WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER MAY CONTAIN MATERIAL NOT APPROPRIATE FOR SOME READERS. IF YOU ARE NOT MENTALLY STABLE PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE. IF YOU CHOOSE TO KEEP READING IT WILL BE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND I AM IN NO WAY ACCOUNTABLE. OH, AND I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!

Chapter 4:

Christmas Eve is supposed to be a happy time of the year. People are supposed to be celebrating with their families, laughing, having a great time, but for some people, Christmas eve can never be looked at again as something to celebrate.

It was early in the morning and snow had just started to slowly fall from the sky. A lone high school boy walked alone along a frozen path. He was heading to school to help prepare for the Christmas Eve party later that night, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him freeze.

A young girl with her long hair tied up in an intricate style on her head hung from the branch of a cherry tree that was somehow blossoming in the middle of Winter, staining the snowy white scene with its luscious pink. The girl wore nothing but a loose white T-shirt and a matching pair of ripped shorts which could have been pants on time. The T-shirt was cut to reveal her scarred abdomen and her torn shorts showed her bare legs, marked with bruises, scratches and scars. Her arms were colored in the same purple and red pattern as the rest of her, and even her neck had signs of abuse, which must have been why she tied her hair up. She wanted people to see the capabilities of a cruel mother….

At first, the boy thought it wasn't a real person but a dummy put there for some sick joke. He was about to keep walking when it hit him like a punch to the gut, he recognized the face of the girl hanging there. He almost didn't realize it was her because of the lifeless pale look, or maybe it was because he didn't want to recognize it at first. Either way, as soon as he knew who it was, he became very sick. He had to stop and sit to keep himself from puking. Tears welled up in his eyes and he unsuccessfully tried to hold back the sobs, he even let out a small scream and started to black out. The world seemed to go blurry, and start to spin.

*meanwhile*

Ever since they had run into the girl in the store, Hajime had been more persistent than ever looking for this girl. She was so young, so innocent, she didn't deserve to go to hell, there had to be some other way! So as a favor, an old friend of his gave him the year books to all the local high schools where he then proceeded to search every face until he found her. He was fortunate enough to find her in the first book he flipped through.

"Yamazaki Anju" He said aloud when he finally found her face in one of the second year classes, and of course, even though it was Christmas eve, he and Tsugumi were quickly on their way to the school.

The father daughter pair were nearly to the school when they heard a blood curdling scream coming from farther up the road, and by reflex, they both started running towards it. Hajime ran as fast as possible, leaving Tsugumi struggling just to keep up. He thought he was too late. He worried he had failed yet again to stop Ai, but when he got there, it was a much more horrible scene then he ever imagined possible.

The first thing he noticed was a boy, probably a high school senior, puking his guts out on the side of the road, tears flowing down his face like a waterfall. He seemed to be disoriented, his eyes wild, and that's when he saw what was most likely the cause for the boy's obvious distress.

Behind the boy stood a brilliant cherry tree in full bloom, yet Hajime barely noticed how strange that was since his eyes were set somewhere else….

"Hajime! Wait up!" Tsugumi yelled, she had been left in the dust when her father took off. Hajime turned around, breaking free from the horrible sight in front of him. He yelled at Tsugumi:

"No! Tsugumi, don't look!" But it was too late. Tsugumi had already seen it. The girl, lifeless, was hanging from a red noose and a little black straw doll lying on the ground below her. It was the same girl they had run into at the store, the same one they were trying to save. Tsugumi started to cry and fell to her knees. Hajime ran to comfort his daughter and the once still snow scene was now painted in a much more depressing color as sounds of tragic sobs filled the cold air.

*Ten minutes later*

Police arrived, and so did a news crew. The area was soon blocked off and Hajime, Tsugumi, and the boy were pulled off to the side to be interrogated.

"Have any of you disturbed the body since you discovered it?" A male detective asked the group. Hajime shook his head and said they hadn't.

