Hyde =  dune/early tierra (think siesta ^^)
Tetsu = dune/early tierra
Ken = early heart (think niji clip ^^)
Sakura = doesn’t matter, always looks the same anyway…..maybe with long hair ^^

Forest Part III

    Hyde was shaking with fear as he dropped his bag down onto the narrow dirt path, looking over his shoulder fearfully. The moon had gone behind a cloud, and he was surrounded in almost complete darkness.
    He hated these forests at night. They were terrifying – strange shadows cast everywhere by the moonlight which distorted the surroundings, dark space behind you no matter which way you turned. Still glancing behind him as he moved, hyde pulled the new clothes out of his bag, and quickly removed his long robes.
    His hands fumbled as he tried to pick up the dress and he almost sobbed in terror, shivering from the cold. Wasn’t this almost the same place……? What if they were still here? Any other time it would have seemed ridiculous, but here, in the suffocating darkness….
    He pulled the dress on, stuffed the robes into his bag and then ran.
    He ran blindly along the path he knew led eventually to the road, oblivious to the pain and discomfort caused from running in a dress, convinced someone or something was after him.
    Hyde fell to the ground by the side of the road gasping. He wasn’t meant to run, and so far….His chest felt painful, and he coughed more and more, unable to breath.
    He felt so weak. I can’t pass out…..what if tetsu catches up with me…..he’ll kill me. He thought of Sakura waiting for him. I can’t leave him… His chest felt tight. He lay down by the side of the road. Please don’t let me lose consciousness…..please……..

    “Hey, girl, are you alright?” The man was shaking his shoulders. Hyde groaned.
    “Are you awake?? Tell me if you’re ok……”
    Hyde woke up suddenly and saw the strange man in front of him, shaking him. “Aah!” He sat up with a jolt.
    The man fell back, shocked. “……..Are you ok?”
    I can’t use my real voice, hyde thought.
    “I’m…..sorry…..” he said. “I passed out….”
    Suddenly he realised. The man. He could _see_ the man. Oh god….
    “What time is it?”
    “It’s, um, almost eight am.”
    Hyde couldn’t believe it. He’d passed out for almost six hours? Tetsu…who knew where he could be?
    “Look, girl, you’re really confused, would you mind telling me how you got here?”
    Hyde still sat in shock. He was still so close to the house, he had to get out of here. But how?
    The guy had obviously been a passenger, maybe he could get away with him? The thought terrified him, but he had no choice.
    He was looking at hyde now. He was tall, but not much older than hyde, with dark blue eyes that now gazed at him questioningly.
    “I was running away….from my boyfriend….”
    “Oh? Really?” The man’s face changed, he looked at hyde with a gentle expression.
    Hyde sobbed. “He treated me terribly…..so I am running away to meet…..my brother…” He gasped for air. “But please, are you going into town? I need to get away…he’ll come after me…”
    “Of course. We can go right now.” When such a beautiful girl was asking, there was no way he could refuse the request. He picked up hyde’s bag with one hand and helped him up with the other.
    “Oh….are your feet ok?” Hyde, for the first time saw the damage he’d done running through the forest with bare feet. “It’s ok…” he said, anything to avoid the guy touching him more than he needed to.
    He helped hyde into the vehicle, and he quickly pulled his boots on before any more attention could be called to his bleeding feet.

    Stepping onto the ground, he looked around for Sakura. Although it was late morning, there were hardly any people around. Hyde stood awkwardly, looking around for the familiar figure. The man who had taken him set his bag on the ground beside him.
    “Oh, thank you!” hyde said, realising he’d forgotten it.
    “Will you be ok?”
    Hyde nodded, smiling in spite of his predicament at the kindness of this man. At this moment, he was feeling better about the world in general.
    “Thank you…” He managed not to draw back as the man touched him on the arm and left, not wanting to hurt his feelings. Rubbing his arm absently, he once again let his eyes wander around the area.
    Finally, he saw a lone figure sitting in a doorway, mostly hidden from the street. The black clothes gave it away easily. He went forward, and saw Sakura there, sleeping lightly, his head resting against the frame.
    Still in his good mood, hyde smiled, admiring the face that looked so beautiful and innocent when asleep. He nudged him gently with his foot, but he didn’t stir.
    “Sakura……” Hyde knelt down and kissed him. Sakura stirred.
    “Hyde…..” He opened his eyes.
    “How long have u been here for? Why didn’t you go home?
    “That’s a while away… I didn’t want you to be here alone.” Sakura sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He finally looked at him properly. “I’m so glad you made it…..”
    Hyde hugged him. “Me too…”
    Sakura hugged him back, and then pulled back slightly, stroking his face. “I wanted to see you…..I was so worried..”
    Hyde smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m here now. We’re together.”

    Time seemed to stop, all was gone except this one bed. Surrounded by the darkness that seemed to press in on him, the atmosphere that was almost uncomfortably hot.
    Hyde willing to his every move, his skin like silk against Sakura’s. It was like holding an angel.
    Except, an angel probably wouldn’t partake in activities such as these…
    Hyde pulled himself on top, sitting below Sakura’s waist. Sakura’s hands had already removed all of his clothing, now he began to work on the remainder of Sakura’s.
    Sakura groaned as hyde’s hands went to work on the newly exposed skin. Hyde sure was… good at this. He didn’t want to think just _how_ he had gotten this good. “Do you realise…what we’re doing now…..is really…wrong?”
    Hyde leant over, so the long strands of wavy hair brushed against Sakura’s neck. His eyes, barely visible in the dim light, were dark and almost wicked. “That’s what makes it so fun…” he whispered.
    Sakura smiled.
    Hyde sat up again, and then, shifting his position slightly, lowered himself onto Sakura.
    “Ah..”
    “Ahh, hyde, hyde!”
    Hyde reached out and put his hands on Sakura’s shoulders, holding him down as he moved back and forth slightly. Sakura felt he was the one being manipulated, and loved it. Hyde threw his head back. “That’s good….” he gasped.
    “Ah…” Overcome by the sudden sensations, he called hyde’s name again and again.
    “Saku…ra..”
    “Ahh….ahh!” Sakura’s control snapped.
    Hyde made a small sound as he felt it, and pulled himself off him. He lay down on top of Sakura, who was still panting hard. “So quickly?” he asked, with a slightly mocking smile.
    Sakura grinned, and grabbing hyde roughly he pulled him under himself. “It’s not finished yet…’ he mumbled, burying his face into hyde’s neck. Hyde smiled as well.
    It was the first night they spent together.
 
 
 

    “Ne, hyde?”
    “Mm?” It was late morning and hyde was curled up next to him, still half-asleep. Although Sakura had to work occasionally, in the few weeks hyde had been living with him he’d tried to avoid it as much as possible, remembering how much hyde hated being alone. Although hyde assured him he didn’t mind, he found himself happier the more time he spent with hyde.
    “In a few days…I might have to go away for a bit. Just for a little while……will you come with me?” he mumbled, guilty.
    Hyde half-sat up “You waited all night to tell me this?”
    “Well, ne, I was kinda putting it off…” Sakura looked away. He reached for the packet of cigarettes sitting by the bed and lit one, avoiding hyde’s face. This was so annoying….he hated having to go away. “I have to sell my old house. I wanna be there when it happens….and I think it’ll be safe for us to be there just for a while.”
    Hyde, resting his head on his hand, looked slightly worried. “Are you sure? He wouldn’t be looking there anymore?”
    “There’ll be people around the whole time. The people buying it, and others...”
    “Hm.” Looking doubtful, hyde sat up, wrapping the sheets around his bare skin. Sakura offered him the cigarette, and he took it and inhaled slowly. Still not quite awake, he rubbed his eyes absently with the other hand. “You can go alone. If there’s going to be a lot of people there, I’d rather stay here.”
    “You don’t mind being alone?” Sakura knew he was pretty safe here. He and hyde had deliberately come to this place, which was much further from tetsu’s house than his old place had been. He’d figured there was less of a chance of tetsu tracking them down here, and so far this had proved right. Their house now was smaller, but hyde didn’t seem to mind. “I’m sorry but…you know, we’ll get a lot of money from it and all…”
    Hyde smiled, handing him back the cigarette. “It’s ok! As long as you’ve got a good reason.” Kissing Sakura playfully, he arose from the bed, pulling on some clothes from where they’d been discarded on the floor. “I’ll make breakfast, ne?”

