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Seijurou's face smashes into the ground and he feels his chin split open. He's temporarily confused how he tripped - he's walked up and down this street loads of times before - but when he's yanked up by his arm, he understands. He's being attacked. Thinking quickly, he turns a bit to his left and thrusts his left foot into the fat stomach of his attacker. It's a grown man, he realizes in fear. There's only one thing a man would attack a school boy for and, no, he is absolutely not going to let that happen to himself.

The man grunts at the kick, but doesn't let go of his arm. "Hold still, you brat, or you're going to be in a lot more trouble than you already are," he warns.

Seijurou doesn't care; he'd rather be killed than let this sick man have his way. "Get your hands off me!" he demands, trying to hide his terror behind a tone of authority. He tries to kick again, but the man yanks him closer so he can't get a good angle. Instead, he throws all his weight to the ground, hoping to knock the man off his feet, or at least loosen his grip. Seijurou isn't very big, so it doesn't work as well as he would have liked and he's not able to break free. The man grabs his other arm and pins him.

There's a strong smell of something unpleasant - gasoline? - and it's making him want to throw up. He's still struggling to get away from his attacker, but with no results. Tears press at the back of his eyes and he feels blood dribble down from his chin. Is he actually going to be raped and murdered? Him, Akashi Seijurou, the heir of one of the most wealthy families in Japan.

"Can you help me with this kid?" the man calls out to someone. "He won't stop struggling."

"Yes, I'm here," a new, vaguely familiar voice replies. Now there's for sure no way he's going to escape. He can't even properly fight off one, let alone two. "I'm sorry it took so long for a response. I didn't want to send in one of the female associates without knowing the situation."

Huh? Seijurou's very confused now as he watches the school principal come into view and crouch down next to him. His surroundings finally register in his brain and he realizes he's in a classroom, not out taking a walk. Oh. He stops fighting the hands on him, realizing that the man is probably a teacher, not a stranger with malicious intent. The adrenaline that was blazing in his veins is no longer in control and his hands start shaking from the after affects of being frightened.

"Ahh, Akashi-kun," the principal sighs. "You've gotten into some trouble, haven't you?" He gestures for the other man to let him go. Seijurou sits up properly, a bit ashamed at being found pinned to the floor. "Make sure that other kid is okay and bring him to my office." The fact there there is another person in the room is brought to Seijurou's attention. Takahashi, wet and cowering in the corner. The man grunts in reply and hastily escorts him out.

Blood from Seijurou's chin drips down and stains his uniform shirt. He wonders how bad the gash is. There's quite a lot of blood, but it doesn't sting much. The principal notices the blood and quickly whips a white handkerchief from his suit pocket and presses it into the cut. "Hold that there," he commands. "Follow me."

Seijurou nods and complies. Other than his chin, his shoulder hurts from the fat man pulling his arm. Everything else seems fine, though, so he doubts he had a physical fight with Takahashi. Apparently something happened or he wouldn't be here, but he expectedly can't remember what.

There's a small crowd of students and teachers out in the hall, faces bright with interest. To his amusement, a couple of the students take a step back when he walks past. A satisfied feeling fills him and he walks with his head held high. He's not sure what happened, but if the other students are scared it must have been good.

"Sit here." The principal points to a cushioned bench outside of his office. "I'm going to call your parents and have a chat with Takahashi-kun while we wait for them to arrive."

Good luck getting them here, Seijurou thinks, taking a seat on the bench. He distantly wonders what time it is. There's no clock within view of the bench and he didn't bother to look while in the classroom. Either lunch or after school, probably, due to the amount of people in the hall and the empty classroom he was in. He isn't able to ponder long though; a familiar, blue-haired boy sits down lightly next to him.

"What is wrong with you?" he hisses at Seijurou. He looks passive as usual, but Seijurou can see the fury burning in those blue eyes.

Seijurou shrugs. You don't want to know, he thinks. "I was just getting revenge." He rearranges the cloth held to his chin so the blood doesn't dry and stick to his skin. "It's not like anyone got badly injured, so it's fine, right?"

"You could have killed him, Akashi-kun," Kuroko stressed, eyes wide and serious.

