"... I don't understand…" I whispered with cracked lips and a dry voice.
"What is it sweetie?" The nice lady with her brown hair in a bun and warm smile leaned down closer to me.
"... I don't understand…" I repeated, voice lacking strength, the strength I never had from the beginning.
The nice lady, a policewoman, sighed quietly. She held out her hand without another word, encouraging me to take it. I blinked, but did not move. Rule number 6. After a minute of blank staring and silence, the friendly hand dropped.
"Come along now." She said, slowly walking away.
I had nothing to lose, nothing to do, and no idea what was happening.
So I followed.
"Hello there, my name is Tezuka Ayana and I'll be your mother from now on." The woman with the wavy, chocolate brown hair smiled gently at me.
"I'm Tezuka Kuniharu, I'll be your father." A man next to her with a darker, coffee brown hair and little signs of gray also smiled, not as big though. He looked strong enough to pick me up.
"... I don't understand…"
I still don't understand…
What does 'mother' mean?
I already know what a 'father' is.
They're bad.
My gaze never left them. They were new. Rule number 32, new people are the most dangerous because you don't know how dangerous they can be.
"... Sweetie, why don't you introduce yourself now? You're going to be living with this nice family, so you should tell us your name." The police officer said.
". . ."
"You don't know her name?" Ayana asked the officer.
Officer lady sighed. "No, she refuses to tell." But I'm not so much refusing as being honest.
I don't... have a name. Not a real one at least.
". . ." Rule number 19, do not speak unless spoken to. Even then, do not speak unless it is a question that is not rhetorical and I can answer.
Then Ayana asked me a question I could finally answer. "What did they... call you?"
I tilted my head, hair falling to the side. "I'm number 13."
All the adults paled, and the females gasped, drawing in little breaths. Ayana reached out a hand, but I stepped away. Rule number 6, touching is bad. They will hurt me if they touch me. If I can help it, do not let them touch me.
"Oh, sweetheart, do you not have a name?" Ayana crooned, sickly sweet. "Don't worry, we can give you one-"
"I have a name." Oops, I just broke rule number 19. And also rule number 24, do not cut into a conversation. Even if they are talking about you. And you disagree. They will hit you.
"I apologize." Rule number 4, apologize even when you didn't do anything wrong or think you did anything wrong. Always apologize or they will hurt you.
"Well then, do you mind telling us your name?" She cooed in a syrupy tone.
". . ." I can answer… But I don't want to. They always take away everything. They will strip me of my name. It is all I have left. All I have left. I mustn't tell them. I am breaking rule number 2 by disobeying direct orders, but I can't tell them.
"It's alright if you're feeling nervous honey-"
"I don't understand." I broke rule number 19 again. This is bad, they might hit me sooner now.
"What is it- Oh, Kunimitsu, you're back!" Ayana raised her hand and waved to someone coming towards us.
He was tall. He looked like an adult. But he's not. He's… who is he? Will he help me survive? Can I trust him?
. . . No.
Rule number 1, don't ever fall in trust too fast. Be careful who you trust. be careful who knows your name. Be careful of those who say they trust you. Don't trust others, don't trust yourself.
But… Maybe… Just this once… I've already broken so many of the other rules by now, I may end up dead sooner then I thought.
"Ah, who is this Okaa-san?" His voice slipped out, a slight lilt in it that made it a question.
"This is your new sister Kunimitsu. Why don't you bring her up to your room for now?" Ayana exchanged looks with the other adults. I knew that look. They were planning something. They were going to talk about me.
"Ah," Kunimitsu turned to me. "Let's go then." His tone of voice softened.
She moved slowly as she took a seat on my swivel chair for the wooden desk in the corner. Her hair looked just as dirty as it was before in the picture from yesterday, and nothing much was different. Her feet were lightly crossed at the ankles and her hands softly overlapping on her lap. Her body stayed tense, back rigid, face devoid of emotions, and toes pointed as if she was about to make a run for the closed door or shut window on either side of her.
"My name's Kunimitsu." I started off first. She may already know though, and it seems unlikely she will respon-
"Hello Kunimitsu. I am known as number 13, but you can call me Suzume." Her soft voice was full of uncertainty and shyness, eyes shifting and not staying on mine for too long.
I wasn't sure of what to do next. She had simply kept her folded hands in her lap after introducing herself, looking at her feet. I looked over her again. As if she knew I was observing her, she shifted slightly. Her trenchcoat- Or was it even her's?- rustled. I stood up.
"Suzume," She snapped her head towards me, eyes wide as she heard me call her that. "Would you like to change your clothes? I should have something that fits you." I told her, waiting on her answer.
She seemed to hesitate, then nodded slowly. A look of wonder and gratitude was evident in her eyes. "Thank you Kunimitsu-sama."
"Ah, it's fine. And you needn't add an honorific to my name." I responded stiffly as I turned to get the clothes. I'm not sure about the shorts, but the t-shirt should hopefully fit her lithe figur-
"Suzume…?" My own eyes widened as I turned back around to pass her the clothing.