    Sakura woke him up before he left, asking him once more if he was sure he didn’t want to come with him. Hyde turned over, mumbling something sleepily. Sakura gave up, and left.
Later in the morning, hyde was woken up by another noise.
    “Sakura…….haven’t you gone yet…….” he mumbled, shielding his eyes against the bright sunlight. Then he looked at the clock. It was eleven, Sakura must have already left.
    He sat up in bed. “Hello?”
    The noise again; someone was knocking.
    Hyde was scared. Should I open it? he thought. It might be someone important. Cautiously he got out of bed and pulled some clothes on, heading for the door.
    The knocking again. It must be urgent, or they would have given up by now. Hyde crept towards the door, fear rising in his throat. Why did this have to happen when Sakura wasn’t here?
    He looked through the small piece of glass in the door.
    “Ah!!” His fearful expression dissolved into a happy smile. He quickly unlocked and threw open the door. “Ken-chan!”
    “Hyde!” ken smiled as well and hugged him. “How are you?”
    “Good……how did you know we were here? Oh, Sakura told you? You came to see him? Hmm, he’s not here right now…”
    Ken feigned surprise. “Oh…he told me to come sometime….”
    “Well, he went to see about his old house…you’re unlucky, it’s the first time he’s left! He won’t be back for a while…….” Hyde continued to blabber on innocently as he led ken into the house. “What’s that you’re holding?”
    “Oh…..this drink…..” Ken showed him the bottle. “I bought it, but I had a bit and didn’t like it…why, you want it?”
    Hyde reached out for it and drank as he sat down on the couch. “It’s good! How can’t you like it?”
    “A bit too sweet….say, when’s Sakura coming back?”
    “I’m not sure…..”
    “The earliest?”
    “Tomorrow night, I think.”
    “Ok then….”
    “Do you want to stay – oh…..” Hyde suddenly put his hand to his mouth.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I feel sick….” Hyde leant back against the couch. He felt nauseous and dizzy; he closed his eyes.
    Ken moved closer and put his hand on hyde’s forehead. “You’re ok…maybe it was a bit too sweet for you?”
    “Uhh….” The world was going dark. He blinked, but the spreading blackness didn’t stop, it got worse. Finally the strange fuzziness took over his body.
    Quite peacefully, he relaxed and fell forward into ken’s arms.
    Ken held him. “I’m sorry, hyde….” he said to the limp form in his arms. Gently he removed the bottle from hyde’s hand and put it on the table. “But it has to be this way…..”

    When he opened his eyes, there was still blackness.
    He tried to move his arms and legs, but they were held to the ground with a great weight, preventing any movement. There was also a great weight on his stomach, preventing movement of his torso. As he came to his senses more, he realised someone was sitting on top of him.
    He panicked, trying to struggle, but he could barely move. He couldn’t even reach out to touch the one pinning him down. Why couldn’t he see a thing?
    The other stroked his face.
    “Tetsu? Is that you?” he asked, his voice still weak and almost breaking. He still felt sick from whatever he’d been given to knock him out. He could hardly remember anything.
    No answer. He felt breath on the side of his face and on his neck, moving downward slowly as the weight also shifted. He moaned, out of fear rather than pleasure, trying to move from the ground again as the hands slipped under the remainder of his clothing. The darkness so complete that it could have been a ghost.
    He grew terrified as he sensed what the movements were leading to.  “Tetsu? Is that you? Answer me…” He needed a sound, something to prove that the other presence was real, that it wasn’t his own insanity.
    The pleasure of the movements drugged him, he felt himself almost slipping out of consciousness. “Ah……” With his small amount of strength he found himself arching towards the feeling of soft skin moving over his own.
    Then the weight once again shifted position, hyde felt it disappear, felt the bonds holding him move slightly to manipulate his own position into the one the other presence wanted.
    And then once again the silence was cut with his own screams.
 

    Reality was becoming a string of detached pieces, each one episode unconnected to the next. He was not in the room of darkness. Darkness was all he could see, but the thin strips of light at the bottom and top of his field of vision told him he was just blindfolded. The floor and walls under his back felt different, not as cold. His hands were still bound behind his back.
    The half-drugged memories of before now seemed to him like a dream. Before the thoughts of what was going to happen to him could start flowing back, he had to occupy himself with getting the blindfold off.
    Pushing his head up against the wall, he managed to get it half off. In the small patch of sight he could see he was in a normal room….but it wasn’t one he knew.
    “Where am I….” A tear threatened to slip out of his eye. Unable to stop himself thinking about it anymore, the memories came back……so recent – the darkness, the phantom presence…..tetsu….
    He’d been in Sakura’s house, talking to ken. Then, to this strange place. How? What was going to happen to him?
    Before his fear could take him over further, he moved with great difficulty over to the cabinet next to the bed. With the corner, he managed to push the rest of the blindfold over the top of his head.
    It was definitely a spare bedroom of some sort, and totally unfamiliar. If he could just stand up, and look out of the window…
    A sound outside.
    Terrified, he backed back into the corner, staring at the door.
    The sound of a key turning in the lock, and tetsu appeared.
    He looked….different. More, not less beautiful than before. The beauty almost enhanced by the ice-cold smile he wore.
    Cold, and full of hatred. Seeing it, hyde shrank back into the corner further like a frightened animal.
    “What’s wrong…are you scared?” Tetsu’s smile widened.
    Hyde forced his face into its usual blankness, not wanting to show his fear. Unable to speak, he shook his head.
    “Well….you should be.” Tetsu revealed what he’d been holding….a small dagger.
    Hyde gasped, his eyes widening with shock. “Tetsu…”
    Tetsu moved closer, and knelt in front of him. “Don’t you remember what I said? If you ever touched Sakura again?”
    This time hyde couldn’t stop the tears; he began to cry with fear, his shoulders shaking violently. “Please tetsu…don’t kill me…ah!!”
    His head was shoved abruptly against the wall; tetsu held the knife to his neck. “Hyde, hyde….” What makes you better than me to Sakura, he thought.
    Hyde stared at him, paralyzed with fear, tears slipping down his cheeks. “You know, hyde, you have very pretty eyes…”
    Hyde just looked at him, shaking.
    “The prettiest I’ve ever seen, I think…. Maybe that’s why Sakura liked you?” He paused, and moved the knife. “Shame if anything happened to them, right?”
    The knife moved until it was only inches away from hyde’s left eye. He began to sob. “No, tetsu, please…..oh god……”
    Tetsu moved the knife closer. “Why shouldn’t I?”
    Hyde’s sobs became frantic, he pushed his head backwards but the wall blocked any movement.     “Please….” he managed between sobs. “I’ll do anything, please, tet-chan…”
    Tetsu moved the knife just one milimetre closer, then dropped it back down.
    “I was just joking, of course.” He put the knife away. “What do you think I am, some sort of monster?”
Hyde was crying so hard he couldn’t reply. Tetsu, seeing this, came within a millisecond of holding him. It was a reflex action, one he’d done all his life. A small part of hyde’s mind remembered how tetsu would hold him when he used to cry.
    Tetsu held back, and looked at him coldly. Then he grabbed him, but violently, pulling him onto the ground by his hair. “Don’t worry hyde……there’s still a lot of things I want you to see first.”
    He sat on top of hyde, and lifted his dress.
    “Suck it.”
    “Ah, tetsu, no, I – ” His words were cut off as it was forced into his mouth. Tetsu, sitting on his neck, gave a satisfied smile.
    He stared down at his face, which was contorted in discomfort and pain. “What’s it like? Hurts just a little bit, doesn’t it? Ah….my hyde, my beloved hyde….”
    Tetsu’s hips moved back and forth, the speed increasing. “How does it feel…” he asked again.
    “Mmm…..” He felt hyde’s tongue move as he was trying to speak. “Aah…..” tetsu groaned, throwing his head back. The movements of his hips became more violent, and even faster.
    “Mm…ahh….haido……I missed this about you….”
    A tear slipped down hyde’s cheek.
    “Don’t cry….ah…ah…ahh!!” The liquid exploded down hyde’s throat and tetsu pulled out.
    “No, don’t think of spitting it out, swallow all of it.” He closed hyde’s mouth firmly. Moving back slightly, he kissed hyde on the forehead, and then got off him.
    At once hyde twisted his body, pulling himself upwards and moving frantically towards the door.
    Tetsu, still weak from his prior ‘activities’, reached out to grab him but hyde twisted away.
    “Ken! KENN!!!!!!!!!!!”
    He screamed desperately for the only sane person who might be involved in this.
    Tetsu caught him from behind and brought him closer, stroking his hair. “Ken won’t help you, I’m sorry…”
    “Ken……ken-chan, please…..” hyde whispered softly.
    “I told you hyde, no-one can resist my charms, ken’s on my side now…”
    He let go of hyde and he sank down on his knees, now utterly defeated. Ken….even ken would betray all for tetsu. He cried bitterly, cursing himself for trusting him.
    Sakura…that was now all he had to hope for.
    Once again, tetsu just watched the tears, this time a slight smile curving on his beautiful lips.

