Cursed Soul: Hello peeps. This story has been sitting in my computer files for months now... but I'll do my best to finish it, "if" it receives enough views...

Kudari: WHAT? Why wouldn't you want to finish this story? It has me in it after all!

Nobori: You should really think about keeping your mouth closed...

Cursed Soul: Anyway, I do NOT own Pokemon and stuff... Just my imagination! *fails*

Prologue: The Accident

Nobori listened intently to what was happening in the room next to him, pressing his ear up against the wall, he prayed that his younger twin, Kudari, would be fine when he'd see him next. He only hoped that his father wouldn't-

SMACK!

Nobori flinched, to his dismay he'd heard what he'd feared, followed by a small thud shortly after the ear-splitting smack a couple seconds ago. Nobori sighed and tried not to think about the thud he'd heard moments before. He stood up off the ground and quietly made his way to the opposite side of the room that he shared with his brother, and sat down on his bed without making a sound; hoping he'd hear voices. He could. Barely, but he could just enough to identify them. So, he closed his eyes and tried to make out the conversation in progress located in the nearby living room, focusing only on the sound.

"You are worthless! You don't deserve to live in this household, along with your excuse of a brother!" Nobori recognized the voice, it belonged to his father.

"Get out of my sight!"

"But dad I-" a confused voice stammered. That must have been his twin, Kudari. Hang in there, Nobori thought… but things only got worse as time continued to flow.

"How dare you talk back to me you ungrateful whelp!" Nobori could hear the violence in his father's voice, and he couldn't take it anymore. No one talked to his younger brother like that!

SMASH!

Then, Nobori heard Kudari scream, so loud it had made the older twin jump. After that he heard what he thought sounded like bits of glass fall to the floor. He couldn't hold back his anger any longer. Faster than what he thought was possible, Nobori lept from his bed and sprinted to the bedroom door, yanking it open with a crash as it hit the wall (knocking things over in the process). He ran down the hall, but the scene he saw when he made it to the living room stunned him. He froze.

There was shattered glass all over the floor, careful not to step on any he looked up again. His father looked as insane as ever, not that he'd ever been sane. Ever since the accident four years ago when they had been ten years old… Nobori snapped out of thought. His father's back was turned to Nobori and he hadn't noticed him (being too focused on Kudari), so he couldn't tell for sure what the object his father was holding up… is that a leg off of a chair? The horror struck Nobori when he heard a moan come from the corner of the room, under his father's shadowy figure.

It was Kudari. His brother was shoved in the farthest corner away from where he stood, probably forced into it for that matter.

Kudari was on the hardwood floor, holding a hand up to his head to stop… oh god, he was bleeding. His brother, Kudari, the one person he knew that wouldn't hurt anything or fight back for that matter, was hurt, badly. Nobori was an expert at keeping his emotions in check, people called him a stoic for that one reason, but he simply never showed them because he felt they were a waste of energy. Not this time, inside he could feel the rage burning at his normally cold heart. He decided that now was the time to let it out, and he did.

Nobori launched himself at his father and let out a scream as he grabbed him around his midsection. Being fourteen he wasn't much smaller than his parent, only by maybe half a foot at the least. His father rounded on him quickly when he realized what his son was doing.

"Go back to your sulking you emotionless piece of trash!" His dad took a step forward and raised his weapon held tightly in his hand.

That comment hadn't hurt Nobori in the least, to be honest he didn't care what this monster of a human being thought of him, he just wanted his brother safe and out of harm's way. So, he stood his ground. His dad came at him again.

"I said to leave!"

Nobori gave no reaction at all to the threat, he didn't even blink. His father was barely a foot away from him now. Minutes passed before he finally spoke.

"I have no reason to listen to you anymore. Neither of us do, you treat us like garbage, and you think you can do whatever you want to me and Kudari. Well, you can't. I'm done with your sickening, worthless life." He stood still locking his eyes with his father's. "And no matter what, I'll make sure you never hurt my twin again."