She blinked and took the clothes from my hands with a nod. I coughed into a fist, turning my head away from her naked body. Wasn't she at all worried about her decency?
"Ara… Kunimitsu?" Her voice, innocent and shy, stole me away from my thoughts. "Could you please help me?"
I couldn't say no, that would be too rude, so I nodded stiffly and focused on not looking at her pale skin as I helped her get the t-shirt over her head. I made the terrible mistake of looking down for just a second, and that's when I saw them.
"... Suzume, what are these?" I asked her, although it was more for confirmation then anything else. I could easily tell.
She paused, shirt barely covering her breasts in the front and still bunched up around her neck in the back. Her head tilted, eyebrows furrowing.
"Don't you have them too? They're scars and marks and bruises and brands. You know, the ones they put on us whenever we are bought or break the rules or if they are just feeling particularly mad." Her voice was honest and truly confused at how I didn't know.
"... Suzume," I swallowed the saliva building up in my mouth. "Does it hurt? I could help you bandage it."
This time she turned her whole body towards me as she shook her head quickly. "No, I shouldn't whine or complain. Or waste anything. They hurt me whenever I do."
I felt too sick to even question who 'they' were by now. I turned around and moved away the blankets so they were folded up at the foot of the bed. I stepped to the side.
"Why don't you sit down as I get the first-aid kit?" I watched her carefully, making sure she wasn't going to hurt herself.
She gazed at me with those half-lidded eyes of her, and a small part of me said I shouldn't leave her alone. Taking one step at a time, slow and softly, she reached my bed where she then perched at the edge, legs still dangling off the edge.
I reached a hand down to her, and she immediately flinched away from me, tucking her head into her chest, eyes shut tightly, and her entire body curving away, although her hunched shoulders told me she was expecting and preparing to be hit.
My hand landed gently on top of her head. She was still trembling. I started speaking in a low tone.
"Suzume, it's alright. You won't be hurt here. Why not lay down and take a rest?" I suggested, my touch still upon her figure.
She stiffened up before nodding once, head dipping down in a calm ascent and rising back not nearly as high as before, my hand moving with her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, untucked her head, and lay down on my bed. The t-shirt was still only around her neck, and the shorts from earlier were now on the chair.
I whispered another line of reassurance to her before I exited, something along the lines of she was safe, then setting a brisk pace to the bathroom where the first-aid kit was. After getting what I needed, I returned to find her in the same position, except now her eyes were closed. She wasn't asleep though, as soon as I closed the door, green orbs opened.
"... Are you sure they won't hurt us?" She whispered as I wrapped white gauze around her torso that looked a mess.
"Who are 'they'?" I murmured quietly, understanding she didn't like loud noises.
"Ayana-sama and Kuniharu-sama." She replied, lifting up her legs so I could wrap them easier. The burn marks and scars taunted me, and an especially purple bruise jumped out to me.
I froze, blinking in surprise. "... Suzume, they won't hurt us. They're our parents, family, alright?" Perhaps she didn't know she had been adopted.
"Kunimitsu, what are parents? What is a family? What is a mother? The policewoman said Ayana-sama would be my new mother and Kuniharu-sama would be my new father, but I don't know what a mother is." She looked at me with questioning eyes and a true confusion.
"A family is where you can feel safe and loved. Parents are the adults who take care of their children. A mother is the female partner to the father. She is one parent. A father-" I was quite surprised when she cut me off.
"I know what a father is, and I don't want another one." She whimpered, eyes cast down.
"... Why don't you tell me what a father is?" I prodded her gently. She must be understanding something wrong.
"I had another father before. He hit me and wouldn't let me eat for days. Then he made me do all this work, like cook and wash dishes and clothes. If he said I hadn't cleaned something well enough, he'd push my head under the sink and turn on the water. Cold if it was dirty dishes, hot if it was laundry. If he didn't like the meal I prepared, he would hold parts of me over a fire." She described in such detail that I couldn't not believe her.
"Suzume," I started off. "That's not what a father is. That may have been what that man was like, but you shouldn't consider him your father if he did those things to you. The man downstairs, Kuniharu, is my father, and your's now too. He won't hurt you, alright?"
"... How can I trust you?" She whispered in a broken voice.
". . ." How was I supposed to answer that? She was right, we were the strangers here, not her. She's in a completely different environment, and has faced terrible things in all her life. She wouldn't be so fast to believe a word I said.
Human contact scared her. She went rigid at the sound of voices. I was barely able to discern three emotions from her, and it was fear, uncertainty, and astonishment. Her own voice barely surpassed a whisper in rare moments, her entire body was scarred, and her life until now was empty save for pain and dull hope.
But she was my sister now. I would try to change that, no matter how slowly we have to start off.
I was an older brother now. I was her older brother now.
I apologize for any OOC from Kunimitsu, but this is fanfiction after all. And I really do think that he would be a great older brother, even if he doesn't quite show it yet.
I'll try to update other stories when possible, but I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment. / Should be writing a persuasive essay...