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Childish Pain

Toys, toys, and more toys. It was the décor of the entire room that littered the floor. The bright colors contrasted from the bland gray covering of the bed sheets on little Yugi’s bed. He slept soundly on the spring mattress as it poked and prodded into his back. His pale skin was covered in red and purple bruises, literally across every inch of his small body. He turned in his sleep which accidentally caused one of the springs to poke into one of his more recent wounds that was on his side. He groaned in pain before choosing to get up. Yugi sat up in bed and rubbed at his side to slightly aid his pain. Child-like amethyst eyes opened to see the sick display of toys on the floor. The plastic stared back at him with hate. They all seemed to yell at him in his mind. How he hated being in this room. It’s why he never wanted to come back home. On the wall across from his bed was a large portrait of a young woman with blonde, golden locks in a blue dress. Her kind eyes seemed to stare at him wherever he went. It fascinated him to see such a painting but he chose to hate the painting as well. This, and many other artworks, were down by his guardian. Yugi wasn’t one to hate a person, but when it came to this man, he couldn’t keep it back. The red monster over took him and just brought sheer hatred whenever he saw the man in his eyes. It was why he hated the toys so much. His guardian had such a fondness to toys that in every room, excluding the living room, there was a mess of toys on the walls and some scattered on the floor. The man was thirty but had the mind of a person younger than Yugi was. He got up from his bed and kicked the toys aside to make his way to the bathroom. When he opened the door, a jack in the box that was over the door, popped open and the cartoon face shocked him. He should’ve been used to it, seeing that his guardian would put it back into the box every night. Even after living with this man for three years, Yugi could never get used to the strangeness of his mansion. He undressed himself and stepped into the shower. He had to clean of the accumulated blood from his reopened wound, thanks to his spring mattress. As the water ran down his spine, he flinched when he revealed to him he had another open wound on his back. Amethyst eyes turned to look at the shower floor tiles to see the strong hint of red in the water that washed down the drain. It was another thing he had his guardian for. He shut his eyes in frustration and groaned out in pain. Yugi grabbed small handfuls of his hair and held tightly to them not to release any tears. Everything in his life was frustrating. Things have just gone down hill since three years ago. At times like this, all he could think about was that it would only get worse.

The fire…

The orphanage…

…and…

He clenched his teeth with a lot of force. Everything just didn’t seem to work in his favor. It was just so depressing how he could never find happiness in this struggling and harsh life. He may have lived in a mansion, but he was so confined by his guardian, it was as if he lived in a five by five box that had no opening for him to escape. He’d always hope with all of his heart that he’d soon be removed from this life and into a new one, but as the years passed, his hope his been diminishing. Slowly but surely, all of his hopes and dreams will be lost. When a tear passed his long eyelashes and landed on his flushed cheek, he pushed his thoughts aside and released his hair from his hands. There was no time to be weak. School would start in twenty minutes. School was another problem in his life. Not the education per say, since he was sixteen and a senior in high school, but of the usual beating he’d get at school. Since he’d be dropped off and picked up by his guardian’s limousine, they didn’t bother him in the mornings and afternoons. It would be during lunch that they’d corner him and leave him unconscious until someone from the administration found him. School was where he got a good third of his bruised. The rest he got from home, received from his guardian.

He stepped out of the shower after cleaned the crusty, dried blood from his body and went over to the medicine cabinet. He took out some ointment to help heal the wounds on his side and clumsily rubbed it on his back before pulling out some gaze and wrapping his midsection with it. Yugi placed the items back in their original spot before closing the cabinet. The mirror reflected his miserable image to his eyes. There was a big change in his looks ever since he moved in with this man, his ‘guardian.’ Sad, amethyst eyes, pale, red blotched skin, it was a sickening sight to him. He looked away from his reflection and stepped out of the bathroom to get his uniform on. It consisted of a blue jacket, matching pants, a white t-shirt, and dark brown shoes. After putting on his underwear, he pulled on the shirt over his head and wrapped the jacket over himself before putting on his pants. He sat on the spring mattress and pulled on his white socks before slipping on the regulatory shoes. The entire time, he never removed his eyes from the painting that stared kindly back at him with emerald green, almost blue eyes. Yugi had to admit, the woman was beautiful. His guardian never told him what she had meant to him, and he never dared to ask.

