Chapter 6. I'm almost done writing this fic and I'm currently planning out a sequel. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

DISCLIAMER: Not mine

WARNING: AU, possible OOC, shounen-ai

PAIRINGS: Oshitari/Mukahi

Chapter 6- Amnesia

Despite him being a tensai, Oshitari had no idea what was going on when Mukahi suddenly pulled him out of his dorm and told him to not come back. He had wanted to protest, but the redhead didn't give him time to think when he roughly pushed him to the emergency stairs in the dorm and closed the emergency exit.

Finally, after a week, he started showing up in classes again. His first instinct was to go look for Mukahi to return his clothes, which he had forgotten to give last week. He found the redhead heading for class. Just after he had given back the clothes, Jirou showed up.

Oshitari had known Akutagawa Jirou since junior high school. They were both mere acquaintances and classmates, but it eventually developed into friendship when he lost his hearing. Jirou had turned out to be fluent in sign language, and after hearing that Oshitari was deaf, began teaching him sign language. He would often stay at Jirou's dorm for hours making sure that he got the signs for words down correctly. Jirou never minded, in fact, it made him happy that he would be able to talk to a deaf person.

Still, even after knowing Jirou all these years, he had never known that he had a boyfriend. Atobe Keigo looked handsome, but he didn't seem to be Jirou's type. Still, the sleepy student was happy with him, wasn't he? It was only right that he would at least put up with Atobe, if he ever saw him in the near future.

During lunch, he was able to pay back Mukahi for the 300 yen he borrowed last week. Noticing that he wasn't sitting next to anyone, he decided to sit next to the redhead. It was then where the topic of the school's lunches came up. The silent tensai personally never enjoyed the school lunches, but he had never bothered learning how to cook. Suddenly, to his surprise, Mukahi stuck a roll in his mouth. It tasted wonderful, or at least better than the beef stew that he bought.

Suddenly, Mukahi had come up with a proposal saying that he'll make him lunch every day in exchange for teaching him sign language. He was still confused about the proposal, until Mukahi told him that he wanted to be friends with him. It had touched him so much that he agreed. After talking it over, they both decided to start the lessons today. They would meet at Mukahi's dorm after his shift was over. The lessons would go on for a half hour and then he would leave.

The first lesson they had was basically about introducing yourself. Mukahi had trouble with the finger spelling, but in the end, he managed to ask for someone's name and introducing himself in sign language. He was going to go over introductions when Mukahi got a call from an unknown person. Whoever it was scared the redhead, because the next thing Oshitari knew, he was rushed out of the dorm and to the emergency stairs.

"Get away from here as fast as you can and don't come back tonight, got that?" he had ordered before he gave him a giant push and slammed the emergency exit shut.

Oshitari had stared blankly at the whitewashed door for a full two minutes before pulling himself together. Logically, it could possibly be Mukahi's roommate, but why would he be afraid of his roommate? Unless…

"No! Let go! Stop!"

Fearing the worst, the silent tensai threw the emergency exit open and ran towards Mukahi's dorm. He sprinted down the hall and skidded to a halt at Mukahi's door. When he tried the door, to his surprise, he found that it was locked. Oshitari started to panic at having this gut feeling that his new friend was in trouble.

Calm down, Yuushi. You have to figure out a way to get the door open.

If he still could hear, he could have pressed his ear to the door and listened, but he had to fully rely on sight and instinct, now. Thinking quickly, he rummaged through his bag until he found a paper clip. The silent tensai unwounded the clip and start picking at the lock as fast as he could. He kept picking at the lock until he was sure that there was a 'click'. Trying the door, the knot in his stomach loosened slightly when the door opened.

What he saw made his heart stop.

An unknown person had Mukahi pinned to the floor and was ripping his shirt off. Poor Mukahi was screaming and struggling to free himself, but to no avail. The next thing his knew, Oshitari was charging at the person with everything he had and rammed them into the wall. With the rapist pinned, the silent tensai got a good look at his face.

What he saw shocked him.

"Hello, Yuushi."

