A/N: I know you guys are probably gonna kill me if I started with all the replies and stuff, so I'll post them separately. Hope you like the ending!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

xxx

Chapter Eight: To Love the Hated

Ikhny watched Hiead's face with worry. Worry that he did not feel the same, worry that he thought her to be stupid, worry that he thought her words to be meaningless. She waited for his answer anxiously and wringed her hands nervously. What if he rejected her? What if he just turned and walked away? What if…

Hiead simply watched her squirm in nervousness as his hand rubbed the back of his head where the textbook had collided with his head. His face revealed nothing. His crimson eyes were blank as he stood unmoving. He had been thrown away too many times like an object. He had once been capable of human emotions, but that was a long time ago; a very long time ago, when he was still vulnerable to the cruel world and unable to comprehend human nature. No, he refused to be hurt again. He had already felt what it was like to be forsaken, unwanted…rejected. To be treated like dirt, like a…thing. An object. Something easily thrown away, easily discarded…easily forgotten. He dug his fingernails into his palms until he felt them pierce his skin. Blood dripped down the sides of his hands, but he paid no attention to it. This so-called love of hers had to stop.

Now.

"Leave."

He watched her browns knit together in confusion as she processed what he had just said. Slowly, the lowered her head.

"Okay…I'll be in the hanger if you need—"

"No, you don't understand. I never want to see you…ever again."

His crimson eyes watched as tears formed along her eyelashes. Hurt flashed across her eyes as pain distorted her features.

"But…Why?"

He smirked. "Do you really want to know, oh you naïve little girl?"

"Y-yes. I want-no-I need to know."

Hiead smirked at her.

"Because I. Hate. You."

Those words hung dramatically in the air. A moment of calmness passed through the room. In silence, Hiead watched as a single tear trailed down her porcelain cheek as she looked back at her partner. Her so-called "partner."

Randomly, the silver-haired boy felt a bitter twinge in his chest. /What have I done?/

xxx

A sob escaped Ikhny's throat as she tried to compose herself. How could one person have the power to crush her like he did? Yes, she had never been a strong girl-she was the weakest of her family but still, she was not easily broken. And yet here stood one boy-no-one man, who held at his fingertips the power to crush her. To crush her very spirit and her will to live. She was not suicidal, but she was easily depressed. Easily depressed to the point of insanity.

But there was something in her that refused to give up the fight. There was something inside of her that said Hiead was lying. Lying to her so he himself would not hurt. So he himself would not feel the pain of being rejected by another person. There was a kind Hiead as she had remembered-the Hiead that opened himself to her once in that broom closet their future children locked them in…the Hiead that carried her to the medical wing when she'd fainted after seeing Simon. There was still some good inside of him. There had to be…

"I don't believe you."

Crimson eyes snapped to her face and he growled. "So you're calling me a liar?"

Ikhny took a step forward. "Hiead, I know you. You aren't the cold-hearted person that everything thinks you are. You were my partner, my idol…someone that I could put my faith and trust into. You're the person I care most about…the person I'd die for if in a heartbeat…the only person I've ever given my love to. That's you, Hiead Gner. Stop pushing me away, please. Stop pushing everyone away. Can't you see? Anyone here on GOA would gladly give their lives for you, but you keep pushing them back! Each and every one of them has tried to be nice to you, have tried to befriend you, and all you do is push them back! You keep pushing us away, Hiead. Please, stop it. Let us in. We care about you. Please…"

He looked at her mockingly and laughed.

It was a cruel, harsh laugh that chilled her to the bone. It was almost as if there was no human there…as if what little humanity in the cold-hearted candidate had suddenly disappeared.

"Do you really think that you excruciatingly long speech would change my answer? Do you really think you're that special to me? Well you were wrong, Allecto, you mean NOTHING to me. Not a single bit. Don't try fooling me with your lies-they won't work."

"But that's not true! I'm not lying!"

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" he roared. "Do you really expect me to believe that you of all people would love me? Ha, what a joke. Weren't you the one who was supposed to be hitched and pregnant by now? Weren't you the one who was selfish enough to runaway from home to another place, worrying them half to death? Weren't you the one who complained endlessly about me? Weren't you the one who always glanced at Kizna jealously?" He let out a cruel laugh. "What's the matter, Allecto, can't find someone to love you!"

"STOP IT!"

Her hand connected with his perfect face, throwing it sideways. The noise echoed throughout the room. Simon and Melanie looked on with widened eyes. "Wow…go Mom…" whispered Simon. Melanie nodded. "I think we'd better leave, Mel. It's between them now. We can't do anything more."

Slowly, the older boy led his little sister away from the fighting pair. Melanie didn't need to see this. She didn't need to see her father destroy her mother.

xxx

Ikhny took a step back. And then another as soon as she realized what she had done. She knew very well the outcome of her actions. Slapping plus Hiead's temper equals death. Pain. She closed quickly turned around and ran.

...Except for the fact that something caught her wrist and forced her to whip back around to face her attacker.

Before she could even comprehend the fact that she had been caught, soft lips brushed lightly against her own. Her captured hand that was once resisting fell limp in Hiead's strong grip. She felt his grip lessen and her other wrist suddenly being held gently. Long, almost aristocratic fingers stroked the backs of her hands as the silver-haired boy's lips caressed her own.

"What in the nine levels of the Inferno am I doing?" Hiead wondered to himself before his mind went blank. The last coherent thought he had was that fact that kissing Ikhny felt damn good.

She started to wake from her stupor and kiss him-shyly and innocently-back, only to feel him stop. A thought pierced had through like an arrow through all the confusion. His heart twisted with guilt as he remembered the way he had hurt her-the way he had dismissed her feelings. He felt it burn inside of him like a raging hurricane, trying to overwhelm him. This ephemeral feeling had to stop. It was too much. Too much emotion.

It had to stop.

Now.

"Stop."

Hiead withdrew from her and felt a wave of masculine pride as he saw her appearance-half-lidded eyes, swollen lips…he had done that. He took a deep breath and tried to regain his senses. It took a while for him to register that she was saying something.

"Why?"

He looked back at her blankly. Such a simple question, yet such a complicated answer. He didn't even know the reason why he did what he did. It was random, out of place-impulsive. Needy. Something that he would have never done…

Then why did he do it?

He stole another glance at the teen before him, eyes full of confusion.

And suddenly, he knew the answer.

She was breaking his walls.

She was melting him.

She made him feel wanted after such a long time.

Such a very long time. He was deprived of human emotions and she put them back. She put him back together.

"Because you're you….I-I'm sorry."

He couldn't say anything more. He didn't know what else to say.

He glanced back at her and saw a sad smile grace her lips. A sudden pang went through his heart. Wasn't she supposed to hate him now, after all he had put her through? Throw a few punches at him? Get back at him for everything?

"Well? Aren't you supposed to hit me and say that you hate me?" he asked, confused.

Ikhny shook her head and kept the small, sad smile on her face.

"Ikhny? Why?"

She smiled sweetly at me as Hiead's hands dropped back to his sides.

"Because I love you, and nothing can ever change that."

xxx

A/N: THE END! AWWWW! MASSIVE FLUFFY ANGST STUFF! There is an epilogue that will talk about Simon and Melanie, but that won't be up for a while…I've got like, seven tests next week! Arg! Wish me luck! Thank you to everyone who have stuck with me through this story! To pass the time, go read Artificial Intelligence. It's not like Stephen Speilburg's movie-it won't be that sad. I'm tempted to stick more fluff in it, but it's mostly Hiead's past. Haha…I'm having fun with it. Shoos everyone away to read it Lol! Thanks again, and see you soon!