Yukio had grabbed me a pair of sweats and once I changed, he told me that he'd be doing the laundry and all heavy lifting from now on. Even though I wanted to argue, I reluctantly agreed. I'd just have to do a better job at the chores I had to make up for it. With everything settled, Yukio and I walked back to the stairs, my body ached more than it ever had, but I tried not to let it show.

As Yukio started picking up the scattered clothes on the stairs, I thought of something. "Hey," he paused and turned to me, "when you came into the room, you acted as if you knew what had happened. How'd you know?"

He gave me a look, "I think anyone would believe that something was wrong if they came across this scene." He gestured around to the mess of dirty clothes and I got his point. "And when I walked in the front door, I heard Kuro frantically scratching at the kitchen door." He sighed, "I thought something happened to you while you were in there, but when I went in and couldn't find you, I got worried."

I chewed on my lip, embarrassed, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "don't apologize, it's not your fault that you're hurt."

"True, but I could take a little more care of myself instead of trying to be macho about it."

He chuckled, "that would be appreciated, if you would." I nodded, even though he wasn't looking in my direction.

Once he'd finished cleaning up, he did as I had earlier and hefted the basket onto his hip. Maybe he'd make a good housewife, too? We both walked down the stairs in silence, the movements jarring my body, causing me to flinch. Thankfully, I was walking behind Yukio, so he didn't notice.

Entering the laundry room, Yukio sat on the floor in front of the washers and started separating whites from the darks.

I chewed on my lip, "Yukio, no ones going to know about this at school, right?"

He looked up, a surprised expression on his face. "Of course not, this is a personal matter. I've already asked that the cram school kids keep this hushed, and they didn't hesitate to agree." I sighed in relief, a small weight lifting off my shoulders. "What about your school work?"

"Huh?"

He glanced up at me again, separating the last of the piles. "You can't really expect to go to school in your current situation, right?" I gave him a puzzled look and he sighed, "you can barely walk the way it is, how can you plan on making it through eight hours of education, for five days in a row?"

"I've done it plenty of times in the past." As soon as I said it, he flinched and I apologized softly. "But it's true, I've handled myself fairly well in elementary school, I can do it now."

He sighed, keeping his eyes cast away from me, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should, Nii-san." He started loading the lights into a machine and he huffed, "you went to school before because you had a secret to keep, but now, you don't have to hide anything. You're hurt, and that deserves a few days vacation from high school."

"I understand that, but what about my classes? I can't just skip multiple days. And cram school...." I remembered that my peers knew everything and my resolve faltered.

Yukio didn't seem to notice my hesitation, however, "you're taking pain meds, I don't think you'd be able to study on your classes much, anyway. As for cram, well, things can be worked out."

I huffed, "fine, and by the way, you forgot those," I shoved my finger in the direction of the garbage bag. He huffed and snatched it, grabbing out a few handfuls of dirty laundry. "Yukio?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?" He paused for a moment, but then continued as if he hadn't heard me. "Yukio, you're acting strange, and I know that all of this is stressful, but that doesn't mean you have to hide things from me. I'm stronger than you think, so you don't have to shelter me." He was silent for a moment and I sighed, leaning against the wall.

Finally, he huffed, "you can't blame me for being overprotective right now. I feel so guilty, and I just want to keep you safe." He sorted through the last of the piles, turning clothes right-side out and tossing them into the machine. "I wasn't lying though when I said I'm numb, I think I'm still in shock."

I gently pushed off the wall and moved a little closer to him, "that's not good, maybe you should go to the academy's nurse?"

He shook his head and glanced up at me, his eyes muddled, "I'll get over it sooner or later, I'm positive."

"No," I felt frustrations build inside my chest and my shoulders tensed. "Now you're hiding things from me, stop that. You wanted me to be truthful about my feelings, so I expect the same from you."

He grunted, "I think I get a free pass."

"To hell you don't."

"Really? You've gone nine years as a completely different person. Why the fuck can't I hide myself for a few days? Fuck that." I ground my teeth and I audibly heard him do the same.

"I didn't choose to hide it, I had to lie to you-"

"Bullshit! You could've went to Dad as soon as it happened, or told me any time after that!" He finally looked away from his hands and angry eyes flashed up to me. "Did it ever occur to you that we could help you? Or that lying to us would hurt us more in the end? What the hell am I talking about? Dad doesn't even know because he fucking died before he found out his son was fucking raped on a yearly basis." He ground his teeth again, "I don't blame you for lying, but you can't expect me to be happy about it." He sighed, "god fucking dammit."

