Drowning in Deception

The holidays are coming around, and it's all but pleasant for a certain blonde. When his little secret is accidentally discovered by his good friend Dark, it seems the whole turns against him.

Chapter 7

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It is with mild humor that, while I am grateful and appreciative of all your moving reviews, this chapter goes to one reviewer in particular, who simply insisted on a review and I choose to adhere to the request however inaccurate the timing mentioned was. While it has been, admittedly, twenty days exactly since I updated the last chapter, I assure it has not been two months. Thank you for your enthusiasm in requesting a review, however, as it did give me the motivation I needed to finish writing this chapter.

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Cold hands were pressing against his skin; he registered flashing of lights, muffled noises, and a constant, persistent prodding of cold, smooth hands across various parts of his flesh. He wanted to fight, wanted to push them away with their lights and noise so he could go back to sleep, though they were persistent.

When he awoke, he understood why.

It was chilly in the white room when he blinked his eyes opened; it took a few seconds before the blurriness faded and he was able to make out further details—a black television hanging from the ceiling in the corner, a clock on the wall, an empty bed to his left and a large window that showed a beautiful vision of the nearby landscaping from a clearly elevated level. The beeping of monitors and machines from his bedside told him what he already knew—he was in a hospital. The sun was hanging low in the sky so he concluded that he'd been unconscious for at least a day.

He didn't want to think about it, though; his head hurt. With a groan he reached up to brush at his forehead, made aware of the IV sticking out of his arm. His stomach churned at the sight so he hastily closed his eyes. He wanted it out of his arm, but he wasn't foolish enough to rip it out. Instead he groped around the bedside until he found the little clicking device attached to the bed; he didn't know what several of the buttons meant and, finding it useless, he discarded it and began to look around the room again.

He was saved from loneliness by a nurse that walked in, blinking. "Oh, you're awake," she said with a smile too cheesy to be real. She walked over and looked at his stats on the machines, making idle chit chat that Krad only barely comprehended.

She must have realized he wasn't listening and stopped, glancing down at him. "How are you feeling?" she asked slowly in a voice just barely condescending.

"Can I go home?" he rasped, blinking at the voice that sounded nothing like his own. His throat was dry and his mouth parched.

The nurse paused and tilted her head. "We'll have to run a few tests, but I'm sure that can be arranged. We'll need to call your father, of course."

"…Yeah, sure. What happened…?" he prompted, licking his lips and trying to swallow; it brought him no comfort or relief.

"It looks like you have a small concussion from that bump on your head. Nothing too serious, but you'll probably take tomorrow off from school. You probably shouldn't take those medicines on an empty stomach, didn't they warn you?"

Krad didn't want to point out that he had no idea what medication he'd even taken so he numbly nodded and muttered a meaningless apology.

The woman nodded and fiddled with some of the machines for a few minutes more before she said something about getting him checked out; she asked if he needed anything and when he declined, she left.

Within the hour, Kei walked into the room, followed by a doctor and the same nurse. They spoke in a corner for a few moments and Krad felt like a stupid child being kept out of the loop while they whispered, though when they all walked to his bedside he was already sitting up despite the fact it made his head spin.

The doctor looked at the chart at the foot of the bed, checked the machines and then gave the nurse the okay to check him out. Kei pulled the doctor aside and was speaking further to him; Krad watched them instead of the nurse as she began to disconnect the few wires attached to him. When she moved to his arm to remove the IV, however, he glanced at her with a bit of curiosity.

She saw the scars, obviously, but was pretending like they didn't exist. There was a pinch and then the IV was out. He grimaced though did well to hide the discomfort the whole thing put him in.

Fifteen minutes later he had an icepack held to a throbbing point on his head and was walking out of the hospital behind his father, who had said nothing to him yet. When they reached the car, Kei got in, turning it on and buckling up even before Krad had closed the door. The loud noise made him cringe, and buckling was slow for him.

When it finally clicked, he glanced up at Kei, who had been watching him for the past few seconds. For as much as he wanted to say something, no words came out and he reluctantly sank back into his seat and looked out the window.