Killed? Takahashi looked fine to Seijurou. A bit scared, maybe, but that's long way off from hurt. "Ah, really?"

Kuroko gives him a slightly confused look. "Yes. You can't do things like that to people without expecting them to possibly die. Do you not understand that? Or do you just not care? As long as your stupid pride isn't hurt you'd do anything, right?"

"What the hell did you do?" he asks in his head. Out loud, he says, "Do you really think I'd try to kill someone?"

He doesn't hear Kuroko's reply because someone else speaks. Just what you asked, Sei-chan. Figure it out.

"I didn't ask you to murder anyone," he points out in his mind. "Don't lie."

I wasn't intending on taking it that far, but he really pissed me off. Acting as if our family is garbage. He's the real garbage, so I was just going to incinerate him. It's what you do with trash, you know.

"You are insane."

Am I really the crazy one, Sei-chan?

He forgot that he's supposed to be having a conversation with Kuroko until he feels a tug on his shirt sleeve. "You're not even listening to me," the blue-haired boy states.

"You are," Seijurou replies accidentally. "I mean I am." He makes a point of looking attentively at Kuroko. Having two conversations at the same time is a bit hard, especially when one person talks over the other. "I just couldn't hear you."

A concerned look flashes on Kuroko's face. "Couldn't hear me over what, Akashi-kun?" Seijurou doesn't have a reply for that, so he turns eyes away and shrugs. He wonders who his parents are going to send over to talk to the principal. Or maybe his mother will show up, though that's unlikely. Kuroko is still staring at him with serious eyes. "What's wrong with you?" he asks, going back to his original question.

Go ahead and blame me. I don't mind.

Seijurou runs his fingers through his hair and tries to smile at Kuroko, wanting to get that serious expression off his cute face. "My head's just a bit messed up right now."

Kuroko's expression doesn't change. "Please elaborate." Seijurou doesn't answer so Kuroko continues. "You constantly go between acting like a high and mighty brat and acting like the sweet friend that I love. I just have to wonder what one's the real Akashi-kun. And I have some other concerns too..."

He's so close to the truth that Seijurou just wants to tell him. But he won't, not here in front of the principal's office. He doesn't need others overhearing. He can trust Kuroko to keep a secret. Others will spread rumours of how Akashi Seijurou is crazy, and if those rumours reach his father, who knows what will happen. He spies one of his butlers down the hall, heading towards him and Kuroko.

Kuroko follows Seijurou's line of sight and sighs. "Guess we will continue this later. Good luck, Akashi-kun." He stands and smiles politely as the butler comes near. "Good afternoon, Tanaka-san."

"Good afternoon to yourself as well, Kuroko-kun," Tanaka replies, equally polite. Seijurou stands up as well, nodding his goodbye at Kuroko before leading his butler to the receptionist. It only takes a few seconds before they are admitted into the principal's office.

"Come and have a seat," the principal greets as they step in, gesturing to a couple of chairs on the other side of his large desk. The fat teacher is also in the room, standing near the corner, looking smug. Takahashi isn't around, so he probably got sent home after telling his side of the story. Seijurou sits, but Tanaka opts to stand behind him, hands resting on his shoulders. "I'd really prefer to have one of Akashi-kun's parents here."

"Seijurou-sama's mother is here, but as she is feeling ill I've requested her to stay in the car," Tanaka explains. Seijurou knows about his mom's poor health as of late, so it doesn't worry him too much to hear it.

The principal grumbles about that, but there isn't anything he can do. "I'm assuming you know what happened?"

"I'm well aware, yes," Tanaka replies coolly. "I would like to know what type of action you are going to be taking."

"Well," the principal starts loudly. "The other boy's mother wants to get the police involved, though I don't want to, because it'll create more problems. Expulsion seems to be the easiest solution." Seijurou's stomach flips. Expulsion? Police?

"By all means, get the police involved," Tanaka remarks. "Expelling him is not necessary."

"Ah..." The principal looks lost. "But the judge will end up having him expelled anyway. If we just do it now-"

Tanaka interrupts suddenly. "Seijurou-sama, how did you get hurt?"

