Disclaimer: I don't own Yuugiou! Don't friggin sue me! lol
Rating: R. Violence. Language. Probably sex.
Summary: Rayne snaps a bit under the pressure that is her being alive, and Mai takes her to visit her aunt and uncle.
Author's Notes: points up Summary changes with every chapter.
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Rayne tiptoed down the hallway and poked her head into her parents' open bedroom door, peering quietly over at the bed to make sure her mother was the only one in it before making her way slowly into the room. Clambering up onto the foot of the bed, Rayne crawled over to curl up beside her mother and waited patiently for her to wake up.
While waiting, Rayne quietly mulled over what her father had shouted at her last night upon discovering that she had been awake the whole time, and had heard all of the fighting. She frowned, and started to rather unconciously chew on her lower lip. Normally the things her father said to her didn't really affect her much, but when he had told her to go to sleep and never wake up.. Something about that held this weird significence that she couldn't quite grasp. Shaking her head a bit, she sighed, and decided to just let it go for now. Besides, her mum was stirring beside her, and mumbling something quietly - Rayne knew that as a sign that she was waking up.
"Mama..." started Rayne - quietly, "did papa go to work already?" as Mai turned oonto her back and opened her eyes, Rayne flashed her a bit of a shaky smile, supressing a giggle at how terribly confused and obviously not completely awake her mother looked.
Mai took a few moments to let her eyes fully focus, and another few to try and wake up a bit more before responding: "No, not yet.. maybe you should go and wait downstairs, or in your room, until he does.." she urged, moving to sit up. She flinched, grimacing, and just let herself fall back down.
"Mama? You're hurt; what did he do..?"
"Go downstairs, Rayne.." her voice was soft, but she seemed worried about.. something.
Rayne shook her head, and bit her lip, "Tell me what he did, mama.. What happened?" shaking her head, Rayne corrected that last bit, "What did I do?"
".. You didn't do anything, honey; he's just .. not in a good mood, okay?"
".. When is he ever in a good mood?" mumbled Rayne. But she gave her mother another slight smile and sat up. Moving over to the edge of the bed and sliding off of it. As soon as she hit the floor, though, the bathroom door across from her opened. Her father stood in the doorway, fully dressed and ready for the day. He took a step forward, opening his mouth to say something to Mai, but stopped when he noticed Rayne was in the room. Stopped and scowled.
".. What the fuck are you doing in here?"
"I was just.. saying.. good morning.. to mama.."
"Bullshit.. you probably woke her up, too, you stupid fuck.. Christ," snarled Seto. Narrowing his eyes dangerously as he glared at his daughter.
Rayne didn't say anything, and when she tried to move for the door, her body wouldn't let her. It was like she was glued to the spot.. Why did that always have to happen when her father was angry or annoyed with her?
"And what did I tell you last night, about not wanting you to ever wake up.." shaking his head, Seto took only two steps forward before he was standing directly infront of and glaring down at Rayne.
Too tall.. Rayne thought to herself. Wincing as her father grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and lifted her off of the ground slightly.
"Seto.." Mai suddenly cut in. Trying to sit up again and frowning.
".. What?"
Mai didn't answer. She honestly didn't know what.. Well, she did want Seto to stop, obviously. But there wasn't anything she could do about it, either. So she just went silent again.
".. Thought so," Seto growled. Mumbling something that even Rayne couldn't catch, let alone make much sense of.. He lifted his daughter into the air and, for once, didn't do anything too bad. He merely threw the little girl in the general direction of the nearest wall and proceeded to fix his jacket somewhat; not looking even when he heard the somewhat sickening sound of a frail body making contact with a hard surface. He shrugged, and turned his attention to Mai, ".. going to work-- don't expect me back until it's late."
His wife stayed silent.
Seto left the room, stopping briefly at the doorway to glance back over his shoulder, "And tell the bitch to have a nap or something.. maybe she'll actually listen for once and stay asleep," with a disturbed smirk, he went out into the hallway and was soon out of sight. Rayne and Mai stayed completely silent; not even moving until they heard the distant sound of Seto descending the stairs, and the all-too loud, somewhat echoed slamming of a door.
Good, he's gone.. Rayne started to pull herself to her feet, using the wall to help keep balance. She had hit both the floor and wall at a weird angle, and had a feeling that her wrist might be broken.. but that wasn't an issue, and wouldn't be until whenever she would decide to write or draw something. For what was definately not the first time in her life, Rayne cursed herself for being left-handed - she was the only one in her family that was. I should learn to use my right hand, too.. but he'll probably find out.. and try to break both wrists next time..
"Rayne? Rayne, honey.. come here. Are you okay?" her mother's voice snapped Rayne back to reality, and she blinked a few times, looking over to where her mother was; now sitting up, and looking like it was too much of a strain.