    “Was he screaming before?” Tetsu’s lover was sitting on the edge of the table in the main room,     smoking. He’d seemed slightly agitated since he’d brought hyde back from Sakura’s, and was just hanging around, not particularly doing anything.
    “He’s a bit upset. He’ll get over it.” Tetsu smiled lightly as he  walked past him, but ken followed. “Can I see him?”
    Tetsu was glad his face was hidden so he couldn’t see the smirk. Ken was cute, but his innocence could be sickening. No wonder he’d been trodden on so many times, as he had explained to tetsu during their time together.
    Tetsu was heading towards the kitchen. “Mm. Well, I was going to bring him something to drink…”

    Tetsu paused outside the room for a second, ken so eager to see hyde he didn’t notice. He knelt down in front of where he was sitting on the ground, crying. Hyde looked up at him, began to sob, and after a moment’s hesitation, wrapped his arms around him.
    ‘Help me’ he tried to whisper before Tetsu suddenly pushed in between them, holding out the cup to hyde. “Here, drink this.”
    Hyde, wiping his tears away, shook his head defiantly. Although he was thirsty there was no way of knowing what tetsu had put in it.
    Tetsu grabbed his head. “Drink it or I force it down your throat.”
    Hyde, scared, obediently opened his mouth and let tetsu pour the liquid in. He couldn’t swallow fast enough and some of it dribbled down his neck. After he’d finished, tetsu put the cup down, sitting back.
    Hyde sat for a moment, then a look of confusion passed over his face, and he put a hand to his stomach. Then, the expression suddenly turned to one of intense pain. “Oh – ”
    Tetsu smiled, resting his face on his hand.
    Ken looked at hyde. “Tetsu, what did you put in there?”
    “Oh, nothing.”
    Hyde clutched at his stomach, his face horribly pale. He fell forward, as if trying to bring it up, then began to scream in pain.
    “Tetsu!!” Ken grabbed him. “You promised – ” But then, seeing hyde, he let go of the smiling tetsu and grabbed hyde. “What the hell was in there?” he yelled angrily.
    “Poison.”
    “Poison?!!” Even though he was yelling ken could barely hear himself over hyde’s screams, which became more and more desperate by the minute. He sounded like his insides were being eaten away.
    “Don’t worry, it shouldn’t kill him.”
    Not listening, ken shoved him away and carried hyde into the bathroom which connected the room, shutting the door after him. “Stay here!” he yelled at tetsu as he tried to follow.
    Tetsu shrugged and did as he was told, smiling.
    Hyde had stopped screaming – probably run out of breath – but was still groaning urgently, his face contorted in pain. His hands still clutched at his stomach.
    Ken made him kneel down, pulling his hair away from his face. “Hyde, open your mouth. I’m going to make you throw it up.”
    Hyde obeyed, letting ken stick his fingers down his throat. He was covered in sweat.
    Ken managed to get his hand out of the way before hyde started throwing up, not avoiding cutting it on one of hyde’s teeth. He held him over the toilet. Once hyde had started, he didn’t stop even when he’d thrown up the contents of his stomach.
    Exhausted, he lay in ken’s arms, coughing. Ken made him drink some water, of which the same thing happened. “Call a doctor!” he yelled at tetsu through the door.
    Tetsu came in. “I said it wasn’t that harmful. It’s designed to cause pain, not damage. Not a lot of damage, anyway.” he added more quietly.
    Ken was focused back on hyde, who was clinging to him weakly like a small child. “It’s ok, hyde, it’s ok…” He kissed hyde’s forehead. “Just sleep now, you’ll be ok, I promise.”
    “I’m scared….” he mumbled, softly so that tetsu couldn’t hear.
    “Shh…..it’s ok, go to sleep.” He held him closer.
    “I’m so scared…I don’t want to die…. I want Sakura…..”
     “Don’t worry…” He mumbled useless words to comfort him. “Just go to sleep….”
    Tetsu was still standing behind, and ken looked around as he stepped forward. He glared at him.
    “Why did you do that? You promised.” It came out more hurt than anything else.
    “Remember this isn’t any of your business.” Tetsu returned the glare, which surprised him somewhat. He looked at hyde, who was now staring at the ceiling, semi-conscious. “I want to talk to him.”
    “If I leave you two alone…”
    “I said it’s nothing to do with you.” Tetsu sat beside him and began to ease hyde out of his arms. Hyde gripped ken weakly but tetsu lifted him into his lap.
    Ken looked at him, surprised, a wounded expression on his face. He started to rise.
    Tetsu caught him by the arm and pulled him down. He taking his chin and drawing his face to him. He kissed him gently on the lips, in full view of hyde. “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you later, ne?”
    The feel of tetsu’s warm breath next to his mouth managed to make up ken’s mind. “Mm..” His hand moved to the back of tetsu’s head, fingers sliding through the soft hair, as tetsu’s lips moved over the soft skin of his face towards his ear. Teasingly, he bit on it before suddenly drawing away.
    Ken felt himself released from the slightly awkward position, running his hand through tetsu’s hair as he let go. “Don’t hurt him.” he said, so quietly tetsu almost didn’t hear him. Tetsu just smiled slightly as he left, shutting the door of the bedroom behind him.
    So easy…
    He sat and watched hyde regain full consciousness, which took almost an hour. After he could sit up he led him out of the bathroom, leaning him against the wall by the door when he could go no further. He watched him sit there; hyde would move back and forth slightly, seemingly oblivious to tetsu’s presence. He seemed delirious.
    In time, he reached out and kissed hyde’s lips gently. Hyde didn’t seem to feel it; as tetsu released his face, he went back into his former position. “Sakura…” he mumbled.
    “You really think Sakura will help you?” tetsu asked quietly. He smiled, observing the figure in front of him. “Remember, Sakura is not your saint. He’s been unfaithful in the past, hasn’t he?” He savoured the memory.
    Hyde’s eyes suddenly focused on his face. “You’re not tetsu.” he said. “Where is tetsu, he…he always saved me before……” His voice choked, he couldn’t speak further.
    “Things change, hyde.”
    “What have you done with him? Where’s my tetsu?”
    “You’re mad. The poison’s affecting your brain.”
    Hyde blocked his ears, moving back and forward slowly. “Sakura….. tetsu…. Kenchan……” help, he’s going to kill me….” He closed his eyes. “Sakura, I’m scared…”
    “Hyde….” No response. He grabbed him, deciding to put him back to bed so he could sleep this off. He’d have to talk to him properly later.
     Hyde, without opening his eyes, began to scream.
    “Hyde….don’t scream, it’s me!” Trying to bat off hyde’s hands and move him at the same time, he finally reached the bed and lay hyde down on it. Hyde’s screams continued.
    Something went wrong inside of tetsu, under the cold exterior a part of him was almost crying.
    Hyde only screamed when strangers touched him.
    That part of him was crushed soon enough. Soon Sakura would come, and hyde would be out of the way. Then he wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
    Hyde’s screams soon stopped, he relaxed and fell into a deep sleep. When he woke, with tetsu still sitting beside him, he was back to normal.

