Izumi frowned and roughly shoved him to the other side of the sofa.

"Ouch! That kinda hurt Izumi." Nishi whined rubbing his arm.

"We need to leave, I'm guessing you 're going to school today?" Izumi got up and grabbed his bag and keys.

"Yeah, if I don't they might bother to get a hold of my father and find out where I am. Then I won't be able to stay with you anymore."

"Alright, well I guess I'll walk with you to your school and pick you up this afternoon."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure what the difference between one hour and two hours late is."

They walked together down the hall upon reaching the elevator

Nishi laughed to himself quietly shaking his head.

"Izumi." He called to the taller man. Izumi looked down at him.

"What?" He asked, the boy an a strange expression on his face it was somewhere between stricken and happy.

"Even in death I can't escape middle school."

oOo

Nishi hated school. He hated everyone and everything in school. Except for the idea that there was a place he could go to learn things, self improvement seemed like a good idea.

Nishi didn't mind anything about books reading, working, sitting quietly and writing.

It was the people who happened to be in the building, teachers with no lesson plan and the teachers aids with complex's about the small tiny inch of power they had been given. Then there was the students. Nishi felt his spine shiver at the thought.

What had he ever done?

Perhaps he was more serious then the other children, he could never pinpoint why they hated him so passionately and as time went on their disdain for him only grew..

Nishi approached the school building with Izumi looming over him. The building stretched so high up into the clouds and Nishi felt absolutely infinitesimal at the feet of the lumbering living steal giant that was his middle school. They were quite late and all the other children seemed to have already gone inside and only a few stray students walking briskly to get inside the building. Nishi forgot to say goodbye to Izumi and he walked up the path to the building and by the time he remembered to bid his farewells the man had seemed to evaporate into the city beyond the gates of the school.

Upon getting inside he hoped to stay undetectable and invisible.

That possibility was shattered once he had even gotten to his first class, or rather his second, his usual crop of bullies had greeted him with fake kindness and informed him he would be ambushed by the end of the day.

oOo

Exiting the classroom Nishi briskly weaved between hallways and down staircases trying to think of the oddest possible root too where Izumi had dropped him off that morning. His grip tighten on his schoolbag whenever he passed by a group of boys. Nishi decided to go backwards around the building to the front. Maybe if he could get the closest he could to where Izumi should be the boys wouldn't pick a fight knowing he had such a large high school friend. He walked close to the wall and finally in the distance he could see the spot where he had stood with Izumi that morning. But Izumi wasn't there.

Nishi slowed his steps as he reached the edge of the building. He now had a better view but he still couldn't see Izumi anywhere there was a rush of students everywhere but Izumi would stick out like a sore thumb among the smaller middle school students. He stayed quiet against the wall his mind trying to come up with a way to avoid the beating he would receive if his bullies were to find him now. Nishi spun around quickly filled with justified paranoia hearing approaching footsteps from behind him and of course a group of five boys had sneaked a good fourteen feet away. Nishi had eye contact with one of the biggest leading boys in front and when the eye contact was made something sparked in the giant bully's eyes and he charged right towards his smaller outnumbered opponent. Nishi froze which was a crucial mistake as he was immediately tackled into the bricks of the wall he had been hiding behind. His head made hard contact into the bricks of the wall causing a gush of pain to spike out from the back of his head forward. Some one had grabbed his shoulders before he fell. He was kneed in the stomach so hard he felt himself loose his breath as someone else simultaneously hard the side of his hair pulling at it in their fists causing more pain and irritating the first pain of hitting the wall.

The most painful thing about it was that to much was happening at once to properly defend anything, and this caused a choking anger inside of the him. The bullies were half fighting amongst each other as to who got to hurt him. He felt his body being pulled from different parts in different directions all causing pain. Nishi felt his arms reaching around trying to grab someones face and twist it a painful way or jab into someones eyes. None of it was helping. Nishi closed his eyes. He tried to sink into himself to make his body into a shell that his emotions and thought could hide in, but it wasn't working. His shell felt pain, his shell felt everything from the loud calls of their voices that made him wince to the blows of fists into his body. Someone punched the side of his face and after the scorching ache he could taste something metallic in his mouth. Nishi was salivating a lot, he slowly realized his mouth wasn't full of spit it was full of blood. The thought started to pass his mind that this had gotten much more out of control then he had planned for. The hazy, blurred thought passed through his mind that he could actually die here. Strangely with the amount of pain he was in he was almost as peace with it. Or his mind was anesthetized by extreme pain. His feet weren't on the ground anymore.

