Yay, I can write back to my reviewers XD I posted the last chapter before actually reading stuff so, yea, I'm a little out of step nn;;
Red Butterfly – Kyou's mother finally makes an appearance…she scares me TT as for Mimi she will eventually return in a couple of chapter's time.
Taitofan -laughs happily- I'm always worried I'm portraying him wrong! They stopped showing it here, so I'm sort of saying this is now in an AU…it will end very differently to how I first thought…but I can't wait to write it! Hakuoh will be very ebil :3 Your flame barriers are spiffy nn
Shadow Dagger – I greatly appreciate anything people have to say – you took time out to state your opinion instead of passing me by. You have gone even further to look back at your actions; and that takes grace. Thank you. If you do continue to read this; I hope you like what happens.
BattyGirl – My, my, we are full of surprises. I do like your art – Paint is a hard thing to work with nn But…you can review art? I can't seem to there. You already know my views on your latest story – not your best work…I preferred your het pairings.
Needless to say, some art will be done soon. Oh yes…
Duel Masters – Heart on my Sleeve
Chapter Seven: Girls can be cruel
When Kokujo woke up the next morning, he lay still for awhile, disturbed that the place felt…different. Fishing around his bedside cabinet, he found the old watch his father had given him when he was around five years old (complete with trucks still) and blinked blearily at the dial. It was one of those sentimental things you kept a hold of, it was the first real gift his father had given him back in the days of yore, and he hadn't understood about it then. But now, it always warmed him to hold it and he grasped it tightly.
He sat up, still with his doona around him and carefully nudged his hair behind his ears. The room was okay, check. His wardrobe was half open due to the amassing of crap from the last and only move he remembered, boxes that were still unpacked. His posters were all up on the walls. The shelves housing all manner of personal things were not out of place. Hell, his dirty washing was still where he left it – on the floor.
But something wasn't right.
He tucked himself back under the covers. It was too dark, probably going to rain again later on. The clouds had been coming back last night, and the weatherman had reported storms for today…just great. As if following that thought, the curtains rustled and the fly screen rattled in the breeze that blew the papers off his desk.
Getting onto his knees, he quickly shut the glass, and tried to shake the misery that bore down on him, the dampness of weather like this. Lurking. Storms were nice; but when clouds lurked like this and damp filled the air, it was depression weather.
Kokujo crawled back under the covers and turned the bedside light off plunging his room into dark blue again. Closing his eyes he tried to catch the tail of sleep again. Maybe just a little longer-
The door opened.
Pulling the cover back, he was surprised to find his father creeping in and sliding the door close behind him. The light was clicked on and the bed jerked as Keitaro sat down beside him.
"Oi." He breathed, lightly prodding his son.
"Daaaaaa-aad, I'm naked!"
"Bull. Get up."
"Why are you whispering?"
"She's here."
"The woman from the government?"
"No. Your ma."
oOo
Ten minutes later, scrubbed clean and dressed in fresh clothing he did his best not to run down the stairs to see the woman he had only ever spoken to, and never actually seen. He was dressed comfortably, but it still felt wrong to come down into the living room and see two people sitting there he didn't know.
The first was a dumpy woman who looked very official. Her light hair – dyed obviously from the colour of her roots – was done back in a bun and her make up was perhaps a little much. But she had laughter lines around her eyes and mouth and a second look made him realise that the professional air was just for the job. She looked quite gentle.
The other woman seated on the other side however, was not gentle.
You could see it in her. Straight upright, immaculately dressed, perfectly poised, her handsome curls were kept back from her face by a band to protect her perfect face. Her eyes were hard, and for a moment, he realised where he'd seen them before.
In the mirror.
Hitomi Nanase blinked solemnly and sipped her coffee again.
Stuck for a second or so, Kokujo stopped dead still. He wasn't even aware he was holding his breath until Keitaro came in and stood behind him, lightly squeezing his shoulders.
"Don't be shy, Kyou." He breathed.
"Come along dear, please sit." The official smiled at him and he nodded, unable to meet his mother's face. The living room was set up nicely, it always had been. They were seated across from each other now, the coffee table between them as a sort of shield. Kokujo remembered the day they'd bought it from…well, from Ikea. Amazing where that shop was opening up now. It had been a fun afternoon setting it up; after all, that's where they'd gotten most of their furniture, nice and cheap. All they could afford.
