Lol as if it has been two years since I updated this thing. Sorry lol..

I was suddenly inspired to continue this story, not sure if anyone will still read it, but I wanted to put this chapter out at least!

"This will probably scar, but nothing too noticeable." The doctor said as he finished up the stitching.

"Thanks Doctor." Gakushuu replied, wincing slightly as the man started to bandage over the stitching. The actual wound was jagged and unsightly, the skin around it was a angry red colour that was quickly forming into a bruise, which only served to further highlight the injury.

"Try to keep that dry for the next 48 hours or so." The doctor advised with a satisfied smile as he inspected his handywork, he then turned to face the Chairman. "Gakushuu, why don't you get yourself a drink while your father and I have a little chat."

"Yes. Of course." Gakushuu said, casting a suspicious look over both his father and the doctor, clearly wondering what it was they had to talk about in private. He didn't argue about it though, and simply left. Gakuhou watched him go, almost certain the boy would be listening at the door.

"I have a few concerns." The Doctor said once Gakushuu was out of earshot.

"Oh." Gakuhou replied, his face a mask. He hadn't wanted to come to the emergency room, he hadn't even meant to hurt Gakushuu that badly in the first place. But at some point, when he was pushing the boy onto the floor, a shard of broken porcelain had pierced his arm, and the pressure Gakuhou had been applying only forced it further in. The next day, even after applying a dressing, to the Chairman's horror the bleeding still hadn't stopped.

"About your son and this injury." The Doctor elaborated, his brown eyes looked serious. Gakuhou had a string of defences and excuses on the top of his tongue already. This would not be the thing that destroyed their family.

"A vase fell on him. It's unfortunate but accidents do happen." Gakuhou said smoothly.

"The resulting injury doesn't correlate with that explanation." The doctor said. "It doesn't look like a single-impact abrasion. The injury looks like it was caused by a sharp object being forced into the wound over a longer period of time."

"I don't know what you're implying- "Gakuhou bristled, ready to use any threats or manipulation necessary to silence this man.

"I know it's considered taboo to talk about, but self-harm is a rising problem among our youth." The Doctor said with a sigh. "Kids like Gakushuu, who go to such a competitive school are under a lot of academic pressure, they can be... vulnerable.. sometimes."

Gakuhou blinked, caught off guard for a moment, this wasn't what he was expecting.

The Doctor slid a small selection of pamphlets over to Gakuhou, the top one read 'Talking with your Child about mental health'.

"I can recommend a good therapist if that's something you're interested in." The Doctor said, a small smile on his face. Gakuhou snatched up the phamplets and stuffed them in his pocket.

"Thank you, Doctor, I'll bare that in mind." He said, feeling a sudden flare of rage; who was this doctor to try and suggest his son was mentally unwell? He probably got commission for everyone he referred to his therapist friend, that's what this was about, money. "Anyway. I must be off- I've already provided my insurance details at reception."

He stood up, walking out of the clinic quickly, before the doctor could start to protest. Gakushuu was waiting for him outside the room, leaning against the door frame, bottle of orange juice in hand. He tried to hide it, but Gakushuu's shoulders tensed and his eyes widened just a fraction. Had he always been so scared of his father?

"We're going." Gakuhou said, walking past the boy, who quickly fell in line behind him. "We should still arrive with plenty of time before school starts."

It was only because the two of them both woke up so early that they'd been able to arrange this appointment at the 24hr A+E department before school even began. Gakushuu wasn't saying anything, just walking across the car park behind his father. Whatever he was thinking or feeling right now, even Gakuhou wasn't sure of.

"You can be angry with me about this. Just this." Gakuhou announced as they reached the car. He turned to face his son, who was looking at him, confused.

"Can you elaborate on that?"

"I didn't mean to... Doing something that left a permanent physical scar was not within my calculations."

"Yes, I suppose psychological scars are more your forte." Gakushuu responded. Gakuhou took a step forward, raising his hand. His son flinched, Gakuhou froze. What was he going to do? Here? In a car park full of medical staff getting ready for their shifts? Had he completely lost control.

