Nuki's Note:

I re-wrote chapter 1 of Part 1 for a certain reason. Then I decided to re-write Part 1 entirely, because in all honesty, I did rush through it as I wrote it. So err...yeah. Part 2 won't come for a while, right now I'm actually writing that out, and then I'm going to go back and re-write it, and post it. I know what I'm doing, honest! If you're willing to bear with me here, then thanks a bunch xD I'm crazy, I know I know. You can view my profile for better details as to what I'm doing.

Headset

Part 1: Itai

Chapter 1

Questions

"Worthless. Useless. Disgusting…"

Their bodies are weak- on the cliff of being dead. All three have collapsed under the pressure of the adult figure cursing angrily at them. When he gives a pause, it becomes clear their pain is pleasing for him.

She watches through the crack of a door ajar. Her shaking fingers grip the wood, digging into the frame as the scene plays out before her. She watches with fear as the man circles each defeated boy. One falls victim to another kick. She winces. This brutal scene is like a horror movie playing out in front of a frightened child- it won't go away.

The man speaks again, but this time she does not catch his words. Instead she is choked, strangled, and beaten by an attack of fear, anguish, and suffering. Pain swirls around her. Hope fades from her body. And she is suddenly…alone. Even though four people are just a few feet away from her, they do not hear her screams and cries.

Tighter and tighter is she suffocated by emotion. She can no longer stand this overbearing horror. Yet her screams get her nowhere. She waits for the breaking point that never comes. Trapped in a vortex of pain, she gives in. She has lost. She gives into the suffering, and she plummets into a pit of darkness.

She rolled over, toppling out of bed. Panting severely, her mind raced to recall the nightmare that had repeated itself for a sixth time in period of five days. Her fingers tightened into a fist as an uneasy aura of fear loomed over her head.

Her eyes scanned the room, searching. Searching for what? For a tangible object, or maybe for an explanation to the repetitive nightmare? Her bed was in tact, except for the tangled covers and sheets due to her kicking. Her desk was quiet and computer shut off. The closet doors were shut and her shelves were neat. When she found nothing, she swallowed, and standing to her feet- darted as quickly as she could into her mother's bedroom.

--

Suzuki Ayaka was really clumsy, and that was a complete understatement.

She tripped over herself on perfectly flat ground. If she ran too fast, she usually had a hard time stopping before hitting something or someone. Her head seemed magnetically attracted to doors, poles, and walls. These features, along with others, had contributed to the nerves that ate away at her around a week ago when she first entered her new school. If her ditzy blunders didn't grab the entire school's attention, her hair did. Although she was shorter and underweight for most girls her age, Ayaka stuck out like a sore thumb with her bright golden hair that currently reached her mid thighs. Her ocean blue eyes could be dazzling at times, and her face was cute and sweet- a typical, spacey blonde.

As her recap of her first week at the new school came to an end, Ayaka had to assume she had left an okay impression on most people. The fence that now decorated the scenery to her left gave sign Ayaka was approaching the building. She brought her eyes up to the school that hovered over her now. It was far, far larger than the tiny one back at her old town, and at least contained triple the amount of students. With so many middle school students about, it was difficult to spot the closest friend she had managed to make last week.

She didn't have to venture far into the never ending hallways before something rather heavy bounced up against her back.

"That hurts!" Ayaka whined, leaning forward and out from under of the other girl.

Satsuki retreated cautiously. Her amber braids fell onto her shoulders and golden eyes grew wide with worry.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know it still hurt…" She trailed off, sharing the same hesitation as Ayaka to bring up the subject. Both girls stood uncomfortably as others passed them. Ayaka felt her back once more, stiffening as her finger fell upon the very large bruise hidden under her school uniform. As she remembered, her first week had gone well except for one very small detail that she preferred avoiding.

"It's not your fault." She nodded, remaining silent as they made their way back to find a seat in the class.

Ayaka felt a sense of relief as she noticed the seat behind hers was empty. The class room fit thirty, aligned in rows of six with five in each. Ayaka was blessed with a window seat on the last row, as well as sitting behind two students taller than she- thus allowing perfect daydreaming or thinking conditions. Satsuki sat diagonally so the two could pass notes when the teacher's back was turned.

