Nuki's Note:

Hello all and welcome to Headset Part 2, Hemophobia. If you're a returning reader, let me say thank you for sticking with this story for so long! If you're new to Headset, I'd like to recommend you read Part 1 before this. At first I thought it wouldn't really matter, but as I wrote this chapter, I realized there are several confusing aspects to the story that you wouldn't understand unless you've read Part 1.

Anyway, regardless of if you're someone familiar with the story or not, you're in for a ride. I've already completely planned out Part 2, and at 31 chapters, it's going to be almost twice as long as Part 1 was. I also guarantee that this is going to be darker, gorier, and um...better than Part 1. :D Hence the title, Hemophobia, which means fear of blood. Well it's going to be a mix of things, since sappy Nuki can't resist adding romance and occasional failed attempts at humor. But this first chapter is virtually clean, other than some language.

So without further ado, I present Headset Part 2. Enjoy c:

-18 weeks later-

Alone and quiet she stood, allowing the cold winter air to nip at her skin and carry her curly locks in her face. Kitchen knife poking against her fingers, she bit her lip, staring at the peaceful park that set at the foot of the once floral hill she stood on. Minus the blade, she looked like any normal girl taking a detour on her way home from school.

Two days ago, I had a dream. Looking back, I do not know where I was, however in the dream, I did know. It was a room, I believe it was mine, but it did not look like my current one. I think that this dream is telling me we will move one day. However, I do not know when it will happen. I can't remember it very well, so it won't be for at least another month. In fact, I only remember three things. One, I was in a new room and a new house. Two, I had moved into a town very close to the Nagoya area. And three, I was attending Haruki Middle School.

Her glance shifted from her feet over to a couple of kids chasing each other on the sidewalk. She pushed the blade deeper, but not yet enough to truly hurt or pierce certain layers and allow blood flow. Try as she might, she could not recall more than those three facts from her dream.

I'm ready for this. I've been so bored these past few months. Whether the new life on my horizon makes me happy or brings me pain, anything is better than this dull daily cycle of enduring school and drawing in my free time. More than anything, there's a chance I might be able to receive my reward from this move. And if I can get that…I don't care how much suffering I have to endu--…

The very tip cut through the remaining layers. Her thought process screeched to a halt as she watched droplets of the dark crimson fall from the tiny wound. She gripped the knife tighter, still allowing the cut to bleed. With one last gaze over the park, her hair's shadow fell over her face, and she continued on her way.

Headset

Part 2: Hemophobia

Chapter 1

Change

"Bye-bye Satsuki-chan! We'll see you tomorrow!" Reika called as she waved her completely outstretched hand.

"Bye!" Satsuki whirled around to return the gesture before trotting away.

The two lingering girls exchanged smiles before walking together in their own direction. Ayaka, by far the shorter one, waited as her friend Reika stuffed books in her bag. By now Ayaka was used to Reika forgetting something, usually a book, and having to rush back to the classroom to snag it. But today Reika was having a difficult time finding the English text book.

"Ayaka-chan, I'm sorry." Reika moaned as she turned over the entire room. "I just can't find it."

The blonde curved her lips upward as she hopped down from a desk that had served as a temporary seat. "Reika, have you tried looking in your bag?"

Reika left the trashcan and returned to the desk she had set her bag on. Sure enough after a moment or two of digging, she found the once lost English book. It had been wedged and hidden between her math text and a particularly large book that she had been reading for her own pleasure.

"Oh…it was here all along. Thank you Ayaka-chan." She sighed.

Ayaka nodded, playing with a strand of her lengthy golden hair that touched down past her thighs- very much in contrast to Reika's short amber hair that barely even made it to her shoulders. Ayaka made sure to grab her own bag before the two left the room. The girls took their time, chatting and giggling as most middle school girls do, until Reika pulled out her cell phone and got a look at the clock.

"We're really late!" She cried, shoving the phone back into her bag and breaking into a bolt.

Ayaka followed behind. She could only pray that she wouldn't trip and slow them down even more. When they were late, they got in trouble. Big trouble. The two rushed through the twist and turns of the school and the entered the familiar door that led into a windowless hallway with another door at the end. As expected, the locker room was vacant.