The largest one had picked him up and was now slamming his body into the wall as his head cracked into it over and over. He couldn't hear the tormenting things they said anymore. The monster slamming him into the wall's face was beet red as he screamed into Nishi's face. Nishi opened his eyes again to the light and watched his face marveling at the complete lack of sound he was able to hear. He slowly realized things were slowing and lagged, and everything was getting brighter. But then it was all getting darker, it was static and hazy like an old television set. Then as the last hot lick of pain struck his head it was all gone. There was no pain there anymore in fact was no feeling at all. No images of the monsters angry faces, no sound of there screams and taunts, no taste of blood filling his mouth. There was no time and finally no thoughts.

oOo

Izumi rounded the corner stopping at the crosswalk sign he had brought Nishi to. He started to scan over the groups of children near the middle school. None of them were Nishi. Izumi walked into the open area near the doorways and looked around. At least now he wouldn't have to search as hard. After all, the other students seemed to notice him just fine. Many stopped and turned there heads to look suspiciously at the man. School yard attendants looked even more worried. Perhaps five minutes had passed and the number of children leaving the building and standing around the area had rapidly decreased. All the students had said their goodbyes to their friends and scrambled away. Izumi heard a noise in the distance. It sounded like boys fighting. Izumi absently strolled closer to the back of the building were he heard the noises at least a good fight among children might entertain him while he waited.

What he found was quite horrifying. A group of five boys with more crowding around were bashing some smaller boy who was laying still on the ground arms out not at all defending himself. Izumi first realized whoever it was must of been unconscious or dead. Then as one of the boys moved to the side Izumi got a clear view of the boys face and made another discovery. It was Nishi. Or at least he was pretty sure it was Nishi. His face was covered in his own blood and dirt. His clothes were filthy and torn. Izumi felt odd. He assumed seeing his little friend getting his skull bashed into the brick wall should fill him with rage. However he couldn't muster that feeling of frustration or emotional outrage. He watched slightly fascinated at the way the boys body loosely hung. The largest boy pulled Nishi as high as his arms could hold him up and screamed in rage,

"You're ours now you little shit!" Izumi felt his lips twitch and an emotional switch had been flicked over in his brain. It was like he couldn't smile even if he tried his very hardest. Then he felt anger boil and bubble. Nishi did not belong to these swinish little gutter, punks. He belonged to Gantz...! But also, and far more importantly in his current situation he belonged to Izumi. No one else. But especially not theses little bullies.

Izumi walked over slowly grabbing the tallest one. Izumi still towered over him. None of the children seemed to even have noticed the man, they were far to wrapped up in their pummeling of the boy to notice. It wasn't until he spun the obese child around. The bullies eyes widen looking up at Izumi. Izumi curled his fists punching the boy low in the stomach. His breathe escaped him as he fell to the ground squealing. Izumi then felt two other boys move to gang up on him. He roughly grabbed one by the collar. The boy's feet left the ground and in one swift movement he was thrown into the other attacker. Both boys groaned as they crushed against each other and fell on the ground. Many of the children had fled as soon as Izumi had turned around. Izumi was extremely bored with this fight. This was nothing compared to fighting dangerous alien creatures. Children didn't really match up by comparison. Three more boys who were brave enough not to flee ran up trying to tackle Izumi at the same time. He shoved one boy onto the ground and grab another bashing his head against the brick like they and done to Nishi. The boy screamed and cried his legs kicking against Izumi's stomach. Izumi could also feel another reaching up to punch the back of his head. Both were dull pains that couldn't hold a candle to having your hand sliced off by a razor sharp claw. After feeling extreme pain like that you built up a tolerance to simple aches, cricks and pricks you might feel in battle. Izumi stopped slamming the child into the wall. He stared into his victims eyes noticing the red swelling of their eyes that starred back in a soulless daze. Izumi shook the boy again to check if he was alive. He gasped for air like a fish and seemed to come alive again. The bullies eyes blinked his eyes darting away from the man. Izumi dropped him hearing the unpleasant clunk of his skull hitting the brick on the way down.

