I need you

Chapter four: Scars

I could not sleep. 

I mean, how could I? Karma was right next to me! 

I could hear his breathing, though I had my back to him. And he wasn't even that close! He facing the other way, too! I sighed and listened to Karma shift closer to me. Why was I acting like this? Thank God he's dense. I was this close to kissing him and he just bluntly asked me why I called him by his first name. He didn't give me a reaction when I was (for some reason) hovering over him earlier. He didn't even give me a reaction when I asked to stay here for the night! 

I was about to close my eyes and try to sleep again, but I saw Karma jerk forward in the bed. "Karma...? Are you okay?" He looked at me with a confused expression. He then placed his head in his hands and nodded. I sat up from my spot in the bed and rubbed his back. "It was just a nightmare..."

A nightmare?

"What about?" 

He laid back down in the bed before speaking. "My father beating me."

I rubbed his forehead and messed with his toddled hair. "Are you okay?" I asked again. 

He nodded. "I have that dream a lot. It's nothing new."

"Do you have any happy dreams?" It was a weird and kinda stupid question, but I was curious. 

He smiled a sad smile and looked at me. "Sometimes I have dreams about my friends in Ireland."

That's right, he did say he lived in Ireland before moving to Japan. "What were your friend's names?"

 He looked at the many pictures he had on his door. There were so many. The one picture that caught my eye was the one that showed three people. There was a woman with red hair that went up to her shoulders, a man with brown hair and mercury coloured eyes and then... there was a little boy. He had bright red hair, mercury coloured eyes and a dazzling smile. He was missing one of his front teeth, which made him look even cuter. 

"There was Sea, Kiyo and Zane. When I moved here, they met someone named Zi. I've Skype with him a few times now... he's a cool guy." He looked at me with a small smile. "I think they'd like you."

"Why?"

"They say anyone who wants to protect me is a friend of theirs. And... that's what you said, right? That you'd protect me?"

I nodded and laid down next to him. I expected him to roll over to where he was sleeping before, but instead he snuggled up against my chest. "K-Karma?" I was SO blushing right now. "What're you doing?

He yawned. "You're warm.." he wrapped his arms around my neck and sighed loudly. I was blushing so hard... thank God it's dark. In the end I just sighed, wrapped my hands around his waist and fell asleep. 

I hadn't slept that good in years.

<><>||~Time Skip(4)~||<><>

When I woke up that morning, Karma wasn't in bed. I mean, I don't know what I expected... It's clear that he doesn't fully trust me yet, y'know after yesterday's episode. "Karma?" I said loudly as I looked around the bedroom. "Karma?" I said again. My voice was deep due to it being morning. I yawned and got out of the bed. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror Karma had beside the bathroom door. My hair was a mess. I tried to fix it, but after ten minutes it was clear I wasn't helping anything. Sighing, I went downstairs.

I found Karma on the couch. He was wearing an oversized black hoodie and plaid pajama pants. He was wearing a dark red t-shirt last night... Why did have on that hoodie? Was he cold or something?

"Morning, Shuu-chan..." he said(in an adorable voice) and then yawning. 

"Morning..." I looked at the analog clock above the TV. It was 6:30. Crap... we were going to be late. "Karma, shouldn't we be heading to school?"

He shrugged. "I'm sick."

I raised an eyebrow. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not, considering this is Karma here. I walked out in front of him and put the palm of my hand on his forehead. He's right... he was burning up. "Karma, you should go back to bed." I looked at the hoodie he was wearing. "And take this off," I said trying to lift it over his head. 

He shoved my hands away and looked at me with a hard glare. "I'm fine."

"No, Karma, you're not. You've got a fever! It'll only get worse if you keep that hoodie on!" I reached for it again, but he gripped the hem tight and pulled it down so I couldn't pull it over his head. I thought I saw some blush dust over his cheeks, but he was sick so I couldn't be too sure. "I..." he was trying to say something.

"You what, Karma?" I reached for the hem again.

"I don't want you to see..."

I paused. What didn't he want me to see? "See what, Karma?" Was he self conscious about how his chest looks? Modest? Insecure? What? 

He rolled up his sleeve and pointed to his scars that were on his forearm. I understood now. 

There were more of them.

I kneeled down in front of where he sat on the couch and slowly put my hand up his shirt. I could feel the scars that were there. I looked at him to see if he wanted me to stop, but he didn't show any sign of it. I used both of my hands to try and get the hoodie off again, but Karma grabbed my wrists, signaling me to stop. "Sorry.." I said sitting down next to him.

I saw him pulling at his sleeves. "I guess I can take off the hoodie..." I was going to protest, but he already had taken it off and flung it onto the armchair next to him. There weren't just scars and scabs on his forearms, there was more on his shoulders and biceps. I saw white dots coating his shoulders. What were those? I started to rub my fingers over them when I saw Karma tense up. "Karma," asked pointing at the dots, "What are these?"

He didn't look at me. He just answered and ran his hand over mine. "It's where my father burned me with his cigarettes." He interlaced our fingers. "It feels nice when you touch them." I unlaced our fingers and ran my fingers over all of them.  

The ones on his neck.

The ones on his shoulders.

The ones on his collarbone.

I kissed one on his neck and felt him shiver. I kissed it again and felt him run his fingers through my hair. I kissed down his neck and heard him let out a soft gasp. I trailed kisses up his neck to his ear and heard him sigh. I licked his earlobe and heard him shudder, but then he pushed me away. 

When I looked at his face, I saw that he was blushing a bright red. I smirked. "That's adorable..."

He glared at me. "I'm not used to people touching me... I still get jumpy when someone taps my shoulder or something like that."

I threw my arm over his shoulder and kissed another one of those 'cigarette scars' on his neck. "You don't mind if I touch you, right?" He shrugged. "I don't know... Even if you touching me has only made me feel good."

I felt my face heat up. I knew my face was bright red right now. "What would you do if I kissed you right now?"

He shrugged. "I don-"

I cut him off with my lips.

I was kissing him.

Why?

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CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!!!!!

BUM BUM BUM!!!!!!! I am proud! I finished this AND I still have some time to sleep before school! XD Just kidding, where I am it's 10:20 at night. See ya in the next chapter!!!!

~BDead