Author's note: This fic is AU, with Kirsty and Kane meeting as kids and being in the same class. I realise that they are not the same ages, but in this fic they are in the same class.
This fic is also quite a bit... darker, than the other fics that I've read. And it's a one-shot.
Hope you enjoy...

Red Mistletoe

The class began to take their seats again, whispering and giggling excitedly, all eagerly awaiting the Christmas quiz that they were about to have. The prize was a much sought after glittering glass star, and each one of them wanted to win it. The atmosphere was certainly festive.

Amongst all the excitement, Kane Phillips glanced around the room nervously, looking for a place to sit. He didn't have many friends, a lot of kids were even quite scared of him, and there was little he could do to convince them otherwise if they wouldn't even talk to him. He noticed several children turn away and spit words about him to their friends, who all turned their backs too. All except Kirsty Sutherland.

Kirsty had been the only friend Kane had really had at school, the only friend he'd really ever had. She shuffled up to allow Kane to share her seat, ignoring the mutterings of her other friends. Kane sprung into the free space, not wanting to be singled out for a moment longer. Kirsty giggled as he narrowly avoided actually sitting on her and called him a klutz, something she'd picked up from her dad.

As the teacher stood at the front of her class and explained the rules, the children were unusually silent, all wanting to be the first to get a question right. "What is Father Christmas' favourite food?" Every hand shot into the air. The teacher pointed to a small boy near the front. "Mince pies" he stated confidently. "Well done Justin," the teacher congratulated him, putting a small star next to his name, "the first star goes to you."

As the class neared the end of their questions, most children had a good long line of stars; Kirsty was doing particularly well, and was in joint lead. The next question could decide the winner.

Kane only had two stars, he put his hand up for almost every question, but the teacher seemed to look past him, and then when he did actually get a question right all the other kids groaned.

"Okay," started the teacher, "are you ready for this one, its not too difficult, are you ready?" the class nodded simultaneously, "What colour is mistletoe?"

Kane's hand shot into the air, surely this time she would pick him, he knew the answer. To his surprise she did, "Go on then Kane." He took a deep breath and gave his answer…

"Red."

The class erupted with laughter. Kane looked down at the table, his face felt like it was on fire and he had to really try not to cry. It was a feeling he was used to, but that didn't make it any easier.

When she finally managed to calm her class, the teacher informed Kane that he was wrong and asked Kirsty instead. "Green, miss." She looked at the very embarrassed Kane and took hold of his hand in hers. "Well done Kirsty," the teacher placed the final little star on Kirsty's row, "Looks like you're our winner." She held out the glass star for Kirsty to collect, as the rest of the class clapped and cheered, slightly upset that they didn't win but happy for their friend. Kirsty had to let go of Kane's hand to get her prize, leaving him alone again, another feeling he was used to.

When she got back to her seat, and the rest of the children had been dismissed for playtime, Kirsty turned to Kane. "It doesn't matter," she said, wanting to comfort him. "It does," he replied sadly, "everyone already hates me, now they'll laugh at me too."

Kirsty tried to tell him that everyone would forget about it in a few days, but he wasn't convinced, so instead she held out the glass star to him, catching the light with it and splashing some brightness onto his otherwise dull face. He looked at her unsurely, "What?"

"It's a present," she stated, smiling at him, "For you." Kane smiled slightly, and as she pushed it into his hand, his smile widened.

"Thanks Kirst."

Kane wrapped one of the last pieces of tinsel around the bottom of his Christmas tree, his face glowing with happiness. After a bad start to the day with the quiz, he had been delighted to get home to find his mum and his big brother Scott pulling the Christmas decorations out of the attic and a huge green tree sat in the living room. Last year, they hadn't had any decorations, and the year before that they'd only had a little tree, which didn't last long… for various reasons. Kane had noticed the presents too, under the tree, actually wrapped. There weren't any of them last year either… for various reasons.

His brother and his mum had been to the garden centre to get the tree that morning, it was expensive, but when Mrs Phillips saw the look on her youngest sons face as he walked in, she knew it was worth every penny.

Scott was feeling unusually helpful that day, probably because his mum had given him the day off school, as long as he'd promised not to be nasty to his brother, who was happier than he'd been for a long time.

Kane had showed them both his star, and they'd promised him that it could go on top of the tree and that he could put it there. He was in the middle of telling them about his day, when Scott chucked him the glass star, not very carefully. Kane managed to catch it and stopped his story as his brother lifted him up from behind and he placed his star on the very top branch of the tree. His mum clapped, close to tears at the sight of her family actually getting on, and looking like a real family. Something, which if she was honest with herself, it was a long way from.

