Too Late
Story # 0112
by Kaline Reine

WARNINGS: This may not be suitable for minors. There is adult content, rape, language, violence, gore, and other things. You've been warned. This is an OC fic, meaning it is mainly about an original character.

Based on a true story.

Disclaimer: I do own Kaline, since I am her. While most of this is based on real events, any resemblance to any real people you might know is purely coincidental. Names have been changed, and some people were replaced with characters from Naruto. I do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 1:

There was a time when she was innocent... Before all the blood, killing, and gore happened...

Kaline closed her eyes, and lay back in the soothing warm water of her bath, as she reminisced. Smiling to herself, she could remember being happy once. And only once. She was a little girl, staying with her grandmother. Thelma, that was her name... The woman was very protective of her, even if her parents weren't.

But they pretended. Actually she couldn't find a way to be happy, since deep down she knew that her childhood had all been play pretend. Like it was a game to them.

Now her lightly freckled face was frowning, while she thought back on it. The water swished through her long brown hair, as she lay back in the water.

'My parents... Did they ever really love me?' She just wanted to know. But at the same time, she didn't want to know. 'Sometimes a lie is better.'

They had been a happy family once, she supposed. It was a nice thought anyway. She remembered the day of the divorce, and how her grandmother had been the only one to comfort her. She was the only one who ever bothered to consider the girl's feelings. Kaline still remembered everything. How she'd cried her eyes out because she was upset, and didn't know how to handle it. How they never even made an effort to talk to her about it. And she was only Seven then.

Lewanne, her mother... The woman she was forced to live with now, had spoken briefly with her, when she protested their separation.

"Would you rather I stay with your Dad, and make you happy?" She'd remarked with scorn, making Kaline feel so small. She wanted to say yes to her mother. But she didn't. She waited, knowing something else was coming. "Or would you want me to not be with him, so I could be happy?"

Kaline thought for a moment, remembering her grandmother's words of wisdom.

'If you love someone... You want them to be happy, no matter what happens to you. Think of it as a... self-sacrifice. You will want what's better for them.'

And years earlier, when Kaline had a beautiful moth that she was keeping as a pet... It got sick from living a life indoors, with no sun. '...If you love something... Let it go.' Kaline knew that she had to let it go. It was better for it to live it's life without her, than to die because of being with her. Even at Four years old, she understood this. Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother knocking on the bathroom door. Even with her head halfway submerged, her hair floating in delicate soft tendrils all around her, she had heard it.

"Kaline, you're gonna be late for work!"

"Yeah, I'm almost done," She lied. "Sorry."

Kaline hated her job. Her mother was friends with someone who owned a restaurant, and she was being made to work there. Lewanne had convinced the woman to hire her, despite the fact that she was only Thirteen. So she took her time with her bath.

Once she was done, she got dressed as slowly as she could, but still made a half-assed attempt to make it look like she was hurrying.

"I'm ready," She went into the living room, after putting on her uniform, tying her hair in a ponytail, and grabbing her nametag.

"Don't look at me," Lewanne had just got home. She sat down on the couch, and started watching TV. "You've got two legs."

"But I'll be la-"

"I don't give a damn!"

"...Alright." Kaline said softly, heading out the door.

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Her day at work was not much better than her life at home. But at least when no one was looking, she could grab a french fry or two to eat, or a biscuit at least.

She knew better than to take food home with her, though. The last time she did that, Lewanne had flipped out. She knew they would take the meal out of Kaline's pay, and she had thrown her dinner in the trash. There was never any food in the house, purposely, so Kaline was left to starve.

"You're fat," Her mother would say. "And lazy too!"

At the end of the day, her legs hurt from running around getting customer's orders, her feet hurt from standing all day, and her back hurt from lifting heavy things, and from bending over to wash all the tables and clean the floor. The manager didn't like her. And one day she overheard her mother asking the lady to make sure she gave her all the hard stuff to do. They often harassed her about things, too.

