A/N: It's me, DeathAngel-Hikari! Wooh! I got a story up! I know, I know, I should have put this up in the last chapter - the prologue - but I was too lazy to do it.I already got a couple of reviews - did you know 'couple' means 'two'? I got just that - two reviews - but I'm happy!
Natea - Thank you for reading the prologue, and thanks on your comments, especially the one about mywriting style...lol. Anyway, just so you know, I try to make mycharacters act like they'resupposed to, unless there's a valid reason for me to do otherwise. Oh, and about the envelope...you'llfind out in this chapter.
Storm-Of-Insanity - You'll find out what's in the folder inthis chapter, and Kaiwasnot a criminal...yet... Thanks for the review!
Anyway...on with the story!
Chapter 1 – Broken
Takao locked the door and then walked over to his bed, sweeping aside some knickknacks before sitting down. He flipped open the folder and scanned the first page. It was some sort of written oath.
I, Kai Hiwatari, swear that these recordings, which have been told to my social worker, are 100 true and in chronological order. These events occurred over a span of seven years. Also, when the need arises, the precinct may use these as evidence in court, under the provision that my rights, such as withholding of my true name, be observed.
Pretty formal, Takao thought, scanning it again. He took a deep breath before flipping to the next page. He quickly scanned it. The handwriting was tiny, and looked like it had been written like a girl. His eyebrows shot up. He'd seen Kai's handwriting, and it didn't look anything like this.
Just then, he spotted a small footnote in the bottom left corner that said this page was 'recorded by the social worker assigned', which meant it had just been narrated by Kai.
He shook his head, chuckling slightly at how silly he was being. He sat down on his bed and began to read.
It's cold. Well, it's just my head that's cold, but still. I cuddle up under the thick blanket, only to be shaken awake, a familiar hand on my shoulder. I peek out to see my mother.
"Kai," she says, smiling that bright smile of hers. "It's time to get up."
"Mom…" I groan, snuggling back down. "It's not even seven o'clock!"
"Okay. I guess your dad and I will just have to enjoy the beach by ourselves." She turned away. I sprung up out of bed.
"We're going to the beach?" I ask excitedly. I hurl myself at her, hugging her around the legs. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" I had been waiting for this trip since I asked them last week.
She laughs, her face crinkling up. "All right, settle down, little whirlwind," she says, reaching down to pry my arms from around her legs. "Just get ready. I set your trunks out on the small table in your bathroom.
I squeal and race into the bathroom across from my bed.
That was when I was three years old, nearly two years ago. Now I am five years old. It's cold, even colder than last night. I'm sitting on top of my hands at the bottom of step of the cellar stairs. My head is tilted back as I listen to the voices rising and falling upstairs. My back and shoulders are throbbing, but I can't move yet. Mother would hear the steps creaking; she'd know that I moved without her permission. It's like that all the time. I can't move, sleep, or eat without her permission.
Everyday, it's the same. Mother wakes me up from sleeping on the old army cot in the basement. I dress as quickly as possible to catch my dad before he leaves for work, then I perform my first chore of the day: cleaning the kitchen. My mother sits in front of the television the whole time I'm doing this, so I am usually able to steal a piece or two of toast. Not that she notices, but one time I tried eating a little of the leftover sushi from lunch and got punished bad. She locked me in the cellar for two whole days that time. After I perform all my chores, which include cleaning all the rooms in the house, I run to the nearby preschool and steal leftover food from the cafeteria. Of course I do this while The Mother is taking her nap or puttering in her sorry excuse for a garden. But I have to be careful, because if she finds out I've eaten something without her knowledge, she flies into a rage and I receive a beating or two. And finally, in the evening, if I have performed all my chores for the day and if I haven't committed any 'crimes', I may be fed a morsel of food.
Suddenly I hear a tinkle as Mother slams another glass on the countertop. She's been drinking again. I count the seconds – 3…2…1 – until I hear the door open with a creak. Right on schedule, as always.
"Get up here, now!" she shouts hoarsely. She slams the door shut before I can even move from my spot.
I climb the stairs slowly; I'm not in the mood to play one of her 'games', but I have to. Otherwise, she'll do who-knows-what to me.
I open the door and raise my eyes from the floor. My eyes search the room for Father, but he is nowhere in sight. I raise a questioning eyebrow; a costly mistake, I soon learn.
