Assist Me - Byakuya Togami

6.

The New Year had come and gone.

She sat in the library with him typing away at her computer to finish an English assignment. Byakuya wasn't the only one to notice the change in behaviour coming from Y/n. She loaded work onto herself and never hung out with anyone. She refused to go to social gatherings and flinched when someone asked for a favour from her.

She only spent time with Byakuya when it was absolutely necessary like in meetings and such and she refused to go into homeroom and lessons. She seemed to avoid any instance of talking to her classmates which made her relationship with the friends she had hung out with the most suffer. They tried talking to her but to no avail.

Byakuya, though he hated to admit it, was worried about her. In his head, he had come to terms with it but still refused to believe it. He told himself that he didn't want her work with him to fail because of this. Unfortunately, deep down in his rotten heart, he knew that he was worried about her mental health.

He had never been good at coming to terms with his emotions as he had only felt a select few. He never received any type of love, only praise. He had never known love. He only knew what his father had taught him, and that vile man had taught him that love is the weakest emotion.

How could a man that had never felt such a complex emotion teach his son about it? It's like a maths teacher teaching English or a man teaching a woman how to give birth.

Byakuya was good at pushing his emotions down or replacing them with other emotions. That's why he showed his affection by making suggestive actions with a smug face. He thought that her recent silence has been due to his work on the night of Halloween but his pride refused to let him ask her.

The school day soon ended and the two found themselves back at their home. Y/n had locked herself in her room like countless other days whilst Byakuya went to his own. Pennyworth had come by a few times to drop off some notes left for Y/n who wasn't answering her door which made him snap. He took the notes and went to Y/n's room. He knocked on the door loudly before saying, "It's me, Y/n. I need to talk to you."

He waited a few seconds before he heard a click and the door open. Y/n was standing at the door trembling, tears running down her cheeks. His heart panged in his chest and he dropped the notes, holding her hands and pulling her to her bed. He sat her down and closed her door before sitting beside her.

"Y/n, what has been happening recently? You're a completely different person now it's-" She broke down into sobs before she could finish. Her body trembled violently and her head hung low. He froze for a minute, lost in what to say. It felt all too reminiscent.

"Y/n, you've been acting weird lately. What's wrong with you?" He asked, not knowing how to word it nicely. The short h/c sobbed into his chest, shaking. He didn't know how to handle this, he was an emotionally unavailable 13-year-old. He held her shoulders and pushed her gently so he could see her face.

Moving some hair from her face, she finally showed him the test that she had failed. "I-I-I didn't want you t-to fire me because of my gra-grade!"

The boy shook his head and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. A new feeling sparked in him making his stomach jump and flutter but he didn't hate it. The h/c was shocked at the affection but held him anyway, smiling a little.

"I'm not going to fire you, Y/n. I'll help you study so you can pass the next one."

His arms went to hold her in a hug but she flinched making him put his arms back where they were. She composed herself before she made eye contact with him.

"Halloween... Leon and I... we... we came back here and we started kissing and making out. I pulled away because I wasn't interested and didn't want to go any further but he told me that he was turned on now and it was my fault..." She dropped her head, too ashamed to make eye contact with her boss. "I said I didn't want to but he kept saying it was my fault so I... agreed. I can't look at myself the same after what he did to me...!"

Her body racked with sobs as she buried her face in her hands and cried her heart out. It all clicked. It made so much sense to him now. He never even imagined the possibility of Leon after forgetting he was even at the party. His body shook with anger and he clenched his fist.

"Do you want me to ruin his life?" He asked, staring at her.

"Huh?" The girl stared back at her boss, her eyes still full of tears.

"I can ruin him. I'll get him kicked out of the school and his title stripped from him after what he did. This is a legal matter, Y/n, you can hold this against him in court."

"I-I..." She thought for a moment, "I don't want to. A-As much as he's hurt me, I don't want to ruin his life. I want to... to better my own."

This answer barely shocked him. He always knew of her kind nature, it was his vengeful side that wanted to hurt him. If he was one for getting his hands dirty, he'd beat Leon right then and there, but he calmed himself.

"I'll arrange therapy for you. I'll get Pennyworth on it." He stood up and straightened his suit out. "The plebians have been trying to get your attention for a while now. I'd suggest talking to them."

And with that, he left the room. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, smiling softly at the care she had felt from him. Soon, that care would reveal itself as love.