Forest Part II

“What….what do you mean?”
Sakura reached out and took hyde’s chin slowly. “Hyde…can I ……kiss you…”
Hyde just looked at him, still shocked. Sakura took the chance and, holding his chin, brought his lips down onto hyde’s, pushing him back onto the ground.
Hyde remained frozen in shock for another second, then seemed to ‘wake up’.
“Ah, Sakura, no!!” He pulled his face away from Sakura. “Get off me! What about tetsu?!”
Sakura didn’t move. “You spent the last hour telling me how bad tetsu is to you. He doesn’t deserve you. Neither do I, really, but definitely more that him.”
“But……..Sakura……” Hyde was lost for words.
Sakura kissed him again. “Hyde, you don’t know how much I love you…”
He looked straight into hyde’s eyes. Hyde, confused, looked away. He gently pushed Sakura away; Sakura got off him, but as hyde sat up he took hold of his hands. “Don’t you understand? I’d do anything for you.”
Hyde finally looked back at him. The beautiful lips slowly opened to form the words Sakura had not been expecting. “I….I love you too.”
Sakura was shocked. He hadn’t expected for hyde to give in so easily. “You do?”
Hyde nodded. “From the moment I first saw you.” Now, he looked back at the ground. “I didn’t say it because I still do love tetsu, it’s just…” He paused. “It’s different. I love you in a different way to him.”
Until this time it had been Sakura’s turn to sit in amazed silence. The words were better than anything he’d been expecting to hear, in his wildest hopes. Now his impossible wish had been fulfilled, his face, normally emotionless, overflowed with happiness.
He wrapped his arms around hyde, who had just pushed him away, again tipping him back into the grass. But once more, the lips pulled away from his.
“But, Sakura, listen……” Hyde pushed him away weakly.
“Shh….” Sakura kissed him again, blocking the words as he wrapped his hands around hyde’s body. His hand reached up under hyde’s top to touch the flesh hyde had tempted him with so many times. It felt as soft and beautiful as it looked.
Hyde shook his head again, and his whole body seemed to stiffen in panic. The next second, he was crying.
Seeing the tears, Sakura pulled away sharply. “Hyde, what’s wrong?!”
Hyde sat up, covering his face with his hands as he sobbed. Sakura, shocked, tried to comfort him. “Hyde, don’t cry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to – I mean I wouldn’t have done it if I knew you’d be upset…” Hyde continued crying.
It was Sakura’s turn to panic. He tried to hug hyde but he pulled away. Looking around desperately for a way to comfort him, he noticed the small, white flowers growing in the long grass. He picked one, and held it out to hyde. “Here. Now stop crying, please…”
Hyde took one of the hands away from his face and took the flower. He brought it to his face. There were still tears on his face, but he’d stopped crying.
“….can’t you see I’m sorry now? Really, I didn’t think it was that bad….” Inside he was thinking, ‘I only _kissed_ him.’ Hyde’s overreaction was as strange as what had happened this morning.
Hyde looked at it for a moment longer, then held it to his chest. He looked straight at Sakura. “He never gave me a flower.”
He spoke almost to himself although his eyes were focused right on Sakura’s.
Sakura nodded, not knowing what to say in case hyde got upset again.
“The whole time……”
“You don’t still think he’s good enough for you, do you?”
“It’s not that…….Sakura, you know, we’re meant to be married….”
“He doesn’t follow those rules, why should you?’
Hyde nodded slowly. Sakura moved towards him, slowly as not to frighten him, and kissed his face. Hyde sat, not moving, just staring ahead as if in deep thought.
Sakura moved his mouth down the side of hyde’s neck, noticing as he looked down that the bright sunlight had made it possible to see every line of hyde’s body under the thin white fabric. As he brushed his lips against the necklaces draped  around hyde’s neck and moved lower, he felt his blood beginning to heat up.
And then, hyde’s hand came out and pushed his chest hard, pushing him backwards onto the ground. Sakura sat up angrily, starting to get annoyed. “What is it _now_?”
“It’s not even lunchtime yet, idiot!” On hyde’s tear-stained face, for a second Sakura thought he detected a small smile. He’s playing with me, Sakura thought.
Hyde sat, looking down at him. One side of his robes had slipped down, revealing the slim white shoulder underneath. Seeing Sakura looking at it, hyde pulled the robes back into place with what was definitely a smile this time.
As Sakura sat up, he couldn’t help grinning as well.
“Well, when then?” he whispered in hyde’s ear.
Hyde at first didn’t answer his question. “I want to be alone right now. Tetsu won’t be here tonight. If you come to my room tonight, we can sort this out more.”
Sakura smiled. “Of course, I’ll be there.” He stood up, letting his hands brush hyde’s face as he did so.
When he turned from a fair way down the path back to the house, hyde was still sitting there in the same position he had been before. Shrouded in the bright sunlight, he turned the white flower Sakura had given him over and over in his hands.

 “I’m sorry for making you upset today.” was the first thing Sakura said to hyde as he came into his bedroom that evening.
Hyde, who had been sitting on the floor, stood up to meet him. He smiled. “It’s ok….my problem, not yours.”
Sakura, made uneasy by hyde’s smile, looked around the room. Although he’d been in here before, it seemed different now in the darkness. The only light came from a few candles hyde had lit by the bedside. The faint, flickering light cast shadows on hyde’s face, making it look different, a lot darker.
Hyde’s smile widened as he saw Sakura studying him. Sakura became aware of his own gaze too and, embarrassed, smiled back.
“No, it’s not yours. I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you like that. If I’d been attacked like that when I was young, of course I’d get freaked out too.”
“Of course, that was a long time ago.”
“Of course, what tetsu did to you afterwards didn’t help much either.”
“What?” Hyde’s face was shocked, the smile gone. “Tetsu? He didn’t...” Now he was blushing. “He was trying to comfort me, idiot!”
“Yeah, and get what he wanted while doing so.”
Hyde was so embarrassed he couldn’t speak for a few seconds. Then finally he said “Well, what are you doing here then? Trying to get what you want?”
“No. I’m happy just to talk to you.”
“Liar.” Hyde sat down on the bed. “Don’t think I’ll let you.” He pulled Sakura to sit down next to him.
Sakura sat uncomfortably. He didn’t know what to say, his thoughts kept returning to just one thing. Hadn’t hyde been leading him the whole way? Always flirting with him so slightly, leading him on, even now inviting him to this point. He couldn’t stop now, could he?
Even if Sakura was just being helplessly pulled along, he didn’t care. For hyde, he’d do anything.
As he was thinking, hyde’s hand reached up to gently touch Sakura’s cheek. Sakura, jerked out of his thoughts, almost cried out in surprise. He looked at hyde, who smiled.
“…can I kiss you now?”
The smile widened. “I’ll tell you what you can do. Alright, you can.”
Sakura did so, as hyde moved onto his lap.
As Sakura was kissing his neck, he turned to look at the door nervously.
“He’s not here.” Sakura turned his head back around to kiss his lips again. “It’s ok… I promise…”
Hyde nodded. “Ok then.” He whispered against Sakura’s mouth. Sakura’s arms moved around his waist. “You can….we can lie down now….”

