A/N: Kaito's backstory will be explained in detail here. Please be aware that it will contain abuse, alcoholism, minor character deaths, bullying, and depression, so if that makes you uncomfortable I would advise you don't read this. Bear with me, as I do have to create an entire backstory and personality for him, so my apologies if it isn't to your liking.


Chapter 2

The loud beeping of his alarm jolts his eyes open. Kaito groans, and presses snooze.

Little did he know that that was the fourth time he had pressed snooze.

Opening an eye to look at the time, he realizes it was nearly four thirty. He immediately stands up, panicking and taking his pajamas off. He quickly changes into his usual, brushing his teeth and hair, grabbing his bag, and running out of his apartment.

He calls for a cab immediately, and once he was inside and told the driver his desired location, he sighs.

I always mess things up, don't I?

He only hoped the people at the studio didn't think he was more trouble than he was worth.

And Miku–what would she think?

He runs a hand through his hair, and realizes he hadn't properly brushed his hair. It was a mess. His makeup was sloppy, only enough to just barely cover his pimples and eye bags. His eyes bothered him–his contacts were poorly placed.

Pressing the camera application on his cellphone, he turns the camera to the front and looks at himself.

Oh, God.

He rushes to fix his hair, but realizes he hadn't brought his brush. Instead, he settled for running his fingers through his hair and trying to make it neater.

His hair didn't look good, but not bad either. He would just fix it in the studio normally, but now he was late. He'd have to get on set right away, he thinks.

After about an hour of driving, the driver stops. He had reached his destination.

He notices the lights and music from the outside, and panics, beginning to exit the car.

"Hey," The driver says, reaching for his arm. He flinches, inching away. "You ain't gonna pay me?"

Kaito blinks. He blushes a bit out of embarrassment, and realizes he had forgotten his wallet.

"S-Sorry, I, um, I forgot my wallet. Can I pay you back?"

"No." The driver, an elderly, grouchy old man, spits. "We're going to have a problem."

"But I'm—"

"Is he giving you trouble, Kaito?" Someone asks. They both turn towards the voice. It was Kaito's manager, a lady in her thirties.

"I forgot my wallet..." Kaito trails off, scratching the back of his head apologetically.

His manager, Yuuki, shakes her head. She reaches into her purse and takes out her wallet, and after asking the driver how much Kaito owed she hands him the money.

Apologizing once more, Kaito gets out of the cab. "I'm really sorry, Yuuki-san. I overslept, and I panicked, and—"

Yuuki smiles, about to ruffle his hair but deciding against it. "It's fine, Kaito, it happens to everyone. Don't worry about it."

They both begin to walk into the studio. "No, it's not. I mean—I completely messed everything up. And this—this was huge. I'm so sorry. You deserve someone better, Yuuki."

"Hey, don't talk like that. Snap out of it." Yuuki says with a firm expression. "Everyone makes mistakes every once in a while, but there's always a chance for redemption."

She smiles, opening the door for him and letting him inside.

Kaito returns the smile, a bit weakly, "Okay."

He didn't believe her. He didn't understand why she continued to stay by his side.

It was no mystery why he was this way. Kaito came from a very poor family–well, if you can even call it a family.

It's not like it was always that way. In the early years of Kaito's birth, he was loved. His parents had their lives together, they loved each other, they maintained each other, made sure Kaito was happy and well.

Then it happened. He had just started middle school, a very happy and outgoing child, eager to learn and make friends. He excelled in music class, being one of his passionate interests–he even joined the singing club.

There was a school trip to a theater in a few months–all his classmates were going, and truth to be told he really wanted to experience it as well. He loved singing and wanted to hear other songs and voices in the musical play. However, his parents couldn't afford it–they told him he couldn't go, and he threw a fit, bursting into tears even.

This wasn't the only case. They could only afford to pay for their house and living expenses, there wasn't enough for other things. His mother didn't want him to grow up like that, different and unhappy. So she got another job. She ended up overworking.

Kaito wasn't aware why his mother wasn't around as much, he was only told that she got a promotion, whereas he didn't completely understand what that meant. One night he couldn't sleep, and snuck downstairs to eavesdrop on his parents' conversation after his mom got home pretty late. His dad tried hard to discourage her, to persuade her to stop, that they didn't need her doing this.

He didn't understand what was going on, or what they were arguing about. By the time the day of the trip arrived, she had accumulated enough money for him to go. He did go, and he had lots of fun with his acquaintances. When he got home to tell his parents all about it, his father was sprawled out on the couch, drinking an excess amount of alcohol.