"Where did you get that star from honey?" she asked, thoughts of him getting into trouble immediately shattering her illusions of a perfect family. Kane had not reached that point in his story, and was slightly annoyed that his mum would jump to the conclusion that he'd done something he shouldn't have.

"Kirsty gave it to me," he said, ignoring the kissing noises that Scott was making behind him. His mum smiled again, happy.

"In the quiz I told you about," he explained cheerfully, "one of the questions was what colour is mistletoe. I thought I knew it, but it turns out I didn't. I said it was red…"

He stopped mid sentence as he heard loud footsteps invade the room. He turned around and saw his dad, swaying a little and with a bottle in his hand. It was swiftly thrown against the wall, smashing and making his family wince. "…and everyone laughed," finished Kane in a barely audible voice.

His dad started to laugh, it scared them all. Scott copied his father and shoved Kane back into the wall before leaving the room and the house, desperately trying to avoid yet another beating. Kane tried to do the same, but found himself unable to move; all he could do was stand and shake. His mum had turned deathly white, also frozen by fear. She knew her husband, and she knew what he did when he was drunk, and she knew that at that moment, he was very drunk.

"Red!" his dad spat, "you thought it was red! How stupid are you?!" he stumbled towards Kane slightly, who backed away into the tree as much as he could, terrified of his father. "You've embarrassed me son," he continued, slurring his words a little and hiccupping, "people are gunna think I'm stupid now. And I don't want people thinking I'm thick Kane, 'cause I'm not, am I!" Kane shook his head nervously.

His dad continued, getting closer and closer with each word. "I think you'll have to be punished, don't you?!" Kane nodded, bracing himself for the impact…

When it didn't come, he became even more scared. At least with a beating, he knew where he stood and could try to defend himself, but now that he had no idea what his dad was going to do, he was totally unarmed.

His dad walked past him, brushing against his shoulder. It felt like pins to Kane's skin. His dad picked up one of the presents from under the tree. No, Kane thought, just hit me, please.

"Naughty boys don't deserve presents Kane," his dad started, tossing a small blue box up and down in his hands. He began to open the present, ripping the paper off it viciously. "A remote controlled car." Kane looked at the toy longingly, knowing he wouldn't ever get to play with it now.

Kane flinched as the car was smashed against the wall, crumbling on the floor.

The process was repeated with the next present, and every one after that, smashed into the wall or aimed at his wife or child's head, increasing their terror with every crash. Kane had a small cut above his hairline, he knew because of the line of blood making its way down his face.

His mum was crying, silently so as not to anger her husband even more. Kane was desperately trying to keep his tears in. But could no longer do this as his dad put one bruised hand around the tree and brought it crashing to the floor, shattering his glass star with a low piercing sound. Kane let out a small cry, his dad heard it.

He turned to his son, his face red with rage, and pulled a sprig of mistletoe out of his pocket. He showed it to Kane before pressing his face up against his sons. Kane could feel his father's breath burning his face, the smell of alcohol strong. His dad leant over him further, Kane so badly wanted to step back, but his body was paralysed by fear, trapped like a rabbit in headlights, headlights that he was powerless to stop.

His dad thrust the mistletoe into his face, catching his nose with his knuckle. "See, green! GREEN! YOU FUCKING LITTLE IDIOT!" his dad spat onto his face as he screamed at him.

"Now red…" he hadn't finished, not by a long way, "…this is red." Kane watched as his dad picked up a piece of broken glass star from the floor and grabbed his arm firmly. Kane tried to pull away but the grip was too strong.

Drunkenly, he sliced into Kane's skin with the glass. Kane inhaled sharply, he knew showing any sign of pain would only make it worse. All he could do was watch as the red blood dripped down his arm.

"See. Red."

His dad spat into his face again, as he moved his son's arm over the piece of mistletoe, staining it blotchy crimson.

"Now its red."

He let go of Kane, who backed away towards his mum, hugging his arm tightly to himself.

His mum had been silent the whole time, but Kane didn't think anything of this; they had all learnt a long time ago that it was no use trying to help each other; it would only make their own punishment worse.

Kane started to shake again as his dad approached his mum and grabbed her by the wrists aggressively. He threw her to the floor and held her there, his body on top of hers. His fingers were tight around her, too tight, but she no longer had the strength to fight him off, so just lay there and cried.

He held the piece of bloody mistletoe over his wife's head and turned her head to look at him.

She felt her husband's drunken breath on her neck as he reached down and kissed her roughly, she didn't respond, she couldn't respond.