"We're going to get it now…" Reika whined.

"We really are late." Ayaka agreed, finally catching a glance of a clock on the back wall.

They ran past the three bathroom stalls and through the coach room out onto the hill. Hurriedly they made their descend down the wooden stairs and came to a slow once they passed the first set of bleachers. Both panting, they stopped at the second set, the one in the middle, and took a seat near the bottom left. Although it was a clear day, neither was able to enjoy it. Ayaka and Reika would be scolded by the boys whenever the soccer coaches, a pair of twins, called a break.

My name is Suzuki Ayaka. Almost six months ago, I moved to this town with my mother. If you're wondering why my friend and I are watching the male soccer team of our school during their practice…well it's a long story. Let's just say a few days after I began attending this school, I made some 'friends' who weren't really friends at the time. Everything's completely fine now, but that first month really was a rollercoaster ride. However, due to certain circumstances, Reika and I are required to attend practices and games, but we do not actually play. It sounds weird, but it works out. Reika is actually the cousin of the soccer coaches and she even lives with them, so it really does work out fine.

"I forgot how nice it was to go straight home." Reika groaned as a sharp gust of wind reminded the girls that spring was still quite the distance away.

Ayaka nodded. Before Reika had transferred and Ayaka was the only one who really had to stay, it had been the end of the season. She had seen one game, and then the team didn't meet again for practice until just two weeks ago. Now the two were stuck sitting down outside as February very slowly made its morph into March. They had taken those days of walking home to a warm house for granted.

Now that they had settled down, Ayaka and Reika pulled out homework. Occasionally Ayaka would ask Reika for help. Despite her usually spaced out appearance, Reika was extremely book smart. She was even good at explaining problems. Ayaka, like just about everyone else, often wondered where those brains came from, as Reika rarely used them outside of school work.

However, the peaceful atmosphere was interrupted when the twins finally called the break. Ayaka and Reika began putting their things away, very much aware that innocent papers and books were threatened around a bunch of boys worked up from running around a field. Reika had learned that the hard way.

"Where were you two? Ayaka you didn't get your hand stuck in the vending machine again, did you?" Kanto appeared next to the girls.

Kanto was one of the soccer coaches, and Reika's cousin. Like his twin, Kano, he was lanky with long, jet black hair. Perhaps it was her height or his sarcasm, but even after four months, Ayaka couldn't shake the inferior feeling she got whenever talking with him or his brother. The two spoke as if they knew everything, and very often was it hard to decide if one should take what they say seriously or not.

"It was my fault." Reika admitted dejectedly. "I thought I had left a book in the class room, but it turns out I had it in my bag the whole time."

"Only a handful of people have the ability to be smart yet stupid at the same time." Akashi cut in, standing a few feet in front of the girls.

"But--!"

"If you try to cover for yourself, you only look stupider." He continued.

Reika hung her head, defeated. She couldn't win against him, not against him.

Ayaka's lips bent slightly upward. Long, shaggy copper hair, Akashi was one of three brothers that Ayaka was with almost all day, everyday. He took a seat next to Reika, who was still moping at his insults. But this was a very typical event. Reika was usually very good at winning arguments, except when it came to Akashi.

"Move."

Only moments after the command, Ayaka set her bag down and scooted up one step of the bleachers. Kaito followed her and laid his head in her lap. Sakio took the place where she had been sitting just a moment ago. These two were the brother's of Akashi. Kaito's hair was darker, more chocolate in colour, than Akashi's. It was just as long, only running closer down his neck. Sakio's hair, blonde in contrast to his brunette brothers, could be considered in the middle as very as length and messiness went. Despite their differences in eye and hair colour, the three were almost exactly the same height and age- triplets. It was pretty easy to tell them apart, but if you really wanted a way to define them separately, one could go by Sakio's blonde hair and the fact that Kaito always wore finger cut gloves with black and white stripes that extended just above his elbows.