He remembered approaching eagerly to tell him how much fun he had, but his father broke a bottle on the floor and took hold of his collar, yelling, "You had fun, did you? I hope you did! I damn hope you did!"

His voice was slurred, eyes bloodshot, and he harshly let his child go onto the ground and grit his teeth. "That cost her her life. She's dead. It's your… It's your fault…"

Just like that, he passed out. To say Kaito was scared and confused was a huge understatement. Well, it didn't take him long to find out. His mother had overworked herself, gotten too many night jobs, she was sleep deprived. On her way to work, she fell asleep and crashed into a tree. The impact killed her.

His father couldn't maintain the house and living expenses on his own without her. They fell into poverty, had to settle for a rundown house. He usually arrived home very late, usually becoming drunk and passing out. Kaito knew this only because he was almost always awake well into the night. He couldn't sleep without difficulty, nightmares about his mother haunted him whenever he closed his eyes.

Sometimes his father arrived earlier, though. He would beat Kaito, letting his anger out on him. Kaito told himself he deserved it. This wasn't enough to pay for causing his mother's death.

He would often fall asleep in class, barely process the words coming out of his teachers' and classmates' mouths. When he brought home a failed test to sign, his father would lock him out of the house for the night. Of course his acquaintances noticed a change in him–he would barely talk to them, his answers were short and blunt and he just wasn't fun to hang out with anymore. He barely smiled or laughed, or made conversation, and failed most of his classes. He quit the singing club. No one wanted to talk to him anymore, he became isolated.

Because of this, he was an easy target for bullying. His sleeves would be stapled together, he would be pushed against walls, locker full of rotten eggs. On a few occasions he was even beat up, but it's not like he wasn't used to it.

He became depressed. It was his fault. His father hated him, everyone hated him. His grades dropped, he became detached and isolated himself.

His teachers noticed a change, they offered counseling and therapy but at every point he pushed them away. He would lock himself in his room and stare at the wall for hours at a time, curl into himself and let his tears hit his pillow as his shaky voice filled the room.

One afternoon after a day in high school, Kaito arrived home to find his father collapsed on the floor, knife in hand, blood pooled around him. He had killed himself. The sight would never leave his mind. Not to mention it worsened his condition.

From then on, he lived with his aunt. She was a kind person, living peacefully with her husband and taking in Kaito in pity. He never did open up to her–she looked too much like his mother. She heard him singing to himself once, and encouraged him to take part in a singing competition. He took her up on her offer, since singing was really one of the only reasons he hadn't decided to take his father's path himself.

He easily won the competition, actually. His voice was amazing, a gift, he was a prodigy, the judges had said. He won a record deal, and Yuuki Saito became his manager. The competition had been broadcasted around the country, so he had easily won himself some fame and caught lots of attention.

Kaito stares at Yuuki, wondering if he really deserved to be at this point. However, after being able to sing and finding this reason to live, his condition somewhat improved. He could smile and laugh more easily, could do things he enjoyed, play his favorite video games and watch his favorite television series to make himself feel better. Having Yuuki at his side also helped. He would become worse without warning, though that didn't happen as often.

"Here, let me talk to the director." Yuuki says, smiling and walking towards the head director.

Kaito nods, and looks forward. "Cendrillon" was playing.

Miku was on stage, wearing her full outfit for the music video. However, she was already practicing. They were already shooting.

There was another man practicing with her. He was singing, even.

Kaito recognized him as the same man from the night earlier, who saved him from the fast car.

He looked even more handsome there, on the stage, dressed in Kaito's costume. He looked much better wearing it than he did, Kaito thought. His voice went better with the song. He looked so much better together there with Miku. They looked like a great couple, even.

Kaito bit his lip harshly, trembling a bit. He tasted a bit of blood seeping through his cut lip.

Miku spins, but trips and stumbles due to her unfamiliarity with her heels. The man was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

He had a firm arm holding her back, and she stared into his eyes for a while.

There, holding each other for support, Kaito savored how perfect they looked. Their masks, their outfits, everything just enhanced it.

The man noticed someone off in the side staring, and looked in Kaito's direction after steadying Miku and letting her go.

They made eye contact, and quickly Kaito averted his eyes, embarrassed that he had been caught staring, and began to walk in the other direction back to the exit, hoping he hadn't noticed him so he could just leave.

The whole song would be better with that man anyway. He was much better than he could ever be, probably actually deserved it, too.

He feels someone grab his arm, and he jumps, but turns around nevertheless, immediately coming face-to-face with a gorgeous masked man. The man removes his mask. He shakes his head, closing his eyes, trying to fix his hair. Once he opens them, he stares at the gawking man.

"Kaito."