Ripples in Red Water

Chapter 2:Shards of the broken mirror

Part 1

The Past Revisited

By: Empathic Soul

Disclaimer: Gravitation is a wonderful anime. It is sadly not mine. This chapter is quite violent, so it might be PG13 and R to an extent. It borders in between.

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It was a large well-furnished Victorian Style house. The very frame of the house painted with sweet colors of white bordered with the freshness of royal blue. Statues of angels framed the stairs leading to the main door opening towards the main interior of the house. There is a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling seemingly appealing to the people as icicles in the Snow Queen's palace.

The people inside were busy working with their duties. Maids were dusting the furniture inside making sure that not a single dust tainted the antique appliances all over the household. The masters of the house were busy doing their own things, particularly greeting a important person and bidding him farewell.

A tall man with blue hair and brown eyes stepped out of the house carrying a suitcase in his right hand as he went to give a beautiful woman with long pink hair reaching to her waist a little peck on the cheeks s he went to his business trip.

He waved towards his three children who are standing on the stairs looking at him with teary eyes. Their eldest one looked a lot like him. His blue eyes and the pair of brown orbs staring at him was like a mirror of how he looked like when he was young. But the father felt always troubled by his Shun's, the eldest, coldness and deadly killer instincts. It has been a while that he got used to it though.

Shun was not that way before, he was a cheerful boy that acted so carefree and did not give a damn about the world. However, over the years, he changed into someone that they never thought he would become. He became cold, barely smiling to anyone except for the youngest in the family. He even barely goes out of his room maybe only to grab something to eat and sometimes to get some fresh hair. The father and the mother never knew what was happening inside his room. They had no thought about what could even be working in the mind of their eldest son. Nevertheless, they thought it was just some phase he was going through in his adolescent life.

And then there's the only daughter in the family. She's an obviously the mixed beauty of both parents. The beautiful wavy pink hair flowing gently on her back with her chocolate brown eyes glistening with unshed tears, she's always the pride of women in their family. She's beautiful and extremely helpful with all the chores in the house. She's sensitive and all the perfect human could be, except that she can be pretty clumsy. Suzu has always been like that ever since he could remember. She could break her own arm due to her carelessness.

Their Dad's eyes shone towards the youngest who seemed to seemingly smiled towards his trip after mouthing a soft "itterashai". That is his youngest, Shuichi. He looked a lot like her mother. His soft pink hair that fell down his eyes and his violet caring eyes that even Suzu did not have.

Shindou Shinji knelt down to his children to say goodbye. Shun simply went inside with a cold, stoic gaze towards his father and slammed the door loudly causing bits and pieces—or even scraps of paint from the wooden door to come flying around in the air.

The father shrugged and saw that Suzu was already crying. He embraced her tightly and whispered words of love and care as she suddenly rushed towards her mother for emotional support—a gentle hug with comforting words. The father smiled at the sight and gazed at the youngest who had a clueless look on his face, merely staring at his crying sister and then giving a questioning gaze towards his father.

The father smiled. Shuichi was cute, a very cute little boy. He knew that Shuichi had always been very keen, observant—sometimes even too smart for his own good. Usually though, he puts on that façade that he's some king of hyperactive, stupid, and idiotic brat—spoiled son of renowned Shindou Shinji. But that was just some mask he tries to put on, or rather the role he prefers to play. He hides himself—deep inside. Shuichi always wanted to bond with other people—so he guessed that being a smart and rich boy would only fail him in getting true friends. They would look at his material wealth—toys according to him—and then they would not even appreciate who he really is.

Smart?

Of course!

Shuichi felt his father staring. He tilted his head to the side and observed his father's gestures carefully. Then he looked at the door and then back to his father.

"Daddy, why did big brother do that?" Shuichi looked at his father with a confused look. "He slammed the door really hard, doesn't he love you at all?"

"He does. It's just his way of showing it." The father assured him, looking straight into the boy's eyes. He placed a hand over his head and nodded slightly.

"Cold love?" Shuichi smiled. "Hehe, that's so cute! Big brother really is a softie isn't he?"

"Softie?" Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Cold love? Interesting term, Shu-chan."

Shuichi smiled…or rather grinned at his father.

"Shuichi…" His father's tone changed into something more serious. "If you were to love someday, how would you show your love?"

Shuichi raised an eyebrow. He looked up at the sky pondering at the idea for a while.

"Odd question…" Shuichi muttered softly then turned back to his father. "Maybe…just maybe daddy, love isn't something that you could explain. It just makes it less…truthful."

