Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Pain, Joy, Life ❯ You're Never Going To Believe This ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Thanks to my beta readers Valandra and Zorra, as always, love ya!




Pain, Joy, Life


Chapter 7
You're Never Going to Believe This






Xiu-





Xi u was pissed and didn't bother hiding it as he stomped into school. 'He'd better be dying of some horrible, agonizing disease!' Xiu thought furiously, pushing his way through the crowd on his way to his class. The bell rang while he was still in the halls, but even while everyone else scrambled into their classrooms, Xiu just walked steadily. 'If he knows what's good for him, he got run over by a car and is bleeding to death in some alley. If Seiji skipped school just because he's feeling lazy, I'll kill him with my own bare hands!'

"Mr. Faun," The teacher said when he swung open the classroom door. "You're late."

"Sorry, ma'am." Xiu managed to look slightly guilty. The guilt vanished when he saw Seiji's empty desk and his anger resurfaced. Anger and worry. They had always walked to school together and this morning Xiu had waited by their usual spot for almost twenty minutes, but Seiji never came. Always before, Seiji would call or let Xiu know if he wasn't going to walk to school. This brush-off was just enough to insult Xiu's pride and dignity. Even the rare times that Seiji would get sick, he'd get a message to Xiu.

Xiu had just sat down, puzzling over why Seiji wouldn't have come to school, when Shin stalked into the classroom with Touma right behind him. Xiu's fist tightened when he looked at Touma, he'd gotten a beating again and, from the look of the still wet blood on his mouth, it hadn't been long ago. That would account for the black expression on Shin's face.

Touma slid into his seat with help from Shin and a pained expression. Shin, who had been carrying Touma's bag, set the bag on Touma's desk and then looked at the teacher with a forced smile. "You excuse, please, Mrs. Lung. I not able to finish class today."

"What are you talking about?" She frowned at him. "Why are you two late today?"

Shin bent down and whispered something to Touma, strangely ignoring the teacher. Normally, Shin was a very nice, polite person. Touma looked worried about whatever Cye whispered to him, but didn't say anything back, and Shin patted him on the shoulder before heading back to his own seat next to Ryo's, now empty, seat. There was a moment of tenseness in the class when the teacher looked at Shin angrily.

"I'll have a word with you after class, Mr. Mouri." She told him firmly.

Shin only smiled in response and opened one of his textbooks. When she'd finally turned away from him, Shin cast a look at Xiu, who mouthed,

"What's going on?" This was very odd behavior for Shin and Xiu wanted to know what was wrong with Touma. Naturally, it had to be something with Touma. Shin almost never got worked up about anything other than Touma. Xiu took a good look at Touma and saw his blue haired friend was pale and shaking slightly, just staring at his desk with a dumb-struck expression as if he was in shock.

Shin mouthed back, "Later. Trouble." Only then did he notice someone was missing and added, "Seiji?"

Xiu shrugged with a scowl, showing he didn't know where Seiji was. 'He didn't tell me a thing! Not like I worry about him or anything! We're only supposed to trust each other more than anyone else! Why would he bother to tell me what's going on in his life!' Maybe it was a little irrational, but Xiu never claimed to be rational when it came to Seiji. He was more than likely to be all raw emotion and very little brain. Then again, 'What if something really is wrong?' Xiu's scowl faded a bit. 'What if he couldn't contact me? He might have been hurt. His mom usually calls me, but if he was hit by a car on the way to meet me...' Xiu's anger vanished and he was just about to jump up and run out of class (how could he sit here when Seiji was alone and dying in a ditch somewhere!?) when the door swung open and the headmaster, Mr. Sanji, walked in looking nervous.

"Mrs. Lung, we need to...uh...Shin, please stand up." He didn't even finish before two armed police officers walked in and went straight to Shin who had stood up by now.

'Holy shit!' Xiu thought, paling slightly. 'What on Earth?' He knew Shin would NEVER do anything bad enough to attract police attention. 'Would he?' Mr. Sangi didn't stop the officers when they walked up on either side of Shin who didn't look at all surprised to see them. They took either side of the row he was sitting in and, as Shin sat directly behind Touma, they had to walk passed him. Just as they got to his seat, Touma looked opened his mouth and looked like he was going to jump up.

"Shut up." Shin hissed, kicking Touma's chair. "Sit!" Touma obediently sat before either of the police officers could see him do anything.

"Mouri Shin?" One of the police officers said, stepping passed Touma who was now staring at his hands on his desk. He was sweating and looked very pale.