Izumi bent down the the largest bully who had smashed Nishi merciless into the wall just moments ago. He was now a sad sight to see crying as he stared at his friend against the wall and back up at the tall man looming above him. The man keeled down placing his hand over the side of the boys head to keep him roughly pinned to the jagged cement.

"He doesn't belong to you." Izumi said coldly. The boy stared at him crying. He didn't seem to understand the meaning of his words. Izumi pulled the boy up by his hair and spun him around stopping him in front of Nishi's body. He held his head still forcing him to look.

"Him!" Izumi yelled at the boy watching him wince. More tears coming accompanied by sobbing noises.

"He does not belong to you!" Izumi shook the boy with every word spoken before slamming his fist into the boys stomach again. The boy shouted out a groan and fell again quietly crying to himself. Izumi moved back to the wall kneeling over to Nishi. The boy was a mess. Dirt and rocks stuck to his face caked with blood. Izumi moved his hand to the boys neck feeling his pulse. He could feel his heart beating as he wrapped his hand around the boys neck. Izumi moved his hand away form his neck and near his nose and mouth. He could feel hot puffs of breathe hitting his hand the breathing pattern seemed normal. Izumi grabbed the boys school bag, he checked inside and sure enough his suit was there. Izumi felt a twinge of annoyance. He zipped up the bag and slung it around his shoulder sighing and scooped up Nishi into his arms and began the long awkward walk home as he was followed by the disapproving eye of strangers.

oOo

Izumi turned on the taps of the bathtub to fill it with hot water. Opening the cabinets he got rubbing alcohol and some towels. Drenching a white facecloth under the tap he twisted it ringing it out, Izumi approached his unconscious friend at a loss of what to do. Izumi softly rubbed the boys cheek trying to collect the rubble in his wounds. Izumi cringed pulling the cloth away Nishi wasn't even starting to look better and the clothe was already died pink with his blood. Izumi began to undress Nishi carefully moving his injured arms threw his jacket, unbuttoning his blood stained white shirt. Even after removing the boys pants and boxers he still failed to enjoy the situation sexually. He lifted Nishi gently placing him in the tub. The red already started leaking into the clear water and Izumi grabbed the rubbing alcohol. Flicking off the tap he decided to pour it over Nishi's body wounds. The cuts swelled bubbling white as the germs were killed from them. Dabbing the facecloth in the rubbing alcohol. Izumi patted Nishi's face watching it bubble and fizz when the chemical was applied. Izumi stroked his fingers through Nishi's hair carefully cleaning over any cuts hidden in his dark hair. Sure enough moving the hair up Izumi could see a pretty abominate series of bleeding bruises on the scalp. Grabbing the bar of soap he lathered it in his hands before trying to remove the dirt from the boy. Once he was clean the water in the bathtub was defiantly pink. His bleeding had mostly slowed

Besides Izumi's struggle to wake the boy but he still hung loose and unconscious on the side of the bathtub. Izumi opened up the cabinet again searching harder. He found a brown box where he kept emergency aid. Izumi removed some gauze from the box along with steri-strips. Bring the strips to Nishi Izumi began ripping open the package and apply them to some of the larger cuts. Carefully bring the edges of the open wound closer together was tedious work but this would have to do until Gantz called them back to the room. Izumi wrapped some the gauze's over or around Nishi's injuries. He wasn't at all skilled at doing this he created a mess of bandages but he had stopped most of the bleeding. If he had internal bleeding it would get bad waiting. Drying the boy off carefully with a new fresh towel. Izumi looked at the blank sleeping face on the floor uncertain if he could really live. Izumi left the bathroom opening up Nishi's black luggage bag. He grabbed a new set of clothes to dress Nishi in. Once the boy was dressed and clean Izumi decided to bring him to his bedroom. Izumi put the boy down on his bed pulling some covers over him. He had done all he really could for the boy given their circumstances. Izumi spent the night on the bed laying next to the boy petting the the top of the his head in silence until his eyelids drooped and he finally fell asleep.