The girls waited until their teacher was deep into a discussion of the economy before diving into a contest to see who could add the most mini doodles to one note. After five minutes passed, the paper was cluttered from front to back with every girly drawing you could possibly imagine, and Ayaka was flipping the paper over and over to try to find something to draw. She couldn't write over the original note; however she did manage to add a smiley face to one of the words- and yes, that did count. Ayaka extended her arm out, and Satsuki reached. A third hand intercepted them both, snatching the paper and crumpling it with a loud crunch.

Ayaka's mouth fell open slowly as she realized the hand came from the seat behind her; the one she could have sworn was empty when she walked in the class room. She barely allowed herself a glance back, and sure enough Kaito was glaring at her.

Kaito was at an average height for a boy his age, but compared to Ayaka he was far taller than she. His hair was messy, straight but curling around his neck at the ends, and a very rich brown color. His eyes, blue, dark blue like midnight compared to the lighter blue that tinted Ayaka's irises. She could immediately recognize his hand by the gloves he wore. They were finger-cut, white with black stripes and reached up to his elbows. According to anyone Ayaka had spoken to, he wore them everyday under any condition. His brows narrowed drastically at her, and he moved his hands to rip the paper up to shreds.

Ayaka cast a strained look behind him and behind Satsuki in the row parallel to hers. Sure enough Kaito's brothers were sitting in once empty seats as well. Sakio sat behind Kaito. Against his brother's brown hair, Sakio was a light blonde, even lighter than Ayaka's, and even more of a mess than Kaito's. His irises were coated in a chestnut color, and he was pretty much identical to Kaito as far as height went.

Akashi was the boy who sat behind Satsuki. His hair was shaggy and longer than the other two, its color was a far lighter brown than Kaito's but still too dark to be considered dirty blonde. His eyes were almost orange, and he also held a height extremely close to his two brothers.

They had to be triplets or at least born within weeks of each other as it was practically impossible to tell who was oldest by height or face. And that was only the beginning of the strange air around them. They could fall into the classification of "bad boys" for many reasons. They didn't abide by the typical school uniform; instead they wore their own clothes to school. Ayaka had no idea how they got away with this as the school was pretty strict on uniforms. According to rumors Ayaka had overheard, they were apparently super rich and their father was super powerful. As far as looks went, they could be classified as handsome or cute, but neither looks nor money gained them popularity.

In fact most of the kids at school hated and feared them. They were ruthless and reckless. Girls, boys, teachers- No one was spared from their constant habits of lashing out or throwing punches or kicks. They didn't complete school work or take tests; they openly insulted others, and often caused an eruption of trouble. These reasons led Ayaka to wonder just how they managed to stay at this school. The entire school wondered this question right along with her.

The only reason Ayaka even knew these boys because they pretty much beat her up, but as she had come to realize, there was for more to it than simply attacking her out of spite. Still, they had attacked her on her first week and were absent up until today. Ayaka was nervous had an intuition rising in her about these boys and was nervous about seeing them right here in her class, especially since she could have sworn they weren't here when she and Satsuki walked in.

Class time suddenly fell into a blur of time that rushed all the way up to lunch break, when the teacher would leave the room and students would scatter. Hastily both girls agreed that they would eat in the cafeteria today even though both had brought their lunches with them. Ayaka didn't want to provide any time that would allow the boys an opportunity to talk to her. She practically ran out of the room, only to end up tripping over a desk.

Ayaka lifted her head, fighting a pain in her stomach and right leg. For a split second she was relived there was no one else in the room to laugh at her humiliation, until she realized what that meant. Although Satsuki pulled on her arm, begging her to move, Ayaka couldn't take her eyes off the three boys each glaring at her with equal hatred. Her nightmares that had haunted her every night since the day she had first met them came back to her, and she couldn't help but wonder. Were these boys simply mean for the sake of it? Or were they suffering like she could see in her dreams? She was positive it was these three boys in her dream that suffered such awful pain, and it was weird comparing their proud statures now against their pathetic states in her head.

Time to ponder over these thoughts died. Ayaka blinked, and without warning she suddenly came into hard impact with the ground. The room spun around her as she lost focus. It was only when she barely raised her upper body did she note a throbbing sensation in the left corner of her head.