'Touma knows something and Shin's protecting him.' Xiu thought shrewdly. He knew very well that Shin would protect Touma from anything and the fact that Touma was hurt this morning Xiu was pretty sure what Touma was being protected from. 'Shin finally did it.' Xiu had to honestly admit he didn't think Shin would do anything to really hurt Mr. Hashiba. Sure, Shin talked about it a lot. All the time. Especially after Touma had come to school half dead a few days ago with Ryo, but everyone talked about doing that sort of thing to someone. Shin must have really attacked Touma's dad.

Shin nodded pleasantly at the police officers. "I am under arrest?"

"Yes." They sounded mildly surprised that Shin was taking it so well. So well, in fact, that Shin held out his hands to be handcuffed.

Xiu almost fell out of his chair when one of the officers pulled out a pair of handcuffs and fastened them firmly on Shin's wrists. Everyone stared, stunned and whispering while Shin was read his rights and just nodded to show he understood. 'I hate it when I'm right.'

"Mouri Shin, you are accused of assault and battery of Mr. Hashiba Takashi. Your parents will be notified by the school, if you'll come with us."

Xiu was halfway out of his seat, ready and willing to fight for Shin, when he caught Shin's eye. With the briefest of shake of his head, Shin told Xiu to sit down and be silent. He jerked his head toward Touma.

Touma was hunched over with half the kids in class glaring at him, obviously thinking that Touma was somehow getting Shin into trouble. Touma's face was buried in his hands and Xiu saw Touma was shaking more violently than he had before. 'Shin wants me to take care of Touma while he can't. Shit! Shit! Of all the days for Seiji not to be here!' Xiu settled in, forcing himself not to do anything while Shin was led away, with one police officer on either side of him. 'Shin knew this was going to happen. That's why he told Mrs. Lung he wasn't going to be here today.'

Shin was led away silently and Touma looked like he wanted to kill himself on the spot.




Later-




Xiu had managed to corner Touma in the cafeteria, but his friend wouldn't tell him anything. "Just leave me the fuck alone!" Touma had screamed when confronted. Everyone, once again, turned to stare.

"Touma! Just tell me, did Shin..."

"Did he beat the shit out of my dad?" Touma rounded on Xiu with tears in his eyes. "Shin got to my place when my dad was busy turning my face into mashed potatoes and he...Shin..." Touma started to break down. "Shin took a knife out of his school bag...and...and..."

'Crap.' Xiu wrapped his arms around Touma, not caring about what anyone else would think. "It'll be OK, Touma." He started to pull Touma out of the crowded cafeteria to find some place more private to talk. "Everything will work out."

"How?" Touma asked once they were in the relative quite of the hallway.

"I don't know." It was honest, but Xiu was really wishing he could lie to Touma. Touma could use a few happy lies right now. "We'll think of something though."

"Where are we going?"

"To the nurse." Xiu answered. "You look like you could use a nap, pal." 'And I need to make a phone call.' He HAD to know if Seiji was all right or not. If he was all right, Xiu was going to kill him for not coming to school on the one day everyone needed him. 'I'm no good at this emotional thing! Seiji should be here to talk to Touma. Seiji would know what to do.'







Touma, in the end, had to be sedated by the nurse. A few pain killers and something to make him sleep that wouldn't give him nightmares. Xiu sat with him while Touma lay on the cot in the nurse's office. It was a fairly private area, actually behind the main nurse's office, where patients could sleep and not be woken up by people walking in and out to talk to the nurse. Touma was laying on one of the four cots, covered in a well-used blanket and he looked up at Xiu though half-closed eyes. Since Touma was so thin and hurt, the nurse had said, that the medicine would work very quickly. He all ready looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"I don't know what to do, Xiu." Touma's hands were clenching and unclenching on the blankets. "Shin's gonna go to jail 'cause of me. If I tell the cops my dad was hurting me and that Shin was protecting me, my dad will go to jail. What do I do?" Touma's face, still healing from the last beating, was swollen and his left eye was now turning black again. He hadn't been given enough time to heal, not that he ever was.

Xiu took Touma's skinny hand in his own and patted it reassuringly, but by now Touma's eyes had drifted closed and Xiu wasn't sure Touma could hear him. "I think you should let your dad rot in jail. I think you should go live with Shin's family, like he's offered you a dozen times or more. I think your dad deserves to be drowned in a vat of pig's and that you'd be better off being raised by monkey's."

Touma was snoring.