"Did any of you know the victim?"

They all nodded, the boy more hesitantly than the others. The detective then opened his mouth as if to say something but the boy cut him off

"her name is Anju." His eyes fell to the ground and tears once again started flowing down his face, not like they had ever completely stopped. "Yamazaki Anju, second year at Sakurano High school, not a member of any clubs of after school activities. An A student, near the top of her class, a kind soul…"

The detective looked at him with sympathy, realizing the boy must have been close to the girl. He asked "Thank you , uh, what did you say your name was again?"

"Inoue Akihiko"

"That's right, thank you for the information. It will be very useful during our investigation."

"Investigation?" Hajime asked. He thought it was obvious it was just a suicide which usually doesn't call for very much of an "investigation"

"Yes, we're launching a homicide investigation. Based on all those injuries, the girl was obviously suffering from long-term abuse and it's likely the killer just tried to make it appear like a suicide to avoid detection."

"It's not a homicide, sir." A female officer walked up to the detective and handed him a folded slip of paper. "This was on the ground proper against the tree, sir, it's a suicide note and, uh….Well, you'll see."

The detective took the note and opened it, reading it carefully. The way his expression changes while reading it, how to explain it, it was like watching a rainbow start to change its colors. At first, it was a stern look, then pain, sympathy, anger, sadness, so many emotions passing through his features. Then, he looked up at Hajime and said:

"You're Shibata Hajime, right? I think you should read this." Hajime hesitantly took the note and stared to read it silently to himself before reading it aloud, voice cracking as he did.

"Under a cherry tree, this very same tree, a mother once loved her daughter. She praised her, played with her, hugged her, and smiled with her. Now, that very same mother hits her, scratches her, beats her relentlessly. That's why this is my only option, as a girl unloved by even her own mother, it's my only way to escape. I know I don't deserve to reach heaven but I hope maybe, somehow, I will be allowed to enter its marvelous gates. I don't want to be trapped in this hellish world any longer! But I won't leave without saying goodbye, and thanking the people that helped my unbearable life be a bit better.

First off, Aki-kun, I've always wanted the courage to call you "My Aki-kun" but I could never muster it, so I hope it's alright I do it now. I want to thank you the most. You kept me from self destructing. You helped me stand a little taller and walk a little prouder. I felt safe with you around. I'm sorry it couldn't have lasted a bit longer….

The next person I want to thank, I don't know your name, nor do I know how you knew so much about me, but I still need to thank you because if you hadn't approached me in the store that day, I would have made a huge mistake. I think things are better this way….

There is one more person want to say something to, but it's not to thank them. To Yamazaki Chiaki, a woman I refuse to call a mother any longer, I have no more than three words: "Go to hell"

When Hajime finished reading, he was in a state of shock. It was obvious that the no-named person she thanked in her letter was him and he couldn't get over it. Had his words really made her commit suicide instead? He didn't want to believe it but….he was part o the reason that an innocent girl was now hanging lifeless from a branch?

In a state of shock, Hajime dropped the letter, tears rolling down his face.

Why….He thought. Why couldn't I save her!

Tsugumi was also crying. She felt so sorry for Anju that she just couldn't hold in the overwhelming emotion. She hadn't realized how much she had started to care for the older girl until now when she found herself sobbing uncontrollably and wishing things had turned out differently. Somewhere along the line, she started thinking of Anju like an older sister, and like a flower that had yet to have its chance to bloom into something beautiful and magnificent.

Nearby, now being held up by an EMT from the ambulance that had arrived because of his violent vomiting, was the boy who had initially found the girl hanging there. Tears like a heavy rain were pouring down his face and his expression was one of someone that had just lost everything they love in the world.

The boy waved away the EMT's, even though they insisted he sit down until he had calmed down, and walked over to where Hajime had dropped the letter, and picked it up. When he started reading it, a look of shock overtook is hopeless face. He read in silence until the end of the letter then he reached for something in his pocket.