"Mama.. What did he do?" queried Rayne, not even bothering to answer what she had been asked. Moving over to the side of the bed, Rayne pulled herself up with one hand and sat cross-legged beside - and facing - Mai.
"Nothing.. he didn't do anything. Look," Mai hastily changed the subject, starting to look a bit worried again, "do you want to go visit--"
"Theia and Theios!"
"--Victoria and Ryou..," Mai grinned, and shook her head slightly; she had never understood why Rayne always insisted on using Greek words and phrases half of the time, and then something completely different the next-- her other main preferences being Egyptian or Italian. "right. I'll take that as a yes, then!"
"Can we go now?"
"Sure.. sure.. just let me shower and get ready, okay..?"
Rayne nodded, smiling all-too sweetly, "Of course!"
Smiling back, Mai slowly got off of the bed, wincing visibly and seeming to test out putting weight on her right foot. Once she seemed sure about.. something or other, Mai made her way across and into the bathroom. Limping, and obviously trying to hide it. Rayne's smile faded as she watched her mother go, biting her lip and deciding to stay quiet about the blood that she could seeping through the back of her mother's shirt.
---
A half an hour later, Rayne was sitting on the counter in her parents' bathroom, swinging her legs from side to side and humming something quietly as she watched her mother brush her hair. Mai was already dressed, and in an amazingly baggy pair of pants and a hoodie-- both black. It would have surprised Rayne... maybe two or three years ago, to see her mother wearing so much.. But now it seemed just way too normal. And the reason behind it all was far too understandable. The more Seto hurt Mai the night before.. the more she would put on in the morning. Simple as that.
"Mama?"
"Hmm?" Mai half-replied, yawning a bit as she did so.
Rayne giggled slightly, smiling as she quite seriously asked, "Why isn't my hair as pretty as yours?"
Her mother raised an eyebrow, and blinked a few times while she did so; looking somewhat confused. "What d'you mean, exactly?"
"Well.. yours is all soft, and long.. and blonde.. and way curlier than mine," started Rayne, making a bit of a dissapointed face as she did so, "mine is too straight.. and it's really.. dark. I don't like having dark hair!"
Mai put her brush down beside Rayne and raised her eyebrow again, "Why don't you like dark hair?"
"It reminds me of papa," simply stated Rayne, with a frown.
This time both of Mai's eyebrows rose, and she started blinking again. "Your father's hair isn't really that dark, Rayne.."
"No," she shook her head, still frowning, "it doesn't remind me of his hair.."
"Then what?"
"Well, my hair reminds me of papa because it's black. Like his soul."
Mai sighed, and shook her her head slowly from side to side, "You shouldn't say that.."
"Why not? It's true!" the little girl shot back quickly, practically shouting. Rayne stopped swinging her legs back and forth, and just scowled. It reminded Mai of Seto, and the fact that Rayne had her father's eyes didn't make it any better.
"You just.. shouldn't say that about him, Rayne. It isn't true.."
"It is too.. He has a black soul and a cold heart and that's why he's so mean to us!"
"No. No, you just don't understand what's going on.."
"I do too understand!" Rayne was shouting by now, and her little hands were clenched into tight fists-- knuckles going white. "He hates us, mama! And that's why he yells and abuses us and that's why he rapes you, too!"
"Goddamnit, Rayne! For somebody so smart you can be so immature sometimes!" exclaimed Mai, one of her own hands clenched into a fist now, too. Ignoring the hurt look on her daughter's face, she didn't even bother to lower her voice as she made herself continue, "That's not at all what's wrong with your father; he just has issues, and that's why he's as.. mean.. as he can be, okay? Lots of bad things happened to your daddy when he was young, and he still hasn't found the time to deal with any of it.."
Instantly forgetting that her mother had yelled at her, Rayne tried to take this as an advantage and get some information out of her mother: "What kind of things happened to papa?"
"His father was-- wait! Why do you want to know?"
"I don't know anything about papa's past.."
"That's only because he doesn't want you to.." Mai bit her lip, "and I don't think you should know either.. Not right now, at least. There are some things you're just too young for, okay?"
Rayne started to frown again, and just sighed. Shrugging her small shoulders in defeat, and just mumbling an 'okay' before going completely silent. Mai also went quiet, and returned to brushing her hair.
They stayed like that for at least ten minutes, and Mai seemed too deep in thought to realize that she had been brushing the exact same part of her hair over and over for at no less than eight of those minutes. Biting down on her lip softly, she glanced sideways at Rayne.
"You shouldn't be so down about your hair; I think it's gorgeous.. Besides, you're just a kid and it's practically longer than mine!"
Yeah, that did it. Rayne grinned a bit, and looked back to her mother. "Yeah?"
Mai nodded, forcing what she hoped would pass for a happy smile. "Yeah."