Xiu patted Touma's hand again before setting it down on Touma's chest and straightening his friend out so he would be most comfortable. He tucked Touma in, closed all the shades so the light wouldn't wake up Touma, and ran a hand though Touma's hair, brushing the bangs out of Touma's face. "Then again, I'm just the fat, dumb chink, right? All muscle and no brain. No one listens to what I say, so why should you?"

Xiu suddenly flashed back to what Touma had said. "Shin's going to jail 'cause of me." Shouldn't that have been, "Shin's going to jail because of my dad"? Something about the way Touma had said it just didn't sound right.






Once he was sure that Touma was fast asleep Xiu left, closing the door firmly behind him. "Hey, miss Reiko, can I use the phone?"

Miss Reiko, the nurse, gave Xiu an icy look. "Sure, if you'll tell me what happened to him?"

"Well..."

"No lies, young man!" She looked at him from over the rims of her glasses. "I've heard the police arrested poor Shin and now this!" She waved an arm toward the door that Touma was safely behind. "I want to know the truth, I've seen him often enough to know that something's up, but I can't do a thing unless I have something to go on!"

Xiu liked Miss Reiko, she reminded him of his mama, but this was Touma's concern and he didn't want to do anything that would upset Touma. It was all going to come to light soon, anyway. "You'll find out soon enough. Ask Touma when he wakes up, maybe he'll tell you. Have you heard from Date Seiji, by the way?"

"His mom called a little while ago and said he was staying home. Why? Didn't lover boy carry your books to school this morning?"

"For your information, I carry HIS books to school!" Xiu answered back in his best snotty tone. He liked play fighting with Miss Reiko. She was the first, first adult, anyway, who'd found out that Xiu and Seiji were dating and Miss Reiko liked to tease. "He's my boyfriend, I just like to know where he is."

"Just don't forget about Touma, all right? I'd like you to be here when he wakes up since he didn't want me to call his dad. He'll need someone he trusts to talk to." Miss Reiko grunted sourly, but handed Xiu the phone. "I've got a pretty good idea from what rumors I hear. Real friends wouldn't let this go on, you know? He can't take to much more."

Xiu felt very guilty with that remark. "It won't. Touma would let himself get killed, if it was just him being hurt. Now that Shin's involved, too, I think he'll stop it."

"You think?"

Xiu shrugged. "Touma loves his dad. The only question is, does he loves his dad more than he loves Shin."

"You think he loves Shin?"

Xiu blushed at what he'd just said. "I didn't mean it like that. It's not like me and Sei-chan. But I think Shin means more to Touma than anyone else. They're best friends and Touma's never had many friends to begin with. I don't think he'd let anything hurt Shin."

Miss Reiko excused herself to go check on Touma and Xiu dialed Seiji's number.
Xiu plopped himself down in Miss Reiko's chair, listening to the phone ring for a minute.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Date." Xiu said. "Can I talk to Seiji? It's important?"

"Sure, Xiu, honey. He's just in the bath with Ryo." She must have put the phone down because Xiu heard her yell, "Seiji! Phone!"

'What?' Xiu scowled. 'What's he doing in the bath with Ryo?! If he took the day off to fool around with Ryo I'll kill both of them! How dare Ryo get that close to MY Sei-Chan!'

There was a short wait before Seiji's voice said, "Hello?"

"Sei-Chan!" Xiu barked. "Where the Hell were you? I waited for you for almost a twenty minutes this morning and I was late getting to school. What's up? You're never late."

Seiji really did sound sorry when he said, "I'm sorry, Koibito. Something unexpected turned up..."

"Well, something unexpected at school today, too!" Xiu shouted, this time he was most definitely angry. "Shin was arrested!" He'd talk to Seiji about Ryo in person. That was a little to personal to talk about over the phone.

There was a scream on the other end of the phone that was definitely not Seiji's voice. "What the Hell was that!" Xiu demanded.

No answer.

"Sei-chan? Are you there?"

Still, no answer.

"Seiji? Seiji?" Xiu's voice got more and more panicked when he heard doors slamming and yelling on the other end. "Seiji!" Xiu was left staring at the phone and his heart thudding painfully. 'I can't leave Touma, not now. He needs me.' But...someone at the other end hung up the phone.

Xiu took a deep breath and hung up the phone, too. There was nothing he could do now.





Seiji-






Seiji's head jerked away from the phone when Ryo screamed and he only barely heard Xiu yelling, "What the Hell was that?!"

Seiji dropped the phone without answering, trusting that Xiu would forgive him, and was instantly at the bathroom door where he'd left Ryo asleep in the bathtub.