Kane stood watching, again too scared to move, until his dad screamed at him to get into the kitchen. His dad made to get up and Kane suddenly found the use of his legs, sprinted into the kitchen, and shut the door behind him.

He hid under the kitchen table, curled up into a ball. Tears rolled down his face as he tried to block out his mothers muffled sobs and screams and the rhythmic grunting sounds of his father.

Kirsty's eyes sparkled as she wandered over to one of her classmates, clutching the piece of mistletoe in her hand tightly. Her sister had given it to her to take to school after their parents had demonstrated what to do with it the night before - something which Kirsty had to try really hard not to throw up her dinner whilst watching, but at least now she knew what it was for.

She shouted to one of the boys in her class and sat on the edge of a table, her shorts twisting slightly – she wasn't a dress kind of girl.

Kane walked into the classroom, late, tired, and his arm still sore from the events of last night. He saw Kirsty with the mistletoe, and the brown haired boy walking towards her. He closed his eyes as the memories that he had tried so hard to forget emerged, and he saw his dad on top of his mum again. Time blurred into one, and in his mind he became convinced that the boy was going to do the same to Kirsty. He couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.

Before the poor brown haired boy even had the chance to say 'hello' to Kirsty, Kane had dived on him and wrestled him to the floor.

"Kane NO! What are you doing?! Get off him!" Kirsty pulled at the back of Kane's shirt, but was unable to move him.

Kane let go of the boy as the teacher walked into the room, and the boy ran away to his other friends. Kane knew he was too scared of him to tell a teacher, they all were.

Kirsty looked at her friend in shock. "I thought he was gunna hurt you," Kane explained, hoping his only friend wouldn't hate him for what he now realised was a mistake.

"But why…? Why would you think that?"

Kane looked down and took his seat quickly, not giving Kirsty an answer.

A few hours later, the children were drawing Christmas pictures, and everyone (except for the traumatised brown haired boy) had forgotten about the earlier incident with the mistletoe. Kane and Kirsty were back on normal speaking terms.

Kane glanced over at Kirsty's picture – a big green Christmas tree with a glittery gold star on top and two people stood next to it, kissing under red mistletoe. Kane knew Kirsty had no idea that her picture was hurting him so much, but it was, and he couldn't explain without telling her why. He scribbled another red swirl onto his own picture, pressing so hard that he gauged a hole into the head of one of his two big black stick people.

Kirsty glanced over at Kane's picture; it really wasn't looking very Christmassy. She knew something was very wrong, but felt uncomfortable about asking him, so tried to take his mind off whatever was bothering him. "Did your parents like your star Kane?" she asked, hopeful that this would cheer him up a bit, she knew how pleased he'd been when she'd given it to him yesterday.

To her surprise he didn't smile or grin, as she was sure he would, instead he just became even quieter. If she had of known to look, Kirsty would have seen a small tear fall from Kane's left eye and land on his drawing. Any more were quickly blinked away, he couldn't show weakness.

Kirsty looked again at Kane's drawing, it wasn't anything like the pictures the other kids were drawing, no reindeers, no snowflakes, no Christmas presents… She put her hand to her mouth as she noticed the thin, red, angry line on Kane's arm; it was well on its way to getting infected.

"Kane," she asked, shocked, "what did you do to your arm?"

Kane knew he couldn't ignore her forever, "I just cut it."

"It looks pretty sore, I think you better go and see the nurse…" Kane looked hesitant, so she added, "…I'll go with you if you want."

Kane didn't argue. Not when Kirsty called the teacher over, or when they were walking down the corridor, or when they were sat outside the nurse's office waiting. The little strength he once had had faded.

He wanted so badly to tell someone about his problems, just to talk. It was too big a thing for him to keep locked inside him, he was too young. He couldn't tell an adult though; he knew his dad would kill him if he found out. Literally kill him though, not in the way most kids would mean it.

He took a deep breath and decided to take a chance, why not, he though, what did he have left to lose?

"Kirst?"

"Yeah" Kirsty was a little surprised at his sudden voice, he'd been silent ever since they'd left their classroom.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah," Kirsty knew from Kane's voice that this was important to him, and felt flattered that he'd chosen to tell her.

"You've got to promise not to tell anyone."

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"I promise," Kirsty said honestly, taking his hand in hers and squeezing tightly.

"Okay," started Kane, "Its about my dad…"

Kirsty listened in horror as Kane told her everything. Everything about his dad, his brother, about him and his mum being beaten, the star, other stuff, everything. Tears rolled down Kirsty's face, Kane knew it was too much for him to keep inside him, but he had no idea that it would hurt his friend too.