"Nobori…" Kudari said quietly looking towards him, still pressing his hand to his head attempting to stop the blood running slowly down his face.

Nobori looked at his brother, softness entering his eyes before he turned to his father, and once more his expression hardened in his uncontrollable hatred.

"Come on Kudari, let's go." His injured brother tried to stand up, but their father quickly grabbed him by the hair, and shoved him to the floor once more. A painful yelp escaped from Kudari's mouth.

"You two aren't going anywhere, I won't allow it." He hissed, the venom in his voice as clear as daylight.

Nobori didn't answer his father, the rage inside his soul was being fueled his instinct to protect his little brother from harm; he decided it was best for both of them. He screamed.

In a split second, Nobori smashed into his father with all of the force he could muster, knocking the chair leg out of his father's hand on impact. The object rolled across the floor and stopped by the couch. The adult stumbled backward dazed and confused from the attack. Nobori quickly dove for the chair leg and stood up as fast as he could without falling over. The boy started walking slowly towards his father.

"What are you doing?" The fear in the adult's voice was obviously there even though he tried to hide it.

"What I should have done years ago…"

"You don't have to do this-" BANG! You could hear faint crack as the wood hit the skull. Followed by the thud of his father's limp body hit the floor. He'd struck him before the man could even defend himself.

"Nobori! You killed him!" Kudari's panicked voice came from across the room.

Kudari looked towards Nobori who was inspecting the "most likely dead" man on the floor. The older one stood up and walked over to his twin.

"He's not dead, just unconscious... Come on Kudari, get up." He held out his hand to the startled boy on the floor. The brother's helped each other up and embraced in a quick hug. Afterwards, Nobori grabbed Kudari's hand and practically dragged him to their room and shut the door. Neither of them looked back.

"Are you alright? You're head looks like its hurt pretty bad. What did he do to you?" Nobori asked as they sat on the bed together, while inspecting his twin's injury.

"I'm fine, it stopped bleeding and doesn't hurt anymore…he kind of threw a couple picture frames at me." Kudari said so quietly that the other could barely hear. "I managed to pick this up…" It was the only picture of their family they still had, and Nobori recognized it immediately. He grabbed it from his brother's hand quickly and without thinking, tore it to pieces. Letting the shreds fall to the cold, hard floor. Kudari flinched at the sight and made a hurt sound Nobori tried to ignore. Afterward, the two sat in silence for a minute until Kudari spoke again, holding back tears.

"W-why does he do that to us, big brother?" he looked into his twin's eyes longingly tears now streaming down his face. "It's not our fault that mom, d-died…" the poor boy finally broke into sobs, not able to speak. Kudari buried his face in Nobori's shoulder, hands grasping onto his shirt.

Nobori tried countless times to forget about what had happened to their mother, but the thought just stuck with him. More so with Kudari, the poor boy missed her most of all... They'd all loved her, especially their father. Nobori remembers the songs she'd sing for them at night when they couldn't sleep, how she'd care for them when they were sick, and how much in love his parents used to be. Sadly, their family wasn't whole anymore, now he couldn't bear to see his own father in the state he was now. Surprisingly, a part of him missed his old way of life though. Nobori could remember the way his father used to laugh when they'd play sports and do silly things, like snowball fight and... Well, they'd never have fun like that again, and he accepted the fact that they needed to move couldn't help but think back to the day that ruined it all…

The summer night the accident had occurred, the boys and their father had been out doing errands and having fun. They never usually stayed out late, but that night they'd walked home; it had taken longer than they'd originally thought. Carrying everything they'd bought in backpacks and laughing the entire way home. He heard the voices in his head speak to him, reliving that day...

"Not much farther boys," it was his father. "Just up this last hill and we'll be home."

Thud. Flop. Kudari had tripped over a log and fallen into the soft grass on the ground.

"Kudari… you're clumsier than a spinda!" said their father as he grabbed the young one by the arm and helped him to his feet.

