Chapter: X

Title: Despair

A/N: The title gives you a bad feeling doesn't it? Yeah, it's supposed to do that. Aside from the timeskip (Kyouya is now five and Kiyomi is eight) this chapter is sad. Get your tissues and break out the sad music peeps. I recommend Hitoribocchi no Sadame (Kyouya's first character song) and Serenade by Versailles (a beautifully sad song). I actually played those songs to get into the mood. So sad… *cuddles Kyouya and gets tonfa'd in the process*

Warning/s: Death, blood, violence, non-graphic non-con, and child abuse. Also, totally unrealistic scenarios. But hey, it's KHR. Everything about it is unrealistic, LOL

The little family had just been strolling through the park. It had been a normal day and everything had seemed fine. Until men in black suits suddenly surrounded them. Kiyomi couldn't remember what the men had been saying, but she remembered how frightened her mother looked, her arms wrapped around her and Kyouya, and she could remember her father's furious but determined words being thrown back at the men.

And then the men stormed at Kyou, blunt objects beating at him and fists and feet landing blows on his body. Kyou fought back valiantly, able to land plenty of blows of his own with his shining steel tonfa. But he was outnumbered. He was soon falling to the ground, his tonfa clattering somewhere out of his reach, and grunting in pain as they still continued to beat him while he was down.

Keiko, Kiyomi, and Kyouya were not let off. Though Keiko tried to escape, scooping up her two children in her arms and running, she was easily captured by the men. The kids were ripped from her grasps and held in tight grips. The three of them screamed, the two children for their parents and Keiko for her children. The men ignored them however and they started beating Keiko and forcing Kiyomi, Kyouya, and Kyou to watch. Keiko was far from submissive though, fighting back for all she's worth, bringing a smidgen of pride to the hearts of her loved ones. But it was futile. The men were too many and too strong. They forced her down and tore off her clothes before taking turns forcing themselves onto her.

Kyou screamed until his throat turned raw. He cursed at them, made threats to kill them, but he couldn't move from where he lay, forced to watch as his wife was thoroughly violated. It was little comfort to see that Keiko still struggled through her pain and humiliation. His wife was strong, he knew that, that was why he fell in love with her, but the men were stronger. If only he were stronger…

Kiyomi screamed for her mother, tears pouring out of her eyes like a waterfall, struggling against the much stronger and larger men that held her. Kyouya screamed along with his sister, tears staining his face and saliva dribbling out of his mouth uncontrollably. They were both scared, so damn scared of what would happen to their parents, of what would happen to them.

Their mother was screaming, their father was screaming, all of them were screaming. But there was nothing they could do. Nothing…

What seemed like hours later, but was only minutes, the men finally had their sick fill of Keiko's body and one of them brought out a sleek black firearm from the depths of their coat. Kyou's eyes widened and he struggled even harder against his bonds, his screams getting hoarse but having no effect on his assailants. He watched as the man, almost in slow motion, pointed the barrel of the gun at Keiko's head. Kiyomi and Kyouya had stopped screaming for their mother, but were still choking on sobs and hiccuping. Kyou was also crying, despair seeping into his heart as he watched the woman he loved mouth her last words to him.

"I love you."

And then the shot rang out and Hibari Keiko was alive no more.

Kyou screamed again despite the rawness of his throat. He writhed almost manically against the men holding them down. Despair and white hot anger warred inside him. He wanted to kill. He wanted to sob in defeat. He wanted to save his children. Oh, his children…

The suit clad man who had killed Keiko nodded at the men who were holding the two younger Hibari's down. They had fallen silent when the sound of the bullet leaving the gun rang out, their faces frozen into looks of shock. The men let go of them and prepared to beat them as well, furthering their torture on Kyou. But that had been the mistake that led to their downfall.

The moment they were free, the children moved. Kiyomi threw out a strong kick at her closest assailant, catching him right between the legs and causing him to grunt in pain. Kyouya did the same, only catching his own assailant in the shin and actually managing to break it. The other men were shocked for half a second before they lunged at the children, raising their weapons and fists. But, shockingly, the children were faster and managed to land blows on them. Sickening cracks rang through the air and screams of pain followed. The men seemed just a bit frightened, wondering how the children could be so fast and strong, but they still attacked them nonetheless. Despite the strength and speed of the two youngest Hibari's, they still caught punches and kicks and blunt weapons to the face and stomachs and legs. And yet, they were silent, not even crying out in pain and still retaliated as if the blows didn't bother them.