I guess I have to explain myself now, don't I? Let' see…they wouldn't always come around me like this. When I moved here, they attacked me twice. I found out they had been abused by their father, and were very cold people as a result. When I tried to help, they didn't want it, and they attempted to kill me many times. But…I managed to pull through. They accepted me in the end, and they're getting better.

Granted they're still easily angered, they're still sort of mean, and there's still a ton of things I don't know about them. But I've been enjoying myself with them. And Reika too. In honesty, these past few months have been wonderful. Oh, and they're the reason Reika and I come to practices and games. They get really upset if we don't come.

It is fun though, and the rest of the members are really interesting. In total, there are thirteen boys on the team: Kuro, Dai, Takumi, Sanjiro, Hiro, Takuya, Rei, Keji, Yosuke, Saniiro, and then Kaito, Akashi, and Sakio.

"Alright, break's over. Get your asses back out on the field." Kano declared.

"WHAT THE HELL? You guys have been shortening our break with every single practice!" Yosuke immediately objected.

"You'll live. Besides it's not like it's hot outside or anything."

Ayaka turned to Kanto. "But you guys always win the games…so- so wouldn't it be okay if you made the break in practice a little longer?"

Kanto shrugged, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. "Well we have to make sure they don't get cocky. It's their overconfidence that intermittently causes us to loose."

Ayaka nodded, and did not object to him smoking as she would have done several months ago. Like many things, the twins' habit of smoking was one thing she knew she would have to put up with.

"You three, go." Kanto ordered.

"Don't wanna." Kaito responded lazily.

Kano took a step up the bleachers. He grabbed Ayaka under her arms and pulled her up, causing Kaito to roll off her lap.

"SHIT! God Dammit you bastard." The boy growled.

"You shouldn't use such bad language in front of a lady." Kano scorned, gently placing Ayaka back on her feet.

"That hurt, you asshole!" Kaito snapped, pulling himself up.

"I bet this hurts too." Kano retorted, stepping down onto his back. "…What a potty mouth you are." He added when Kaito began to unleash a ripple of swears.

It didn't take much longer to herd the reluctant members back out on the field. Ayaka and Reika (who had finally recovered from her loss) felt it was safe to bring their homework out again. When practice was over, they followed the rest of the group back into the locker room. However, they stayed in the coach room as the boys got undressed. The twins sat at the large, L shaped desk, and the girls stood with their backs against the window that overlooked the rest of the locker room.

"Is Natasha still mad about last Saturday?" Kano asked from the doorway that led to the outside hill.

Natasha was Ayaka's mother. The two were exact opposites. Natasha had hair equal in length to her daughter's, but it was pitch black. And she was easily angered, always expressing her emotions through yelling and breaking things. But the two were very close, in fact Natasha was the type of mother who was obsessed with her child, always doting and bragging. It was just the male kind that set her off. Bluntly putting it, Natasha was a sexist and even Ayaka couldn't deny that.

"I think she's getting better about it. She stopped shattering dishes the other day."

"She's scary when she's mad. I feel bad for you having to deal with it."

Ayaka giggled. "She's very emotional, but really, she doesn't talk about it much at home anymore."

"Who are you talking about? Ayaka's mom?" Takuya poked his head in through the door way that connected the area with the rest of the locker room.

"Ayaka's mom is so damn hot." Yosuke declared near the lockers.

"And she also too damn old for you." Kanto replied, annoyed.

Ayaka, feeling her nerves twitch, gave her fingers something to do by running them through her long locks of hair. Although this sort of talk about her mother was not uncommon, it still made her slightly uncomfortable. Natasha had come with her, just for the sake of it, to the last game before then end of the season, and the majority of the team had become infatuated with her. This was not surprising. Most of the boys on the team were the girl-hungry type.

"Let's go." Akashi broke Ayaka away from her thoughts.

She nodded, half relieved, and turned to Reika, who had her phone out. "Bye-Bye, Reika."

The other girl smiled with a wave. "See you tomorrow."

The four exited the school and began on their usual path home. When Ayaka and her mother had moved, they had moved into the same neighborhood as the boys. In fact from her own home, Ayaka only needed to turn the corner, and she would be at their house just a few houses down. Thankfully, the walk only took ten or fifteen minutes, so they didn't have to endure the chilly wind for too long.