Mother's hand is a blur as it rushes at my face. "You!" she shouts, her face as red as a ripe tomato. "You're the cause of all this!" Her other hand rushes at me, and I brace myself this time for a slap. However, it's not a slap, but a punch. I'm knocked off my feet.
Lying on the floor, I slowly raise my hand. It is the only movement I'm allowed to make before I speak.
"Yes?"
"What…happened?" I ask, staring up into her evil blue eyes. "Where's…Dad?"
"Your father left me!" She shouts back, picking me up by the front of my shirt.
"Huh?"
"Don't you get it?" her voice rises with her anger. "He's gone! That asshole shoved a bunch of papers in my face while you were tending to the garden out back. To make it simple enough for you to understand, boy, we're no longer married, and he's fighting for custody of you!"
Fighting…custody of you… these words fill my head. I try to remember what this would mean for me, but I can't. As if she can read my thoughts, Mother continues her tirade.
"He said he's going to try to get you away from me because, he says, I treat you bad!" She glares at me, her eyes dangerous slits of blue, and I brace myself for another of her beatings.
Unexpectedly, she drops me. Unprepared for the sudden fall, I land hard on my back. A small groan escapes my lips.
I quickly regret that small sound I let escape. I can feel a throbbing in my rib cage; Mother has kicked me.
"Shut up! I didn't give you permission to make any sound, did I?" She hauls me upward again, this time by pulling on my ear. I bite my lip to keep from making another sound. All I can do is wait for her to let go, which she does after what seems an eternity. She glares at me one more time before pointing towards the cellar stairs, the signal that I can go to bed. Of course, I obey. It's what I was trained to do.
Downstairs, I curl up on the army cot in a meek attempt to conserve body heat. I shut my eyes tight to try to stop the tears from coming; if she hears me sobbing, she may punish me more severely.
In a few minutes, I drift off to sleep. That is the only time I can be free and forget who I was and what I have become – Mother's prisoner. It is only at night that I can release myself in my dreams.
I am startled awake by a sharp knock on the door. I jump up and grab my spare change of clothes from the broken table beside the cot. In a few minutes, I am dressed, and I rush upstairs, expecting to see Mother with another list of chores to add to my current ones. Instead, I am greeted by a police officer with rather messy black hair and blue eyes.
"Hello there," he says, bending down to look me in the face. "I'm Hideo. What's your name?"
"I'm…Kai. Kai Hiwatari," I say, my face a puzzled mask. "Why do you want to know?" I ask, peering questioningly up at him.
The officer chuckles as he places a hand on my shoulder. I flinch, but only slightly as I realize that he isn't going to hurt me. "You don't have to be suspicious, Kai. We're here to help you."
"We?"
"I and my colleague, Minoru." He answers, gesturing towards a twenty-something year-old cop with brown hair and bright green eyes. He smiles at me and waves; I wave back.
"Where's Mother?" I ask, my eyes searching for her.
"She's been brought to the precinct downtown." Minoru replies, approaching me. "Meanwhile, we're going to bring you in for a health check, and to introduce you to your social worker."
"What's a 'social worker'?"
"Hmm…" Minoru looks off into space, rubbing his chin. "That's…a real hard one to explain." He looks back at me, a small grin on his face. "Oh, well…I guess you'll just have to find out when you meet her."
The first impression I have of the hospital is that it's big. My eyes must have been the size of saucers for Hideo laughs as he catches me staring up at the building "What, you've never seen a hospital before?" He stoops down to pick me up – I have no idea why he did that. "C'mon, you have an appointment to keep, so you can't dilly-dally.
I begin to feel scared the minute we step into the hospital. The corridors were straight, and it smelled slightly of chemicals and medicine; in fact, there are no hints of danger, but I can't help but feel as though Mother will appear around a corner and take me back; that was the way I'd been brought up. As a result, I wouldn't move until either Hideo or Minoru checked the next corner we'd come to. At first they didn't want to, but they complied in the end; they were going out of their way to be nice to me and make me feel safe, for which I was grateful.
After a few minutes of walking the halls, we arrive at this huge room decorated with various cartoon characters. A nice-looking lady, who had auburn hair and was dressed in white, comes in, takes me into her arms and thanks the officers, who grin at me before they leave. "Kai," Hideo says, looking over his shoulder, "we'll be in the main lobby when they're through with you. We still have to take you to meet your social worker, remember?"
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out, so I just nod. The lady smiles at me.
"What's your name again?" she asks, looking into my eyes. Her voice sounds rather young, and it had a hint of a laugh. "I'm afraid I didn't catch it."