"Kane you have to tell someone, you have to tell a teacher," Kirsty had finally recovered, "or… or I'll tell my parents and they can help. My mum, she does that sort of thing, she helps kids who need it. And Kane, you really need it."

"No." Kane's voice was firm; it was a slight relief to have told someone else, to be less alone, but no way could he tell anyone else, "I can't tell anyone. You can't tell anyone Kirst. You promised, remember?!"

"But Kane, you've got to do something. Its not right, he cant keep doing this to you."

"He can Kirst, and he will…"

"Well you… you could fight back, or… or yeah, you could come and stay with my family, my parents wouldn't mind, your mum and brother could come too, it'd be great…"

Kane cut her off, "I can't Kirst, I can't fight back… I'm too scared. And your parents wouldn't let me stay, I've just got to face it… I'm trapped."

Before Kirsty could reply the nurse came out of her office and called for Kane to come in. He told her he fell.

Kane reluctantly turned the key in the lock and pushed the front door open. He could already hear the shouting and thought (as he did everyday) about not walking in, about running away.

But instead (as he did everyday) he stepped in and made his way through to the living room, dumping his bag on the floor near the stairs – his picture falling out onto the floor.

He'd walked in at the wrong moment. His dad was in another of his alcohol-fuelled rages, his mum was huddled in the corner of the room, whimpering and bleeding – had he even stopped to sleep? - and Scott hadn't been back since yesterday. The Christmas tree and the broken presents were still spread across the floor, a little more broken than the day before, witnesses to the fear.

Kane realised that his dad was getting bored of his current piece of meat, and wanted a new target… Kane. With a sharp intake of breath, he ran into the kitchen, not having chance to close the door as his dad staggered closely after him, cornering him against the kitchen units.

His dad moved forward a few paces; close enough for Kane to smell him through short, choppy, terrified breaths.

After a moment of fear-laced silence had hung between them, Kane felt a sharp pain in his head and fell to the floor, realising the back of his dads hand had struck him.

Whilst his son was trying to keep conscious on the floor, Mr Phillips kicked him in the ribs and abdomen a few times, ignoring (or unable to see through his inebriated eyes) the trickle of blood dripping from Kane's eyebrow.

Desperately painfully, Kane curled up into the foetal position and began to cry. He knew this would only make his father more angry, but was powerless to stop.

His dad laughed. "You know what you are Kane?!" he asked, breathing heavily from the beatings he was giving, "a pathetic little bastard." He pulled Kane up off the floor with one hand and sent his shaking body crashing against the sink.

Kane tried to control his breathing, tried to ignore the fear. He remembered something Kirsty had said to him, you could fight back. Standing up slowly, he ground his teeth together and tried to stop his tears, blinking furiously and staring straight into his dad's eyes. He wouldn't let him win again, he would fight back.

His dad smirked menacingly back at him, finally, he thought, his son must have developed a bit of backbone.

Anticipating his dad's attack, Kane reached behind him, and as his dad moved forwards, Kane swung the knife round and plunged it into his father's abdomen. Blood began to seep out around the metal, onto Kane's skin, it felt warm… soothing almost; perhaps the only comfort his dad had ever given him.

He withdrew the knife, it was harder to get out than he'd expected. He dropped it to the floor and didn't hear the low chime it made as it struck the kitchen tiles.

His dad didn't shout out, didn't scream. Instead he just leant his body weight onto Kane, opened his drunken eyes widely, and breathed with a pained rasping sound. As Kane stepped backwards he collapsed onto the floor, brought both hands to cup his wound and curled up into a ball – mirroring his son a few moments ago. A role reversal.

Kane sunk to the floor, his back pressed against the cupboard. He stared at his father; unable to drag his eyes away as he slowly dyed himself crimson.

"See. Red." Kane whispered numbly. "Now its red."

Before the tears had a chance to come, his mum walked into the room, glanced at her husband, picked her son up off the floor and carried him out of the house for the last time.

Kirsty hadn't heard from Kane for weeks. He hadn't been to school since that day at the nurses, and no-one there would tell her why. She had even got her dad to ring the police and all the hospitals, but no-one would tell him anything either. Kirsty knew that something really bad had happened, and she knew it had something to do with Kane's dad.

She heard a light knock on her bedroom door. "Yeah?"

Her dad came in, a letter in his hand. "Hi sweetheart." He had been so worried about his daughter lately, she wasn't talking to anyone, she seemed quiet all the time, she wasn't arguing with her sisters, she wasn't being cheeky… she wasn't Kirsty.

