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Chapter 10 – One More Word

So she ran, as fast as she could, and never looked back at the beautiful house that would forever haunt her dreams, and after a minute or so, she threw her bags over then vaulted herself over the large brick wall surrounding the massive estate, like she had done so many times before when she had tried to run away. She was hoping that Lana wasn't going to get busted calling a taxi, because she couldn't bare the thought of what would happen to the girl if she got found out.

Hopefully, Lana would leave soon as well and then they could be together again. She hoped so much that her grandmother would be willing to help out, but with the money she had taken, she was fairly certain that anyone with a lick of sense in their head would take her in.

She wasn't sure how much was there, but it was at least ten thousand dollars, and she had also taken her own small pile of money that was probably nearly two thousand dollars. As she continued running, she planned out everything in her head. She would get a taxi to the closest town, and find a bus or train that would take her to Karakura Town.

There was a car parked at the corner where the main street met the small road that led down to her former home, and the light with the word 'TAXI' on it couldn't have looked more beautiful right now. She opened the door and hurled her bags in then jumped in the back seat after, shut the door and told the confused looking driver to get the hell away from here.

Even though she was a young girl, she had been raised to be the head of a large company, so she was smart, but the thing her parents lacked, was common sense. Luckily, she had learned that after several run-away attempts and she hoped that would allow her to get away from that life she couldn't have hated any more right now.

After driving for a few minutes, the man asked her kindly where she would like to go. She knew she needed information, so instead of telling him to just go to the next town, she asked him to take her to the nearest train station or bus depot.

"Train station? Where are you heading, little one?" the man asked her, and she could tell that he was genuinely concerned for her.

"I'm headed to Karakura Town. I have a friend there I'm going to stay with. I just need to get to somewhere that can take me there." she responded politely, trying to reign in the emotion that was threatening to spill out of her via a hell of a lot of tears.

"Really? You're running away from everything your parents own?" he inquired with a hint of shock in his tone, looking in the rear vision mirror when the girl gave him a face that said 'How do you know that?'.

"Please, I'm not stupid and I live in the town nearby. I know you make an escape attempt every few months, Kazue-chan. My wife works at the hotel where you tried to stay one time. She told me about how much she wanted to help you, but your parents arrived before she could do anything." he smirked at the girl's determination, and he was glad to help her out. Obviously she wasn't running away for no reason, leaving millions of dollars behind.

"My parents have pushed me too far. I just want to enjoy my childhood while I am still a child. Surprisingly though, they've only pushed me into a chair and made me hit my head, almost slapped me, and grabbed my wrist so hard the skin is still red even now, today. Apparently, I ruin everything they try and do, even though I don't want anything from them. I hope I never see them again." she kept her voice level as she spoke, using this chance to vent so she could finally get rid of those memories as soon as she was in Karakura Town.

"Are you kidding me? The stories were true then. My wife said you had bruises on your arms and a handprint on your cheek." he stopped speaking and looked at the dashboard before continuing. "It's only 6 o'clock at night. Karakura Town is about an hour and a bit away, how about I just take you there myself?" he asked, smiling at her in the rear vision mirror, taking her off guard a little.

"There's no need. I'm more than capable of getting a train. Don't trouble yourself." she replied quickly, even though as she spoke, she figured than making her way there with this kind man in the taxi would be much better than going there on a train.

"No need. My shift doesn't finish for another four hours and I've only had two customers tonight. I'll just be killing time. I'm more than happy to help you out, kid." he smiled when she did and she thanked him for his kindness.

She shifted in the seat and got comfortable since she was staying in the same spot for the next while, and thought about everything that had happened. So far, it seemed like this escape attempt might actually work, thanks to Lana. With all that going through her mind, soon enough, she had dozed off to sleep.

When they arrived in Karakura Town, she was roused from her sleep, hearing the man's voice over the sound of the rain that must have started at some point on their trip here, and she gave the taxi driver the piece of paper with the address in it. Within a few minutes, they arrived out the front of Lana's grandmother's place at about 7.30PM.

It was a simple one-storey house, with a nice little garden out the front, and she could hear the sound of a small dog barking from inside the house. Her salvation was at the front door of that house, and she smiled, but didn't get her hopes up, just in case she wasn't able to stay.

"I'll wait here if you like. Go on, I'll be right here." a smile came across her face again, and she felt better with her confidence slowly returning.