Yugi got up from his bed and rushed out of his room and out of the building to get into the limousine. It would be a short drive from the school, but living with his guardian made everything seem prolonged.
The only thing that went by fast in Yugi’s life was when lunch period neared. He was already in his second class for the day, the class before the students were let out to have their lunch. For Yugi, it meant being pummeled by three or four guys twice his height and having to skip out on lunch again. It explained his very slim figure. He wasn’t so slim to the point of being unhealthy, but he thought he looked sickly.

His advanced calculus class was about to have a test. The teacher passed out a three sheet packet which contained the equations and situations they had to solve correctly to pass. He gratefully accepted his test and waited until his teacher was finished with handing them out. She walked back to the front of her class.

“Alright, you may begin.” The calculus teacher sat back into her seat behind the large oak desk as she turned on her computer to finish some updating grades into the computer.

At his desk, Yugi went through the questions with precision and ease. There were one or two of them that had him stuck on the question for more than five minutes before he skillfully answered it and went on to the next. A pretty blue eyes brunette sitting across from him sneaked glances at his sheet before copying it down. She didn’t completely depend on his answers but twenty five percent of the test, she couldn’t understand. Yugi’s the top student in the class so she took upon herself to share his wealth. She didn’t know him that well except for his smarts and that he was the target for the toughest guys in the school. When she was taking another peak at his answers, she saw him looking over at her, his eyes cast down with a sad expression on his face. She instantly felt guilt drown her. She looked back at her test and attempted to answer it by herself. Two guys behind them started throwing pieces of paper in Yugi’s direction to get his attention. Yugi obediently turned around to look at them only receiving a scowl from them both.

“Quit tryin’ to copy answers,” the blonde with brown eyes sitting behind him growled. He had a very deep Jersey accent that was heard with great clarity. Yugi hid his slight irritation when it was the girl next to him that was cheating. One glance he gave her and they were on him about doing what she did. But he knew when to keep his mouth shut, which was all the time. He slightly nodded his head and turned around to try and put his focus back on the test. The brunette with brown eyes sitting next to the blonde threw another wad of paper at Yugi’s back but Yugi tried to ignore putting attention to the page in front of him. The brunette snickered before whispering, “The kid looks like he’s about to start crying at any second.” The pretty brunette sitting next to Yugi turned back at them and whispered, “Stop bugging him, you two. You’re so irritating!” The blonde pouted at her before unconsciously obeying her and biting at the eraser part of his pencil. His comrade looked down at his test and attempted to solve a few of them before just guessing the rest of it. Yugi looked over at her with his eyes downcast as he muttered, “Thank you.” She held her hands up in defense and just brushed it off, “No problem.” He looked back at his test and finished it before closing it shut and unconsciously slipping it away from the pretty brunette next to him. He blushed before looking away trying to cover.

Her name’s Tea Gardner and Yugi’s had a little crush on her for a while now. She seemed to always defend him in little ways but it made him feel appreciated that he was defended at all. He knew nothing about her but her looks and kindness developed those feelings on him. His mind seemed to feel at peace for a while. All he thought about was how she had told them to stop. The half hour left for the test seemed to pass quickly when the bell rang, indicating the end of class. While Yugi got his notebooks together to put into his bag, the blonde from before picked up his test and started to walk off with it. The brunette behind him snickered as he walked behind him. Yugi’s eyes pleaded with him to get it back as he reached out to get it. The blonde took it as an opportunity to torment the short boy and held it out of his reach. Tea had seen enough and snatched it roughly out of his hands, “Joey, show some decency!” She placed it back on the desk in front of a grateful Yugi, “Here you go.” She walked out of the classroom with the two boys leaving the room soon after.

