lostmoonchild: Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Here's chapter seventeen, its kinda long since its a court case. Read and hopefully enjoy! I don't own Code: Lyoko or any of the songs unless I say otherwise. I only own the characters who aren't part of Code: Lyoko so don't sue. Oh yeah, this chapter might fall into the rated M catagory.
Chapter Seventeen
"Will Jeremy Belpois, Aelita Stones, Odd Della Robbia, Ulrich Stern, and Yumi Ishiyama please report to the principal's office." The secretary announced over the intercom a month later.
"What'd we do this time?" Odd asked as they walked to the principal's office.
"There's a lawyer here." Yumi said quietly. "Damon called last night and said that he managed to talk his father into acting as Morgan's attorney."
"How much is he being paid?" Jeremy asked.
"Nothing. This is a personal favor to the Kitsune family just for giving Damon a job despite his "wandering hands" and allowing him to keep the job." Yumi said as they walked into the office.
It was clear to them how Damon and the man talking to the principal were related. They both were tall and had the same build which was pretty much a dead give away. "Konnichiwa, Sakamoto-san." Yumi said bowing slightly.
Mr. Sakamoto smiled warmly at Yumi and said, "Yumi, how wonderful to see you again. You've certainly grown into a charming young woman."
Yumi blushed slightly and said, "Arigato. You're arguing Ami's case, aren't you?"
"Hai, I want to put your aunt and uncle away even though they were once friends." Mr. Sakamoto said looking grim. "These are your and Ami's friends, right?"
"Hai. This is Ulrich Stern, Odd Della Robbia, Aelita Stones, and Jeremy Belpois." Yumi said pointing to each of her friends.
"If you don't mind, Mr. Delmas, I would like to speak to these children alone. Children are more used to saying what happened when there's nobody to make them feel stupid."
Mr. Delmas looked like he was about to argue but nodded after a minute. "Alright." Mr. Delmas said leaving the room.
"Who's all going to be testifying?" Yumi asked suddenly after a couple minutes.
Mr. Sakamoto sighed and said, "You all of course, my son and his friends, Sano, and with permission Amaya."
"No." Yumi said. "Sakamoto-san, Amaya is a little girl. I doubt she can take this kind of pressure."
"Yumi, your cousin has a very observant and intelligent daughter. I doubt you want to make her feel upset or give her the feeling that she couldn't do anything to help her mother. Has Amaya seen her mother lately?"
Yumi sighed and said, "I gave instructions that she wasn't to see her mother in her mother's present condition."
Morgan's condition had improved greatly over the past month and she had been moved out of the ICU about three weeks ago which pretty much all her bones healed. But just as a safety measure, she was being kept on life support since she was still having slight problems breathing on her own. When the students heard about their fellow student's condition, they sent letters home telling their parents of what happened and the parents sent letters to the school asking what the school was thinking not calling the police until one of the students was found half dead.
"Probably a good idea. But I think Amaya knows something that we don't. Is it possible that Ami told her daughter something that she didn't tell anybody else?"
Yumi thought about it a minute and nodded slowly. "Alright, but if you go flashing pictures of what Morgan looked like a month ago after she had been beaten, I'm withdrawing my permission." Yumi said her eyes flashing slightly.
"Thank you. Now will you all tell me what happened?" Mr. Sakamoto asked looking at the five teenagers. "It doesn't matter what the information is, just tell me what you all know."
They looked at eachother before starting to tell of how Morgan had acted for a while around them and everything else that had happened leaving out the parts about Lyoko and materializing Aelita. "She brough some information back from Japan?" Mr. Sakamoto questioned.
"Aelita and I needed some information on a project we were working on." Jeremy said quickly. "Now that we think of it, the project was a little bit mad scientist."
Mr. Sakamoto nodded and wrote down everything they said. "Court is in one week. We already have school and parent permission for you all to testify." Mr. Sakamoto said. "Oh, Aelita, I didn't think that you were related to Derrick. I was quite surprised."
