Summary: They always stuck together through thick and thin, the good times and the bad. All different personalities, but they share one thing in common: love can't be masked and gave up on by admitting human frailty...rather by following what their heart says, not their heads.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation, at all. End of story.

PS: I am a huge pervert, so please excuse... XD

Chapter 6:

Shuichi buried his face in his hands as Yuki led him into his dorm and sat him on the couch. Shuichi sat in the middle of Suguru and Yuki while Hiro crouched in front of him.

"Shu, are you sure you want to--"

"I have to, Hiro! I can't let this build up..or I'll go back to that time."

Hiro looked at the ground. Yuki, though worried for Shuichi, couldn't help but feel angry, jealous, and left out because the other three knew a secret that he didn't, and he was Shuichi's boyfriend. There shouldn't be anything that he didn't know about Shuichi. Yuki held Shuichi closer to his side, trying to reassure himself that it was only natural that Hiro and Suguru would know more about Shuichi because they have been friends their whole lives.

Shuichi looked up at Yuki, his eyes bloodshot from the tears.

"Yuki, I'm scared that you will see me differently. The way I was back then is nowhere near the way I am now."

Yuki kissed Shuichi's head.

"It's okay."

Yuki, himself, had his own past life, too, afterall. One that he has kept a secret from everyone. Even Shuichi.

"Don't worry, Shuichi." Suguru said rubbing his best friend's back. "Just tell it at your own pace."

Shuichi took a deep breath and looked at his lap.

"It all started like this..."

Flashback begin:

"Low down! Piece of shit! That's all you ever are and that's all you'll ever be!"

"What the hell does it matter to you?!"

Slap.

"Don't you back talk me, boy."

Shuichi glared at the man that slapped him: his step-father. His eyes wandered to his mother and sister who were cowering in the kitchen. His gaze returned to his step-father when he felt a palm collide with his cheek again.

"Pay attention to me, boy!"

Shuichi glared hard, holding back his anger. He didn't want to lose control, not while his mother and sister were watching. He knew he would kill his step-father if he did.

"If I EVER catch you skipping school again, you'll wish you'd NEVER been born!"

"Too late for that."

"What was that, boy?"

Slap.

"You have a deathwish, boy? Why not go on and kill yourself. The world would be a better place without you."

His step-father raised his hand to slap Shuichi again, but Shuichi caught his arm.

"Don't you lay another hand on me." Shuichi said slowly, threateningly.

His step-father's nostrils flared. He pushed Shuichi roughly against the wall.

"Don't you back talk me!"

"I will do damn well what I please. You AREN'T my father!"

A fist sunk into Shuichi's stomach. Shuichi fell to his knees coughing and gasping for air.

"Don't you EVER say another thing like that to me! I put clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and this is how you repay me?!"

Shuichi stood to his feet. He faced his step-father, his anger steadily rising.

"I...NEVER...needed you."

His step-father thrust his fist in Shuichi's face. Shuichi could taste blood on his lips. That was the final straw. Every other incident that had ever happened similar to this one, he managed to ignore, to let it pass. But, this time he was fed up with it. He turned on his heel and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

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"Welcome back, Shuichi. Have another fight at home?"

"Shut up, Kai. Give me a hit."

Kai brushed his dirty, black hair out of his face. He took the joint he had out of his mouth and handed it to Shuichi who took a deep drag out of it, feeling the effects relax his muscles. He handed it back to Kai.

"You're bleeding, Shuichi."

"I don't give a damn. I'm fed up dealing with my step-father's shit. I ain't ever going back."

"So, you're a runaway with nowhere to go?" Kai said with a smirk.

Shuichi glared at him.

"Yep."

"You can stay with me for a while, I suppose." Kai said, handing Shuichi the joint again.

Shuichi finished it off, his head feeling slightly fuzzy, but not enough to make him forget, or feel any better.

"Thanks, man."

"Yeah, whatever." Kai said patting the ground beside him, motioning Shuichi to sit beside him.

Shuichi did so. He looked over at Kai, anger still bubbling inside of his chest.

"People really don't understand me. They seem to think that just because I am a small person I can't do much. Fuck them. I'll show them. I'll show them all."

"Yeah, you do that, man. Beat their asses."

Shuichi pounded his fist on the ground until his knuckles bled.

"You're an angry kid, man. Just take it easy. That bitch ain't worth worrying over."

"I keep thinking that he is going to hurt my mom and sister now."

"He ain't done it before, he won't do it now."

Shuichi stared into Kai's grey eyes. Though the druggie he was, Kai was an attractive guy. Shuichi had felt an attraction to him. Shuichi knew then that he was gay, he just didn't act on it. Except with Kai. He was the only one who allowed it.

"Got anything heavy on you?"

"Got some oxycodones."

"That'll work. I'll pay you back later."

Kai pulled a ziplock bag out of his pocket and took two oxycodones out of it. Shuichi gratefully took them and downed them, and he sat quietly until he started feeling the effects of the drugs sink in. Dizzy, he turned to look at Kai, his face seemed to be contorted in several different directions.

"Mmm, Kai, you look funny."

"Not as funny as you, man."

Shuichi threw his head back and laughed. Kai stared at him until his laughing died down.

"Shu, why don't we take this party somewhere else." he said, a lustful sound in his voice.

