Disclaimer: I do not own Super GALS! in any way.

Flack: Huh? That's it? No other useless rants in your disclaimer? Like I don't own anything without my name on it or something?

Nope…nada…I'm too lazy to think…I don't want to argue either…the heat is making me lax…I can't even type in full sentences…

Flack: Ooooh, nice haircut (comments on my hair)

Yeah, yeah. Just for that, you can go and clear my Pocky supply (hands keys) See how forgiving I am when it's soooo hot?

I'm turning to OOC. Yeah…OOC. I'm so tired writing in a cramped style…OOC it is. Go read…I'm still typing Chapter 7 with my face flat on the bed.

By the way, a slight warning on this chapter is advised. Rude language in the later areas, which could merit an NC-17 rating. Minors are advised to skip that area (but I'd doubt they'd listen anyway, nobody wants to admit to being a minor…) There…I've said it…back to face flat on the bed position…

-

Chapter 6

"Wait…'You?' Betting I don't have a tan? You'd better pray you're barking on the wrong tree, Yuuya." Rei crossed his arms again, offering a look that certainly mocked the blonde.

"You certainly do not. As your housemate, I don't think that you'd done activities which could merit you a tan…" Yuuya stopped.

And gapped.

Rei took his tee off (languorously in Yuuya's mind), taking the hem of his shirt up…slowly exposing the skin beneath it…bringing his shirt up and out of his arms …tossing it into the floor…running his hands to massage his broad shoulders…tracing swirling patterns on his torso and sides with his fingers…

Standing in front of Yuuya, he loosened his belt on his jeans and unbuckled it…zipping it down and unbuttoning it…dragging it down to his feet and kicking it towards his thrown tee as well, leaving him in his boxers as well…Rei stood just as naked as Yuuya.

Well, semi-naked is more like it.

"So…" Rei came close, bumping (!) both of their bodies, chest against chest, torso against torso; he bought his face closer towards Yuuya, his brown eyes gazing onto the blonde's. "…were you saying I have no tan at all?" He spoke softly, his breath hitting the other boy's lips, though his face showed no sign of emotion whatsoever.

Yuuya nervously gazed down, admiring the subtle tan that Rei indeed had all along. Comparing it with his skin color, he found himself close in comparison to the paleness of snow.

Rei wound his left arm around Yuuya's torso, earning a suppressed gasp from the blonde as he brought Yuuya …roughly closer to him.

"I was thinking…" Rei whispered, his tone as if half-drunk, his free hand placing itself in Yuuya's shoulder; his finger tracing an imperceptible line on the crook of Yuuya's neck. "…What would you look like with a tan…"

"I…I…"Yuuya trembled in the touch, nervously wondering whether Rei was hitting on him or just making this all a big joke.

"You've got a special tone in your skin…" Rei continued on, tracing languid circles this time on Yuuya's taut chest. "…Something close to an orange or copper tone…I always wanted to see a copper tan…" Especially on you…

Yuuya wasn't panicking, oh no. He was trembling; shaking from head to toe, thinking of the soft touches and the body contact. But what he was thinking more of was how his package was reacting to this surprise assault. Rei wasn't helping at all one bit…even just one tiny bit.

Huh?

"We'll…work on that." Rei shook up, as if broken from some sort of trance; his eyes darting from his hands (why the hell are my hands on Yuuya!), the slight shiver his body received from having almost no clothes (what the…where the hell are my clothes!), and the 'prominent' reaction that his boxer was showing (Oh.God.)

Keep calm, Rei Otohata. Keep calm…

Releasing Yuuya from his grasp, he took his tee and jeans off the floor, and then massaged his temples wearily, wondering how all of these happened in a span of a few minutes. He discreetly left his clothes hang in front of him to hide the palpable activity below the belt line.

"Sorry for disturbing you, Yuuya…I'll see you at dinner, then. Good evening…" Rei spoke calmly; his face hid all the emotions he was feeling at the moment. Closing the door silently and locking it behind, he went back to his room to figure things out.

-

Yuuya felt all alone once more in his room.

"Rei…" Yuuya gently sat at the edge of his bed, his mind now wandering off to someplace else.

The short moment that was just a while ago.

"Rei…you never knew how much that meant to me…" Yuuya smiled a bit, his fingers lingering on his neck and shoulders…the places where Rei had caressed with his touch.

Then he frowned, as if disappointed, rejected. "…At least now I know…what I'd be missing. Your gentle touch…your firm hold…your warm hug…your beautiful brown eyes…" Yuuya sobbed in frustration, bringing his hands to his face, trying to hold back the tears that inevitably would fall.

