The small child lay shivering under the sheets of her make-shift bed for the night. Her large blue eyes were wide awake and she was crying. Her raven hair was delicately tied up in a silk ribbon that matched her eyes and lay knotted on the tear stained pillow. As the flaming tears rolled down her gentle cheeks, she lay there, trying her best to stay still. But the noises coming from the next room kept her scared, trembling, and awake.
She had been sleeping there, silently on the couch of her family's meager one-bedroom apartment, and all of a sudden she heard a familiar noise. Her mother's crying and pleading from the next room. Slowly the child rose from under her covers and gently started creeping out of the room and towards the noises. Before exiting the dark room, she looked over to her younger brother who lay silently under his sheets. He was deep in sleep and obviously wasn't wakened by the muffled noises and shrieks coming from the adjacent bedroom. She was scared, and wanted someone to hold onto, but she didn't want to scare her baby brother so she silently crept past him.
No more than 6 years of age, she found herself imagining her worst nightmares coming to life, but her will kept her feet moving towards her mother's cries of pain. Could she help her? She didn't know, but she wouldn't lay there listening to the pain in her mother's voice, trying to ignore it.
Her little body was torn between the fear in her mind and the aching of her mother's cries of pain that wrenched her heart. Slowly she crept out of the small dark living room where she had laid down to sleep on the old couch. The room was dark, and she had to wait a few seconds before her eyes could adjust to the dark. Still crying, and wiping the tears from her face, she began to walk. She didn't know why she crept so stealthily except for the fact that she was terrified of what she would find. Carefully, silently and without a cry for her mother, she kept walking. The entire house was dark, except for the hallway light, which she used to not bump into the furniture. Her soft feet were stinging from the cold floor beneath her, but she kept walking towards the noises. Her heart was swollen with fear but the fear for her mother overpowered her and she kept moving.
As she got closer to the small bedroom, she noticed the door was slightly drawn closed, but it wasn't shut or locked. Her heart pounding in her chest, she reached out with all her strength and nudged open the feeble wooden door and as it creaked from its hinges she quietly said, before even really looking, "Mommy?" Her voice was caught her throat and yet still made past her lips as a whisper. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, and she gasped in horror, shock, and confusion. The sight in front of her shook her to the very core, as her navy eyes widened in terror. Her mother was on the bed, naked, while her belligerently drunk father was standing over her, choking her. Both his large hands were wrapped around her mother's fragile neck and the demonic expression on his face horrified the child. Her mother's face was pale and even in the dark room, the child could see the expression of terror twisted in her mother's features as she looked up to her husband, pleading with him to let her go. Choking and gasping for air, she was crying and violently gagging for her next breath. As the child had called out her mother, she now stood frozen in shock while her father, startled by his young daughter's entrance, quickly let go of his wife. The woman grabbed her clothing, crying and scared, and without a single glance towards her daughter, she ran passed her and into the bathroom to dress.
Finding herself alone with the terrifying man in front of her the child ran out of the room. Not knowing where to shelter herself, she did the only thing she could. She ran to the only place that felt warm and safe enough. She ran back to her "bed" and hid under the covers. Sobbing she began to pray. She prayed silently in her head and turned her back to the entrance of the room burying her face into the couch. She heard footsteps creeping towards the room, towards her, but knew it wasn't her mother. She prayed harder, covering her little mouth with her tiny hands so that her sobbing wouldn't escape her lips to be heard by the tyrant now making his way to her. 'Maybe he didn't see me, maybe if I lie here quietly he'll go away…please go away…please don't hurt me or my mommy…please God help us…where are you God? Why do you let this happen to us?' She pleaded over and over again in her mind, the tears beginning to again stain her face as she tried her best to bury herself under the sheets and push herself into the couch. Maybe she could disappear from this world? Maybe she could be somewhere else? But no, she was in that dark and the painfully silent room, scared as the footsteps crept closer. 'Where's mommy? Why won't she come out and help me?' She dared not utter a sound except for the muffled sobs that managed to escape her lips. She felt the presence in the doorway of the living room, feeling his intense gaze on her small back and head. She was too scared to turn towards her father but mentally she pleaded with him. 'Daddy, please I'm sorry' she thought, 'Please go away, I won't tell anyone, I swear. God please help me'. Slowly, as if someone had answered her pleads, the figure retreated. She heard the footsteps head back towards the bedroom and finally everything fell silent once more.
Eventually the tears subsided and she once again fell asleep, her dreams taking her far away from the heartbreaking situation of her family.
End Prologue
Hi, please be so kind as to review this. It's my first fanfic ever, and I am so excited about it! I've written several other short stories, but this is my first with these wonderful characters! It's not entirely in keeping with the setting and time of the Rouroni Kenshin series as you can plainly read, but I love the characters and wanted set them in a modern, urban environment. Of course I wanted to keep the character's mentalities relatively the same, hence why Kaoru was depicted to be as brave even as a small child. I know some you will hate the fact that I made her father an abusive, alcoholic, but trust me, it's got potential, and I won't let you guys down!
Also, I know this was pretty short, but the 'inspiration' just sort of came to me all at once and I was inclined to write it this way. I love details, much like Hemmingway wrote, but Of course there will be more chapters up shortly, but I could use some feedback from you guys!
Arrigato mina-san!