Yugi got up from his seat and walked to the front desk to hand in his test. The teacher looked up at him and kindly smiled before dismissing him from the class. The only people that seemed to like him at the school were the teachers. He was thankful for that. He went into the courtyard to sit under one of the sakura trees for lunch. Yugi brought his knees to his chest and hugged them with his arms, just waiting until they’d come. He didn’t even bother with buying lunch anymore because they’d always take it from him. He simply scanned the area and caught a glimpse of someone walking to the back of the school with a hairstyle similar to his. Yugi didn’t pay match mind to it before his eyes closed again to take a brief nap. The wind blowing in the area calmed his nerves down. It was the perfect day, the ideal spring day. It was such a shame that Yugi knew for him it would be everything but peaceful, just like every other day. But he still kept hope alive. It may be diminishing at a fast rate, it was still there, a burning candlelight in a five by five box filled with infinite darkness. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a shoved from behind which unbalanced him causing him to land on his face in the grass below. He looked up slowly to see four guys hovering over him. The biggest one with black hair pulled him up by his wrist and shoved him in the direction to the back of the school. He obeyed and went in the usual direction, not making it obvious he was about to get beaten again.

When behind the school, one of the guys with short red hair pushed him down to the ground holding him hostage by his shoulders. The largest one sat on his midsection and held a tight hold of his neck in his hand, half the size of Yugi’s head. Another stood hovering over Yugi’s head with an evil smirk on his face. “What’s wrong, wuss?” He lifted his muscular leg and rammed his steel toe shoe on the crown of Yugi’s head. Yugi held in his yell by biting down on his lip. He knew that if he let it out, they’d just run off and come again to make the next time worse. They thought of it as making up for lost time.

The biggest one that sat on top of him, Ushio, dug through his back pocket until he reached a pocket knife he’d always carry around with him. He flipped the blade out of the handle and held it out for Yugi to see. Amethyst eyes widened at the sight as horrid thoughts ran through his mind. None of them had ever stabbed him before. It was a bit to extreme and he didn’t think he would be able to take it quietly. Ushio held it a foot away from his face ready to stab it through him. Yugi stared at it as he began to shiver uncontrollably. The large man on him threw his hand down with so much force that it didn’t take long for it to hit the target. For Yugi, it was as if time slowed down as it slowly inched towards his face, ready to cut through his left eye. Everything flashed white for a split second but since everything slowed for Yugi, that second was long enough for his life to flash through his eyes.

…The fire….

…The orphanage…

…Toys, toys, and more toys…

He stilled for a moment before being brought back to the present with cruel laughter filling his ears. He slowly moved his eyes to see the knife firmly planted in the ground half an inch away from his head. He tried to shake the image out of his head but couldn’t. It was then he realized that fresh tears were running down the sides of his face, already at his ear lobe. Ushio pulled the knife out of the ground and positioned it right in front of Yugi’s face. “It never takes much for you to cry.” This time, he meant to stab Yugi right between his large, child-like eyes. Yugi snapped them shut waiting for the impact. He heard collective gasps and a new voice chuckling. He hoped with all of his heart that it was just a bystander and not another one of them to toy with him. Yugi slowly opened one eye and caught a glimpse of Ushio being harshly shoved away from him. When he felt a trickle of blood drop on his nose, he quickly opened both of his eyes and saw a tan hand with the knife in it not to far away from his face. He traced the owner of the arm to see his face. It was the person he’d glimpsed at not to long ago with the same hair as him. That was where similarities ended between. All of his features were the exact opposite of Yugi’s. He had a golden tan, and deep bloody pools he called eyes that held such authority and strength in them, Yugi shuddered at the thought. His arms were muscular and toned. It explained how he got Ushio away from him. Another difference between them was that he had confidence. So much confidence that he daringly removed the knife from being implanted into his palm and threw it with amazing accuracy at Ushio and the other two that were hovering over him. The red head that was over Yugi’s head with a frightened stare at the intruder was lifted by the jacket and thrown in the other’s direction. Yugi shuddered in amazement but still hoped that this man wouldn’t change his mind and assault him next. It’s happened before that Yugi was defended by someone only to have that someone want to abuse him by himself. The pure anger that were in the man’s blood colored eyes was replaced with a hint of kindness and much worry.

