Ever since that day when she had her aura removed the only thing that was on her mind was the moment that Mikoto kissed her. Each time she thought about that memory, a blush rushed across her face. Whenever he would come in the room that was the first thing she thought of and felt very awkward around him still. The more she thought about it the more she tried to convince herself that it meant nothing and the kiss was purely to remove the red aura but then his words reentered her mind. His promise that HOMRA is there for her and that he will come help her whenever she needed it. Those butterflies never left her stomach and it didn't help that she sees him almost every day now but for once, she didn't feel like she was alone and there was some progression in her life. Everyone at HOMRA got along with her and she valued every one of them, even Yata was starting to become more comfortable around her which was considered impossible for him.
Koyuki normally would have been too afraid to go to the hospital to pay Mariko a visit but with HOMRA behind her she felt confident that she could overcome this fear. Luckily when she arrived at Shizume City Hospital, Mariko had just been though a reconstructive surgery that she was still fast asleep from. On the way over, Koyuki had stopped at the flower shop and had picked out some yellow and white lilies to bring to the hospital room. Koyuki nearly broke down seeing the remnants of that day engraved on both sides of the unconscious woman's chest. Two scars, one above each breast in the shape of perfect hand prints where Koyuki had impacted her in an outburst of anger. Even though she felt she was being threatened by Mariko, she wished that she had better control over herself although that was completely unlike her to behave so aggressively now Mariko will walk around being reminded of those memories every time she looks at herself. The rest of her body would heal without any scars except those hand prints. Looking at them Koyuki was reminded of Mariko's past reliving that moment of guilt realizing that her mother had caused this girl so much pain and she was reminded of it every time she looked at Koyuki. Questions arose about as to how she was able to see the past of another person when she was not present. Now that she thought about it, maybe that's what she was being examined for. They understood that she was a part of the red clan and knew what kind of behaviors to look for in clansmen but they scheduled a second analysis to conduct some more tests. It seemed strange that they would do that but now that she remembers that moment, the doctors were behaving strangely as soon as she came out of the pod as if they were holding information from her. Maybe now that her aura has been removed, her next exam will reveal nothing. As she sat in the chair next to Mariko's bed, the aroma of the lilies filled the room.
The day was getting late so Koyuki got up and headed back to her home. Even though she was reliving emotional moments while visiting Mariko, she felt enlightened. Her fears backed away from her after she overcame them and took command now that she had people she could depend on. Koyuki almost walked with a little skip to her step as she made her way over to her apartment looking forward to going back to HOMRA after the weekend but first she was going to go home and read a book in a nice hot bubble bath.
Upon entering her loft, the nano projection screen dinged with 8 new messages all from none other than her mother. So much for not hearing from her, Koyuki thought deleting the messages right away without listening to them. Without further adieu, she walked into her bathroom and turned on the water. Monitoring the temperature, she plugged the tub when it met her satisfaction then tied up her hair so it was all on top of her head. What could that lady want? I do myself the favor by not replying to her but I'm just so curious whether or not she has put her life together. Still, I don't know if I could ever trust her. Here's hoping. Koyuki thought while pouring a splash of lavender scented bubble bath into the tub. I don't think I could live with myself if the others knew. She contemplated referring to HOMRA. Once the tub was full, Koyuki shut off the valve and dipped her toes in. The sensation of warm water tickling her toes was enough to put anyone at ease. Eventually, she submerged herself into the water and closed her eyes for a moment taking in as much serenity as she could, relaxing her muscles and emptying her mind. After a few moments peace, she reached over to the table she had next to her tub to put headphones in her ears to listen to her mp3 player and then grabbed her book that she had been working on and flipped to her next chapter.
A couple chapters later, a sound was heard coming from elsewhere in her loft. She didn't think anything of it because she knew that she locked the door but it seemed to be getting closer until she realized that it was coming from just outside of her washroom door. There was a man's voice and a woman's voice that were both quite slurred and choppy so she decided to get out of her bath to investigate. The water was draining and Koyuki towel dried herself enough before she put on her clothes but froze hearing the person practically talking through the door.
