A is for Abandoned
== A.N. ==
This is the first chapter of a collection of one-shots
They're all going to be different and the ratings will vary so I rated it M to be on the safe side
They won't just vary on rating but also on themes (so be ready for anything)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters used only the plot
Hope you enjoy reading this and see you at the end!
Midorima was only five years old when he was abandoned. Those five years he and been alive weren't the best but he still appreciated them because he had his parents. Sure his father wasn't the most loving father ever but at least he didn't have to worry about being alone or having to find food.
That was until his father was fed up with a "needy brat" that couldn't take care of himself and that was "leeching off" his money.
He wasn't prepared for what had happened to him, it had just happened and he couldn't even react from the shock. But it didn't change the fact that it had happened.
The day it had happened his mother had told him that she loved him very much but that life wasn't for the unlucky. He didn't understand what she had said back then but now that he was older he did. It had seemed like a odd statement but he didn't question it.
His father was a drunk and often beat his mother. His father was jealous of him, supposedly because his mother loved and cared for him more that she did for him. It was something ridiculous and unfair but he hadn't been lucky enough to be born into a better family. He was doomed to suffer even before he was born; life was cruel and wasn't forgiving in the least. But just as terrible life could be; there were beautiful and great things that happened. Unfortunately all those great things wouldn't become a reality for Shintarou until later, much later.
After he was left by the person he cared the most – under some filthy bridge who knows where in the city he lived in – he was left to fend for himself and his entire world crumbled beneath his feet.
He was on his own now, and he had to figure things out before he died of starvation. He was young and had a fast metabolism after all. Luckily above the bridge there were many restaurants so at night when they closed he could sneak into the garbage and eat the food that had been disposed of – it was only a day old after all. He could get water from the water bottles that people threw away and with the empty plastic bottles he could refill them with the water from the water hose from a nearby bakery.
Life was hard because he was outside in the harsh temperatures, and with the constant rain there were mosquitoes everywhere. His body was always covered with bug bites, they seemed to love sucking his blood and to make him itchy.
A couple of weeks after he had become officially homeless someone had dumped a couch under the bridge – illegally of course but Shintarou didn't care. Now he had a better place to sleep than the cold hard ground. He could remember how the first couple of days he just sat there crying and waiting for his mother to return but she never did.
He gave up on waiting after three weeks.
He knew he had been living this way for more than five weeks but that was about it, he lost count after the fifth week. Things were for sure not going to change so he just gave up on anyone ever helping him; he just tried to make the best out of what he had.
Midorima would go out in the streets and ask for food and water or blankets or even the chance to shower but everyone would ignore him. After a while he started stinking, he couldn't even go near the restaurants to ask people for help because the workers or owners would kick him out saying that he was making the costumers uncomfortable.
It was hard on him when it rained but he was happy because he could wash himself with the cold water that poured down from the sky. He liked the rain and saw it as something that cleansed the world; everything bad was washed away by the pure water.
After a while he started noticing that his clothes would start getting smaller and smaller. He found some clothes – they were girl clothes. He was sad that they were girl clothes but he still wore them, they were bigger than his old ones and relatively newer; he would gladly take what he could get.
The more he saw the sun rise and go down, the more he gave up on humans. They always saw him, and they always pretended that he didn't exist. And when people would pass by him with small children, the kids would always point at him and talk but their parents would drag them away or make faces and whisper to the children. He disliked it very much and it hurt but as time passed the pain became duller and he became numb to the whispers and the looks he got from others.
Midorima didn't bother about thinking about the time that passed, it was always the same thing that happened and he was always alone.
One day he found a puppy, it was young but old enough to be able to eat. It would wonder around the crowds of people and get petted and fed but no one ever took it home.
Midorima envied the attention the puppy had gotten; why couldn't people treat him like that as well? Why where they always so cold to him?
As time passed the puppy grew bigger and became dirty. People would stop feeding it and petting it, they wanted it to go away. Every time it approached children parents would scare it away or try to hit it. Midorima never understood people, why where they so cold? Why did they treat it badly if they once gave it love? Why were humans so cruel?
