The boys and I wait for someone to offer to go get some Pocari. Satsuki offered to go get some, but she has yet to return. It makes me anxious to know she hasn't returned yet, but Daiki insists that the pinkette is simply slow. My gut says otherwise. "I'm going to check on Satsuki." I say after another five minutes have passed. Sei nods to show he's heard me.
The hallway is bright, but the darkness past it on either side shows that we've practiced well past sunset. Tetsuya's mom had asked us to try and get home earlier than now, but I guess we can't help but disappoint her today. "Satsuki!" I call, walking toward the vending machine. "Satsuki?"
Pink hair comes into view just as pain explodes across the back of my head. "Ah-" I can faintly see the pink-haired beauty run toward me. Then I see her run out of sight. I hope she's getting help.
My skin crawls as hands grab all across my clothes. Are they searching for something? I want to scream, to make some sort of noise, but I can't do anything but stare dazedly at whoever stands before me. "Hanamiya, we're going to be expelled if she tells anyone." Is that Haizaki? What did I do to deserve this? I can't even bring my fingers to twitch or my voice to leak out. I stay limp as someone holds the back of my shirt. Something hot runs down my neck.
"She won't tell anyone." Hanamiya's voice is confident and cruel. His eyes don't look human. "She can't even cry." I'm so scared that noise now seems impossible. I want to cry. "Let's have some fun, okay, Alex-chan?" Why can't I run? Why can't I scream? "Stay quiet for us, okay?"
Pain is blooming up and down my leg as my ankle twists and bends. My shoulder feels like it's going to tear from my body. I don't want this. "Everyone is trash once you break them." My eyes are starting to water. The pain is getting unbearable. I can't stand this. My body finally reacts and jerks from Haizaki's hands. It doesn't free me from his grip, and makes my head spin. One of them smacks my head again, harder.
Someone, anyone, come help me! My heart is racing and my body feels like a lead weight. I keep murmuring something, but I can't hear what it is. "I told you to stay quiet." Nothing is in focus anymore. My heart is sinking. I feel like throwing up.
"Hai-chan!" I jerk hard at the sound of my name, only to feel something tear. Pain shocks me; I draw in a harsh breath. "Hai-chan!"
"Alex!" For once, I gain momentary control as I surge forward. I can't remember what happens next. Everything is a blur in which Hanamiya and Haizaki never cease to terrify me. It takes me another ten minutes to form a coherent thought.
"Alex!" I manage a scream. It's short, harsh, terrified, and pain-filled. It earns me a punch to the gut, but the door to whatever shed this is slams open in a matter of seconds. The floor rushes to meet me as Haizaki drops me and runs. Hanamiya is who knows where, but I'm just glad that he's far away from me.
I start crying as soon as the light reaches me eyes. My hands are shaking as I cover my face and I draw my knees back up to my chest. "No more." I whimper. "I won't say anything."
"Alex!" Cold eyes are staring deep into me. Green and gray and no more!
"I won't say anything, so stop." I whisper. "Leave me alone. I didn't do anything to you!"
No, no, how could I confuse those two with these five? I want to go home, but I can't move. My body is done. I guess it thinks it's done its duty. It goes limp and lax as tears stream from my eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"Hai-chan..."
"Alex! It's just a dream, Alex..." I feel warm for some reason. It takes a while for me to swim closer reality.
"Daiki...?" My voice sounds scratchy, like I've been overusing it. "What's wrong, Daiki? Did you have a bad dream?" I feel like I can't move. My body is so sore that even breathing feels painful.
"You were screaming, Alex." The bluenette murmurs. I make some unidentifiable noise. The warmth is now something I can recognize. Daiki's arms are wrapped tightly around me.
"I thought you guys were those two. How did I mix you guys up with Hanamiya and Haizaki?" I loosely wrap my arms around the furnace of a boy. "I'm sorry for mixing you guys up."
"It's fine already." Daiki growls. "I have a different nightmare to take care of and I need your help." I groan as I sit upright.
"What is it?" I murmur. My muscles are screaming in agony, and Daiki sounds completely wound up. "Your...?"
"Yeah." he murmurs. I groan as I try tugging on some proper clothes.
"Here?" The bluenette nods. "How long?"
"A few minutes." I raise an eyebrow. "Didn't hear you." I nod.
"Alright." When I'm properly dressed and all the more sore, but nonetheless presentable, I exit my room.
Sitting on my couch talking anxiously are two people who I never thought I'd see again. Admittedly, my first meeting with them was a few years ago and only for a couple tense minutes. Their eyes latch onto me the moment I'm in view.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Aomine. My name is Alex Heights. Please call me Hai." Daiki's mother has a sweet, but tired face with warm eyes. Daiki's father looks rigid and strict, with a cool, calculating air around him. "Can I help you?"
