Violence in this one! I wouldn't say that the depictions of violence here are graphic but they are described. It's not too bad. Last chapter guys!

Disclaimer: Don't own them, sadly.

Warnings: blood and abuse mentions IN THIS CHAPTER

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Last time:

Miwa had been waiting for the mysterious caller for over an hour. Where was he? He kept thinking back to the call. The voice had had a familiar tone to it, something that he couldn't place right then. But the more he thought about it, the more it became clearer. It sounded vaguely like Kai's voice. But Kai's parents were dead. Who else could it have been? His eyes widened in shock and then panic as he realised just who it was that had called him. His panic rose when he realised just what he had accidentally done.

"Kai!" he screamed as he ran back to his house.

Chapter 5

Miwa burst into his house making a beeline for his room. He threw open the door to find no one in bed. Cursing he tore up the house looking for his best friend. Sadly, he found no one. Miwa clenched his fist and punched the wall in frustration. How could he have let this happen? Suddenly, his cell phone rang in his pocket. He whipped it out of his pocket, looking at the screen angrily before realised that Kai was calling him. He immediately brightened and answered the call.

"Kai?" he asked hopefully. He was answered with a pained yell from said brunet.

"Kai!" he screamed, alarmed at his best friend's tone. He was about to ask whether or not he was alright when he heard Kai's weak voice on the other end.

"W-Why are you d-doing this? Why in m-my OWN APARTMENT," Kai shouted especially loudly. Miwa was quiet. He knew what Kai was doing now. He could only hope that Kai knew just how risky this was. He grabbed his home phone and quickly dialed the police to Kai's apartment. Miwa himself tore down the street, hoping to make it in time this time.

Kai struggled to stay conscious. His uncle had just finished beating him with his belt. Earlier, he had been slammed against walls and beaten until he was sure that he was internally bleeding. He had also coughed blood at some point, but he couldn't quite remember when. He had called Miwa earlier and hoped that he had heard him scream his location. It wasn't long before his uncle had noticed and crushed his phone. The beatings had only gotten worse after his uncle had figured it out. Kai figured he was just short of hospitalization at this point. Just as he was about to pass out, he watched his door get thrown open to reveal his best friend.

"Mi-Miwa…" he managed, looking up from the floor to see his friend. He could only watch exhaustedly as Miwa stared at him open-mouthed.

Miwa was shocked to say the least. Kai looked ever worse than he had on that rainy night. His brow was swollen, indicating that he had been hit in the head. His previously bandaged arm was now bleeding again. His left leg was bent at an odd angle and Miwa knew immediately that it was broken. The brunet had also been stripped of his shirt and Miwa could see bleeding gashes that covered his body. And that was only what was on the outside. Miwa had no idea if any of Kai's organs had been damaged but he really didn't want to find out. Just as he was about to carry the brunet out of his apartment, Kai's uncle came back. Upon seeing the blond, Kai's uncle's face scrunched up in rage. He kicked the boy on the floor, causing him to cry out.

"Didn't I tell you not to tell anyone?" he demanded, ignoring Kai's choked gasps as he struggled to breathe. "I told you that if you told anyone that I'd kill them and you!" he screamed as he gave a particularly hard kick to Kai's head which caused the brunet to go limp. Miwa felt his rage rise. Screaming, he tackled the adult to the floor and started hitting him. But Miwa wasn't used to fighting while Kai's uncle was. The adult easily flipped Miwa onto his back and started beating him. Kai's uncle stopped for a moment and looked at the blond's battered face and scoffed.

"Oh how rude of me," he started. "I'm Kai Ryo, the uncle of the ingrate that you see lying over there. I assume that you're Miwa Taishi, am I correct?" Miwa cursed but nodded nonetheless. What was taking those damn policemen so long?! Miwa winced as he was struck across the face again. He felt disoriented as he opened his eyes again to find Ryo sitting on top of him, a knife in his hand. Instantly, he became more alert. He squirmed and squirmed, trying to move away from the danger. Ryo's eyes glinted maniacally.