Still without a word, Kei started driving. More than halfway home while they were stopped at a red light, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

The words seemed so sudden and unexpected that Krad at first imagined that he'd even heard them and turned to look at Kei. It was when his father continued to look at him that he realized he needed to reply and answered slowly, "Sick…"

Kei nodded. "We'll get something to eat," he said; the light turned green and he drove for a moment before pulling into a fast food lane. Ordering what had once been 'the usual' for his family and himself, he handed Krad a bag and said, handing him three orange bottles from his pocket, "Take one of each when you start eating."

He kindness of the gesture was lost though Krad didn't think to obey and popped off the lids until he had one of each pill. Closing them, he handed them back to Kei, placing them in his outstretched hand before he put them all in his mouth at once and took a great sip from his drink. It hurt when they went down his throat, but it felt so good to have something to drink that he kept sipping even long after they were gone. He picked at the fries, not caring if they were oversaturated with fat and salt; his stomach was growling and Kei had bought him the food so he'd eat it.

Kei read the disappointment on his son's face before he pulled out of the parking lot. "One of them was a pain killer," he informed, as if that was going to make it any better.

"Oh," Krad answered awkwardly. "…Thanks."

From the driver's seat next to him, Kei sighed. "…So, you don't have to go to school tomorrow but the doctor says you should be fine on Wednesday."

"I'm tired," Krad mumbled, his eyes half lidded as he continued to snack on the food.

"You can go straight to bed when we get home, I won't ask for you to do any chores. Did you finish your homework from before the break?"

"I think so. I'll check tomorrow."

"Good boy," Kei said in what was almost a praise.

Krad just shrugged. A moment of silence ticked by and then he asked, "Do you hate me, Dad?" He kept his eyes focused on the warm food in front of him and didn't miss Kei glance at him out of the corner of his eyes.

Regardless, there was no answer.

Kei looked back at the road and continued to drive home, silent.

It was less of an answer than he would have liked, but it made Krad wonder if he would have liked the verbalization any more; he finished his meal and then tenderly lay back in his seat, closing his eyes. He didn't sleep, instead allowing himself to just relax. The throbbing was subsiding, though his fatigue and sleepiness seemed to be growing with each passing moment.

He might have dozed, or just been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't realize they were home until he heard the door to the car open and blinked awake, seeing Kei stepping out of the vehicle. Hurrying was not the best idea, but thinking that he could be out of the light, in bed, tucked in comfortably was enough to make him hasten.

His head was barely throbbing as he unbuckled and collected the trash from the meal, stepping out of the car and closing the door before following Kei. He didn't know where his father went as he stepped into the kitchen and threw away the trash, all he knew was that as he was halfway up the stairs, Kei was calling his name from the foot of the stairs.

So close, and yet so far away, Krad slowly turned to look down at his father. "Yeah?" he asked, seriously hoping Kei wasn't going to find some reason to chew him out or keep him from the bed he so craved.

"I don't hate you."

There was a moment of silence once again between the two; the awkwardness was every rising. "…What?" Krad asked rather dully.

"I said, I don't hate you. You just…frustrate me. I don't know what to do with you sometimes," Kei confessed, reaching up to massage at his eyes from beneath his glasses in a mannerism that was so like the one Satoshi had adopted.

"…If you could exchange me for another kid, would you?" Krad tested, not phased by the look of irritation his father gave him. "You're just asking for trouble when you ask questions like that, Krad. Be happy with your family and they'll be happy with you. Stop being so troublesome, you're only making it worse for yourself."

It wasn't that Kei didn't miss Krad' shoulders slumping, it was just that he didn't know what to say to correct himself and didn't want to make a fool of himself or seem weak.

"…Got it," Krad relayed as he turned around. "…Night, dad."

Kei sighed as he watched the boy go, once again reaching up to rub at his eyes. He would have given the world to have the boy's mother back to deal with this. He knew he was doing it wrong, he knew it. He couldn't help the angry emotions that were always clouding his judgment, pr the harsh words that fell from his lips, he just…didn't know what to do. All that was clear to him was that he didn't want to lose his son—and even if that meant he had to be the monster in Krad's life that steered him back onto the straight path, he'd do what he had to.