The bed was empty. Hyde wasn’t beside him. Sakura looked at the clock, seeing it was quite late. Sighing, he sat up, rubbing his head, before he remembered exactly what had happened yesterday.
He was in his own bed. He’d returned here sometime in the early hours of the morning, when hyde had forced him out. Remembering, he smiled.
Suddenly, he felt good. Better than good. He couldn’t remember feeling this good before.
It wasn’t just what had happened last night. It was the fact that, right now, he knew that he was going to see him again soon. That was all that mattered.
Still feeling incredibly happy, he wandered downstairs, looking for him.
“Sakura!”
He saw hyde, feeling himself grow even happier. So this is what being in love is like. Finally, after all this time, he knew….
“Guess what? I’m going out with tetsu….do you want to come?” He spoke as if nothing had happened yesterday.
“No, that’s ok. I’ll stay here.”
“You don’t want to come?”
“No, I decided to….go to ken’s house.” he said, making up an excuse.
“Oh? Tell him to bring me back something.” Hyde wandered off into the room where tetsu was waiting.
“Ready hyde?”
He nodded happily.
“Ok.” He took hyde’s hand, and after a quick confirmation on Sakura’s plans, they left.
I’m fooling myself, Sakura thought. But although a part of him was telling himself he had no hope, he couldn’t shake off this feeling of happiness.

“Oh, hi, Sakura.” The taller man greeted him as Tomiko led Sakura into the room and left without a word.
Sakura watched her departure. “Ok…what’s wrong with her?”
“Um, we’re fighting.” Ken was sitting at the table, smoking and looking depressed. “All morning, actually.”
Sakura sighed. “Well, for once, I won’t try to change your opinion on her. I need your advice.” He sat down across from ken.
“Yeah?” He looked mildly interested.
“On a girl.”
Ken coughed. “And you’re asking me?” He finally smiled. “Man, you must be desperate.”
“I am. I don’t know what to do.”
Ken giggled. “What, you want a girl to like you? Although, can I say, you sure slipped out of this mourning period quick enough when a girl came along.”
“That’s not important. And it’s not the liking thing that’s important. She already likes me back. In fact I….slept with her last night.”
Ken laughed again. “And now, you’ve contracted some horrible disease? I can’t think of anything else that could be wrong with that situation….”
“There is a problem. You see…..she, um, she’s married.” Suddenly he was worried he’d made it too obvious. Oh well, he could just deny it if ken guessed.
“So he doesn’t know…you’re saying this girl is your ‘forbidden lover’?”
Sakura put his head down on the table. “I can’t live without her….I don’t know what to do. I’d be guilty if I caused her marriage to break up…….but not _that_ guilty, you know? I think he doesn’t deserve her. In fact, I wouldn’t care at all. As long as I got her.”
“You really think this guy isn’t good enough for her? And you are?”
“Yes. Of course.” Sakura smiled.
“Hm. Then, you should go for it. I have no objections. But…..if I were you, I wouldn’t take advice from me……”
“Don’t say that, ken-chan. You just haven’t met the right girl yet. And I hope she hears me saying this.” he said, gesturing towards the door.
“Don’t knock her, ok. We’ll sort it out.” But he sighed heavily as he said it. “Why don’t you just go and have your fun, and tell me about it?”
“Haha. Ok.”
“Man, Sakura…you’ve changed. I’ve never seen you so…..nice.”
Sakura just smiled. He stood up. “I’ll leave you alone to your fighting, then.”
Ken sighed again. “Ok. Sakura? Bring hyde around here sometime.”
Sakura almost froze as he heard the name. Maybe ken knew? He studied his face, but it seemed innocent enough. “Umm….ok. I’ll come with him someday.”
Ken smiled. “Good. We could use some nice people around here some of the time. And have fun with your girl.”
Sakura could only smile as he headed out the door.

And so, the time passed.
The next day, Sakura had gone out to the clearing again, and hyde had been there, as usual, greeting him happily. Sakura was relieved to see he hadn’t had any second thoughts.
“So you’re not having any regrets about the other day?”
“No, why would I?”
“You seemed so happy with tetsu.”
“Yeah, well, the one day a year I do get to see him, I am pretty happy.” Hyde sighed.
“Hyde…” A thought occurred to him.
“Mm?” It was almost the beginning of autumn, and hyde was sitting amongst the first of the fallen leaves. He picked one up, playing with it absently.
“If tetsu was here all the time, would you still want me here?”
He sounded so insecure, so vulnerable. So unlike his normal self. “Of course.” To comfort him, he stroked Sakura’s hair. “But, you know, even if he was here, it wouldn’t be him. He’s changed so much that……it’s like the tetsu I knew is dead. He can’t come back.”
“So, who do you love more?”
Hyde absently broke the leaf up in his hand. “I don’t know. I said, it’s different. I love you because I fell in love with you. I love him because he’s like a part of myself.”
A part he can’t live without, Sakura thought despondently.
“What’s wrong?” hyde asked. “You don’t believe me?”
“I get the idea you’re just using me, because tetsu is gone now. Like I’m a replacement.” He couldn’t believe he was saying these words. Never had he been so open with anyone. “I’m thinking…..if had been anyone but me that had come, just any old guy, would you like him as well?”
“Sakura….don’t think that….” He wrapped his arms around Sakura, putting his head on his shoulder. “Of course it’s not true. I love you. I wouldn’t just go for anyone…..otherwise I would have fallen in love with ken by now…..”
Sakura, after thinking for a moment,  smiled. “You have a point there.”
“So, believe me, ok?”
“You really think we have something special?”
“Yes. Although it was terrible before you came, it was just so I would be able to meet you. Do you believe in fate?”
“…..not until now.”
“I do…….there’s nothing else that can describe it.”
“I love you.”
Hyde kissed him again. Sakura kissed him back, running his fingers through the long hair. But as hyde’s hands moved to the back of his neck, he realised the coldness he felt against his skin was the silver ring on hyde’s right hand.

A few weeks passed.
One day, he’d had to go out to pick up some stuff from the town. Coming back, he saw tetsu sitting down. Immediately he felt uneasy. Despite all his assurances that he didn’t care about hyde and tetsu’s relationship, around tetsu these days he felt nervous and guilty.
“…..Where’s hyde?”
“In his room doing something.” Tetsu looked up at him, and his eyes narrowed. Immediately, Sakura felt worse. “How is he these days?”
“Hyde?”
“Yeah. He seems…..different when I speak to him.” Tetsu absently played with a strand of brown hair, looking straight at Sakura.
Sakura suddenly wondered if tetsu’s sole intention for having him here was as a baby-sitter for hyde. Well, his plans had backfired now. “Yeah, he acts different around me. But happier.” He hoped tetsu wouldn’t ask why he’d been so happy.
Tetsu’s eyes just remained fixed on him. “Hm. When you go upstairs, can you tell him to come down here?”
“Ok then.” Sakura was glad to get away. He knocked on hyde’s door. “Hyde?”
“Don’t come in.” He heard hyde moving towards the door, then it was opened.
“Tetsu wants to talk to you.”
He saw a flicker of fear on hyde’s face, then back to normal. “Ok then.” He shut the door behind him. But then, as Sakura walked off, he caught his arm.
“I think he’s mad at me.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t been paying so much attention to him. Sakura, if I’m thinking about you a lot, he can tell….”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. He just wants to know how you are.”
Hyde’s grip loosened. He nodded. “Sakura……if I ever seem to ignore you, it’s not your fault. I don’t want him to find out…”
“Don’t worry. He won’t.” Sakura leant down and kissed him quickly before he went downstairs.
“What took you so long?”
“I’m sorry.” He sat down next to him, and tetsu wrapped his arms around him.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Eh?”
“You’re all distant lately……always thinking about something else.”
“….” Hyde couldn’t think of any excuse.
“I’ve hardly seen you…” Tetsu kissed him.
“That’s because you’re never home.” hyde mumbled.
“But when I am…you still seem all far away.”
“I’m sorry….” he said again, still unable to think of any excuses. “I didn’t realize...”
Tetsu was holding his face, and whispered against his lips. “I’ll be home tonight, ok?”
Hyde looked somewhat happier. But tetsu’s eyes were cold.
“Do you want to go to my room?”