A hand yanked at her hair, nearly bringing Ayaka off her feet. As if anymore pain could be added to her head, her hair was forced to take most of the weight of her body, as she couldn't manage to regain a steady stance on the floor. After several seconds of pain, her hair was released, and she was thrown back to the ground. Finally Ayaka managed to glance up to find Kaito staring at her.

Horror struck hard as she immediately realized her position. The three boys were attacking her again, only this time, Satsuki might get hurt as well. Standing up was a lot harder than it seemed. Ayaka's head was pounding madly from where she assumed she had been struck. Her hair strands had been strained, and she still felt the pain from first crashing into a desk. When she did finally manage to balance on a chair, she noticed Akashi standing near the chalk board. His gaze went from a blood spot on the wall, dripping down to Satsuki, who lay spiraled out on the floor.

On instinct, Ayaka lurched, and there she made her mistake. Kaito snatched her arm, taking hold of the other one and pinning both behind her back. He slammed her down on a desk. Struggling was useless. Kaito could hold down both of Ayaka's wrists with one hand, with all of his force on her, there was no earthly way she could escape on her own.

Akashi hopped onto the desk in front of her. Somewhere behind her, Ayaka could hear Sakio lock the door. She tried her hardest not to focus on the sharp pain coming from Kaito digging his nails into her arms.

"You're really stupid." Akashi began. His voice fit his age, although at the time it was dangerously low.

Through her bangs, Ayaka stared helplessly at him. She wondered if they expected her to cry.

"Why are you still here? Why didn't you do anything?" He demanded.

Ayaka shook her head. She felt too sick to try to understand his question. Of course her lack in verbal response triggered an angry emotion in Akashi.

"We kick your ass and you're still here? Still at this school, still in this class? Are you mentally retarded?" He hissed.

Ayaka opened her mouth. In all honesty, she didn't know why she hadn't changed classes. She couldn't change schools, she and her mother had just moved in and this was the closest middle school for miles, but changing classes hadn't even crossed her mind. Really she had been so focused on convincing her panic-stricken mother that everything was okay, she hadn't actually considered a solution. Then again up until today, the boys hadn't been at school. For a while, she had actually believed they were gone.

"I don't….know really…" she squeaked.

Kaito yanked her hair from behind. "You really are a stupid girl."

There was no time to respond. Once more, just as Ayaka blinked Kaito moved swiftly. He now dangled a sharp pocket knife in front of her face. He sliced through a layer of skin on her cheek, and then brought the blade back to her neck, poking it lightly.

"Originally you'd be dead at this moment, but some one as idiotic as you might not understand when someone is after your life. I am going to cut your throat open." He explained darkly, still somehow mocking her with his tone.

"Wait a minute…" Akashi stopped his brother, strolling over to the window. "This is on the second floor, let's throw her out the window instead."

Ayaka waited for him to follow this statement by pushing the window glass up, but he never did. She wondered if he'd break the glass- he didn't do that either.

"If you're wondering, opening the window and tossing you out isn't much fun. I think I'd rather see if I can throw you hard enough to break through the glass on force."

Ayaka gasped, providing the fear that the three boys wanted to see.

"Don't worry, if you're lucky, a shard might pierce your head and kill you instantly so you won't feel the pain of falling." Kaito offered.

He yanked her off the desk, securing her up against his body and crossed his arms over her.

"W-wait a minute…!" She was surprised the boys actually listened to her. "Can you answer one question?"

Akashi and Kaito glanced at Sakio, who was still by the door, probably guarding it. He shrugged. "She's going to die anyway…"

"Spit it out." Kaito snarled.

"Does it hurt? Does it hurt to go home…I wonder? Do you three…dread going home everyday?"

Akashi stared at her before he blinked. His pupils shrank and within moments he was so consumed by rage Ayaka was afraid he'd physically explode.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOU'RE BUSINESS! HOW THE HELL DID YOU EVEN FIND OUT ABOUT THAT?" It was slight, but there was a hint of fear that hid in his tone.

Without warning, Ayaka was slammed against the ground again, crashing into the corner of a desk on the side of her head that wasn't already injured. Vision a mess and head throbbing madly, it wasn't long before she gave up on trying to make sense of what had just occurred. Instead she gave into the pitch black darkness the welcomed her. Just before she slipped into the black, she could hear screams of 'KILL HER! KILL HER! SHE HAS TO DIE!' again, and again, and again.