"Most people are." Aelita said not really understanding what happened.
They left the office and were surprised to find that it was almost noon. "He can win this case, right?" Odd asked looking at Yumi.
"He's one of the best lawyers in Japan so he should. Especially when all the evidence proves that she's been beaten in the past." Yumi said calmly, feeling a little nervous.
"We'll get through this." Ulrich said putting a hand on Yumi's shoulder. "You'll see."
The small group arrived from Japan a couple days later, including an old man. "Grandpa!" Yumi said in Japanese while hugging the old man. "What are you doing here?"
"Somebody has to keep an eye on that cousin of yours. Already got a girl pregnant and he's only sixteen." Mr. Kitsune said with a smile. "How's Ami doing?"
"Better. She just started breathing on her own a couple days ago and hasn't gone into any relapses." Yumi answered still talking in Japanese since her grandfather understood Japanese only. "But they might keep the life support on her for a little while. Just to be sure."
Abby looked confused when she heard her aunt and great-grandfather talking about her mother. "What happened to mommy?" Abby asked looking at Odd and seeing hurt in his eyes.
"Go ahead, Odd. It's best she hears it from her mother's boyfriend." Yumi said looking at Odd before quickly introducing her grandfather.
Odd picked Abby up and said, "Did your mommy ever talk to you about bad parents?"
Abby nodded a little and said, "Yeah. She says that some mommies and daddies are nice while other mommies and daddies are mean. She got stuck with a bad mommy and a very bad daddy. Why?"
"Well, your mommy's parents came a while ago and hurt her very badly. She's in the hospital now trying to get better."
"Can we go see her?" Abby asked looking hopeful.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but nobody can see your mommy now." Yumi said gently to the small girl. "The police don't want the doctors to let anybody other than the nurses and doctors to see your mom."
"Why?"
Mr. Kitsune looked at the teenagers and saw that they were being forced to grow up so quickly. "Amaya, just wait. After this has settled down, we'll go visit your mother. How's that sound?"
Abby nodded and smiled when Ulrich gave her a candy bar. "Thank you, uncle Ulrich." Abby said with a pleased smile as she quietly ate the candy bar.
"Is my father here already?" Damon asked looking sympathetic.
"Yeah. He already took our statements." Jeremy said looking at the group and seeing hatred and anger in Jason's eyes. "You should talk to somebody about all that anger, Jason."
Jason looked surprised and he said, "I don't need to talk to anybody. I have an excellent way of getting rid of anger that doesn't involve hurting a child."
"Instead, that way resulted in me being pregnant." Sakura said putting a hand on her stomach. "I swear, this isn't good for the baby. I wouldn't have come along except all the chores that are required to keep the Kaze place running is enough to drive a person literally insane."
They smiled as Mr. Kitsune started giving Sakura a lecture which Yumi and Derrick both translated making sure to leave out a few parts. "Auntie Yumi, am I going to have to talk to the people in court?" Abby asked. "I wanna help mommy."
"Yeah, you get to help your mommy." Yumi said. "Come on, we gotta get you all a room and tell mom that you're all here. She'll go nuts."
A few days later was the court date. They all sat in the court room watching as the judge had the court case announced. "I'd like to call my client, Mr. Kaze to the stand." The Kaze's lawyer announced standing up.
Mr. Kaze proudly walked up to the witness box and swore to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. "Mr. Kaze, I understand that you're a business man." The lawyer began.
"Yes, I am."
"What do you specialize in?"
"Travel."
The lawyer nodded and said, "Are your children trouble makers, Mr. Kaze?"
"Yes. Both of them make it a point to cause trouble to whoever they can." Mr. Kaze said pretending to look disgusted. "I tried to teach them the way I was taught but they just couldn't accept it. That's the problem with some children, you try your best to raise them right and they walk away from the path you've laid out of them."
"What about your daughter? Were you aware that she was attending school here in France?"