"Thanks, dad." He said with a smile and as twinkle in his eye as they turned around and continued walking home.

"You should have just let him roll down the hill; we could have been rid of him and his cheery attitude for good!" Nobori teased as he poked Kudari on his side.

Kudari gasped placing his hand over his heart. "Brother, I am most offended!" he said. After a moment he spoke again. "Wait…"

Their father and Nobori stopped and turned to him. "Am I really that cheery?" Kudari asked, a smile spread across his face as he asked a question he already knew the answer to.

"Yes you are, you goof-ball." Their dad joked as they continued walking and ruffled up Kudari's silver hair. Making them all laugh. They were almost to the top…

"Hey, Nobori. Race you to the top!" as the boy sprinted off.

"You sure you're not gonna just topple over?" Nobori teased as he chased after him. Making their father chuckle, as he continued walking at his own pace. The boys reached the top, waiting for their father. Breathing a little heavy because they were carrying so much stuff in their backpacks.

Nobori won, making Kudari complain, "You cheated! How could you do that to me?"

"How could I cheat? We were just running?' Nobori said confused, looking at his twin.

"Well… I don't know, but you're a cheater!" Kudari huffed, crossing his arms and looking away.

"If I say I cheated will it make you shut up?" Nobori asked.

"Told you, you cheated! Hah!" Kudari said triumphantly as he stuck a finger in Nobori's face. Nobori looked towards the house, ignoring his brother, and gasped.

"Oh, no..."

"What's wrong Nobori?" no answer. Kudari followed his brother's gaze towards the house and his eyes widened.

"DAD!" they both screamed…

Nobori shunned away his thoughts when he heard Kudari sniffle. Nobori turned his head away and looked down at the tattered pieces of the picture he tore up.

Nobori didn't want to think of that night anymore, but he couldn't help it…Their house had been robbed that day. It was a complete disaster. Nothing had been spared; it looked like a tornado had gone through it, multiple times.

His thoughts drifted to that day once more, when they had entered their destroyed house.

Nobori had bent down that night and picked up the only picture he could find of their family; the only one left. And he'd torn it to pieces moments ago… He swallowed at the thought that he'd destroyed something that precious.

"Nobori, I'm gonna go look for mom." Kudari told his twin as he wandered farther into the house and turned the corner, out of sight.

"Ok, tell me if you find anything…" Nobori said quietly, as a hand grasped his shoulder from behind. He turned; it was his father looking down at him with solemn eyes.

"Where's your brother?" he asked.

"Looking for-" but Nobori's sentence was cut off by the sound of Kudari screaming.

The two ran after the source of the noise into what was his parents' bedroom. But nothing had prepared them for what happened after they found Kudari.

"Kudari what are you-" Nobori said as his twin turned to him. Pure horror shown in his teary eyes, I could only mean one thing. Nobori looked towards the direction Kudari was pointing to, and in the darkened corner, bloody and beaten. Was the body of their mother…

Their father entered the room, and life as they knew it changed forever.

Nobori snapped out of his memories, and looked down at Kudari who was still clinging to him and crying. Nobori tried to sooth him.

"Hey, it's ok. Please don't cry, Kudari." The younger boy sniffled and took a breather as his voice shook with pain. Nobori softly patted his twin on the head soothingly. "Dad just hasn't gotten over what happened to mom, ok? None of it is our fault; at least we have each other, no matter what happens."

"No matter what…" Kudari whispered. The boy loosened his grip on Nobori, sat up, and sniffed; his eyes were red due to the shed of his tears earlier. Trails of hardened blood highlighted his gray hair and pale face. "B-but…What do we do now, big brother?"

Nobori stood up, and helped his twin up with an offer of his hand. Nobori gently grabbed onto the younger one's shoulder for comfort and just the feeling of having someone there with you. I'm not alone, he thought.

"Let's pack our bags, Kudari." The other looked into Nobori's storm grey eyes questioningly. "We're leaving this dreaded place…"