"I'm home..." She said very softly, hoping that no one was awake when she got home from work.

"Where have you been?" Her stepfather demanded. His name was Don, and he wasn't exactly nice to her. Most of the time he sided with her Mom, which wasn't good. "You have chores to do!"

Normally she would say something like "Look what time it is!" or "I just got off work!" but she was too tired to even argue... Besides, she knew it would be pointless.

She still had homework to do, too. But she sighed, and immediately started boiling some water. It was her job to cook for the dogs. All they would eat is plain boiled chicken. If they caught Kaline stealing a piece, she would be in trouble. She cooked for them anyway, and she never took it out on their dogs, since it wasn't the animal's fault.

Once that was done, she went outside to the laundry room. There was a huge pile of clothes waiting for her, as usual. She put them in the washer, and then went inside and started the dishes. Standing over one spot, bent over, and scrubbing things really didn't help her back problem either.

She had a lot of other things to do before she was finished.

"Finally I'm done..." She whispered. She'd been being very careful not to wake anyone with the dishes, or anything else she was doing. Both her Mom and Stepdad were sleeping already. It was past Eleven o' clock, and her bed time was at Ten.

Kaline waked very carefully into her room, trying not to alert the dogs to her presence. If they woke up and heard a strange noise, or someone walking past her parent's room, they would bark. And that wouldn't be good... She turned on the light, and took out her school supplies.

"What are you still doing up?" Lewanne snapped, slamming her door open.

"I was just d-doing my homework, Mom..."

"It's past your bed time! Is all the housework done?! It damn well better be!"

"Yes..."

Lewanne scowled at her daughter, looking at her with those piercing eyes. She made her want to shrink away and die... Kaline spent every waking moment dreading talking to her parents. "Go to bed! And you're still fat, go on a diet or something."

'A diet, hah! That's funny, they don't even feed me,' She thought angrily, but out loud she gave a different answer. "Okay, goodnight."

"And I know tomorrow is report card day, so don't even try to fucking lie to me!"

She breathed a sigh of relief, when her Mom left. Kaline was just glad she didn't lock her in her room, like she used to when she was smaller. She'd spent so much time alone, she had begun to love being alone. She was quick to turn the lights off, and try to go to sleep. It took her about an hour to actually fall asleep, though.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

In the morning, Kaline was dead tired. But she forced herself to get up, so she didn't miss the bus. She had to do it all over again. She sighed, and got ready for school.

There was a boy who lived next door. A blonde boy. He never talked to Kaline, and she never talked to him. She knew his name was Daryl, but she didn't know if he knew her name or not. She didn't really care... Or she pretended not to. She had a secret crush on him, but would never let on. Besides, she had a boyfriend anyway. But he was abusive to her, and she knew he didn't really care about her.

Kaline left her house about the same time as Daryl. She kept her eyes on the ground, her long bangs falling in her face. She liked having her hair long, because it hid her face from people. Or as much of it as possible, anyway.

'Maybe today will be different,' She thought. 'Maybe he'll talk to me.'

But it was just like any other day, and the two quickly walked in silence to their bus stop, where they were joined by a few other kids. Her backpack was pulling heavily on her shoulders, so she took it off when the bus pulled up. She was wearing her normal outfit, completely dressed in black. Her mother hated it, and tried to make her wear brighter colors, but Kaline didn't want to. Her teal eyes looked at the pavement in disgust.

When the bus pulled up it was a long ride to school. She got to her class about half an hour early. But since she had no one to talk to, she got her books out of her locker and sat down in the classroom. Her boyfriend didn't want to talk to her, anyway.

A lot of people at her school knew who she was. But they didn't really talk to her. She was popular in the sense that everyone knew her name, but she wasn't popular in the sense that she didn't have any friends. She was just a freshman in high school, and this was her first year. So far she hadn't really met anyone worth remembering.