"You... Daiki has been staying with you?" Mrs. Aomine's voice is pleasant to listen to, but somehow very edgy, like she's too nervous. I nod my head.
"That's correct." At least they'll be addressing me. Somehow, I handle Daiki's parents better than he does.
"A foreigner?" I do my best to smile brightly.
"Yes, I'm a foreigner." I can sense the looming disapproval. "Let's cut to the chase, please."
"Daiki, it's time to come home." Mr. Aomine has an imposing air that chills the whole of my apartment. "You've had your fun. It's time for you to apologize to your mother and I and come home."
I never did ask what Daiki was fighting about when he left, but from the looks of things, the blue-haired wonder won't be apologizing. Rigid and furious, blue eyes have been replaced with burning coals, and muscles have been wound taunt into a ticking time bomb. I sense a fight, and I hope it doesn't come to pass. "I didn't do anything wrong." Daiki hisses with all the fury imaginable. Surprise almost flits across my face.
"Apologize." Mr. Aomine says again.
"I did nothing wrong!" The bluenette repeats. "Like hell I'm apologizing!" Conflict, all conflict, makes me sick. My stomach is roiling.
"I demand an ap-" The shorter, older, slightly scarier version of Daiki cuts off abruptly as I step in between the two.
"That's enough." Surprise drowns the room. "Daiki says he did nothing wrong, and I believe him. He shouldn't apologize for doing something wrong when he didn't."
Anger is clawing down my back. If I hate anything more than conflict, elbows, and metal cleats, it's being wrongly accused. Nothing feels worse in the world. "So please, of you're going to continue the way you are, get the hell out of my apartment. That isn't welcome here."
"Who do you think you are?" Mrs. Aomine is desperately trying to calm the ball of fury she calls her husband. "You have nothing to do with-"
"Get out of my apartment." I say icily. "You aren't welcome here." A hand connects with my cheek full force. Did Daiki's father always have such an awful temper? It takes all my self-control to stay stock-still. Daiki launches past me faster than I've seen him move in a while. My heart is hammering and my vision is blurring. I've never been good with violence of any kind. I hear the sound of flesh connecting, a bit of yelling, and shoes skidding as the door slams with enough force to nearly shake free of the frame. The lock is turned with lightening speed.
"Are you okay? No, of course you aren't... did you get hurt? Did you-" Daiki holds my face almost too firmly, and I can't see past his head. He asks question after question, but I'm too stunned to answer anything, especially since the blue-haired boy practically doesn't breathe between all the questions he's firing my way. I notice absentmindedly that the he has to bend down for us to see eye-to-eye.
All these questions come to an abrupt halt as I hug the significantly taller boy. For as long as I can remember, when something like that happened there was nobody to stand beside me. Until I met these Miracles, I assumed things like abuse were things that everyone went through alone. I assumed that violence wasn't a big deal. My time here has greatly changed my perspective. "Daiki..." For some reason, his name almost sounds like a prayer. It carries some unimaginable weight.
"Let me take a look at your face." The blue-haired wunderkind murmurs as he pulls away from me. My head is tilted slightly, uncomfortably, so that my offended and overheated cheek is being scrutinized. "There's a full handprint..."
I shrug my shoulders. "You shouldn't have gotten in between us like that, Alex! He slapped you!" Unimaginable fury coats Daiki's tongue and colors his eyes a deeper cobalt blue. "He touched you... I'll kill 'im!"
"It doesn't matter, Daiki. I've had a lot worse. It doesn't really hurt." The last part is nearly a flat out lie, but he doesn't need to know that. "It's fine." Cobalt blue darkens to the deepest indigo I've ever seen.
"It's not okay! He touched you! He hurt you! You practically started crying!" In all my years around Daiki, I've never once seen this side of him. "You're mine! Nobody else is allowed to touch you! No one can make you cry! You're all mine." This possessiveness is new and surprising, but I'm not against it. Is it possessiveness or protectiveness? I can't really tell the difference, but it feels welcome and warm. "I won't let anyone hurt you. Not again." Two arms wrap around me as tightly as they dare. "Not after Haizaki and Hanamiya. Not after him. Not after those bastards you called your family."
My vision is blurry again. Blurry and unfocused as I hide my face in the blue-haired boy's chest. It's taking all my willpower not to cry. Nobody has promised me something in this way before. I don't know how to react. "Daiki..."
My voice is horribly uncertain and wavers far too much. My hands are shaking as they latch into the back of his shirt, and my legs are threatening to buckle. "Why would you promise me that? You don't need to do that for me." My voice is threatening to crack.
"You really don't understand anything." Daiki mutters into my hair. "I love you. That's why. That's the only reason I need." I want to gasp. I want to cry. All I can actually do is hold onto the bluenette with all the strength left in my body.