On the table was set a small selection of savoury munchies Keitaro must have made the day before at work. While Kokujo's mother didn't seem to want any, the official was helping herself to them and enjoying them greatly.
"Hello, Kei." Hitomi sat the cup down and smiled at the man sitting across from her, both males painfully away of how shabby they looked compared to her. Perfect nails flashed in what little light there was and she cupped her chin. "It's been fifteen and a half years since I last saw you." There was a pause. "You haven't changed."
Keitaro sat back, folding his arms. It was a defensive gesture, but a reserved one of a man who doesn't want to let his temper get the better of him. "You've certainly done well for yourself. I can't remember you ever looking as good as you do now."
Petting her ego was probably the only way to get out of this. Unconsciously, Kokujo nodded, trying to resist the temptation to curl up into a ball and watch her from behind his knees. The table simply wasn't enough.
"…This is Yotsuba Satsuki." Hitomi purred, waving an elegant hand. "My lawyer and our little mediator. Though…I'm not sure where we can begin…"
"Perhaps…explaining the facts, Miss Nanase." Yotsuba smiled her bright smile and patted the bun at the back of her head. "My client would like to investigate a relationship with her son…we want all of this to go as smoothly as possible, which is why we're all sitting down happily and discussing this like responsible adults. The young man included. Kyoushiro, is it?"
Ah. Be sociable! "Yeah."
"Delightful. You are so much like your father."
Muttered, he thought he heard his mother say "a little too much" but said nothing.
"Mr Kokujo…you are aware of the legal implications of this predicament?" She peered at Kokujo. "My dear child, if I am bothering you at all…"
"I'm fine."
"All right. It's just that I have to evaluate everything here and help you sit through a few tests…" He felt cold. "Just to see how you are doing-"
"Oh, cut the crap Satsuki." Hitomi snarled. She stood up, smoothing down her slim line skirt, slinking over to where Keitaro sat and glared at him. "Let me bring you up to speed, Kei. After our little tryst and little Koshiro-"
"Kyou. Kyoushiro."
"Yes dear." She waved at Kokujo dismissively. "I managed to get my life on track. I took control, and managed to land a job in the fashion world."
"I can tell. You're still puking in the staff toilets, aren't you?"
"Ha. Funny. I'm over that now and don't you forget it. Everyone is in control of their lives and it takes will power to get things done. Something you lack." She glared at him. "This is place is so typically you. I'm an editor of one of the most popular magazines in the country, and I'm being head hunted to go international. I can't wait. I have everything I could ever want, ever need." Then she looked at Kokujo.
He'd only ever seen that look on Hakuoh's face.
One of hunger.
"But they decided to do a background check on me. I was traumatised, Kei. Having a baby so young does terrible things to a girl, and worse still when the reminder is sitting there in her permanent record."
"Are you telling me you want Kyou for some insane justification that you're okay and they should hire you?"
"Popping out a bubby at sixteen doesn't do well for the resume Kei, 'specially when you leave that bubby with his abusive father." Her smugness was painful.
"What? Abusive?" Keitaro spat, standing up. "I never raised a hand to you!"
"Of course you didn't, but that's not what the court is going to hear."
"You lying little-"
"Face it Kei. We were doomed from the start you and I. We were trouble. I was the good girl, you were the bad boy, and wow, did we hit it off or what? Fact is I can say whatever I want to say and drag you through the dirt. I know how fragile you are, Kei. I do my homework." She sat back down. "You've done better than my parents expected, but then they thought you'd be dead in the gutter by the time you turned 21. But, eight years on, you're actually working. You have a home…a small, dirty little hovel I must say, but you live and you prosper. I see you have no Mrs Kokujo?"
"Umm, Miss Nanase…"
Keitaro stared at her. Kokujo had never seen him so angry before…except that one time at the parent teacher meeting when the idea of single fatherhood that young came up. Woohoo, fireworks. The teacher had left with a limp. "I never got round to it, Hitomi. A man doesn't when he's left without a leg to stand on. But I carried on. I got an education and settled down into something I enjoy doing."
Kokujo's stomach flipped. What?
"Making cakes? How novel of you. What does your boyfriend think?"
"God, woman, it's an art. But you wouldn't know what art was because you have the imagination of a rock-"
"Please, the pair of you-"
"Oh, shut up, Kei."