"No. She had runaway from home a couple weeks before summer vacation had started. Her mother and I thought that she had simply gone to a friend's house but when we called her friends a couple days later we discovered that she hadn't gone to her friends so we thought that she had simply gone to Japan again like she did every summer."
"Any idea why she'd go back to Japan?"
"We have family there but when she would come home just before school started, she'd appear miserable and sing old lullabies when she was sewing her old blanket."
The lawyer nodded again and said, "No further questions, your Honor."
Mr. Sakamoto stood up and said, "Mr. Kaze, has your daughter ever run away for no reason at all?"
"When she was younger she'd run away from home."
"Any idea why?"
"No."
"Have you ever hit your children?"
"No."
"Then how do you explain the fractures and broken bones that your children have recieved while living with you and your wife?"
"Children are clumsy. I told my children not to climb trees."
"But Sano doesn't live with you or your wife. He hasn't recieved a broken bone since he was a eight." Mr. Sakamoto said simply. "Ami, on the other hand, has been having several broken bones and cuncussions but ever since she left she hasn't had a broken bone in her body until just recently."
"My daughter is reckless."
"Somehow I doubt that she's reckless enough to manage to break almost every bone in her body."
"Objection! This is harassment!"
"Sustained. Mr. Sakamoto, don't harass the defendant."
"I have no further questions for Mr. Kaze." Mr. Sakamoto said calmly.
"Mr. Kaze, you may take your seat." The judge said. "Any witnesses you'd like to call to the stand, Mr. Sakamoto?"
Mr. Sakamoto nodded and said, "I'd like to call Mr. Sano Kaze to the stand."
Never in the entire time the group had known him did Jason look so scared. He looked like a small child who had been caught by his father stealing cookies from the cookie jar right before supper. "Do you swear to tel the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?" Jason was asked.
"I do." Jason answered calmly not looking at his parents.
"Sano, have you ever been struck by your father?"
"Yes."
"Has he ever struck your sister?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell the court when he began hitting you?"
"When I was two. I had thrown up in the living room and was crying. My father shouted at me to stop crying while my mother started to clean up the mess but my father told her not to bother, that I'd clean up the mess." Jason said starting to shake at the memory. "He pushed me to the floor and told me to clean up my own puke but not with a rag or anything. To clean it up like a dog would. When I screamed that I didn't want to, he kicked me and started hitting me. At first my mother tried to stop him but stopped trying to help me when he threatened to kill her. When I looked up, I saw my sister watching with wide eyes, she was terrified so I shouted at her to wait for me. That night, my ribs were badly bruisedso my sister cared for me when my 'mother' wouldn't."
The jury looked disgusted at Mr. Kaze who was obviously trying to think of a story to counter the one Jason had just told. "When did he start hitting your sister?" Mr. Sakamoto asked.
"When we were six. She was watching my father punch me when she ran downstairs and screamed for him to stop. He punched her with enough force to send her flying against another wall before starting in on her." Jason said with a frown. "After that, we began sleeping in the same room since she was afraid."
"What was she afraid of?"
"At first I thought she thought there was a monster under her bed but we both slept on futons so that idea went out the window. Then I realized that she saw a monster all the time so I asked her who was a monster and she simply looked at me and said, "Daddy's a monster. Mommy won't leave him, she's too scared." and personally I didn't blame mother for being afraid since a year later father started planning how we were all going to die."
"How was that?"
"He was going to have a friend of his shoot us all while we slept. Ami couldn't sleep the night we were supposed to be murdered, she had a bad feeling I think, so she went downstairs. She was caught by one of our father's friends and ran into father's study where she found a gun. It was loaded with blanks but she didn't know that. When she shot the gun, she was convinced she was shooting the guy but then the guy fell down dead with a bullet in his skull. She was told that she was a murderer but not to worry since nobody would know."
"Who told her not to worry?"
"Father."
Mr. Sakamoto nodded and said, "No further questions."
