Chapter 1
Do I have to go home?
It was a beautiful, sunny, and pleasantly warm day. The breeze was strong enough to rustle some fallen leaves on the ground and blow them past the two young girls walking home from school. Each dressed smartly in their school uniforms, the girls were a picture of youth, naiveté, and beauty. Misao, the shorter and louder of the two girls, was a ball of energy. Her smile and electric personality could lighten anyone's gloomy mood and she was a constant reminder of why we all love our best friends in the first place! Kaoru, the taller of the two was as beautiful as she was innocent. Never the one to pass someone by in need, her big blue eyes radiated warmth and humility. Her hair was always the same, tied up in a simple pony tail and held in place by a single ribbon. All the other students could never understand why Kaoru wouldn't let her silky, beautiful hair down at least sometimes. When Misao wanted to torture her friend, or simply jolt her out of one of her silent, gloomy moods, she would suddenly pull one end of the ribbon, causing Kaoru's midnight tresses to tumble down her back and around her delicate face. Of course this only helped to fuel Kaoru's explosive temper, and Misao would find herself being smacked suddenly upside her head, while Kaoru would try to quickly retain her hair back into her ponytail.
Despite it all, Kaoru loved the company of her best friend, and valued their short walks to and from school. The girls had known each other for a long time and were practically joined at the hip. The entire student body thought that they were sisters, or cousins, or somehow related, because they were so alike and attune to one another. Kaoru's pleasant and approachable personality won her many friends and admirers, but her shy nature only allowed her to open to Misao. Kaoru wondered who she could ever talk to about everything if she didn't know Misao. How grateful she was for her friend!
"So Kaoru, do you want to come over to my house later? We could do some assignments together and then just hang out?" Misao asked.
"Ah…sorry Misao, dad's acting up again, and I don't want to leave Mom home alone with him" Kaoru solemnly answered. Although she wished with every fiber of her soul that she could just go over to Misao's home! The family was always so welcoming and friendly of Kaoru, that she never felt out of place or awkward.
"Oh, sorry to hear that Kaoru. Hey! How come you didn't tell me this is happening again!" Misao asked a bit angrily, but more hurt. Her friend always told her everything, and keeping secrets from each other was not expected…no matter what!
Sigh "Sorry Misao, you know it's nothing I really like talking about. Besides he starts his shit practically every other month, you'd never be able to keep up with his crap. I'd rather not even think about it". But how couldn't she think about it? She was heading back to that hell-hole house of hers! What would she find broken and shattered this time? Furniture? Bottles? Dishes? 'That monster had better not have hit Mom again' she thought.
Misao noticed her friend deep in thought and the worried expression on her face, so she decided not to push on with the topic. Besides her turn was coming up in the road and she knew it was time to bid farewell to her friend until the next morning.
"Well then, give me a call later if you can girly. And if anything happens, please don't be afraid to call me. Promise?" -she asked turning to her friend.
"I promise Misao…thanks" the girl replied smiling graciously.
"Okay! Till tomorrow then, see-yah!"- and the ball of energy was off, practically skipping down the road that lead towards her happy home.
Kaoru stood there momentarily looking at her friend walking away and wondered to herself, 'I wonder what it's like to be happy to go home for once?'
She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and began walking towards her own home only she set a slower pace this time. She was in no hurry!
'God, I don't wanna go home! Damit why can't we be like everyone else, and have a normal family. Why does this shit happen to us? Argh...' She could just imagine her gloomy home as she would walk through it in a few minutes. It would be dark, and smell of throw-up as usual. Her mother tried her very best to keep the small place neat and orderly, but 'that damn man could never keep it that way. He always ruins everything for us. Why? What did we ever do to deserve this?'
"Shit, do I have to go home?" she mumbled as she slid her key in the lock.