With a nod of conviction, she got out of the door, and jogged to the front door, still getting wet on the way. She rang the doorbell, and what seemed like an eternity later, a light turned on and the door opened to reveal an old women with a blue nightgown wrapped around her, and the kindest smile she had ever seen looking back at her as well as a small white and tan dog, who tried to lick her straight away.

"You must be Kazue! It's so good to have you dear, I'm glad you got here safely. Go and get your things, and come in out of the rain." Kazue laughed with happiness and hugged the old woman before running back to the car and grabbing her bags, putting them just inside the door before digging into her money and getting out a few hundred dollar bills for the taxi driver, who had been just wonderful.

She ran back to the taxi and reached in to get her last bag and handed the man the money, and his eyes opened widely at the amount. He tried to hand it back to her, saying that he was just going to ignore the bill and just be glad that he could help her, but she insisted he take the money that was more than triple what he needed and told him thank you before smiling brightly at him and shutting the car door behind her.

Before she walked fully inside, she took off her wet shoes and sighed happily when she looked inside what seemed to be her new home. It was small, and cosy, but absolutely perfect. It was what she had dreamed of her whole life. The elderly lady smiled at the young girl who seemed to have a weight lifted off her shoulders.

Kazue turned to her and properly introduced herself, and thanked her for taking her in, being just blown away at how amazing people could be, when all she had grown up with was her horrible excuse for parents, maids, butlers and housekeepers who were forced to turn a blind eye to the occurrences and the stupid, stuck-up rich people her parents made her meet.

It was only Lana that had stopped her from going crazy in that house, the taxi driver who had been so kind to ignore her the three-digit bill for driving her all the way here, and the lovely woman who was offering thehospitality of letting her stay in her home so she could be away from everything.

The old women introduced herself as Midori Michaels. They sat down and talked about their lives just to get to know each other and had dinner, which Kazue wolfed down, not realising how hungry she was. Midori had married an American man when she had gone to live there many years ago to study at a particular university. Her only son had married a lovely woman who had been Lana's father. She had come over to live here since her husband had passed away from natural causes four years ago, missing her country and Lana had come with her, since they were very close.

Kazue told her about her parents and what they had been doing to her practically since the day she came out of her mother's womb, which she made sure to include was apparently a real mistake on their part. Even though Lana seemed to have told her pretty much everything, it was just like earlier in the taxi, she was venting so that she could put all of it behind her quicker.

There was no way her parents would figure out that she was here, unless Lana told them, and she would never crack. Lana was the person who had showed her how to be strong and stubborn and not give in to 'the sacks of shit that your parents are, excuse my language', as she had said once.

Around 10PM, Midori noticed how late it was and suggested that they both go off to bed. The woman had been kind enough to set up her spare room for Kazue, and had made the bed, got a spare lamp for her to use and had moved a few boxes of things into her garage to make room.

They moved the young girl's things into her room, and Kazue thanked her again, hugging her tightly before the elderly woman shuffled off to bed, and Kazue got changed into some clean pyjamas and went to bed herself, falling asleep practically straight away being so emotionally exhausted she didn't even realise she went to sleep...

Siren didn't even remember Renji helping her inside and sitting her down on the lounge. It must have been a few minutes, because Renji came out of the bathroom before getting them a beer each and sitting down next to his good friend.

He was so worried for her, since there was only one thing that messed with her head as much as her parents did. It didn't seem like she was going to be in a good mood for the next few weeks, and he hoped so much that she would be left alone.

She was really starting to turn a corner, with the new place, new job and great new friends that she seemed to get along with so famously. Why these things had to come back and haunt her, he had no idea, but he was really getting sick of it. He just wanted her to be happy, and he was sure she wanted to be happy too.

Renji nudged her and handed her a beer, and she gave him a look of thanks, being a little too afraid to speak just yet, scared that she would break down if she tried to speak. She downed the entire bottle and put the glass down on the wooden coffee table in front of her with a thud then proceeded to get up and put the empty bottle in the bin before sitting back down on the lounge with a loud flop.

A low growl escaped her after a few minutes of silence, and it seemed she had finally gotten fed up after she smashed her hands on the table, nearly making Renji soil himself and she walked into her bedroom and within minutes, she was changed in gym clothes. She threw him his pair, since they kept a pair at each other's place in case there was some spur of the moment decision to go exercise.

