(Author's notes)

"SHOUTING"

"Speaking"

"Ayame's sadistic side speaking"

'Ayame's sadistic side thinking'

'Thoughts'

*actions*

// sound effect or flash//

I don't own Assassination classroom nor do I own the characters

Bold in last chapter is underlined in the last time part

Last time
"I hope they'll be alright" Ren spoke breaking the silence as he and karma charged out of their blood-soaked clothes in one of the hospital bathrooms which was spare clothing given by the hospital. "So do I, Sakakibara, so do I," Karma responded as they walked out to the waiting room. "Please call me Ren, Akabane. After the events of the last 2 hours I think a first-name basis is more acceptable, don't you?" Silence reigned for a few minutes as they sat there, before the redhead responded, " okay Saka- Sorry Ren it's going to take a little bit of time to get used to. I suppose you may call me Karma."

Now

7 hours later

"Asano?" The doctor called into the waiting room. Karma and Ren, who had stayed in the waiting room since bringing the twins into the hospital, stood from their seats at a speed that could rival Koro-Sensei. Making their way towards the doctor, they shared a look, before giving the doctor their full attention. "H-how are they?" Karma glanced towards Ren when he stuttered. "I believe it is best if we talk privately, please follow me to my office." Apprehension growing Ren had taken hold of the back of Karma's shirt, as a sort of grounding mechanism. Karma nodded to the doctor and began following, which in turn caused Ren to follow as well.

Upon arriving in the office, the doctor asked the pair to take the seats while he closed the door. Taking the seat behind the desk, the doctor pulled out the medical files, "you both are heroes. If you had gotten here a few minutes later then miss Asano would have died, and young Mr Asano would have received permanent brain and lung damage. After the extensive procedures the pair have undergone, we can assure you that physically they will be okay, mentally however cannot be guaranteed." Heaving a small sigh of relief a lot of tension disappeared from Karma's shoulders. "I must ask you boys a few questions, for health purposes of course, but looking at the extent of the pair's injuries, especially on miss Asano, I am finding a lot of signs that are leading towards a conclusion I am hoping is wrong. But, where exactly did you find the pair?" The doctor asked broaching the subject.

"We found them in their father's study of their house. They had been picked up from school by their father's chauffeur, Ayame had said she had a bad feeling, and knowing her history with her father, I went to follow the car, I lost it but knew the location of the house, I met Ren here, outside the building and we entered the house in search of the pair, we found them, the scene was-", "It was horrifying!" Ren cut in. "Seeing the extent of their condition, we promptly made our way here." Karma finished explaining the situation that lead to this point in time.

Silence echoed in the office as the doctor pondered the explanation he was given, "Mr..." he started rather unsure. Karma realising this responded, "Akabane." A flicker of recognition appeared in the doctor's eyes, "Mr Akabane, if you don't mind, I have a few more questions, the first being what is yours and Ren, was it? What are your relations to Mr and Miss Asano? I am aware that your parents are paying the hospital bill, which implies some form of closeness, but I need it for the file. And the second question, you implied something about Miss Asano having a bad history with her father, would you be able to elaborate?"

Karma contemplated the pros and cons of this information before agreeing and looking to a shaken-up Ren who nodded in return. "As for your first question, I am or rather I was a childhood friend of both Gakushuu and Ayame until their father decided that I was unworthy of their friendship, Gakushuu was always under the direct watch of their father so couldn't leave the house whereas Ayame would always find ways to sneak out and meet up and we kept our friendship hidden. But as of very recently, Ayame became my Girlfriend." Stopping Both Karma and the doctor turned to Ren, "I met Gakushuu and Ayame in our 4th year of elementary school, they were both hidden away in an abandoned classroom muttering between themselves. I was looking for a quiet place to study when I stumbled upon them... Ayame was treating bruises on Gakushuu. They took one look at me and didn't judge me like everyone else, I promised not to tell anyone, and we have been close friends since, they are practically family to me." Ren stammered on.