    Tetsu came along and sat down next to ken as he was sitting in an armchair.
    “How’s hyde?” he asked with a worried expression.
    “He’s fine. He was talking to me and sitting up and everything. See, I told you it wasn’t that strong.”
    Ken looked away, still looking concerned.
    Tetsu stood up. As he did he revealed what he was holding – a bottle of vodka. He sat on top of Ken, and turned his head to face him. “What’s wrong? Still angry?”
    “Sorry if I don’t agree with torturing another human being.”
    Tetsu took the lid off the alcohol and tipped into a glass. He smiled. “It’s not ‘torture’. Remember, he did something very wrong… now he has to be punished.” He held the glass up to ken’s lips, and he drunk it.
    “Hasn’t he been punished enough yet?” Ken asked, wincing at the strong taste.
    Tetsu smiled again. Now he held the bottle up to his lips, making it look like he was drinking a lot more than he actually was. He poured ken some more. Just a bit – he didn’t want him totally drunk. Then he shook his head slightly. “Not quite.” he said. “Just one more thing.”

    Hyde desperately tugged and then pushed on the window, pushing his fingers and then his shoulder against the cold glass. Every so often he threw an anxious glance over his shoulder, terrified tetsu would come in and catch him out of bed. Finally he gave up,  banging the glass frustratedly with his fist. The window was locked tight and even if it opened, it was so high that hyde would be killed trying to jump out. But then again, that would probably be better than what tetsu had in store for him.
He looked back at the sheets on the bed, for a second considering trying to strangle himself with them. But, the thought of dying without seeing Sakura again filled him with fear. He’d just have to try and hold on until there was a chance again.
    He lay down on the bed again, filled with despair. That would mean having to just lie and wait for whatever tetsu wanted to do next.
    “Sakura….” He whispered it quietly, the words echoing in the silent room.