They were intertwined, hyde’s body wrapped around his. Tetsu was holding him tighter, pushing himself more and more into hyde. The plaster of the wall felt cold against the skin on the top of hyde’s back, in contrast to the rest of him which was surrounded with heat.
“Ahh…….tet-chan…” Hyde was on tetsu’s lap as he was pushed against the wall.
Tetsu ran his mouth over hyde’s face. The small body was already slick with sweat. “Say ‘I love you’.” he whispered.
Hyde managed to gasp out. “I…love you….”
“Say ‘harder’.”
“Ah…a….harder…ah!!”
In response tetsu moved his hips forward, moving deeper into hyde. Hyde cried out and buried his head into tetsu’s neck. Tetsu felt tears drop onto his bare shoulder. The arms around him tightened and he felt hyde’s nails dig in.
He moved his hips back and forth, each time forcing hyde against the wall. Hyde felt the faint pain inside him as tetsu forced in more, that he was almost used to now.
“A-aah….!” Hyde cried out more, then stopped as tetsu slowed the rhythm slightly. Tetsu knew this body, knew its limits, and as a result could stop it from reaching them. That way, he could drag this torture on for hours.
Tetsu moved his hands and shifted hyde’s body, changing to a slightly different angle.
“Aaah…….tet-chan……” The power was loosening from hyde’s arms, and they slipped slightly down tetsu’s back, leaving red marks where the nails had been.
“What is it?”
Hyde moved his head back slowly to look at him. Sweat dripped from his forehead, mixing with the tears.
“What is it? What do you want me to do?” tetsu teased him.
“…please……..” The words were too muffled to hear.
Tetsu’s arms tightened, pushing them even closer together. “Ok, then.”
The speed increased, and this time it didn’t slow down. Pushing hyde backwards more, he kissed him on the lips. The kiss was long and deep, almost blocking the breathing. When he pulled away hyde was almost screaming.
Tetsu was panting hard. He pushed hyde backwards one more time, before finishing. Hyde, as if pushed over the limit by that, came as well just after him.
Tetsu moved backwards from against the wall and hyde fell forward onto him, almost sobbing. The next second, he had fainted.
Tetsu pulled out of him and lay the limp body down onto the bed. He shook his shoulder gently, but hyde was out cold. Sighing, tetsu picked him up to carry him back to his own bed.

Hyde opened his eyes, the coldness of his body telling him that he was alone. The sheets had slipped down to around his waist, and the night air was cold against his bare skin. It was still pre-dawn, barely starting to get light.
Had he passed out? Tetsu must have taken him here. He couldn’t remember much at all. Only that he must have slept pretty early, before night, because now he wasn’t tired at all.
He considered going back into tetsu’s room, as he usually would have done. But tetsu was still angry at him. He wasn’t staying by himself.
Sakura?
If tetsu walked in and found them…
In his still-not-quite-awake state, he didn’t really think about it. He got up and pulled some clothes on. His back felt bruised, but he decided not to think about that. As quietly as possible made his way out the door and down the corridor to Sakura’s room.
This room was in almost complete darkness, the light from the windows still blocked out by heavy curtains. Sakura was asleep, of course, all twisted up in the sheets. To lie next to him without freezing, hyde had to gently try to pull them from underneath his body.
Sakura stirred at the movement. “Mmm….”
Hyde gave up, and shook him. “Sakura.” he said quietly.
“….what’re you doing here..” he said, his eyes still closed.
“Mm. Cold. Give me some blanket.”
Sakura, still not awake, allowed hyde to straighten the sheets and crawl in beside him. Absently, he wrapped his arms around the smaller figure, before drifting back to sleep.
Hyde sighed, deciding not to bother to wake him up again. Knowing Sakura, he’d freak out in the morning when he realized what an ‘opportunity’ he’d missed.
He rested his head against Sakura’s shoulder, feeling depressed. He felt bad for the way he was making Sakura feel, and the way tetsu was treating him. Both problems he felt he was the cause of.
He thought of something suddenly that would cheer him up. He kicked Sakura in the leg lightly, sitting up.
“……what?”
“Sakura, let’s go to ken-chan’s house tomorrow.”
Sakura didn’t reply, he was already asleep again. Hyde sighed and lay down again, deciding to try to sleep as well. He could tell him tomorrow.

“Ah, ken-chan!” Hyde hugged him around the waist, smiling happily as they stood in the entrance to ken’s house.
“haido…” Ken smiled and patted hyde’s head.
Hyde grinned at Sakura, then asked to ken “How do you put up with this guy?”
“Yeah, I know…”
“Such a pervert!”
Under his cool demeanor Sakura was going red. What if hyde gives us away, he thought.
“Yeah, he’s terrible isn’t he?” Ken made his way into the house, hyde still clinging to his side.
“Is it just me, or is he like that to everyone?” They were pretending that they thought Sakura couldn’t hear.
“Well, me as well, that guy!! I can hardly keep him off me sometimes…”
“Ken!!”
Ken giggled. Sakura glared at him. “Where’s Tomiko?”
“Tomiko, she’s gone. It’s over between us.” Ken sat down, pulling hyde down almost onto his lap. Sakura started to feel jealous, but hyde just curled up there like a small child, the smile on his face suggesting he wanted Sakura to feel this way.
“How’s tetsu?” Ken was asking.
Hyde didn’t flinch for one second. “Good….if you ever come over, you could ask him yourself…”
“Last time he wasn’t there!”
“When was the last time you saw him?” Sakura asked.
“Hmm….how long has it been? Wow….it must be almost two years…”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, well, there’s no reason for him to come down this way, and I’ve been there only a few times and he’s never home…”
Hyde was playing with ken’s hair. “What went wrong between you and Tomiko?” he said, changing the subject.
“Umm….what was it this time? Oh yeah, she thought I didn’t love her. Damn right, the bitch.” He looked sad. “The only reason I was living with her is because living by myself is too damn depressing…”
“Poor ken-chan…you’ll find your love someday…”
“I’m saving myself for Sakura.”
“Very funny.”