"Probably keeps it in here." A male voice said grabbing onto the door knob making a slight squeak as it was being turned. Koyuki quickly covered herself with the towel before the door could be opened. "What, you found some?" Was all that was heard before the footsteps could be heard moving away from the door. She sighed before tossing all of her clothes back on. After exiting the washroom, the voice that belonged to the man was never recognized since she did not know the man but the woman on the other hand caused her to freeze with fear. When the woman turned around and made eye contact, Koyuki screamed.
"MOTHER!"
"Koyuki, is that any way to greet the woman that gave birth to you?" She asked.
"What are you doing here? I thought I told you I never want to see you again!" Koyuki shouted then she looked at the box of pills in her mother's hand. "Get your hands off of my stuff!" She ran at the lady trying to grab the box out of her hands but the man stepped in front of her so Koyuki bounced off of him.
"This is my fiancé Yatsu. He's out on bail so we can get married." Koyuki looked at the man. He was tall and his appearance was very disturbing. He had fresh scars near his elbow veins, tattoos up his arms of various suggestive things and anti religion emblems and had stitching tattoos around his entire neck. His cheeks were almost skeletal and his face was almost as pale as her mothers and covered with scars as if he had been scratching his own skin off. His nose was crooked like it had been broken many times also his eyes were empty and without a soul. He looked so much like all of the other men she would bring around her when she was little.
"Koyuki, this is Higuchi. He's going to be living with us for a while." Her mother spoke to a much younger pigtail wearing Koyuki. She dared not to look up at him or through her bangs at the sinister smirk on the man's face instead she focused on his feet struggling to keep balanced on the ground.
"Hi, Koyuki. I think you and I are going to have a lot of fun together." He said before a hoarse laughter came out of his rotting mouth.
"Koyuki, fetch Higuchi and I some beer." Her mother called from under the bed sheets after finishing intercourse with the man she had just met. Koyuki obey her mother and grabbed a chair from the dining table to grab the alcohol from the top shelf in the refrigerator. She closed the door behind her and proceeded to take the glass bottles to the bedroom. Upon entering the room, the sight of her mother naked in bed (though seen many times) still made it sick to her stomach as it did the very first time. On top of the night tables on either side of the bed were smokes, needles, teaspoons and lighters cluttered on both of the stained surfaces. The woman sat up letting the sheets fall away from her in order to receive the beverage and took the other one to hand to her accompaniment. "Thanks honey."
"The hell is this shit?" Higuchi's voice rose after gulping down a couple mouthfuls. "Regular, only pussy's drink regular."
"Go grab him a dark." Her mother ordered. Koyuki turned right back around and climbed back up the chair beginning the search in the trove of alcohol with no luck finding what she needed. She went back to report to the intruder.
"We don't have any dark." Koyuki said in a flat monotone voice barely auditable enough for them to hear.
"What? No dark? What do you mean you don't have any dark? I asked you to get me a dark brat." Higuchi spat before getting out of bed stepping closer towards her with his manhood unsheathed. Koyuki squeezed her eyes shut. "I can't drink this pussy juice. Stupid kid, respect your elders and look at me when I'm talking to you." Higuchi threw the bottle near her exploding it into many tiny pieces then he stretched out his arm to her and grabbed her by her blue hair and lifted her up off of her feet. "Stupid kid, open your eyes so you can hear me. Now get me a dark."
"We don't have any more… sir." She squeaked out as politely as she could. Higuchi threw her head to the ground so hard that the impact caused the room to spin around her then he kicked her in the head.
"Then. Go. And. Get. Some." He said after every time his foot struck her skull with sharp toe nails slicing through her face. Koyuki screamed as blood began to trickle down from her nose and face trying to curl up to block the blows with her arms and legs. Higuchi stopped kicking her and switched to stomping her to get in where her arms and legs weren't covering. "Stupid bitch. Learn to respect your elders." He spat at her before turning back to the bed. Koyuki sat there with tears silently coming out of her eyes and just lay there lifelessly waiting for the pain to cease.