"Ryo?!" Seiji swung the door open and the first thing he saw was the fire. Seiji felt the terrible heat explode out from the room when he'd opened the door. It blazed brightly on the sink cabinet, but had spread, somehow to the curtains on the window.

Ryo was awake, now, and stunned as he stared at the flaming curtains with a horrified look. But he still sat in the bathtub, as if he couldn't move. Ryo's hands clutched the side of the bathtub, terrified.

"Shit!" Seiji dashed into the bathroom, holding his hand up to shield himself from the fire. "Mom! Grandfather!" Seiji yelled even as he skidded to his knees at the bathtub, and started scooping handfuls of water out of the tub with his hands. It only took a couple of splashes to put out the fire that had spread onto the sink counter and another couple to extinguish the curtains.

When it was over, the bathroom was filled with smoke and smelled horribly of ash. Ryo was still staring at the bathroom window, his face as white as chalk and his mouth hanging open. He was also now soaking wet from when Seiji had been throwing water around the room.

"Ryo?" Seiji was panting hard, his adrenaline was up so much, but Ryo didn't answer and kept staring at the window. Seiji reached out and grabbed Ryo's shoulder only to have Ryo jump away from him violently. Ryo stared at Seiji for a minute, as if he didn't recognize him but instantly calmed down. "Ryo, what happened in here?"

Ryo bit his lip and cast another look back at the window, now decorated with blackened remains of the curtains. "I...I..."

"Sei-chan!" Seiji's mom appeared in the doorway with his grandfather at her heels. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out when she saw the state of the bathroom and Seiji couldn't blame her. Everything was ruined. It was a disaster and her eyes focused on the obvious cause of the fire.

Seiji wanted to die when he followed her eyes and saw. "My candle." Seiji muttered, paling when he saw the small candlestick that had fallen over. He'd lit the candle to help Ryo relax and feel better, it was common in his religion to use candles for such things. 'It's my fault.' Seiji thought. It was his fault that their home could have burned down. His fault that Ryo almost... "Oh, Ryo." Seiji looked at his friend guiltily. "I'm so sorry."

Ryo's expression of shock softened slightly. "Sorry?"

Seiji's hands were shaking when he got a towel for Ryo and held it out to him. 'I could have killed him! I could have killed Ryo all because I forgot about the candle. He'll never forgive me.' He put the dry towel around Ryo's shoulders and helped him out of the tub. Ryo was still wearing his borrowed pants, but his chest was bare and he was starting to look cold.

"Seiji."

Seiji flinched. He turned slowly at his grandfather's cold voice and found what he expected. Grandfather glaring at him like he was an unwanted rodent in the pantry and his mother still gaping at the bathroom with a hand to her mouth.

"Sei...Seiji?" His mother shook her head, to get a hold of herself, and wheeled herself partially into the bathroom. "Is everyone all right? Ryo?"

Ryo nodded silently and looked away from Seiji, unwilling to meet Seiji's eyes.

'I don't blame him! I'm such an irresponsible idiot! I wanted to bring him here so he'd be safe, not burn him to death. He was finally relaxed enough to fall asleep and get some rest and now he's never going to want to even look at me again, let alone be comfortable around me. Touma's going to stick an arrow in me when he finds I almost killed Ryo and Shin...OH GOD! Shin's going to rip me up one side and down the other!' Seiji didn't realize his thoughts were running away with him until his Grandfather put a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"I'll see you in the family room, Seiji."

Seiji lowered his head, properly shamed. "Yes, grandfather." There was no way out of this punishment, even if he wanted to and Seiji knew he deserved this one.

As he walked by, Seiji's grandfather hung up the telephone without checking it and Seiji could only hope Xiu would forgive him later.




Ryo-




Ryo watched Seiji be led away by his grandfather, his head hanging like a whipped dog, or rather like a dog who knew he was about to get a whipping. Ryo felt guilty and he knew he should speak up to defend Seiji, but that would mean telling everyone what really happened when Seiji wasn't in the room. Ryo didn't even want to look at Seiji for fear of the look in Seiji's eyes. Seiji thought it was his fault when Ryo had done it all.




Flashback-





Ryo was sound asleep, the tiny flame of Seiji's candle was a comfort. Even it's weak light and almost non-existent heat made Ryo feel more at home. The warm water was so restful...he couldn't help falling asleep.

