­Kenzan: Thanks! I should be studying too though… T.T
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--: Yes, you're right! I took her name from Fushigi Yuugi. She annoys me… sorry Miaka fans! (If there are any anyway…)
Assjuice: Update's here! Thanks for reviewing!
Luciver: Hmm…I wonder about that too. Heh heh . Thanks for reviewing!
.tamixaishiteru: I feel sorry for Shuichi too but he's so fun to torture…thanks for reviewing!
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Saint German: I'm looking forward to see Yuki bash that guy up too. Thanks for reviewing!
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Disclaimer: Oh, come on. If I had total control over Gravitation, I would pair Yuki up with myself.

Scene 4-If I can make them all believe it, maybe I'll believe it too

As Yukino-sensei monotonously explained the importance of English literature, Miaka was busy thinking up '101 Ways to Get Away With Killing Shindou Shuichi."

Miaka glared at Shindou's back from her seat. She had earlier entered the classroom with some other girls to find him alone with Yuki-sensei.

Again.

Miaka had enough. It was time to teach Shindou a lesson.

XXX

Shuichi was wondering if he should skip Yuki's class. "I managed to avoid him on Friday and then it was the weekend so I didn't have to see him but now…it's Monday again…how am I supposed to evade him?"

Unfortunately for Shuichi, Yuki entered the lab at that moment.

"Guess I can't escape now…I hope he forgot about what he saw…"

XXX

Yuki was gratified to see Shuichi present. He knew Shuichi had been avoiding him. "If he thinks I'm going to forget about that bruise, he's going to have to think again.
Fell down…yeah right, he must have fallen at a pretty interesting angle to get an injury there…"

Yuki addressed the class in a brisk tone. "Okay people, I want you to remember that we're dissecting rats today, not humans. Try to avoid mutilating yourself. The first thing to do is…" Yuki continued giving instructions.

XXX

Shuichi was busy slicing and dicing his rat, doing his utmost best to avoid meeting Yuki's eyes. He was really beginning to wish he didn't take biology.

"Can't he stop looking in this direction? It's so…distracting…"

"Stop already!"

"…………………"

"…He really has stalker potential in him…"

At that thought, Shuichi viciously stabbed his rat.

Hiro had been separating his rat's guts bit by bit, enjoying himself immensely. He looked up. "Whoa, are you planning to have minced rat?"

Shuichi just made a face at him and carried of stabbing and slashing.

"Why, oh WHY does he like picking on me so much?"

Stab.

"Sometimes, I really feel like tripping him accidentally-on-purpose or something."

Slash.

"Why do I keep thinking about Yuki anyway?"

Stab.

"Wait- did I just call him YUKI!"

Slash.

"OW!"

XXX

Yuki saw it coming.

He had been observing as Shuichi savagely jabbed his poor, innocent, albeit dead, rat. Just as Yuki was about to warn him to be careful, Shuichi stabbed too hard and ended up slashing his own hand instead.

"That fool!"

Yuki hurried towards Shuichi.

XXX

Shuichi stared at his own blood uncomprehendingly. His classmates started gathering around him, anxious.

"…What just happened?"

"Are you alright, Shindou-kun?"

"…Looks painful…"

Hiro examined Shuichi's hand critically. "This looks pretty deep. Maybe you should go to the infirmary…I'll take you th-…"

Yuki cut in curtly, "I'll bring him there myself. Shindou, lets go."

Shuichi didn't want to go. And absolutely not with Yuki. To him, the pain was nothing. Why should it bother him? After all, he had experienced much worse before. But…classmates hovered around him, about to kick up a fuss. Not wanting to make a scene, he nodded acquiescently and allowed Yuki to lead him out of the lab.

Hiro stared in bewilderment as Shuichi followed Yuki-sensei out of the lab with a reluctant expression.

"Did something happen between Shuichi and Yuki-sensei…?"

XXX

In the infirmary, Yuki looked around. "Looks like the doctor isn't around…I'll just do it myself then."