"I wasn't joking when I said I was going to kill you," he said as he raised the knife. Miwa closed his eyes and prayed that it would be over soon. He opened an eye when he realised that he wasn't in pain. What he saw shocked him speechless again. Kai was currently on top of his uncle, seemingly having tackled him off of Miwa. The blond lay there stunned and could only watch in frozen terror as he watched Ryo stab his nephew in the chest. Miwa screamed and regained feeling in his limbs and rushed forward to his fallen best friend. He didn't notice Ryo behind him and wouldn't have until he heard the man scream as he was tackled yet again but this time by a police officer. Finally, Miwa thought somewhere in the part of his mind that was still paying attention to what wasn't Kai. The man struggled and struggled against the officer but was eventually knocked unconscious. Miwa hadn't stopped screaming for his friend. Kai had yet to wake up and the pool of blood underneath him had slowly started growing since the knife had been taken out. Miwa had tears running down his cheeks and they were not letting up soon. He started screaming even louder when he felt himself being pulled away from Kai's unconscious form. He thrashed against the officer separating the two and watched as the Kai was carried away on a stretcher. He suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck and that was the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness.

Miwa woke up to the sound of beeping next to him. He rubbed his eyes slowly, getting the drowsiness out of them. Where was he? A bright voice chirped from beside him.

"Ah, Miwa-kun! You're awake!" Aichi said. Miwa sat up and leaned back on the bed.

"What happened?" he asked his visitor. Aichi lost his smile and fidgeted in his seat. He seemed reluctant to answer and that was when everything came rushing back to Miwa.

"Kai!" he exclaimed. Aichi had to hold him down to the bed to make sure he didn't hurt himself any more than he already was.

"Miwa-kun, you need to rest! You have a concussion!" Aichi yelled as he tried to calm the frantic blond. As if on cue, Miwa cringed and placed a hand to his head. It was then that he noticed the bandages around his temple. Nonetheless, he kept hollering for his best friend. Aichi had to finally scream the brunet's location to calm Miwa down.

"He's right next to you behind the curtain!" the bluenet yelled as he watched Miwa scramble from his bed and push the curtain aside.

To put it lightly, Kai didn't look well. He had an oxygen mask to help him with his breathing, bandages wrapped around his chest where Miwa remembered that the stab wound was as well as his upper body where the wounds made by Ryo's belt were. His left leg was in a cast after having been broken and there were bandages on his brow where it used to be swollen. The only consolation that there was was that Kai looked peaceful in his sleep. Miwa felt his eyes tear up. If only he had gotten there faster! He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Aichi.

"It's ok, Miwa-kun. He's doing a lot better than when they brought him in. For a while, they weren't sure if he was going to make it, after being stabbed and all. But he's recovering now and will be fine," he comforted. Miwa frowned and shook his head.

"No. I should've gotten there sooner. Or at least been able to defend myself! It's my fault that Kai is like this…" Aichi shook his head.

"Kai-kun did what he did because he cares about you, Miwa-kun. So brighten up. I'm sure that when Kai-kun wakes up, he'll be much happier to see you smiling than to see you frowning." Miwa thought about this and wiped away his tears.

"You're right, Aichi," he said. "Thanks." The bluenet smiled happily. He was glad that Miwa was back to his normal self. Suddenly, they both saw Kai's hand twitch. Miwa gasped and grabbed the brunet's hand, waiting for his teal eyes to open.

"Come on, Kai. Just a little more, you can do it!" The two occupants of the room breathed sighs of relief when they saw Kai's beautiful, albeit tired, teal eyes open. The brunet turned his head slowly to the side to look at his two friends.

"Miwa…? Aichi…?" he asked, still not too sure what was happening. The next thing he knew, he was trapped in two tight embraces and had two bawling boys crying on him.