    “No, tetsu! Sorry, I can’t do that.”
    “Oh, come on. Of course you can.”
    “Look, you can do anything you want to him, happy? Just don’t expect me to take part.”
    “But this would be the best thing! Look, I know him well. I know what the ‘best’ punishment for him is. But, I need your help.”
    “No.”
    Tetsu looked sulky. “Fine, you’re saying my wife’s not attractive then? I guess that means I’m not attractive either.” He pulled away from ken slightly.
    Ken pulled him back. “No, I didn’t mean that, it’s just that he’s my friend, I don’t think of him in that way….”
    Tetsu was still sulking. “I guess you’re saying …I’ve spent my whole life with someone not attractive then…he’s good enough for me, but not for ken…”
    “No, tetsu, you know what I mean…”
    Tetsu suddenly stopped sulking and smiled at ken. “Ok, even if he doesn’t attract you… you’ll do it for me, right?”
    “‘For you?’ Tetsu…”
    Tetsu, who was still sitting on top of him, moved closer so his hair brushed ken’s face. Smiling, he brushed his hand down ken’s shoulder, then on his chest. Ken tried to grab him, but he pulled away.     “No. Not until afterwards.”
    Ken looked tortured. But tetsu knew it would work – he’d been using his ‘temptation’ powers at top level. He got off ken and then took his hand, pulling him upwards. “Come on. Let’s just go upstairs.”
Ken got up, staggering slightly before he got his balance. Tetsu led him up to outside the room where hyde was before he started to pull away. “Wait… I can’t…”
    Tetsu pushed him back against the wall and wrapped his arms around him. “For me, ok?”
    “But, hyde…..”
    “Hyde will be ok.” Inside, tetsu was thinking ‘This is perfect! It will totally break him…’ He smiled at the thought. Then, with one hand he reached down and grabbed ken suddenly.
    “Do you want this?”
    Ken, looking annoyed, tried to put his arms around tetsu again. Tetsu moved closer to him. “I’ll give you what you want. But after you do this for me, ok?” He moved his hand slightly. Ken finally nodded.
Tetsu smiled again, and unlocked the door to hyde’s room.
    Hyde sat up as they came in, rubbing his eyes. He looked as if he’d been asleep.
    “Hello, hyde.” tetsu said as he came over to the bed.
    Hyde looked at him warily, almost unconsciously moving backwards slowly on the bed. “What do you want now.” he said flatly.
    Tetsu moved closer until he was standing right beside the bed. Hyde moved back more, but tetsu suddenly grabbed his wrists and pushed him down on the bed.
    “Aah, tetsu! No!!!” Hyde struggled but the grip was too tight. He suddenly caught sight of ken. “Ken! Help me!”
    Tetsu turned around suddenly to ken as well and smiled. “Yes, ken, come here.”
    Ken reluctantly came over near the end of the bed. Tetsu, still not letting go of hyde, changed his position so he was sitting behind hyde, still gripping his wrists so hyde couldn’t move.
    Hyde twisted slightly. “What are you…”
    “Ken.”
    Ken unwillingly came forward to stand beside hyde. He looked at tetsu, who mouthed something. He leaned down and touched hyde’s face, which looked confused but still relieved that at least ken was there.
    Then, he kissed him as he slowly rested his whole weight on hyde’s body.
    “--?!!” Hyde’s whole body jerked so forcefully tetsu almost lost his grip. He began to squirm violently, and as tetsu fought to hold onto him he broke ken’s lips away.
    “Kenchan, what are you doing? Ken!!” His eyes, open wide with surprise, were full of confusion and terror. He wrenched his body desperately, trying to break free of tetsu’s grasp.
    Ken looked up at tetsu, his eyes questioning. “Kiss him more.” tetsu said. Ken kissed him again, closing his eyes so as not to have to see hyde’s face. Hyde, pinned under him, was still struggling hard.
    Ken began to kiss the rest of his face. “Ken, please, don’t…ken! Ken!!”
    The cries hurt ken’s ears. Once again he looked up at tetsu. Tetsu thought that if he continued to let hyde talk to ken, he would most likely chicken out of it. He tried to cover hyde’s mouth while putting both his wrists in his other hand. Hyde tried to bite him. Almost immediately, he twisted one hand free and scratched tetsu’s face with it.
    “Dammit!” tetsu yelled. He tried to grab hyde’s other hand. “Stop struggling, we won’t hurt you so much then!!” He was surprised. Hyde had never struggled this much before. If ken hadn’t been pinning him down, he would have probably gotten away.
    He finally managed to get hyde’s hand under control and then told ken to hold them. ‘Damn, I need to cover his mouth…’ He suddenly grabbed hyde’s shirt and tore it off. Hyde screamed. In the shame of having so much flesh exposed, he began to cry.
    Tetsu was busy ripping the torn cloth into smaller pieces, one of which he shoved into hyde’s mouth.
“…..no….” hyde groaned before his voice was blocked. Tetsu used the other piece to tie round hyde’s head to keep it in place.
    Ken looked at him pitifully. Only muffled sounds were coming from his mouth now but the tears streaming down hyde’s face told more than words. “This……this is too cruel…”
    “Come on, we’ve hardly done anything yet! Just a bit more…”
    “I can’t….”
    “You can. Pretend it’s me, ok? Do it for me.” Tetsu took hyde’s hands back.
    “….what do I do?”
    Tetsu sighed. “At least get the rest of his clothes off.”
    Ken nodded slowly and began to take off the lower half of hyde’s robes. At his touch hyde once again jerked his body, trying to break free. Behind the gag that covered his mouth, he was trying to scream. Ken’s hands reached out, hesitantly, to touch him.
    Ken couldn’t bear to look at his face as he did it and again looked at tetsu’s. Tetsu smiled at him. Ken looked down.
    “I can’t. I can’t do anymore. I’m sorry.”
    Tetsu, sighing, looked down at hyde’s face. It appeared the damage was already done. “Alright then. You hold him, and I’ll do it.”
    Ken took hyde’s hands, and tetsu got on top of him. As tetsu passed him to ken, he struggled only weakly. It seemed he’d finally given up.
    Tetsu took the gag off his mouth, pulling out the saliva-soaked piece of cloth. Hyde groaned slightly, but didn’t speak anymore. Tetsu wrapped the cloth around hyde’s eyes. “This way, he won’t be able to tell who’s doing what anyway.”
    Ken leaned his head back on the wall behind the bed, not wanting to watch what tetsu was doing. Although he was slightly drunk he felt the guilt building up inside of him already. Hyde’s body was now limp; he had ceased to struggle at all. His body jerked forward only once, when tetsu went into him. A faint sound came from his throat, but nothing else. Ken closed his eyes, and was surprised to feel something wet on his cheek.
    He let go of the limp arms and simply held hyde, stroking his hair gently, trying to comfort him, although he knew it was useless.
    Tetsu finally leaned forward on hyde, still panting. “Oh, that was good. That was _so_ good..” he gasped. He pulled out of hyde, who didn’t make a sound. Then he lay down on the bed next to him, still gasping for breath. Looking up at ken, he grinned.
    Ken ignored the grin and let go of hyde so he could take the blindfold off. Hyde’s eyes were closed anyway.
    “Has he fainted?” tetsu, still lying down, reached out to gently touch hyde’s face.
Ken was too disgusted in tetsu and in himself to reply. He lay hyde back down on the pillows, standing up.
    Tetsu shook him gently. Hyde didn’t move. “Either that or he’s pretending.” he said, answering his own question. Finally, he sat up. “Ken, don’t be mad.”
    Ken shook his head. “How dare you tempt me into doing that.” he whispered angrily. He turned and walked out of the room.
    “Oi, ken, wait.” Tetsu pulled on some of his clothing and went to follow him, remembering to pull the blankets over to cover the unconscious hyde’s body.
    He went into ken’s bedroom where he was sitting on the bed.
    “Why the hell are you crying?! You didn’t do anything…….you barely kissed him, for god’s sake!”
    “You really don’t understand at all, do you?’
    Tetsu went over to him and took his face in his hands. “Of course I understand.”
    “You think you can seduce me into doing anything you want? It might work for some, but not for me. I don’t want anything to do with this, from now on. I don’t want to see hyde again. And maybe not you, either.”
    “What? Ken, how can you say that? I love you….”
    “I don’t believe you.” Ken pushed him away. “To think I thought I’d found her……the one I could finally spend my life with…” He stared straight at tetsu. “To think I thought that person was you. I’ve just been being fucking used the whole time.”
    “Ken, it’s not like – ”
    “I’m just another tool in your game, aren’t I? I don’t know what you’re trying to get, but I’m only helping you get there somehow.”
    “That’s ridiculous.”
    “All you do is use people for your own personal gain. I think there’s something wrong with you, tetsu.”
    “And what might be wrong with me?”
    “You’re crazy.”
    To ken’s surprise, tetsu took his face again and kissed him, laughing. “Really, you think that?” he asked, and continued laughing.
    Ken watched him until he got annoyed. “Yes, look at you! You’re as crazy as your mother was.”
    Tetsu stopped his laughter. “You said, my mother was crazy?”
    “Of course she was. Everyone knows. I guess it runs in the family.”
    “My mother wasn’t crazy, and neither am I!!” Tetsu’s voice was now angry, he was completely serious.
    “Whatever you say.” Ken got into bed. “I can’t be bothered arguing with you, I want to go to sleep.”
    Tetsu crawled in beside him. “But I thought we were going to…..”
    Ken turned around and looked at him, disgusted. “What _is_ wrong with you? Haven’t you had enough?!”
    Tetsu sighed. “Fine then. Be mad then.” He lay down on the bed on his back, staring up at the ceiling until it appeared ken was asleep.
    “…ken?” he called softly. No reply. Carefully, tetsu slid out of the bed.
    Things weren’t quite yet finished between hyde and him. If hyde was still in a state of mind to listen, he needed to talk to him.
    He bent over the small figure on the bed, peering at him through the darkness. Turning on a small light so the room was very dimly lit, he shook hyde’s shoulders gently. “Hyde. Hyde, wake up.”
    At first there was no response, then slowly the eyes opened. They stared at tetsu with an expression he could not read.
    Tetsu sat him up and pulled the blankets back. “I brought you some new clothes. The old ones are all torn.” Hyde just sat there. “Fine then. I’ll dress you, then.” With great difficulty, he pulled the clothes onto hyde, who sat motionlessly, allowing tetsu’s hands to manipulate him passively.
    “What’s wrong, you’ve stopped talking now?”
    Hyde just looked at him.
    Tetsu shrugged. “Fine.”
    Hyde continued to stare at him. His eyes were blank.
    Tetsu sighed, staring upwards as if remembering something a long time ago. “This bratty little sulking thing never impressed anyone, hyde.”
    Hyde just looked at him. It seemed almost a glare.
    “You’re not going to talk to me at all?”
    Hyde looked back ahead, remaining silent for a long while. Then the lips slowly opened. “I…….I finally figured you out, tetsu.”
    “What?” Not the words tetsu had expected.
    “I don’t believe I didn’t figure it out earlier. It was so simple to realize.” Hyde spoke slowly, staring straight ahead.
    “What? What did you figure out?”
    “Why didn’t you just admit you were in love with Sakura?” Hyde turned to face him.
    Tetsu looked absolutely shocked. After a second he asked “….What makes you think that?”
    Hyde shook his head. “So obvious! That’s why you hated me so much, but didn’t send him away, or even punish him when you found out about us. I….I knew you liked him, but you liked a lot of people. This one must be so strong…that’s why you’ve been so bad to me. You’re just jealous.”
    Tetsu just sat for a second, a shocked expression still on his face. Then suddenly, it changed to anger. “How dare you say those things!! You can’t prove it’s true!” He stood up in front of hyde as he talked.
    Hyde smiled. “You said you didn’t love me, and I was really hurt. But now, I don’t care. Because, I don’t love you either. You treated me too bad.”
    “Hyde, shut up!”
    Hyde stood up. “I’m not the slut, you are! That’s all you are. You could have anyone, except the one you really wanted. And Sakura will never love you. He’s mine!”
Tetsu slapped him hard, the force so great hyde was thrown onto the floor. But he didn’t start to cry.     “Slut….” he said.
    Tetsu’s anger was boiling over. The words hyde had said had struck him right to the core. It was entirely true, of course. Sakura was the one he loved. Now the anger reached an uncontrollable point. He reached into his pocket to pull out the switchblade.
    Hyde saw it and tried to scramble backwards, but tetsu caught him from behind.
    Hyde struggled, trying to get out of his grasp. “Let me go!!”
    Tetsu, furious, screamed at him. “Shut up! I’ll kill you for what you said!”
    “Why, because it’s true?” hyde yelled back.
    Tetsu pushed the knife into his back, dragging it downwards. Hyde screamed out in pain and wrenched out of tetsu’s grip, falling to the floor. Sobbing, he reached out to touch his back, and when he saw the blood on his fingers he screamed in fear.
    “That’s what happens when you disobey me!” Tetsu shoved him onto his back with his foot and then pinned him down underneath him, sitting on his chest. He pulled out the blade, which was now stained with hyde’s blood. “See this?”
    Hyde, his face contorted with pain, flinched away from it. Tetsu leaned over and began to lick the blood off the knife. “Mm, tastes good.”
    Hyde looked up at him, terrified. “You’re crazy…..”
    “Maybe I am.” He smiled, and lifted the knife high above his head.
    “This is for taking Sakura.”
    Hyde closed his eyes, waiting for the end. The last thing that ran through his mind was; at least I got to meet him in my life. Even if it had to end this way.
    The blow didn’t come.
    Hyde opened his eyes.
    Tetsu had twisted around, facing the door as if he’d heard something. He listened in silence for a few seconds, then called out “Ken?”
    Not a sound.
    Tetsu turned back to hyde, but the rage of the moment seemed to have been lost. In the few seconds his attention had been distracted, he’d calmed down.
    “No.” he said. “Hmm…….that death is too quick for you, maybe.”
    At hyde’s lack of response he asked “What’s wrong? Not scared…”
    Hyde shook his head. The movements were weak but determined.
    Tetsu thought for a moment. “Hmm. Maybe the dungeon will scare you. You’ll have to go there now, I’m too tired right now to deal with you any longer…” He stood up, and tried to pull hyde to his feet. Hyde’s body simply fell limply back onto the ground.
    “Can’t stand up?” Tetsu lifted him up by his arms and hyde screamed at the pain in his back. “Ok, ok, don’t cry…”
    Through the pain, hyde thought that some intimacy still remained between them; tetsu was about to kill him, but was still comforting him.
    Tetsu carried him back down into the dungeon, dragging him back over to the same place he was before. This time he didn’t even bother chaining his arms and legs as he knew hyde could not walk anyway. He lay him down gently, and as he pulled his hand away he noticed it had been on hyde’s back and the palm was covered with hyde’s blood.
    “Hyde, you got your blood on me.” He wiped his hand on hyde’s robes. “On my clothes, too, I think.”
    The dungeon was silent, and pitch black. To tetsu it was as if he was all alone.
    He reached out and touched hyde, as if to confirm his existence.
    “You’ve stopped talking to me again?”
    Silence.
    Tetsu stood up; the silence in the dungeon felt deafening, he had to get out. As he left the room he had the strangest feeling, as if hyde had disappeared after he stopped touching him; as if hyde wasn’t there at all now. It was not the feeling of a presence but rather the feeling of the lack of a presence. Feeling creepy, tetsu ascended the stairs and made his way up to ken’s bedroom.