"It's still really cold out though…" Ayaka mumbled to herself.

"Midgets like you must be prone to cold." Kaito retorted.

Ayaka stopped, shaking her head vigorously in protest. "I am not that short!"

"And night isn't the opposite of day. Come on, we all know that you never grow, you just shrink." Sakio argued. He was at her side now, all three of them were.

"I grow!" Ayaka protested.

When she took a step, all three backed away. They carried playful grins, and Ayaka knew she was in for an unfair walk home.

"Don't touch me! I don't want to catch whatever it is that makes you shrink." Akashi laughed.

Ayaka chased the three around, each splitting up and causing her confusion as to who she should go after. Eventually she stopped, tired. As the three snickered at her humiliation, she puffed her cheeks and balled up her fists.

"I'm not that short. You guys are just tall."

"Don't pull that again. We told you, we're just average height." Kaito countered.

Ayaka tried standing on her toes, only to realize that it was a mistake. Kaito put his foot in front of her ankle and pulled back, causing Ayaka to fall flat on her face. Once again, this was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it was the boys' way of showing they liked her. But Ayaka would never exactly grow used to the constant teasing she was forced to take.

"I wonder if it's your stupidity that makes you short, or your shortness that makes you stupid." Sakio thought out loud.

"You guys are mean…"

Ayaka pulled herself up and began trudging down the sidewalk alone. A few feet behind, the boys were discussing the possible causes of Ayaka's height in very loud whispers. Clearly they wanted her to hear what they were saying, but she did her best to ignore them. It didn't help her situation when she accidentally tripped on a curve and nearly fell into the path of a car speeding down the road. The discussion of her height shifted to theories as to why she could trip on perfectly flat, stable ground. Or in other words, theories as to why she was 'stupid'.

Ayaka figured they were too rowdy to be trusted in her house today, so she turned to cross the road into their driveway. The four entered, moving through the hallway. Sakio and Akashi darted upstairs once they reached the kitchen, but Kaito grabbed Ayaka's hand and tugged her over to the table where he took a seat. Undoubtedly, he wanted food.

Ayaka shuffled over to cabinets near the microwave where she searched through an assortment of bagged and boxed snacks. She pretended not to notice when Kaito snickered at the fact she actually had to crawl on top of the counter to reach the top cabinet.

"Wait, what are you doing?" The boy demanded when Ayaka returned with typical packaged foods in her arms.

"Well…it's okay if you just have these, right?"

"No, I want sandwiches. Go make some." Kaito objected.

Ayaka averted her eyes to the floor. "B-But…these would be so much easier …"

Kaito kicked a leg of the table, causing Ayaka to jump. "God, I hate it when you get like this. Why the hell are you so selfish all the time? Stop being lazy and go make the goddamned sandwiches."

"Okay…I'll make a few…"

"NO! Make like twenty or thirty."

Ayaka shook her head. "That would take way too long! Just a few."

"You think about yourself too much. Besides, the ones you make are always small."

Feeling her self confidence fall hard, Ayaka sulked over to the counter and began looking for bread. It was true that the sandwiches she made were small, so Ayaka figured that fifteen halves would settle. It took time, but not as long as predicted. When Ayaka was finished, she darted to the bathroom and back, finding Kaito at the table again.

"Here you go. She announced, holding the plate of sandwiches in front of him.

Kaito looked up from a bag of chips. "Oh, I don't want that anymore. I'm just going to eat these."

"…"

Ayaka was still standing in the same spot with a twitching expression when Akashi came downstairs and took the plate from her hands. He stared from her to Kaito and back.

"You're going to make him fat, Ayaka."

"SHUT UP! Go away!"

"Why do you feed someone who's always so mean to you?" Akashi continued, ignoring his brother and directing his words at Ayaka.

"I'm not mean!" Kaito snarled.

Akashi snickered. "Ayaka, you think Kaito is mean, right?"

"AM NOT!"