Slightly shocked at being invited into the conversation, he looks up at his butler, shifting the handkerchief on his chin. He doesn't think it's bleeding anymore, but he doesn't want the bloody cut exposed. "That man over there knocked me to the floor," he recounts, pointing at the fat teacher. "He also pulled on my arm and kept me pinned down. I think there's some bruising."

Tanaka looks pointedly at the principal. "I'm sure the court will be more interested in the fact that an employee caused bodily harm to an underaged student."

"I was trying to stop the little brat from doing more damage!" the teacher sputters in defense, no longer looking smug. "I was protecting another student!"

"It doesn't matter," is the instant reply. "The Akashi family lawyers are very good. You will be fired."

The teacher tries to think of a retort but can't. He looks toward the principal, worried, for help with the issue. The principal eyes Tanaka suspiciously. "Is this blackmail I detect?" he questions.

"It is indeed," the butler confesses. A warm fondness fills Seijurou. When did Tanaka become so cool? "Seijurou-sama will not be expelled, nor will the police be involved."

The principal sighs irritably, shuffling some papers around on his desk. "What am I supposed to tell Takahashi-kun's mother?" he growls angrily. "She's not going to-"

"Tell her her son is a bully and deserved everything he got," Seijurou interjects. It's the truth. "He's been harassing my friend for months, apparently. And he threatened me."

The principal stops messing with the papers and glances up at him. "Why didn't your friend come forward with this?"

"He's too kind. He didn't want to start anything." The first is definitely true, but he's not sure about the second. It doesn't matter much anyway. "You should pay more attention to your students." He stands and starts to head for the door. What a freaking pushover that principal turned out to be.

"W-wait!" the said pushover calls after him. "I can't let you off the hook completely! Two weeks suspension. I'll do the paperwork and stuff, just don't come to class for the next fourteen days, okay?"

Whatever. Seijurou quickly makes his way through the school and to the front doors, knowing that's probably where Tanaka parked. He tosses the dirty handkerchief into a trash bin on the way. He really wants to talk to Kuroko, but if his mother is in the car, then he's probably going to be lectured the whole way home and not have time.

"Seijurou-sama." He already has a hand on the front door when he hears his name. "You're going to scare your mother if she sees you like that." Oh yeah, the blood. Tanaka whips out his own handkerchief - a red one - and wets it with water from a nearby drinking fountain. He motions for Seijurou to come closer and cleans away the dried blood from his chin and neck. Seijurou is torn between feeling like a child and feeling like he's royalty. (An emperor, his subconscious thinks.)

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about your shirt," Tanaka says, apparently thinking that that's something Seijurou actually cares about. "Let's go." He tucks the handkerchief back into his suit pocket. "Your mother is waiting."

And indeed his mother is waiting for him in the back of the car, looking tired. He sits next to her, expecting her to either hug him or fret about his chin. But she doesn't; she just looks at him with those tired eyes. "I don't know what to do anymore," she sighs.

Seijurou's not expecting such a glum comment. He thought she would be angry at him and maybe scold him for a few minutes, but then everything would be back to normal. But she said it so exhausted, like she's been up for days. He doesn't know what to say back to her, so he just stares down at his knees.

"I can put up with a lot of things," she continues. "Like when you were younger. That incident with the puppy. Do you remember, Sei-chan? I didn't like it, but it was just an animal." Seijurou shudders at the memory of all the blood. "I tried to help you, and I thought it was working, but this...trying to set someone on fire..."

So that's what happened. He'd assumed it was something like that, because of the gasoline smell and the culprit's use of the word incinerate. But finding out for sure is a bit disturbing. "I didn't do it," he mutters to his knees, still not wanting to look up into his mother's weary face.

"Stop," was the abrupt response. "Just stop with this."

Stop with what? he wants to ask.

"I can't deal with this anymore," she goes on. "I'm sick. Very sick. I can't be worrying about if your going to end up hurting someone, or worse. So please just be my innocent Sei-chan." She reaches an arm out and gently takes his hand. He caves and looks into her eyes and is shocked to see that she is not looking at him. Well, she is, technically, but it's more like she's not looking at Seijurou himself; she's looking through him.

Mother is mad at me, he hears in the back of his mind.

"I really didn't do it, Mom," he tries to explain again. "I promise you it wasn't me."

