Hitomi crawled onto Van's roof slowly and cautiously. She almost fell and jarred herself badly. Letting out a moan of pain, she kept crawling. She was about to open the window, when Van opened it from the inside. Watching her intently, he grabbed her arm and helped her in so she didn't fall. Once inside Van's room, she paused and wavered on her feet. The stars outside the window moved back and forth and Hitomi closed her eyes and tried to steady herself.

"Hitomi?" Van asked as he put his hands on her shoulders to brace her. "Are you alright?"

She didn't even pretend with him this time. Shaking her head, Hitomi walked waveringly towards Van's bed. He followed her, keeping one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist to keep her steady. She patted his hand absently and turned around and smiled detachedly at him. It scared him when he noticed her eyes were unfocused.

"Mom," she whispered before her knees buckled and she fell into his arms.

Looking at her face, Van realized she had lost consciousness. Something bad had happened to her. He searched her, looking for new bruises or cuts. There was a huge bruise on her left shoulder, almost as if something heavy had been thrown or dropped on it. When he lifted her head of his shoulder, there was something sticky on it. His shirt had a dark red stain on it. It took Van a second to realize that it was blood. From Hitomi's head.

"Holy shit, what happened to you Hitomi?" he said softly, half to himself, half to her.

She was wearing the tank top she had worn to school today but had changed into pyjama bottoms. Relieved her wouldn't have to change her clothes, he set her on his bed, totally oblivious that she was bleeding onto his pillowcase.

Van left the room to get some towels and other things he would need to help Hitomi. When he came back, she was still unconscious and bleeding. Setting towels under her head, Van decided he should do another check to make sure there were no other marks on her.

On one of her arms he found several small cuts that looked several days old. He didn't remember her mentioning anything about it and decided to ask her when she woke up. As he sat on the floor beside her he noticed that she looked unwell. All the abuse her mother was heaping on her was starting to take it's toll. There were dark circles under her bright eyes and she looked too skinny; unhealthily skinny, Van thought.

He brushed his fingers across her hand lightly and looked at his clock. It was after twelve and he had to go to school tomorrow. Van climbed onto the other side of the bed and took Hitomi's hand.

"Oh, God. Please be all right."

* * *

Van walked into his room, dropped his backpack on the floor and froze when he saw Hitomi sitting up in his bed, staring at the wall. He had left her there that morning with a note telling her he was at school and would cover for her and to call Millerna's cell and talk to one of them if she needed anything

"'Tomi?" he asked.

She kept staring straight ahead, not moving or even acknowledging that he had entered the room. Her right hand kept moving on her left arm and as he moved forward, Van could see she was running a finger up and down the mysterious cuts on her arm.

"How're you feeling? Do you need anything?" It was starting to scare him how she wasn't talking. He bent down beside her and looked at her worriedly. Finally, she turned her head and looked at him. Without a word or any sign, she had wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close so he was sitting on the bed beside her. He pulled away a bit and rested his forehead against hers.

"You're really scared me. What happened to you last night?"

Still saying nothing, Hitomi pulled him back into a hug and this time kissed his cheek. Now thinking that the blow to her head had affected her brain, Van held Hitomi's face in his hands and stared into her eyes.

"Hi - to - mi. Are - you - oh - kay?"

She nodded and Van let out a breath of relief. This time he pulled her into a hug and she traced random patterns on his back.

"Thanks Van."

"That's the first thing you've said to me in over twelve hours," he said and smiled. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

Hitomi hesitated then said, "Mom was angry."

Van pushed her back to look at her face. "Angry? So she gets to do this to you whenever she's angry? Is that your excuse?"

His eyes were smouldering and dark. Hitomi backed away a bit, scared of the look he had. He put his face in his hands, sighed, and ran them through his hair. Reaching out for her arm, Van saw her jaw clench for a second and looked down to see his hand resting on the cuts on her arm. Hitomi's eyes were wider than he had ever seen them as she detached herself from his grasp. She got up off the bed and went across the room to look out the window. Then Van put two and two together. He followed her over to the window and turned to her.

"Don't Hitomi. Promise me you won't anymore."

"I promise Van," she said as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and set his chin on her head.

* * *

"Hi, mom?"

