Chapter Thirty-Six
The Problems Within Life
3rd POV
Sicily groaned as she opened her eyes, not daring to move a single muscle for it felt as if her whole body felt as if it was burning from the inside out. The slightest twitch of any muscle seemed to set out a sharp trickling of pain throughout her entire body, making the white haired girl very hesitant about moving. It also didn't help that she had a headache that seemed to be pounding against her skull for, not only lack of substantial sleep, but also due to the many hits it took the night before. All of this made Sicily wish she could just curl up, close her eyes, and never wake, and if she did wake, at least have her parent's smiling faces by her side.
Last night had been absolutely dreadful, for saying Amaya had been displeased with her deep, blue eyed niece was the understatement of the century. And despite everything, Sicily accepted it all, for a large part of her had been screaming inside her head that she deserved every bit of it. She deserved every yell, every hit, every small bit of pain the ripple throughout her form, and that she was all the things her dear aunt had called her. That Sicily was nothing more than a burden, such a big burden that even her own parents killed themselves so they could be rid of her, that she was a slut, and that she was worth nothing more than being a servant.
And now Sicily believed she was paying some of her dues by suffering through this tremendous amount of pain.
The idea of staying in her bed tasted so sweet, yet Sicily didn't want to make her aunt even angrier by staying home; in her mind at least, she would only be burdening the older woman even more, and Sicily believed it was time to finally start pushing herself to do her part.
Just get up, the white haired girl ordered herself sternly, ignoring the agony shooting through her limbs as she pushed herself up. It'll feel better once I get the first few movements out of the way, besides, I won't be learning my lesson if I just lay here all day, wallowing in my own self pity. Shifting herself out of bed, her body screaming in protest, Sicily forced herself to move to the bathroom, ignoring the marks of Amaya's rage shining in the bathroom mirror as she passed by.
Grabbing foundation, that the white haired girl found herself using more and more recently, she wiped the makeup over the dark yellow and purple blotches over her face, glad that there were only a few bruises to cover. Sicily then wiped a heavy amount of the makeup over the strangulation marks that wrapped around her throat, and for extra measure, wrapped a thick scarf around her neck as well. She then pulled on her school uniform, pulling on jet black stockings to hide the dark marks that dotted her legs, and pulled on a regular sweater to also hide the bruises and scratches on her arms from her aunts long nails.
Tilting her head from side to side, Sicily's blue orbs ran along her form in the mirror, making sure that every mark was covered up; every spot that showed proof of her Aunt Amaya's rage would be unseen, and therefore unknown, to any person who may glance her way. "There, that should do," she whispered to herself.
After successfully pushing the pain she felt into the back of her mind, Sicily pulled her suddenly heavy satchel on, the weight cutting into her shoulders. On her way out, the white haired girl grabbed the empty alcohol and beer bottles that littered the floor, while her aunt slept soundly on the couch. As well as throwing out the leftover buds from cigarettes off of the coffee table, cleaning out the filled up ash tray as she did so.
After most of the living room was cleaned, Sicily started to move towards the door to finally leave for school. However, the girl didn't even get a foot outside the door before something lying against the couch on the floor caught her crisp blue orbs. Hesitantly, as if she was approaching a crazed animal, Sicily stalked her way up to the couch that her aunt laid on, and once close enough, Sicily froze as ice shot up through her veins. Her eyes widened impossibly wide before she gulped down the bile rising up in her throat.
There, lying on the floor was a small baggie filled with some white powdery substance inside.
She knew what it was, without even having to inspect it closely.
Without another glance Sicily rushed out of the apartment, her heart racing within her chest. No, I didn't see anything. I cleaned up some and left straight to school, that's all, the survival part of her brain screeched at herself. Besides, I'm sure it's just all one big misunderstanding; it has to be.
Shaking her head, the white haired girl nearly sprinted out of the house, the door slamming shut behind her form as she tried to will the just part of her mind away (the part that yelled at her to tell somebody about what she had seen).