He handed his little girl the letter and left, planting a kiss on top of her head and closing the door behind him.

Kirsty looked at the letter, Miss Kirsty Sutherland. Her name in black ink on the front. She opened it carefully, not wanting to damage its contents, and pulled out a handwritten letter. Even before she saw his name at the bottom of the page, she knew it was from Kane.

She crossed her legs and began to read…

Dear Kirsty,

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write to you, and I hope you wont be too mad, but my life has been really crazy lately.

Something happened with dad, but I guess you figured that one out already, right?! That night (after I had to go see the nurse) when I got home I found my front room trashed again and him hitting her, my mum. I ran into he kitchen, but he followed and started… y'know. Anyway, I remembered what you said, about fighting back, and I did, I stabbed him.

Kirsty gulped and tried to get her teary eyes to focus on the page again…

Me and my mum ran out, we left. And we went to this place where the people said they'd help us, sort of like your mum I guess. The police had to come and speak to me and my mum and everything, but I'm going to be okay, they said it was just self-defence.

Me, mum and Scott (we found him at one of his friends houses) have our own place now, and mum said you can come to stay for a bit, when we've got everything sorted… if you want to I mean.

But I'm safe now Kirst, I've got people on my side. You see, that mistletoe Kirst, it's like my life. It was the wrong colour, it was red… blood. Mine and my mums and my brothers… but now it's his. And now he's dead. And I know I shouldn't be, but I'm happier than I've ever been. I don't need to be scared anymore, please don't worry about me Kirst, I'm safe. I'm gunna make the mistletoe green again, I'm gunna try.

Kane

Kirsty smiled as tears fell from her eyes and she traced her little finger over his name at the bottom. Her dad heard her and came in to wrap his arms around her, hugging his little girl to him tightly. She was crying for something that she was much too young to deal with.

Kane smiled. He was happy. He was really happy. It was Christmas day, and for the first time in his life, his dad wasn't going to ruin it. He smiled even more as he was handed a present from him mum. He wasn't expecting much; they had even less money now than they'd had with his dad, and their present budget for this year had already been spent on the broken toys.

He opened it up to find a jumper, perhaps she had knitted it herself. Scott unwrapped a pair of trainers; they looked like something out of the five-dollar bin from their local shoe shop, and probably were. But both boys were delighted with their presents, they were real, they were for them.

Kane's mum filled up with tears again as both her sons hugged her and thanked her for their presents, she had been so worried that they wouldn't like them.

Kane reached behind the couch and pulled out a card. He gave it to his mum with a kiss on the cheek. It was hand made, a huge green Christmas tree with a big yellow glittery star on top. The message inside read, Happy Christmas Mum, I love you, Kane. Those few words meant more to her than anything he could possibly have bought.

Leaving his mum to try not to cry – though with joy this time – Kane got to his feet as he heard a knock at the door, and ran to answer it.

The smile on his face grew even wider (if that was possible anymore), as he opened the door and found Kirsty standing in front of him. He saw her dad just getting out of the car a little down the road.

Wordlessly, Kirsty held the small sprig of mistletoe she had over Kane's head and kissed him lightly on the lips. She pulled away in a millisecond, amazed at how brave she'd been. Both of them blushed furiously and starting to fidget, avoiding each others eye line, but both secretly delighted that it had happened.

Kane was the first to get his voice back. "Hey," he said, in an unintentionally high pitched voice.

"Hey," replied Kirsty, trying not to laugh at his voice. Her dad was now stood by her side.

"Are you coming in?" Kane asked hopefully, this time he was glad to hear his normal voice.

"Dad said I could stay for an hour."

Kane beamed with happiness as he held the door open for Kirsty and her dad, this was going to be the best Christmas he'd ever had.

He closed the door behind him and made his way into the lounge again, to be greeted with Kirsty holding out both hands to him. In one, a small wrapped shape, with glittery ribbon around it; and in the other, the piece of mistletoe.

"Presents," she stated, noticing Kane's confusion.

It was green.

The End

Word Count: 4831

Author's note: This is something I wrote a while ago for the Forbidden Delights (KK) board, to enter in their Christmas fanfic competition. So if anyone reading this has liked it (hopefully someone will... ?), then I'd seriously urge you to go and check out the other fanfics on there (as most of these the ones I've read are great).Site is - ' - just go to 'fanfiction' on the right hand side box and then click on 'Christmas 2004' from the left fanfic archive box. I would have put a link in but couldn't (?).