Thanks for the reviews and for still sticking with the story after this long an update. Double thanks to new reviewers. To anyone who gets confused, this chapter starts one day after chapter one, and five days before chapter three.
"Local tutor and university professor's assistant and wife Hirumi Chono was attacked last night by an unknown assailant. There were no witnesses, and her husband hadn't seen the attack, so not much is known on this case, or will be, until Hirumi wakes up. In other news-,"
"Oh no!" The cry that interrupted the news casters voice belonged to a young girl with her hair tied back into a pony tail. The rest of it was brushed flat, but other then that, had no particular style.
"What is it Yamiaka?" asked a women with long brown hair as she walked out of the kitchen connected to the living room. "Did something happen?"
"This!" Yamiaka Owaki said with a depressed tone lingering in her voice. She motioned towards the TV. "Mrs. Chono was attacked!" The women's face turned into an upset one that matched her daughters.
"Mrs. Chono? Your tutor?" asked the women. "What happened?"
"All the people know is that she was attacked late last night!"
"Poor Hirumi," sighed the women. "I know! We can bring her the cake I was making for dessert tonight! That way when she wakes up, she has a little treat!" Yamiaka smiled.
"Great idea, mom! When can we bring it to her?" exclaimed Yamiaka.
"How about tomorrow, after you get back from school?" suggested Yamiaka's mother.
Yamiaka smiled. "Your the best, mom,"
The TV news reporter continued his report, and the TV cast light onto the book shelf behind the blue couch. Yamiaka's father enjoyed reading and was a psychologist, so he had purchased a large number of books on the human mind. Yamiaka scanned a few titles. Human Emotion, Mentality, Escaping from Stress, Attacking Your Problems, didn't her dad ever buy anything interesting?
MENTALITY ESCAPE
It didn't matter. Yamiaka knew that tomorrow was going to be one of the best days she ever had.
Yamiaka stared at the hands of the clock, anxiously awaiting the end of the school day. In only five more minutes, she would be able to bring that cake to Mrs.Chono. Her eyes were wide in excitement.
"Hurry up!" she whispered towards the clock.
"Don't forget you have a test tomorrow!" shouted the teacher as the bell for dismissal echoed through the school. Yamiaka was the first one out of the school. As she was walking away, a couple of friends called her, but she was too anxious to get home to do much more then wave. Her messenger bag flapped in the wind as she ran.
"Nothing can spoil this day!" Yamiaka said gleefully.
Two gunshots echoed through the air. A double barreled shotgun had smoke lifting gently from the front of it. The shooter had been pushed back into the wall from the force of the shot as he stared at the bloody mess in front of them.
"Why..." began the shooter. "What did I do?" The man began to panic. He grabbed the pile of money lying in front of the bodies and stuffed it into his pocket. "If I hide the bodies, it'll take cops a little while to realize it..." he stammered.
He leaned over the bodies, and tried to think.
Yamiaka skipped gleefully back to her house. It was nice that her parents found a small little house on the edge of the city. It was extremely hard to find a single family these days. Yamiaka liked it more then an apartment building though. It was quieter.
Usually, she would have gotten a ride home from school, but she had to walk today because her mom was busy packaging the cake, and her dad would just have gotten home a little while ago. It was alright though. Today she got to give Mrs. Chono the cake!
Yamiaka skipped up the front steps of the house, and pushed open the door.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Yamiaka shouted. Her eyes wandered around the small house. Confused, she walked into the kitchen.
"Are you two hiding?" she asked. "Come on now! We have to bring-," she stopped as she stared at the pantry door. It wasn't closed all of the way. Her mother always made sure it was closed.
"That hiding spot is so obvious!" she grinned. She walked over to the pantry. With her eyes closed, and her face spread into a wide grin, she threw open the door.
"Hello!" Yamiaka was greeted only with silence. She opened her eyes. A loud screech echoed through the otherwise silent air. Yamiaka fell onto her butt, and slid herself away from the blood covered pantry as she screamed again.
Her mother's hand, which had been resting on the closed door fell to the ground. Yamiaka screamed for a third time. On the counter, a few feet behind the scene, was a cake with white frosting. Written in red gel, was Get Well Soon, Mrs. Ch. Splattered in different spots were blood stains.
An alarm clock sounded.
It was the usual beeping. After about six beeps, Yamiaka rolled over and turned it off. She groaned, and rubbed her eyes.
"Yamiaka! Are you ready for school?" called a voice from the kitchen.
"Just getting up mom, give me about five minutes," Yamiaka responded.
Keeping to her word, Yamiaka was up and dressed for school in five or six minutes, and sat down at the table in the kitchen as a women at the counter continued to do whatever it was she was doing.
"So, what's for breakfast, mom?" Yamiaka asked. The women turned around, and there stared the brown haired, gentle face of Yamiaka's mother.
"We only have time for cold cereal. You slept in this morning." The women put on a mock-scolding voice, and shook her finger. Yamiaka laughed.
