Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry for taking forever to do this! Two months! My life came and jumped on me all at once...and I still have so much stuff to do! -flail-

Anyway, please enjoy, and thanks for sticking with me so long!

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I ran down the empty hallways of the school, footsteps echoing off of the walls. It was still early and I was sure I was the only one up. I found my way to the headmistress's office. I needed to find out where Fay lived before I could go anywhere. It was hard to believe that I had known Fay for most of my life and I still had no idea where he lived.

I grabbed the doorknob on the office door, and, even though I wasn't surprised the door was locked, it was frustrating nonetheless. After a few tries I managed to kick the door open. I stepped inside and headed for the gray filing cabinets in the back of the room. I pulled on the drawer marked "F" only to find that to be locked as well.

"Damn it!" I spat, pulling on the drawer harder.

"You know, it works better with a key."

I turned around quickly, facing the speaker, "Obviously..."

"Is there any particular reason why you have broken into my office at 5:42 in the morning and are attempting to break into my filing cabinet?" Yuko asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yes..." I responded impatiently.

"Do I get to know this reason?"

"I need Fay's address."

"You don't have the right to access that information, Kurogane." Yuko said, setting a few items on her desk, "And, you could be severely punished for just breaking into my office. However, because I am a forgiving person, and also a little absent minded I'm going to leave the items on my desk there and leave the room for thirty seconds and hope that you are gone when I return." Yuko grinned before stepping back out of the room.

I jumped up and studied the items on the desk until I found the keys. I grabbed them, shoved the appropriate one into the slot, and pulled on the drawer; it eased open. I f thumbed through the folders until I found what I was looking for.

"Flourite, Fay D." I breathed. I pulled out the folder and opened it up. I quickly memorized the address inside. It was in a wealthier district on the other side of town. It would take at least half an hour to run there, maybe a little less. I shoved the folder back into its spot and, after closing the drawer, ran from the room. As I sprinted past Yuko she gave me an overly serious stare.

"Don't waste time." She said before stepping into her office.

I didn't have time to question what she knew. I hurried out of the school. My feet slammed against the pavement and my breath turned to mist in the early morning air.

---

By the time I reached the home that was supposedly Fay's, the sun had already risen and it was slightly warmer out. I stared up at the house; mansion seemed more appropriate though. I jumped the brick wall and walked quickly up the walkway. I threw open the door so hard that it hit the wall behind it. The inside of the house was significantly more impressive than the outside. The hallways I stood in was brightly lit with a chandelier and everything was practically sparkling it was so clean.

A tall man, he maybe had three or four inches on me, ran out in surprise. His hair was graying and he had a rather long beard. He was dressed in clothes which definitely said how much money he had. What stuck out most about him, however, were his eyes. They were a slightly duller shade of blue than Fay's and they were red around the edges, like he had stayed up all night or had too much to drink.

"Can I help you with something?" He asked, his slurred voice contrasting with his overall demeanor.

"Where is he?" I growled.

"Sir, I don't know...who you are, much less...who you are looking for." He replied, barely looking at me as he spoke.

"Liar!" I shouted. I grabbed the man's shirt collar and pressed him up against the wall, "You know exactly who I'm talking about!"

He let out a cold laugh, "What does it matter if I do?" He asked, his eyes staring unfocused on the wall behind me; I was close enough to smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Tell me where he is."

"He belongs to me." He began, "He killed the person I loved most in this world, it's only fitting that I give him the same pain he's given me." The man reached into his pocket and I heard the distinctive clicking of a pocket knife. The man suddenly pulled his hand out of his pocket and he thrust the knife toward my chest. However, he was drunk and slow, and I was faster. I grabbed the knife as it came at me with my free hand. I felt it cut into my hand but ignored the pain it gave me.

"Tell me where he is, now." I growled.

The man laughed, but did not give an answer. I glared at him and turned and threw him up against the wall, the knife landing somewhere between us. I gave him one last stare before running up the stairs in the hallway.

"Fay?!" I called, quickly walking through the hallway, opening doors and searching rooms. It surprised me how many different doors there were in this house, and in each room there were more doors, more places to search, more places Fay was not.

"Damn it!" I cursed as I opened up one of the remaining few doors and found myself in what had to be Fay's room.