---
".. Why did you get ready so quickly this morning, mama?" asked Rayne as the two made they got out of the car.
"No reason.. you just, um.. seemed to really want to visit your auntie," lied Mai, managing to keep a straight, honest-looking face as she did so. She hated having to lie to Rayne, but she knew that it would be a bit uncomfortable explaining that almost every single part of every single room in the mansion reminded her of all the painful things that Seto would do to her, and that she would often remain curled up on a couch or a bed somewheres while Rayne would be off reading, drawing, or anything that she didn't seem to like having her mother around for. It was always a relief to get outside and go someplace, and, after what had happened last night, Mai wanted to be out of the place as soon as possible.
Rayne eyed her mother quietly for a moment or so, before just nodding and grinning at her, "Alright!" and then, without warning, she had spun around and was racing across the lawn leading up to her aunt and uncle's house.
Breathing a silent sigh of relief, Mai closed the door on the driver's side of the car before walking around to close the passenger door as well, smiling slightly-- Rayne always forgot to shut the car door.
---
Mama was lying again.. and Rayne definately didn't like it. But, shrugging it off completely, she just grinned and ran up to her auntie's house; not wanting to deal with figuring out what was going on in her mother's mind this time. Rayne purposefully kept running until she ran into the door itself - her alternative for knocking - and fell over, landing somewhat roughly on her backside. She started to giggle quietly when the door opened.
"Hel-- Rayne!" her cousin, Blade, had answered the door, wand was now blinking down at Rayne as if he hadn't seen her in a very long time - which he hadn't.
Now, Blade was younger than Rayne by a month or so, but he didn't at all look it. Blade was taller for his age, and his short, dirty blonde hair greatly resembled his fathers, just kept much, much shorter; he had his mother's green eyes. Blade didn't even look related to Rayne, who was almost a foot shorter than he, had pale white skin, and an extremely scrawny build-- almost looking malnourished. Her pitch-black hair fell well past her waist, and the way it liked to hang infront of her face made her seem even more pale, and dreadfully ill looking. Her eyes - perfect replicas of her father's - fit the look perfectly, and made her seem very distant. Blade looked like both of his parents, while Rayne soley resembled only one.
"You're here for once!" exclaimed Blade, happily. He reached out to help Rayne up to her feet, and blinked when his cousin rather awkwardly took his hand in her right to pull herself up. "Something happen to your hand..?" queried Blade, while raising an eyebrow as Rayne pulled her left hand into her sleeve.
"No!" was her quick reply.
Blade frowned, but nodded, "... alright, come on in, then!"
The two waited a few minutes for Mai, who had just been standing by the car, staring up at the house with a look in her eyes that was too difficult to place from their distance. When Mai finally shook herself out of whatever thoughts she might have been having, she hurried up the lawn to join both children. Giving both of them an obviously forced smile, the trio made their way inside the house and into the livingroom.
Looking around, Rayne grinned when she spotted Ryou sleeping on the couch. She giggled silently and ran over to pounce on her uncle, for a moment forgetting that her wrist had been freshly broken. Unfortunately, her left hand was the one that she used to slow most of her descent.
"Ow! OW!" losing balance, Rayne rolled off of her uncle and onto the floor, hitting the coffee table on the way down and landing on her wrist yet again. She stayed still and silent for a moment, before starting to cry. Mai and Blade both rushed over, while Ryou somehow managed to stay asleep through it all.
"What happened to her hand, auntie Mai?" asked Blade as he helped his cousin sit up properly, and tried to get her to calm down and stop crying.
Mai just stood there kind of awkwardly, biting her lip with a frown, "She.. had a bit of a nasty fall early." this response was obviously not one that Blade was about to let himself believe, and as he opened his mouth to reply, a new voice started in on the conversation.
"What did my dumbass of a brother do to you two this time, Mai?" Victoria stood in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed beneath her breasts; her long, brown hair - which pretty much fell to her feet - pulled into a low ponytail; she was frowning.
Biting her lip, Mai looked over to her sister in-law; unconciously reaching behind herself to put a hand against her lower back, and speaking quietly, "Nothing.. he didn't do anything. Why would you think he did?"
"When doesn't he do something to either of you?"
"....."
"Exactly! Now, why're you holding your back?"
Mai quickly dropped her hand to her side, applying more pressure to her lip, "I'm not holding my back.."
Shaking her head, Victoria made her way across the livingroom and moved around to stand behind Mai, grabbing her by the shoulder before she had the chance to turn her back away. "You're wearing too much clothing for him to have not done something."
Rayne had stopped crying, and now she and Blade watched quietly as Victoria grabbed the hem of Mai's hoodie and pulled it up enough to reveal some of her back. Rayne thought she saw her auntie's eyes go wide before dropping the hoodie back down too fast for the kids to see what was wrong with Mai's back. Rayne frowned at this, and started to get up; Blade stayed on the floor.
