Author's Note: Okay, so I figure that I'll just be working on this story for the rest of my life…or maybe just the year…holy crap it's taking a long time! But I promise never to give up (it would haunt me in my dreams for the rest of my life… or maybe just the year…) hmm deja vue…? That's strange…anyways, I'm off on a random…

The point is, if I'm ever sounding like I might quit, bombard me with hate email…and remind me of these fatal words, and I'll have to keep going…

So I'm trying to get up enough chapters so that I can post one a week…I actually thought that this fic would only take up the summer, but apparently I was wrong…very wrong..but no worries… I just don't have enough time anymore to do it that often…only on free weekends. I dunno…I'm sorry to be such a failure.

There you go, I'm sure more will join the list…and maybe I'll find a way to add these poor souls back into the story…

Flashbacks

Reality

Chapter Thirteen

The hiss of the bus brakes as it pulled into the school parking lot had a new meaning of horror for Tai. Not only was he feeling sick, awkward around Tobias, and having the biggest hangover that he could ever remember, he had just remembered that he had detention that night. Could the day get any worse?

"Watch it queer!" A beefy shoulder rammed into his side, sending him to the ground as he attempted to get off the bus. His hands slipped against the slippery pavement, and he fell flat on his stomach, scrapping his cheek roughly. The receding figure of Dan in the distance confirmed his suspicions. Sorely, he picked himself up off the ground and headed for the school.

Where the hell was Tobias? When did he get off the bus? Because he hasn't gotten off before him, and now he was nowhere in sight. Excellent…

"Toby?" No answer, not surprisingly, as the parking lot was deserted. "Toby?" A door creaked open with a loud sound nearby, and Tai looked over just in time to see a blond head disappearing through the door. He ran over.

"Toby?" Why would his friend be running from him? Was he mad or something? What is about what happened this morning, or what hadn't happened before that? Maybe he was mad that it took so long for him to want it…It was driving him crazy…what was wrong with him?

Tai's hand, which until now had been hovering just above the handle flew down, yanked the door opened, and he stepped inside, just to see Toby's head disappear around the hallway to his left.

"Hey! Wait up!" There was no response from Toby's back. Tai saw the side of his face as he turned yet another corner and kept on walking. The boy's expression was completely serious, more so than he had ever seen in Toby before. What was going on with him?

Just as Tai stepped past a supplies closet, and slender arm leaned out and grabbed him by the shirt collar. He was pulled tight to a definitely female body, and yanked inside the closet. A scent wafted past his nose that was so strong, and yet slightly familiar. It reminded him of someone…but whom? Who, that he knew, smelled like oranges? It was a girl…definitely…but…

He turned his head as far to the left as allowed, and found himself gazing into a pair of big, green eyes, framed by blond bangs.

Flashback

He was standing in the middle of a big, shiny building. People were rushing everywhere; they all looked like they were in a big hurry. Along the walls were plaques and framed memorabilia, but it didn't concern him…he'd seen it a hundred times…he was there because he was looking for someone.

"Oi!" His head turned to the source of the voice, but no one was there.

"He's hiding again." Looking down, he was mildly surprised to find a small, blond man standing beside him. But not too surprised, you had to learn to expect the sneaky way that the blond came up to you like that.

"Where's he hiding?" The blond's green eyes widened innocently.

"If I knew, wouldn't I tell you?" He knew the answer to that…obviously he was on his own…but…

"Here I am! Surprise!" He felt the air being knocked out of him as a blur hurdled itself at his chest and pinned him to the ground. Then, the weight was lifted, and he felt strong arms pulling him to his feet. Expecting to see someone else, he turned around and encountered a pair of laughing green eyes, with pieces of hair falling into them.

"Be careful…"

End Flashback

Bubbles filled his head…thoughts were fuzzy…scattered, his mind was all over the place. Where was he? Who was he? He was looking for something…but what? Voices pushed through the black blanket of his thoughts. Something brushed across the side of his face. A finger poked his stomach, and he swatted it away.