"Do you have any questions for Sano?" The judge asked the Kaze's lawyer.
"Hold on a minute, your Honor, I need to ask Sano a question." Mr. Sakamoto said suddenly. "Sano, why aren't you looking at your father?"
Jason looked at Mr. Sakamoto trying to keep calm and he said sounding afraid, "I know what my father is going to do to me just for telling. He already got Ami and she didn't tell anybody."
"Thank you, Sano."
The Kaze's lawyer stood up and said, "How old are you exactly, Sano?"
"16."
"How much older than your sister are you?"
"A week."
"One week older and yet you two could have been twins."
"She wasn't ready to be born yet and the doctors weren't about to test my mother's patience." Jason said calmly.
"Now when you were born, you were immediately taken away from your mother because you have breathing problems?"
"I think I was stressed when I was born, that's what caused the breathing problems."
"Does your sister have the same breathing problems?"
"Not always."
"How often does she have those breathing problems?"
"About two times a summer. First time when she comes home since she's completely terrified that our father is going to find out her secret and the second time before she leaves since she's afraid that something's going to happen."
"Did he have any attacks during the summer?"
"No. She was told of a boarding school that she could go to."
"You mean Kadic school?"
"I don't know. I didn't want her going but I didn't want her going back to our parents."
"So you chose the school."
"I chose to let her live." Jason said just as he saw something that looked like his sister's ghost standing in a corner, smiling at him happily.
"If you were so concerned that she was going to die, why didn't you tell anybody?"
"If I had told, she would have ended up in much worse condition than she already is now and I would have been next to her."
"So you wouldn't tell anybody about what was happening?"
"I'm not entirely stupid. I told her hundreds of times that I'd kill whoever hurt her but she kept making up excuses as to what she did just to earn being punched. What'd she do this time? She survived and that got her beaten within an inch of her life. She's in a coma now because her brain got bashed around so much. I'm going to be surprised if she doesn't suffer brain damage."
"That's enough. You may take your seat, Sano." The judge said.
Jason got up and sat down next to Yumi. "Its okay, cousin." Yumi murmured holding onto Abby. "It'll be alright.
They kept doing that for the next four hours until the judge ordered that they'd continue in the morning. "Lets go out for pizza." Mr. Kitsune said as they left the court house.
"What'd he say?" Odd asked.
"He suggested we go out for pizza." Yumi translated.
"Got my vote!" Odd said looking pleased. "But can we see Morgan first? I want to tell her about the court case."
They looked at the four adults (Mr. and Mrs. Ishisyama, Mr. Sakamoto, and Mr. Kitsune) with hopeful eyes. "Alright." Mr. Kitsune gave in with a smile.
"YAY! We getta see mommy!" Abby said sounding happy and squirming a little in Aelita's arms.
Aelita smiled and said, "Yes, we get to see your mom. Are you happy?"
"yeah! I wanna tell her everything!"
They smiled and climbed into a van that was being rented to Mrs. Ishiyama since she didn't trust her father driving around in France. They drove to the hospital and went to see Morgan, completely surprised to see three doctors taking notes on her condition. "Is something wrong?" Jason asked looking confused at the doctors.
"Are you family?"
"Yes."
The doctor that looked like he was the leader looked at them and said, "Miss Kaze gave us quite a scare half hour ago."
"What do you mean?" Yumi asked looking worried.
"Her body went into series of spasms causing her to be jerked around quite a bit. We gave her something to relax her muscles so she didn't accidentally hurt herself."
Abby pushed against Aelita until she was set down and quietly walked over to her mother. "Mommy, mommy, wake up." Abby said gently shaking her mother a little earning a "dont' do that." from her great-grandfather. Personally, Abby felt scared when she saw her mother hooked up on so many machines.
"She's sleeping, sweetie. She can hear you still." Yumi said gently.