Kyou stared in astonishment at his two children. He wasn't sure, but he could see flickers of purple appearing on his children's hands and feet and even on their foreheads. It was so amazing, seeing them fight against bigger and stronger opponents and taking their injuries in stride. But it scared him too. Why were they acting like that? And why were they so unresponsive? What was happening to them?

In the midst of the fighting, Kyou noticed the man holding the only gun swear as he pointed the barrel at the moving children, trying to get a good shot. Anger surged up in Kyou's chest again. No. No, he was not going to sit by and watch another of his loved ones get killed. He was strong, he was a Hibari, he was going to save his children even if it was the last thing he did!

Moments passed. The fighting continued. The opponents dwindled, most of them knocked out by the surprising strength of the Hibari children. The lone gun-wielding man finally saw a clear shot for the little boy and he squeezed the trigger, releasing one, two, three bullets in quick succession, hoping that at least one of them would find their target. A body fell, with three bullets holes in his chest and blood oozing out of them.

It wasn't the boy though. It was Kyou.

Before the gun-wielding man could even wonder how the man escaped from his hold and swear at failing to kill one child first, a harsh strike to the back of his neck caused him to fall unconscious to the ground. Behind his fallen body stood an impassive Kiyomi, eyes blank and unfocused, her father's tonfas in her grip. Stowing one away, she reached down to grip the gun and point it at the prone body at her feet. It was heavier than a steel tonfa, but it didn't seem to bother her one bit. She put her finger on the trigger and squeezed, firing off the remaining rounds at the man's back, not even recoiling at the force of the shots.

When the gun was empty of bullets, she let it fall into the puddle of crimson blood that was slowly spreading at her feet. She almost looked mesmerized at the sight, but she was soon reminded of her little brother when there was a grunt of pain nearby. Lifting her head, she saw that Kyouya was all right so far, having just knocked out the last assailant. She walked past her brother, knowing that he would follow her to the fallen body of their father.

Kyou was still holding onto the last threads of his life when he saw his two children stand over him. Their impassive and blood-splattered forms struck fear into his heart. The sight brought more tears to his eyes and he mourned for the loss of his children's innocence. He knew they were never going to be the same again and the thought tore his heart apart.

"Ki… Kiyo… mi…" he rasped, his breathing irregular and his hands trembling as he reached up at his children. "K… Kyou… ya…"

The two knelt at his sides, faces still impassive, eyes still unfocused, detached from the world yet still somehow aware of what was going on. It only made Kyou choke on his tears, the despair welling up inside him now.

"Ta… Take… care… of each… other…" he whispered, placing his hands gently on their cheeks. He smiled weakly when he felt them lean into his touch. It was a small comfort that they at least understood what he said and still yearned for him. "I… I'm sorry… so sorry…"

It was only seconds later that Kyou's breathing stopped and his hands fell limply to the ground, eyes going hazy in his death. Kiyomi and Kyouya's expressions, or lack thereof, never changed, but tears fell from their eyes again, showing that in their hearts they were stricken with grief. Slowly they laid their head down against their father's still chest, ignoring the blood that soaked his shirt, and promptly passed out to the sounds of blaring sirens.

A/N: Long and sad chapter is long and sad. Told you it seems quite unrealistic, but eh, it's my story. I'll do what I want with it… And it seems that I have a tiny little plot in here. Heh, it's not just humor any more, but that will return in due time. There is now a story arc. Chapters might get longer, but again, it's my story. Nothing you can do about it, LOL. Hope you enjoyed or at least shed a tear or two because of our poor little Hibari's.

And if you're wondering… Kiyomi and Kyouya went berserk once they witnessed their mother die. It happens all the time… in anime XP. And why only one bad guy had a gun? That will be answered in a later chapter. Just be patient, yeah?