Shinji's eyes widened slightly at the mature tone of his son. It was one of Shuichi's traits. He manages to change his attitude in a flash that the receiver of the conversation lacks the time to react. But that's Shuichi.

"You grow up too fast, son." Shinji muttered softly. He ruffled the hair of his youngest and took his luggage.

"Eh?" Shuichi looked confused.

The father merely nodded and kissed him on the forehead. It was then when Shuichi just watched the car's door close, took the keys and turned the engine on. He watched the car speed out of the driveway and never to return.

That was the last place Shindou Shinji was.

Yes, it has been six months since the car accident. Everything in the household had gone wrong. The maids left, and the house seem so empty, so vacant. It was lucky that he business is still running—thanks to thief family friend, Tsuji Akira. He's been the temporary president until one of his sons is worthy to be placed in the position. It will only take a few more months for Shun to be ready to take the position in place of Shindou Shinji. The eldest must be the president.

But that accident did not just take Shindou Shinji's life. It also changed the lives of the rest of the family. Their mother is getting more and more depressed in each passing day. Her refusal to eat has visibly weakened her body to a state of being bedridden. Every single effort to make her eat was futile. She blatantly refused the food being offered to her. Her previously glowing smiles dimmed into a dark frown marring her features. Her vibrant attitude gone—seemed to have followed their father to his grave and it that was just the same to say—their mother is living like she was dead.

The mother they knew was no longer there. She was simply physically present, but there was no mother—not anymore.

And then there's Suzu. She has taken care of everything and this was a lot to ask from her. Being only fifteen years old, it might have been difficult. Her adolescent identity was dictated into her being a mother, a sister, and a daughter. But whenever Shuichi would ask if she wanted help with the chores, she would merely smile and push him out of the house to play. She would claim that she could do it and that she could handle all the things. She always smiled and gave Shuichi the impression that everything would be alright, that everything would be fine—but somehow deep in Shuichi's mind, he knew otherwise.

Despite the loss, Suzu continued to project the image that she already was over the death of their father. She would hum tunes as she prepared their dinner, clean the dishes after every meal, and even while doing their household chores. She even stopped studying so that she would be able to take care of them every single moment in the day. It was only Shuichi that remained studying, which partly depressed her more because of their older brother's rebellious attitude.

Shun became a hermit in his room, coming out only to eat and then go back there. It was like he was hibernating or something. Shuichi knew come of the things in his room. When Shun stopped going to school, Shuichi visited his room once. All he saw was a plain white room, a bed, a drawer for his clothes, and a huge full-body mirror. There was nothing of interest in his older brother's room. There was nothing similar with normal teenagers who had loads of pictures of probably famous rock bands or even famous basketball players.

And then Shuichi of course, whom everyone thought did not have a single care in the world and was dumb to even realize that their father has left the world of the living. But Shuichi wasn't dumb, he pretends to be. He smiles happily and jumps up and down to give the house some life. He knew what everyone was feeling, he felt it. He knew what they were all thinking. He just masked all his knowledge with the opposite—ignorance, and continued to become the lively child of the house.

It was one of those regular days. He went out of the house following the order of his sister to play. He dragged his newly made kite as he made a dash around the yard making the piece of paper glide into the air. He watched the diamond shaped paper float, dancing in an irregular rhythm. Shuichi looked up to the sky wondering what could be happening in other places. He closed his eyes, making himself relax with the wind. He felt his emotions start to wind itself inside him, making him feel heavy. He felt his throat getting tighter as images of his smiling father came to visit him.

He usually cried only in front of his father. He never really got to cry around in front of anyone because he felt ashamed, somehow. He never cried in front of other people because he knew that they would never understand him. Who would? Men that cry always end up with the label of being—weird…weak.

Tears glistened from his eyes as it ended up flowing down to the side of his face. He watched the kite fall back steadily to the ground, wriggling as the wind tried to bring it up. He placed his right arm over his face to cover his eyes and try to stop the tears from falling down. These were the tears that he tried so hard to keep from falling, ever since the moment that they had cremated their father's body and placed it in his final resting place.

That's right. He and his older brother were not crying at all during that incident. Shuichi tried not to cry although he felt like his insides were screaming hard to release all the pent up emotions in his heart and soul. But since his older brother did not even give the effort to comfort their brother and sister, he decided that be would oblige himself to do so. All he did that day was embrace their mother as she wept so hard until she became unconscious and to whisper comforting words to his sister as she tried hard not to breakdown as well.

But that was six months ago, Shuichi even managed to convince himself that his father had been luckier than they are. He had a family, a successful business life, a lot of friends and acquaintances, and most of all, loved by all. Their father is strong and no one can change that. Shuichi made it a point that he would be strong as well, not just physically, he would strong as well in other aspects.