“You guys seem like such good friends.” Sakura spoke to hyde, who was draped all over his back, as he walked through the forest.
Hyde wrapped his arms tighter around Sakura’s neck, resting his head on them next to Sakura’s ear. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
“Ah- hyde – you’re choking me – no of course I’m not.” I’ve got better people to be jealous of, he thought.
Hyde kissed his ear, and wrapped his legs tighter around Sakura’s waist, making it almost impossible for him to continue walking. “It’s not getting dark for a while yet – ne, let’s have a rest here before we go back.”
Sakura agreed. He’d noticed hyde was often reluctant to go back these days. It suited him fine.
He let go of hyde, easing him down into a sitting position. Hyde smiled and wrapped his arms around Sakura’s neck, not letting go.
“Hyde……..are you sure it’s ok here?”
“Don’t worry……..tetsu never comes to this part……” He giggled, like a small child about to commit some act of mischief. Leaning close to Sakura’s ear so his lips almost brushed against it, he whispered “Ne…….Sakura…..do you want to….”
“Do…what?”
“Do it…..”
“Do it? You mean……the whole thing? Now?” They hadn’t done that yet. To his surprise, Sakura found himself blushing.
“I want to…Sakura….don’t you want to? You missed out last night.” Smiling, hyde sat on top of him.
“Yes…….but…….” Hyde began to kiss his face. He stopped his arguments, letting hyde kiss him.
“I’ve never done it before….with a guy, I mean.”
“It’s ok. Me neither……only one person. I’ll teach you, ok?” The deep voice whispered close to Sakura’s ear, his fingers running through the silky hair. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
“…..me too.” Probably the biggest understatement of his life. He wrapped his arms around hyde’s back, pulling him closer.
Hyde’s lips brushed his, then pushed harder, pushing Sakura down amongst the leaves so hyde was sitting on top of him.
He bent over, lifting up Sakura’s face to kiss it while Sakura’s hands on his back moved lower, sliding into his robes and lifting them up. Hyde moved his mouth down the front of Sakura’s neck before Sakura pulled hyde’s top off over his head.
“I love you…”
“Me too…..”
Sakura’s fingers moved over the smooth skin of hyde’s back, one hand sliding lower to reach in the waistband of hyde’s robes. He felt the inside of hyde’s thighs pressing around his waist, and could feel himself growing hard already.
Suddenly, hyde’s movements stopped, and Sakura saw his eyes slowly widening in horror. His face went blank, he stared expressionlessly at something over Sakura’s head.
“What?” Sakura looked over his shoulder, and all at once froze as well.
“Oh, it’s alright, carry on…” tetsu said, looking at hyde.
“Tetsu – what are you – ” hyde was quickly pulling his clothes on. He looked terrified.
“So this is what you think of me, hyde. Come here.”
Hyde tried to stand up, but Sakura grabbed him, and clung to him protectively. “Don’t hurt him.” he said, holding hyde back. “It’s not his fault! I started it.”
“Sakura…” hyde tried to pull away.
“I forced him… it’s all my fault.”
“Sakura, why are you lying?” hyde asked, gazing at him tearfully. He almost cried as he spoke. “I started it!” he yelled to tetsu suddenly. “It was all my fault!”
“Hyde! Don’t lie!” Sakura was desperate. Why was he saying this? Tetsu could kill him.
“It’s ok Sakura, you don’t have to stick up for me…it’s the truth, it’s all my fault.”
“Hyde, don’t do this…”
“How loyal you are, Sakura.” tetsu snapped. He stepped closer, and Sakura pulled hyde back. “Hand him over.”
“No.”
“I promise I won’t hurt him. Now give him here.”
Hyde really was crying now. “Sakura….let me go….tetsu, please don’t send him away!! It was my fault…please…”
“If he gives you to me now I’ll consider letting him stay.”
“Sakura….let me go, I don’t want you to leave me…”
Sakura stood, anxious, trying to decide what the hell to do.
“I won’t hurt him, so give him here.”
Reluctantly, Sakura released hyde and tetsu grabbed him. Closing his arms around hyde in front of him, he spoke coldly to Sakura. “Stay here, and don’t come any closer to the house. I want to talk to him. If you do what I say and stay here, I might consider not sending you away.”
Sakura nodded unwillingly. Tetsu turned and pulled hyde away.

“Ow! Tetsu!!” He was clutching hyde’s wrist so tightly it hurt. Several times on the way back he’d tried talking to tetsu, with no responses, just an angry silence. Now he dragged him up the stairs, finally into hyde’s own bedroom.
“Ow….you’re hurting me!!” hyde was surprised; tetsu was usually so gentle.
Tetsu shoved him into the room and slapped him hard.
“AAH!!!” Hyde fell onto his knees. Tetsu kicked him so he fell backwards.
Hyde screamed again. He sat up, trying to kick tetsu away. “You said you wouldn’t – ”
“Shut up!” he yelled. “Don’t you understand, you’re going to die for this!!”
Hyde, still sitting, tried to move back but tetsu grabbed him and pulled him down, so he was sitting against the wall with hyde on his lap, holding hyde’s wrists so he couldn’t escape.
“No-“ hyde gasped. There was blood on his face.
“When a wife breaks the bond of marriage, she has to die.”
Hyde gasped. He didn’t know if tetsu’s words were true or not but he was terrified. He began to plead. “Tetsu, I’m sorry, I still love you, it’s just – ”
“I don’t care if you love me or not.”
“What?”
“Don’t think I could ever love a little slut like you.”
Hyde’s face went blank with disbelief, he tried to twist around to look at tetsu but he wouldn’t let him. “Tetsu, what did you say….”
Suddenly tetsu’s teeth sank deep into his neck, deep enough to draw blood. Hyde screamed again. “I hate you!!” tetsu yelled.
Hyde’s mind was in shock, he couldn’t comprehend tetsu’s words.
“Go ahead, cry then, slut.”
Hyde was sobbing, the words echoing around his head again and again. If tetsu didn’t love him….then no one….
Tetsu suddenly bit him again, this time on the arm. It hurt too much even for him to scream, he felt sick with pain. Faintly, he felt tetsu pushing him to the ground. “I’ll kill you.” he said again.
Hyde kicked him again, this time causing him to stagger backwards and almost fall. Enraged, he brought the heel of his platforms hard down onto hyde’s ribs.
There was a cracking sound. Hyde screamed in pain but it was cut off as tetsu sat on top of him, forcing the air out of his lungs, and closed his hands around hyde’s neck.
“Now you die, for what you did…” His hands tightened.
Hyde, feeling the terrifying choking sensations, tried to move his arms to push him away but tetsu was pinning them down. His head felt light, he felt his body become weaker.
Tetsu’s hands tightened still more. Hyde could only look up at him. He felt dizzy, the world began to fade. He thought of Sakura.
His eyes began to drift shut…
Tetsu’s hands released suddenly.
“I can’t kill you.” he said softly. “Not now…”
He stood up and got off him, momentarily gazing out of the window. He looked back at hyde, who was trying to take even one deep breath, trying to get air back into his body. Tetsu saw the tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Hurts doesn’t it?” Tetsu nudged his side slightly with his foot.
Hyde couldn’t scream, he could barely breathe. Whenever he gasped to try and get the air back into his lungs, a sharp pain slashed through his body. He looked up at tetsu, making little gasping, choking noises, blood running out of his mouth. His eyes were full of the worst pain and fear tetsu had ever seen.
“Now you know the pain, don’t you? What I feel on the inside.”
Hyde couldn’t reply.
“If I ever, EVER see you anywhere near him again, you will die, OK? I will kill you. Do you understand?”
With the last of his energy, hyde tried to nod.
“Good.” As he stood there, hyde noticed there were tears on his cheeks, but maybe he just saw them mistakenly through the tears in his own eyes.
The figure blurred even more and disappeared from hyde’s vision as he finally lost consciousness…

