" a deep voice yelled.

I opened my eyes and looked up. Haru had run over and grabbed Doumyouji's arm before he could swing it down towards me. After that beating I was amazed Haru could hold back Doumyouji let alone stand. He stumbled between us and covered me from him and pushed Doumyouji away. "I hate men who do that." Haru mumbled.

He lunged forward at a surprised Doumyouji and threw a punch at him sending him staggering backwards. Doumyouji's face turned wild. He ran towards Haru barreling into him . They returned blows back and forth refusing to fall to the other. Rain began to fall harder making the ground more muddy and slippery. They slid towards each other stumbling to stay balanced. Before long Doumyouji's face was bruised and beginning to swell. He wiped the blood from his mouth on his sleeve and staggered forth for more.

"Haven't you had enough or would you like me to send you to be with your mother?!" Doumyouji sneered.

Haru's face went wild. His eyes widened and he lunged forward like a feral animal. Knocking Doumyouji to the ground, he stood over him. From his pocket he drew something out. He flicked his wrist and a clean shiny blade popped out. He tightened his grip around the handle of his blade and slowly moved forward for the final kill.

"Don't Haru!" I screamed. I ran forward and stood in front of Doumyouji blocking him with my arms out. "Don't do anything you will regret." Haru could not pull himself back fast enough. Blood dripped from the blade onto his hand.

I grabbed my arm in pain. At first a small amount came out, but soon I watched the heavy flow of crimson blood slowly burst forth and run down my arm dripping to the ground from my fingertips. My arm went limp.

From behind Doumyouji, Soujiro and Akira picked him up and pulled him away. Fujio and Jin followed in suit and took hold of Haru. The two fighters stood apart breathing heavily and barely able to stand. I stood between the two groups in the middle trying to create a barrier.

"Tsukushi!" Haru and Doumyouji both yelled out.

Akira threw my phone back at me and nodded his head to the side. Running towards us he came to a stop at the bloody scene.

Doumyouji looked up with his swollen and bruised face. His face went dead in shock. "Rui..."