The Scratching sound of a pen on paper was heard in the otherwise silent room as the doctor noted down key information, when he was done he turned back to Karma. "And the other question?" The medical professional asked.

"Before I answer, what do you plan on doing with the information once you've been told?" The redhead retorted rather heatedly. "Please, relax Mr Akabane. Any important information given will be placed into a file if my prediction is correct. Then the police may become involved," hearing that and sensing no lies coming from the man in front of him he relented about the 13 years of physical, mental and emotional abuse the twins (in the physical part primarily Ayame and in the mental part Mainly Gakushuu) had suffered at the hands of their father. When the Doctor asked about the twins' mother Ren piped in, "I've never seen their mother, as far as I'm aware she has never been in the picture. Karma, have you ever met her?" A nod was his only response, "up until we were about 4 or 5, it's been so long now that I can't be sure about which of the two the answer was, but up until then, it was always their mother who brought them to 'play-dates', if I remember correctly her name was Mirai. Shortly before we turned 6 she died, we were never told the circumstances of her death despite my parents and Mirai-san being close friends themselves, but after that, the twins started to distance themselves, each time we (my family and I) saw them, they sported a new bruise or a busted lip, sometimes both. Their father would say that they just got into an argument and would settle it out physically, but the two of them were never violent towards each other. When their father isolated them from me and their other friends my parents started to create a file on the man, they found out quickly that he was abusing them, but for some reason whenever they informed someone, it was swept under the rug. So they have been trying to get as much information as necessary to at the very least try and get custody of them both to get them away from that man."

"I see... I may be able to help your parents Mr Akabane, would you be willing to give me their number, so we can collaborate?" Karma shook his head, "there is no need, they were away on one of their business trips but when I phoned them earlier about the situation they cancelled the rest of the trip and got the first flight back, as they were only in Bangkok it shouldn't be long before they arrive. In the meantime...hmm my bag... where did I put my bag?...ah here it is" lifting up the bag the redhead removed a small grey notebook from it, passing it to the doctor, who raised an eyebrow at the young man. "Any injuries of Ayame's that I have treated in the last 2 years until the present day is written in that notebook. But before you start reading, I have been really wanting to ask if you would tell me the full extent of their injuries."

Placing the small book down on the table, the doctor was about to respond when there was a knock on the door, when the doctor allowed entrance a nurse told the doctor that a couple was outside looking for the Asano twins. With a quick dinging sound from Karma's phone, he confirmed that his parents had arrived, so the doctor quickly sent the nurse to retrieve the two adults.

The door slid open once more and two tall figures walked in. Karma's father was by no means a happy-go-lucky guy, he knew how to accordingly, and adapt his attitude, a trait that could be seen most of the time in his son. Standing at just short of six foot 3 inches with dark brown almost black hair with piercing mercury-coloured eyes, Kurai Akabane was a very intimidating-looking man. But when it came to those he considered his family... well they got to witness the softer side of the man. Next to him stood Karma's mother a beautiful woman with a heart-shaped face, deep iridescent purple eyes, and long garnet hair that cascaded down to her lower back. Asuka Akabane was truly a beauty even when she had a stone-cold face of unmasked fury on her face, it also didn't help that her 5 foot 9 figure gave her a rather imposing demeanour. The two adults quickly ran their eyes over their son and the boy next to him for injuries receiving a nod and a small, "Hi mum, Hi dad." from their child, before turning to the doctor upon finding no injuries on the pair.

"You have perfect timing Mr and Mrs Akabane, I was just about to tell you the full extent of Mr and Miss Asano's injuries upon his request." The pair nodded and stood behind the two 'children' (young adults) as they waited for the doctor to read the full extent of the Asano siblings' injuries.