"Mommy, guess what! I might get to complain about your mommy and daddy tomorrow. Uncle Jason, Auntie Yumi, Uncle Odd, Uncle Ulrich, Auntie Aelita, and Uncle Jeremy had to complain about your daddy today since they were called up to test-ify." Abby said slowly saying 'tesify' since she didn't really know what it meant. "But when Uncle Jason had to testify, they were asking him all sorts of questions. Auntie Yumi whispered to me that your parents' lawyer was trying to fry Uncle Jason alive. What's that mean anyway? The lawyer was making him look bad."
"That's what it means, sweetie." Damon said. "Hey, Ami, you're on your ass so I can't get you which means you don't have to worry about being groped."
They watched the unconcious girl and saw the fingers on one of her hands move as if she was trying to flip Damon off and failing miserably. "She's trying to come back, love." Yumi said picking Abby up. "See that? Your mommy's trying to come back to us so she can look at us again."
"she misses me." Abby said when Yumi put her down on the bed. "She misses all of us. Even if she didn't like uncle Damon or uncle Thomas too much."
They all smiled knowing that Morgan would proudly be saying, "That's my girl." if she could. "Hey, princess." Mr. Kitsune said lightly kissing his granddaughter on the forehead. "You should see the sakura blossoms. I brought some with me so you'd have something to smell other than medicine."
They could hear a slight moan which they took as Morgan's mind knowing who all was talking and she was trying to respond. "Amaya, here. Hold this to your mother's nose so she can smell it." Mr. Kitsune said taking a blossom out of his pocket.
Abby took the sakura flower from her great-grandfather and held it to her mother's nose for a minute. "Its pretty, isn't it?" Abby asked lying down next to her mother. "Its a pale pink almost white. Great-grandpa got it from the sakura tree that blossoms near the little waterfall. He says that it gave great-grandma strength when she was pregnant and he says that it'll give you strength enough to get better again."
Yumi looked at Jason and saw that he wanted to spend a little time with his sister alone. "We should let Jason see Morgan. Alone." Yumi said with a knowing look.
Everybody nodded and left the room, leaving Jason to talk with his sister. "Hey, squirt." Jason said putting a hand on his sister's hand. "Things are complete hell right now. I had to tell of when dad first started hitting us, including the vomit story."
"I'm scared, brother." Morgan whispered using the bond they had created as young children.
"There's no monsters to hurt you now."
"There's always going to be monsters."
"I know." Jason whispered quietly gently kissing his sister's forehead. "Abby's scared that she's going to lose her mother."
"I know. She doesn't know what to do anymore. She just wants things to be like they used to be before I had to go home again. Just us at home with me not going to school. She wants that life back." Morgan whispered sounding like she was on the edge of crying. "She thinks this is a nightmare and she wants to wake up from it. I want to wake up from this nightmare too, brother. I can't watch the trial and the doctors talk too much. They act as if I can't even hear them."
"They're idiots, sister dearest." Jason said with a gentle voice. "Don't worry. Keep getting stronger and you can wake up soon."
"I wanna sleep a little bit, brother. Will you stay until I fall asleep?"
"Always do and always will." Jason said watching his sister's eyelids wating until he knew she was sound asleep and dreaming.
When she had fallen asleep, Jason left the room saying that she had fallen asleep. They left the hospital and got some pizza to find that they were all starving. They hadn't felt like eating during lunch so they just decided to wait until the trial was over for the day.
The next day Abby was first to be called to the stand. "Objection! This is a joke! Bringing in a child! What's the mother say!" The Kaze's lawyer shouted.
Mr. Sakamoto smiled and said, "Your Honor, the child's godmother and uncles have all given permission. Even the child's great-grandfather has given permission."
The judge nodded and said, "You may question the child."
"What's your name, little girl?" Mr. Sakamoto asked.
Abby smiled happily and said, "Amaya Kathrine Kaze."
"Who's your mother?"
"Ami Kaida Kaze."
Mr. Sakamoto smiled warmly at the young child and said, "We've got to ask you some questions about your mother. Can you answer them truthfully?"