Unaware and relatively uncaring of Kei's guilt, Krad walked into his room and grunted at the void doorframe. He stripped and changed before crawling into bed. Sleep was an ally and claimed him quickly. He slept until noon the next day and didn't bother changing out of his pajamas, he just went downstairs, intent on quelling his roaring stomach. He peeked into the driveway to make sure Kei's car was gone and, knowing Satoshi was in school, went into the kitchen and made himself something to eat.

The evening passed uneventfully; Satoshi came home and retired to his room to work on a project while Krad got ready for school the next day and went to take another nap. His head was killing him but when he went to check for some sort of pain relief he was met with nothing but empty cabinets and had since given up on any sort of relief.

At eight there was a knocking on his doorframe and he could make out Satoshi's silhouette from the hallway light. "What?" he grumbled, rolling over and drawing the blankets up over his head.

"Dinner time," Satoshi replied stoically, walking in and turning on the lights. "So wake up."

"I'm not hungry," Krad huffed, not looking at his younger brother.

"Dad says you have to eat something when you take the pills."

Krad grumbled and very much wanted to throw something at Satoshi, though restrained himself and sat up. "Whatever. Come in."

Satoshi did so with little hesitation; he placed the TV dinner on Krad's bedside as well as three pills and a glass of water. "I'm supposed to watch you while you take the pills and call dad later, but I don't have time. Just take them. Dad says don't forget about your appointment tomorrow after school."

"Is that it?" Krad asked dryly, half glowering at his brother.

"…I guess," Satoshi said, sighing. "…You feeling okay? I haven't seen you around much."

"I'd warrant that's because you've been ignoring me," Krad clipped as he lifted the three pills and took them once again simultaneously; he didn't know which one was the one to stop his headache, he just knew that it was worth it to take the other two as well.

Satoshi didn't reply to this, just sighed. "Dad's gonna stay at work late tonight. He said he might not be back until tomorrow night. You have to take three more pills tomorrow morning and call him when you get to your appointment and when you get home."

"Thanks mom," Krad said through clenched teeth, irritated that his younger brother was allowed to have such authority over him.

Their mother was a sensitive topic, so Satoshi just sneered and left, turning off the light in Krad's room on his way out just to be an ass about it. Not that Krad cared about eating in darkness; the food was gone in only a few moments. Alarm set, he went to bed without once thinking about the next day.

When he first woke up due to the screeching of his electronic alarm, he meandered into the bathroom and did his usual ritual, coming out dressed and showered a few long moments later. He had about half an hour at least before Satoshi was anywhere near ready to catch the bus, so he walked into his room and grabbed his backpack.

Once downstairs, he threw it carelessly by the door and went to make something to eat, grimacing at the plate with three pills sitting out for him on the counter. He took them with a piece of toast and a glass of chocolate milk before he released a heavy grown and glanced outside. Entranced in his thoughts about nothing, he didn't hear Satoshi getting ready for school until his brother spoke from just behind him, "It's dark."

Krad suddenly froze and slowly turned. "What?" he asked, voice shallow.

"I said," Satoshi grumbled as he went about making himself his own piece of toast, "It's dark. Outside? The sun hasn't come up yet."

"Oh," Krad blinked, glancing out the window. Satoshi's words were true enough, though the image of his tan skinned, dark haired friend flicked through his face. Today, he was going to see Dark. It would have been the first time since Thanksgiving. He and Dark hadn't spoken at all since then and a fierce chill ripped through him.

"Hey. You okay?" Satoshi asked; he eyed the empty plate.

"…Yeah. I'm just fine. Got a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, I'd imagine," Satoshi said with a small shrug. "…You gonna be okay, today?"

"…Probably," Krad answered, glancing at his brother. He was relieved that while Satoshi still seemed slightly awkward, he at least was still acting like a friend. "Have you talked to Daisuke recently?"

"Yeah. And Dark," Satoshi replied, seeming to read his mind.

"…Oh. Yeah, all right."

"Why, something on your mind?"

Krad shook his head and sighed, head hanging. "…No. Just hope today's going to be an easy day."

Satoshi watched for a few minutes longer and then released a slow breath. "…Well, there's only one way to find out."

Grimly, Krad nodded and made his way to the door, heaving his backpack up over his shoulders. Satoshi followed wordlessly.