Strangled in Darkness - A Rockman.EXE story
A production by Tiger Dauthi
Chapter 2 - Bloodlines
Blah. Chapter 2. What else can I say?

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My name is Netto. Hikari Netto, second place winner of the N1 Grand Prix. Netbattler with the powerful Navi Rockman. A savior of the world.

Witness to the worst fight my parents have had in my entire life.

My face is peeking out of the doorway to my room at this moment, afraid to make more noise or advance much further than that, for fear of directing my parents' wrath on me. My PET is resting in my hand, staring out and down the stairs as well.

The center of our attentions are in the dining room, yelling at each other. Hikari Yuuichiro and Haruka, my father and mother.

My dad's bellowing at my mom right now.
"Yeah, and you feel you can just waltz off-"

"What about you?!" My mom shrieks, "When was the last time you'd been in this house?! What about me? You just decide to go on your stupid trips that extend forever!! I can't recall you living here for more than a week ever since Netto was in first grade!!"

"That doesn't give you the right to go and have an affair-"

"I don't hear a single thing from you about anything on your trips, and you expect me to just place blind faith in you staying celibal?!"

"Yes!!! You're my wife, I thought you'd have more trust in me then that!"

Her eyes flare. "You're asking me to have trust in you when you don't tell me anything about your journeys?!"

"I..."

"Have you even thought about what impact this would have on Netto?"

"I..."

My mom reaches up to stroke his cheek, but gets pushed violently back by my dad. "DON'T TOUCH ME!!!"

He's heaving and his breath is drawn out, like someone who's been forced to use a lot of physical energy for something. With bitterness, he asks, "Have you thought about what impact your affair would have on Netto?"

"...Yes... it will... earn him a good father..."

"And I haven't been a good one?" His voice is rising again, ready to explode into that terrifying anger.

"It's just... that you¡¯re never there..."

He walks dangerously close to her and makes as if to clutch her by the throat, then stops and just sits on the couch. An angry mumble just barely reaches my ears.
"Hikawa-san... that bastard..."

"You have no right to disrespect him like that!"

"You have no right to tell me what to do anymore."

Silence. Then in a sudden rage, he springs from the couch, and reaches in her direction. She screams and ducks, only to find that he was not aiming for her, but for the picture frame housing our family. Angrily he flings it in the direction of the stairway. It smashes against the railing, shards of glass flying everywhere. One flies dangerously close to me, even shaving off a few of my flyaway strands of hair as it lodges into the door. Startled, I scramble back. My dad's voice resonates in a low and tense voice.

"I'll be waiting at the SciLab when you want me to sign the divorce papers."

The door is slammed with such ferocity that I can hear it bounce back open again, hinges creaking unhappily.

My mother is sobbing softly.

I glance at the picture that slid out of the frame. It's landed on the bottommost step, shredded by a piece of glass. The largest tear completely obscures my dad's face. The picture's been destroyed.

Just like our family.

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^^; I'm really sorry about this stuff. I know it's very repelling. Oh well. BTW, would anybody like to be a beta reader for me? It helps when I have one. The problem is, none of my friends know about Rockman.EXE because they only know about Megaman and they don't like the NT Warrior show. I recruited more fangirls for Enzan though!! ^_^

If you wanna be a beta reader, e-mail pikanine@hotmail.com.