"Kai-kun! You're awake!" he heard Aichi wail in his ear. Miwa wasn't much better in this case, blubbering about how he was sorry and that it was all his fault. Kai grunted as he felt the weight of the two press down on his injuries. Immediately, they recoiled and sat back, guilty expressions plastered on their faces. Kai coughed uncomfortably and looked away. Minutes ticked away in silence as none of the three could figure out what to say. Finally, Aichi stood up slowly and made his way towards the door.

"I'll leave you two alone for a while. I think you have a lot to talk about." Just before he left, he suddenly remembered something.

"Ah, that's right! Kai-kun, your uncle is in jail now. The police didn't need any more evidence so they just threw him in without a trial." It was getting late so he had to go home anyway. With that, the bluenet left the two best friends to talk out their problems.

Miwa shifted uncomfortably in the seat next to Kai's bed. He wanted to ask Kai something but he wasn't sure if the brunet wanted to answer, especially after what he had just been through. He was about to go back to his bed when Kai's soft voice broke the silence.

"How are your wounds?" Miwa was dumbfounded for a few moments before the question finally registered in his mind.

"Oh! Umm… I'm ok. I've only got a concussion. You're worse off than I am," he reported. Kai simply nodded in understanding. The two fell back into silence. Miwa was still contemplating on whether or not to ask his question. He didn't want Kai to be uncomfortable, but at the same time, he wanted to know. Kai's voice broke into his thoughts again.

"Just ask, Miwa," he said, having seemed to have read the blond's face. Miwa pouted but asked his question.

"Why did your uncle hurt you?"

Kai sucked in a lungful of air. He knew that the question would come up but he never thought it would be so soon. He hesitated in answering and that gave Miwa the impression that he didn't want to answer at all. The blond awkwardly stood up and began making his way back to his bed.

"Sorry for asking. I know it's a personal question." He just stopped short of his bed when he heard Kai whisper.

"I took my mom away from him." Miwa whirled back to face Kai, not believing what he had just heard.

"You… took your mom… away from him…" Miwa repeated hesitantly. Kai nodded. Miwa was intrigued now. He made his way back to his seat and made himself comfortable. Kai took a deep breath.

"My uncle is my mom's older brother. They were really close as children and they still were as they grew older," he started. Miwa nodded intently. He knew that a sibling relationship could be extremely close.

"My uncle was a little upset when my mom got married to my dad since she didn't see him as often anymore. It was even worse when I was born since she had to take care of me. She almost didn't have any time for him anymore," Kai continued. Miwa felt a frown tug on his lips. This was sounding like a borderline obsession at this point.

"When she and my dad died, I was sent to live with him. Needless to say, he thought that her death was my fault. That's why he did what he did. After that it just became routine. I would go home after school, he would hit me for a couple of hours and then I would do my homework, eat dinner, shower and go to bed. At some point he started drinking too and that made the beatings worse sometimes." Now Miwa was absolutely livid. How dare that man abuse a child for years and years and not feel a single pang of remorse about it? He pulled Kai into another awkward embrace.

"I'm sorry…" he sniffled, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you for all those years!" Kai pulled Miwa closer and returned the hug.

"It's ok… I'm alright now… Thank you… Miwa…" he managed before falling asleep out of exhaustion. Miwa was concerned at first but after deducting that the brunet was only asleep and not in a coma or anything, he made his way back to his own bed with an affectionate smile on his face. He turned on his side just as he was about to fall asleep, watching the slumbering boy opposite to him. He smiled. Kai looked more relaxed than he had for the past few months. He was glad that his best friend could finally take a break from everything and live a normal life. Miwa was also slightly ashamed to admit that he was happy Kai's rotten uncle had been thrown into the slammer. He deserved it after all. Kai did not deserve to go through all that torture that Ryo had put him through in the past. But now, it was finally over. Kai's nightmare was locked up and would never bother him again. Miwa felt his eyelids flutter. He snuggled deeper into the covers of the hospital bed and whispered something to his companion just before he fell asleep after a terrifying day.

"You're safe now, Kai."

Yay it's finished! How was it? Good? Bad? Drop a review if you have time! Thanks for reading!