"Calm down, Yukio," I moved a bit closer and tried to kneel down, sitting a few feet away from him. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Sorry doesn't really make it better, does it?"

"Why are you being such an ass?"

He sighed, running his hands through his hair and pulling at the strands. "I've seen so much that's been hidden from me, it's like a weight that's slowly dragging me down. And I can't take it out on him, and everyone keeps forcing me to stop hating myself, so I'm sorry if I bite your head off. But," he picked up a garment out of the pile and tossed it to me. I caught it and looked down, "shit like that throws me off guard and I have no idea how to feel afterward."

It was a pair of my boxers, dried blood and other substances had stained the fabric. I blushed and sighed deeply, "I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."

"Neither do I."

The air went still between us and you could cut the tension with a knife. I dropped my filthy boxers and sighed softly, breaking the silence. Yukio clicked his tongue and continued to put the laundry in the washer, "I have so many questions," he muttered, his eyes flickering over to me. "I'm not sure if I can handle the answers, though."

I felt the same, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted him to know, either. After all this time, he deserved answers, but that didn't make it any less humiliating or stressful for me. "Well, what's something small that you'd like to know?"

He finally met my gaze, "nothing about this situation is small, but I get what you mean." He sat for a moment, pondering as he finished up with the last of the laundry. He got to his feet and remained silent as he fished out the detergent and started the washer. When all was done, he paced over to me, causing me to feel a bit meek with him standing over me. "Why didn't you fight back?"

I flinched, but he hadn't delivered the words harshly, in fact, he'd been fairly gentle about it. "I-I... sorry."

"No, no, don't apologize, it's just that... you could've fought him off, right?" I chewed on my lip and stared down at my hands in my lap.

"Yeah, I could've."

He was silent for a moment, "why didn't you? Were you scared of him?"

"I don't know... yes? I mean, how could I not be scared of him." I heard him mutter in agreement, and I sighed. "He said that if I, you know... if I ever put even a scratch on him, he'd report me to the Grigori."

There was silence again, and I was about to look up, but Yukio spoke before I could. His foot stomped against the floor and I blanched, my eyes shooting up to stare at his rage filled face. "That motherfucker! How dare he use something like that against you! Of course, of fucking course he'd do that." He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, moving a hand to rub his face. "You were scared of being executed." I nodded, but he wasn't looking at me.

A few moments passed before I heard him huff, "these nightmares that you have, what happens in them?"

Oh, we were still doing questions? "A lot of different things, I guess."

"Are they memories?" I nodded and he sighed, "is that all?" I nodded once again, they had never gone outside the realm of flashbacks. They might have been a bit farther out than living memories, but when I would wake, I could always compare them to what actually happened. Yukio's voice drew me out of my haze, "how can I help you?"

I blinked a few times and flickered my eyes to meet his, "what do you mean?"

"When you have these nightmare and flashbacks, how can I help you?" His eyes welled with sincerity and concern, and my heart blossomed with small hopes of comfort .

"I don't know, honestly." I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, "there really isn't a good way to stop them. They end by themselves and I've never figured out another way." He seemed saddened by that fact, so I quickly added onto my confession, "but that doesn't mean we can't try. You usually shake me out of it when you're around. That tends to work after awhile."

He nodded and his eyes wandered around the room aimlessly, "if you don't mind me asking..." he whispered, "but... what's the worst thing he's done?"

I swallowed hard, not really sure how to answer. "In general?"

He nodded, "like, has he hurt you, like with his fists or anything." His voice was strained and his eyes flashed with unseen emotions.

"H-He's never been violent... well," thoughts of him wielding a cane crossed my mind and I inhaled deeply. "He never used to be, but this last time..."

"I know, I saw everything." Yukio's voice was monotonous, as if he didn't want to talk about it, but I was curious.

"Everything?"

He sighed, "well, I haven't seen... there. But when we got home from the hospital, you were too tired to even walk up the stairs. I had to change you out of your school clothes and I saw... a lot." I bit my lip and shifted my gaze away, "all those bruises and wounds, what even are those?"

I swallowed, "do you really want to know that?"

He was silent for a moment and then I heard him shuffle slightly. I moved my eyes to watch as he sat down, cross legged, a few feet in front of me. "No, I don't want to know... I need to know."

I sighed and glanced away, once again, "which marks are you talking about exactly?"

"The one on your chest that goes down half your stomach," he was appalled even just saying it.

"We were outside..." I blushed heavily, "and the bark of the tree..."

"So basically rug burn, but not from a rug. Okay." He didn't get upset like I expected him to, "I've got more questions."

Of course he did.