The breathing was slow and laboured. Sakura saw the bandages wrapped around the neck and shoulder, blood showing through in one place. His face was bruised, his lip cut open.
Although tetsu had just forbidden him to do this very thing – go and see hyde – he moved even closer to the bed. Hyde was clearly asleep. And badly hurt.
He wouldn’t let his mind believe tetsu could do this – break his word, hurt hyde so much. Maybe hyde had provoked him in some way? Anything to explain this…..
But nothing could. I will kill him, he thought. I will kill him.
“I’ll kill him.” he said aloud.
Hyde’s eyes snapped open.
Sakura, surprised, took a step backwards. Hyde looked at him expressionlessly.
“Hyde…”
Hyde’s eyes went back to the more natural position of gazing at the ceiling.
Sakura moved closer so he was standing by the bed, although he was risking himself being found by tetsu. “Hyde….are you ok? Speak to me.”
Hyde didn’t answer. He closed his eyes.
“Hyde……I’m sorry….” He glanced towards the door. Oh, what the fuck? Tetsu had broken his word, he could too. He changed his tone. “I’ll kill him.” he said again. Hyde….how could he do this to you? He promised!! “I’m sorry…I didn’t know…” It sounded so pathetic, especially with hyde’s lack of response.
“Hyde…?”
Hyde, his eyes closed, turned his head away.
Sakura got the message. He left the room, closing the door quietly after him.
He slid down to the floor, overcome with the greatest hopelessness he’d ever felt.

“Yes, what is it?”
Sakura forced himself to take a deep breath. Damn, he couldn’t even tell tetsu he’d seen hyde, he wasn’t meant to have gone! He wasn’t meant to know about this. But he couldn’t not do anything.
“I want you to stop hurting hyde. He doesn’t deserve it.”
“What do you mean?” Tetsu knew exactly what he meant.
“Don’t make him take all the punishment! It wasn’t his fault.” He got angry. “Look, I started it! I should be punished, so don’t hurt him!”
Tetsu smiled. “Oh, he’s not badly hurt…don’t worry, ok?”
“I saw him.”
“Oh, you did? Hmm, someone’s been bad..”
“Shut up! I don’t care what you do to me, but I saw what you did to him although you promised you wouldn’t! I fxxking trusted you!!”
“Hyde did something wrong, he’s my responsibility and he has to be punished.”
“Your fxxking responsibility?!” Sakura was yelling now. “Can’t he think for himself? He did nothing wrong, _I_ started it!”
Tetsu finally showed some signs of annoyance. “Both so loyal, it’s sickening. I guess you know hyde told me the exact same thing about you?” He interrupted Sakura when he tried to speak again. “I can’t punish you, you have no wife, you’ve committed no crime! He has.”
“Fuck it, I don’t care! I did wrong, don’t make me suffer like this doing this to him!”
“And maybe that’s your punishment, then, the guilt of having to see him like this and yourself be fine? You’re really suffering as much as he is, aren’t you?”
Suddenly he rose, went to Sakura, and took his hand. Sakura was almost frozen with anger. He couldn’t move.
“I’m sorry..” tetsu mumbled, taking the hand up to his face. “I know it must be bad… feeling so helpless…but the best thing you can do for hyde is just to keep away from him right now…” he whispered against it.
Sakura was now frozen with shock. He felt tetsu kissing his hand all over and was surprised at how good it felt. He tried to pull away lightly, but tetsu held tight.
“Do you want to stay here?” Sakura felt tetsu’s tongue brush against the skin as he spoke. He shivered, and nodded abruptly, trying to think of something else, anything to distract him.
“Be good, and you can stay… I like having you here…..”
Sakura nodded again. His arguments of a few seconds before forgotten, he gazed into tetsu’s enchanting eyes.
Tetsu’s tongue moved over the skin again, and he pulled away, more urgently this time. Tetsu held fast, and Sakura brought his other hand to tetsu’s head, half-heartedly trying to push it away.
Tetsu moved the tongue gently over his fingers, and Sakura was amazed at what he felt – this was only his _hand_, dammit, why was tetsu so – his mind drifted away further.
The hand resting on tetsu’s soft hair became a half-caress.
Tetsu smiled. “Good boy.”
Sakura, finally coming to his senses, jerked away suddenly. He stared at the smiling tetsu, and then, not knowing what to do or say, turned and angrily walked out.
“You can run, but you can’t hide, Sakura….” tetsu whispered. Then he remembered. It was probably time to go and check on him before he died of thirst.

Sitting on top of hyde, he brought the glass of water he’d been carrying up to his lips.
“Are you thirsty?”
Hyde nodded.
Tetsu took a mouthful and opening hyde’s mouth slightly, brought his own lips down on his, pushing the water in. He felt hyde suck the water from his mouth. Smiling, he took another mouthful, doing it again. He felt hyde’s mouth, hungry for liquid, suck the remaining saliva from his mouth as he pulled away.
“Is that good?” he asked.
Hyde nodded, his lips still wet with tetsu’s saliva.
“Do you want some fruit? I’m not sure if you’ll be able to eat anything else…”
Feeding him the fruit by the same method, tetsu moved one hand up hyde’s inner thigh, hearing the muffled groan under his mouth.
He pulled away. “That’s enough. I’ll just change the bandages now.”
He helped him to sit up again. Still not mentioning anything about Sakura, about what had happened. Gently he changed the dressing on hyde’s neck, kissing the wound lightly before he applied a new bandage.
Hyde sat silently, not knowing what to say, scared to say the wrong thing. He didn’t know if his voice would even work properly.
“Do you think I can trust you…..”
Hyde, sitting up on the bed, nodded.
“Good…. I didn’t mean to scare you. I won’t kill you..”
It was the closest he’d come to apologising.
Hyde finally found the courage to look up at him. “Tetsu..” he tried to croak.
“I have friends, hyde. I’ve spent my whole life with you, I know what you’re afraid of…..”
Shock rocked through hyde’s body, he began to shake. Tetsu pushed him back gently on the bed.
And he’d thought tetsu had gone back to normal….
If what he’d been before could be called ‘normal’.
The cold eyes stared down at him, full of hatred. “Next time you won’t be forgiven….”
Hyde forced himself to nod again. He couldn’t meet tetsu’s eyes. He was terrified.
“Come to my room tonight…” tetsu whispered near his ear. Hyde’s face was a frozen mask of fear and horror. What tetsu had said…. “I have friends”..?? He couldn’t reply.
He hardly noticed tetsu getting off him. “You can talk to him, but don’t go somewhere where I can’t find you, I’ll get suspicious. Maybe it’s best you stay away as much as possible..” He spoke as he went out of the door.

Hyde would sit in his room for hours on end, not doing anything, not even moving. He hardly ate, and didn’t speak much to anyone. If Sakura spoke to him, he’d just look at him and move away. If Sakura tried to sit near him, he’d move away. He seemed too scared even to talk to Sakura, except briefly in tetsu’s presence.
Sakura, reduced to a state even worse than he’d been before, stayed in his room as well, spending most of his time in bed, in the dark. He began to sleep more and more, not wanting to face reality. He couldn’t leave because he couldn’t leave hyde. But staying in this place was going to kill him.

