AMU'S POV

I flopped down on my bed, sighing heavily. I'd just gotten off the phone with Nagi. He'd told me that small injuries often turn into large bruises. I don't think he understood just how big of a bruise I was talking about. It was practically his whole arm! From below his elbow and probably up to his shoulder! Feeling hopeless, I sat up and stared at my phone. Maybe giving Kukai a call and asking again wouldn't be such a bad idea?

I was just about to dial his number when my phone began to ring.

"Hello?" I answered it, finding out quickly that it was Utau. "Amu, we need to talk. Now. Meet me at the park. She demanded and hung up. What could Utau possibly want? Did it have something to do with Kukai? And that bruise? Had Utau spoken with Kukai and figured out what it was from? If so, why couldn't Utau just tell me over the phone? Shrugging, I head to the park.

When I arrived at the park, Utau was waiting for me with a cross look on her face.

"Hey Utau!" I waved, running over to her.

"Explain yourself," She demanded.

"What?"

"How did you find out about that bruise?"

"Huh? I saw it... why?"

"How and when did you see it?

"I saw it the other day, when Kukai and I were in town. We were splashing water from the fountain and he didn't want to get his sleeves wet so he rolled them up. I tried to get a closer look at it when he stayed the night at my house because it was late and my mother offered for him to stay..." Utau frowned and crossed her arms.

"Stay away from Kukai, Amu." Everything is your fault. So just stay away!" She yelled before stomping off to her fancy car and speeding away. I stared in confusion, not sure of what had just happened. My fault? What was my fault?

UTAU'S POV

It was completely clear now. I understood why Kukai had left me like that, why he was being distant, and why he wouldn't share his problems with me. It was Amu's fault. While Kukai was ignoring my calls, he was off having a splash war with Amu! While i was leaving him hundreds of voice mails worriedly and missing him, he was spending the night at Amu's house! I'll bet he even stayed in her bedroom! She doesn't know anything about Kukai! Him spending the night at Amu's most likely fueled the violence of Kukai's brother. Amu just makes it worse for him. She doesn't know him, not like I do...

NAGIHIKO'S POV

A huge bruise reaching from the elbow all the way up to the shoulder? It sounded exaggerated, but Amu-chan seemed fairly worried about it. If the bruise was really as big as she described, it was unlikely to be something like a soccer injury. Sure, it was possible to get bumped or take a heavy fall in soccer, which often cause's some big bruises… but what bothered me most about Soma's so-called 'recent' soccer injury, was that 'recently' soma had been taking a break from soccer. In fact, he'd only participated once this season. I was there that day he played, and he went injury free. So it was impossible for the bruise to have come from soccer. Soma's not known to tell lies… Ever.

Is it possible… that Hotori might have some kind of idea?

AMU'S POV – NEXT DAY

Kukai was absent from school. It made me worry. Something must've happened between him and Utau. Even Nagi seemed uneasy, even though he was the one who told me not to worry and that it was nothing. I guessed Nagi had told Rima something too because she kept looking at me weird. I guess it didn't surprise me that Nagi would mention what I said to Rima… They were a couple after all... must be nice… I shook the thought out of my head. Dreaming about couples is not what I should be doing when I was so worried about Kukai. I felt like I had to do something, things couldn't be left the way they were.

I sat on a bench just outside of the school, opened my phone, and dialed Kukai's number. It rang a few times before stopping, it didn't even get to voicemail, and it just stopped. He'd hung up my call? Why? Was he angry with me like Utau was? I didn't even know what I'd done…

NAGIHIKO'S POV – THAT EVENING

"Why are we going to Kukai's house?" Hotori asked while walking down the sidewalk.
"Do you remember last year when Soma dropped out of soccer and seemed different than usual?" I asked. About a year ago Soma quit sports, seemed spaced out, and often had unusual injuries. Amu-chan never noticed before, and I could never exactly figure out what was going on, I had a few good guesses but couldn't prove them. Hotori however knew everything, although he'd never tell...

Hotori frowned and stopped walking.

"I do remember. Why do you ask?"

"Amu-chan asked me something strange the other day about Soma, and it made me think of it. It made me realize that now it similar to back then... Soma is 'taking a break' from sports and wasn't at school today."

Hotori stared at me with a grim look before turning and continuing towards Soma's house, but now, his pace was much faster.

TADADSE'S POV

I remember very clearly. Only Utau and I knew the whole truth; the truth of Kukai's home life, and family. Although, I had thought the problems had been resolved and everything back to normal... clearly I was mistaken.

It all started over a year ago, a fatal accident occurred while Kukai's parents were away on vacation. His parents were involved in a crash, there were no survivors. It had been kept really quiet around here and not very many people heard about it. Kukai didn't tell anybody but Utau and I. It was really hard on Kukai and his four brothers, particularly the eldest, Kaido. Overnight he became responsible for his whole family. Kaido used to be a friendly tease. He and Kukai would play-fight and Kaido would pick on Kukai as an older brother usually does. It was the typical brother relationship. But after the accident he became aggressive and violent through stress. Play-fighting turned into real beating, laughter turned into yelling, Kaido took up alcohol, and his old self vanished. Kukai, being the youngest, was his victim most of the time, although the other three were treated similarly. At that time only Kaido, the second, and third eldest were over 18. But Shusui and Unkai, the second and third eldest, didn't do anything about it. They couldn't even afford to move out. Kukai's family never was very rich, and with their money split up between the brothers, they all had to pitch in for their house and for food.