"Sorry," Yamiaka said. She ate her cereal for a while, before lifting her head to stare at her mother. "Did dad already leave for work?"
"Yes," responded her mother as she picked up the freshly emptied bowl from in front of Yamiaka. "But he told me to say 'have a nice day' for him. Now come on! Time for school. Grab your bag. I'll drive you today."
"Thanks for the ride back, mom," said Yamiaka. "Can we play a board game now?"
"How about after diner?" suggested Mrs. Owaki. "I'm making teriyaki!"
"Alright!" shouted Yamiaka. "I can't wait until dad gets home!"
Mrs. Owaki smiled, as Yamiaka ran up the steps of her house, and into her bedroom. "I'm just gonna take a quick nap, know," said Yamiaka, and closed her door. She quickly jumped into her bed, and fell asleep.
Yamiaka.
Yamiaka stirred in her sleep.
Yamiaka, It's us, mom and dad.
Yamiaka nodded slightly. And continued to let the voices talk.
Yamiaka, we're dead.
An alarm sounded. Yamiaka groaned, and reached over to turn it off. She sat up in bed.
"I must've fallen asleep for the night when I took that nap," Yamiaka said to herself.
"Yamiaka!" shouted a voice. "Breakfast!"
After hearing her stomach growl, she decided to respond immediately. Hoping out of bed, she walked on the cold wooden floor towards the kitchen.
"Hurry up and eat," said Mrs. Owaki. "I'll drive you again."
After breakfast, Yamiaka went out to the car, and waited for her mom, to start the car. Today was going to be another great day.
A man was walking down the sidewalk, muttering to himself.
"Walk to work this way. It'll be faster!" he said mockingly. He stopped to check his watch. "Great! Eleven thirty," He scowled, and continued to walk, but stopped as something caught his eye. A young girl was just sitting in the back seat of a car. She looked like she'd been sitting there for a while. She checked what the man assumed was a watch, and then began rummaging through her bag for something. Intrigued, the man took a few steps closer.
Through the open window, he could hear the young girl saying, "Let's see," as she clicked open a lunch box. "Oh, peanut butter and jelly again?" The girl seemed to notice he was staring at her, because she then raised her hand.
"Teacher! There's a strange man watching me from outside the school!"
The man stared harder. Did she just say that the car was her school?
"Now, we can't have that, now can we?" said the girl, throwing her voice so it sounded deeper. She looked at the man.
"Go away! Now, or I'll call the police!" The man backed up a few paces. "There, Yamiaka, He's gone. Enjoy your lunch."
The man just stared as she ate her lunch, and through the trash on the floor. He was so confused by her actions, that he waited for her go back to staring blankly at the windshield of the car before he called the police.
"Welcome to your new home Yamiaka!" exclaimed an energetic voice. For a woman of forty, her aunt had a lot of pep. "Follow me to your room!"
Yamiaka obeyed and followed her aunt up a long flight of stairs, and down a long hallway. A dim light flickered over the door to Yamiaka's new room. It quickly burnt out, and Yamiaka felt like her happiness had gone with it.
As the door creaked open, her aunt muttered something about her no good husband not oiling the doors like he said, before leading her towards a bed that looked like it belonged in a retirement home, and sitting down on it with Yamiaka.
"I know this has to be a tough time for you," began her Aunt, but Yamiaka had tuned her out. She waited for the clicking sound of the door as her aunt left before falling onto her side, and staring blankly at the bare wall in front of her view.
"How did it come to this?" she asked herself.
Yamiaka stepped out onto her front porch as the sound of sirens came her way. Her mom had already turned away one before, so why were they back now? She watched in confusion as one stepped out of the cruiser.
"Talk to the girl," he barked at the other police officer as he stepped out into the setting sun. "I'm going to check out the house,"
"What are you doing?" asked Yamiaka as the officer walked up to her house. Another one went up to her, and asked her about why she was sitting in the car all day today. She wasn't really listening as she watched the other officer inspect her house. It was when he walked into the kitchen that Yamiaka repeated herself.
"What are you doing?" asked Yamiaka.
"Oh my god!" shouted the officer. He walked up to the clean counter and stared at it for about five minutes with his hand over his mouth before seeming to notice a vile smell.
"Where is that coming from?" the officer asked no one. He looked at the pantry.
"What are you doing!" Yamiaka said more urgently. "Get away from there! Mommy, do something!"
Yamiaka stared as her mother just smiled. The officer reached for the pantry door and pried it open.
"Stop!" Howled Yamiaka, running up to the officer. "Mommy said never to open the pantry!"
Too late.
The door opened, and door bodies fell out. Yamiaka screamed for a minute, before looking around. The house was a mess. Bowls full of sour milk sat at the spot where Yamiaka always ate. On the counter was a blood-stained cake that was for Mrs. Chono.
Yamiaka screamed again, as an ambulance siren echoed through the air
Yamiaka sat up in the bed as she remembered the events of the past few days.