Yugi balanced his weight on his elbows as he looked at the person before him with wide eyes. He quickly looked down in shyness at the display of strength and courage before him. A baritone voice spoke, “Are you alright?” Yugi’s cheeks reddened when he heard his voice. It was regal, deep, understanding, yet rough, harsh, and…he couldn’t describe it well enough. “Um…y-yeah…” He mentally yelled at himself for sounding so high pitched in contrast to the other’s voice. The man before him chuckled under his breath as he pulled Yugi up with his uninjured hand. Yugi remembered that he got stabbed instead of himself and felt guilt rush over him. “I’m sorry about…”

“I’ll survive. I just have to find the nurse’s office for some gauze or something.” Yugi set his bag down to search for the cotton balls, alcohol, and gauze he’d carry around with him just in case. At the end of every beating, he’d have open, deep cuts and he didn’t want them to get infected during the time span of lunch and the end of the school day. He dampened a cotton ball with the medical alcohol and looked up at his savior waiting for him to sit down so that he could clean his wound. The man noticed this and kneeled down next to him and held out his bleeding hand. Nervously, Yugi took his hand in his and slowly rubbed small circles into the hand. The blood that had completely reddened his hand was now focused in the center where the deep gash originated. Yugi took out another cotton ball and wet it with alcohol as well. “This is going to sting,” he warned with nervousness evident in his voice. He passed the piece of cotton over the deep cut briefly and looked up at the man to only get a twitch of his crimson eyes a reaction. Yugi daringly applied more force to cleaning the blood from his hand and soon found himself wrapping a strip of gauze carefully around it. He cut it off with his teeth and tucked in the loose end. He soothingly rubbed circles into it with his fingers when he looked up at the man still kneeling next to him. He felt his arm flex a bit under his touch.

“You did good, no blood is seeping through.” Yugi looked away with a firm blush on his cheeks. “Th-thank you,” he stuttered. The man looked at him with a hard stare as he observed him. Yugi felt significantly small with that one gaze that felt like an eternity.

His savior’s thoughts were filled to the brim of how the boy was used to being frightened and beaten like he had witnessed. Said boy just expertly dressed his wound, a very severe injury at that. He had a shyness to him. When he had looked into his eyes, he saw sadness, hope, and fear. It was when Yugi thought the man would target him next. Deep in his mind, the man couldn’t help but see a child-like happiness when the small boy was cleaning his injury. It had brought a smile to his face, the change in the boy’s emotions. He rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder and squeezed it firmly. After that small action, the boy’s amethyst eyes slowly closed shut as he collapsed towards the ground. The man was quick to catch him.

Apparently, Yugi didn’t come out without any injuries either. That kick to his skull with a steel toed shoe left a deep gash in the back of his head. The loss of blood caused him to feel dizzy half way into helping the man with his injury. Now, Yugi fainted not feeling that he could hold consciousness anymore to further memorize the man’s face into his mind. His savior felt the warm dampness in his hair and carefully picked up his light body to help him to the nurse. The problem however was where the office was. He walked out into the courtyard and immediately, all eyes were on him. His left arm was covered in Yugi’s blood as he tried to stop the blood loss. He walked across the courtyard, passed a table that held a sitting, curious brunette of the new person she’d never seen around the school. The man ignored her and continued to navigate through the crowds. The entire time, Yugi had a small, content smile on his pale and serene face.