---------------------------------------------
 

“Where did you go today?” Hyde asked quietly. He knew tetsu would not give him an answer, but he just wanted to stretch the time out a bit more before tetsu started properly.
Tetsu had pulled hyde up from where he’d been lying sleeping in tetsu’s bed, and now touched his hair, his fingers gently undoing the long braid. One hand now reached up under hyde’s top, encouraging him to take it off over his head. Finally, he moved his eyes up to stare hyde in the face. “I was working, of course.”
“….until night?” hyde was now lying back down on the bed.
“Are you implying that you don’t believe me, then?” As he spoke, tetsu’s hands moved all over hyde’s body. Hyde looked up at him, biting his lip. Their eyes met. Hyde shook his head slowly and averted his eyes.
He’d seen the look in tetsu’s eyes as they’d met his.
He hates me.
They were still repeating the words he’d said that day. “I don’t love you……you little slut….”
He hates me.
That means he only wants me for one thing then.
I hate him.
But still, I can’t help this love that comes through as well. Even if it’s just for who he used to be.
But, whatever feelings he has for him, it’s not going to stop what’s going to happen to him tonight….or the next…..or the next…
I just don’t think I can stand it, knowing what he thinks of me.
The movements of the hands have stopped and in the dim candlelight hyde can see tetsu’s hand, tipped with long, painted fingernails, resting near his waist.
He thinks how much it will hurt when those long nails go inside of him.
The tears are coming already, and tetsu hasn’t even started yet.
Tetsu looked down at the tears running down hyde’s face, seemingly disconnected. No one could have known what would have happened then if tetsu had not heard the sound of the front door opening.
Lately, Sakura had been out drinking more and more, seemingly upset about what had happened with him and hyde. But now, he was home. To tetsu, it sounded like he was going to get a drink.
A thought began to build in the back of tetsu’s mind. It wasn’t by any means a new plan, but he hadn’t expected to carry it out tonight. But now…… it seemed fun.
In hyde’s view, a look of kindness and concern seemed to come over tetsu’s face. Hyde was surprised – he’d thought tetsu would be angry. But instead, tetsu picked him up off the bed to hold him close. “What’s wrong, hyde? Are you tired?”
Hyde was surprised at this sudden kindness but, happy for any excuse, nodded. He continued crying, burying his face into tetsu’s chest and clinging to him.
Tetsu held him tighter. “Don’t cry, it’s ok. Do you want to go to your bed?”
He caught sight of hyde’s tear-stained relieved face as he nodded yes. Smiling, he kissed hyde’s forehead, and then picked him up and carried him back to his room, with hyde clinging around his neck like a scared child.
“It’s ok, hyde. Don’t cry. Just go to sleep now, OK?” tetsu put hyde carefully back into his own bed and tucked him in, smiling gently. Hyde looked a little confused but mostly just relieved. Tetsu’s smile widened as he stepped out of the door of hyde’s room.
If hyde can’t give me my fun, I’ll get it another way.
Right on time. Sakura was coming up the stairs.
By his walk tetsu could tell that he was not completely drunk, but he didn’t seem completely sober either. Tetsu could clearly see him from the light at the end of his cigarette.
As he stepped into a patch of dim moonlight in the hallway, tetsu called out softly.
“….Sakura?”
He spun round, his eyes not so used to the dark. “…tetsu?”
He didn’t see tetsu until he was right in front of him, moving closer and gently pressing him to take a step back against the wall. “Are you drunk?”
Sakura shook his head. “I fell asleep…. I think I’m ok now, but my head…” There was a pained expression on his face.
Tetsu’s face was filled with compassion. “Oh…I have some lotion that might help it – it really works for me…” He took Sakura’s hand gently. “It’s in my room.”
To tetsu’s surprise, Sakura complied straight away, and followed him in.
The sheets on the bed were crumpled from where hyde had been lying a few minutes before. Tetsu straightened them quickly, and sat Sakura down on the bed. He then went and sat down at the cabinet in front of the mirror. Sakura, sitting on the bed smoking a cigarette, squinted through the darkness and saw he was putting on makeup.
He finished his cigarette, and not knowing what to do with it, dropped it on the floor.
Tetsu finally got up to face him. When Sakura caught sight of him, without thinking he gasped. Tetsu, who was normally very beautiful anyway, now seemed to have transformed himself into the image of a beautiful woman. As beautiful as hyde, though in a different way.
Tetsu seemed pleased at Sakura’s reaction. He pushed Sakura gently against the board at the end of the bed, then sat on top of him. Again, to tetsu’s surprise there was no resistance.
Tetsu took the lid off the jar he’d been holding and, dipping his fingers in, began spreading the lotion gently over Sakura’s temples and forehead, massaging it in gently.
“Does that feel better?”
Sakura nodded, his head tilted backwards at tetsu’s manipulating movements. The lotion felt cool and refreshing. Tetsu’s fingers began to move through the soft black hair.
“Now tell me… why were you out drinking? Do you have a problem?”
Sakura nodded slightly. ‘Wow, he is drunk’ thought tetsu.
“Are you lonely?”
Sakura nodded again. Incredibly, he looked close to tears. Tetsu had never seen this side to him. So vulnerable, the opposite to real life. He must be really drunk.
“….my wife.” he said. Then “…hyde.”
“You want your wife? And hyde?”
“I wanna…..hold her. And…hyde… I want….hyde…”
Tetsu continued to massage Sakura’s forehead very gently. “You don’t have to be lonely…” He picked up Sakura’s hand and brushed his lips against it. “Don’t know if I can comfort you with words but….. there’s other ways…”
The rational part of Sakura’s brain began to kick in. Although he was a bit drunk part of him was still thinking logically and something was telling him he couldn’t do this. He started to push tetsu away, half-heartedly.
“Shh…..don’t…” tetsu moved closer, and brought their lips together.
“Sakura…” he mumbled as he pulled Sakura’s shoulders down, pulling him on top of himself.
“Hyde….” Sakura mumbled. Although he wasn’t actually having an illusion of hyde, he was the only one he could truly care about.
Tetsu grabbed Sakura’s chin, pulling the lips down harder on his. “Not hyde tonight. Tetsu.”
Sakura had now completely taken over. His lips moved off tetsu’s, smudging the lipstick slightly. His arms gripped tetsu tightly. Tetsu smiled. He’d succeeded, and Sakura hadn’t even been that drunk.
“Sakura…” he moaned again, and this time wrapped his arms around Sakura’s waist, pulling them together even tighter.
 

Hyde and tetsu were already at the table eating breakfast when Sakura came out of tetsu’s room the next morning. He sat down across from hyde and stared down at his food, feeling horribly uncomfortable.
Tetsu rested his elbow on the table and gave an evil grin. With his other hand he reached out and touched Sakura’s cheek gently. “Thank you for last night Sakura. That was so wonderful.”
As Sakura was looking down he thought he caught a glimpse of hyde’s horrified look between him and tetsu. However, by the time he looked up hyde was staring down at his food, his face blank with horror.
Tetsu turned his gaze. “Something wrong, hyde?”
Hyde didn’t look up. He shook his head slightly, then mumbling something about being excused, stood up and hurried out.
“He didn’t even finish his breakfast.” tetsu sighed. “He really should be worried about his weight….”
Sakura was staring at him. “Why are you so angry?”
“How could you do that?”
“How could _I_ do what? If I use my memory correctly, the person that _did_ something last night was……um…. that’s right, you!” Tetsu smiled mockingly.
Sakura felt sick suddenly, feeling a sudden urge to kill tetsu, and then himself. He pushed his chair back.
Tetsu stood up. “Look, I’ve finished. I’ll walk off instead, then you can finish your breakfast, ok?” He walked off in the same direction hyde had headed, leaving Sakura sitting, angrily, all alone.