"Are you sure you are alright to hear this, young men?" Receiving nods from both Karma and Ren he continued, "okay I'll start with Mr Asano, it will be the shorter one of the pair. To begin with, he received a two-puncture mark stab wound to his side, each puncture was about 2 inches deep, however, no vital areas were struck, and the area has been thoroughly cauterised, stitched and bandaged. He had multiple bruises littering his body, thankfully none had caused any internal damage or internal bleeding. Now he has two serious injuries, the first is a bump on the back of his head, it was bleeding and his skull was fractured, what I can assume is that he either was hit from behind by a strong object or hit his head as he fell, either way, he will be sent for CT, MRI and EEG scans when once as soon as his treatment for his other serious injury has been completed. This brings me to the final injury he sustained, from the colouration of the bruising around the neck, pale blue tincture of the lips and restricted oxygen reaching his lungs, he has suffered through a rather severe case of asphyxiation, roughly around 8-10 that I can estimate. This is probably the injury that may cause the most damage for him, I won't be able to tell to what full extent his injuries are until he wakes up. But, there are many side effects of strangulation and asphyxiation, difficulty breathing, a raspy or hoarse voice, loss of voice, coughing, difficulty swallowing, drooling, nausea, vomiting, behavioural changes, hallucinations, headaches, light headedness, dizziness and incontinence. There is also the high probability of PTSD, as well as a large possibility of having separation anxiety with his sister." Throughout the entire explanation, the four had remained silent. The only thing giving away their emotions was the clenching of fists in Karma's case, REN's rapidly paling skin, and the slight tightening of the hands on the boys' shoulders.

"As for Miss Asano, her injuries are a lot more extensive. There is multiple bruising all over the body, in various stages of healing. 4 broken ribs, and 2 fractures. A Hairline fracture to the right ulna. The bones in her lower left leg have been broken. She has suffered from severe blood loss, from recent medical records she was admitted to a hospital in Kyoto for deep slashes to the skin, they were reopened by force and deepened, unfortunately, they will scar, and finally, there seems to be bruising from strangulation on the neck as well as a shallow cut across the base of the neck. Physically, with time, she will recover perfectly. Mentally... again we're looking at PTSD and separation anxiety at a minimum." That was it Ren abruptly vomited into the doctor's waste bin.

"Can we please see them?" karma voiced. "Of course!" He said walking them to the twins' room, "they both share a private room so as not to be disturbed. The recovery period for Them both will be roughly 3-6 months depending on their recovery rate. Ah, here we are. Please don't cause any problems, Mr and Mrs Akabane, I don't suppose I can speak with you in private? Oh! And if either of them wakes up, please call for a nurse to notify me immediately." Receiving a nod from the parents they left Karma and Ren stood outside the hospital room of Ayame and Gakushuu.

Steeling their resolve Karma slowly opened the door to the room, the sound of multiple machines was what they first heard followed by the minor echos of laboured breathing. Stepping into the room and physically seeing the people they care about breathing yet hooked up to so many different machines was what finally brought forth tears to the previously stoic Karma and the shell-shocked Ren. They each approached one of the beds and carefully clasping the uninjured hands of their respective sibling, sat down either on the side of the bed (in karma's case) or on the adjacent chair. As the minutes passed it was now approaching midnight when karma's parents entered the room. "Karma sweetheart, it's almost they will both still be here in the morning, you can return then." The mentioned male shook his head vehemently. "No! I want to be here when they wake up. I won't leave them on their own." Silence emanated from the room when an almost inaudible "shit" echoed through the room turning to Ren, the male was rushing to grab his things. "Ren?" Karma asked. "I didn't expect to be out this long, I never informed my parents that I would be staying out they are probably worried sick, I need to get home, now. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon after school, I'll bring everyone's designated homework." With that, he was about to rush out the door when Asuka gently grabbed his arm. "Ren was it?" She received a nod in response. "Come on I'll drive you home, just give me the directions. It will be quicker than walking and I can at least make sure that you have gotten home okay." Accepting her offer the pair turned to leave when Asuka turned to her husband who was still looking at his son, "are you sure about staying this evening?" Karma nodded, "I'm not leaving them." Sensing the finality in his son's tone, he nodded. "I'll call the school in the morning and excuse you for the next few weeks, as long as you do your necessary homework." The boy nodded, and Ren along with Karma's parents left the hospital.