oOo

Nishi was floating. He felt out of his body. He was touching nothing he was just floating. He thought he might be floating in water. The current slowly moving his body up and around it eased him gently as if it was waiting for him to react. It slowly let him sink further from the surface to force him to move. But he couldn't move. He didn't remember how to move. He wanted this to end. He didn't know how long this had been happening but he didn't like it. He failed to remember what he had been doing before this, or what he was going to do after this. What was this anyway? Lights, soft lights, the type of lights that reflect off water. What was that called? They were in his brain, he wasn't seeing them in his eyes. They became so bright. They stung burning his eyes from the inside. He didn't like them, he didn't want them being there. Something about waiting for them to get closer was scary. So he moved. He turned over to move his back on them. He then remembered how to move and react and suddenly he felt an agonizing ache in his head and water that had been supporting him abruptly fall. He was left feeling like he might scream. In the dark with agonizing wounds aching and the pain only becoming sharper.

He opened his eyes to darkness, but it wasn't complete darkness like before. Now there was a vague horizontal figure just a few feet away. Its movement scared him as it leaned in closer his eyes straining to understand what he was looking at. It was leaning over him he could feel the tickle of threads that fell from its masked face. It was staring right at him. He felt his heart plummet the pain stinging harder and fear rising.

"Nishi?" The familiar voice asked. A flood of relief rushed through Nishi as it was suddenly so easy to see where the lines of the mask made a nose and the lovely smell of the thread was his long black hair falling forward.

"I...umi" Nishi tried to speak but it croaked out an awkward noise, it was a voice he did not recognize as his own.

"You're a completely idiot." Izumi said coldly. Nishi felt a pain in his chest sting suddenly. It was almost as painful as one on his head. The boy opened his mouth to speak only uttering out a guttural noise before wincing in pain as something sharp begged his attention to a bandaged cut on his arm. Izumi leaned forward his nose now touching the smaller injured boy. Nishi felt a slight flutter in his stomach but Izumi stayed their. Nishi could tell he was staring but in the dark it was hard to read the mans expression. As time passed he became more and more aware Izumi wasn't this close to be affectionate.

"Keep the suit on at all times, even if you have to wear it under your clothes!" His voice was shaking in anger. Absolute rage seemed to boil bellow it. Nishi felt intimated feeling himself shrink closer to the bed. Izumi put a hand on either side of him to support himself. His limbs shaking.

"That was complete bullshit! He screamed. Fear bolted through Nishi. There was something very powerful to Nishi about having someone scream so close to you so close that you could feel the moisture of their breathe hitting your face.

"Do you honestly expect to survive?" Nishi's head ached at the noise. He bit back tears. He wasn't ready for this, it was to much. "Do you really expect me to protect you!" Nishi stared into his dark eyes his heart sinking more then previously thought possible. Actually yes. He had thought Izumi would protect him. He would let Nishi stay with him. Why wouldn't he put a reasonable amount of effort into keeping him safe.

"You can't even defend yourself!" His shouting was freighting it trembled with violence that seemed to seep out through his voice and his hands that had now moved to his forcing him to look directly at the man. This was reminding Nishi of being scolded by his father, the man had lost his temper now and again when he was very little.

"I was under the impression you could be useful, but I guess your just another one of those morons." His voice lower to a chilling low tone. Nishi could feel the tears stream down his face going past his ears. He wasn't even aware he was crying until he felt the drops.

"You know the kind, the ones that stumble into the room and die on the first mission." He whispered moving closer to his ear. Nishi's breathing hitched trying to stop more tears. "You're as weak as any of them aren't you?" Izumi said moving away to look at the boy. Nishi's face was red and his eyes were swollen his head shook back and forth as he trembled biting his lip to keep from crying.