There was a large bookshelf next to a bed, various art supplies scattered across a desk, and everything was coated in a thick layer of dust suggesting that nothing in this room had been cleaned or touched in years. What caught my eye however, were the bloody handprints on the closet door. I ran to the closet and threw the door open.

"No! Leave me alone!" Fay was in the furthest corner of the closet. His legs were pulled up to his chest and his head was hidden behind them.

"Damn it, don't just sit there, moron." I muttered, annoyance and complete relief in my voice.

"Kuro-sama...?" Fay lifted his head a little and one watery blue eye looked up at me. Moments after, he had me pulled down to the floor and his arms were wrapped around my neck and he buried his face in my chest. "Kuro-chan..." Fay was crying now. I carefully reached out and rested his hands on his back and pulled him closer to me. Fay's back was sticky and wet. I scowled and lifted one hand and saw that it was stained with blood.

My eyes widened and I pulled Fay away from me. I kept my hands on his shoulders and he looked away from me.

"Relax, geez, I'm not going to do anything." I muttered. Fay nodded and wrapped his arms around himself and bent over slightly, as if he was trying to hide himself from me. I pulled his arms away and saw that his shirt was either ripped or bloodstained. I frowned and carefully took his chin in my hand and turned his face toward me. His lips were cracked and bloody and there was a large gash under his left eye, which was black and swollen.

"What did he do to you...?" I more stated than asked.

"He had a knife." Fay mumbled.

"I know." I said, just remembering the cut on my hand.

"I didn't...he just..." Fay clenched his fists in his lap. "I didn't even say anything!" He shouted. I had never heard Fay yell before and it surprised me.

"I just walked in! He asked what I was doing here, and I said that I was getting my stuff from my room...and that was it!" Fay held back a sob and continued, "He kept telling me how it was my fault that my mother was dead...that because I was born, she was dead! She died because of complications during my birth, but it wasn't my fault! It wasn't...! I don't deserve this!" Fay then seemed to fold in on himself and he began crying again, "But, I feel bad for hating him because he's my father, and there are people like you who don't even have parents, and I feel like I should be happy that he's still here...but I'm not! I hate him!" Fay sat back up and rubbed at his eyes, "Sorry...I shouldn't have said that..."

"Is it true?" I asked.

"What?" Fay looked at me, confused.

"If it's true, then don't apologize. If you don't like someone, you don't have to." I stood up and carefully took Fay's arm and pulled him to his feet. "Get your stuff."

Fay nodded and grabbed a bag from the floor of the closet and began walking around the room, fitting as much as he could into the one bag. Fay's wounds were much more prominent in the light of the room, and it made me sick that Fay's father could do such things to him.

Once the bag was full I hoisted it over my shoulder, "Come on, you need to go to the hospital." I said, glancing down at my hand. I could probably use a bandage or two as well. I closed my hand into a fist and made my way out of the room, making sure that Fay was following me. I was shocked that he was still walking. Honestly, I had no idea how many cuts or bruises he had, but it had to be a high number for his shirt to be in the condition that it was, and I didn't know how much blood he had lost.

I began to walk down the stairs and felt Fay's fingers wrapping themselves around my sleeve. His father was still in the hallway where I left him, except the knife was in his hands now. Halfway down the stairs he looked at us, causing me to pause in my step.

"I have nothing to live for." He said. He looked behind me at Fay, "I've had nothing to live for...for eighteen years..." In a quick motion he brought the knife up to his throat and quickly cut across it.

My eyes widened in horror at what had just happened, and Fay's hands tightened around my arm and a choked shout escaped his throat.

Blood gushed from the man's wound, spilling down his chest and onto the floor. If I had wanted to do anything to save him, it wouldn't have mattered, he was already dead.

I turned around and Fay looked paler than he usually did.

"Hey..." I began, not really knowing what else to say.

Fay pushed past me and ran down the stairs, pointedly avoiding his father's dead body, and running outside, "Hey!" I called after him, thinking he was running away. Fay stopped once he was down the path and he leaned over the wall and threw up. I heard him shout something before he leaned over the wall again.

