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Chapter 2: Hopeless

The pain was so severe; it burned to just shift slightly. Yuki pushed himself back slightly and sunk down to the floor. The cool wood felt good on his cheek, but tears still poured from his eyes and there was a disgusting taste in his mouth. He felt warm blood flooding from the wound and staining the yukata.

"Go," Akito commanded. "You are not to tell the others what happened. I will find out if you tell them, Yuki. I can cause you much more pain that I have today," Akito threatened.

Yuki stayed lying there, he couldn't move, he was in too much pain to do much of anything except float back and forth between consciousness.

Akito picked the boy roughly up and threw him out of the room.

Yuki landed against the hard wood painfully. Suddenly, Akito voice wandered through his head "…I can cause you much more pain than I have today…"

Despite how painful it was, Yuki stood up and, leaning against the wall for support, stumbled back to his room.

He slid the door shut behind him and crossed to his closet where he discarded the destroyed Yukata and put on a different, older one as his back still bled slightly.

He moved to a corner by his bed and wept, tears of sorrow and of pain, and of hopelessness, knowing that no matter how much pain he was suffering, no one could ever know about it.

Hours passed until finally, Haru, Momiji, Kyo, Hiro, Kisa, and Kagura all arrived home from school.

Someone was knocking at Yuki's door, he didn't answer. The door slid open and he saw Haru standing there, wearing the middle school uniform that was new to him this year, and a look of concern on his face.

"Yuki, you in here?" He asked.

He wiped any excess tears from his eyes and stood up.

"There you are, why didn't you come to school today?" Haru questioned.

Yuki was silent for a moment, but then answered, "I was going to go, but then started feeling sick and thought against it, sorry," he apologized.

"No, it's okay, but are you feeling okay now? You're eyes look red," Haru noticed.

"Yeah, it's probably from a cold or something, I'm fine," he assured the Ox.

"You want me to bring you in some dinner later, or are you going to be well enough to come out?" Haru asked.

"I-I think I'll be fine," Yuki said.

"Good," he smiled slightly.

Haru slid the door shut and Yuki lay down on the bed. The wound on his back burned immensely, but he didn't have the strength to get up. Yuki closed his eyes and sunk into a much needed sleep.

He awoke to a wonderful aroma. Yuki lifted his head up to see a plate of food sitting on his bedside table. He placed the tray on his lap and noticed a folded up bit of paper. Yuki opened it to see it was a note:

Yuki,

You were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you, so I just left this here. I hope it's still warm when you eat it. Hope you feel better soon.

Haru

Yuki stared at the note. He smiled slightly and set it back down. Yuki picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of the food. It was delicious.

He ate every bit of it, it was really very good, and besides, he hadn't eaten all day, he was very hungry.

When Yuki finished, he set the dish on the floor and lay back down. He was extremely tired and felt a little sick to his stomach. Slowly, Yuki sank into an uneasy sleep.