"Oh yes you are!" Izumi barked out at him grabbing Nishi's injured arm. He applied pressure squeezing it. The pain burst into a flame as the wounds began to bleed through the bandages.

"No...ack!" He choked out. Izumi let go of his arm moving it to the boys mouth. He lowered himself closer to whisper again.

"You're going to die next mission..." He said. His voice sounding so bored it was painful. Nishi couldn't look away form the dark black eyes. His eyes were now adjusting to allow him too see more. But he didn't want to see more.

"Gantz will heal these wounds..." Izumi whispered as he let his fingers graze over the bandages on his head. He again applied enough pressure in his stroke to make it hurt again. To remind him of the pain.

"But the ones that will replace them, they'll be too serious for you to survive." His voice sounded pleasant to the sound of the gruesome statement.

"You'll bleed out." He said smiling, entertained. Nishi's eye opened wide.

"You'll be cold and alone." His fingers played over the fringe as his smile only grew wider at the sight of the boys trembling.

"Without your mother, just like last time."

That statement, hurt more then then being bullied. It hurt more then being bashed into the wall. It hurt more then the blinding lights or having the wounds squeezed until they bled again.

A long stretch of a silence occurred as Izumi starred down at his trembling ward.

"Nishi." He whispered his voice calming drastically.

"Hey." He said more firmly shaking Nishi by the shoulder. The boy looked up at him blankly he was breathing heavily making what sounded like soft sob sounds.

"Stop crying." Izumi said sternly.

"I told you it's really annoying when you cry." Nishi felt the anger mixing with the pain. Talk about adding insult to injury, he thought. Izumi removed his hands from the bandages placing them hire on Nishi's arms were there were no cuts. His touch became gentle and the mood switched only for the older man.

"I'm not crying." Nishi whispered trying to force his breathing to come out evenly. Izumi's sudden calmness created an eerie feeling in the younger boy.

"Please get off me." He grumbled. Izumi got up and backed away from him. Nishi could see the dark figure staring at him. Unclear of what Izumi might do to him.

"I'll get you some water." Izumi said sounding disgusted. Nishi felt the bed move and heard the creak of the mans weight getting off the mattress. He turned on a bedside lamp. A dim yellow light filled the room and Nishi blinked feeling his head throb.

"Whoa." He gasped suddenly realizing his surroundings. This place was filthy. It was a bedroom. in front of the bed was a door and to the side of that door was a vanity. A window to his right on the wall and bed stands at the side of the bed but everywhere on and in between these places was filled with, 'things'. Cups, glasses, on every surface with the juices stuck to the bottom dried up. Old plates of food, disgusting the smell coming off them making Nishi want to vomit. this was far worse then his fathers room. Papers, just littered everywhere in piles, in paper balls. The window was covered by heavy dark blankets thrown over the curtain rod.

"Where are we?" Nishi asked just as Izumi reached the doorknob.

"We're in my room." He said looking back raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Nishi said looking around again. This had been what was behind the other door? The spotless house outside shined white and without clutter to the extreme. But this was how he kept his bedroom? Sure enough as Izumi turned the door knob Nishi could see a part of the living room leading to the kitchen. He groaned as he felt a particularly painful throb shoot up his spine. Nishi's hands shot up touching the back of his head where the pain had settled.

"Ah!" He gasped as another came raking the back of his head in response to his hands. Izumi turned around looking at him carefully and questioning. Nishi looked up letting his hands drop to his lap.

"Oh it's, nothing." He said slowly clenching his teeth as the pain spiked again. Izumi returned moments later with a mug of ice water.

"Are you okay?" He asked carefully handing Nishi the mug. Nishi could barely hold it his hand shaking he took a big gulp letting it cool his dry throat. Nishi looked back at izumi realizing the man was waiting for an answer.

"No." He said darkly and he pushed the mug against the glasses to make room for it on the nightstand they clacked together making the pain in his head throb more. Nishi hissed as he slowly laid back down his spine felt tight and not at all bendable.