I give my name again, looking about me warily. The lady notices this.
"Don't worry, Kai. You're only here for a check-up, and then you'll be on your way, okay?" she says, smiling that smile. "Now," she adds, walking me over to this steel table. "Please remove all articles of clothing-"
"Huh?"
"Your clothes, Kai." She explains patiently, at the same time moving a small stool closer to the table. I guessed the stool was for me to use. "I need you to take off your clothes – except your underwear, of course – so I can clean you up a bit. The doctor wants you to be a little cleaner so he can notice things that shouldn't be there."
I didn't understand all of what she said, but I do what she asked. In a few minutes I am wearing only my ugly briefs, the ones with a large hole in the side. I think I saw the lady's eyes widen with shock at the sight of me, but it could have been my imagination. Anyway, she turned quickly and walked out of the room, leaving me to climb up onto the table by myself.
I look down at myself. My arms and legs were covered with bruises, faded purple on top of blue and black, marks of where I had been grabbed, punched, and even slammed down on the countertop or on the floor. And then there was the bruise in my side where Mother had kicked me last night, and the stab wound from last year…
At this point, the lady walks back in, holding a sponge. To make a long story short, she 'cleaned me up a bit', as she said she would, and then dressed me in this long white shirt thing, called a 'gown'. After that, she escorted me into the next room, where a doctor was waiting.
After performing what must have been standard procedure in a check-up, he leaned over to the lady – whom I knew by now as a nurse – and gave her some last-minute instructions. The nurse nodded and brought me back into the other room, where she had me dress in some 'new' clothes.
It all happens so fast. Before I know it, I'm out in the lobby, standing next to the policemen again, and clutching a lollipop. I try hard not to squeal; I haven't had a lollipop in years. I quickly unwrap it and start to suck on it. The three adults seem pleased by my reaction.
"Well, here he is," the nurse is saying, patting my shoulder lightly. She's seen the bruises, and she knows which parts are rather tender to the touch. "All dressed and ready to go. You're taking him to meet her now, right?" she asks, her hand moving to ruffle my hair slightly. I pull away from her hand; I don't like having my hair ruffled.
"Yes, of course." Minoru says, smiling down at me.
"We'd better be going," Hideo adds, stooping down to pick me up again. I don't try to stop him, for I feel safe in his arms. "We don't want him to be late."
I wave goodbye to the nurse, who waves back. Soon we are back in the police car and speeding off down the highway. I must have asked a million questions, because, what seems like five minutes later, Minoru is chuckling and trying to climb into the backseat.
"Calm down, little fellow! I can't keep up with all your questions!"
"Sorry." I say, instantly feeling guilty.
"Don't worry about it," Minoru says, pulling me onto his lap. "Anyway, your social worker is a very nice person; I've met her before. So there's no need to feel nervous."
"Okay."
I settle down for the rest of the ride. Soon the steel and concrete gives way to trees and fields; we were out of the city.
"Where are we going?"
"Wakayanagi," Hideo answers, glancing at me through the rear-view mirror. "The social worker lives there. Oh, yeah, you're going to be staying at a foster home for a few weeks, just until we can contact your dad-"
"You know where my dad is?" I scramble into the front seat, excited.
"He left us his contact number. As I was saying, you'll be staying at a foster home for a while until we can tell your dad that you're safe. After that, he'll come and get you."
"The foster home you'll be staying at is more of a facility," Minoru added, leaning forward to get a better look at me. "And it's quite near your social worker's house, so she can visit you more often. That way, if we need to take the issue to court-"
"Court?"
"Someone…with more power has to decide on something regarding your case."
"Oh,"
"Anyway, if need be, we'll have a lot of statements from you, which we will use as evidence against your mother."
"Okay."
The car is silent for several minutes. Just as I begin to wonder what can happen to me over the next few weeks or so, Hideo stops the car.
"Okay, everyone out."
"Why?"
"We're here."
I peer out of the window. It is simple wooden house, one with a front porch. Excited, I hop out and run towards the front door. I barely hear Hideo and Minoru behind me.
I stop just short of the front door. Something stops me from entering abruptly. I look behind me to check if my two new friends are behind me.
Minoru catches up to me first. Smiling down at me – probably to make me feel better – he stretches out an arm and raps sharply on the door.
I hold my breath.
A/N: Okay, everyone, please R&R! Arigatou! Peace out!