Sicily had always loathed drugs (the hardcore ones the more than anything), especially since at her last school drugs were very common (despite being a very small town), and you were only considered cool and in when you wasted your life away just for a moments pleasure. And so, naturally, Sicily's protective instincts were currently waging war on her morals; her instincts winning out.
It doesn't matter; I didn't see anything anyways, so why am I freaking out?
Shaking her head another time, like it made any difference, Sicily willed her thoughts away before she froze up completely, letting out a small, agonizing groan. She was now really regretting not taking some sort of pain medication before she had left, for running and heavily thinking only made her head and body ache even more so. She had a feeling today was going to be a long day.
"Sicily!" A cheerful voice called, causing Sicily to stop in her tracks. The girl turned around to find none other than Wataru running up towards her at full speed, with Yusuke on his heels, a blush spread across his older brother's cheeks as he sprinted after his eccentric younger brother.
"Hello Wataru," Sicily greeted back calmly, a small, fake smile curling at her lips.
Bracing herself, she felt the pinkette's body slam against her bruised legs, clinging onto them like a lifeline.
"Why did you leave?! You could've stayed and been my sistah' forever!" The young boy pouted, keeping a tight grip around her limbs to make sure she couldn't escape.
"I'm sorry Wataru; but I had to go home some time… I can still be your sister though; I just probably won't be around as much as your brothers are." She said back softly, running a soothing hand through his bubble gum colored tresses, her heart warming at his words.
"Wataru," Yusuke sighed, not exactly up for something like this so early in the morning. Instead he turned his attention onto his white haired friend next to him, trying to stifle down the blush he knew was there. "Good morning Sicily," he greeted confidently, trying to appear composed. Note that he was trying.
He remembered last night all too well. The way he held her in his arms felt so right, it was warm and platonic, but still spoke volumes to just how the close the two had gotten; he was closer to her than he had ever been with anyone else (even including his own family). The red head and white head had just somehow clicked instantly.
And at this moment all he wanted to do was hold her just like that again, to relive that warm feeling all over again; a feeling he had never even experienced before until she had popped into his life.
After she departed, Yusuke could barely sleep last night as he thought about his friend returning back to her home; the theory that Sicily didn't have a very lovely home life danced through his head, and throughout the entire night the boy worried about her. But now, seeing her without a single sign that she had been harmed put his worries to rest; for now at least.
"Morning Yusuke," she answered back, offering her one friend coaxing smile. Moving out of Wataru's hold, Sicily placed a hand on his shoulder in greeting, staring deeply into his ruby eyes.
"Sicily, will you visit again? Please!" Wataru pleaded, instantly breaking the two teenagers from the small moment that had formed.
"Of course Wataru."
"Do you promise," Wataru continued, still pouting at his sister figure for leaving in the middle of the night in the first place.
He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he felt a little hurt by her sudden disappearance. Even though he hadn't known her long, Wataru had already gotten attached to the beautiful girl, for unlike most of his brother's friends, she didn't make fun of him, or pretend to like him just to get rid of his presence. That and he had always wanted a sister figure considering he already had twelve brothers. And he wished that she would've at least told him that she was leaving.
"Yes, I promise," Sicily swore, a small laugh filling her tone as she tried to calming the suddenly ecstatic boy. All while doing this she never noticed the loving gaze and the small smile that curled at the red head's lips while he gazed at her, and expression never seen before on Yusuke's face.
"Um, ahem. You should be going to school now Wataru," Yusuke stated as strongly as he could.
"Fine." Wataru caved in, still pouting. "I'll you see later Sicily!"
The young, pink haired boy then bounded off, stopping multiple times to wave back at the two teenagers before running again. It was quite the sight, and Sicily could still feel a bit of amusement start to creep into her heart despite the pain that seemed to be controlling all her thoughts.
"So, you ready to head to school," Sicily turned to Yusuke, flashing him a small smile as she gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. Unknowingly causing the red head to blush heavily under her attention as well as her touch.
The red haired teen just nodded, unable to say anything at the moment as he followed his white haired friend.
3rd POV
"Hello Yusuke, welcome back home," Masaomi greeted his younger brother as the said boy walked into the living room, giving Yusuke his usual kind smile. "How was school?"
