Hey! yeah, I know, took me a while. ... A long while ^^' sorry.. I don't have excuse.. .'

Anyway, it's not stated but this chapter take place the same day as the last one.

... One time I should make a long chapter... ar.. maybe if I'm not to lazy x)

PS: Just warning you that each time a character is cooking well... don't expect it to be accurate... I suck in cooking x] (never really tried either, through..)

Disclaimer: This time I will only write key word in my disclaimer :D (best idea of the century) Vocaloid. Not. Mine.

Chapter 4: Cuts

Dame dame yo~

On hearing the sound of the ringing of my cell , I putted down my wooden spoon on the counter to go get my laptop that I had left on the table.

- '' Hello? '' I asked without knowing who called me, not having took the time to look at the display.

- '' Hey, I looked at your house from a telescope for a few days and wanted to know if you could give me your name? '' ...Eh, what? I remain silent one, two then three seconds before hearing the man laughing at the other end of the line.

Immediately , I knew who had spoken to me.

- '' Hey Kaito... '' I said in a flat tone .

- '' Oh man , I so would have liked to see your expression!''

- '' What does me the honor of receiving such a call?'' I took back my spoon and started to slightly brew the stew I was preparing. Having a guest, I would have liked to rather make a meal a little less... cheap but I needed to do the groceries (since there wasn't much food left in my house) and a stew was a good option for what little I had.

- '' I just wanted to know if you would like to go out to eat with me? I don't really feel like cooking and I don't like going to restaurants alone.''

- '' Sorry Kaito, I can't. I invited Miku and I'm already cooking. '' I told him on an apologetic tone.

- '' Would it be alright if I come over?'' I really liked Kaito; he's a good friend ( and colleague ) and he always found a way to make me feel better when I had problems (even if his humor could be strange at time). My thoughts flew to Miku who was taking a shower. Inviting a man would probably not the best idea at the moment... But it is only Kaito. I knew it was a fact that it could not be Kaito who tarnishes tealette but still... I didn't want Miku to be uncomfortable.

Furthermore I had planned to talk to her about that.

But maybe I could involve Kaito... He might even know what to do, like usual...

- '' Luka? Are you okay? ''

No. I couldn't do that. It was my responsibility and Miku trusted me with it.

Trusting me that I wouldn't reveal her secret.

Trusting me that I would know what to do.

-" Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired." I said not really lying since I did not have a lot of sleep. "Sorry again but it'll be better if you didn't come. Miku and I were planning to work on a song we have to write together and I don't want you to feel left out." I lied , sounding convincing but my pity of an excuse probably costing me my credibility...

Surprisingly, I heard the blue haired man laugh.

- " It's ok Luka. You must have your reasons, no need to give me a lame excuse. I'll just ask someone else."
- "Sorry.. Maybe next time. I have to leave you, supper's ready, bye." Said I as I took my pot off the cooker.

- " Yeah, maybe next time. Ciao darling ~" he uttered his last sentence on a sharp tone, almost singing it before hanging up.

I put my phone back in my pocket and started plating.

Then, I realised something:

Miku had been in the bathroom for over half an hour.

And that's a pretty long time for taking a shower.

I rushed to said room door and knocked.

-"Miku, food's ready."

No answer.

-"Miku?" Said I, starting to get worried.

-"I'm coming, don't enter." I raised an eyebrow. The 'don't enter' part not really easing the worried section of my brain.

I heard something fall: the sound of metal falling on ceramic.

- "Miku, what are you doing? I'm starting to get worried here". I did everything I could to try sound calm_witch was notthe case at all.

- "I'm dressing, just wait a second.." I heard the door being unlocked.

-"There. Here I am. Sorry to have worried you, I just lost track of the time." My blood froze.

She had talked with a smile_a fake smile, an almost guilty one.

But it was not her face that caught my attention.

No, what drew my attention was her arm stretched forward to open the door, which she quickly moved behind her back like the other.