"Why? Why did I have to deserve this?" Yuuya shook as he cried, for the first time since he was twelve. "Why did I have to fall in love with my best friend!" He stared at his fingers, and clawed himself in his shoulders, his arms, and his back; until they turned red with marks, but did not bleed.

"Love?" Yuuya sat across and gazed at himself at the mirror. "Yuuya…" He focused his gaze more into his eyes. "It's just infatuation, Yuuya…just…admiration and awe. Nothing close to lust…to love…to anything beyond friendship…"

"You're pathetic, Asou…falling in love with a guy of all persons! Your 'friend' to boot! Sigh…you're a hopeless case…" His reflection snorted.

Tears fell one by one again. "Look at you…crying and all that. You're just a kid in a teenager's body…you've nothing to be proud of in this world; just your face and your body that will slowly rot and die in this world in the years to come…"

"Nobody loves you! You were born in this world alone, and you'll die on it alone! People will talk behind your back; those kids on the street will taunt you for your sexuality! You're a shame! You'd want to be screwed on the bed by a man! " His reflection sneered at him.

Yuuya placed his gaze back at the mirror, realization dawning on him. His eyes reflected the shock of what was dawning in front of him.

"You'd be selfish to pursue what you want with Rei! Imagine all the scandals he'd be linked to! Such a wonderful boy…tsk, tsk…only to be paired up to a snot-nosed, crybaby like you! People will scorn him, just like what they're doing to you! By and by, Rei would want to leave you anyway! When he'd get what he wanted from you…"His reflection laughed maniacally at him, jeering at him.

"No…NO! Stop it! Stop all your lies! Leave me alone! What you're saying can't be true! No…I can't believe it! Rei…Rei is not like that! He was the first one I trusted…he'd stay at my side always! He's my friend!" Yuuya shouted at the mirror back, covering his ears…his eyes were full of rage and fury at his reflection. His dark reflection that echoed all of his melancholy, his sorrow, his negative sentiments.

"Friend?" His reflection taunted all the more. "Wouldn't the term 'fuck buddy' come to mind? All you'd want is one day when he'd come home half-drunk, and then you'd feel him up and he'd return your emotions in a stupor-induced kiss! What then? He'd bring you to your bed and push into you deeper and deeper till your lips bleed from the pain and pleasure! Oh, how you'd moan and prod him to go on!"

"Yuuya? Is something wrong?" A knock was heard on his locked door.

"No…that's…not true…I won't allow that happen…I won't…"Yuuya fell on his knees, shivering and sweating profusely at the same time. He covered his ears more and more, refusing to listen to his reflection and all other sounds.

"Oh really?" His reflection jeered at him once more. "And whom do you expect will stop you when you'd lose control? Yourself? Hahaha! Oh, that certainly is a laugh!"

Yuuya looked away, disbelief and terror etched in his handsome face. His head was filled with everything that his reflection was telling. All the taunts and jeers, all the evil thoughts and downward thinking, all mixed up in his mind.

Everything was coming back to him. He'd lost faith in trusting other people once more. He'd lost faith in the outside world. He'd lost faith, even in his new family…

…But most of all, he lost faith in himself…

His mind had pictures of faceless men and women, staring at him…ridiculing him…pointing at him and mocking him…whispers that were downright malicious…yet true…

"Aaaagh! Stop! Stop it all of you! Leave me alone!" Yuuya clutched at his head, curling up in a painful position, shouting at the top of his voice…never meaning to stop until he got hoarse and would lose his voice…not even until all that would be left of him was a silent scream.

"Yuuya! Please open this door!" More rattling was heard on the door, Mrs. Otohata's terrified voice behind it.

Yuuya panted on the floor intensely, struggling to keep up on all four. He was drooling liberally, shocks running under his skin. He held on to his head so hard, as if intent on opening it, trying to get rid of what was in there. His heart was beating intensely, adrenaline pumped vigorously into his veins.

He was starting to lose his hold on his sanity once more.

"No…" Yuuya whimpered on his efforts. "I can't…"

-

"Mom! Call the doctor across our street! I'll try to open this door." Rei's voice was heard on the other side, a shuffling of steps followed.

The door rattled under his kicks, thrice before the wooden board finally allowed entry.

"Oh no…not again…" Rei stepped back, startled upon seeing Yuuya.

Across his pale back, lines of deep red had formed, an impressive shade of crimson. He was curled on the floor, clasping himself tightly, never meaning to let go. His eyes, a bit puffy and red from crying, reflected shock and terror, as if he'd seen a ghost. Drool had started to form a trail across the corner of his mouth and into his cheek.