He quickly changed, while Siren grabbed them water bottles and put towels and whatever else they needed into the bag she used and was walking out the door while Renji was pulling his shirt over his head and struggled to keep up with her.

The guy she lived next door to opened his door as they walked past, Renji still trying to get his arms through the right spot in the shirt, probably looking quite hilarious to Siren's neighbour and he smiled awkwardly before adjusting the shirt and getting his arms through the sleeves and twisting it whilst jogging to catch up to the scarily cranky woman ahead of him.

They jumped in her ute and drove to Yoruichi's dojo that was just a few blocks away. Since it was still only early, there would probably still be heaps of people there, and Siren was hoping that Urahara was there, so she could spar with him.

Even Yoruichi had a bit of trouble being his equal sometimes, and neither Siren or Renji knew exactly how strong the weird guy was, but he could take a beating that would probably kill normal people. Before too long, they arrived and parked out the front then walked in the through the front doors, Siren wearing a look of seriousness Renji had barely seen, and to be honest, he had no idea what was going to happen.

Yoruichi yelled a hello to them from the other side, since she was teaching a class. Siren went to leave their bag up where Yoruichi left her stuff, to find Urahara sitting in a dark corner, smiling behind his fan. She smirked darkly and put the bag down before snatching his fan in challenge.

It only took a moment for the odd smirk to fade off the man's face before he got up and took off his hat, leaving it on the seat and watching Siren very carefully, and she watched Urahara carefully, expecting him to pounce at any given moment.

Renji could only watch as Urahara stepped down and Siren stalked backwards waiting for the right time to strike. They moved back to the middle of the unoccupied area at the back of the dojo and took up stances. Yoruichi seemed to notice, rolling her eyes with a smirk on her face as she stopped her class, and told them to move back, saying to watch how the two fought.

They stared each other down for at least a whole minute, and the tension could have been cut with a butter knife. Neither wanted to move, but neither wanted to stay still. Renji expected Siren to make the first move, but it seemed Urahara got some idea in his head and lunged at her.

So it started. Most of the students Yoruichi had probably didn't even know that it was possible for two people to move that quickly and they all watched with dumbfounded expressions on their faces as Urahara and Siren fought like mad, inflicting copious amounts of pain on each other with kicks, fists and anything else that the other didn't block or dodge.

After a good five minutes of solid, bone-breaking battle, they stopped, being too tired to continue. Neither of the two was a clear victor, since it swayed from Urahara to Siren, back to Urahara and then Siren would gain the upper hand only for Urahara to take it back.

Yoruichi continued her lesson shaking her head at the two who sat down on the floor, puffing and panting. Struggling to catch their breath. Renji was still bewildered at the display, but shook it off before going to help Yoruichi with her students to give both Urahara and Siren a chance to breathe. They sat for a while, not saying anything, just slowing their heart rates and moving slightly with certain difficulty to stretch their sore and paining muscles.

"So, what got you so angry you could keep up?" Urahara asked after finally catching his breath, wanting to make sure his young friend was actually okay.

"Parents." Siren said simply and evenly, not letting her frustration show through her voice, just the brooding, far-off look in her eyes.

"Come back to fetch you, have they?" he replied with a soft tone and nodded after she grunted quietly in confirmation.

He got up to his feet and stretched his arms above his head, a look of pain on his usually whimsical face, feeling all the after-effects of their fight. The man held a hand out for Siren and he helped her up and didn't let go until she looked at him and he gave her a small, but very kind smile as if to say that she would be fine. She couldn't have appreciated it more, especially after she had just battered and bruised him, though he had done the same amount of damage to her. They would both feel it more tomorrow.

Yoruichi's lesson was finished a few minutes later and the students were making their way out while Renji talked with Yoruichi on the other side of the large room. Urahara went and sat back on his seat, placing his hat on his head again and dozing lightly while Siren strolled over to speak with Yoruichi and Renji.

Renji had clearly told her what had happened and the beautiful, slender and graceful woman hugged her gently, being careful not to put pressure on parts of her skin that was turning more purple and blue by the minute. She tried not to get frustrated again, but most of it had been drained by sparring with Urahara. Usually it did her a world of good, but this wouldn't go away so quickly. Her normally pretty face scared Renji as it turned into a demonic scowl as an image of her parents standing at her front door appeared in her mind but she schooled her expression almost straight away.

