Len felt as if he had been smacked across his face. Miku never looked hurt, or acted as if things were bad. Actually, he thought Miku had it going for her. "But she's never been bruised up before," Len slowly whispered.

Rin took a deep breath. "It's mostly verbal and emotional abuse. All she ever hears at home is how she'll never make it as a singer or how she'll never fulfill her dreams. When she feels that she's at her lowest is when she becomes victim to the never ending insults. She's almost never physically harmed, but when she is . . ." Rin hung her head as she trailed off.

"Can't she call the police?" Len blurted.

"And do what?" Rin snorted. "Miku-Chan's parents are divorced, and after her mom lost her job and the later the house Miku-Chan was taken from her mom's custody and given to her dad and that witch of a wife he has. She has no other close relatives so she's pretty much on her own."

Len bit his lip. He never imagined Miku having such a tough life. "How can someone who's always being discouraged have so much confidence?" he wondered aloud.

Rin shrugged. "She's Miku, she's not afraid of what anybody thinks. Miku knows her talent, she's not blind to it. Miku knows that if she tries hard enough then her dreams will be reality. She may hear countless insults at home, but it's what here friends think that matter most to her." Grabbing Len she said, "Now let's go home, it looks as if it's going to rain."

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Miku sighed as she threw herself on her bed. She was super lucky that neither her father nor step-mother were back from work yet or else she might have gotten into trouble. Her dad was an alcoholic who cared nothing for her, and her step-mom was a wicked woman who treated Miku as a slave. It was a miracle in and of itself that Miku wasn't as bad as she should have been, and Miku had no plans to ever have anybody label her as "a troubled teen."

Miku took off her black sweater, exposing a large white bandage on her arm, and she lightly touched the top of the bandage to test if it still hurt. When slight pressure didn't prove to be too painful, Miku unwrapped the cover, allowing the large burn mark to show itself. Miku winced at the memory. She had been slapped so hard across her face that she lost her balance and burned her arm on the stove.

As for the bruises, she received them when she went home late only a night ago. Normally her punishments weren't so physical; usually she wasn't allowed to eat dinner or she had to spend the day locked in her room (which was bare minus the bed and dresser) with nothing to do for her cell phone and keyboard were taken away. The room was so empty that she had nothing but the walls to talk to.

Miku quietly yelped when she rubbed the ointment on her burn, but soon relaxed when the coolness of the cream eased some of the hot pain. She had always been a fast healer, so maybe in a few days the burn wouldn't be so noticeable. After she had finished, Miku looked closer at her arms. They were still there; they were faint, but they were still there. The memory played through Miku's head as if it were a movie.

"It's a little hot for a sweater, isn't it?" fourteen year old Rin asked Miku before class one day.

"I'm cold," Miku lied, but Rin seemed to have bought it for she didn't bring it up after that.

After school that day and before heading home, Miku, alone in the girls' room, rolled up her sleeve. "Didn't do a good job wrapping it up," she thought bitterly as her scarlet blood slowly dripped down her arm. It wasn't as bad as it was the night before, and most of the blood had dried and gotten crusty, but every time she moved her arm in a certain way her cut would stretch and separate, allowing more blood to flow. "I should just wrap it tighter," Miku thought as she turned on the water. It was right when she had finished unwrapping her bandages when Rin, who Miku thought had went home, walked in.

Rin's eyes went big when she saw the blood on Miku's arm. "Miku!" she cried as she ran towards her friend. "Are you okay?! Did Akita do this to you?!"

"No!" Miku said as she jerked her arm out of Rin's grasp.

"Then what happened?!" Rin asked, showing no signs of calming down.

"I cut myself!" Miku admitted bitterly. "I cut myself and now it won't stop bleeding!"

Rin stared at Miku as if she were looking at her for the first time. "Why would you do that?" Rin quietly asked, eyes looking sad.

"The pain makes me forget," Miku grumbled, but not unkindly, as she washed her scared arm.

"Forget what?" Rin asked. When Miku glared at her, Rin said, "I don't mean to pry, but I don't understand why you would hurt yourself like that." When she saw Miku wasn't answering she said, "Come on Miku, we're friends. You can tell me."

Miku hung her head, letting her fringe cover her eyes in case of tears. "Nobody cares about me. I spent my whole life being treated horribly by my own father and ignored by other kids. It all hurts so much that I have to cut myself in order to forget."

Rin stared at Miku for a moment, then she calmly said. "It's not true."

"What?!" Miku snapped as she glared at Rin.

"You said that nobody cares about you," Rin said. "It's not true. You do have somebody who cares about you, Miku. Me." Rin reached out and grabbed the stunned Miku's arm. She studied the scars as she looked for the next words to say. "I may not have a clue what you could possible have gone through, or what you're going through now, but you will always have somebody to always be there for you."

"Who?" Miku asked. She wasn't expecting Rin to be so calm over such a situation, but Rin seemed as if she had seen this countless times before.

"Me, Silly," Rin answered. "I promise that I'll always be there whenever you need someone to talk to. I promise to protect you from anything that would hurt you. I promise."

"Rin . . ." Miku said but trailed off.

Rin made eye contact with Miku and smiled. "You promised to always protect me from bullies, the least I can do is always protect you from feeling lonely."

"Th-thank you," Miku quietly said.

"Miku, one more thing," Rin said, "please stop hurting yourself. I don't like seeing you like this, so please don't do it again."

"I don't think you can simply say 'Please stop' and then I magically no longer feel the need to do it," Miku said.

"Then call me whenever you feel the need," Rin said. "Perhaps if you talk about it and get it off your chest then maybe you won't feel like you have to cut yourself anymore."

Miku blinked the tears from her eyes. Maybe on the outside this wasn't a very emotional moment, but to Miku it was the most emotional thing she had ever gone through. She never knew anyone cared so much for her, and it was strength to know that you were no longer alone.

Miku rolled over on her bed. Rin had always kept her promise, to protect Miku from feeling so depressed and useless, but now Miku couldn't help but feel that way. Miku took a deep breath. Talking to Rin had always made her feel better, but now she felt as if something was lacking on the inside. But . . . what was it?

Author's Note: I have some horrible, horrible news about this story that I really wish I didn't have to share, but . . . *deep breath* . . . I'm putting this story on hiatus. I have come across a huge writer's block and I just can't seem to get past it. Even though I do write chapters ahead of time so that I can continue publishing in case of writer's block, this was actually the last one I had so there aren't any more chapters as of right now. :(

I do, however, feel as if all I need to do at the moment is simply take a break from this story and work on some of my other projects, most of which I hope to publish soon. I really do appreciate everyone for reading this and it makes my day whenever someone leaves a kind review so I really wish this wasn't happening. I have no intentions whatsoever of dropping this story but it will be an incredibly long time before the next update. :( I am really, really sorry about this and I hope everyone can forgive me.

-Ray