When she saw her boyfriend at lunch, he acted like he was glad to see her.

"Hey Kaline, can we talk?"

"Sure," She didn't smile, but she didn't seem sad either. She was just... neutral.

Kevin took her hand and led her over to a table outside that was kind of away from people. He gave her a hug, which she didn't return. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," She really only said it to shut him up.

"Well... How's it going? How have you been?"

'I don't love him,' She was thinking. 'If I did, I'd want to know what's going on with him... To know that he was okay. I don't really care. I'm just... so... hungry!' She didn't love him, but she did care about him.

"Sorry but I have to go," She said, feeling faint. Her mother had been starving her again, but she didn't want anyone to know.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Just fucking leave..."

"Sorry."

Kaline did leave. She tried to be a good girlfriend... She really did. This made her feel selfish. She was always feeling guilty for one reason or another. But the girl had to go find something to last her until the next time she could find food.

She decided to use her old trick of pretending to be sick. She had walked around the tables looking for leftover food but there really wasn't any today, and she didn't want to take anything if people were watching her. Then again, Kaline always felt watched, so she guessed it didn't make much of a difference.

Next class, her teacher sent her to the nurse's office, where she told the nurse she didn't feel good. They asked if she had eaten, to which she hesitantly replied that she'd forgotten her money at home. The same nurse had been here all the other times when Kaline did this. She knew it was only a matter of time before they found out. But for now, she was safe. She was fed, and alive. That was all that mattered. The nurse had gotten her a lunch from the cafeteria. Kaline was grateful for it. She just kept thanking the lady. When she said she felt better, they sent her back to class, thankfully without calling her Mom.

She made it through the day by finishing her work as quickly as she could. She got in trouble in a few classes for not doing her homework. Kaline was sure she would get a bad report card... Her parents never gave her the chance to do her homework. But she didn't even bother making any excuses, she just took whatever the teachers said with a grain of salt, and let it go.

When she got home, she had to hurry and take a bath, then get ready for work, just like she did yesterday. Today her Mom wasn't home, so she left her report card on the kitchen table. She had two D's, an F, and a C. She tried to make up for her homework by doing classwork and as much of it as she could on her spare time, but it was hard. She knew she was going to be in trouble. Since it was Friday, she had to work the late shift, so maybe she wouldn't have to be yelled at until the next day.

Work went by pretty normally. There seemed to be a lot of people there who hated her. Or they acted like they did... Kaline finally made it through her day. She'd called home to see if anyone was there, and her Mom was still at work. She started walking home, forgetting all hopes she'd had of anyone picking her up.

A dark green sports car pulled up beside her, just after she crossed a small bridge that led to her house.

"Need a ride?" A boy with short black hair asked her.

"No thanks," Kaline blinked, and leaned over to look inside the car. It was a boy from her bus that she knew... She couldn't think of his name. "I'm supposed to walk home from work."

"It's late. Are you sure? It's a shame you have to walk that far every day. I could take you home at least."

She smiled at him. "Alright, thanks."

Kaline made the mistake of getting in the car, and the boy sped off. He drove right past her house. She knew he was Eighteen, and therefore was older and stronger than her. Plus he was a boy.

"Where are we going?" She asked shyly.

"Nowhere," His face had changed somehow. He was no longer the kind acquaintance offering to do her a favor. "Just shut up."

"Alright..."

Kaline tried her best to keep track of where they were. She noticed that he had a really big knife in his hand. 'What is he going to do?'

After about an hour of driving, he pulled is car off onto a small dirt road. The boy reached across her and pulled her seat back. She flinched, but he didn't do anything to her... yet. He told her to stay still, and climbed on top of her. She was scared, but she knew she couldn't move.

The guy ripped her shirt off, and started touching her breasts. Kaline screamed, but there was no one around to hear her for miles and miles.

"Let me go! Stop it, get off me!"

"That's not a very friendly way to thank me for the ride," He smirked.