    The window shattered with one blow of Sakura’s fist and he crawled inside, unwrapping the piece of cloth from around his hand. “…Tetsu?” he called out, his voice cold with hatred.
    There was no answer. The house had been locked up and no-one had been outside, as if everyone had gone. And it appeared from the inside that they had.
    Sakura ran from room to room impatiently, slamming the doors open and closed.
    “Tetsu? Hyde? Hyde?!”
    The house was silent and empty. Sakura, filled with frustration and anger, began to kick the wall.     “Dammit! HYDE!!”
    It had been the previous evening Sakura had found hyde missing; it had taken him the whole night just to get here. Now, it was almost dawn again. Who knew what could have happened to hyde by now?
If hyde got hurt in anyway, Sakura would never forgive himself. IT was his fault this was happening to hyde, and hyde would get the punishment. Sakura wanted to kill himself from the guilt. But, then he wouldn’t be able to help hyde.
    “…Sakura-san?” The faint voice of the maid came from behind him. He spun around.
    She stood there, looking nervous. He went over and grabbed her. “Where is hyde?”
    “I can tell you…”
    He shook her hard. “Where is he?!”
    She looked terrified. “Let go of me, you’re hurting…”
    Sakura, impatient, let go. “Where?!”
    “I was saying, tetsu went away…hyde might be there too…”
    “Where? Where?!”
    She looked at the ground. “Ken’s house.”
    “Ken?” Sakura felt the name hit him hard. “Not…the ken that lives next door?”
    She nodded, frightened.
    “Tetsu went there…he could’ve used ken to lure hyde there as well…man that fucking _traitor_..” Sakura pushed past her angrily, heading for the door. On the way out, he kicked the door open so hard the wood splintered. The maid watched him go, terrified.

    Once more the darkness, once more tetsu’s weight pressing down as he sat on top of hyde. This time, the cold hard feeling of the blade.
    Tetsu dragged the blade lightly this time over hyde’s chest, drawing a new wound next to the many others that stained his body with the dark red blood.
    The pain hyde felt was only dull, and far away. His head felt cloudy, his only real thought being why didn’t tetsu hurry up and kill him. It was what he wanted anyway; he didn’t want to live anymore. Not after what had happened with tetsu, and then with ken, had shown him what people were really like. He didn’t want to live in a world like this any longer.
    In the dungeon, there was a small shaft which led up to the surface from below, obviously designed to let air pass in and out. It was closed and had been painted over, but in one corner a tiny patch of light was visible. It was extremely faint and hyde had only noticed it after being in the cellar for several hours when his eyes were adjusted, but it was there. It was daytime.
    The knife dragged once more over the skin. Tetsu’s lips brushed against the wound. Hyde had his head turned towards the pinprick of light. If only he could see the sky just once more before he died. And Sakura… if he could see just these two things he would die happily. No matter what had happened, it didn’t matter. Weakly, he moved one hand, reaching out for the small light.
    “Sa…ku…ra…” The words slipped out of the blood-covered mouth, the painfully weak voice echoing around the silent dungeon. At this moment, the light and Sakura were one.
    Tetsu was filled with rage at the sound. Until this time he’d thought hyde was dead at least mentally. “You dare to say his name at a time like this?!” he screamed. For the second time, the knife was raised above his head.
    “Sakura…”
    This time, it came down.
    A little groan came from hyde’s throat as the knife buried deep in his chest, he didn’t have the strength to even scream. He could sense tetsu smiling down at him. This wound was a lot deeper than all the others. He felt liquid sliding down his cheeks and neck, and began to get scared. Does it hurt to die, he wondered.
    Tetsu pulled the knife out of him and the next second hyde felt the cold metal against the skin of his neck. Tetsu leant down closer, so close hyde could feel his breath against his cheek. “It’s time to say goodbye, hyde.” he whispered.
    There was a loud noise from somewhere.
    Tetsu turned around, but then quickly turned back to hyde, not letting himself be distracted. But the noise came again. It was a loud banging.
    “Ken?” tetsu yelled, turned in the direction of the exit.
    No answer; the voice probably didn’t carry.
    Tetsu turned back, but the banging came again, louder. Then a crash.
He sighed. Oh well, hyde wasn’t going anywhere. He got up, slightly disorientated in the complete darkness, and felt for the exit.
    Up the stairs the noise was much louder and tetsu could hear yelling as well. The window next to the door was broken, and the door almost was as well.
    Tetsu opened the door and Sakura fell inwards, almost landing on top of him. But he quickly righted himself and grabbed tetsu roughly.
    His eyes widened in horror as he saw him. The front of tetsu’s white dress was stained with a large amount of blood. It was dried and streaked on his hands, even around his mouth. And from what Sakura could see he wasn’t injured.
    “What. Have. You. Done. To. Hyde.” Sakura forced himself to speak slowly so he couldn’t lost his temper and kill him before he could get a proper answer. Only his hands, which gripped tetsu’s shoulders painfully tight, betrayed his anger.
    Tetsu smiled. “Oh, hyde? He’s dead.”
The hands suddenly gripped so tightly they almost broke tetsu’s shoulders. He watched the expression on Sakura’s face as if the life had simply crumbled out of it, the pain it showed was indescribable. It hurt tetsu, too. ‘Why did you have to love him?’ he thought. ‘What’s wrong with me?’
    The hands gripped still tighter, the fingernails almost breaking the skin. Sakura was using the last of his willpower. “Where…is…he.” His face was blank, cold with pain and hatred.
    “In the dungeon.” Tetsu gestured to the stairway with his head, unable to move his arms. Sakura shoved him out the way and without a words ran to the stairway and down the stairs, rushing blindly. He didn’t want to know what he would find.
    He lit a lantern that was by the doorway and entered. At first the room seemed empty. He swung the lantern and saw the small heap up near the far wall.
    “Hyde??!!” As he approached the small figure and knelt down next to it, half panicking, all he could see was blood.
    He could tell straight away there was no hope. All over the small body there seemed to be more damaged flesh than well. He seemed to be lying in a pool of blood, it was everywhere – staining what was left of his clothes, on the ground around him, all over his body, even on his face.
    “Hyde? Hyde!!” Without thinking, Sakura grabbed him and shook him. The limp body fell back and forwards. Sakura screamed. He took hyde’s hand and gripped it tight. “Please. Hyde….don’t be dead…please….speak to me one last time…”
    The small, blood-soaked hand in his moved ever so slightly.
    “Hyde? Please, don’t leave me…”
    “..Sakura…” The voice was almost inaudible.
    “Hyde!!” Sakura held him, not caring about the liquid that stained his clothing.
    “…outside…”
    Sakura understood. He picked up the limp body and carried it out of the dungeon, out of the house, not even noticing tetsu as they went past. In the middle of the garden, he lay hyde down on a carved stone bench and knelt down next to him, holding his hand.
    It had become a beautiful day and the sky was now a brilliant blue. Hyde looked up at it and smiled, very weakly.
    Sakura lifted his hand. “Don’t worry…you’re going to be ok…I saved you, so you’re not going to leave me…” But the tears were coming out as he realised there was nothing he could do.
    “I’m sorry…”
    “Don’t say that! Don’t be stupid, you’re going to live!!” Sakura gripped his hand tighter, as if he could hold hyde with him forever.
    “I’m sorry.” As he talked more blood ran out of his mouth, almost blocking the words. He coughed, and looked weaker. “Don’t cry…you saved me…I got my wish…”
    “Hyde, don’t talk like that – I…I can’t live without you…”
    “I love you.” said hyde as the words were coming out Sakura’s mouth.
    “Hyde, don’t say that, don’t act like it’s goodbye – hyde, please!” He was a complete wreck now,     sobbing so much he could hardly talk. “Hyde, you’re still alive, answer me!”
    Silence. The eyes, still focussed on the sky, were unmoving. The hand in Sakura’s was limp.
    “Hyde…” The tears were dripping down onto hyde’s hand. “Hyde, you’re not dead, you’re ok, you promised we’d live together, remember? You wouldn’t leave me alone, would you? I love you…”
    Where there was no response, even to those most deepest of words, was when the truth hit him. There was nothing, nothing he could do but cry, leaning over the lifeless body. “haido-chan…” Why couldn’t he hear him say his name, look at him just one more time… He cried bitterly for a long time before the thought entered the back of his head.
    He looked up suddenly from hyde’s body, his eyes now cold with hatred.
    Wiping the tears off his face with the back of his hand, Sakura walked quickly towards the house. As he did so, he pulled a knife out of his pocket.
    He came to tetsu and stood in front of him.
    “Did you do that to hyde.”
    Tetsu didn’t answer, just laughed. Sakura lunged forward and if tetsu hadn’t been pulled backwards suddenly he would have surely been killed. The dagger instead just made a deep slash along his should and the top of his chest.
    Tetsu fell back, shocked, looking at the blood running out of the wound and mixing with hyde’s.
    Ken, who Sakura hadn’t noticed in his rage, stood behind. Now he stepped in front of tetsu, blocking him with his body.
    “Ken.” Sakura snarled. “Traitor. Get out my way.”
    “What I am doesn’t matter. Don’t kill him.”
    “He’s a murderer! He deserves to die.” He held the dagger out so it pointed directly at ken’s throat.     “We’re not friends anymore, so there’s nothing to stop me cutting you down to get to him!”
    “Sakura….listen…I did betray hyde, but I didn’t know anything like this would happen…really, I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known…”
    “I don’t care. Out of my way. I’ll kill him.” Sakura lunged forwards again.
    Ken grabbed him. “Don’t…please…. I love tetsu..”
    “What??” Sakura was incredulous. “You…love….that little slut? That murderer? He killed my hyde!!”
    “Please… he’s not a murderer…he needs help…”
    Sakura looked at tetsu, who smiled. Covered in blood as he was, the scene was hideous.
    He looked between tetsu and ken, then again. Suddenly he threw down his dagger on the ground, and stormed out.
    “Sakura…wait…” Ken called after him as he saw Sakura pick up hyde’s body. Ignoring the call, he headed into the forest, in the direction of tetsu’s house.
    Ken wanted to follow him but tetsu required more urgent attention. The wound on his chest looked quite deep.
    “Tetsu? Tetsu, answer me..” Tetsu just giggled.
    “I’m calling a doctor.” said ken and left, leaving tetsu alone where the laughter didn’t stop.