Yamiaka sat in a chair, holding a teddy bear. The psychiatrist talked to her aunt and uncle.
"She didn't accept their deaths when she first saw their bodies, and her mind created an entire fantasy world for her. It's quite common in young children in this sort of case."
A group of kids who looked around thirteen walked into the hospital. They seemed strangely out of place in the clean halls as they approached the front counter.
"We'd like to visit Yuichi Tayra, please. What room is he in?" asked one of the boys.
"I guess it's alright. The doctor said he's allowed visitors. I don't think you'll get much of a response though…" The nurse drifted off. She shook her head. "His room number is 207. Just take the elevator to the second floor, and head left."
The group followed the directions given, and reached Yuichi's room. They stared at him for a little while, before one of the girls began to cry.
"We should have been nicer to him!" she wailed.
"I guess you right," responded a boy. "Those rumors might have helped this happen." They sat there for a little while, before leaving Yuichi's comatose body alone in the sterile room.
Yamiaka stood up, and walked out of her room as her aunt called her.
"Yamiaka! Dinner!" she screeched again as Yamiaka walked into the all white living room. "I made my special spaghetti in honor of your first night her! Right, dear?"
Her uncle grunted, and continued shoveling food in his mouth. "Here you go dear," said her aunt, handing her a plate of greasy spaghetti. Some of the grease must have been on the side of the plate, because all Yamiaka felt as she touched the plate was her fingers sliding off of it.
As the mess stained the carpet, her aunt just stared at her for a while before saying, "You clumsy little bitch!"
"Why to screw things up!" shouted the enormous blob that was her uncle. "Now get the paper towels from the kitchen, clean this mess up, and go to bed without dinner!"
Yamiaka ran up to her room crying an hour later. She tried flicking on the light but all she got was darkness. How did her life get this horrible in only a week? She jumped onto the bed, and began to cry even harder.
Yamiaka's new school required uniforms. All she saw when she got up was a crumpled up pile of cloths in her room, and a pair of sneakers. They obviously believed she was walking to school.
Half an hour late, Yamiaka showed up at school.
"Why are you late?" demanded the teacher.
"I got up in plenty of time, but I had to walk all the way down here and-!" Yamiaka was cut off by the teacher, who immediately took a superior tone, and yelled at her.
"Young lady! We do not tolerate liars in this school! Take your seat next to Kiya over there!"
Yamiaka put her head down, and walked over to her seat as the class laughed at her. The girl who she sat next to, Kiya, smiled at her.
"Let's be friends!" she said with a grin.
"Really?" exclaimed Yamiaka. The entire class laughed even harder.
"As if Kiya would be friends with a loser like you!" some kid shouted.
"What happened to your hair?" exclaimed a girl. The entire class laughed even harder, and even Kiya joined in this time.
Yamiaka ran home, and pushed open the front door.
"Watch where you're going, Bitch!" shouted her uncle. Yamiaka just stared before running up to her room.
Yamiaka stared at Kiya out in the school yard. Kiya just smiled and said, "Butcher Cut," as she pointed to Yamiaka's hair.
Yamiaka stared at her aunt.
"You little bitch,"
Kiya just laughed at Yamiaka's hat. Then she smiled and said, "Loser."
Yamiaka came out of her room at night, and looked around for signs of her aunt or uncle, before realizing they were in the living room. She quietly stepped down the stairs, praying they wouldn't hear her, but she would be so lucky.
"You are going to take our plates from dinner, and clean them. Do a good enough job, and I'll think about letting you have some cold pizza," growled her uncle.
Yamiaka sighed, and walked over to the plates. She hadn't even had them for five minutes before she dropped them. Her aunt made another greasy dinner. She turned around as she heard her uncle's snorts of fury. Yamiaka tried to sprint away, but her uncle had her by the arm before she could even reach the stairs.
"Where do you think your going, bitch!" hollered her uncle. "You pathetic excuse for a life! You'll pay for breaking that china!"
It was over in a second, and Yamiaka didn't even feel it right away. It took a while for the sting of the backhand to affect her. She stood up, and ran out of the house.
"Get back here!" yelled her Aunt.
"All I want is a family who cares about me!" cried Yamiaka. "Why? Help me!" she hollered.
The sound of skates raced towards her. Yamiaka saw a flashing grin of teeth before cold metal struck her in the head.
A couple walked into a tall building. They just watched the children playing behind the glass wall for a while before someone who worked their walked in.
"Looking to adopt?" asked the fat women who approached them.
"Yes," answered the wife.
"You do know the amount of love a mentally challenged child requires, right?" the fat women inquired, and the couple nodded. "Great. In that case, let's go meet the children,"
As they walked around to the door, Yamiaka Owaki stared at them from behind the glass.
Okay! Another chapter down! There will be one more filler chapter, and then number six will continue the actual plot line involving Tsukiko. Thanks for reading! Please review.