Hey guys! Sorry about being incognito for so long! Been going through some personal stuff and honestly, this chapter was hard to write. Just as a reminder…you may want to read the last chapter to refresh on what's going on. Usagi and the group are experiencing a flashback of the murder of the family and Usagi is experiencing it through Taiki's eyes. I'm going to warn you readers now that this gets graphic and somewhat disturbing….and is unfortuntately…fairly short. xD!

*knock….knock….knock….*

The second knock echoed in the silent house. Muffled sobs were heard on the other side of the door and shuffling as Emi hurried her children into the bathroom on the other side. Taiki barely heard her whispers but enough to understand "lock it on the other side". Usagi's fear was unimaginable as she felt Taiki's body tremble in anger. His fury was building and patience was thinning as he knocked the third and final time.

*knock…knock….knock…*

The silence was cut as Taiki bellowed, "Emi! You will not take my children from me!"

Taiki heard his wife cry out from the other side of the door with a thin shaky voice, "Taiki please just calm down. They don't need to see you this way. They don't need to fear you."

Taiki's fists clenched. Usagi's heart dropped and her jaw clenched. No no no no no no…

"FEAR ME? THEY HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN TO FEAR ME!"

The knob was one of those that was able to be picked easily if the individual had a pin small enough to push through the hole in the center. Taiki had a safety pin attached to his jeans and pulled it out furiously. He inserted the pointed end of the safety pin into the knob and the lock clicked open.

The door flung open and Emi was standing in front of the bathroom door with her arms outstretched in front of her. Taiki looked briefly around their bedroom and saw her missing things. She really IS leaving me.

Red rage blinded his vision as he laid hands on his wife. "After all I've given you. After all I've done for the children. After all I've sacrificed. You think you can just leave? No. NO. NO!"

He slammed Emi against the wall and tightened his grip around her throat. She needed to understand that he was responsible for the life that they had. He and he alone. She cannot just leave that. She cannot just leave him. How ungrateful could she be?

Usagi became overwhelmed with Taiki's anger. Her conflicting fear and fury made her stomach turn and her head pound.

Emi's nails dug deep into Taiki's forearms, but he just pressed her harder into the wall and used the weight of his body to cut off her oxygen. Tears started to form in her eyes as she struggled to breathe. After a few more seconds of fighting, Emi's lifeless body draped over Taiki's hands. Still enraged, Taiki dropped his late wife and stormed for the children.

*knock….knock….knock…..*

He heard the muffled cries of his two children.

They're in there….

Streams of tears began to fall down Usagi's face. Not the children. The rest of the group were witnessing the flashback like a movie. One that they couldn't escape or change, and they all knew what was going to happen next.

*knock….knock….knock….*

The stifled sobs continued, but no response was made.

*knock….knock….knock….*

The lock clicked open as it did before with the bedroom door and Taiki peered into the bathroom. Chiyo was cradling her brother Kaito. Their tear stained faces were pale with fear as they saw their father pull a curved knife out from his back pocket. Chiyo held Kaito closer to her chest. "Stop it, daddy! Just stop it!"

Taiki's eyes, instead of recognizing the fear in his own children and softening, grew fierce and cold. "You don't tell ME what to do! You insolent children!" He lunged for them with the knife and made the first slash across Chiyo's back and left arm. Chiyo turned her back towards her father in attempts to protect Kaito cried out as the knife went into her right lower back. Taiki was deaf to Chiyo's screams as he stabbed his daughter over and over until he moved onto Kaito. Just like their mother. Ungrateful. Unappreciative. You want to leave me? You CAN'T leave me!

The sobbing and screaming had finally stopped. The only thing that could be heard was Taiki's heavy breathing. The knife clattered to the floor and he turned to face the bathroom mirror.

It was as if the blood he saw on his face ignited a wake-up call. His eyes widened, his brows furrowed, and his hands slowly came up to his face to wipe the blood from it. He looked around at what had been done. At what his anger had done.

He was always apologetic after his anger came crashing down and he had realized that he'd hit Emi once again. But this. This was undoable. Unfixable. An apology and heartfelt "I love you's" couldn't make this go away.

Taiki ran over to Emi and picked her up. It was now his sobs that echoed throughout the house. His fingertips caressed her face: her cheeks, lips, and neck. The neck. It had already begun to show the bruising of his hands. His large hands against her small delicate throat. He had hurt his love. The only one that he could ever love.

He looked back towards the bathroom and clamped his eyes shut. He didn't even want to witness what horror he had done to his children. Considering all of the blood that covered him, and that Emi was strangled, he knew that the sight of his children would be his own personal hell.

How can I continue to live after doing this? How can I even bear to look at myself or have the right to live after I've taken theirs away?

Taiki walked to the nightstand on his side of the bed and pulled out the revolver he kept in case of intruders. He walked back over to Emi and sat beside her. His large hand took her tiny fragile one and he squeezed it as he leaned in to kiss her one last time. He wanted her lips to be the last thing he remembered. The normal soft response that always greeted him was no longer there, but he tried to ignore it. He wanted to lavish in touching her in this intimate way one last time.

Eyes closed, still kissing his late wife, he picked the gun up to his temple, and pulled the trigger.

Author's Note: Apologies once again for being igcognito for so long. I'll try to work on this story more. Definitely let me know that you guys are still out there and leave me some feedback!