A/N:

Okay… so maybe this chapter is more Rukawa than Sendoh… okay… actually, it's ALL Rukawa. But don't worry, you Sendoh fangirls! You'll be sure to see him again soon! Promise! :D After all, he is the star of this ficcie! ^_^

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He was only eight then, and she was nine. That was when he remembered the fights first started occuring. Father would yell at mother, mother yell at father, then comes the slapping, and hitting…

Breaking lamps…

Door slamming…

They thought the children had fallen asleep, but Kaede was still wide awake. The screams had awaken him and he had brought himself out of his room to see what was going on, being the curious child that he was at that time.

Stepping towards his parents' room, he cringed everytime he heard something break against the wall, or the door, or the floor. He was now in front of the slightly opened door, which created a small gap between the door itself at the doorframe in which he could see into the room. Nothing. No one. Just angry screams and yells.

"O… Otoo-san…" he called out timidly, but his voice was drowned beyond the racket.

And to his horror, suddenly his mother's figure can be seen from the door gap. She had fallen to the floor after taking a hard slap from his father.

He froze on the spot. The image of his picture perfect family that he always had in his mind shattered into pieces. And since that day on, it only got worse and worse. He turned from a bouncing, cheerful little boy into a sullen, quiet one. And the only thing that keeps him going and put a smile on his face is the constant love and care of his brave elder sister. Although only a year older than him, she knew the importance of protecting her brother's happiness, and so she would keep him happy, shower him with care, hold him in those dark, lonely nights.

She was his fortress.

And he was her reason to stay strong.

Until one morning, he woke up in an empty room. The bed where his sister had always slept soundly in was empty, and it was already made. And all her stuff were gone.

"Onee-san…?"

His mother had made up her mind to leave the house and the family in the middle of the night, and has taken her daughter with her.

They never really knew what is it exactly that happened between both their parents. But that part of their childhood created a very strong impact into both their characters. And Rukawa vowed that he will never again rely on anyone as he did to his sister for fear of the similar abandonment that he went through as a child.

So they grew up in separate ways, in separate places. With only about once at the most of each year is when they get to see one another, and most of those times it was in a very short span of time. But her visits decreased in its frequency, and the last time she came to Kanagawa to see him was three years ago. And so he stopped acknowledging her as 'onee-san' and she became simply 'Sumire.'

Rukawa never came to visit his mother. Ever since that night she left, he had hated her with a passion for abandoning him.

And for taking his sister away from him.

Thus, Rukawa Kaede became a cold person with a lot of bitterness welled up inside of him. A person who does not express his feelings all too well unless it's something in the area of hostility. But even so, deep down inside he knew that he will always love his only sister.

* * *

"Kaede…" Sumire's voice called out softly, shaking his shoulders gently.

His eyelids slowly fluttered open as he stirred awake from his sleep, and he found himself looking right into Sumire's eyes. "Onee-san?" he asked softly, rubbing his eyes.

Sumire looked surprised for a moment there. She hasn't heard him call her that in years.

Suddenly aware of what he just said, his face changed, and he looked away from her eyes. "Nanda?"

"You didn't look like you were having such a pleasant dream…" she said again as she brushed a strand of his raven hair away from his sweat-dripping forehead.

He had been dreaming about Sumire, and the times he spent in loneliness and solitary after she left him. And so he turned his face away from her hands and got up on his feet. There was nothing but silence for a moment in that room, until a soft creak was heard as Rukawa pulled open his closet and pulled out a clean T-shirt.

"So…" he started to speak as he pulled off his sweat-soaked T-shirt over his head. "Had fun with Sendoh?" he snapped sarcastically.

She looked up at his sudden question in surprise. Then she burst out into laughter. "Really, Kaede… you must be joking!" she exclaimed in amusement.

But Rukawa didn't seem to find it at all funny. He just stood there, staring down at his sister without blinking even once.

"Kaede, you're being ridiculous." She said again. "I have absolutely no interest in him."

"Really."

Sumire just sighed as she shook her head in ridicule. He hasn't changed at all. Still the same, stubborn Kaede.

"You shouldn't have come here." He suddenly said, startling Sumire. She looked up, and she saw his fists clenching at his sides. "After all these years… you came just to leave again! And this time…"

… to somewhere I can't reach…

"Kaede, I don't have a choice…"

"You don't have to do it you know. Why should you sacrifice your life for her?"

Sumire stood up at his remark and glared at her taller, younger brother. "Don't speak of her like that! She's our mother!"

Rukawa's eyes remained cold and unaffected by her words. He paused before he finally said his words, "I don't have a mother."

And promptly, a stinging slap came across his right cheek from Sumire's hand. "She wouldn't have decided to leave if you hadn't turned her away like you did!" she exclaimed angrily, and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

And Rukawa was left alone in the echoes of her angry words.

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(to be continued…)