The silence between us was an unbearable weight on my shoulders and the back of my neck. I felt it as a pressure gripping at my head as if trying to cursh it by force. Neither of us dared talk, however. Despite my threats, I couldn't seem to bring myself to leave his side. It made me feel weak. I was already obsessed with this stupid traffic sign to the extent where the sheer thought of leaving him felt like it could choke me. Like a spider's prey I was stuck in the webs of his affection, paralyzed by the toxic of his lies and abuse. Was I staying out of fear? Out of love? Both? I couldn't tell, but it didn't matter either way. Whatever the reason was, I was caged by my emotions, chained to Usagi like a prisoner to an iron ball.

Yet Usagi wasn't the iron ball, but rather the prison guard holding a gun to my temple to make me do his bidding.

The words came out automatically, dry and lacking emotions. I was too tired to stop them from escaping my lips, just sighing quietly as my mouth formed the words on their own accord.

"...how could you possibly explain something like this?"

His cold and slender steel body shifted next to me in discomfort. This was not an easy subject for him. I felt a small sting of guilt and compassion bite my conscious but quickly slammed it dead with my palm. He didn't deserve my pity. Not now.

"...depends", Usagi said quietly, his voice a mere whisper. It felt foreign hearing someone usually so obnoxiously loud being suddenly so silent. "What do you want to know?"

I laughed out faintly, a pained faint grimace on my lips.

"I wonder", I responded bitterly. "Possibly some explanation as to why you couldn't tell me earlier? Have you always been like that? Or perhaps something about how the hell you're alive in the first place?"

"I'll tell you everything if you promise you'll stay."

"I have no other place to go. I don't have to promise you I'll stay when I'm already your prisoner, do I?"

Usagi took a long, shuddering breath. His steel body creaked as his form slumped over. If he had hands he would have probably been holding his face in them.

"...I've always been like this", he finally began. Despite his clear hesitation, his words were calculated, as if this was something he had rehearsed a hundred times before. "Like you know, I'm my mother's bastard child. The one with the wrong father. The reason my brother loathes me so much... the reason why I'm not even in contact with my mother... is that my father was a traffic sign."

The laughter echoed throughout my body in the form of a wave of pain and escaped my mouth like a frightened bird. I held my stomach in pain, yet it wouldn't stop. I was in a state of hysteria in a matter of seconds. The feeling of Usagi's attention on me made me panic slightly and I gasped for are, unable to stop my laughter and rolling on my side. Even through my watery eyes I noted that Usagi was glaring at me. Which was tragically hilarious, for he had no eyes to glare me with.

"This is hard enough for me even without you laughing", he grumbled. "Can you please try to calm down?"

"You just told me your mother literally slept with a traffic sign and you're telling me to calm down?" I managed to sputter in between my laughing. His face was deadpan, something that I shouldn't have been as surprised about as I was. He always had a serious look on his face. If you could even call it serious, seeing how he literally had no facial features to recognize his emotions by.

"Misaki... could you at least try to take this seriously?"

"I am taking this seriously!" I whimpered from under the pain the laughter was causing. The tears started rolling down my cheeks to my chin and at that point I didn't even care enough to bother wiping them anymore. "As seriously as I can, anyway, seeing that I must be insane. I slept with a piece of pipe with a metal triangle for a face. I've lost my mind, haven't I? Is this happening because I couldn't take my brother getting married?"

"Misaki."

I couldn't look at him. Not that I would have even seen him if I had. My tears were on the way. The laughter stopped at last and my shoulders slumped down in pure exhaustion. The misery in his voice was very real and very heavy that I was certain I could hear it dripping on the floor. Or maybe it was just my tears.

"...even if you didn't know what I was", he said quietly, almost whispering in a weak voice filled with hesitation and fear. I could already tell what he was about to say and wanted to stop him, just tell him that his words were of no use before they would strike me with the power of a thousand knives. Yet as soon as I got my mouth open to resist, he finished.

"Even if if you didn't know... the love that blossomed between us despite what I was is still real, right?"

It felt like the whole world around me just shattered and the sharp pieces of it dug into my skin, piercing it and drawing out blood. I let out a soundless whimper, wanting to cry out in agony, but couldn't. I could hardly even breathe anymore. My voice died out into helpless sobs and I hid my face in the palms of my hands.

I wanted to answer yes more than anything. I'm not sure if that was out of pure fear of having nowhere else to go or if I truly loved this disturbed man. ...well, traffic sign. He had caused me nothing but pain. How could my weak mind fall for something so sinister, so cruel? I cursed myself in my head. This would probably be my final chance to escape from the Hell that was Usami Akihiko. I could always find some other place to live in, someone else to be with. Someone who actually cared about me and would actually give me a chance to decide without pinning me to the bed and having their way with me despite my several escape attempts and cries for help. How many times had I begged for Usagi to stop? How many times had he ignored me and my needs and wishes completely?

What if he had already broken me to the point where no one else would ever want me?

"I hate you."

It came out so automatically that it sounded unnatural. I was gritting my teeth now and shaking, my nails digging into the fabric of my shirt. He was frozen in place next to me and I could feel his whole aura grow cold. It frightened me and I closed my eyes, expecting a slap or at least him climbing on top of me and touching me inappropriately, like he always did. Instead I couldn't even feel his stare on me anymore. It was gone. I prayed it would stay gone as I trembled in fear and opened my mouth once more.

"All you've ever done is lie to me and hurt me. I'm... I'm done with that, you know. I hate you. I hate every inch of you. You never listened to what I wanted to do or what I didn't want. I'm leaving."

I waited for him to respond. I waited for him to tell me that I couldn't do that, to grab my wrists and pin them to the wall and stop me. The silence felt like an eternity until I finally realized the truth.

He was releasing me.

In a state of slight panic, fearing he would change his mind in a matter of seconds, I jumped up and ran around the house with quick footsteps, gathering my things. Only the essentials, of course. Most of the things there belonged to Usagi anyway and I didn't want any reminders of this prison. For the whole time he sat still, his metal triangle facing the floor and his aura as cold as death. I told myself it was just an act in an effort to make me stay but deep in my heart I knew better.

He really did love me after all.

I forced myself to look away and opened the door, stepping outside to the cold October air.

I was free.

A/N: By popular demand; here's the final part of this fic at last. For those questioning my motives for this: I absolutely hate Junjou Romantica. So I decided to make it better with some actual long awaited character development and such. Better than the source material, hell yeah, 10/10.

If you guys really want to see more, I have a possible sequel idea for this in mind. Just let me know if you're interested to see more.

reviw dis if u cri evytim