"Yes."
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?"
"Yes."
"Did your mommy ever tell you about what happens when she goes back to her parents?"
"Sometimes. Like a couple years ago she came home with a broken nose and burns on her arms. She told me that her daddy had simply punished her. Uncle Sano was really mad and kept shouting that if mommy didn't get out of there she was going to end up dead and I'd be thrown into an orphanage." Abby said innocently. "Mommy got really mad at uncle Sano and left the house for a few hours to work on some projects."
"What projects?"
"I dunno. She never lets me see them until she's finished which can take days." Abby said with a shrug.
"Has your mommy ever hit you?"
"No. She only sends me to my room if I misbehave."
"Does she let anybody hit you?"
"No. She made it clear when she first brought me home that she'd pulverize whoever touched me so if I'm bad, I get sent to my room or into a corner. Just until I apologize."
Mr. Sakamoto nodded and said, "It sounds like your mother takes very good care of you."
"Yep! She says that I'm the light of her life. Now she's got two lights in her life." Abby said sounding pleased. "But I'm not supposed to talk about it. Its a secret."
"I understand." Mr. Sakamoto said with a pleased smile. "So your mommy never hits you and never lets anybody hurt you?"
"No. She doesn't like hitting children because she says that hitting people who are smaller and younger than you isn't good. Besides, she wants to be a good mommy and not be like her mommy. Just sitting back while somebody beats the s-word out of her kid."
Everybody was amazed that Abby was taking this seriously. Her smile had vanished and a deturmined look replaced the smile. "Are you going to try and help my mommy and uncle?" Abby asked.
"Yes, I'm trying."
"Good. My mommy and uncle didn't do anything wrong to deserve being punished."
They could see Mr. Kaze's eyes brighten with the pleasure of torturing the little girl if he couldn't torture his children. He'd simply have to make an accusition that his daughter was an unfit mother and couldn't take care of a little girl. He whispered something to his lawyer who nodded. "I have no further questions." Mr. Sakamoto said turning and sitting down.
The Kaze's lawyer stood up and said, "How old are you, miss Kaze?"
"Five."
"And your mother is in the hospital?"
"Yes, because your client beat her within an inch of her life."
Smarter than the average five year old girl. Alright, we can deal with that. The lawyer thought. "At any time have you felt that your mother was an unfit mother?" The lawyer asked.
"No, she's doing a good job as mommy." Abby said simply. "She says that she's going to find me a good daddy so we can be a happier family."
"My clients claim they have NEVER seen you before. Why hasn't your mother brought you home to her parents."
"Because she doesn't want me living her life." Abby said calmly. "She says that her daddy is a monster that deserves to be slaughtered, just like he did to a few people who tried to help her and uncle get away."
Whispers filled the courtroom until the judge ordered the room to be quiet. "Your mother accuses her father of murder?" The lawyer asked.
"No, she knows he murdered people. She has videotapes of him murdering somebody, beating mommy, and even of him doing drugs. She told me to make sure that if the case ever gets brought to court, to let the law people see it so everybody knows what a b-word he is."
"B-word?" The lawyer questioned.
"I'm not supposed to swear without permission. Auntie Yumi, can I say the b-word?" Abby asked.
"Go ahead."
Abby looked at the lawyer and said, "Mommy says he's a bastard and she's got the proof to prove it."
"Do you have the proof?" The judge asked.
Abby nodded and handed a security guard three CDs who handed the CDs to the judge. "Those are the CDs that have the tapes on them. Mommy didn't want to make her daddy suspicious that she was planning anything so she made them look like music CDs."
"How did she make them?" The lawyer asked starting to sweat.
"She hid a camera in a room -mostly the living room- and taped what they were doing. The top one is of the night she ran away from home, believe me, its nasty. The second one is of him murdering somebody, I watched that one and didn't like it since a guy's brains went all over the place and her daddy was saying that mommy killed the guy when mommy wasn't even holding the gun. Third one is of him doing drugs. He's smoking something from a bag. Mommy said that he was smoking something called pot."
