Nine-year-old Mogame Kyo crept in through the back door of his house as quietly as he could. He knew he was late from his shuriken training, and his father didn't like it when he was late. He looked left and right in the dark to make sure his father wasn't around, and when he decided that he was safe, he sighed and turned on a light.

"Kyo!"

The furious voice of his father echoed through Kyo's ears for a moment before looking to the threshold of his father's room to see him standing there.

"T-To-sama," he stammered. "Gomen nasai, I was training-"

But his father advanced on him and picked him up by the shirt. He held him in the air for a moment and then threw him to the floor, and kicked him. Kyo winced and gasped in pain and tried to stand up. But his father stepped on his hand and he couldn't go anywhere.

"To-sama! Onegai!" shouted Kyo.

"Urusai!" his father screamed back. He reached down and grabbed Kyo by the throat. He slammed him into a wall and let go. Kyo slid down slowly and came to rest in a sitting position. His father kicked him in the stomach and the boy pulled himself up and ran for his room.

But his father followed him, turning on a hall light for better vision. Kyo turned and started to stumble backwards, trying to keep an eye on the man, but he tripped and fell backwards. He quickly stood up again but his father pushed him against the wall.

Kyo was completely terrified. 'Ryouji,' he thought. The voice in his head rose to a manic scream as he thought again, 'Ryouji nii-san!"

That was all he could think of: how much he wished his brother was there to help him.

His father grabbed his arm and started to drag him through the house. After a moment they reached a door and even after his father opened it Kyo didn't realize what was going to happen

The door led to the basement. There was a fairly small flight of stairs, about ten feet from bottom to top, and it was disgusting down there. It was infested with rats and spiders and God knew what else. And his father threw him down the stairs.

Kyo looked up the stairs with fear evident in his eyes, and his father slammed the door shut after telling him that if he left the room he wasn't going to live to see tomorrow.

There was zero vision in the basement. There was no light, the bulb had blown long ago. Kyo stood up and tried to feel his way around. He put his hand on the wall to support himself and felt something begin to crawl across his hand. He pulled his hand away and shook it. He held the hand to his chest and he heard a drop of water somewhere. He turned to the direction of the sound, but something scuttled behind him and he swung that way.

Terror began to overtake him and he screamed, putting his hands to his head.

"Nii-san!" he screamed.

Kyo spent three hours in the basement. Finally, at midnight, his father opened the door and walked away again. Kyo crawled out.

His hand was bloody from when a rat had bitten him, and he'd also cut his leg on something. Plus, the beating his father had given him wasn't helping.

About an hour after Kyo got out of the basement, Ryouji tip-toed into the house. Kyo was sitting in his room crying and shaking.

"Ryouji nii-san," Kyo sobbed. "Where were you? What were you doing?"

"Kyo I'm sorry-"

"It's so bad down there," Kyo cried. "It's so horrible down there!"

"Kyo I need you to be quieter, if To-chan finds out that I'm getting home so late he'll try to kill me!" Ryouji whispered.

"I needed you tonight nii-san. Where were you? Where were you? He tried to kill me nii-san! Do you care at all?"

Kyo's voice rose higher and higher, and Ryouji become more and more desperate. Finally, Ryouji said, "Gomen nasai, omouto-chan."

And he punched Kyo in the stomach, knocking him unconscious.