"You're partly to blame, you know, you are uniquely infuriating." Gakuhou hissed, before sighing, forcing himself to let go of the anger he was feeling.

"You know that if I just defer to you, you find it just as irritating." Gakushuu replied. His tone had lost his bite now. He sounded more resigned than snappy. "I don't know what to do that will make you happy with me. Everything I do isn't good enough for you."

"It's not about making me happy. It's about making you strong." Gakuhou replied, he felt like he was trying to convince himself just as much as Gakushuu.

"Is this making me strong?" Gakushuu asked, pointing at the bandaging on his forearm.

"I've already explained that was not intended." The Chairman retorted. "But you have to take some blame. It was your actions that started this whole debacle."

"You're angry with me no matter what I do- "

"That's a lie."

"Whatever. I already know that no matter what I do, you will never be happy with me." Gakushuu said, glaring at the floor as he spoke. He looked frightened, as if he were ready to run at any moment, but still determined to say whatever it was that was on his mind. "Because I remind you of the person you hate more than anyone."

"Oh. And who might that be?" Gakuhou smirked at whatever this ridiculous theory was.

"You." Gakushuu replied. The smile dropped from the Chairman's face and he suddenly felt his blood run cold. "You know. It's ironic that the doctor thinks I'm the self-harmer, isn't it?"

Gakuhou felt as if he couldn't breath for a moment. He didn't want to respond to that, he opened the car door.

"Just get in." He said.

Gakuhou had his hands on the steering wheel, his son sat silently besides him. Deep down, the Chairman knew knew that behind all the arrogance and domineering, he could never forgive himself for his past failings. If he hadn't dedicated his life to implementing his new philosophy he probably would of already killed himself; He'd thought about doing it enough times in the past few years. The Chairman would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that, when he saw his son's eyes that are so similar to his own, he didn't feel some of that same rage he directed towards himself.

He felt his stomach twist at the sight of the injury.. it was deep, the doctor had said, a muscle laceration, he'd advised no sports for two weeks, there'd be a permanent scar, there could be pain and stiffness for months. He hadn't meant to do any of this, but he had and he couldn't even bring himself to apologise for it.

He really was loosing control of himself.. Gakushuu just made him so angry sometimes, he couldn't trust himself with him. What if it was worse next time? What if he did something that he couldn't take back?

His son's words floated around his head incessantly for the rest of the day 'I remind you of the person you hate more than anyone'. He really didn't want to admit Gakushuu was right.

Ren knew as soon as he laid eyes on Gakushuu he had fucked up. Gakushuu arrived to school that morning later than usual, being driven by his father no less.

Ren watched from the classroom window as the other stepped out of that sleek black car and his heart sunk. Something had clearly happened, even from this distance, the tension between the father and son duo was palpable and Gakushuu looked downright miserable.

Gakushuu arrived to class before the bell, but only just, so seen did not have a chance to speak to him. Non of the misery from earlier was evident on his face, it was all his usual smiles and sparkling personality.

He was in 'golden boy' mode and was nothing but even-tempered smiles and bright conversation. Ren knew something had happened though, the act seemed more false than usual.

It wasn't until lunch hour that Ren had a chance to speak to him openly; part of him expected Gakushuu to try and avoid him like he had done in the past when he was obviously upset, but getting a chance to speak to him alone was surprisingly easy. Gakushuu didn't protest when Ren said he would go and help him with some student council work after they'd finished eating with the rest of the virtuosos. It wasn't until the two where walking along the corridor alone together than Ren felt he could speak openly.

"So. How are you doing today?" Ren asked. ".. you came to school later than normal. You're usually the first one here."

Gakushuu ignored the question completely. He gave Ren a glare that sent shivers down his spine, and in that brief moment, Ren couldn't help but think just how much Gakushuu looked like his father.

"So, Ren, how many people did you tell?" He asked. Gakushuu's tone was breezy, but there was an edge to it. Ren immediately felt his blood freeze.