This gesture that would have seemed trivial and normal at any other time, now gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.

- " Miku... Can I see your arms? " I asked slowly , looking into her teal eyes.

She seemed surprised for a split second and opened her mouth, probably to protest. She closed it and, fleeing my eyes, slowly did as I asked and held out her arms.

In the motion, the sleeves of the gray sweatshirt she wore remounted just enough for me to see bandages under the fabric of the garment. Tarnishes by blood dry, or not.

I swallowed and took her left hand in mine and squeezed it gently before rising a little more up hers sleeve, bandage now very visible.

If there were a few moments, the possibility that I had imagined these bandages was present, now she was no longer.

I signed processing the information.

-"Did you? Just now?" I started really feeling like shit and couldn't think of anything nor say a proper sentence.

-"No! No I-I didn't!" She hastened to say, immediately making me feel a bit better but still worried and now confused. She continued, sounding guilty "W-well.. I mean, I did but... It was before... I don't know what passed through my mind then... I'm sorry..."

She withdrew her arm from my grip and then, under my eyes, began to unroll the bandages using her other hand.

-"But for some reason, when I get nervous, they get itchy and when I scratch... They reopen." Her forearm now discovered, she held it out back to me. "I tried nursing them but as you can see I didn't do a really good job..."

Indeed she didn't.

Her arm, which was still bleeding a little, was turning almost purple in some place. Luckily, they did not seem infected. Well, not yet.

For a moment I had to wonder why neither I nor anyone else had noticed these marks before realizing that Miku had worn the detached sleeves from our official clothing as vocaloid every time she wasn't wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

I sighed again, silently this time.

I close my eyes for a moment and pinched her cheek. She immediately raised her head to look at me with a questioning look in her eyes and her mouth slightly open.

I put my arms around her neck, not trying to be too brusque. Still, she tried to push me back but I wasn't doing this for her. Right now, I was doing this for me. For some reason, I needed to hold her to assure myself that she was here. Regardless it hurt a little that even though she had accepted me touching her before, she still wasn't comfortable with it.

-"Don't ever try to kill or harm yourself. Don't be sorry, just don't do it again.." I demand, doing all I could to hold back tears.

The thought that my friend was injured to the point of physically hurting herself made me feel again all the shame and guilt of not having done anything before.

But now wasn't the time for that.

I let go of her.

-''Come on, follow me.'' I said in a somewhat tired voice while indicating her to return in the bathroom with my arm.

She looked at me with big innocent eyes, asking me a silent question in her eyes as I was about to enter the bathroom.

-'' Someone got to take care of these correctly before you get them infected.'' Added I, in explanation. Supper was now far in the back on my mind replaced by needing to nurse my wounded friend. ''Can you sit on the bath tub and roll up your sleeves please?'' I asked while trying to find the Peroxide and some new bandages in my first aid kit.

-'' Are you mad? '' She asked me as, in the corner of my eye, I could see her execute my demand. Angry? I thought of the question. Mad... Sure, I was a bit shocked but I was not mad.

-'' Nah. Don't worry, I'm not mad.'' To support my statements, I smiled as I knelt in front of her, a soaked washcloth in hand.

Ok, the three step of nursing a wound: First; cleaning the wound, second; disinfecting the wound, third; bandaging the wound. It was pretty simple and I actually wasn't sure how Miku had managed to mess this up.

Still, I chose to make no comment about it.

-'' Sorry, but I will have to touch you again. I won't hurt you but it may sting a little.'' I hold up my free hand and, understanding my undercover request, she hold out her first arm for me to take. Which I did and started to slowly clean the wound, being as gentle as I could to not hurt her when I rubbed the washcloth again her skin.

We both stayed silent until I finished and that both her forearms were now in enveloped in new cleans bandages.

-''There, finish!'' I announced with a smile while getting up. ''Let's go eat now. I'm starving!''