Kukai always came to school with cuts and bruises, some large, some small. He'd try to hide it and when anybody asked the excuse was always sports related. 'I got bumped in soccer.' Or 'I tripped in basketball.' Is what he'd say. But Kukai quit soccer, basketball, and every other sports activity he participated in. Kukai never told anybody what was going on. He didn't hate his brother, he didn't even dislike him. It was quite the opposite actually. After all, they did grow up happily together. Kukai was awfully good at acting happy and at first seemed normal. Everybody seemed to either believe Kukai's sports injury stories or just leave the matter alone altogether. Kukai refused to talk about it, and one day he suddenly quit soccer and sports saying he wanted to take a break from it all. He stopped answering Utau's calls and would avoid her as much as possible. Kukai's normal out-going self became reclusive. I'm surprised Amu-chan noticed something wrong this time, when last time she was completely oblivious to the whole thing. Then again... maybe this time isn't like last time... maybe nothing is actually wrong.

"What exactly did Amu-chan say that made you worry?" I asked Fujisaki-san as we approached Kukai's house.

"She told me of a bruise Soma has that is apparently takes up his whole arm. He told her it was from soccer, which I'd believe if Soma was actually playing soccer this year." He replied. I take it back. This is exactly like before. Even though it had ended... It began again.

Fujisaki-san and I walked up to the front door and knocked. I guessed Kukai might not exactly be happy to see us.

KUKAI'S POV

If I ignore the knocking, it will go away! ...Or at least that's what I hoped. I don't know who is at the door, but it's not being answered. If the door's for my parents, they are out of luck because I don't have any. If it's for Shusui, Unkai, or Rento they are still out of luck because they spend a lot of time away from home with friends. If it was for Kaido, then either he's too drunk to answer the door, or he's not home. I don't know which. And lastly, if it's for me... I don't want to talk to them. I'd rather lay on my floor and stay perfectly still.

Knocking, knocking, knocking... They just don't give up.

I rolled onto my side and stared at my bedroom door. Did I dare go down stairs? Did I dare to discover what Kaido was doing down there? I sighed and somehow pulled myself to my feet, it hurt to stand. Creeping downstairs slowly, I realized Kaido wasn't home after all. Unfortunately the knocking hadn't stopped either, so I had to answer the door.

Tadase and Nagi... I slammed the door closed again. Why them? Of all people to knock on the front door, it had to be them? They even had those 'concerned' type of expressions.

"We're coming in!" they called out as they opened the door on me. I backed up and watched as Tadase looked over me. So, who told him? Utau? Probably...

"We have something to ask you." He stated as Nagi shut the door behind them. I suppose if I had to choose two people to tell, these two were the best choice. Well... Nagi's sometimes hard to talk to... he was a girl for half the time I knew him, so you might understand why talking to him like a normal guy might be difficult. I nodded and led them upstairs into my room, the cleanest room of the house.

"So, what do you want to ask?" I asked once we were upstairs. Honestly I didn't think I wanted to know but they'd ask anyway.

"Well, Amu-chan gave me a call," Nagi began. Great... so it was Amu. She was worried... which meant she noticed something wrong... I guess it was my fault; I let my guard down around her too much. But I just couldn't help it.

"Kukai, its happening again isn't it?" Tadase stated bluntly, interrupting Nagi. Nagi looked confused slightly. Obviously Tadase hadn't told him anything. My eyes seemed to wander everywhere but Tadase, I avoided looking at him.

"It is right?" Tadase continued. I half nodded, leaning onto the desk in my room.

"Why?" He asked.

"My brother lost his job... and his girlfriend dumped him," I mumbled still not looking at either Tadase or Nagi.

"That's it? That's why?"

"I guess so..."

"Wait. What is going on?" Nagi interrupted in confusion. Tadase looked at me with that kind of expression that mentally asked permission to explain. I noticed it out of the corner of my eye and nodded. I listened as Tadase basically summarized my life, it made me agitated. When he finished we were all silent.

"I had no idea," Nagi mumbled breaking the silence. "We have to do something about this," He continued.

"No. You don't." I snapped back irritably. "Don't say or do anything. It's my problem, not yours!" I continued, incidentally raising my voice. I don't know where my anger came from. I knew they were trying to help me. But their help is not needed. Nobody said anything more after that, we didn't even look at each other.

It wasn't long before we heard the front door downstairs slam.

"You guys should go." I mumbled. They nodded and I followed them out of my room. As I had thought, Kaido was home. He glared at Tadase and Nagi as the two quietly left. It was quiet for a moment as I watched out the window to see them walk away down the street hesitantly, looking back at my house every so often. Soon they were out of sight. I turned my attention to Kaido. You could almost see the anger rising off of him.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. I closed my eyes and wished my friends had not come to visit me.