    Sakura plunged blindly though the forest, knowing only his destination and nothing else. The dead weight in his arms weighed him down and sometimes he tripped over a root on the ground in his dazed state.
    He looked down at the beautiful sleeping figure in his arms. “Why couldn’t I protect you…I’m useless…don’t worry hyde, I’m coming. We’ll  be together soon…”

    As soon as the doctor arrived and had been shown tetsu, ken quickly headed in the direction he’d seen Sakura go in earlier. He had only a fair idea of where they were going, but because he knew this area of the forest better he could move much more quickly. After a while, moving closer to tetsu’s house, he saw the trees ahead of him clear suddenly, and thought he must be near that cliff.
    A long way to his right, he saw a small area where the trees stopped further away from the edge than anywhere else. Here he could see the familiar black-clad figure.
    “Sakura!!” he yelled, and ran toward him. Closer he could see what was happening. Sakura, still holding hyde’s body in his arms, was sitting at the edge of the cliff, dangerously close to the edge, ken thought. At ken’s voice he turned his head and gazed warily as he approached.
    “Don’t come too close.”
    Ken took a deep breath. “Sakura. You’re upset right now. Don’t do anything stupid.”
    “I’m upset right now?” Sakura seemed to take this as funny. “That’s it, I’m _upset_ right now? That’s all?”
    “Sakura…….” Ken didn’t know what to say. “Just get away from the edge, please?”
    “I couldn’t protect him. I don’t deserve to live.”
    “It wasn’t your fault.” He’d approached Sakura, but stayed back, not wanting to cause him to move by getting too close.
    “You don’t understand…..right from the beginning, I couldn’t do anything to save him.” Sakura pulled the body closer in his arms, trying to feel the last of the warmth in the smooth skin before it disappeared forever. “You know, when tetsu found out about us, it was hyde that took all the punishment, it was hyde that suffered everything…. I tried to save him, I thought I could save myself……but now look at this…..” He was crying. “And look at me, I’m fine!”
    Ken was trying anything to get Sakura away from such a position. “Sakura, it wasn’t your fault…..hyde was happy because of you….”
    Sakura didn’t appear to hear. “If it hadn’t been for me, he’d still be alive.” He stood up.
Ken stood a few metres away, wanting like anything to go and grab him. He was afraid if Sakura saw him coming, he would jump.
    “Sakura…please….get away from there…” Ken was almost crying as well. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing Sakura as well.
    “I’m sorry, ken……don’t blame yourself….” Sakura had finally turned his head in ken’s direction. Then he slowly turned to look back at hyde, in his arms. “He was too beautiful to be alive, really….” Once again he looked at ken. “Good bye.”
    “Sakura!!”
    “Don’t try to stop me.”
    For a brief second he bent over and whispered something to hyde, something about them being together again now, and then in one step, they were gone.
    Ken lunged at him even as he jumped, even as he knew it was hopeless, there was no way to stop him. The next second, he was alone in the bright sunlight, under the clear blue sky.

    The cliff was high and Sakura had never fallen before but the thought that ran through his mind as he fell was “If I’m with you, even falling’s not scary…”
    Then nothing.