Dropping Ren off was more of a hassle than first expected. When the teenager opened the front door and announced his arrival he was instantaneously swamped in a hug from his crying and clearly worried mother, who quickly checked him for injuries before sending him into the house. It was only then that she realised that her son wasn't alone. Like any worried mother who saw their son with two unknown adults, she started questioning them. The pair had explained the evening as best they could to her, to say she was horrified was an understatement, her husband sat who sat beside her was no better. They had also told the pair that the doctor had also recommended that Ren as well as Karma go to a psychiatrist so they can work through any problems they may have gained from this incident. Karma's parents left their number and said to let the pair think about it before coming to conclusion but to call them when they decide, and then they went home.

At the hospital

It had only been a few hours since the others had left and karma had yet to fall asleep, the adrenaline of the day had yet to fully wear off. He had just gotten comfortable when a deep but at the same time soft groan came from the bed to his left. Getting up quickly, he turned the light onto its lowest setting and sat at the side of the bed, the occupant of the bed blearily blinked their eyes open, and tried to focus their vision. It was then they realised that there was something lodged down their throat and started panicking. Karma noticing the panic pressed the panic button on the side of the bed and started to take charge. Quickly but gently grabbing the patient's wrists he focused their vision on him, "hey it's me, Karma, it's okay... you're in the hospital, your father isn't here, he can't hurt you" seeing them calm down he sighed in relief before wondering 'where the hell are those nurses', "Can you understand what I'm saying? Squeeze My hand once for yes, twice for no" he received one quick squeeze. "Are you in any pain?" Two squeezes. "Do you know who I am?" One squeeze. Removing their hand they tapped a name onto Karma's hand in morse code. "They're okay, in fact, they are right there, don't worry you won't be separated" it was then that the nurses and doctors rushed in. The doctor that had spoken to Karma earlier was not only surprised to see that he had handled the situation, but also that one of the patients was awake, instructing the nurses they asked multiple questions and ran multiple tests, before gently removing the breathing tube from their throat and replacing it with the smaller nasal breathing tubes. After they had left, karma turned to the individual on the bed, who in turn hoarsely said, "how bad was it this time?"

Karma bit back a witty response choosing to take the serious route, "you almost died, Shuu."

The next day at kunugigaoka high school

The students had started congregating in the main schoolyard before the school started, E-class had gathered early to privately discuss assassination attempts, but Karma never showed, and neither did Ayame. Looking around at the mingling students that also noticed that Asano had also not arrived yet and school started in only 10 minutes. Their attention was quickly redirected to the front gate when Isogai said, "Sakakibara-san does not look well." There was a lot of truth in that statement. The usually groomed-to-perfection student was anything but, his usually perfectly styled hair lay flat against his head and slightly greasy, his skin was as pale as paper and his eyes were bloodshot with dark circles surrounding them. While curiosity was eating away at them, the warning bell rang meaning they had to walk up the mountain for class.

10 minutes later in the Class-E building

"What?!... I see I will inform the rest of his teachers about his prolonged absence." A voice said. Hanging up the phone the individual sighed, classes had started so everyone would have to inform together. Making his way to the main classroom Karasuma Tadaomi muttered things to himself, opening the door he heard the octopus say "Why does karma-kun always have to be late to the first period, and now Asano-chan is copying his bad habits!" The clanking of the door alerted the occupants of his entrance. "Oh Karasuma-san what brings you here so early this morning?" The aforementioned male fixed the octopus with a dead-eyed expression before saying the reason for his arrival.

The class sat silently as Karasuma spoke, "Akabane will be absent for a couple of weeks, his father called in this morning to inform me. He said someone will be by later to collect any homework for him." Mutters broke out between the classmates about Karma's family and what reasons karma would need to be pulled from school for a few weeks. Reluctantly their questions were not answered as even Karasuma himself did not know. During the lunch break, Koro-Sensei used some of his time to visit Karma's house in hopes of getting answers from the boy himself only to find that the boy wasn't there only the two intimidating adults that could only be Karma's parents were present. Returning to back to teaching with no true answer and the fact that Karma was not in his house was perplexing and was not something he looked forward to.