I glanced toward the body for a moment before deciding to call the police. I found the phone in a parlor room on the first floor and after I called the police and explained the situation I went outside and found Fay leaning over the wall coughing. I walked over to him and rubbed his back lightly. He continued to cry until after the police showed up. We were questioned by all of the cops there to the point where the story began to get annoying. They decided that we were in the clear and needed medical attention, so they drove us to the hospital. Fay passed out on the ride there.

---

Three hours later the two of us were let out of the hospital. Fay ended up needing stitches on his face and on various parts of his stomach. Everything else was either bandaged or just bruised. The hospital had given Fay a shirt to wear on the way home too.

Eventually, we caught a taxi and we rode back to the school in silence. We walked up to our room, ignoring the stares and questions of people in the halls.

I shut the door behind me once we were in the room and glanced toward Fay, who was lying face down on my bed, his face buried in my pillow.

I watched him for a minute, not really knowing what to say. What could one say after a situation like that? 'Hey, I'm sorry your father abused you to the point of unconsciousness and killed himself in front of you.' That would surely make Fay feel better.

I sat down at the foot of the bed and I linked my hands together in my lap. After a time the silence became overwhelming and I glanced back to look at Fay, who's only movements were the shaking of his shoulders telling me he was crying again.

"I have to figure out the funeral." Fay said, turning his head so his voice wouldn't be muffled. "Nobody else is around to do it..."

"I'll help." I said.

"I don't think anyone will come...I don't have any relatives. The only people who'll come would be his colleagues, or people who think they'd get something out of it." Fay was sitting beside me now.

"What do you mean?"

"Money." Fay stated bluntly, "We weren't exactly the poorest...family on the street."

"I noticed." I said, remembering the immenseness of Fay's house.

"My father didn't have a will or anything...so whatever's not used for the funeral will belong to me I guess." Fay rested his head on my shoulder before continuing. "It'll pay for college...It'll probably pay for you too if you'll let me pay it." Fay looked up at me seriously.

"What? No, you can't--"

"Yes, I can. And, I'm going to. I owe so much to you...I don't even think that'll settle the score but--"

"There is no score. I've done what I have because I've wanted to." I muttered.

"And, I'm doing this because I want to." Fay responded.

"But--"

"Too bad, end of discussion." Fay laughed quietly before kissing me gently on my cheek. "Thank you, Kuro-tan."

---

The funeral was small, as Fay predicted. There were maybe only ten people, all of whom, Fay said, worked underneath his father.

"What did your father do anyway?" I asked.

"He owned and operated most of the ski resorts and mountains in the popular areas north of here." Fay explained, pausing briefly as someone apologized to him for his loss. Fay merely nodded to them before looking back to me, "Though, I guess they all belong to me now...I'll probably sell them." Fay mused.

After a while the two of us were the only ones left standing beside the coffin. Fay turned toward the coffin and stared at it silently for a few minutes.

"You were never my father." Fay drew in a shaky breath before turning back to me, "Let's go do something fun." Fay said with a small smile.

And so, Fay and I went to the park and sat on the swings eating ice pops in our funeral attire.

"Two more weeks, Kuro-wan." Fay said, rocking the swing a bit.

"Huh?"

"We graduate in two more weeks." Fay elaborated with a sigh, "The best part of our life is over."

"We still have most of our lives ahead of us." I replied.

"True, true...but who knows where these next few years will take us. What if we grow apart? What if we go to different colleges and lose touch? What if--"

"You can't live life on 'what if's.'" I said, "If we don't want to lose touch, we won't. Besides, if I wanted to stop talking to you, I would have done it twelve years ago when I first found out how annoying you were."

Fay laughed and jumped off the swing. He landed easily on his feet and turned around to look at me, a charming smile on his face.

"Thank you so much, Kuro-rin." Fay said.

"For what?"

"For everything!"

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TT One more left guys! I may write random drabbles for this, or even continue it through college...but the planned ending is their graduation! And, that's the next chapter! -woe-

I'm sad.

Anyway, this chapter was really, really hard to write. I have a few issues with how Kurogane reacted to everything, but I think that's how he would act...so...

And, I feel like I made Fay not like Fay...but I guess that's alright, because I don't think it was too bad...

Thanks for reading! Wait for the next chapter, I'll try and have it up as soon as I can!