“What?! Can’t you see I’m getting changed?” hyde yelled angrily as tetsu walked in.
“I have to tell you I’m going out.”
Hyde was clearly more embarrassed about the fact that he was crying than the fact he’d been changing, especially as he already had the majority of his clothes on.
“Well, good bye.” Tetsu turned to go and hyde completely cracked, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“How dare you do that to Sakura?!”
“Who says I did anything? It was Sakura who did it.”
“Yes, but you tempted him. I know you did!!”
“It’s not my fault no one can resist me.” Tetsu gave a small smile, and then changed his tone. “And, maybe, if hyde gave me what I wanted, then I wouldn’t have to look for it elsewhere.”
The words hit hyde like a slap, and he let out another sob. “You….you…..” he couldn’t get the words out. “Why…..Sakura….he’s…” The words that couldn’t come out were, he’s all I’ve ever had.
“It…..doesn’t mean……he loves you……” Hyde tried to wipe away the tears with the back of his hand.
“No, of course not. There is no ‘love’ between us, that is not necessary.” said tetsu.
“Sakura loves me.”
This time tetsu actually did slap hyde and he fell to the ground, sobbing. “I warned you.” he said angrily.
Hyde nodded, still kneeling and holding his face.
Tetsu sighed. “Come to my room tonight. We’ll continue this conversation there. Now, I have to go.”
Hyde nodded even more meekly this time. As the door closed behind tetsu, he once again dissolved into tears.

Hyde sat on the stone bench in the garden behind the house, staring at the ground. The bird that sometimes hung around him came and sat on his shoulder but he quickly turned away, telling it to come back later. After all, if tetsu saw him with the bird, he’d probably take that away as well.
He couldn’t win. Everything he’d ever had, tetsu had taken everything. The one thing he’d thought he’d had for himself….even Sakura. Now he had nothing to live for. Sakura would have no interest in him anymore now he had tetsu. No one could resist tetsu. It was just like that.
Hyde brushed his hair away from his face, lightly touching the faint bruises which had formed on his cheek. He wondered briefly why tetsu had got so angry over just one little comment.
“Haido-san?” Hyde turned around. The maid was standing behind him. “Sakura-san told me to tell you to meet him in the clearing across the forest. He wants to talk to you.”
Hyde nodded sullenly. She looked at him pitifully as if she wanted to say something, then hurried off. Hyde stood up slowly. This is it, he thought as he made his way through the forest. This is the end.
When he reached the clearing Sakura was sitting on the ground waiting for him. When he saw hyde his expression looked painful. He stood up as hyde came over to him and touched his cheek.
“Are you ok? He didn’t hurt you much did he?” he asked gently.
Hyde shook his head. Suddenly Sakura sat down in the long grass, pulling hyde down with him.
Hyde turned around, seeing Sakura’s face. “What? Sakura, you’re crying!!”
Sakura rested his head on hyde’s shoulder. Unbelievable, the tears were sliding down his cheeks. Incredible. He hadn’t cried even when his wife had died.
Incredibly, hyde was comforting him. “Don’t cry, Sakura-chan, it’s not your fault. I understand….”
“Of course it’s my fault.”
“No, it’s not. No one can resist tetsu. I know. I understand, you can have him now…” But he looked away as he said the last sentence.
Sakura looked up. “What?”
Hyde stroked his hair. “You want tetsu now…”
“What? No! What are you thinking?” Sakura looked at hyde’s surprised face. “I don’t want tetsu! I mean, I was apologising for what I did! I’m not going to leave you for him.”
“Really?” Hyde looked so happy, and amazed. So the words he said to tetsu had been true? Tetsu must have known it too. No wonder he’d been so angry.
“Of course!” hyde’s happiness caught Sakura off guard. “I mean, it was just a one-night thing….. I wasn’t thinking, ok? I know you’re mad, but…”
“You still love me? Even though you had tetsu?” Hyde looked unbelievably happy. Suddenly, he threw his arms around Sakura, covering his face with kisses. “I’m so happy…” He leant his face against the top of Sakura’s head.
Sakura wanted to cry again, this time from guilt. After doing such a thing he was not prepared for such absolute forgiveness. “Hyde, you’re meant to be mad at me. You could at least hit me or something……..make me feel less bad about it?”
Hyde slapped him hard in the face. “That better?”
Sakura fell back, surprised, clutching his face. “Man, that really hurt!”
“I pretended you were tetsu, ne.” Hyde smiled. He seemed unable to control his sudden happiness. He pushed Sakura back down into the grass and began to kiss him again.
“You’re so cute…” Sakura grabbed his arms, pulling him down alongside him. “I think you’re much cuter than him, easily. Ok? Understand?”
“I love you!” He was so happy, acting like a little girl.
“I love you too.” Sakura pulled him closer. “But you have to understand….”
“What?” He looked more serious.
“Don’t you understand we have to get away?”
“Away from tetsu?” Hyde now looked serious again. He sat up, and looked into the distance.
Sakura sat up as well. “What happened last night makes it more urgent.”
Hyde nodded. “I was thinking last night……I think I have a plan.”
“Really?”
Another nod. “Tet-chan knows I still love you. I can tell because he’s always angry at me. I don’t know why he’s so angry, because I can also tell he doesn’t love me at all. But I get the feeling he really hates me.” Hyde looked upset. “I can’t stand it…”
“What is it?”
“He hates me. He tries to hurt me. What he does…….” Hyde looked close to tears.
Sakura felt sick all of a sudden. “Don’t worry, hyde. We’ll get away, ok?”
“If he finds me with you again, I think he really will kill me.” said hyde. “Don’t ask me why, but I know he will. So I thought up a plan.”
He outlined it. Sakura would leave first, telling tetsu he was going to go back to where he used to live. Hyde would stay until tetsu went away for a night. When he did, he would sneak out of the house, and they’d meet at an arranged spot. This way, with them leaving separately, there would be less chance of them being found together, and less of a chance of tetsu coming after them.
“Are you sure you want to do it? I mean, I will, but you’ve been here for so long, and if you get caught – ”
Hyde shook his head. “I’d rather die than stay here with him now anyway. Anything’s better than this.”
“Ok then.” Sakura wrapped his arms around him. “If you hate it here, we’ll do it as soon as possible. I can talk to tetsu tonight about moving out.”
“Tonight??”
“Yes, then I can move out within a few days. Not straight away, so we can plan a bit first. But……I want to do this for you, ok? To show how much I love you.”
Hyde smiled. “Thank you……”
“My beautiful hyde….”