The eldest brother's greeting caused Ukyo to glance up from where he was in the kitchen, his brain going into observant, lawyer mode knowing that Yusuke most likely would've seen Sicily today.
And from the way Masaomi's eyes grew slightly hard, Ukyo knew that his brother was thinking the same thing as well.
"Hm, fine," the red head greeted back, his eyes glistening over with a faraway look as he remembered all that happened while he was at school. "I… saw Sicily today," he continued uncharacteristically softer than his usual loud and demanding voice.
"How was she," Ukyo asked, unable to stop the small frown tugging at his lips.
"Well, she seemed normal, but she was… off, I guess? I don't know, but something was different about her." Yusuke admitted with frustration; the odd way she had been acting all day had been bothering him all day. And from his tone, this different was definitely not a good one.
Silence filled the room, as the atmosphere grew heavy.
"Who died," Fuuto asked with a raised eyebrow as he broke the silence, his usual smirk playing on his lips. Yusuke glared in return, on the verge of exploding at his most disliked brother. "What is your problem? Did that friend of yours finally realize how much of an idiot you are?"
"Fuuto..." Masaomi trailed off disapprovingly, a frown curling at his lips. -
The second youngest merely shrugged, completely unaffected by his eldest disapproving look; he had long ago stopped caring about what people thought of him, even if those said people were his blood.
"Oi, what's it to ya?! All you care about is your own spoiled self so why does it matter what's going on when it doesn't concern you specifically?!" Yusuke exploded, glaring heatedly at the younger boy.
"Yusu-" Masaomi started to exclaim before he was interrupted.
"Geez, what's your problem? All I did was ask a question; what crawled up your butt and died?"
"My problem? My problem!? You're my problem Fuuto! You have no respect and you don't care about anyone but yourself! You little-"
"That's enough you two," Ukyo jumped in sternly, his voice hard as steel as he gave the two teenagers disappointed look; a look cold enough that it immediately stopped the duo from continuing. "That's not what's important right now. What's important is Sicily; now, Yusuke, could you please explain to Masaomi and I what exactly seemed different about Sicily today?"
"Well… she seemed very… skittish, in a way? Despite it being hot today, she wore this thick scarf and a sweater, and even though she was clearly too hot, whenever I mentioned she could take off the scarf and the sweater she got very tense and refused to take them off. It was like she was hiding something." Yusuke stated, his brow furrowing with blatant concern.
Masaomi and Ukyo glanced at one another, sharing a knowing glance. Their suspicion of Sicily experiencing abuse behind the closed doors of her home was only increasing even more.
"Yusuke, how about you invite Sicily over for dinner tomorrow? I'm sure our other brothers would enjoy seeing her." Masaomi offered, having plans of talking with Sicily more one on one to see if their suspicions were correct.
Yusuke nodded in agreement.
To be continued…
A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update, I had this chapter nearly done and then it just like disappeared! I don't know how but I guess it just didn't save despite the fact I press save every time I write a new word? So I had to restart it all over, and guess what? It happened again! Thankfully it was saved in my Microsoft word as recent works and well here you all go! I'm so sorry this would've been posted way earlier if it hadn't been for that. I made a new file for this story so hopefully it will actually start saving. Anyways I won't be answering reviews this time, sorry.
THANKS TO ALL FOR REVIEWIN/FOLLOWING/FAVORITING!
Want to keep up with the progress of each chapter? I will be posting on my bio when a chapter is in progress, about to be finished, and etc. so you guys will know what to expect.
Yusuke- 32 votes
Masaomi- 17 votes
Natsume- 14 votes
Kaname- 9 votes
Louis- 9 votes
Ukyo- 8 votes
Hikaru- 7 votes
Azusa- 6 votes
Subaru- 5 votes
Fuuto- 5 votes
Iori- 1 vote
Also there is still a possibility that I will have two brothers share Sicily, I'm really sorry about those want all of the brothers (besides Wataru obviously) to be with Sicily and share her; I just felt for her character she needs more stability and based on her personality, she would feel like she's using all of the brothers despite it being a mutual agreement.