His mother sighs. "It doesn't matter, Sei-chan. This is scary. I think it might be time to-" Seijurou doesn't hear the rest.

I didn't do it to be scary! the voice interrupts. You don't know the whole story, Mother. He was going to hurt Tetsuya. I was being good and stopping him.

But their mother can't hear.

Tell her, Sei-chan. She'll understand. I was doing something good.

"How is trying to burn someone alive good?" Seijurou laughs at that. "You're awful. No wonder Mom and Kuroko hate you. Leave us alone."

And then he was gone.

"Sei-chan? Are you okay?" his mother's voice breaks through. "You spaced out." Her hand is on his neck, fingers stroking him comfortingly.

He nods, but he feels strange. The conversation with his mother is already starting to get fuzzy, like Emperor Akashi took it with him. He prods in the back of his mind, trying to see if he can feel his presence. He can. Not that it's surprising, because where can he go?

"Your father is very angry," she states like their previous conversation didn't happen. "He wants you to go see him when we get home."

Seijurou's blood freezes in his veins. His father wants to see him? Why now? Why after all these years of not wanting to meet him? On another note, shouldn't they be home by now? I seems like they've been in the car for longer than normal. Is the traffic bad? He hasn't noticed. But now he's really nervous. What's his father going to say to him? Is he meeting him now to exile him from the family? Or is he going to give him good news? Though since he's angry, that's probably not it.

When they finally arrive home, Seijurou is shaking hard. Why is he so scared? He almost never gets scared, especially about something like this. It's his father. Just another human. If anything he should be excited. Getting to meet the man at last. He's wanted this for so long.

The gate to his house opens automatically and they park inside the fencing. He gets out of the car and immediately heads to the front doors. Usually someone would open the door for him, but as Tanaka's currently helping Seijurou's sick mother out of the car, he decides to just do it on his own. He's not shaking so bad now. He's quite calm, actually. He's finally going to meet his father.

"Welcome home, Seijurou-sama," he's immediately greeted by one of the maids. "Your father has summoned you. He's in his office." Seijurou smiles in thanks and heads into the direction of the head's office, but he's stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Please don't mouth off. He seemed very angry and I know how you can get."

What the hell was that? He keeps the warning in the back of his mind, but he doesn't think he'll need it. He quickly makes his way to his destination, growing more excited by the metre. Does his father look like him? Sound like him? Maybe they both radiate the same type of feeling. He raises a clammy hand and knocks on the old mahogany wood.

There's a few seconds of silence before the door creaks open and he's faced with a suited chest. So he's tall. He raises his gaze to the man's face and -

It's dark. He's curled up against a hard wall, hugging his knees tightly. He's in pain. At first he thinks it's from when that fat teacher knocked him to the ground, but no. It's all over his torso, his ribs and abdomen mostly. He can't see in the shadowy room, but he's sure underneath his shirt is covered in purple.

He's crying. The quick expanding and deflating of his lungs from the sobs brings a sharp pain in his ribs and the salty liquid is slightly burning his tired eyes. Now that he's conscious of it, he tries to calm himself. He can't remember what happened, but it doesn't seem like a regular blackout. His other half doesn't cry; he's way too proud to do something like that.

There's a small ray of light coming in from beneath the door to his right. Now that he's noticed it's there, his eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. He's in a vaguely familiar room. It's small and empty, like an unused closet. He's been here before, multiple times, but he can't remember when or why.

He leans his head on the wall and breathes deeply. His ribs sting, but it's better than the gasping breaths from before. He's not sure why he's crying, but he's unable to stop the flow of tears completely. He runs a hand down the tender flesh of his stomach, closing his eyes. A faceless man flashes behind his lids, and he swallows hard. Is that man his father?

He searches his mind for answers. He's sure he saw his father's face, but he can't seem to picture it. Something is missing and it's not just the memories. He's alone, he realises with a start. Not just in the room. For the first time in as long as he can remember, he's completely alone in his mind.

I'm so sorry for this abomination. It's very fillery and the dialogue is forced. I just couldn't seem to write. Anyway, thank you for putting up with this chapter! Please tell me if you see any grammar errors (I'm not an English expert.)