Fruits Basket: Thin blood

Chapter thirteen

Kyo's point of view
  "Haru!" I yelled in surprise. His arms were covered in red. Blood. His blood.
He continued to slice through his arm even after I called his name. I rushed over to him, and knocked the blade from his hand so it landed on the floor out of his reach.
He reached for it and tried to move toward it but I pushed him back firmly by his shoulders looking into his face. He wouldn't meet my eyes. He pushed himself against me and struggled to get past me.
"No!" He yelped in a low enough to tone so as not to wake the others, "I just want it to end..." He whispered sadly in defeat and slumped against me. My eyes widened. I pushed him back again to face me and searched his eyes for an answer. He quickly averted his gaze and chewed on his lip.
I couldn't waste time with answers, I needed to do something about these cuts; some of them were quite deep. I couldn't take him to a normal doctor because they would put him in a mental hospital, and Hatori would kill him if he saw this.
I grabbed the first aid kit from the cabinet and searched for a surgical needle and thread.
"Give me your arm."
He lifted his arm weakly to me. I could tell his blood loss was affecting him already.
I looked over the wounds and stitched up two particularly deep ones. He lifted the other arm when I was done with the first, and there were three cuts that needed stitches there.
I poured some peroxide on the cuts, and he didn't react. I then grabbed some gauze and wrapped it around both arms and pulled his sleeves down for him. There were tear tracks on his face, but he wasn't crying anymore. Haru was staring at the wall, his eyes looked dead.
I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He looked up and just gave a weak smile as if he was saying 'sorry...'
I stood up and put my hand out for him to grab. He took it, stood up with my help, and we left the bathroom. I looked over my shoulder as we left to make sure there wasn't any blood on the floor. We went to my room and closed the door behind us.
He slumped on the closest edge of my bed and played with his hands.
"Hatsuharu...?"
He got up and wandered around my room. He went to the window, opened it, and climbed out toward the roof. I followed him mainly because that's what I normally would have done, but also because I had no clue what he might do.
He went over to the peak of the house and stayed about five feet from the very edge of the house. He looked over the edge of the roof in a daze.
I went over and sat between him and the edge, but he just stared past me in a daze.
"Haru, what happened? Why are you doing this?" I asked. I was terrified.
"It doesn't matter. It was nothing, I'm just a stupid cow."
It broke my heart to see him so defeated, "You can't keep doing this. I know I said it was okay as long as you told me, but it's not, and you haven't been honest."
He looked at me in confusion.
"I saw your burn."
"That was from-"
"Don't lie. Don't you lie to me," I gritted my teeth to keep my emotions back: fear, anger, sadness. "What did you mean when you said you wanted it to end?" I could still hear his words in my head.
He sat and looked down into his lap, "I don't want to do this anymore."
"Cut? Or live?"
"Yes," he said.
"I can help you stop cutting, but I won't let you stop living."
He slipped away again and looked over my shoulder into the distance.
"Haru," I said to get his attention. "Haru," I said more firmly, but he still didn't acknowledge me, "Haru," I said and squeezed his forearm where his fresh cuts were. I felt bad, but I wouldn't let him just check out on me.
He looked at me with hurt in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I won't let you go," I was firm and steady with what I said.
He leaned against my chest and I put my arms around him. "Kyo, I don't want to do this. I want to get better," he mumbled sadly into me.
"Alright. Good."
"I want you to get better too."
I didn't want to say 'okay,' that would just become a broken promise, besides, I didn't need to get better.
He sat up and looked at me, and said firmly, "I want you to get better too,"
his eyes burned into mine
I nodded lightly, "Okay," I whispered.

*time lapse, about a month*

Haru and I got better together. He didn't cut anymore, and I was certain of it this time because he let me check his body for new cuts daily. I rarely skipped meals, and even indulged in snacks quite frequently. We weren't fixed, but we were both doing a lot better.
We had grown close in the last month;
it's hard to not be close with someone who knows everything about you. We were like each others soul-mates but in a protective way. I'd like to think of us as each others' guard dog.
One afternoon, when Haru and I were home alone baking a cake for Tohru's birthday, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," I called out. I was in a great mood. Haru and I were laughing and having a great time together.
Hatori came through the door, and I froze.
"Hello Kyo, Haru." He greeted.
Haru looked terrified, and I realized he was wearing a short sleeve shirt, and his scars were obvious. Tori walked toward us, but stopped halfway between the door and the kitchen.
"How are you both?"
"Fine," I said curtly. "Shigure isn't home."
"I'm not looking for him, that's a fate worse than death," before all that happened, I would have laughed at his sarcasm, but now I despised the doctor.
"Why are you here?"
"Just checking on you, like usual. Shigure said you've been doing well."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"I thought I would see for myself."
"Okay, well I'm good so bye."
Hatori started toward us again and asked, "What are you making?" In a curious and even friendly tone.
"A cake for Tohru," Haru said casually with his arms behind his back.
"That's nice of you both."
"Well, if you don't mind, we're a bit busy," Haru pushed, trying to get the doctor to leave. He was clearly uneasy and I hoped, for his sake, Hatori left.
"Alright. It's good to see you're both doing well. I'll be back eventually," Hatori turned his back on us and left with a dismissive wave.
Haru and I looked at the door for a long moment and then let out sighs of relief. I looked over at him and gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled back and relaxed.
While the cake was in the oven, we sat on the couch together and watched some sitcom.
"Are you alright? You seemed pretty freaked out when Hatori was here," I stated and entangled my hand with his.
"Yeah, I'm alright, I just can't imagine his reaction to...well, you know," he said, slightly embarrassed.
"I know, I just wanted to make sure." 
He squeezed my hand to let me know he was really alright.
I traced circles on the back of his hand with my thumb and looked down at the scars exposed on his forearm remembering the few times I helped patch him up. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw him looking at them too, but he had hate and regret in his eyes.
"It's alright, Haru. They're not that bad, and they will fade more in time. They aren't you, and they don't make you weak."
"I know. They're just so...ugly. I hate them," he rested his head on my shoulder.
It had only been a short time, but we were both doing so well. Everything was almost like it was before life crashed Haru and I. I couldn't be happier than I was when I was with Haru.

A/N thank you for reading! I'm sorry if this ended weirdly. I tried to kind of summarize the end because I don't think you want me droning on about relapse and recovery and relapse and blah blah. If you have any ideas for things I can add to make the ending stronger, feel free to tell me. You are so amazing for reading this and I hope it was somewhat enjoyable. Sorry if it sucked.