10 minutes after the final bell, the students of E-class had stayed behind to find out who would be picking up Karma's homework, with Koro-Sensei in his 'human' disguise, when the door opened. The class and staff of E-class were not prepared for Ren Sakakibara to walk through the door. "I've come to collect Karma and Ayame's homework for today."

Scrambling to get the papers Koro-Sensei handed them to Ren and said, "are you alright? You don't look so good?" Genuinely concerned for the boy's health. "An eventful 24 hours is all, I should hopefully be fine by tomorrow." He was about to leave when his shoulder was grabbed forcefully, "why is a prissy A-class student like you, collecting things for Akabane and the female Asano, huh? Why are they anyway?" Ren had honestly had enough 'excitement' for a lifetime at that point so removed the hand of terasaka from his wrist and replied, "none of your business." His tone sounded rather dead. As he walked out of the classroom.

With a quick glance between them, the class quickly and quietly followed the male. When they reached Karma's house they expected Ren to walk up and knock on the door they were surprised when he completely passed the house entirely, still, they followed him they started to have an uneasy feeling, something wasn't right. It wasn't until they observed Ren walk into the hospital did they realise they couldn't follow him further without being caught. It was then that Koro-sensei pulled out a small speaker and placed it in the middle of the group, "this should help us find out what's going on!" Tadaomi looked at the defies and said, "you planted a wireless mic on him when you handed over the homework didn't you, octopus?" He only received a nurufufufufu in response when the speaker crackled to life.

"10th floor" the automated response of the elevator sounded. "Hello Ren-san, how have you been? After yesterday's ordeal, any nightmares? Trouble sleeping?" An older male voice sounded. Which raised a few questions amounts to the group, what had happened the day before? Being one of them. "Still a little shaken up, could be better I suppose. But I'll get there eventually. Are they still in the same room?" They heard the teenager ask, and his response was, "yes, same room."

The echoed sound of someone knocking on wood and the squeaking of an opening door sounded over the system. "Wow, you look like shit Karma, have you even slept at all since I left last night?" The voice, Ren sounded followed by a rasped snort and then severe coughing. "Honestly Shuu, you should know better than to laugh at someone with your injuries, you'll make yourself uglier!" They heard Karma's exhausted voice tease. They couldn't help but wonder who was coughing until a raspy hoarse but still, a recognisable voice sounded, "and yet...I'm still...better looking than you... but Ren is right...you do look... like shit Karma. I told you to sleep...earlier, but noooo... you don't...listen to me." "Asano junior !!!" This was the response of E-class who quickly shut up when they heard the conversation continue. "I take it...my father... has noticed...my absence?" Asano slowly spoke. "I'm unaware at the moment, principal Asano was absent today, however, the teachers seemed unsurprised by your absence." They were surprised by the venom that was used for the principal.

"Has Ayame woke up yet?" They didn't get an immediate verbal response, so mild panic was starting to set in, "not yet... why do you think... this idiot... refuses to sleep." The male Asano retorted his voice wavering as he struggled to get his sentence out. "Can you honestly blame me? If she wakes up and goes into a full-blown panic as you did because of the breathing tube, she will do more damage due to the extent of her injuries, Shuu! Did you just throw a pillow at me?!" the exhausted Akabane retorted in disbelief.

"Rens' here now... sleep... if...she...wakes...he'll-" the voice faded slowly until he stopped talking. "Looks like the pain meds finally kicked in" they heard Karma say. "He's right you know, you should sleep, or a nap at the very least. If she shows signs of waking up then I'll wake you up myself, I promise. But you are not doing anyone any good by exhausting yourself Karma." A sigh echoed through the system, "fine but you better keep your promise!" A few minutes later soft snores echoed through the system. The members of E-class looked at each other as questions filtered between them... what was going on?
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Till next time