Oshitari saw red, and with a few punches, sent the person to the ground. What was that pervert doing to Mukahi? He had thought that he had gotten rid of him after high school! With one last punch, the rapist was knocked unconscious.

Kneeling down next to Mukahi he signed, "Are you okay?"

When Mukahi said nothing, Oshitari started to wonder if the redhead was unconscious, but when he saw the smaller chest rise and fall, he confirmed that Mukahi was indeed awake. It was only then when he noticed the redhead's face. Tears were streaming down his face and his shoulders were shaking. The Mukahi Gakuto that he knew thought of crying as a curse, but now, here was the normally snarky crying like a child.

"Stupid!" Mukahi cried. "Why did you come back?"

"I was worried," Oshitari signed, which made the redhead quirk an eyebrow despite the tears.

"Eh?"

"Worried," he mouthed.

Mukahi was surprised at that. "You were worried about me? Why?"

Grabbing a nearby magazine and pen off a table, he wrote, "You looked frantic when you made me leave, and I saw that bottle in the bag before you took it away. I thought that maybe someone was raping you. Were they?"

The smaller redhead fell silent as he read what he wrote. Tears began to stream again as the redhead broke down. Oshitari put a comforting hand around Mukahi's shoulders and waited. The sobs slowly died down to occasional hiccups as Mukahi began to calm down. Finally, he looked up with blood-shot eyes.

"C-can I talk to you at your apartment?" he asked slowly.

Oshitari readily nodded and helped Mukahi get up and grab a new shirt. When they were both ready, they left the dorm silently. As they left, Oshitari took one last time to glare at the unconscious student.

I hate you, for doing this to him… and to me.

-X-

Oshitari unlocked the door and pulled it open allowing Mukahi to go in first. He silently closed the door and dropped his bag onto the small couch.

He tapped Mukahi on the shoulder and mouthed, "Do you want some water?"

"Yes," the redhead replied softly his eyes still red from crying.

The silent tensai left Mukahi on the couch and went to fill a cup with water. He glanced a few times to make sure the redhead was all right before heading back with the cup. He handed it to Mukahi, who took it gratefully. Oshitari waited as the redhead slowly downed the water.

"Oh, Oshitari," Mukahi said. He nodded. Slowly, Mukahi signed, "Thank you."

"Aa, you're welcome," he signed back.

"You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I know," the silent tensai mouthed and signed. Then pulling out his notepad and pen, he wrote, "What do you want to talk about?"

The redhead fell silent for a moment as if what he was going to say was going to make him cry again, but he took a deep breath and started talking.

"I suppose you want to know who that student was?" he asked. When Oshitari nodded he continued, "His name is Kurotori, biology major, and an alcoholic. He's my roommate, as you can tell, and the one who called me, but I hate him so much. Every night, he'd get drunk, and when's he drunk, he wants to have sex. Everyone around the dorms knows this, so they stay away, and I have to put up with it every night."

"You mean he rapes you?" Oshitari wrote.

"Yeah, sometimes he tries to force alcohol down my throat, but I always spit it out or throw it up. My stomach never agreed with alcohol no matter how many times I was force to drink it. Sometimes, if he's really drunk, he'll beat me, which explains why I have this." The redhead pulled up his shirt to reveal a long scar going from his shoulder to his ribs. "I got this when he pulled out a switchblade and slashed me when I was pinned to the floor."

Oshitari wrote, "How come you never ask to change roommates?"

"No one wants to room with him because of his alcohol problem. I would move out if I could, but my mom lives too far away from here, and I have no relatives that live nearby. I tried asking for a single, but all of those were taken already."

"Every night when he rapes me, he tells me that he loves me more than anything else in the world. He even breaks down every time, but I always thought that he was faking it. Then one time, I told him to get away from me and never come back. He slashed his wrists and was in the hospital for days. Even after that, he still rapes me, though I already told him more than once to back off."

It was when Mukahi brushed away his bangs did Oshitari notice something close to the temple. It was a scar, most likely from stitches that doctors use to close up deep wounds. Curiosity got the better of him, and Oshitari reached over and touched the scar. Mukahi instantly reacted and swatted away his hand.