Rei came close, one hand stretched towards the blonde.

"Yuuya?" Rei grasped the blonde's shoulder. Those terrified eyes moved towards him, as if registering his presence. Rei shivered a bit; Yuuya's stare growing too intense, penetrating his soul. The boy moved his mouth, soft gasps and a mixture of muttering came out.

"Leave me…alone…go away…stop it…I…enough…please…" He mumbled on and on, repeating the ten words over and over again.

Rei bought Yuuya into his arms and carried him over to the bed, his gaze still fixed upon him and his mouth mumbling the same words.

"Rei! What happened to him!" The good doctor came shuffling in, bag in hand as Mrs. Otohata followed behind.

Rei stood speechless, his mind still delayed from the shock of seeing Yuuya like this. He hadn't expected this to happen…again…

The doctor sat beside Yuuya, took his pulse and checked his eyes. Taking a syringe and filling it up with a clear liquid, he pumped it into Yuuya's right arm.

By and by, the blonde's eyes started to close, his breathing returning to a normal level, the words turning into incoherent gasps.

Yuuya had fallen asleep.

"Doc…" Rei faced the aged old man. "Did he…"

"He became delirious once more." He answered simply, taking a tongue depressor to check the insides of Yuuya's mouth.

"But…it hadn't happened in a few years…why now?"

The doctor took a thermometer and placed it in Yuuya's mouth, checking his watch as he did so. "Yuuya…he…ever since his childhood, as far as his medical record says, has been experiencing these types of delusions."

"What triggers his delusions, doc?" Rei furrowed his brows, his gaze momentarily shifting to the sleeping blonde.

"His emotions…commonly fear, anxiety, depression…anything that triggers these. Maybe rejection over something…losing his self-worth…Yuuya isn't helping quite a bit with his very, very low self-esteem…" The doctor took the thermometer out, and ran it into the light.

"A slight fever." The doctor commented, taking out some tablets in his bag. Writing something in a piece of paper, he handed both items and kindly explained to the woman what to do with them.

"Would…excitement be the cause?" Rei hesitated to ask a bit.

The doctor looked at him curiously. "Why? Did you do something to excite him that much?"

"I…I bought him some clothes and stuff. He seemed happy with them a bit much." Rei's eyes caught the clothes, and started folding them into a neat pile, placing them on a basket.

"I could see. After that…did he change? I mean, did he act weirdly or out of the normalcy with his behavior?"

"No…"

"Then it can't be. Haven't you observed, Rei? For the past years since he moved to Shibuya, he never experienced this kind of problem once more. His medical record…" The doctor took out a clipboard and scanned its entries. "…shows that the last occurrence of a case like this happened when he was thirteen years old, one year since they moved…"

Rei nodded his head in understanding.

"Yuuya is happy being with this family. Being happy alone keeps him healthy, and makes him secure from this type of illness. No amount of medicine can help him, save for a few sedatives to keep him calm at times like these. What he needs to develop is right above here…" The doctor pointed at his head.

"Something might have made him unhappy. Very unhappy. It could have triggered a depression of some sorts, and everything follows suit. Since, as your mother says, he was alone when this happened, I would assume…that he is unhappy with himself…" The doctor stood up, patting Yuuya's forehead a bit and nodded to Mrs. Otohata.

"Take care of him for the night, and call his parents in the morning to tell them what happened. Maybe they can help. "

Rei bowed to the good doctor, his mother escorting him outside to pay the fee.

"Yuuya…" Rei looked at the blonde sadly.

He left the room, got to the bathroom and bought back a basin of warm water and a washcloth. He cleaned Yuuya's face, minding the dried tears, sweat and drool that had hardened at the corner of his face. Rei winced a bit, as he made contact with the reddening lines, some starting to darken into bruises.

Rei relaxed a bit now, seeing Yuuya sleep soundly; a soft gasp and a few sighs exhaled from his mouth. Taking Yuuya's favorite blanket, he bought it up to his chest to prevent the blonde from getting cold.

He slowly left the room, turned the lights off, leaving the door opened this time, a sliver of light illuminating the soft features of the blonde.

"Yuuya…what happened?" Rei sighed, walking down to take a bath himself.

-

Angst. What a wonderful word…

Wow, that was my first semi-lime. I dunno how Yuuya WOULD actually look like with a tan, but I assume most blondes develop a coppery sort of it. Go figure!

The story is starting to deepen. Yuuya with a medical case? Never thought of that, did ya? All is fair in an AU world. I need to get my Yuuya-torture obsession out of my system.

Chapter 7, on the way!