It took a moment or two to return to the situation around her. But after a few blinks, Ayaka cocked her head with an awkward smile. "Well, Kaito-kun wouldn't be Kaito-kun if he was nice…"

Akashi burst out laughing and pointing at Kaito. "She thinks you're an asshole! She thinks you're an asshole!"

It was a lost cause the get the boys to stop fighting with each other. After a while of flailing and complaining, Ayaka stepped back and just watched helplessly. She was so focused on Kaito and Akashi, that she didn't even notice when Sakio appeared next to her. He watched as well, although he was far more bored than Ayaka was.

"Kaito can be a real girl sometimes, always so easily pissed off by words." Sakio sighed as he took the plate that had been set down on the table.

"HEY!"

"What? Were you going to eat these? Along with those snacks…and just about everything else we have in this house?"

Kaito said nothing, but was visibly fuming and Akashi was laughing uncontrollably. Ayaka hated it when they fought like this. Eventually she would be forced to take sides and very rarely could she wriggle her way out of the issue. A part of her wondered if these petty fights were another form of teasing her, as whichever boy she didn't side with would often pick on her for the rest of the day.

"Kaito, you eat so much food, that if you died, world hunger would come to an end." Sakio continued, nibbling on a sandwich.

"BOTH OF YOU CAN GO TO HELL!"

Ayaka felt the need to intervene before she could be brought into the matter. She planted herself on Kaito's back, slowing him from charging up to his brother. She squeezed him and muttered "bad boy" in a baby voice. As if she had hit an off switch, Kaito simply lowered his head without saying or doing much more. The once erratic atmosphere fell. This was one thing no one questioned.

Perhaps…around me…you wouldn't be able to guess it. Now, generally they act like regular boys. I wonder…if seeing they way they often treat me, at one point you were curious as to why I put up with them. They often bully me, and they try to get me to do things I don't like doing, even so…I do love them.

Kaito-kun, Akashi-kun, and Sakio-kun are brutally abused by their father. Both mentally and physically, I've seen him torture them. This is what drove me to try to help them. Please hear me out; Ryo-san is not the image of a typical abusive parent. I've never met a man like him before.

Komatsu, that is their surname. I've learned that those from the Komatsu blood-line truly are powerful and many in number. There wasn't a store or building I could go to without finding someone by that name. Even my doctor is a Komatsu. It's because of this power and wealth that Ryo-san is able to abuse his sons and nothing can be done about it. However…Ryo-san openly admits his abuse as a type of 'punishment'. I believe there may be darker reasons behind his abuse. There has to be.

"SHUT UP! I DIDN'T COME HERE TO BE INSULTED BY YOUR SICK FANTASIES!"

Ayaka whipped her head up to the loft that connected the second floor of the house. Natasha, her mother, came storming out of a room followed by a very well built and attractively muscled man with only jeans on- Ryo.

"Natasha! You're too easily offended, and I didn't even know you were listening to me…" Ryo whined as he followed her down the stairs.

"We're going, Ayaka." Natasha grabbed her daughter by the hand pulling her off of Kaito and down the hallway.

"Say Ayaka, have I ever told you that you have a complete bitch for a mother?" Ryo stopped in front of them, faking hurt feelings.

Natasha, on fire with anger, snapped another explicit retort before dragging Ayaka outside, around the corner, and back to their house.

Ayaka yawned, shuffling through the kitchen in a night t-shirt and pants that were far too big for her. She entered the living room where her mother stood in front of the TV. She went to Natasha's side, staring at the vivid news report on the screen that lit up most of the darkened room.

"The escaped criminal that was convicted of the slaughter of a young teenage boy was found and caught yesterday. The murder took place well over a month ago, but the man went into hiding until he was spotted at the…"

"That's strange. This is the second time I've heard about an escaped criminal killing someone." Ayaka frowned.

"Hearing things like this makes me nervous whenever you go outside…" Natasha admitted, wrapping her arms around her daughter. Ayaka tugged on her mother's hand with a smile.

"Don't worry Mom, as long as Kaito-kun, Sakio-kun, and Akashi-kun are with me, I'm perfectly safe!"