It wasn't until after the moment had already past and it was too late to even try to fix things that guilt settles in decided Niou as he stared at the limp form of Yagyuu Hiroshi. A livid bruise was forming along his jaw and the bandages around his eyes were mangled. Niou still didn't feel bad for stripping the boy of his sight; he didn't even feel bad for his recent assault. Those were selfish actions, and they must have hurt the formerly bespectacled boy, but Niou didn't care because each and every movement was a ploy to bind Yagyuu's fate more tightly to his own. He had decided that if their red strings of fate were tied to different people, then he would snap the threads and knot them together himself. Guilt ignored Yagyuu's physical wounds, instead striking Niou with the knowledge that he had broken his friend, his love.

When his restraints were first destroyed, Niou had thought that he wouldn't mind dragging Yagyuu down with him into hell. It was better than being tortured with the sight of him forever out of reach, wasn't it? But he hadn't counted on Yagyuu breaking, not in the way he did. The boy had come to consciousness long ago, but he wasn't Yagyuu anymore. He had been replaced by a doll-like creature not at all like the proud boy Yagyuu was. As it turned out, a broken Yagyuu wasn't really Yagyuu at all. He was shattered, just as his glasses were. A thousand shimmering pieces, but none of them would fit together, not anymore.

Niou was no fool. He knew that as he tried to tie himself to Yagyuu, as he tried to fight fate, he was twining the crimson strand around the boy's neck, strangling the person he cared about most. He had ruined Yagyuu beyond repair, and he knew who to blame. Not Oshitari, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself it was the bastard's fault, he knew it wouldn't work. The only person he could blame was himself.

Niou threaded his fingers through the loose strands in Yagyuu's hair, turning his face so that he would look directly into the boy's lifeless eyes that peeked out through the bandages.

"I did it. It's my fault. I'm sorry Yagyuu… I'm sorry…" he whispered. I broke you and I can't fix you now, no matter how badly I want to, but… at least you're mine.