Thanx to all the reviewers.

Onto chapter 7. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

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"Holy shit."

Joey quickly realized how bad Juniper's situation was. Although she still had a heart beat, it was pretty faint and her breathing was labored. Joey tried to figure out what the best course of action would be. He thought of taking her to Yugi's since both his and Juniper's houses could be considered potential war zones. However he knew from experience he wouldn't want anyone to know what was going on for fear of being pitied.

Joey settled for the old couch in the other room. He laid her down and then went in search for a first aid kit. He managed to find it in a cabinet in a bathroom. Along with the kit he grabbed 2 wash cloth and a bowl of water. He knelt down and looked her face over again. The let side of her face had multiple cuts on it; most of them were small but deep. Scattered bruises and cuts were located on her neck, hands and the rest of her face. Joey let oust a sigh and went to work.

He started off pulling the glass out of her multiple cuts; he knew she got from a bottle being thrown at her face. The same thing had happened to him many times before. After getting rid of the glass shards he dampened the wash cloth and cleaned up the blood. Most of the cuts had stopped bleeding which had made cleaning easier. Aftera few minutes he started to clean out the cuts on the rest of her body.

He put some disinfectant on the other cloth and started to dab a cut on her forehead. As the cloth touched her skin he heard a slight moan of pain. He leaned back and looked at her face again. A slight smile crept across his face as he saw her eyes flicker open slightly. Juniper turned her head and shot into a sitting position at the sight of Joey. However she quickly collapsed back down when a pain shot through her body. She let out a small whimper of pain and squeezed her eyes close.

Joey scooted closer to her to try and comfort her, but held back from touching her seeing as she was in enough pain as is without someone hitting a bruise. After Juniper recovered from the pain she looked Joey straight in the eye. They stared in each other's eyes for a few moments wondering what the other was thinking. Finally Juniper spoke up.

"Umm. How much do you know?" She spoke quietly in a low strained voice. Joey's gaze softened and he pushed some loose hair behind her ear.

"Enough to get a basic idea as to what is going on between you an' your father." Her eyes looked down at the ground and a tear fell down her cheek.

"I guess I should start from the beginning, huh?"

"Yeah, that's normally a good place ta start" Juniper let out a soft sigh then turned her gaze back onto Joey's face.

"Well as you figured out, my father gets a kick out of beating the shit out of me. It could be the alcohol or suppressed anger... I dunno. I still don't know why he does it. There's to many things that it could be. Anyway, it all started about 8 years ago, when I was 9. My mother and sister had died in a car crash and my father didn't take it too well. At first it wasn't so bad. He just yelled at us, my brother and me, a lot. The hitting didn't start until I was about 11." Juniper paused. "Have I lost you yet?"

"No. Please continue." Joey sat silently. Part of him didn't want to hear about the horrible things she went to, but something told him that she needed to let someone know.

"Ok. Well like I said the hitting didn't start until I was 11. Normally it was just a slap across the face and he left it at that. It slowly progressed over the years to where he would kick and punch us. About 3 years ago my brother left and moved into a boarding house in California to get away. I, however, stayed. After my brother left is when my dad really got brutal. He's done a lot over the years. I've been stabbed twice, thrown though furniture, windows. Most of the time it wasn't to serious. I only went to the hospital twice. Once due to a stab wound and the other time was because he beat me to the brink of death. Both instances he lied to the doctors and said I got caught up in a gang fight.. And well you can basically figure out the rest from there." Juniper looked away from Joey and started to cry, not wanting to see the look on his face. She was surprised to feel a soft hand on her shoulder.

"Don' worry. I won't tell anyone unless you want me too." Juniper was shocked that he didn't threaten to tell the police for her like most people did if they found out. "I mean you probably don't wan anyone to know abou' it. You feel that they would pity ya and treat ya differently and that things would never be the same." His voice got quieter as he spoke and got slightly sadder. Juniper was startled about how he knew exactly how she felt.

"Yea but how did you know that's how I feel?" Juniper's instantly realized something that hadn't crossed her mind before. Maybe Joey dealt with the same thing at his home. In any case she was determined to find out if she was right or not. "Wait a second. Joey how did you get your bruises? I mean really, who gave them to you." She cut him off quickly before he could reply. "And don't lie to me after I was completely honest with you." He didn't respond, instead he looked at the ground. "Damn it. You deal with the same shit don't you?" Joey knew that he was cornered and would have to spill everything out. He just hoped that she would understand.

"Ya guessed right. My dad is an asshole too. Only I know why my dad got started. It was when he an' my mom got a divorce. I was about 8 at the time. My mom left and took my sister with her. My dad was real mad abou' her doin' that and took it out on the one person he could think of. Me. I never have gone to the hospital cause of 'im, but he can get carried away. Anyway you know how the rest goes." Juniper smiled slightly, relived that they both had finally gotten to tell someone. It felt good to let go some of the pain.

"Joey thanks for telling me. I'm glad that we can trust each other. At least know we won't have to go through it alone." Joey looked her in the eye and grinned.

"How in the world can you stay so positive?"

"It's cause of my mom. She used to tell me that 'hope would always find you, even in your darkest hour. Just believe and love will find and protect you.' It means that you should always keep hope in your heart and one day you will find the light in the darkness."

They both sat in silence for a few moments finding comfort each others company. Joey pickled up a bandage and started wrapping Juniper's arm. She smiled and started to finish cleaning out some other cuts. They continued doing this in silence just glad that someone who cared was there. They spent the remainder of the afternoon together talking. Joey left around 8:00 that night in order to let Juniper get some much needed sleep. As he walked home he remembered what Juniper said. 'Hope would always find you, even in your darkest hour. Just believe and love will find and protect you.' He smiled and continued walking.

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Tbc

I hope you all liked this chapter. Please review and tell me what you thought of it. The next chapter will be up soon.