The judge's eyes went hard and he looked at Mr. Kaze who had been grinning and unable to hide the look of pleasure that had come across his face. "Mr. Kaze, if what this child says is true then you will be charged with drug possession, murder, abuse, and possibly neglect."
"He's done that lots of times to mommy."
"Thank you, Amaya. Do you have any more questions for the witness?"
"Yes, your Honor. Why didn't you take this to a local law enforcement?"
"Because mommy is respected and doesn't want everybody to know. Personally, I think she might be happy she's not here or else she'd be talkling Japanese only since her daddy scares the s-word out of her." Abby said simply. "Besides, she was already accused of arson when she didn't do anything wrong. She was tied up in a closet during the fire."
More whispers filled the room but this time the judge didn't say anything. "How old is your mother?" The judge asked.
"Sixteen." Abby answered looking up at the judge. "I'm not leaving my mommy, I won't lose another mommy and she doesn't want to lose me. She fights for me and she bleeds for me all the time. If I had the choice, I'd bleed for her too but dont' you dare try to take me away from my mommy. If you want to help my mommy, put those people away so mommy will stop crying at night. I don't like it when mommy cries at night because she rarely ever cries and when she does, its scary because most people who know what grandpa does to mommy turn their back on her and in a way, they're turning their back on me."
Nobody had ever heard a five year old sound so much like an adult before and they were all shocked. The group had all known that Abby was very smart for her age but they had never seen her look so much like an adult... like Morgan. "Do either of you have anymore witnesses?" The judge asked looking at both lawyers.
"No, your honor." Both lawyers answered.
"Alright. Amaya, you may sit down." The judge asked. "hold on a minute. How are you related to Ami?"
Abby looked up at the judge and she said, "Mommy saved my life and adopted me. Incase you're wondering, she's already made attempts to look for my real mommy and even for my daddy."
Abby then ran to Yumi and hugged her tightly. "Did I do a good job, auntie? I told the truth like a good girl."
Yumi nodded and hugged the little girl tightly. "Yes, you were a good girl."
The judge cleared his throat and said, "These tapes will be played for the court to see."
A television was brought in and the CDs put into a DVD player. Abby's eyes were covered during the murder scene and while the night Morgan ran away was playing until about five minutes after the end when Morgan's face appeared on film. "My name is Ami Kaze, by the time somebody is watching this then that means that I'm either incapable of talking by either having been discovered and beaten within an inch of my life or I'm dead. You have seen what my bastard father has done to me and unfortunately, you could not see what he has done to my brother because this is a new idea that I am willing to test. If my parents are found not guilty, then I do NOT want my daughter going to either of them. She's done nothing wrong to deserve being treated the way I have been treated since the age of six.
"My father is guilty of drugs, murder, neglect, and abuse. My mother, guilty of knowing about what my father has done but didn't say anything to authorities. She didn't know of the murder, I was forced to clean up the mess and throw the body into a dumpster because my father threatened to tell police that I committed the murder. I couldn't risk him finding out about my daughter but now, I'm sure he knows. So, father, don't you dare touch my daughter or even look at her. She's not of your blood and I thank Kami for that. If my TRUE familiy is watching, be strong cause I'm gonna find a way to come back to you all. That I swear on the anti-virus."
The Lyoko group smiled knowing what Morgan meant in her message since the anti-virus was important. The court, however, had no idea on what Morgan was talking about. "That was a huge swear she made." Aelita said while they were waiting for the jury since after the tapes they had been sent to the debating room (A/N I don't remember what its called so I'm calling it the debating room).
"What did she mean by an anti-virus?" Mr. Sakamoto asked looking at the teenagers.
"Mommy was working on something important." Abby said innocently. "She said that uncle Jeremy had the rest of the key but in order to help a princess, she had to make something important. Something to free the princess and to get rid of the evil that threatened to destroy their very existance."
