Figure Out The Rest
She had never been wealthy, far from it, she had always been broke. It wasn't anyone's fault, just her luck in life, being an orphan with no money and three jobs. It was simple enough for her, she was a quiet girl, and she didn't need a lot in life. So she worked a waitress.
Now, because she had never been wealthy of with money she had had to save up for everything she desired.
And this was where she was pretty certain she had fucked herself over.
See, it was all because of that dress, that thrift shop dress that was so pretty she just had to have it rather than spending her savings on her earnings like she should have.
Now, while she didn't have money Rin knew she had the wild flower beauty that attracted men.
However, when she had been younger and dumber she hadn't really cared about attracting the men, she had cared about getting by. And that was also where she had probably screwed herself when she thought about it.
Buying that dress had changed her life, the night she had bought it she had decided to go dancing. It was a pretty dress, and it was meant for dancing, she wanted to dance and that was why she had gone out that night. It was fun, and she had unwittingly captured the attention of a wealthy heir who had come to her. Rin wasn't really one to judge people back then, she couldn't care about if a person was human, hanyō or yōkai; and perhaps that was another mistake she had made. But she had danced with the man, and she had laughed in delight that night.
Well, one could figure out where the rest of where this had gone.
A whirl wind romance and she was married before she was nineteen. Everyone thought it to be beautiful, everyone thought them to be the most perfect adorable couple ever created, and she was happy. She loved being around his older sister, she adored the friends she was gaining and she found herself surrouned by kind, loving humans who had a wonderful life. To her it was surreal.
And maybe that was another mistake her young naïve-self had made.
But in her perfect life she had taken the first hit, she had been shocked and stared him in horror, he had promptly apologized, said it was an accident and she shouldn't have been standing there when he swung his arms around in frustration. He had even gotten the ice pack for her jaw. Rin had winced as he helped her, and she had forgiven him. the next day he bought her flowers and jewelry and she was convinced it had truly been an accident.
Now, she was an orphan, she had been through the system and knew the cycle of abuse like the back of her hand. Which was why she was ashamed she hadn't caught on to it.
The next time he hit her he had been drinking to much, she had said no and he had attacked her, taken her painfully and never accepted her no. When he was done with her she slid to the kitchen floor dumbfounded, she had never been sexually assaulted in her life. He just stumbled up to bed.
She grabbed her shit and ran to his sisters.
Now, one would think a sister would be appalled with what was happening but the human woman had only sadly smiled at her and said that as her brother's wife it was her duty to take it then she shut the door in Rin's face.
Rin had returned home and slept in a locked guest room.
When her husband was gone the next day she took a hot bath to ease her throbbing body, then she pulled out the concealer, pulled on her sunglasses and walked to the church to sit in the back as she prayed for a better life she prayed, and prayed, she prayed this wouldn't happen again
Over the course of the next year it kept getting worse and worse, her husband was almost always drunk, and she got very good at concealing the bruises.
There was nothing she could ever do which would please her husband, dinner was never what he wanted, she was never good enough in bed when he took her by force, and she wasn't pretty enough so he covered her in bruises. She was nothing again, and it broke Rin's heart, but she stayed because she truly had nowhere else to go.
However the last night she stayed was the night he pulled a knife on her. He had just beaten her senseless and she had snapped she was leaving him and he couldn't stop her. Stalking up to what had been her room since the first assault she packed a bag. Opening her door she had screamed seeing him there with a knife, slamming it in his face she tried to think of an escape. He broke the door, she screamed when he came at her with that knife. He was laughing manically shouting she was his and his forever and that she would never leave him for the gardener. Rin had run, she had kicked him between the legs, grabbed her bag and run. He tackled her down the stairs, they crashed into the floor, she stared at all the blood coming from him as he lay face down.
Panicking she grabbed her bag, forgot her shoes and ran out the door crying and trying to keep it all together as the rain hit her.
She never slowed, she never as she ran down the street. When she reached the main road she held out a thumb, a delivery truck picked her.
A kitsune who was the first creature to show her kindness by wrapping her up in a dry coat as she cried. He never asked her where she was wanted to go, and she never cared where she went so long as she got a way.
When she woke she found herself in his truck as they drove into one of the yōkai districts and he pulled into a rest stop.
"You're awake," he said. She jolted as she turned to him.
"Where are we?" she asked in a horse voice.
"The Ohtsuka district," he answered. "Someone really did a number on you, didn't they," he said.
"It's nothing," she muttered forgetting that she wasn't wearing concealer to hide the bruises.
"Look, I don't take to seeing girls be beat up so if you're that suicidal about this guy I'm not going to be the one to take you back," the redhead said firmly. She blinked at him and then looked down.
She didn't have anywhere to go, and she was pretty sure she had just killed the man who had been her husband.
"I don't want to go back," she whispered.
"Do you have somewhere I could drop you off then, a safe place?" he clarified to her. she shook her head slowly.
"Alright then, you're a pretty harmless little human so I'll make a deal with you, you can come stay with me for now and I'll help you get back on your feet," he said.
Rin looked up at him through wet lashes then as she sat there trembling.
"And why would you want to help me?" she whispered.
"I don't tolerate girls getting beaten up, I have a little sister and if I saw her like this I'd murder the bastard after I patched her up," he admitted.
"I'll just have to go back," she muttered miserably.
"No you don't, look, you can start a whole new life. He's not that great of a guy if he beats you black and blue," the kitsune pointed out. Rin's lip trembled hearing the truth in his words.
"A wife's duty is to be with her husband," she whispered the words her sister-in-law and husband's words that they had religiously preached.
"No, you're duty is to take care of yourself, so come on, I'll take you home with me," the kitsune admitted. She flinched when he offered his home to her.
"I have a live in girlfriend if that helps matters," he said and she hesitantly looked at him.
"Really?" she whispered.
"Yeah, and she'd kill me if she knew I let you go back to whatever hell you came from," the kitsune said.
"She won't mind?" she asked softly as she hugged the jacket to her.
"Not at all, and her brother might help you get a job," the kitsune grinned and she felt herself soften a bit as she took his offered hand.
"I'm Yamato Shippo," he introduced himself.
"Rin, just Rin," she whispered as they shook. She wondered if she should tell him that she had just killed her husband or not.
"Nice to meet you Rin, now, I need to get fuel and then I'll take you home, Sōten, Raiden Sōten, that's my girlfriend will be happy to help you out, she's a doctor and you humans are surprisingly fragile," Shippo said.
And that was the first laugh she had had in three years as she stared at him with a smile.
"Thanks Shippo," she whispered
"No problem."