"Hitomi, where are you? I haven't seen you for the last couple days."

"I know mom, I'm sorry. There's a big test coming the day after tomorrow and I've been leaving early for school everyday to study. I'm at Van's right now, we're still studying." Van gave Hitomi two thumbs up and she grinned back.

"Okay, well, when will I see you at home again? You could come here and study you know."

"But Mamoru's there, mom. He's noisy and he'll disrupt us. I won't have to leave so early for school on Friday. I'll be at home that morning. See you, mom!"

"Listen to me Hitomi. Don't stay up too late, it's just a test."

"Yeah. I have my key so you can lock the door."

"Bye sweetie. Love you."

Hitomi hung up the phone and said, "Mission accomplished." She was still thrown by her mother having said she loved her. Did she feel guilty for doing more damage on Hitomi than ever before? A blow to the head wasn't something accidental.

"Okay," Van said. "Now all I have to do is convince your teachers you're sick for another two days. Do you think you'll be okay to go to school on Friday? You can stay here until that night, but then I have to go to see my Auntie for a couple days."

"I can go, I feel better already, just a little tired." Hitomi yawned and laid down on Van's bed. He laid down beside her and she rested her head on his stomach. "Do you have to go to your Auntie's?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'll be back Sunday night. She's sick and my mom wants to go see her."

* * *

The next door days passed in a blur for Van, trying to cover for Hitomi. For her, they seemed to inch by. There was nothing to do in Van's room by herself. Sometimes she amused herself by snooping through his drawers, but when she found condoms in one, she stopped looking.

"Ew, I am so scarred," she muttered and decided to try and sleep instead.

When Van entered his room after school, she was sleeping peacefully and he went over and brushed some of her light brown hair off her forehead and she stirred. He dropped all of the books he had brought home and slumped down in his desk chair.

"Rough day at the office?" said the voice from his bed.

"Yeah. You got to stay here and sleep all day. How about you pretend I'm sick tomorrow?" Van yawned and stretched.

"Listen very carefully, Van…" Hitomi paused. "NO!"

Van mumbled something and wandered over the bed. He fell onto it and closed his eyes. Hitomi smiled at this and moved closed to him.

"Van?" she whispered. "I'm going to go home. Thank you so much. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" There was another mumble from Van. Hitomi bent and kissed his temple. "Bye."

* * *

It was Friday after school and Dryden, Allen, Merle, Dilandau, Millerna, Van, and Hitomi were standing out front of the school. Van's parents were supposed to be there soon so they had all gathered to say goodbye.

"Hey, Dilandau?" Van whispered.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Take care of Hitomi, okay? Keep her out of the house as much as you can. This divorce is hard on her."

"'Course, man," Dilandau said and patted Van on the back.

Satisfied Dilandau would watch over Hitomi while he was gone, he smiled at her. Then Van's parents drove up and Merle jumped on him, squealing, "Oh, Van, we'll miss you!"

"Merle," he said, loosening her hold, "I'm only gone for two days!"

Millerna stepped forward for a hug and the guys did that manly hand grip/hug thing they do. Merle started sobbing in the background and she jumped on Allen while he patter her awkwardly on the back. Hitomi grabbed Van around the neck and whispered, "I'll miss you. Hurry home."

He kissed her quickly on the lips, which wasn't uncommon for them, grabbed his backpack and ran down the stairs waving. Dilandau came up beside Hitomi and put an arm around her. She looked up at him and smiled. His arm weighed heavily on her shoulder and Hitomi was pleased when she realized it barely hurt anymore.

"C'mon, I'll give you guys a ride home," Allen said and they started towards his old Shaggin' Wagon. They loved his car because it was the only one that could fit them all inside with room to spare. When Hitomi was dropped at her house, everything was quiet and she hoped it would stay like that all weekend. If anything happened with Van away, she wasn't sure what she'd do.

(A/N: Phew! Chapter done! That was a fairly long one. Anywho, what Hitomi's mom did to her isn't really vital in the story; it might come up a bit later but it's nothing extremely important to the plot. The next chapter is kinda disheartening, BEWARE! I wanna thank all of you that have Reviewed. I've gotten so many compliments on it and I'm amazed it's flown so well so far! Thanks again! Until next time…)