Mr. Sakamoto looked at Jeremy who made a confused face. "What did she mean?" Jason demanded. "What was my sister working on? Was that why she's in the hospital!"
Jeremy shook his head and answered, "She's not in the hospital because of the anti-virus. Your parents only beat her because she ran away."
"Then what was the anti-virus for?" Mr. Sakamoto asked. "I know the Kitsune family very well, each member is clever in their own way. Ami was very clever in developing different programs and I know for a fact that if she had the right information, she could have created an anti-virus. Now what was it for?"
"My computer." Aelita said quickly. "Somebody planted a virus in it that we couldn't get rid of so she programmed a special anti-virus to destroy the virus. Its main purpose was to go through my computer and destroy any trace of the virus without damaging my computer."
Mr. Sakamoto nodded accepting the story even though he didn't fully believe it. These kids were hiding something that they didn't want to be known. "How long before we know the verdict?" Sakura asked putting her hands on her stomach for the fifteenth time that day.
"Who knows? It could take days or hours." Mr. Sakamoto said. "All we can do now is hope."
"Abby gave the judge some new evidence proving what happened." Odd said. "They should be put away."
After waiting for three hours, they were called back into the courtroom. Ulrich was carrying Abby who had fallen asleep almost half an hour ago and glared when Mr. Kaze looked at them. "All rise." The security guard announced.
Everybody stood up when the judge came into the room and sat down when the jury came in. The security guard took a piece of paper from one of the jury members and gave it to the judge. "Will the defendant please stand?" The judge ordered not really asking as Mr. and Mrs. Kaze stood up next to their lawyer. "The verdict is in. We the jury, find the defendant Mr. Himurei Kaze, guilty of first degree abuse and neglect. We the jury find Mr. Himurei Kaze guilty of first degree murder and assault. We the jury find Mr. Himurei Kaze guilty of illegal drug use. We the jury find Mrs. Yukimara Kaze guilty of assistance in child abuse and neglect and of illegal drug abuse."
The whole court room looked pleased except for Mr. and Mrs. Kaze who were staring at the judge in shock. "My clients wish to plead insanity." The Kaze's lawyer said suddenly.
"Your cleints both appeared to be in their right mind and mental evaluation proved that they are both in their right minds." The judge said calmly. "Mr. Kaze, I am ordering you tosixty years in a maximum security prison with no parolle whatsoever. Mrs. Kaze, I'm ordering you twenty years in a minimum security prison for women for failing to notify authorities about your husband's actions. After fifteen years, you will have the option of parole if you show nothing but good behavior. Guards, take them away."
The group watched as Mr. and Mrs. Kaze were led away. Mrs. Kaze was screaming and begging for mercy which left Jason looking furious. "We won." Yumi whispered looking surprised.
The group was silent for a minute before cheering loudly. Mr. Sakamoto smiled warmly and said, "When Ami wake up, make sure you tell her."
The next day, the group from Japan left for home, each one kinda sad to be leaving behind their new found friends. "Hey, Della Robbia, you take care of my sister and her little girl." Jason threatened looking at Odd who made a surprised face. "Amaya may not be your responsibility yet, but my sister is. You hurt my sister, I'll kill you."
Odd nodded and said, "Believe me, I'll be asking you to kill me."
Jason nodded also and gave Yumi a warning look when he saw her holding onto Ulrich's arm. "Same goes for you, Stern." Jason threatened as he boarded the plane.
"BYE!" Abby said waving to her aunts and uncles happily. "SEE YOU IN THE SUMMER!"
They watched as the plane left once the Japanese group was on board before looking at eachother. "Lets go." Yumi said with a smile. "We can celebrate with a good meal."
lostmoonchild: there's chapter seventeen. I don't really remember how a court case goes since I didn't go to court (I wasn't needed to testify) so I kinda made the court case as accurate as I could remember from seeing cases on TV. Gotta run now, read and review! Flames are accepted as always!