"Dad, I promise you…I'll be strong!" Shuichi whispered to himself as he pulled the kite up and started to run for the paper to regain flight. "I'll protect the people that I love!"

Time had passed since he came out remembering that his sister wished him to be happy. Oh yes, he did pretend to be happy and like usual, they all thought that he DID feel happy. Usually, they would smile at him and then leave him alone—they meaning his sister.

Shuichi did not mind, at least he was the least of their problems. He sang during some days and they would all listen. He would get several responses and their mother would embrace him tightly saying that she was proud of him—but then again that was before the accident happened.

He tied the string attached to the kite in his small stick that he held. He's been in the garden since afternoon and he wanted to go back and try to persuade his sister to let him help in the kitchen. At least he wanted to cook dinner. Their sister is pretty bad at it anyway. He commented once to his older brother that they eat it only because SHE cooked it. But otherwise, even the dogs would run for their lives…

"Hehe, those were the days…" Shuichi snickered to himself remembering how Suzu chased him and Shun around the house for saying that.

He placed his kite in the garage and skipped back to the house. He opened the huge door and looked around.

"I'M HOME!!" He greeted in an awfully loud voice to signal his arrival.

Usually his sister would reply with the faintest "Welcome home" to him from wherever she was, but today there was none. That was to say the least—awfully disturbing, weird…suspicious. He had this strange gut feel and he felt bad about it. But he shrugged it off, pretending not to feel anything at all.

He steadily went towards the kitchen to check if she was there, but she wasn't. He presumed that she would be with their mother. So he hummed himself a song and raced up the stairs. He's a very energetic 14 year old. Childish at some point but very mature at thought…

Weak on the outside

Strong in the inside

That's strength

That's Shuichi!

He trudged his way towards the room of their mother when he suddenly noticed that the room seemed to be empty.

"Now THAT was extremely odd," Shuichi thought.

He passed by the room of his brother and then again there was no one there.

"Okay, that's extremely suspicious, the hermit out of his shell before dinner…hmmm?" Shuichi was beginning to wonder.

But then ignorance was indeed a BLISS!

He ignored it and headed straight to the previously called master's bedroom, the room his mother and father shared before she refused to come there after his death. But he suddenly was placed into a halt when all of a sudden an ear-shattering scream enveloped the entire house. His body shivered at the shrill cry.

Shuichi made a mad dash towards the room worrying about what could be happening inside. He feared that it might have been their mother—having one of her attacks.

"What could be happening!" Shuichi gritted his teeth as he quickened his pace.

When all of a sudden he stopped, rather he was so shocked that he could not move.

He stood there, by the door. His eyes wide with many emotions flashing through them in a single minute—his heart thumping so hard that he felt that he was going deaf.

There inside was the last thing he thought he would ever see in his entire lifetime. He shivered as everything came to register in his mind. Shock was the first thing that happened…

There was blood all over the room. Red crimson decorated the floor acting as a red carpet. The broken body of their mother lay lifelessly on the ground. Her pink hair swam in the ugly semblance of what Shuichi deciphered to be her blood. Her eyes wide with shock and Shuichi knew that she was in pain.

Her pale face looked smothered and beaten up. Bruises mar her entire body—and aside from that he refused to recall any other details. Shuichi knew somehow she was not the one who screamed.

Shuichi turned only to see his so-called brother choking his sister while he held a knife in his right hand. She continued to scream and struggle in his grasp as the other merely stared at her.

The telephone line in the room was roughly pulled from the cord as it lay in ruins on the ground. He looked at his sister who looked back to him with pleading eyes. It was not pleading to be saved, on the contrary, it was pleading for him to run away, as fast as his legs could carry him.

But how?

How could he possibly run away from this?

How could he possibly leave his sister?

How could he leave from this inhuman brutality that is occurring in front of his eyes?

His brother slowly turned to him. And at that instant, he knew that this was not his older brother anymore. HE was someone else. The coldness in his eyes was deep and his breathing was uneven. His shoulders were slouched as he looked straight to the invading person. This man was not the brother he grew up with. He was no longer the person that would carry him on a piggyback ride….

This person…

He is a monster…

YES!!!

A monster!!!

There was no other fitting description. Only a monster would be able to do this…this kind of brutality, animalistic attitude! His brother chuckled dangerously as he saw him by the door, staring at the sight with wide, confused, and unbelieving eyes.

"Okaeri…Chi-chan. Welcome home."

TBC

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