Just this morning, this boy had seen his mother get beaten yet again. He had wanted to interfere and push his father away from her, but he knew that he would just turn on him and it pain's the boy's mother so much to see him get hurt, so he's learned to sit back and wait to comfort her when it's over. Almost every day is like that. This morning it was because breakfast had been a few minutes late. The day before, it was because his father's clothes got wrinkled. Last week, it was because she hadn't cleaned the house to his satisfaction.

The high school student council president wished desperately that it would end, and as he walked out his own front door and off to school, hoped that he could see his angel again and make her smile and laugh. It was like his secret mission to make sure Anju was always smiling and always safe and happy. Seeing her lifeless like this just killed him inside, worse than a blade being twisted around in the heart. H

He, too, collapsed to his knees, then fell even lower kind of crawling into a ball on the ground and let out screaming sobs. He tried to make sense of it all. He knew it was real but it felt so abstract, so detached from reality. He also blamed himself…..How could he have missed it? How could he not know that his angel was in so much pain? Or did he just not want to see it because it reminded him of his own screwed up home life?

Another police officer came and walked over to Hajime.

"You seem to know the girl, right? We found this tied around her neck along with the noose" The officer flinched at the last word, and handed Hajime a little black straw doll with a crimson string around it's neck.

The boy, still sobbing on the ground, looked up for a moment and noticed the doll, identical to his own, given to him by the Jigoku Shoujo, or Hell Girl. The only difference is that his is a dark shade of green instead of black.

Anju was going to send her mother to hell….

At this point, a small crowd had gathered around the scene, police tape had been put up, and reporters had arrived to get the latest scoop. A few blocks away, a cruel but very conflicted woman sat sipping tea and watching the morning news. Today was her day off and her daughter had left early for school like always. Though, her daughter probably did it to get away from her, not to get to school early to help with the upcoming holiday.

"This morning a high school second year was found hanging from a blooming cherry tree by a fellow student and student council president of her school." A reporter said and the camera moved to show the scene. A young girl with ink black hair tied up in an intricate bun, skin as pale as the moon, and nothing but a short white gown. The tree she was hanging from was a cherry tree in full blossom, staining the white snow around it in dancing pink petals. Chiaki, however, barely noticed the out of season blooming of the tree. She was focused on the girl, her girl, Anju, hanging from it like a lifeless doll.

In a second, she was out the door running to see her daughter hoping the TV was playing tricks on her. When she did eventually reach the scene, she ignored the police tape and the crowd of people and dashed towards the now ice cold body of her daughter, and then she cried….

She cried, and cried and cried. She didn't listen when the police started yelling at her, telling her to back away from the body and get back behind the tape. She resisted when they tried to pull her away.

"BUT IT'S MY DAUGHTER! MY BABY GIRL!" She screamed and started crying again. One of the officers froze. He had read the suicide note left behind and remembered exactly what it said about the girl's mother. He didn't waste any time.

"Arrest her! We're charging her with reckless homicide or child abuse at least!" The others complied and with some difficulty, put cuffs on the women and forced her into a squad car.

Akihiko, the high school boy that was previously unable to function because of the news, noticed a women much resembling Anju, but older, old enough to be her mother, was being shoved into a police car, hands cuffed behind her back.

She doesn't deserve to live He thought to himself, glaring at her from a distance. Akihiko reached into his pocket and pulled out his straw doll. He had intended this for his father, but now, with all his might, he wished his revenge to be taken out on one person, one woman. Yamazaki Chiaki. With that, he pulled the string.

"Merry Christmas, Hell Girl….." He said, and the straw doll disappeared.

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this published. I just had a whole mess of things going on, including my computer crashing and almost losing the entire thing _ I think this is the end, but if you guys really like it and want me to write more, I might do an Akihiko pov chapter about what happens to him and his family.