Izumi slowly got back under the covers trying to help Nishi get the blankets back over himself. Nishi glared at him once was settled. The boy couldn't even begin to understand the outburst of cruelty he had received and why moments later the mans mood had done a complete one eighty and he was now offering him water and tucking him in. The two spent a long moment starring at each other. Nishi felt nauseous, angry and sad. He wanted Izumi to be nice to him and hold him affectionately like this morning. But now it was different, now, Izumi spoiled it. Nishi knew how Izumi felt about him now. The man thought he was weak. He had infact smiled brightly at his pain.

"What?" Izumi said finally looking inpatient.

"I didn't say anything." The boy said starting a blank upward stare at the ceiling.

"You've got a look on your face." Izumi said in dull tone allowing his arms to stretch across the bed into Nishi's side.

"I wonder why that might be." Nishi retorted quickly in sarcasm. Trying to lay as still as he possibly could with no luck.

"What the hell did those bastards want from you anyway?" Izumi asked. Clearly trying to change the subject.

"Nothing. They're just idiots." Nishi croaked his voice cracking and horse. He struggled to sit up again to take another gulp from the mug of water he made hissing noises with every small movement. Izumi seemed to ignore this and kept talking.

"Well I don't think they'll be bothering you for awhile. I left them bleeding and sputtering on the ground. " To Iuzmi the pathetic battle made him itch more for the real thing. That made two reasons why he really wished to go back to the room.

"Oh really? Even the big one?" Nishi said moving his head slightly looking almost happy.

"Yeah. Got him good. His crying is even more annoying then yours." Izumi teased smiling. Nishi didn't seem to find it very funny he had gone completely silent. Izumi looked over to see Nishi giving him a look, the boy was twitching in pain and still wincing every few seconds. It was still hopelessly pathetic to the point of being comedic.

"You're a real asshole for squeezing my arms." Nishi said his voice very soft. Izumi got back into bed next to the boy who was sitting up starring at the wall in front of the bed. His face was blank of expression.

"I was just pissed off at you." He said turning over towards the nightstand. Nishi could hear him looking for something through the glasses.

"What the hell, why? You didn't have to be so harsh with me!" Nishi voice cracked as he struggled to yell.

Izumi turned back quirking an eyebrow.

"Only people who can fight deserve to talk like that." His hands moved to his hair letting his fingers comb through the black curtains of hair he began to carefully tie it back with an elastic. Once his hair was neatly up in the ponytail he looked back at Nishi who was waiting with a pained look on his face for the second part of his question to be answered.

"Oh, and about that second part. It's because you need it."

Izumi turned towards the nightstand again switching off the lamp.

Nishi was confused. He lay next to the man in the dark, listening to the sound of his steady breathing for what seemed like hours. He knew he should be furious with Izumi. He should want to hit him and find the strength to get out of bed and get away form him. He wasn't sure where he would go but for once that wasn't the problem. He didn't have the physical strength to leave. Much more disturbing then that, he didn't want to leave.

It wasn't just the fact that he was tired and beaten, he felt ill inside with emotions. Even after the way the man had screamed at him, right now he wasn't angry. He felt a weird urge to please. It was a new sensation. He had never felt it before in his life so strongly until he meet Izumi. He wasn't sure if he liked it. It made him glow inside, it was pleasant and warm but it made him feel dirty. His brain concentrated on how Izumi had saved him, rather then how Izumi had hollered at him and squeezed his wounds until the blood oozed out. But something in his mind told him that was wrong. He wanted to dismiss that feeling. It felt like shame to him, that was the most similar thing it resembled. His mind spun and the screaming thoughts began to babble down to annoying whispers. He stayed still with his eyes closed wondering when sleep would come and it overtook him before he had time to notice.

oOo

Another dreamless night? Nishi thought as he opened his already stinging eyes. The dark blue curtain covering a window to his side had sunlight shining between the dusty old stitches of fabric.

"Nishi!" Izumi's voice called from the other room. As he came back into the bedroom patting and smoothing his hands over the jacket of his uniform, he was already dressed and ready to leave.