"I did what I could. You left me with our…with my son to raise and no help at all. I was worried about you! Everyone blanked me, hell, if it hadn't been for my parents, maybe I would have ended up like your story. If anyone's to blame for this situation, it isn't me. You and your family blackened my name. I had to skip town for crying out loud. I moved everything to come here!"
"For what little good it did. You can't seem to get ahead."
Keitaro fell silent.
"I'm offering you a cash settlement. You come to court and you sign the papers. I take the boy and you get enough to live on. To pay off those mounting bills. Don't think I don't know. You barely make ends meet around here."
"Actually I do. I'm happy. I don't want your dirty money."
"You do, Kei. You always have. Isn't that why you chased me all those years ago?"
"I chased you because I liked you and I thought you were nice. Now I see I was wrong."
"That's because you ruined me! You spiteful, hateful little-"
"All right enough, the pair of you!" Shocked into silence, both parents sat back down. Yotsuba was shaking, her scrawled notes put away. "I am shocked with your behaviour! Regardless of past events, this is not how two responsible adults act in front of a child!"
"Responsible my ass. Couldn't be bothered to find a condom-"
"Miss Nanase!"
"I have to go." Kokujo said very quietly, getting up. And leaving the stunned adults to themselves, he went out into the rain.
And slammed the door behind him.
oOo
The car rolled up to his resting place a little while later. Meaning that the sky had cleared and the sun had come out again, the victim of the temperamental weather that seemed to have rolled into the district. The sky was starting to tinge to a mix of pink and gold as the sun started its' final descent.
A fair few hours.
He'd moved around a fair bit seeing as Kirifuda kept following him. The younger boy and his tiny little friend were constantly dogging his footsteps then disappearing and arguing with themselves. How…frustrating.
Sitting on the step, Kokujo stared listlessly into the brightened day and was fairly silent. The anger had just about gone now as much as everything else – not by him getting rid of it. Ordinarily a shuffle of his deck would be enough to restore him to his normal spiteful self, but he'd been knocked for six. So, he'd done what any normal person would do, and simply ignored it.
Now he felt numb.
The car stopped, and the door opened.
He ignored the occupant. Just kept going over the phrases in his mind. The insults. The accusations.
He'd had no idea whatsoever about the bad feelings between the two. He'd always viewed his mother with a sort of dread, but to know he'd been abandoned from the minute he was born left a massive dent in his well-being. Kokujo shivered. A child of a one night stand. A bad boy and a good girl, at some sort of party or something; and he'd been the result.
Kinda explained a few things.
"…Kyou…"
Kokujo didn't focus.
His mother was acting on a loophole in society. He was going to be used and paraded as an item instead of as a person. God. This was so…so stupid.
"…Kyou…kiddo, please…"
And worse still…he was the reason why his father was in this crummy job. And stuck in their house. With their things. Why…he'd never been anything, never become anyone. Kokujo was solely responsibly as to why his father would probably never get married and die a lonely old man. Their bond ran deep, but this…this was poison.
Shadows fell over him.
He deeply wanted somewhere to escape to. Hakuoh maybe, but it would just feel worse. He didn't want to loose himself for a while, he wanted to be rid of this.
The shadows deepened.
Oh, he'd always suspected. But…no…
The shadows crushed him.
Only…they weren't shadows. Waking up out of his trance, Kokujo realised he was buried in an embrace. But there was no fear here, not at all. Ordinarily someone of his like would have fought this very much so; but the unconscious part of him longed for it and he clung back as tight as he dared. Burying his head into his father's shoulder and inhaling the smell of his aftershave, father and son stayed very, very still.
A hand stroked the back of his head and Kokujo let his body flop.
"God. Kyou, you scared me." His father whispered. Keitaro gently pulled away, crouched in front of Kokujo as he slouched on the steps. "I figured I'd give you an hour or so to mull this over after you left…but she just kept coming…my God, I'm so sorry…"
Kokujo took a breath. It didn't seem to come. "You're sorry?" His voice cracked. "You're sorry?"
"What she said was all lies, kiddo-"
"Don't call me that!"
"Kyou?"