"Only if you give me alcohol."

"Dude, you know taking alcohol with those oxys will mess you up."

"I know, that's the point."

"Do you want to die?"

"Maybe."

Kai raised his eyebrow at him.

"Just let me hit that a bit before you decide to croak on me."

Shuichi nodded, not really understanding what had escaped Kai's lips, and not really caring. The effects of the drugs made him feel like he was flying. Soon the world seemed to slip away from him.

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Much to his dismay, Shuichi woke up the next morning in Kai's bed, just his boxers on. The only remembered up to when Kai gave him the pills...

His phone started ringing. He threw a glare at his pants on the floor beside the bed. He bent down, ignoring the pain in his backside, and took the phone out of his pocket. It was his step-father.

"What?"

"You dirt! Why didn't you come back home last night?! I wasn't threw with you!"

"Yeah, well, I am threw with you." Shuichi mumbled into the phone.

"What was that?! Boy, if you want to back talk me, then you do it to my face!"

"And, if I do you will do nothing but slap me and tell me to shut up and tell me how worthless I am."

"I am glad that you recognize your insignificance. Get your ass home, now!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"I said, 'No.'"

"I will come and find you."

"Do it, then."

"Son of a bitch!"

"Glad you think so."

Shuichi hung up feeling the anger weld up in his chest again. He listened for any other sounds around Kai's house and heard none. Kai must be out dealing...

Shuichi growled to himself. Just when he needed him...just when he needed drugs to take the edge off. He felt his anger slip into a deep depression. Why didn't anyone do anything to help him? Why didn't anyone know about his house life? About what he had to go through everyday...

This kind of life he kept a secret from Hiro and Suguru. He didn't want them to know of the things he did to himself. All the drugs he put into his body, all the deep scars he carved on his flesh, and the alcohol he drank...and all the sex he could get from Kai. He just wanted to let the feelings of worthlessness that took over him slip away. He ran to the kitchen searching for something sharp...

He rummaged through the drawers until he saw Kai's stash of razor blades that he used when he made cocaine. He took the silver object and admired how welcoming it looked. He sunk to the floor. He started with his shoulder, pressing the blade gently down and dragging it across his ivory skin, watching as a thin line of blood bubbled through the cut. It was nice and sharp. Just the way he wanted it. He brought it to his left wrist, letting it hover a few centimeters over it, looking over the scars he could reopen. Picking one of the less deep ones, pressing the blade down and roughly dragging it across. Blood leaked through in a small river. Shuichi's eyes brighted as he saw it.

Kai walked into the kitchen and saw Shuichi. It was normal for him to find Shuichi sitting somewhere with blood pouring everywhere from his body. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at that pathetic heap Shuichi was.

"You're cleaning up that mess you know." he said pointing to the small pool of blood that Shuichi had made.

Shuichi looked sadly up at him. Kai rolled his eyes and turned away.

"I got something you might like."

"What?" Shuichi said, throwing the blade to the side and standing to his feet. Kai took a ziplock bag out of his pocket.

"Ex." he said.

"Ecstacy?"

"Mhm."

"I don't know, man. That stuff is hard."

"Yeah. It will make you feel good."

"I don't want to take that. Don't you have some coke or something else?"

"Just take it." Kai said, his voice demanding, making Shuichi jump.

Shuichi looked at the floor.

"I don't want to."

Shuichi felt his back being slammed on the refrigerator.

"Take them."

"Why? Why are you demanding that I take those?"

Kai growled and smirked.

"Because you are sooo much better when you are high. A high Shuichi is a beautiful Shuichi."

Shuichi felt his breath constrict.

"I want to drown in my misery."

"A depressed Shuichi is a turn on, but a high Shuichi makes all troubles go away."

"You only like me when I am high?"

"That's right. I don't like to hear you whine and complain all the time. It's pathetic."

Shuichi looked at the bad of ecstacy in Kai's hand. He didn't want to do it, but if it meant he would finally get love...

He took the bag and took the two pills that were in the bag. Kai grinned.

"That a boy, Shuichi-kun."

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The ecstacy has such a disasterous effect that after Kai had his way with Shuichi, the pink-haired, broken angel went on destruction of himself. He found whatever blade he could find that would leave cuts and stabs, he found whatever blunt object he could find that would leave bruises. I wanted to look at ugly as he felt. And, he thought the greatest part was that he didn't feel a thing except his body run dry.

Hiro and Suguru found him unconcious in the middle of the street. Lucky, no one was around to witness the mess he was. In Shuichi's stupor he had wandered off into the street, there he lay on the cold, paved road and let his blood spill from him.

Shuichi woke up in a hospital. He had many nurses surrounding him, he felt sick, and Hiro and Suguru were looking scared to death. He was admitted into a mental evaluation center soon after that.

Shuichi hated it there. He was raped almost everyday by the sickest men he had ever met. He had gotten to the point where he would just give himself because he was tired of feeling. He don't know how in the world the doctors found him okay to be let out. But, when they did Shuichi went back to live with Hiro because his family shut him off. It took months, but they finally got contact back. His step-father even stopped being evil to him. Slowly, Shuichi got better, day by day.

And when he met Yuki, his life changed drastically...for the better. He was off the drugs, he hadn't cut himself...he was clean and he wanted to start new. His goal: forget everything.