MARS Fan Fiction ❯ Nothing is as it Seems ❯ Close Encounters ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: Blah blah -MARS not mine- more chitter -it belongs to- blah blah - -insert something clever here-.

"Hey there," Rei said cheerfully as he entered her room as he did everyday. It had become a routine that he looked forward to. It was a bit strange how he went from hating having to go to the ward, to enjoying it.

"Good morning Rei," Kira replied, her voice was very dry. She seemed so out of it, and spaced out.

He frowned slightly, she didn't even grace him with a small smile as she usually did. She was standing in the middle of her room staring at the door, as if she was preparing to go somewhere it was quite a site to see. "What's up?" he asked as he flopped onto her bed.

She sighed deeply and looked down at the floor as if the weights of the world were on her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked, reaching out to taking her arm and pull her closer to him.

"It's nothing really, it's just that I'm going to see him today," Kira replied softly as she allowed him to pull her onto his lap. She was like putty in his hands.

"Him? You mean your step father. They actually let him see you?!" he asked gently as he wrapped his arms around her. He loved the way her body fit against his, no matter what kind of position they were in. It were almost as though their bodies were meant for one another. The feeling he got was like no other, her body heat radiating off of her body, the electric shock that traveled down his spine whenever their skin grazed one another.

"They don't know about what happened remember? It's only you, me, him and my mother," Kira explained, placing her head on his strong shoulder and wrapping his arm around him. She was limp in his arms. "He visits every month or so. It's in the guest room where there are always nurses around, so I'll be safe." She thought that if they stayed close like this for long enough some of his strength would seep into her.

"I know, but still. I wish that I could do something. He doesn't deserve to live," Rei said, feeling himself grow stiff with anger thinking that if he ever saw Kira's father he'd surely kill him, it wouldn't matter if he was locked away forever.

"Don't even think about it. You're in enough trouble as it is Mr. Kashino," Kira joked sadly. She smiled when she thought about what a strange couple they were, she was in a ward and he was in a juvenile hall. Kira then looked at how beautiful he was in both appearance and personality and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. He smiled when he felt her lips curl upwards against his cheek.

"Hmm... Is that so Kira?" he replied, his voice deep, smooth and very seductive. She shivered as he began to make a trail of butterfly kisses on her neck and shoulders. He then stopped and frowned, remembering her stepfather again. "When is he coming?" he asked as he buried his head in the soft crook of her neck.

"In a few minutes," she replied sadly, he felt the tiny hairs on her neck stand up.

He pulled away so he could look into her eyes. "I know that you're strong Kira. Be strong for me at least, for us," he told her seriously before kissing her and gently nudging her to get up.

Kira got up and straightened out her clothes when she heard the nurse knock on the door.

"Good bye Rei," she replied, giving him a toothy smile to reassure him that she would be okay. She then took a deep breath, looked away and walked down the hall to meet her stepfather.

Rei watched her sadly as she walked away from him. He watched until he couldn't see her anymore, and then flopped back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Rei fought hard to suppress the anger welling up within him. In the back of his mind something was telling him t follow Kira to her father and attack her stepfather. What good would that do though? The nurses and guards would pull him off of the man, he'd be put away for much longer and would never be able to see Kira again. So he decided to go and see what his friends were up to.

"Hello Kira," her step father greeted her very businesslike as she stepped into the room. It appeared that he'd just come in from work because he was wearing a suit and tie and had his suitcase with him.

Kira kept her mute act up very well. She knew that she couldn't show her stepfather any weakness, so she kept a stone face and her mouth shut as she sat on the black leather love seat across from him.

Kira didn't reply. She wanted to prove to her stepfather just how strong she was. She didn't want him to think that he had broken her... She thought that he had for a while, thought that she'd never be anything and just wanted to die. This was all before she met Rei. He taught her that there were good people in the world, and gave her the motivation to go on.