"Don't say it's all right – it's not! Why the hell didn't you tell me how bad off we were? And what happened, da, that's not fair-" The words came out quickly and without control. Like a train without breaks, Kokujo was heading into places he'd been trying to ignore. "Why now? It's not fair, I didn't mean to cause all of this, this is so stupid, so dumb-"
"Kyou…Kyou…" Silence fell mid gasp. "You never asked to be born, Kyou. None of this is your fault." Keitaro gently smoothed the hair away from Kokujo's face and helped the shaking boy up. "Come home. We'll sit down. We will talk. You've been out here for quite a while and I think you need something to drink and something to eat."
Kokujo nodded and followed his father to the battered car, slipping inside and strapping himself in. He then let his head loll against the strap. He said nothing more; instead, he let everything blur to the point of being gently lead to the house around a half an hour later. Pausing only at the step, they both ducked inside and then closed the door behind them.
The house felt tainted.
Kokujo, shivering and worried, slumped onto the couch, and was soon joined by his father and a cup of hot chocolate and the two drank without saying a word.
Finally, Kokujo found his voice. "Day off, yeah?"
"Called in sick."
"Cool."
"Kyou…"
"I don't wanna know."
"I'm sorry."
"I said-"
"I didn't know. I honestly didn't know. It was just after graduation, I got a phone call from her mother, and I arrived at the hospital just in time. I was…so…fucking…scared." Keitaro took a breath. "And there was screaming and everything…she cursed me ten times over, you know? But then they threw me out because I was causing more trouble…and then…you were dumped into my arms. "
Kokujo looked up at his father.
"Hell…I wasn't in a very good state myself. But the moment I looked at you…God, Kyou, I hope one day you experience that."
"What, becoming a teenage father?" Came the sour reply.
"No. Staring at something you know is right."
Kokujo swallowed. Something seemed to have grown in his throat. Things that felt suspiciously like tears pricked his eyes and he fought them down valiantly – now was not the time to be a wet blanket. It just wasn't him.
Keitaro smiled at him. "…And I stared, and stared, and you stared back at me from your blanket. Just stared. And then you smiled. I was the only person you'd ever smile at, everyone else made you cry. They took you back, kept you for a day to check on you and all…then released you…and I was scared because I had no idea how to take care of you. But…my parents…your grandparents…helped me out no end. Sometimes…I got really mad with myself. I got angry at you, but it was only because I wasn't very good at raising a kid."
"Da…" The word had not been used for a long, long time. Ten years perhaps.
"Hear me out. We got on. Damn, Kyou, you are everything to me. Whenever I got down, I'd look at you and I'd find strength to carry on…I had to. 'Cos it wasn't just me." Setting down the cup, Keitaro drew a knee up to his chest and looked at his son again from behind it. "My own ma told me about responsibility. Any moron could pass their kid off at an orphanage. Abandon it. As they say, anyone can be a father. Wrong place, wrong time. But it takes a lot of work to be a dad."
Kokujo smiled faintly.
"You are the reason we came here, yes. We had to leave; we weren't safe there, Hitomi's parents owned a lot of stuff down that way. Finding work to support us was real hard…so…we moved here. I didn't know if we could do it, but look at us now…"
"Da…you're a fucking cake decorator."
"That's only half my job, you moron. I'm a baker. I make stuff for people to enjoy."
There was nervous laughter then; nervous only because the house was so quiet. "Yeah, that lady was sure liking it."
"Looked like a little too much. Kyou, it took time, but I like where I am. I have a promotion coming up – one of the heads is leaving. It's an old family business, and I was lucky enough to get in…They trust me. They want me to work well with them. And it's because of you. You're the reason I worked so hard. I don't want you to listen to that…to her. I mean…if you want to go with her, I understand…she's offering a lot. I just want you to know I love you; you're my boy, you always will be 'till the day I die. I only want you to be happy."
"Why the hell didn't you tell me this before?"
"I didn't know how. I didn't know what you'd think of me. At least, maybe, you'd think your ma and me loved each other. I figured knowing you were…uh, what happened after a roll in the hay would fuck with your self esteem."
"A bit late for that."
"I'm sorry." Keitaro whispered. "I'm so, so, sorry."
Kokujo didn't answer back. Instead, he did something he hadn't done for awhile; leaning into his father's side and smiling when the older Kokujo leaned back.
Then Kokujo's stomach growled. His father chuckled softly and threw an arm around his son's lean form. "You poor sod. Let's get dinner."
"Why did ma come back now?" Kokujo breathed as he drifted into the kitchen.
"Apart from her promotion, I don't know. I really don't know."
to be continued.