"Ryo." The voice was whispered and started to wake Ryo from his lovely dreams. Dreams of what his family might have been like if mom had still been alive. If only mom hadn't died. If granma wasn't sick. There were so many 'if's' and Ryo had an unlimited possibilities of what his life could have been like in happier circumstances. He didn't want to wake from the dream, but the voice called again. "Ryo."

Very slowly, Ryo woke up, still in the bathtub and still leaning on the side of the tub. The candle flickered cheerfully and Ryo smiled at it. Ryo found himself alone in the bathtub, Seiji must have gone somewhere. Everything was perfect here and Ryo wished he could stay at Seiji's home forever. If he had been Seiji's brother...now that was an interesting dream.

"Wake up, Ryo."

"Who...?" The voice was coming from behind him, from the window. Ryo turned slowly and saw...saw...saw... "No."

In the window was an arm, sticking into the room almost up to the person's elbow, but no face to put with the arm.

"Oh, n-n-no. N-n-no." Ryo's stutter came back with a vengeance at what the hand was holding.

A long chuck of bloody, pink hair. Ryo just sat there, staring. Joji? Joji was the only person Ryo knew who had pink hair.

Before Ryo could finish that thought a face appeared in the window and the arm withdrew a little. It was a good-looking face with a dark smile. "Hello, Ryo. I've been wanting to meet you. I've heard so much about you, but Yoko was determined that you keep away from me. Now don't you think that's rude?" He leered down at Ryo. "I just wanted to introduce myself, though I'm sure you've heard of me from Yoko and Joji." His grin, if anything, became darker. "You'll know me as Shit Face."

Ryo opened his mouth to scream, but Shit Face said, "I wouldn't if I were you."

Shit Face was bad news, Yoko had told and him time and time again that if he ever ran into Shit Face he had to run for his life. There was no where to run and his guy had hurt Joji, maybe he'd hurt Yoko, too. No where to run.

Ryo's mind felt like it was on fire and it reached out for the only source of comfort that it had: the tiny candle Seiji had left burning. The little flame instantly grew, flaring out to get the threat away from Ryo. It slipped down from the candle and onto the cabinet before making an impossible leap to the window. Ryo screamed in terror, more at seeing the face of the one man he'd been afraid of seeing since coming to this city that from fear of the fire.

"Wow!" Shit Face muttered and his face, arm, and Joji's hair, vanished from the window. With no other place to go, the fire spread to the curtains around the window.

'He...he saw me. He knows who I am.' Ryo stared at the window, afraid that the face would come back. 'He had Joji's hair. Did he hurt Joji? He must have because there was blood on the hair, I'm sure of it!' Ryo was almost unaware of the fire around him. It made him feel safer to have it all around like this, so he had no thoughts to put it out. 'Yoko said Shit Face does horrible things to boys and I should never even look at him. He knows where Seiji lives, what if he tries to hurt Seiji? I can't stay here, Shit Face will come back and he might hurt Seiji.'

Ryo wasn't even aware that Seiji was in the room until a splash of water hit him in the head and Seiji grabbed his shoulder. Ryo jumped, startled. Seiji looked at him with such worry and guilt.





End Flash back-





'I'm such a coward.' Ryo thought, watching Seiji be led away by his grandfather. 'I should say something, but what? A pimp was at the window threatening me with a bit of someone's hair so I set fire to your bathroom?' Yeah. That would go over well.' But could he just let Seiji be punished?

Dr. Date looked like she was going to cry for a minute, before she looked at Ryo and got a hold of herself. "Ryo, dear. Are you all right?"

Ryo nodded and tried to explain to Dr. Date. "It w-w-wasn't S-S-Seiji's fault." Damn! His stutter was worse now that he knew Shit Face was somewhere close. He could be lurking just outside the door. He could be anywhere!

Dr. Date shook her head. "He left the candle burning and it's a rule in this house that he doesn't leave any room with a candle burning. Seiji knows that and it was his responsibility to put out the candle. It doesn't matter what else happened, I'm just glad no one was hurt. The damage here isn't all that bad. It looks a lot worse than it is. At least no one was hurt."




Seiji-





"How dare you endanger a guest!?" Grandfather raged once he and Seiji were alone. His eyes were filled with his rarely seen fury and Seiji kept his eyes carefully on the floor. Grandfather was very good at controlling his temper and if he was yelling, that only proved how much trouble Seiji was in. "You know the rules of this family and you put that boy's life in danger, not to mention your mother's life!"

"I didn't know..."

Seiji's grandfather didn't let him finish. "I don't want to hear it! You only left the room for a minute? Well, that's all it took. This whole house could have burnt down!" He raised a hand, pointing toward the door that led to the basement. "You know where you belong."