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

    It was snowing.
    The bare branches scratched faintly against the window in the light wind. Outside, the sky, the whole world had been dyed white. It was a beautiful sight.
    Ken stared vacantly out the window, his head resting in the soft fabric of the bed. Since the time tetsu had began stirring a few days ago, ken had remained by his bed most of the time. He’d only left the room once today, going to try to wipe the worst of the snow off hyde and Sakura’s graves.
    It had been a month since their funeral, and still tetsu slept. When he was being treated for the wound, he had slipped into a deep sleep, and nothing could wake him. In fact, ken was beginning to wonder if he would ever wake up, when tetsu had began to cry out in his sleep, and would sometimes move. It seemed that he was very slowly coming out of it.
    Hypnotised by the dancing snowflakes, he gradually let his eyes slip closed.
    “Mm….”
    Tetsu had moved ever so slightly under him. Ken snapped back to attention.
    “Tetsu?”
    “Mm…ha…”
    “What?” Ken sat up, taking hold of tetsu’s shoulders. “Wake up, and speak to me!” He’d tried this a million times before with no response. This time, however, tetsu’s face moved slightly. “..hyde….” he mumbled.
    “What?!”
    The words seemed to slice deeply into ken’s heart. Hyde…how could he call out for _hyde_? “Tetsu, wake up..” he shook him gently, and then harder. “This might be his only chance to pull tetsu out of this sleep.
    Tetsu moved his head to the side, and then opened his eyes.
    “Tetsu!! Oh, thank god, you’re alive….” Unable to control himself, he hugged him tight.
    Tetsu, wincing in pain at the pressure on his injured chest, looked utterly confused.
    “….Ken?” he croaked.
    Ken loosened his grip, still holding him lightly. “You’ve been asleep for so long…”
    Tetsu looked around weakly, his face still blank and puzzled. “Where….where is hyde?”
    All the joy sank out of ken at the sound of the words, as he remembered what had happened.         Incredible…tetsu really didn’t know?
    “You…you don’t remember?”
    “Remember what?”
    “With Sakura…everything?”
    “Who’s ‘Sakura’?”
    Ken, shocked, just shook his head. Although he’d been glad to see tetsu wake up, there was no way he’d forgiven tetsu for what he’d done. He didn’t know whether to believe him or not.
    “Ken……what’s wrong? Where is hyde?”
    Why did he have to bring him up? After all that had happened?
    But tetsu’s face was sincere. He looked confused, and in pain. “What’s wrong…why won’t you tell me?”
    “You really don’t remember?”
    “Remember what?” he asked again. His face contorted until it looked like he might cry. “I don’t care, just tell hyde to come here, please……I missed him while I was asleep.”
    Ken was almost crying as well. He was unable to cope with this situation anymore. He could he tell tetsu? He honestly didn’t remember.
    “I’m sorry……I have to go.” He got up, laying tetsu gently back down on the bed. “You should rest…..I…I have to go….” His voice broke. He hurried out of the room.
    Leaning against the wall outside, he began to cry.

    Tetsu became a wreck. He sat on the bed, crying and clutching his knees to his chest. He screamed for hyde until his throat was raw.
    Ken could do nothing.
    His whole life, since before he could remember, whenever he called, hyde would always be there.     There was no way, no way he could face hyde not being there.
    He sobbed, crying for hyde again and again, just hoping, hoping somewhere in his heart that hyde would come. “Hyde…I don’t care what you do, even if you hate me, just let me see you, that’s all….”
    Ken tried to comfort him. But why was he so detached? Always looking at him as if there was something between them keeping them apart, something terrible tetsu had done.
    Now ken stood beside his bed. “Ken. Please tell me, why doesn’t hyde come?” His eyes were red from crying.
    Ken, as always, didn’t answer. ‘Please, ken, tell him I have to see him. I can’t live without him…where is he?”
    Still silence.
    Far away, the only sound was the faint scratching of the branches.
    “Ken, why are you crying?”
    Ken couldn’t answer, he tried to wipe the tears away. Tetsu began to cry, too. “Ken, don’t do this…” he sobbed. “You know I can’t live without him, please, tell me where he is…”
    “I’ll take you somewhere which will show you where he is.” Ken said eventually. “But you won’t be able to see him.”
    Tetsu looked confused and upset, but he nodded. “Hyde…I want to see you…” he mumbled to himself.
    Ken helped him out of bed, and wrapped him in warm clothes. “I don’t think you can walk the whole way. I’ll help you.” He couldn’t help but feel some pity. If tetsu really didn’t remember….what was going to happen?
    The trip from ken’s house was a long one. Despite his warm clothes tetsu was shivering violently. Ken took one arm out of his thick coat and wrapped it around tetsu so they were sharing, and they walked that way, tetsu leaning against him.
    “Is that ok?” Ken asked softly. The bare branches of the trees in the forest seemed to be pressing in on them. It was so bleak in winter like this. The only colour in ken’s vision was tetsu’s red hair pressing against his chest. Even through his thick clothes he could feel the warmth of tetsu’s body seeping through.
    As he thought this tetsu’s knees suddenly collapsed shakily under him and he fell onto his knees in the snow. “I can’t…”
    “Don’t worry.” Ken was almost ashamed of the momentary thought he’d had just before. He didn’t know what to think of tetsu, it seemed no matter what, he couldn’t stop feeling for him.
    He lifted him up by the arms and wrapped his coat around him again, not looking at his face. “We’re almost there.” He dragged him on. Reaching the cliff, ken was confronted with the miles of bleak landscape in front of him. Black trees, white snow, and the faintly grey sky. And it had looked so beautiful in summer…but there was still some sort of faint beauty in this scene. If only he didn’t hate this cliff so much.
    “Just this way a bit more.” he mumbled as the graves came into vision.
    Tetsu broke away from ken and stepped forward to stare for a long time. The names on the grave were unmistakable. “Hyde…is there?”
    Ken nodded. “Some of their ashes are in the temple, but most of them are here, together….”
    “Hyde..and Sakura?”
    Ken nodded.
    It had began to snow harder. Snowflakes caught in tetsu’s hair as he stood looking. A few white flowers were in front of the grave, half-buried in the snow.
    Tetsu fell onto his knees, reaching out to touch the marble surface on which the characters were etched. He stared at the grave. The snow increased, the wind blew harder, the sky seemed to turn in a whirlpool around him. Everything grew darker. The world became blurry and unfocused as tears blocked his vision.
    Then, a strange warmth behind him. Ken wrapped his arms around him, pulling him closer, brushing the tears on tetsu’s cheeks with his fingers. “I’m sorry…don’t cry, tetsu…”
    Tetsu fell into his arms, sobbing, and ken could only hold him. Whatever had happened, whatever tetsu had done, there was nothing that could stop this feeling…this love.
    Tetsu sobbed against him. “Haido….haido!!” He screamed in anguish, tears rolling down his cheeks.
    “Don’t cry, tetchan, don’t cry, I’m here for you…” Ken was crying as well. He tried to smile. “I love you…” He brushed his lips against tetsu’s softly, trying to comfort him.
    “Ken-chan…” Tetsu clung to him, and they remained for a long while, holding onto each other as the snow swirled around them.
    From above, on the leafless branch of a bare tree at the edge of the forest, a small white bird watched….
 

OWARI
  

Man…..it’s finally finished. Well, before you start thinking too terribly of me, I _did_ intend this to be a lot better (sigh….) It just didn’t turn out the way I hoped, for a few reasons I won’t go into, as well as the fact that I _suck_……. Anyway, as I once saw somebody else do, I’ll list exactly what’s wrong with this:

1) I somehow it ended up disproportionately in Sakura’s point of view…..i don’t know how. It was meant to be even…….but I just couldn’t get into hyde’s character. I’ve been writing too much out of Sakura these days, it’s like his character is becoming me (shudder….poor thing) and I even had a dream I was dressing up as him…..enough said.
2) This was _meant_ to be a Sakura/hyde fic, but man, I just couldn’t get them to fit together. Hyde fit so much better with tetsu……so I ended up cutting most of the SxH scenes and it turned into a tetsu/hyde……I’m sorry people………
3) I wrote it over too long a time. I started like November last year, and it got put on hold a long time while I went to thailand/japan…….so the feelings/ideas I had when I started writing it were sorta gone by the end. Also, I wrote it all out of order, which didn’t help. Somehow all the bits I wrote this year just seem like filler for the pre-Japan bits. Ppl change, ok? And for some reason, all the violent horrible scenes were written a long time ago…..have I gotten better? ^_^
4) As I said, I SUCK. Groan………why is everyone better than me? *cry* It’s funny how whenever I start complaining about how incompetent I am at writing, everyone’ll sorta sidle off and change the subject, or not answer me ^^;;;; Like when a fat person says ‘I’m so fat!’ and everyone goes quiet and starts talking about someone else ^^;;;; Well, I get the message, but you can’t stop me!! Ahaha! I’ve already started a new one…….ok, don’t groan too loud, I can hear you from here….