Instead of lingering on the subject, they closed and locked up the dojo, heading back to the shop which was also closed and locked up, but they went inside and made up a nice dinner for the four of them, giving Siren some time to relax, and take her mind off everything.

Urahara and Yoruichi had both been so lovely to her in the past and had looked after her more times than she could count or remember. They had opened their home to her many times before and she knew they would without hesitation, even now that she was a grown woman with her own job, car and place.

They ate mostly in silence, being hungrier than they realised and talked and laughed afterwards, when everyone had slowed themselves down. Siren joined in as much as she could, but right now she didn't feel like making many jokes, or telling funny stories. She didn't even feel like teasing Urahara as much, which usually cheered her up a little.

Soon enough, Siren felt like going home and just having an early night. Renji went with her, knowing that she would want him to stay, just in case she broke down. It was dark in her apartment when they got back and Siren turned some lights on while Renji carried their gym bag inside, placing it down next to the couch.

They both had a shower, and Renji watched a movie while Siren sat next to her, staring at the TV, but not paying any attention to it, nor speaking before grabbing a pillow off her bed, and getting him a spare blanket to curl up on her lounge with. He gave her a big hug, which she returned with earnest, and even though she sniffled a little, she didn't cry.

They said goodnight and Renji watched a bit more TV before turning it off and quietly walking over to Siren's bedroom and placing his ear against the closed door, just to make sure she was okay. He didn't hear any crying or sniffling, so he guessed she was asleep.

He returned to his spot on the lounge, soon falling into a dreamless sleep. Meanwhile, Siren tossed and turned, faceless shadows and demons haunting her rest...

Renji woke up to the sound of a song being played not to far from his ears. It startled him, so he quickly moved to find the source. Siren had left her phone out on the table, and it was her alarm going off. He silenced it straight away, hoping the sound didn't disturb her, since he wanted her to get a good sleep, even if it meant she was out cold until midday. It was Saturday now so they didn't have anywhere to be, and Renji had stayed at Siren's every night, being worried about her.

He stretched as his heart rate slowed, still reeling from the sudden wake up, and yawned as he looked around the room. The red head made himself some toast with a glass of juice before playing a game for an hour or two, only being interrupted by a knock at the door. If it was her parents, he wasn't going to open the door for them, so he got up with a hopeful frown on his face, and looked through the peep-hole to see Hisagi Shuhei.

As he unlatched and opened the door, he realised that must have been why Siren had set her alarm, probably because Hisagi was coming over. He greeted him with a smile, completely forgetting that Siren had mentioned to him that she'd invited him over.

The raven-haired man had been so worried about her since she had barely said a word on Thursday and Friday at work, and had asked Renji if she was okay. She barely got the words out to invite him, but she apologised for her lack of socialisation to everyone, but they knew that there was a reason and just let her know that they were there if she needed them.

Renji greeted the other man quietly, letting him know that Siren was still asleep. He nodded in understanding and sat down on the lounge and joined Renji in playing their video game, but not before looking at Siren's bedroom door longingly.

"Is she feeling any better?" Hisagi asked while he shot a guy right in the crotch, making both tattooed men wince slightly at the sight.

"Not really. She hasn't talked much. But she told me that she knows they are coming back, and I think she is just scared and doesn't know what to do. She won't go back with them, I know it, but she's struggling with how to get rid of them without killing them, though I'm sure that thought has crossed her mind more than once. She's just really angry over it all. No matter how much we try to help her, she will always be furious and she will always hold a deep hatred for her parents. They deserve it. Assholes." Renji trailed off murmuring his insults with narrowed eyes.

"If you want, I'll stay here with her tonight. I know you've been here since Wednesday. Go home and have a break or spend the day with Rukia. I'll look after her." Hisagi didn't know whether Renji would agree to it, but his friend seemed to think it was a good idea for him to be with her, since she seemed to find comfort with Hisagi's presence.

"Just don't ask her about it. If she wants to talk about it she will. I tried to get her to talk yesterday and she nearly put a whole in the wall." he shuddered at the memory, "She will be okay. She just wants to put it all behind her."

"She can't if they keep pestering her. Common sense would dictate that parents want happiness for their children. I hope I never meet them." Hisagi replied quietly, feeling so sorry for the poor girl. His parents were awesome, they always supported him, even if they didn't agree fully with what he wanted to do.