Shuchi stood at the doorway, looking uncertain. Yuki impatiently gestured Shuichi to sit down, eyes scanning through the medicine cupboard.

Shuichi sat on the edge of a chair, peering at Yuki suspiciously."He better not be trying to poison me…"

Finding what he was looking for, Yuki pulled a chair facing Shuichi and sat down, grabbing Shuichi's hand for inspection.

Shuichi couldn't help flinching a little when Yuki suddenly took his hand. Thankfully, he managed to control his growing panic. He knew Yuki was only going to treat it and meant no harm but still… "I hate skin contact…it's like a conditional reflex to pull back when someone touches me…Hopefully, Yuki didn't notice…"

Yuki felt Shuichi jerk his hand back a little-he chose to ignore it.

Awkward silence filled the air as Yuki cleaned the wound. Before long, it was done.

"There, it's done," Yuki announced as he neatly pinned the bandage, "it's best if you rest. Get your things and meet me at the car park. I'll send you home."

Shuichi was thankful to do as Yuki ordered. He hastily left the infirmary.

"Finally, escape! Yuki didn't ask about the bruise. He probably forgot about it."

As he neared the biology lab, Shuichi slowed down.

"Yeah, that's right...he's probably forgotten all about a little thing like that…"

He didn't understand-he should be happy that Yuki didn't pester him but…at the thought that he had forgotten all about it made Shuichi feel somewhat…disappointed.

"How strange…"

XXX

Yuki mechanically tidied up the infirmary, deep in thought.

Earlier on, he had wanted to ask Shuichi about his injury but while treating his wound, Yuki noticed that there were other bruises that he hadn't seen before. "Funny thing about them is…they're all at different stages of healing. Meaning that he has been getting fresh bruises often…"

Yuki took off his lab coat and loosened his tie, sighing out loud, "What's going on, Shuichi?"

XXX

"So this is why Shuichi was in the park that night…who knew we lived so close together?"

Yuki was driving Shuichi home in silence. He had been surprised when Shuichi told him his address.Yuki and Shuichi were practically neighbors, only a street separated them.

Shuichi gazed out of the car window. He had tried his best to talk Yuki into letting him walk but he wouldn't hear of it. Shuichi didn't want him to send him home-there was a chance Yuki might bump into his mother.

Shuichi was very against anyone discovering the truth. If Yuki were to ever find out, Shuichi knew he would want to die.

XXX

Shuichi quickly got out of Yuki's car. "Thanks, Yuki-sensei."

"Hurry, please hurry up and go before she comes…"

Yuki seemed to choose his words carefully before speaking. "Shuichi…is anything wrong?"

Shuichi blinked. "Wha…?"

"Yuki-sen-…"

Shuichi was interrupted by a high-pitched shriek. "SHUICHI! What are you doing skipping school?"

Shuichi wished a black hole would just appear on the pavement and swallow him up."No! Why did she have to some home now? Is there a demon lord taking revenge on me or something?"

Shuichi's mother and her boyfriend came up to Shuichi. They noticed Yuki in his car and stopped. "Who is this man?"

Shuichi nervously introduced them. "Mother, this is my homeroom teacher, Yuki-sensei; Yuki-sensei, this is my mother and her boyfriend, Nanri and Ryouji."

XXX

That night, Yuki was marking some test papers. "Wrong…wrong …wrong…and…wrong," he muttered to himself.

That's it. He gave up.

"Don't these brainless idiots EVER listen in my class?"

Yuki took off his glasses and massaged his temples, brows furrowed. His mind wandered back to his first encounter with Shuichi's mother and her boyfriend. He hadn't liked either one of them.

Shuichi's mother seemed to be very strict on Shuichi, judging by the tone of her voice when she thought Shuichi had been playing truant. But even so…she had over-reacted. After all, there had been no need to bodily haul Shuichi into the house. And she did just that even after Yuki had explained the situation to her.

"Almost insane, even…"

As for that boyfriend of hers…well, he didn't like the way his eyes seemed to linger on Shuichi. He didn't like it at all.