"Mama.." Rayne walked over to stand beside Victoria, and took hold of the back of Mai's hoodie, "let me see.." she started to pull up a bit, and what happened next happened fast.
"It's nothing!" Victoria and Mai said together; Victoria grabbing Rayne's hand, and Mai jumping forward to get out of her grasp. To all of this, Rayne began to frown again.
"If it was nothing then you would let me see it!!" she yelled loud enough so that Ryou actually woke up this time; sitting up and looking confused.
Victoria gave her now awake husband a quick glance, before returning her attention to Rayne and lowering her voice softly, "Okay.. okay. It is something, Rayne. But it's not something that you should see."
"It can't possibly be that bad! It's not like he leaves anything other than bruises," said Rayne, starting to get even more annoyed.
"If it can't be that bad, then it shouldn't be such a big deal," Victoria countered.
Growling quietly, Rayne went as if to lunge toward her mother - wanting to try and get a look at her back, again - but stopped herself when there was a knock at the front door. Everybody fell silent and turned to look.
There was a knock again, and another; and then even another. It was like a beat.
"I'll get that," Blade offered, getting to his feet and moving across the livingroom. Whoever was outside was still hitting the door, and he could hear a voice desperately trying to imitate an electric guitar. It sounded disturbingly like that song, uhm.. The Beautiful People. Blinking a few times, Blade opened the door, only to get hit in the face with what seemed to be a drumstick. He flinched, and brought a hand up to his eye. "Sara... your mother told you to stop listening to Marilyn Manson.."
The girl standing in the doorway blinked a few times, before grinning, and completely avoiding Blade's little remark, "I, um, saw Rayne and her mum show up!" she shoved the drumsticks into one of her back pockets, and rather rudely shoved past Blade and into the livingroom.
Sara was one of their neighbours, and was half a year older than Rayne; she was about as tall as her, too. Her short, blonde hair fell down just past her chin, and her pale, gray eyes were amazingly expressive.
"Uh, what's going on?" questioned Sara, looking a bit confused at all of the angry, silent faces, "did I walk in on a fight, or something..?"
Rayne shook her head, still frowning a bit, "No, you didn't." She glanced back at Victoria, and then over to Mai, only to find that her mother was gone.
"Victoria?" it was the first thing Ryou had bothered saying since waking up, and he still looked very confused, "what's going on?"
"I'll explain in a minute..," she turned her attention to the children, "Blade, could you please find something for Rayne's wrist? Rayne, go with him," she gave Sara a skeptical look, "err, you go with them, too." Victoria smiled slightly, but faltered when she saw the look on Rayne's face; quickly adding, "Mai is upstairs."
"Alright, mommy." Blade looked over at Rayne, who was about to say something, but grabbed her by her good hand and dragged her upstairs before she could. Sara skipped on after them. Upon arriving upstairs, Blade went into the bathroom to retrieve a pressure band for Rayne while the other two waited; Sara had her drumsticks out, and was tapping them against her knee, bobbing her head up and down, and humming something; Rayne was staring quietly at the door at the end of the hallway. Blade soon returned, and handed Rayne the pressure band so she could wrap her wrist up with it properly.
"I say we go play outside," said Sara, while still drumming something on her knees. She
looked up at Blade and Rayne, waiting for an answer.
"Sounds like a plan! Whaddaya say, Rayne?" when Blade got no reply from his cousin, he frowned, and waved a hand infront of Rayne's face, "Uh, Rayne?"
"Hm?"
"Do you want to go outside, or not? I mean.. we could always find something to do in here, too."
"No, that's okay.. I wanna check on mama, you two can go outside."
Sara just nodded, and bolted downstairs, tripping and falling the rest of the way when she stumbled on the fifth stair. Blade just eyed Rayne for a moment, before nodding and hurrying off to see if Sara was okay.
Now alone, Rayne just walked down the hallway and placed her hand on the door she had been watching. Frowning, she grabbed the handle, opened the door, and entered the guest room.
Mai was laying on the bed, stretched out on her stomach; she seemed to be sleeping. Rayne made her way over to the bed slowly, and climbed onto it. Moving over to kneel beside her mother, she made sure that Mai actually was sleeping before pulling up a bit on the black hoodie she wore - pausing every now and then to make sure that she didn't wake up while Rayne was doing so. Once the hoodie was up enough for Rayne to see what all of the fuss was about in the first place, her eyes widened in a way similiar to how Victoria's had. Biting her lip, and shaking her head a bit.
Clearly visible on Mai's lower back, and written in what was unmistakably Seto's handwriting, the word 'liar' was carved in, and deep enough to still be bleeding.
"Oh, mama.." whispered Rayne. Laying down to curl up beside her mother, "he's never cut you before.."