Seiji balked and stayed rooted to the floor.

"Do not even think about disobeying, Seiji." His grandfather said in a cold voice. "You earned this."

"Yes, grandfather." Seiji replied reluctantly, though he knew his grandfather was right. 'I hate this!'





Two minutes later-





"I'll come for you when you're punishment is over."

That was the last thing Seiji heard before the door was closed behind him and he heard it lock and Seiji was alone in the darkness of the basement.

"Damn." Seiji felt for the handrail of the stairs and carefully made his way down the steps to the basement. He hated the darkness and almost never came down here. Only if his mother desperately needed something would he go down, even then, it was only when he absolutely had to.

There was something terribly oppressive about the darkness. Like the whole world was taken away from him, leaving him hanging in an empty void. At night, there was always a moon or stars to give a bit of light. Even if there was a storm at night, there was usually lightening that would disturb the dark. Now... there wasn't even a chance of light.

Seiji's grandfather knew only to well that the best punishment was to take light away from Seiji. There were no lights down here and, before he'd left, Seiji's grandfather had taken the only flashlight. Seiji hadn't been punished like this for a couple of years, so this was also more than a little demeaning. He was being treated like a child.

Fortunately, by now, Seiji knew his way around the basement pretty well. He'd been locked in her often enough in the past. Three steps down, step over the wobbly step, two more steps before the bottom. Once at the bottom, Seiji sat on the bottom step and didn't intend to move for the next few hours, until his grandfather let him out. There was no reason for him to move around so he wouldn't.

Seiji closed his eyes and tried to pretend he was in bed and asleep. It didn't help much, but it was a little better. It almost made him forget the horrible fear that surrounded him with the darkness.





Two hours later-






"Seiji? Are you there?"

Seiji looked up, surprised at the voice. "Xiu? Is that you?"

"Who else would cut class and risk a detention AND a grounding just to visit your sorry ass?"

Seiji smiled and went back up the stairs to the door. He leaned his ear against the door so he could better hear Xiu. "Does my mom or grandfather know you're here?"

Xiu laughed softly from the other side of the door. "Are you joking? You know how your grandpa gets when you act up. He wouldn't even let me in the door if he thought I was coming to visit you."

"You snuck in?" Seiji was a bit surprised. "How did you passed grandfather?"

"He's talking with some old lady. Who's she, anyway? I noticed Ryo," Xiu paused for a minute and Seiji heard the jangle of something. "Your mom was fussing over him quite a bit." Xiu didn't have to worry about getting around in Seiji's house as Seiji had long since given him house keys. That way, if Xiu needed it, he'd always have a place to go.

Seiji stepped down one step when he heard the click of the door being unlocked. Light flooded in for just a moment and Seiji could see Xiu as he stepped in. Seiji very thankful for the light and for Xiu who had brought the light, that he instantly launched himself into Xiu's arms. "I'm SO glad to see you."

Xiu hugged him back with a low chuckled before closing and re-locking the door behind him, putting both of the boys in darkness again. Seiji didn't feel the panic that had set in when he'd been alone, though. With Xiu holding his hand as they walked down the stairs Seiji felt much braver. "You think I'd leave you alone in the dark?" Xiu asked teasingly when they sat down on the bottom step. "Your grandpa is crazy, I'm telling ya. Who would lock someone afraid of the dark in a pitched black basement?"

Seiji squeezed Xiu's hand. "Never mind that," Though it was nice to know that Xiu was thinking of him, Seiji just couldn't approve of someone speaking badly about his family. "What's going on with Shin? What was all that about him getting arrested?" He felt better just holding Xiu's big, muscular hand and listening to Xiu's relaxing voice. Everything about Xiu was strong and made Seiji feel safe. "What did they say he did?"

"Something about assault and battery. I think he finally attacked Mr. Hashiba, but it's not what they think." Xiu put his arm around Seiji and gently pulled Seiji in closer. "Touma was hurt, again, when he and Shin came to school. Miss Reiko had to give him something to make him sleep and when he woke up he told me what really happened."

"Let me guess," Seiji said, leaning his head against Xiu's shoulder. "Shin walked in on Touma getting a beating and pulled that knife of his. He stabbed Mr. Hashiba or..." Seiji's eyes widened at a thought that just occurred to him. "Oh no, he didn't kill Touma's dad, did he?"

Xiu put his head against the top of. "Nope. You're never going to believe this, but..."





To be continued...