Midorima grew tired of seeing it get mistreated so he decided to make it his pet. He knew how much it hurt to be lonely, so he wanted to make the animal feel better. They had a lot in common; they were both abandoned, they had no home, they were dirty, hungry, boney, and mistreated. Birds of a feather flock together right?
Midorima grew attached to the dog rather quickly, they played all day and when night fell they went to get food from the garbage and slept together. It was nice to have someone to sleep with, it was always warm and it was something to assure him that he wasn't alone; as long as that warmth remained with him, he would be protected.
Of course nice things don't last forever do they? Not for the unlucky at least.
It was a rainy night, and where there's rain, there has to be lightning accompanied by thunder. The dog Midorima kept wasn't fond of thunder so on that particularly stormy night something happened.
Midorima was with his dog getting food and then it started to rain. Midorima paid no mind to the rain and the dog barely reacted so instead of looking for shelter they looked for food at different places.
There were cars always passing by at night, over the years that Midorima had lived there he learned to be careful and watch his surroundings. Things were going well that night, Midorima had even found candy; wrapped, clean candy!
The rain had gotten stronger and it started thundering, his dog started acting nervous but Midorima tried to soothe it. But as the thunder grew louder the more edgy the dog got. Deciding that they had gotten enough food and that the streets where starting to get dangerous with the cars driving faster, they headed towards the bridge.
As they were walking down an alley a really loud thunder sounded startling Shintarou and he accidentally knocked over a metal trashcan. The loud noise from the thunder along with close impact of the metal trash can sent the already nervous dog over the edge. It bolted towards the street in a direction that a car was coming towards. The car tried to stop but the streets were slick from the water. As the driver stepped on the breaks the wheels stopped spinning but the inertia from the vehicle that had already been in motion was too strong making the wheels slide on the pavement. The car hit Midorima's dog but kept moving, a couple of feet away from Shintarou and where the dog laid lifeless, the vehicle stopped. Out came a person, it was a man. And as lightning lit the sky Shintarou saw the man's face, he looked him in the eyes but remained still.
Everything had happened so fast and Shintarou couldn't react. The man went back into his car and drove off into the night.
After a couple of minutes of standing in the rain Midorima snapped out of his shock. He looked at his dog, there was blood seeping out of its snout, all Midorima could do was stare. What had just happened? Why didn't the man help his dog? Why did he look him in the eyes and just drove off?
He cried; he was now alone once again. Was it his fault? The rain's? The man's?
Shintarou dropped to the floor and cried uncontrollably, it had been the longest time since he had cried. He didn't know whether to cry from the misery of being alone once again or from the joy he felt for his dog that had been set free from this ruthless world, now it wouldn't be able to starve or feel alone. The world was sick and all kinds of twisted wasn't it? It gave him happiness and then it took it away, did he deserve this?
Midorima cried until all he was left with was a feeling of emptiness and hiccupping uncontrollably. When he somewhat regained his composure, he picked the dog up and carried it until they were under the bridge. He decided he was going to bury it, it was the least he could for it.
The next day he awoke alone, next to a small hole. He stayed up during the nigh digging a hole where he could bury his dead companion. He dug the hole until he went unconscious. Now that it was day he would continue digging the hole until he could safely put his friend in the ground.
Many hours passed until the sun was setting, he had finally finished digging the hole and was ready to say goodbye to his dog. After he placed the dog in the hole he thought of something, the dog had no name. When he found it, it didn't have a name and as the time had passed by he still hadn't given it a name.
Midorima wanted to give it a name but it was too late now. The reason he hadn't given it a name was because he knew something like what had happened was bound to happen eventually and he didn't want to get attached to it, but he did anyways. He felt regret, he should have done it when he had the chance but now the time had passed and he couldn't any longer.
Midorima said his goodbyes and thanked the dog for staying by his side. When he started burying his pet he couldn't help but to start crying once more. Before he knew it, it was night. He went to get food from the trashcans. When he was done he headed for the bridge. When he rested on the couch he felt cold. He had forgotten how it was to sleep at alone night, he couldn't believe he had envied the dog when it was younger, he should have been glad for it. With those thoughts he went to sleep.
When he woke up he was still alone. Part of him wished it had all just been a very bad dream but it wasn't. He went to visit the dog's grave. The dog had been there and now it was gone.