"Ow…" A high pitched giggle burst through his cloud. What the hell?

"I think he's waking up…" More giggles, "Poke him again."

"Don't!"

A muffled scream came as he sat up quickly, flailing his arms to ward off any oncoming fingers. He tried to open his eyes, but every thing was dark. It pressed in on him, choking him, killing him.

CLICK

A dim light flickered on to his left. To his relief, he saw that he was standing in a supplies closet. To his horror, he was surrounded by about six girls, who looked a little angry. For a moment, he took it all in, trying to gather his thoughts. Then he remembered. Tai.

"Is he like, okay?" One of the smaller girls peered out from another girl's shoulder in concern. "He looks a little, like, uh…out of it or something…"

"Yeah, he's okay. Just give him a second." The authoritative voice caught his attention, and he looked in the direction of the owner. It was the blond girl, who looked so familiar. What had they been looking for?

Wait….looking for? What was he talking about?...Something about his memory…but it wasn't this girl, was it? Was it even a girl he was thinking of? No, he didn't think so…it was a man. He was feminine, but it was a man. And they had been looking for something. No, someone. Tai himself had been looking for someone, and this man knew where he was, and wouldn't tell him. A blur flashed through his mind again. Had he ever found who he was looking for?

"Excuse me, could I have your attention for just a second there? Hello, I'm talking to you pretty boy." The use of the ever-so-affectionate nickname that Dan and Greg had given him snapped him back to reality.

"Sorry," Damn, why was he apologizing? They were the ones who had kidnapped him into this closet. He adopted a more hostile tone. "What do you want?"

"Whoa, no need to get snarky, just calm down...we only want to talk to you…just for a minute."

"In the broom closet? Is it that important?"

"You'd be surprised. Let me introduce myself. I'm Laura. This is Catherine, Abby, Lisa, Opal and Charity. But you don't need to remember their names, because if you do what we tell you to do, you'll never hear from us again." Tai got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. You know the kind you get when you fall in the water with all your clothes and boots on? Kind of like that.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing, for the—" Laura's nose twitched. "What's that smell?"

"What? I…I dunno, what do you smell?"

"It's…it's him!" The girls all gasped collectively. "Oh my gosh!" One of them wailed, "Is he like, in here too? My hair is a mess!"

"No, he's not in here…it's the boy…it's All. Over. Him."

"What, excuse me, what's all over me?"

"You. Dirty. Slut!" The look on the girl's face was once more a cold, familiar expression. Where had he seen this face before? But he had a more present problem to deal with. The girls were closing in on him. What had she just called him, a slut? What the hell, did he know these girls or something? Then, it occurred to him.

"Uhoh."

"Yeah, that's right, uhoh. Who do you think you are? You have no right to just—"

"Okaaay I think you have something a little confused right here…"

"And what would that be? That you somehow seduced Him?" The girl looked around furtively, and then leaned into Tai. "You somehow stole the affections of our…Tobias."

Oh. Crap. He'd been right.

"Or maybe he just 'fell in love' with you, is that it? Well sorry to burst your bubble, but that boy hasn't ever shown any interest in anyone at this school. Girl OR boy. What makes you think that you're so different from the rest of us, that you can forcibly squirm your way into his heart? What drugs are you using?"

"Um…I think you should know something."

The girl stopped in mid-rant. "What?"

"I'm not his lover. I'm his roommate." Laura stared at him in incomprehension for a moment.

"Seriously. I just smell like him because, we uh, use the same cologne." Her scrutinizing gaze never left his face. Damn, she was so hard to read. Did she believe him or not?

"You're wearing his clothes."

"I borrowed some from him because mine were dirty." At least he could tell the truth about some things. But, what did she think?

"Okay." Laura completely surprised him by complying easily. "You're free to go."