"Don't touch that!" he yelled.

Instantly, the silent tensai retracted his hand and wrote, "Where did you get that scar?"

The redhead touched the scar near his temple. "Oh, this scar? It wasn't from Kurotori. I got into an accident when I was in junior high school. I fell into a river and hit my head. I had amnesia for a while, but then, I regained all my memories. Still, I think I still have it."

"Why?" Oshitari signed.

"Because I still can't remember my junior high school years. Every time I try, I come up with a blank. I asked my mom for pictures, but she said that I never took any, and that I threw away all my yearbooks because it was taking up space. It's frustrating when that happens, when I want to know, but that doesn't happen often."

Junior High? That was when…

Instinctively, Oshitari reached up to touch his ears.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and saw Mukahi wave his index finger. The silent tensai shook his head. The redhead gave him a look that said, "Yeah right", and said, "Was junior high the time you went deaf?"

Oshitari's eyes widened. How could he tell?

As if he read his mind, Mukahi said, "Jirou told me that covering your ears was the sign for 'deaf'. Also, isn't this the sign for 'normal person'?" The redhead put one index finger to his lips and the other to his ear and moved them both outward before bringing them inwards.

If he still had a voice, Oshitari was sure that he would laugh. Instead he grinned and shook his head. He did the same thing, except alternating the inward-outward motion between the two fingers.

"Oh, you mean like this?" Mukahi asked while doing the sign. Oshitari nodded his head. "Okay, how about 'stupid'?"

The silent tensai quirked an eyebrow. Why would Mukahi want to know how to say 'stupid' in sign language? Then he remembered the redhead's snarky attitude, and showed him the sign.

-X-

Oshitari was unaware of the time until he realized how tired he was. Checking the clock, he realized that it was almost ten. They both had classes tomorrow, and if they didn't get their, both of them might find themselves standing in the hallway for falling asleep in class.

He tapped Mukahi on the shoulder and wrote, "By the way, do you want to move in with me?" When the redhead shot him a confused look, he wrote, "You shouldn't have someone like Kurotori for a roommate. If I had him for a roommate, even if I had to skip a few of my classes to get more time on a job, I'd move out."

"But, he won't let go of me!" Mukahi argued. "And how do I know I can trust you?"

Oshitari knew what kind of person Mukahi was when it came to love. He was scared of trusting others because of what Kurotori did. Just like me…

"I don't like sex, even though I like romance novels. Although, in my opinion, love doesn't mean sex."

"What do you mean? Everyone knows that if you love someone, you have sex with them!"

"The kind of couple you mention are when a married couple agree to give themselves up to each other. The couple that Kurotori seems to want to be with you is only by infatuation. Those kinds of couples always break up in the end. Kurotori only wants your body. That's why I'm asking if you want to move in with me."

"I still don't get why."

Putting the pen and pad down, Oshitari pointed at Mukahi, then at him, and finally, clasped his hands together and shifted them together slightly from right to left.

"You're my best friend," he mouthed slowly. "And friends respect each other."

As he was when Mukahi told his story, the same could be said for when he said that statement. Eyes met as Mukahi looked to see if there was honesty. Oshitari could understand if the redhead refused, but he was offering this because… he truly wanted to protect Mukahi. No one should suffer what he went through.

Finally, after a long pause, Mukahi asked, "When can I move in?"

Oshitari mouthed, "Whenever you're ready."

"Thanks, Oshitari," Mukahi said honestly. "And by the way, you can call me Gakuto."

"Gakuto?" Oshitari signed.

"Yeah, Ga-ku-to."

Oshitari nodded, and then signed, "Yuushi."

"Eh?"

"Yuushi."

"Are you telling me to call you Yuushi? No problem."

For the first time in a long time, the silent tensai smiled. As Mukahi left his apartment, he gazed at the few stars in the sky from his apartment window.

Mom, I don't know if I found my star in the sky, but I've definitely made a friend.

TBC…