Kaoru thought of all the times she walked through the doors and found her father sitting alone in the darkened living room. He only looked up only momentarily to observe her pass the room's door as she made her way straight towards the back of the small apartment to the bedroom. She would never know what to expect opening that wooden door to the room. Sometimes it'd be her Mom, asleep, trying to rest for her night shift at the restaurant. Sometimes, she'd be just sitting there against the wall, crouched on the floor crying. There would be cosmetics bottles smashed on the floor, the contents staining the walls. Kaoru hated seeing her mother cry, but her mother always insisted that Kaoru and her younger never let their situation break them. Kaoru remembered her mother always saying 'don't cry, don't you two cry. You two are stronger than this and you'll have better lives for yourselves. Be strong and know that I love you no matter what'. She would always go next to her and ask her mom 'What happened Mom, did he hit you again?' As if she needed to ask. Of course he had hit her. Her eyes blackened, or lips split, or bruises on her arms. He had even cut her once, causing a horrible scar on her mother arm. 'You're a fucking MONSTER' she had yelled to him. Her sweet, beautiful mother, what did she do to deserve a man like this?
For as long as Kaoru could remember her family was like this. Her father, a distant, troubled man who drowned whatever pain he had in alcohol. No one knew why. He had a beautiful, gracious, and dutiful wife. A daughter that as smart as she was beautiful, and a son who had a heart of gold. But he still drank. He drank night and day and Kaoru wasn't even sure if her father knew what day it was. It was always darkness to him. He would hide in the darkness of the living room and take his drinks quietly not wanting anyone to disturb him. His still loving and caring wife would try her best to have her husband eat even a morsel of food so he wouldn't drink and starve himself to oblivion. He would take a few bites, and order her away.
"Leave me alone damnit, I want to be alone! Turn off that fucking light, it's hurting my eyes!" he would spit at her, barely able to open his bloodshot eyes.
'He always wants to be alone, maybe he hates us?' Kaoru would reason. 'Why else would a man not even want to see his wife and kids?'
Kaoru would dutifully complete all her assignments for school, help her younger brother Yahiko finish his work, and check it over for him.
She adored her younger brother, and although they fought likes cats and dogs at times, they were close! She wouldn't tolerate any of the older boys trying to push him around, but he would always tell her to stay out it.
Kaoru's mom worked not too far from their home, and would thankfully walk to work while it was still day out. Kaoru always looked out for everyone she loved dearly and worried when her mother would step out for work. She was a manager at a local restaurant and her salary was enough to sustain the family of four. They weren't on the streets, but they weren't exactly in the lap of luxury.
After completing her work for the evening, Kaoru would fix two plates of food, and she and Yahiko would quietly eat while watching the small television in the room. Since they all practically shared the room with each other, Kaoru managed to get her own bed in one corner of the room. Her mother and Yahiko would sleep in another, larger, bed against the other corner of room. It was small, but she never felt cramped.
As night approached Kaoru would always be worried about if her father would stumble into the room asking, and demanding, money for booze.
'We don't have any money dad' they would plead, just wishing he would shut up and go away.
'Call your mother at work damnit. That bitch is always hiding MY money from ME. Who does she think she is? How dare she treat ME like a dog!' he would order.
Sigh. She lay down to sleep. Looking up at the ceiling she would imagine herself somewhere else. Closing her eyes, she would imagine a happier version of her life. Not with clothes, or cars, or anything like that, but with a loving family.
Slowly she started to surrender to sleep. 'I guess he won't bother us tonight. Maybe mom already gave him money before she left. Or maybe he's passed out. Or maybe…he's dead'.
End Chapter 1
So how did you guys like it? Please send your reviews. I look forward to reading them. I know it's going a bit slowly, and I can already imagine some of you going "where is Kenshin? Sano? Megumi?" Well no worries, they're coming! I wanted to slowly unravel the hardships of Kaoru and her family. The rest of the story and basically her personality depends on her hardships as a child. I promise to pick up the pace a bit, and that's mainly why I left out the obvious details, such as describing Misao or Yahiko any further.