"Pardon?"

"You can go now." Feeling a little annoyed at being dismissed so flippantly after being held captive against his will, Tai made his way to the door.

"But if we find out from our sources that you and him are…well…you know, you'd better run really far."

Trying to make it look as though he was unfazed by the threat, Tai pulled open the door, shut it behind him, and ran down the hallway as fast as he could.

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Eiri shook hands with the friendly land lord, sealing the contract. He had rented out an apartment for the next two months (despite Tohma's protests), after all, he could always leave before the lease was up. Now all that was left was to go shopping. His favourite.

As the landlord walked back to the elevator, a young woman came out of the apartment two doors away from Eiri.

"Oh! Excuse me! I think I need someone to help me with my pipes, they're leaking again." The landlord looked at her apologetically.

"Sorry, the handyman is on vacation until the middle of next week…can you wait until then?"

"What do you think?" She asked a little viciously, opening her door a little wider, and allowing a small wave of water into the hallway.

"Right, well, you could call a plumber…"

"I don't have money for a plumber! I have to pay these outrageous rates just to live here! What makes you think I can even afford to feed myself?"

Eiri found himself stepping out into the hallway.

"I can fix it. I have some experience with pipes…" He thought back to the time that Shuichi had decided to "fix" a leak, and ended up completely altering the flow of all the water throughout the apartment to random open pipes in the walls. That had been quite the…adventure, trying to fix it.

The woman looked over at him, and smiled disarmingly. He blinked in surprise; she was so beautiful, for an American…

"My name's Annie."

"Eiri."

The landlord came over and clapped his hand down on Eiri's shoulder. "Thanks, you really saved the day here." Eiri tried not to snicker at the cheesy expression. He didn't want Annie to think that he was…

What? Cold, sarcastic, even, dare he think it, uncaring? The kind of person who yells at his lover to show his love? Well, no, he didn't want her to think that, obviously. If she already though badly of him before he even…

Even what? Was he attracted to this girl? Was he ever going to stop interrupting himself?...Probably not. But he could at least try to be a better person, just this once. He wouldn't be in America for long, he could at least leave one person with a good impression of himself. Shuichi would be proud.

Eiri pulled himself out of his thoughts to see Annie staring at him. Crap, did she say something? Great way to start off.

"Sorry," Eiri gave her his most charming smile, " I didn't catch that."

"I said, are you going to stand there all day dreaming, or are you coming in to fix these stupid pipes?" Oh.

She lead the slightly disgruntled author into her kitchen, when the water was about ankle high. A pipe sticking out from underneath the sink seemed to be the source of the water; it was gushing out like a water fall. Eiri took another step, onto the linoleum floor, and promptly slipped.

He sat in the water for a second, shocked. Did he just…slip? What was wrong with him? The great Eiri Yuki, falling into a puddle? That was something Shuichi would do. Something that he would have laughed at Shuichi for doing. Much like Annie was now laughing at him.

"Um, are you okay?" She managed to get out those few words before collapsing into laughter again.

"Physically yes…I can't speak for my dignity though…Anyways, let's get looking at this." He took Annie's offered hand, and found himself hauled to his feet with reasonable strength.

"So," He grinned, "What seems to be the problem here?"

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Tai looked into the mirrors in the boy's bathroom. They were covered in graffiti, rude comments about girls, and the usual insults to teachers, and whatever else people felt it necessary to tell people.

READ ME, one of the advertisements commanded, followed by nothing else except a picture of a guy with two noses. One especially caught his attention, and was painted in a bright pink. He read it aloud.

"I'm gay." Well, that was incredibly useful, considering it wasn't signed or anything. Why someone would take the time to paint that across this poor mirror was –

"We know." Fear starting in Tai's stomach ran in goose bumps up his arms. How did these guys always seem to know where he was? It was like they were following him or something…

"We always see you with that freak, fawning over him, and holding his hand," Dan practically spat the words out of his mouth, "It's disgusting. You're disgusting."