"Shindou Nanri and Shunsuke Ryouji…"

Yuki continued contemplating on them, exam papers forgotten.

It was almost funny the way Yuki didn't seem to realize how bothered he was about Shuichi's welfare.

XXX

Shuichi lay on his bed in his room, staring up at the ceiling. "Well, that went well. Now Yuki knows my mother and her boyfriend, and they know him. Wonderful, we can start inviting him over for dinner to play 'Happy Family.'"

The only good thing that happened today was that Shuichi's mother had gone out with them tonight.

Shuichi was enjoying a rare night of peace and solitude. "What a miserable life. I can still remember…the day all this began...Has it really been ten years already?

Shuichi closed his eyes.

-Approximately ten years ago-

A trembling seven-year-old Shuichi crouched behind the couch, hiding.

"Shuichi! SHUICHI! Come out this instant!"

Shuichi shook his head unseen , denying the voice.

This couldn't be his mother. Mother had a sweet, gentle voice. Mother always smiled at him and took care of him when he was sick. This harsh voice is not Mother's.

It's not!

"There you are!" A large man roughly dragged Shuichi out of his hiding place.

"OVER HERE!" He hollered to the others.

A group of men ringed around him.

Shuichi was scared. He didn't like the creepy expressions on their faces. He tried to push his way past them to no avail, they were just too strong for his skinny arms to resist.

Hands grabbed at him. Pulled his clothes off. Pushed him down.

Little Shuichi looked around for his mother, struggling wildly.

There!

She was standing at the doorway, watching.

"Mother!"

She turned away, didn't look back.

"Help me!"

She closed the door. The slamming sound was final.

"MOTHER!"

Shuichi tried to fight them off. Tried to run. He tried and managed to break free once. Only to instantly get caught again.

The men laughed. One man leaned in closer, catching Shuichi's arms in an iron grip as he flailed about desperately. "Little boy," His breath was hot and heavy against his ear. It felt disgusting. "Shall we teach you the ways of pleasuring men?"

And that was when Shuichi first met the repeating nightmare that would haunt him for all his life.

-Back to the present-

Shuichi opened his eyes again.

The day it happened, he had just moved into his current home. Shuichi couldn't remember much of his life before then but he was sure of one thing.

He had no father. It had always been just Mother and him. Until her boyfriend showed up. Until they appeared, frequently visiting just to mercilessly rape him over and over again.

His hatred for them was deep-seated but he hated his mother's boyfriend most of all. After all, his mother first started to behave strangely after she met him and it wasn't long before her entire personality became twisted.

The only emotion Shuichi felt more strongly than hate was fear.

Shuichi sighed and rolled to his side.

After the first time, his mother frequently brought men home. Brought them home whenever she needed money-she had rented her only child off as a common prostitute.

The only thing that changed about those men were their names.

Everything else was the same.

Their hungry lust was the same, the things they made him do were they same, the pain and suffering they forced him to endure were the same.

They were all they same.

Shuichi had trained himself to view them as faceless demons-making them seem more distant and impersonal made his constant torture more bearable.

It made him feel better. Not by much but at least a little. Enough to keep him sane.

Shuichi shook those dark thoughts away. "Enough, I better start doing my homework…after all, I DID flunk Yuki's stupid surprise test…"

Shuichi sat at his desk and rummaged for his books. As he took them out of his bag, a letter slid out from between them."Huh, what's this? A love confession?"

He read the letter, feeling curious.

SHINDOU SHUICHI,

GO AND DIE!
I"VE ALWAYS HATED YOU.
WITH YOUR PINK HAIR AND GIRLY FACE, YOU MAKE ME SICK.
STOP SEDUCING YUKI-SENSEI!
STAY AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BASTARD!
YUKI-SENSEI IS MINE!

"Definitely not a love confession."

Shuichi was shaken. Yuki and…him?

Okay, that wraps up chapter 4.After uploading this chapter over and over again, I FINALLY managed to get it to behave nicely with no weird spacing and stuff! .:cries with joy:. Anyway, please review!
Thanks!