Before she knew what was happening, he was sliding off her bra and panties. Kaline tried to fight him off, but he grabbed her wrists in one hand and held her down. In his other hand, he held the knife she had seen earlier. She couldn't believe that someone she knew was doing this to her. She cried in pain when he buried himself within her core, tearing through her virginal flesh with such force...

"Don't say a word," He whispered in her ear. "We're just getting to know each other better, that's all. You can call me Jay."

Kaline didn't answer him. All she could do was hold still, and hope for the horrifying ride to be over. Finally he was done, and she had bled all over his seat. She was confused and wasn't sure of what to do. Tears still fell down her face as he kissed her swollen lips.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"..."

The girl had nothing to say. She glared at the way he chuckled and opened the door. He shoved her out of the car, and drove away laughing.

Kaline almost fell on her face, but she reached down just in time to catch herself. She didn't know how to get home, but she'd always had a good sense of direction. She made her way in the direction they had come from, watching the car leave behind a cloud of dust in it's wake. She whimpered when she moved, as each step hurt her where he'd torn her insides to shreds.

She could feel the darkness closing in around her, and she started to panic. It was really dark out, and there was no moon, only a few scattered stars were out. The darkness reminded her of something she'd seen as a child... Something terrifying. Now she was sure it was probably just her being a kid, having nightmares, and such... But she could never be really sure. It seemed so real. All she could do was keep walking.

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When she made it home, hours later, her Mom's car was in the driveway. And the light was still on. She hadn't gotten any of her chores done yet...

'Oh crap...'

Lewanne was seething with anger when her daughter walked in the door at one thirty in the morning. "Where the hell were you?! Your job sent you home at ten o' clock, I asked!"

"Well, I was on my home, and there was this g-"

"I don't want to hear your bullshit excuse," She held up the report card. "I guess you're gonna have one for this too!"

"...No."

"You're grounded from seeing your Dad, or your gramma for three more months. Finish your chores and go to bed."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kaline did as she was told, and never mentioned the rape to anyone. She didn't keep a diary, and she didn't have anyone she could tell. Things went on like this, and all she wanted was to see her family again. But her Mom kept her isolated, and alone.

She missed just having someone to talk to sometimes. Even though she was far below the average weight for someone her age, Kaline's mother insisted that she was fat. She started starving her, and it became harder and harder for her to get anything to eat. She didn't have any friends at school that she could ask for their lunch... So she did whatever she could, eating leftovers here and there.

Sometimes her grandmother would come pick her up, and take her to get something to eat after school. But if her Mom ever found out, Kaline would only be in more trouble, so she couldn't do it a lot.

As Kaline grew, she became cold and bitter. She'd been putting up with this ever since she was Seven. She silently wished there was a way out, a way to escape from this wretched life... But she knew the reality of her sitaution was harsh, and there was nothing she could do. Things just went on and on... She was going to be fourteen in a few months, and she often thought of running away from home. She couldn't really see that as an option, though. She had nowhere to go, and the police would be after her.

With a heavy sigh, Kaline went about her daily routine, none the wiser that there was someone watching her. She'd always had a feeling that she was being watched, but she had grown accustomed to it long ago.

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A/N: This my first real OC fic... This IS a Naruto fanfiction, I will get to that part soon, I promise. While most of this first part is based on real events, any resemblance to any real people you might know is purely coincidental. And yes, my Mom really did do stuff like that, and worse. She was very abusive. I don't want pity, I just thought it would make for a good story. And since it's my OC, I felt she should, at least in some ways, be like me. I didn't feel like going more in depth into my childhood, but it was very complicated and... sad.

Anyway I hope you liked it. The Naruto stuff does come into play, very soon. I just wanted to write a little bit more about my character first, and what her life was like before. I didn't make the rape scene as graphic as it needed to be, but it wasn't with Naruto characters, so who cares, right? I hope to have long chapters with this later.

-Kaline Reine