"Clean the bathroom today, it's your punishment." He said not looking at the boy as he grabbed his bag of the floor and rushed out of the house. Nishi sat up in bed and gave a very late nod to his words. He heard the locks of the apartment door lock and click and he stayed in silence bring his knees up to his chest. His head swayed in a sudden rush of pain making him want to let his head fall limp against the pillow. He pushed himself to get up and he slowly let his feet touch the floor on the side of the bed feeling fabrics of used clothes rather then carpeting. Once he got up letting his spine straighten the pain intense and he was also very swore. He slowly made his way the living room stepping around things he couldn't step on. He had careful footing trying not to destroy any paper or crush any fallen potato chip. This place was truly a pigpen. He didn't want to touch the walls but he needed to for support. Once reaching the living room he found himself in a different cleaner world of bleach white and dull gray that stung of blinding brightness.

Nishi felt like an elderly man on his last leg as he approached the bathroom to inspect the damage Izumi wanted him to clean. Leave it to Izumi to expect someone in such critical condition to scrub a toilet.

Nishi opened the door and flicked on the light. It was a bleach white room of bright white tiles but the ones on the floor were covered in patterns of dark dried blood. It crusted on the floor and collect in the cracks.

His heart rapidly sank to his stomach and he felt like he might vomit.

It's my blood.

It's all my blood.

Some much...

He found all the products he needed to began cleaning had been conveniently placed in a plastic white bucket on the white bathroom counter that was bellow the large mirror he dare not even look into in his state. Nishi slowly walked over to it pulling out the bottles of chemicals and scrubber to find a folded piece of notebook paper. The papers ruffles were still attached and Nishi unfolded it to find neat cursive writing that looked deserving of Izumi's hand.

Joichiro,

Thanks for getting out of bed you lazy brat.

I put the aspirins on the kitchen table.

Try to get some rest after you finish cleaning and crying.

Make it shine!

Love Shion

Nishi blinked. He starred at the note rereading it carefully. He was overjoyed and felt a happy flutter in his heart that Izumi had put his first name and that he had signed it love. Love with a capital big "L" and Nishi looked at the neat lines of his name. It had never looked more elegant then when Izumi wrote it-

...

I'm doing it again.

The voice whispered to him for inside his head. That asshole thinks I'm weak. Some weak, whiny brat! It echoed in his head.

Nishi grabbed the bottle and simply spilled the contents sloppy to the floor. This wasn't the proper way to clean but he didn't care. He got to his knees despite his bodies protest. He grabbed the brush and started to scrub as hard as he possibly could. The blood flaked off after what felt like forever of scrubbing and the chemical turned pink slightly as Nishi aggressively scrubbed the floor. His wounds didn't like this at all and the sharp pains and electric shocks of discomfort were ignored to the best of his ability. Working from the far corners across the floor and to the door. The only sounds that could be heard was the squeaking of the scrubbing and some small hisses that escape through the boys lips as he worked.

oOo

Overall the day had been bitter work. Seething in pain Nishi stumbled back into the bedroom after swallowing a couple more pills. He moved carefully trying to relax on the bed. The boy found himself starring at the ceiling wishing he could fall back asleep as boredom overtook him. He began testing the pain. He poked his forearm where the bandages had been sloppy woven around. The pain shot up again. He winced but as he watched his arm lay stiff and outstretched he felt the temptation to try it again. His hand slowly traveled up the wrappings on his head he smooth his hand over it wondering if it was smart to poke at his injured head. A sudden buzzing of some fly whizzed past his ear.

With a sigh he strained his neck to look around Izumi's bedroom. He still couldn't get over how disgusting it was in here. The air smelled quite bad to but he didn't have much choice. If he kept his nose close to the pillow he could smell Izumi's scent. But the rest of the room was overpowered by rotting food. The fly buzzed past his ear again and a frown came across the boys face.

This is annoying.

He turned his head carefully to look over at the night stand that the fly was now silently sitting completely still. Nishi's eyes narrowed as he wished he could kill the damn pest. He wondered how he could fight those creatures if him and Izumi were summoned back the the room with the black ball. He would probably die. Again. Nishi looked back at the fly still in the same place. He quickly swooshed his hand near the fly to scare it away but it remained still without so much as pivoting its position.