"Higuchi why don't we get dressed in a few minutes and go get some more? I need to pick up more stuff from Ritsuke anyways." The naked woman said in a seductive tone. "Koyuki, go to your room and play. We'll be back in a few hours." Koyuki tried to get up but her legs were too bashed to support her instead she crawled out of the room using her forearms and one of her legs until she made it into her room. She sat up next to her dresser and opened up the lowest drawer to move some clothes out of the way so that she could pull out a torn photo of a man dressed in light colours, azure eyes downturned as soon as she gazed upon the photo if happier memories.
"Oh father." Her voice shakily whispered. Her tears pattered onto the plasticized photo next to the older stains.
"You need to leave." Koyuki shouted at her mother and Yatsu then she ran over and grabbed her PDA so that she could phone Mikoto at HOMRA. Even though it was late, he was most likely to be there. If he slept through her phone call then Kusanagi would pick up. Suddenly her PDA was grabbed from her hands by the soulless man and was held high above her making her jump up to reach it like a kindergartener being picked on by a bully. "Hey give me that back."
"Who ya gonna call? Better not be the cops." He snarled.
"Relax Koyuki, we just wanted to let you know that we're going to be in town for a while. I just wanted to stop by and see you. You are my daughter after all."
"You're not my mother, you just gave birth to me. A mother doesn't subject her daughter to abuse or all the men you can't keep in your life. A mother does not bring her daughter to a photographer to take pictures of her so she can sell them to other perverted men to make a few bucks for her drugs. A mother does not kidnap her daughter from her own father. All of your empty apologies over the phone mean nothing." Koyuki was practically screamed at the last few sentences. Her mother's eyebrows knit together and her eyes practically charred with rage.
"I told you that I did it to save you from him. That man is a monster and he would have taken you away from me if he had the chance. He's done more to you as an infant that you could remember. I saved you Koyuki, SAVED YOU." Her mother answered in her own shout.
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU." Koyuki exploded. Where's my fire when I need it? She cursed to herself. Yatsu responded by smashing her PDA on the wooden floor shattering it into almost as many pieces as Koyuki's heart had been shattered. She watched in dismay at the glittering pieces scattering across the floor revealing new scratch marks from where it had broken apart. Her mouth dropped.
"Respect your elder's brat." Yatsu growled. Koyuki's face contorted with anger but she stayed quiet knowing that it would be good for her. Her mother stepped over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder though she did not give her the satisfaction of seeing the fire in her eyes.
"Be seeing you around, honey." The lady whispered before walking past to the door. She kept her head down looking at the mess on the floor her shoulders twitching trying to hold back her tears in the presence of the intruders. Yatsu walked past her and gave her a harsh 'I don't like your attitude and you better watch out' pat on the shoulders. It wasn't until the door clicked shut that Koyuki finally fell to her knees and let out the waterfall of tears she had been fighting to hold back.
"Dammit mother. Why now?"
Hours passed as it was well into the night, Koyuki was still too shaken up to fall asleep. Since then she tried lying on her couch but the reality was that she was afraid to fall asleep. What if while she was sleeping they would come back and cause more trouble? Now that her PDA was shattered, she didn't know how to tell everyone what had happened, they would start to worry about her and she didn't want to cause them anymore trouble though she would have called and told Mikoto to come help her when they were still here. She wondered if she should tell him next time she seen him but then he may kill her mother. All she really wanted is for her to move to a different country then Koyuki could sleep soundly.
Another hour passed pondering about the possible outcomes if Mikoto and the others dealt with the situation and it became clear to her that she wouldn't get any sleep here. Koyuki sat up with an idea. She got dressed in her usual attire and headed out the door and exited the complex. There was a bed at HOMRA that she had slept in once before and she knew that Kusanagi wouldn't mind if she bunked there for the night, that's why everyone was able to come into the bar through the back door. Upon arriving at HOMRA bar, she input the pin number into the back door setting a green light off and walked through the door. As it locked behind her, she proceeded up the stairs. She passed the spare bedroom to Mikoto's room and stopped by the open door to look inside. Nobody was there. The whole building was hers then she remembered the night he walked her home, he told her that he didn't actually live here but the amount of time he spent here, sleeping, made her think otherwise but at 3:00 in the morning he was really gone. Koyuki shook her head before turning around to go to the spare bedroom for the night. Not too long after she rest herself under the covers she felt safer and secure that put her mind to rest then soon dozed off to sleep.