Tai tried to subtly edge towards the door. Maybe if he kept them talking, he could make a break for it…it always worked in the movies, right? Unfortunately, Greg seemed to read his mind; he walked over to the door and slid the lock across. Tai silently cursed whoever had thought that a lock on a multi-stalled bathroom door was a good idea.

"You're not going to get away quite as easily as last time pretty boy. Last time, there were people there, watching, but now we have you alone, we can do whatever we want…" Tai's tormentors grinned as they drew closer, and he knew that this time they were serious…they really could do whatever they wanted to him, and Toby wouldn't be there to save him. His throat seized up.

All at once, Dan and Greg lunged towards him and pinned him to the ground, with his arms held above his head. Tai, in desperation to get away, squirmed with all his strength until he managed to flip himself around, and was facing the floor. But this position wasn't really any better. His limbs started shaking violently; he could feel Dan's leg muscles clench around his back, and Greg tightened his grip on his arms. Something was really wrong here. His fear was going out of control. They hadn't even done anything to him yet, and he was so afraid, he could die. Why did being held like this scare him so much? Had something happened…before?

He twisted his head as far as he could to the side, and saw, in the mirror, the fluorescent light reflecting sharply into his eyes…almost like a camera flash.

Flashback

"Ahh!" He was lying on his stomach on a concrete surface, with tears streaming down his face. Someone was sitting on his back, preventing him from getting up.

"Don't bother…no one can hear you down here. Your precious boyfriend can't save you…he doesn't even care where you are, or he's be looking for you, wouldn't he? You're such a stupid, naive kid…don't you realize that he'll never appreciate this? He'll never thank you for taking all this just for him…he won't even care. He probably won't even want to talk to you after this, you disgusting whore." That voice, it was so cold and bitter…it hurt to listen to. But he was doing this for a reason; he was protecting someone from something bad.

"Just give up now." No, he'd never give up. He couldn't. He had to protect…his love…

"Fine then," The voice chuckled maliciously, "Smile for the camera."

He screamed again and again while his clothes were ripped off his body and thrown in a pile in the corner. The humiliation was almost greater than the pain as one after another, they violated his body, taking pictures of his shame.

End Flashback

The pounding on the bathroom grew louder and louder until finally a teacher who had the key flung open the door to see a horrified Dan and Greg standing over the unconscious body of Tai.

"What's going on here?" He demanded, but the boys were frozen in fear. For the moment, everywhere stood where they were, watching Tai as he began to moan and flail violently.

"Tai!" A blond blur rushed past him to kneel at the boy's side. The appearance of Toby seemed to shake the two bullies out of their silent state.

"We didn't do anything, I swear!"

"We were just talking to him, and he collapsed, right here! We really didn't do anything!"

"Did you touch him?" Toby demanded." Did you?"

"No. Well…just a little friendly wrestling, but…"

"Did you hurt him?" Toby grabbed Dan's shoulders and shoved him up against the wall. "If you hurt him…I'll kill you." He shoved his knee up into Dan's stomach before the teachers and students managed to peel him away. Even then, they had to hold his arms back to keep him from attacking the boy again.

Toby finally gave up, going limp in the arms of his restrainers. Then, when they loosened their grip a bit, he ran forward to kneel beside Tai.

"Tai? Tai? Answer me! You're scaring me!" Toby started shaking uncontrollably. He reached for Tai's head to hold in his lap. "Please, wake up! Please! Please!"

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Author's note: Well, I'm actually proud of this one, it only took me a few days to write it…wow…I really need to get started on chapter fourteen…like, right now, so I'm cutting this note short…

One last thing, I was sad to see that some of you don't like Tobias! I mean, he is kinda creepy with his blood pacts and the such, but jeez, don't be so hard on the poor guy…that opportunity will come later……

…I've already said to much…ciao