Once again his clothes were too small for him. He didn't want to go look for clothes during the day because there were lots of people there but something told him he should go look for something to distract himself from the loss of his dog.
Shintarou walked up from under the bridge, and just as he though, people were staring at him. When he looked at them they all looked away but one lady wouldn't stop staring. For a second his heart clenched. He thought that maybe that lady would be his mother, but he knew that for sure it wasn't her; his mother's hair was green. The lady who was staring at him wasn't his mother because her hair was brown.
He looked away from the lady and headed towards the big dumpster where he would always found clothes. He found an almost new blue shirt, lucky him! Now he wouldn't have to worry about needing a new shirt for a while.
He took off his worn out orange shirt and put on the blue one. When he was done putting on the blue shirt, he heard some steps approaching him. He turned around slowly afraid of what he might see – he knew that the world wasn't safe and that there were bad people that could harm him but until now, nothing like that had happened to him so he was afraid.
When he turned around he saw that the lady who had been looking at him was behind him. He didn't know what to think.
"Hello." Her voice was kind and sweet, she had been the first person that had spoken kindly to him in years.
"Yes?" Shintarou asked in a quiet voice. He hadn't heard his voice sound like this before, it sounded afraid.
"Are you alone?" asked the young woman, she was certain that he lived in the streets.
Shintarou simply nodded, he didn't trust his voice.
"Do you know where your parents are?" when she asked that Midorima's heart clenched, it hurt. No, he didn't know where his parents were.
"No…" he felt tears drip down his face, he didn't feel like crying but the tears came out on their own. He wanted them to stop but they wouldn't stop.
"Come with me." she smiled sweetly and took him by the hand.
Months had passed since then; he was now living at an orphanage. Life wasn't bad; he didn't talk to the other kids but after some time they stopped bothering him and didn't take his food away anymore. He had a clean bed and could bathe regularly and he had his own clothes.
Apparently five years had passed by, which meant he was ten.
When the lady took him with her she talked to him and told him many things, it was the most human contact he had in a long time. She took him with some people and they asked him some questions.
The brown haired lady's name was Riko Aida; the people she had taken him with were two private investigators. The scary looking guy's name was Junpei Hyuga and the nice big guy was Kiyoshi Teppei.
After all the questioning they sent him to a place, the place was owned by a nice looking pink haired lady, her name was Momoi Satsuki.
The place was like a really big house with lots of kids, both young and old. He got fed three times a day, and was able to bathe two times a day. He slept in a warm bed at night and woke up early in the morning to eat breakfast with all the kids.
People came and visit him once in a while.
A couple of weeks after moving in Riko told him about what had happened with his parents. His mother had committed suicide a couple of months after she had let go of Shintarou and his father was in jail for all those years of abuse towards his mother.
Midorima wasn't sure if he would have rather not known what had happened with his parents. The fact that his mother had killed herself was heartbreaking and he couldn't help but to burst into tears. He felt terrible; he had even forgotten her face. He didn't know what to feel about his father, he didn't know if he wanted to visit him at jail or never see him again.
He was given a picture of him mother that he kept with him at all times.
Two months after he turned eleven years old he got adopted. He would have gotten adopted sooner but people usually don't want older kids.
The man that had adopted him visited him almost every week and talked to him a lot. He showed lots of affection towards him and was very kind to everyone.
His name was Takao Kazunari. He had a big house in which he lived in all by himself. He seemed very happy whenever he was around Midorima, but there was always something that seemed off with him, behind all that happy, in the depth of his eyes, there was always sadness for some reason.
One day Midorima's curiosity got the best of him and he finally asked the man why he was sad.
"Why are you always sad mister?"
"What do you mean little one?" Takao asked him wearing a smile.
"You smile a lot but you're always sad, if you tell me maybe I can help."
The man broke into tears; Midorima couldn't understand why but he hugged him and held him while he cried. Midorima wished someone could have held him like that all those years he had spent alone and when his dog had passed away.
The man stopped crying and whipped his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt.
"Sorry you had to see that." Takao smiled at Midorima, this time the man's eyes weren't sad. His nose was red, his cheeks as well and his eyes were pink and puffy.