Hyde’s good mood unfortunately did not last for long.
“You thought you could get away from me, then?” tetsu asked angrily at hyde’s figure sprawled on the floor. He’d just pushed him away from the door. Hyde, knowing it was useless anyway, had locked himself in his room that night in the vain hope tetsu would not bother forcing his way in.
He’d known tetsu was angry after talking to Sakura about moving out. The first part of their conversation he’d heard, secretly listening from outside the room they’d been in. Sakura had come in and announced he wanted to try moving out for a while.
Tetsu had been surprised. “Why? Why on earth do you want to go?”
“I don’t really feel I fit in here.”
“Of course you do. You’re one of us, ne?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t feel right just being used as a pawn for you and hyde’s little fights.”
“What? Oh, you’re not like that at all.”
Of course he’s not, hyde had thought dreamily. He’s not a pawn, he’s my prince come to rescue me…..
“It’ll be so dull without you here.” tetsu had said.
“Look, I’m just trying out for a little while, it might not be permanent, ok?”
“Have you talked to hyde about this?”
At the sound of his name, hyde had got scared and headed back to him room quickly, not wanting to be caught. He could tell at the end of their discussion that tetsu was very angry. A few minutes after Sakura went to his room, he heard doors slam as tetsu stormed around the house. Scared, he’d locked the door. The hope was faint, but…..
Now, tetsu stared down at him. He was dressed normally in pants and a shirt, with his hair pulled simply back. For some reason this made him seem a lot scarier to hyde. Hyde tried to get back up as tetsu closed the door after him, locking it with the spare key he’d been holding.
Tetsu was definitely very angry. His eyes looked almost crazy. As hyde tried to run away he grabbed his hair, and pulled him down onto the ground, this time pinning him under his own body.
Hyde was crying. “No, please, tet-chan…aah…..”
Hyde screamed in fear as tetsu shook him roughly. “First there’s what you have done to Sakura!! Then, trying to lock me out like that…..what’s wrong with you?!”
He almost allowed hyde to get away again, this time grabbing his hair and dragging him onto his own bed. “Don’t think you can get away, ever!”
“Tetsu, no! Please!!” Tetsu started to tear off his clothes, his nails digging into hyde’s skin.
“Aaahh!! Please…….” Hyde tried to struggle, falling backwards onto the floor. Tetsu grabbed at him again as he made a wild dash to the door, pinning hyde down by sitting on his chest.
He smiled down at him. “I never realised how fun it was when you struggled like this, hyde.”
“Tet-chan…please…..” Hyde reached up one hand, trying to cover his crying face.
Tetsu yanked it back down, pinning it under his legs. Removing the rest of hyde’s shirt, he once again raked his nails over the bare skin.
“Ah! No!! Please! ….Can’t you….be gentle…..” Hyde collapsed into sobs.
“Shut up. I’ll be how I want to be.”
Hyde couldn’t reply, he felt he could only cry. He squirmed desperately, trying to free himself. “Tetsu……..tetsu…..” he screamed out in the darkness. But at that instant he was not crying out to the tetsu in front of him, but calling out for help to the tetsu he used to know.
Tetsu suddenly pulled backwards, dragging him up into a standing position so he was leaning up against a wall. Then, for no apparent reason, he punched hyde in the stomach.
“Aah!!” Hyde double over before tetsu shoved him back upwards. “You’re crazy!”
Tetsu grinned and scratched hyde again, this time dragging the nails up his thigh.
Hyde couldn’t bear it. He screamed out “Help me…..anyone…..” Trying to push past tetsu, he struggled wildly. “Sakura! Help me!”
Tetsu looked angry and shoved him backwards. “Sakura won’t help you…”
“SAKURA!!!!!!!”
Tetsu looked around as he heard the sound of someone approaching. Sakura was trying to open the door. He paused, and then knocked. “Hyde? Tetsu?”
“Would you leave us alone, please?” tetsu called. He was supporting hyde’s body, holding him so he wouldn’t fall over. He put his hand over hyde’s mouth.
Sakura’s voice sounded cold with anger. “Why was hyde screaming?”
Before tetsu could reply hyde had wrenched out of his grasp and fallen forward. “Sakura!! Please! He’ll kill me!”
“Dammit!” Sakura threw his weight against the door. It was clearly visible to hyde on the floor that it was not budging.
Tetsu once again went to grab at hyde, who squirmed away, terrified. “I’m asking you to leave Sakura, this is none of your business!”
A pause. Then: “I’m not leaving hyde.”
“Oh?” tetsu succeeded in catching hyde, and once again covered his mouth. “You still care about him so much, do you? Well let’s play a little game.”
“A game? Dammit tetsu! What damned game?”  Sakura banged against the door again, harder this time.
“It’s called ‘let’s torture Sakura’ and it’s designed to make Sakura go away. And of course hyde will play it too. Ne, hyde?”
He pulled hyde up and threw him down on the floor in front of the door. Hyde screamed.
“Hyde!!”
“Listen carefully, Sakura.”
Pressed against the wood of the door Sakura heard hyde begin to gasp. His head full of despair, he covered his face with his hands, not wanting to know what was happening in the other room.
“Come on, hyde….” He heard tetsu’s voice. “Call out to him.”
There was more gasping, then hyde suddenly screamed out in pain. “Aah…..Sakura…” He began to cry.
“Hyde!!!” He banged against the door desperately. “Tetsu!! I’ll kill you!!”
He heard tetsu laugh, then another scream from hyde.
“Hyde….I’m sorry…..” He backed away from the door slowly, staring at it for a few more seconds, shaking his head in horror and disbelief. Then he turned around, and without looking back went straight to his own room and shut the door.
But, even in there, the sound of hyde’s cries still found their way in.
There’s nothing I can do, he told himself. Then: I have to get out of here.

When hyde had woken up early the next afternoon Sakura had already gone. The note the maid gave him apologized for him not being able to say goodbye to hyde. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I could have seen tetsu one more time without killing him. I did want to see you again before I left. I couldn’t stay one more day, after what happened last night. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. I hope he didn’t hurt you too much, and you’re ok. I hope you can forgive me some day.” The rest of the letter outlined the plan for hyde’s escape and their meeting place.
Hyde read the note many times, memorising the information, then burned it. There was no way he could risk tetsu finding it, even if it meant destroying Sakura’s precious words.
The maid who’d given him the note informed him that tetsu was home. Hyde, surprised, decided he’d better go and see him.
He got dressed, wincing as he saw the many bruises and scratches on his skin. None of the wounds were that serious, what had hurt him more was inside. Last night had been the limit. Something had changed in hyde’s mind. Tetsu was now the enemy.
Not that he could show that. he walked through the house, searching for tetsu. The house felt colder and emptier now Sakura’s presence was gone. He found tetsu in a room on the third floor, reading a book.
Tetsu didn’t acknowledge his presence. He walked over to the patch of sunlight where tetsu was sitting, and wrapped his arms around his neck from behind.
Tetsu put his hand on hyde’s arm. “Oh, hyde, how are you feeling?”
“Okay.” As if nothing had happened. “Sakura’s gone.”
“Yes, that happened quickly, didn’t it?”
Hyde nodded, burying his head into tetsu’s neck.
Tetsu’s hand went up to gently stroke hyde’s hair.
“I guess you’ll be lonely now, all alone every day…”
Hyde didn’t reply.
“Maybe getting him here was a bad idea. Maybe a girl would have been better. But…….oh well, who cares now?”
Hyde still didn’t speak, just nodded slowly as he leant his face against tetsu’s shoulder, closing his eyes.
 

Part 2 no owari da! Well, there’s things I need to say. One, I wrote a lot of this a loong time ago when I was in a really strange mood, and yes, I am considering psychological help, in case you’re recommending it. Two, yes I wrote this a long time ago (well most of it) and I’m not so angry at hyde anymore, I am still his fan in case u don’t think so! After all, he looks sooooo cute in the heaven’s drive video clip even with his stupid spiky hair. Well, this one was written as punishment for him dying his hair blonde (the last one was punishment for cutting and spiking it) so that’s why I’m so sadistic towards hyde. Three, thanx for the ppl that supported me and helped me! Thanx for the bribes! ^_^
Four, I’m not putting up the next part until I want to, because I hate ppl pressuring me. Probably a long time. However, I will accept bribes to put it up sooner. I’m accepting cash donations and maybe heaven’s drive cd singles ^_^
 

Well, I warned you it would get worse. If u didn’t like it, man, _don’t_ read part 3.