"W- What do you mean?" Ren asked, although he already had a fairly good idea of what Gakushuu was talking about. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him.

"Don't play stupid, Sakakibara- " Gakushuu practically snarled. "I already know you went running your mouth to the Iwa-Sensei, so who else have you blabbed to?"

"I- It wasn't like that- " Ren started to say. He wished the ground would just swallow him up. He knew he'd messed up, he knew it! He could hardly face Gakushuu, the look the other was giving him right now was so hateful it made Ren's skin crawl.

"I bet you think my life is just another piece of salacious gossip. Did you have fun spreading rumours about me? Did you paint yourself as some sort of martyr who was going to save me? Poor Asano, his Dad makes him eat dirt, or- or- nearly drowns him when he underperforms on an exam, isn't that funny?" Gakushuu hissed, his words tumbling out of his mouth so fast Ren was struggling to keep up. He tried to deny the accusations but the other kept talking over him. "Or maybe you did this on purpose- You set me up, Ren, you knew it would get back to him. You WANTED him to hurt me- "

"Gakushuu, stop!- " Ren practically shouted. It was a good there was nobody around. Gakushuu, surprisingly, did stop, clamping his mouth shut. He was breathing heavily and his cheeks were glowing red, perhaps from anger, but maybe because he had likely revealed far more than he had intended to in that little rant.

Ren had never seen Gakushuu like this before, so uncomposed , so.. afraid. His violet eyes were wild with fear. Just what exactly had happened to him this morning?

"Gakushuu, listen to yourself. Do you really think I would do any of those things?" Ren said, forcing himself to keep his voice low and calm, afraid that one wrong word or misguided tone would send Gakushuu off on a rant again. "I really didn't mean to tell anyone. I promise. Remember when Iwa-sensed kept me behind for spacing out in class? I asked him for some advice about.. your situation. I didn't mention your name, but I wasn't careful enough and he could work out who I was talking about. I'm really sorry, Gakushuu."

Gakushuu looked at him, as if slowly taking in his words. He seemed to mull them over in his mind for a moment before deciding on something. Gakushuu took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and when he opened them, he was the usual Asano again. The fear and the anger was gone, he was back to his usual mask of civility.

"Please ignore what I said earlier, I got a little erratic for a moment." Gakushuu said in his 'perfect student' voice. "I shouldn't of shouted at you. I apologise. This is my fault."

"Gakushuu, that's not what I'm trying to say. it was me who messed up- " Ren interjected.

"Don't worry, Ren, I'm not mad at you. I should of expected you would do something like this." Gakushuu said, a cold smile on his face. "I never should of burdened you with my.. personal business in the first place. That wasn't fair of me."

"No. I'm glad you told me- Gakushuu?" Ren called after him, the other boy was already walking away. Although he was only a few feet apart, Ren suddenly felt as if there was an insurmountable distance between them. The Gakushuu who felt open enough to blush and shout and laugh in front of Ren was gone.

it has been TIME since the last chapter came out. I can only thank you for all the reviews over the past two years

Reply to guest reviews;

Oct 7 2018 guest: I think you summarised his family dynamic pretty well, Gakuhou is definetly gas-lighting and Mrs Asano is a big enabaler of all her husband's bullshit in this.

H: I was totally motivated to write more.. just after.. a 2 year.. hiatus..

Oct 8 2018 Guest: Thanks for reviewing

Oct 10th guest: Wow you've read this story 10 times thats amazing I'm happy you enjoy it

Oct 31st guest: Thanks for reviewing!

Andrew: Thanks for the kind words

Nov23rd guest: I also love edge and angst in fics lolll

Noc 23rd guest 2: Yeah I can't seem to stay on sweet/fluffy stuff for long

Dec 3rd: Sorry you had to wait so long for the update orz

InnocentBystand: I hope it tugged on your heart strings in a good way!

Mckenna: Thanks!

Sep 2019 Guest: Thank you!

Feb1 2020 guest: Wow thank you so much