"Why did you cry?" Midorima didn't want to see the man sad; he wanted to know what caused him such grief. He was the one that had rescued him from loneliness after all.
"Well, when I was younger and you weren't born I knew your mother."
Midorima's eyes widened in shock and his chest hurt, memories of his mother were still painful to him.
Takao continued talking and Midorima listened in silence, he was curious about what connections his adoptive father had to his mother.
"I was in love with her but she loved your father." Takao paused, trying to compose himself so he wouldn't break down "they seemed ok so I didn't insist, but then she got pregnant with you and your father started changing."
Midorima felt sad, he recalled his father being in a bad mental state.
"He would become aggressive towards her and when you were finally born he started hitting her." Takao's eyes stung, tears threatening to spill "I told her to go away from him, to come with me and that she should bring you and I'd give you all you needed."
Midorima started crying, he didn't want to cry but the tears were spilling from his eyes without his consent, he listened to Takao's words.
"She refused, she didn't tell me why she refused but she still did. I saw her through those five years and nothing changed with them but, one day when I visited her, you were gone."
Midorima started sobbing and he crouched on the floor hiding his face behind hid arms and knees. This time it was Takao's turn to be there for Midorima when he cried. He held him as his fragile body stirred and twitched as he bawled. Takao hushed Midorima while he rubbed his back in circles allowing the small boy to let it all out. After a while in Takao's embrace Midorima calmed down.
"It's ok." Whispered Takao as he whipped Midorima's tears and brushed his bangs away from his face. He picked up Shintarou and took him to the kitchen and sat him on the kitchens counter. Takao gave Midorima a lollipop. "Here, Shin-chan." Takao didn't know if Midorima would mind the nickname but he hoped that he knew that the nickname meant he loved him.
Midorima giggled, it was the first time anyone had called him by something besides his name, it was nice and it made his heart feel warm. After everything Takao had told him Midorima felt that he needed a break from all the sadness and so he let himself get carried away by the warm feeling of acceptance he was feeling from Takao.
"Takao…" Midorima murmured shyly.
"What is it Shin-chan?" asked Takao with a smile looking at Midorima in the eyes.
"Can we go to the park?"
"Of course. Anything you want, Shin-chan." Takao let him down from the counter and took Midorima's hand as they walked towards the house's front door.
*epilogue*
A year had already passed, Midorima was twelve now.
In that year Midorima grew a lot and many things happened, everything that Takao discovered from the gentle green haired boy always amazed him. The most interesting thing was that when Takao took Midorima to the doctor to get him checked for anything they found out he needed glasses.
Shintarou was amazed by how the world was so different with and without the glasses. It all looked so blurry without his glasses now.
Takao got Midorima a bunny for his birthday and for Halloween he dressed him up as a carrot – Midorima didn't think it was very funny but Takao did. On the upside his pet went along with the theme of his costume.
Christmas was fun and he received many things; Takao took him to Momoi's orphanage and they gave the kids presents and spent time with them. He didn't miss the orphanage but he felt sad for the kids that were still there. He was glad to hear that many of the kids he had met had been adopted into good families.
Midorima also started attending middle school. He left his past behind him but he would never forget what it was like to be homeless and alone, he was very grateful for everything he had and that he had a loving father.
The end.
== A.N. ==
I'm sorry if that was a little dark but in my defense I warned you, but don't worry the next story will be very cheerful so it's ok
Let me know your thoughts on this story
(This was my first time writing something angst-y or dramatic… hopefully I did a good job)
I hope the ending was good; I just needed to give it a happy ending (sorry if it seemed rushed, i really tried)
Please leave me a review (so I can improve or just tell me if you like it)
I should probably clear some things up in case you didn't get the time line. When Midorima was abandoned he was five years old, he spent three years alone, when the dog came along he had been homeless for three years. When the dog died it was two years old. When he was picked up by Aida he was ten years old. When Takao finally adopted him he was eleven which meant he had spent a year in the orphanage. And in the Epilogue, he was twelve.
Thanks for reading and making it this far ;U;
(another title could have been A is for Angst...)
Have some candy (to cheer you up just in case too…)
See ya later!