"Alright, well she'll probably be up soon, but don't freak out if she just snaps. If she does, just ring me and I'll be straight over." Renji collected his things and walked out the front door, saying goodbye and good luck behind before shutting it behind him.

Hisagi took a deep breath, not really knowing how to approach this situation. There wasn't many words of comfort that could be given, but he knew that Siren was the kind of person who wouldn't want someone to sugar-coat the truth. It was a pretty fucked up truth, but he wanted nothing more than to help her.

The man got up from the lounge and opened her bedroom door, laying down next to her and pulling the blankets over himself very carefully in case he startled her. He put a protective arm over her waist and gently kissed her cheek, smirking when he saw her trying not to smile, clearly pretending to still be asleep. Chances are that she woke up when he opened the door.

"Hm, it seems that Siren is still asleep. Maybe I should just tickle her to wake her up." he said with a perfectly monotonous voice, though he was struggling not to laugh half way through.

"Don't you dare." she retorted quickly, smirking fully now, though her eyes were still shut.

"What? I think I heard something but I'm not sure what it was. I guess I'll just have to tickle her to wake her up."

Before she could protest or grab his hands to stop, he gently tickled her stomach and sides, and she rolled over and pinned him down in one move, still smirking. He gave her a charming smile that she found incredibly sexy and her tired eyes darkened a little at the sight. She laughed and lied back down, resting her head on his chest and sighing when he began to stroke her hair.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked quietly, not wanting to push too far.

"I've just got to figure out how to make them know that if they ever appear in my life again, I'll destroy them with everything I have." she had so much conviction in her voice it almost scared Hisagi, but he supposed he would probably feel exactly the same way in her position.

He looked down at her, and tilted her head up towards his gently to kiss her, hoping that it would cheer her up. Her phone rang all of a sudden, and she glared at it for interrupting something that could have and more than likely would have become much more interesting. She picked up the ringing piece of technology like she just wanted to throw it at the wall, and Hisagi saw her eyes narrow at the number of screen.

"Hello?" she asked confusedly, wondering who the hell this was.

"Ah, we got a hold of you. Good."

As soon as she recognised the voice on the other end as the deep, authoritative tone belonging to her father, she nearly screamed, but instead grabbed Hisagi's hand with her own that wasn't holding the phone. Her eyes were wide and livid, and her mouth twisted as she snarled quietly.

"We wanted to ask you to come to the estate today. Just to talk." Akane Miyamoto continued after hearing no response from his daughter on the other end of the phone.

"I've told you this more than once. I hate you both so much I can barely stand to hear your voice, and I never want your disgusting presence anywhere near me ever again. Are you both really so fucking stupid as to not understand what I'm saying?" she retorted with venom in her voice and murder in her eyes.

"We just want to talk to you. You are our daughter." he repeated himself, and almost struggled with the last sentence, making Siren growl angrily and her grip tighten on Hisagi's hand so much his face contorted in pain, but he made no sound.

"Fine. I'll come. But you will only hear the same thing from me. If you don't understand even when I tell it to your faces, I'll just beat it into your heads."

With that, she hung up. It was a bad idea, but she decided to give them at least the benefit of the doubt, and she was seriously beating the concept of her hating them into their heads anyway, so either way it would probably be okay. Hisagi looked so concerned that her heart ached, but she decided to ask if she could take him along for moral support.

"Could you...come with me? I hate to admit it, but I'm pretty terrified." she tried to chuckle, but it turned into a sad huff and he hugged her and told her that he would be happy to be there for her, making her smile.

Roughly Two Hours Later

They arrived out the front of the estate and the gates opened momentarily. Siren drove her ute in, holding Hisagi's hand tightly the whole time. When they pulled up, she could see a butler that she remembered from all these years ago. He opened her door for her, and told her how glad he was that she was doing well. She smiled half-heartedly, and thanked him before he showed Siren and Hisagi inside, where her parents were waiting. There were three other people there as well, and they weren't the butlers or housekeepers. It was two people around the same age as her parents and one face she recognised.

Nioke Hayate.

What a cliffhanger? Aren't I cruel?
Nah, you love me still.
Don't worry, I hope to work on this as much as I can over the next few weeks and get it finished for you guys :D

Til next time!