"How have you been? You look well," he replied as he crossed his legs and stroked the sparse salt and pepper hair on his chin. She wondered when he was going to drop the act of being polite and behave the way he usually did, crude and intimidating.

"I've spoken to your doctors and nurses, they say that you haven't made any progress," he said casually. "Why is this? Do you know how much it costs to keep you in here? They still haven't properly diagnosed your problem!" he was growing more frustrated by the moment.

Kira kept herself from looking into his eyes, she did this because she knew that if she did she would crack. She vowed to stay strong for herself and for Rei.

"Why wont you look at me dearest Kira?" he asked. He continued when she finally made eye contact. "Your mother misses you."

Kira fought to stifle a snort as she felt herself become cold. If her mother really missed her she wouldn't have let this happen. She would have believed her when she told her what was going on when she wasn't around. Her mother wouldn't have called her a dirty slut and a liar.

"I miss you too," he added, his tone of voice was different this time. "Why don't you come and sit next to me?" he asked, motioning her to come near.

Kira's heart was struck with fear, she decided to play deaf. She just noticed that there was nobody around, who knew what he had in mind.

"I know you can hear me. Now don't make me angry, come over here and sit next to papa," he replied aggressively, patting the seat next to him.

Kira got up reluctantly and went over to sit next to him, trying her hardest to stay as far away from him as possible

"That's a good girl," he said encouragingly as he took off his blazer and placed an arm around her.

"It seems that you have things pretty nice over here. You're quite clever," he began, leaning in closely. His breath nauseated her, it was a mix of cigarettes, alcohol, and stale coffee. "You had to go and get everyone involved... school counselors, lawyers... You only have one more year to go... actually it's less than a year. More like five months," he added with a menacing smile. "After that I'm taking you home," he replied, kissing her on the cheek.

Kira grimaced in disgust. She wanted to slap him and run to the opposite end of the room and scream at him. She wanted scream obscenities and tell him how she hated him, wanted to fulfill her violent dreams. Instead she sat there and prayed that he'd get bored, or that a nurse would come in and he'd have to stop. Or even better that a nurse or some other worker would catch him and get him put in jail. None of her wishes came true, instead he began to kiss her neck and inched her skirt up, running his hands up and down her thighs, his calloused hands bruising her soft skin. He then pushed her down onto the couch and slowly pulled down her panties.

She closed her eyes and prepared for his entry. Kira let out a sigh of relief when he stopped to answer his phone. She took this opportunity to put herself together in case someone walked in.

"Hello? Yeah... Right now?" he asked, looking down at Kira. "I'll be there in a few moments," he clicked off his phone and put on his blazer. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have to go see a client. I'll see you next month," he said before giving her a smile before leaving.

Kira relaxed as soon as she heard the door swing shut. She curled up and hugged her knees to her chests as she began to cry. Had that person not called it would have happened again, and she couldn't have done a thing about it. Then she began to wonder, was it that she wouldn't or couldn't do anything about it. Perhaps she was just a coward, hiding out here like this and not standing up for herself. She felt so weak, and useless. Perhaps that was the way other people saw her too, the way Rei saw her.

"That you Kira? Is he still here?" Rei asked softly as he sat down next to her.

Kira looked up at him in surprise, she didn't think that she'd seem him again for the day. She reached for his hand and squeezed twice.

"Oh yeah, I forgot where we were," Rei said thoughtfully, he was expecting her to speak to him. "How was it... okay, or terrible?"

She shrugged her shoulders and avoiding his intense stare.

"Did he do anything to you?" he asked, feeling his blood starting to boil. He still hadn't gotten over her father being able to see her, and him not being able to do anything about it. Rei hated feeling so helpless.

She gave him one strong squeeze and a half squeeze.

"Um, is that supposed to mean he tried?" her asked her, a little confused.

She squeezed his hand twice weakly, withdrawing her hand and rested her head on her knees once more. She didn't want to feel anything anymore, nothing at all.