"Daiki..." I can keep myself from crying, if only barely. His embrace is warm and secure and snug. How long has it been since I've felt that nothing bad can happen? How long has it been since I've felt so relaxed? It seems like nothing can go wrong right now. Some sense of security is drowning out everything else. I'm not complaining, not at all. The feeling is welcome and nothing short of a miracle, so I'll enjoy it to the best of my ability.
I twist the silver plastic ring around my middle finger as I watch Sei pace back and forth. He actually seems rather anxious in his own way, which I suppose is out of character. I should pay more attention to the feelings of those around me. "Why do you keep getting hurt? Are we not careful? Do you go out of your way to aggravate these two?" His questions sound like barbed accusations, and it takes all my self-control not to stand and start yelling.
"You are careful, and I don't go out of my way to do anything to anyone." I reply as calmly as is possible in situations like these. The bandages around my head are too tight, and I feel a headache coming on. I still have an unfortunate tendency to blank out and lose my connection with the world when I get too stressed or tired, but the doctor promised us it would pass as I got better.
"You're not going anywhere without one of us present, is that clear, Alex?" There's an unusual fire lighting up Seijuurou's eyes, one I've never seen before. "I have no desire to see you hurt. Haizaki has crossed the line, and both boys will be dealt with in due time. My greatest concern is the that you won't tell me what happened."
The events of two nights ago flashes before my eyes in a terrifying blur. My heart beats double time and my head aches. "I don't remember." I lie, gritting my teeth as my arms move reluctantly to massage my throbbing temples. "I don't remember what happened."
"Do you honestly believe that I'm stupid enough to believe a lie like that? Your memory is one of the traits that I found to be exceptional. We both know that you remember what happened. Tell me what happened." Red and gold eyes are glowing with incredible determination. I have absolutely no desire to bow down to their will.
"I don't know!" I say. It's a half-truth, to any extent. "I don't know, I promise! My head hurt and then everything hurt and all I remember is that everything hurt and I couldn't move. I don't know what happened! I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!"
Red and gold look panicked as I grab my hair and tug violently as tear stream down my face. "I'm sorry! I don't know!" Why am I apologizing? Did I actually do something wrong? Why can't I remember things clearly anymore? I can't see properly and it's all I can do not to scream, and it feels like I can't breathe. What's wrong with me?
"Alex... I see. I understand. Don't worry, Alex. It won't happen again." Seijuurou is closer than he used to be. As intimidating as the redhead is, I don't see it. I just see a kid my age who doesn't know what to do when someone starts crying in front of him the way I have. I need to control my emotions. I can't burden this kid anymore than I already have.
"Oi, Alex!" I hum sleepily, prying one eye open slowly. I'm not sure when I feel asleep, but it's obviously inconvenient to both Daiki and I. It takes most of my energy to open my other eye and realize that, for the most part, this position isn't all that uncomfortable. I don't exactly understand where we are, though.
Have I mentioned that I like piggyback rides? Well I'm sure as hell getting one right now, but why? The air is hot and humid, a little uncomfortable, and not at all as cool as I wish it would be. Summer is an annoying time of year, I guess. I just wish that school would end for vacation already, but it's not something to complain about, I suppose. Something about the value of a high school education and all.
Where are we? Some part of downtown Tokyo, I guess. There are huge screens with ads and famous idols attached to skyscrapers. It's almost breathtaking, like the number of people all around us. I slide down so I can walk beside the blue-haired boy. What's annoying, though, about this vast number of human beings is that although it's a sure sign of life, it's a sure sign that I'm going to get lost within the next ten minutes no matter how tall Daiki is. The bluenette problem-solves and grabs my hand.
Have you ever paid attention to how someone's hand feels when it's grasping your own? How sometimes your palms brush and other times they feel miles apart? How your fingers interlace like puzzle pieces finally fitting together? I like to think I'm not as sappy and sentimental as others would assume, but these are all things I've started to notice more and more since the train ride with the blue-haired wonder.
I don't really know where we're going, but does it really matter? To me, the most important part of all this is that Daiki is beside me. I guess it's a little strange that the bluenette and I don't really go out on dates, or if we do they aren't all that often, but I think that spending time with someone shouldn't apply only to dates or dating in general. Since we're so close at all hours of the day, things like dates are starting to seem unnecessary, although I'm not going to flat out say that I wouldn't want to go on one with him.
I look up in time to see that we're heading inside a building I've never seen in my life before. It makes me a little anxious, but it's nothing I'm not open to. Maybe I'm open to a little too much. Either way, any protests I have, any second thoughts I'm about to think, are completely destroyed, erased, eradicated, by what I see next.
Four stories tall and god knows how wide, I can only hope that this is some sort of mall, because I doubt there's any other name to describe it. "Let's go, Alex." The bluenette says with his usual lack of enthusiasm. I simply laugh and follow him.