"This isn't right," Rei said as he looked at her. She seemed different now, not cheerful or happy, just sad and gloomy. It really tore him up inside. "I just wished that I could do something about it."

Rei breathed in and out a couple of times, he felt his heart hardening as he pictured some old man placing his filthy hands all over Kira... his Kira. He reached out to stroke her hair, but pulled his hand away when a lone tear ran down her already wet cheek and she turned away from him. Kira just didn't want to be touched right now.

He propped his head up with his hand and placed his arm on the arm rest. There was nothing he could do to help her, other than stand by her side. He was beginning to wonder if that was really any good either.

They sat there for the rest of the time. Rei sat there, thinking of ways to approach Kira, while she sat there looking like a turned off computer screen.

"Hey, Rei wake up. I want to talk to you!" called a voice from outside his cells late that night.

Rei groaned, grunted and yawned loudly. He hated nothing more, besides Kira's step dad, than being woken up when he was getting a good sleep. He sensed the urgency in the callers voice and fought the urge to simply pull the covers over his head and go back to sleep.

"What do you want?" Rei asked angrily as he walked towards his waker, clad in only a pair of green and blue plaid boxers.

"I want to talk to you," Akira replied.

"Are you serious! Why now? Do you have any idea what time it is?" Rei exclaimed. "Ugh! How could you wake me up for such stupid shit! Talk my ass you just wanted to see me in my boxers!

"Don't be so full of yourself. You're not my type any ways," Akira replied coldly.

"Not your type!? I'm everybody's' time!" Rei insisted. Then he thought about what he said and quickly withdrew his statement. It's not like he wanted Akira to think that he wanted him to be in love with him. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Rei asked as he leaned against the bars. Had it been anybody other than Akira Rei would have ignored them and told the person to save it for later, or told them off. However Akira was the only person to make him feel welcome when he arrived at the facility, and so Rei was indebted to him.

"I couldn't sleep tonight. Every time I closed my eyes I saw him," Akira began to explain. "The look on his face was twisted with hurt, pain and anger. It was horrible."

"What was he angry about?" Rei asked, he understood why this made Akira so distressed. It was horrible when someone you cared about was in pain, especially if you were the source of their pain.

"He wants me to be more open about our relationship... If you can call it that," Akira said. "He thinks that I act all cold and everything in public because I'm ashamed of him, and that's not true. It's more me than anything else," Rei was still listening closely. "When I was seven my mother left and left me with my five older brothers and my father. My dad got real depressed and began drinking very heavily. It went from him being drunk every weekend to him being drunk all the time. He'd beat on me because I was the youngest, and every now and then my older brothers would join in. When I entered junior high I got interested in art and stuff like that. My father found out and gave me the nickname `his little fag.' He'd call me that in public, causing everyone to laugh. He told me that showing homosexual tendencies was a sign of weakness... I suppose that he said it so many times I began to believe it."

Rei now understood what he was getting at. Juvie wasn't like some prep school. If you proved yourself to be weak everyone would take advantage of you, you'd get picked on, beat up when nobody was looking, sodomized in the showers. You had to act tough to make it through.

"Do you love him?" Rei asked after a moment of thinking.

"Yeah," Akira replied.

"Then tell him, show him," Rei said simply.

Akira thought about it for a while and then gave Rei a small smile, one he rarely showed. "Thanks."

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Rei said, brushing it off. He didn't want everyone thinking he was all mushy and love advice.

Akira smirked and left. Rei would always be Rei, but whenever he spotted him with Kira he proved that he was just a little more than just that. Rei proved it again now.

Rei stretched out and got back under his covered. He silently cursed Akira when he couldn't get back to sleep. He laid there staring up at the darkened ceiling, not much light came through the small window at the top of the wall. He remembered today at the ward and Kira curled up at the farthest end of the love seat crying. It simply wasn't fair that her stepfather was allowed to get away with such evils. Rei could think of a thousand ways to make him pay, and a hundred more to make sure he never hurt another female again.