Chapter 7

"Mommy. Where are you mommy?" Tasuki panted heavily as he ran through the house searching thick and thin for his beloved mother. The tears that were threatening finally began to pour down his five year old face. He was fearful. The idea of being alone surfaced that weakness in him.

"Mommy?" His screams escalated and his wails burst into an uproar. No one was there to calm his sorrow or ease the solitude. He stumbled through the back exit and witnessed a silhouette through his teary eyes. And suddenly everything was black. Darkness shrouded his surroundings except for him and the figure standing before him. He palmed his tears till his eyes were dried and walked towards the person that was unmoving.

"Is that you mommy?" He was now standing right behind the figure. And though he lifted his arm to touch her, the person still seemed so far from his grasp. And though he tried with all his might to get in front of her, the unchanging posture still seemed to evade his sight.

"Don't cry honey. Your mommy will always be here to protect you…" He heard a voice that sounded so soothing and soon the figure was standing right behind him. And soon she was hugging him, in such a warm embrace that can only be classed as a mother's love. His vision forbade him from viewing the face that remained so close to him. Everything seemed so blank and undefined. Maybe it was a design that was shaped from his confusion and self doubt.

"Tasuki!"

He searched for the voice that was calling out to him. But what he saw stirred up such fear and bewilderment. He wondered if his sight had betrayed him as he stared at the full woman, his mother, standing straight ahead of him. "Mom…?"

"No, I'm you're mother! He almost forgot about the figure standing behind him. And soon the warm embrace began to suffocate him and the person's features came into light. He was scared. The face that took shape was the same as the one that stood far before him. And he stood frozen in puzzlement wondering which one was the imposter.

"Mom?" He grasped with his arms outstretched knowing that he'll never be able to reach. As the life poured out of him from his mother's suffocating embrace, he knew the woman behind him was trying to silence him. He was witnessing the past and the future in action right before his eyes, two completely different women one of which as a child he had deeply loved.

"Tasuki… tasuki… tasuki… just know that I will never completely abandon you… my son…"

"Mom…!"

"Silence!"

"Tasuki…"

"Mommy…!"

"Tasuki!"

Tasuki suddenly opened his eyes, startled by the light illuminating the space around him. Tears dampened his cheeks as he tried to gain focus on his immediate surroundings. He soon came to realize that he had only been dreaming; the same dream that had plagued him for the past ten years. And every time it consumed him he would wake up wondering if he had truly missed his mother's love that much. If only he could turn back the hands of time to when he was just a young lad.

He rubbed at his eyes and only then noticed the figure sitting in front of him. It was Mitsuki. Reality now dawned on him. He was back in his room, laying on his futon, surrounded by dread and fear.

He shifted his left arm to adjust his posture only to realize that it was taped in bandages and the pain that pierced through was so immense. He had no memory of what had happened and he turned to question Mitsuki in reluctance. "What happened to me?"

She could not face him. Instead she stared at the floor and the soiled clothing that littered the area around him. He followed the path of her stare and noticed the blood stained cloths beside him. He hadn't noticed it before but the bandages on his arm were stained as well. And soon bits and pieces of last night came flooding back to him. He motioned himself to sit up but found himself to be too weak to complete the action.

"When we found you," Mitsuki suddenly replied. "You were almost dead." That last word of her speech broke only as a whisper.

Tasuki sighed heavily and a lonely tear trickled down the side of his face. He remembered.

"You were lying in a pool of blood," she continued "Your arm was slit in so many places, almost beyond repair…"

"You guys should have left me then," Tasuki intruded. "Death would have been a more suitable comfort to me compared to living in this unrelenting nightmare.

The bloody blade was still lying right next to him. It was his treasured accomplice that fulfilled his wish from last night. He remembered slashing wounds so deep and the blood that followed squirting. He remembered the bliss he felt knowing he was given a final chance to escape his inner pain. He thought about reaching for the weapon again but before his hand could reach Mitsuki soon stopped him. The stare he gave her was so cold that she could not help but shy her gaze away. But she never once let go of him. She kept a grip on his wrist that she refused to free. He laid there in annoyance knowing he was too weak to fight with her.

"Let me be!" he screamed. But she ignored his resistance. She knew not for what reason she was trying to save him. Maybe it was for penitence for the misery she had bestowed.

It was no longer about her anymore but more so for the being that was growing inside her. She longed so much to tell him but her racing heart would not dear. She struggled to calm her emotions.

Tasuki eventually ended his battle and he remained still on the futon beside her. He felt so defeated and whatever reason he sought out for living never came. He cried and he cried and neither did any form of comfort soothe him. "Mommy," he whispered. He wished again that things could have been different.

"Tasuki," Mitsuki released his wrist and beckoned his attention. "I have someone waiting outside, beyond the bushes for you."

He refused to look at her.

"You were out for over eighteen hours and while you were unconscious a young man came by seeking you. He called himself Kouji when I asked him his name."

He turned his head to face her as the name grabbed his attention. He lay there in bewilderment wondering if it was one of her sick games. But not one smirk did she give as she continued to look at him seriously.

"I asked him to rescue you tonight," she continued, "To take you away from this place, my atonement for your many years of despair." Tasuki could not believe the words he was hearing. His tears were soon soaked with joy as he palmed at his face.

That night as the stars reigned down upon them, Mitsuki did the unthinkable and aided in her brother's escape. Though a part of her felt remorse for the pain she had put him through, her true intentions remained nothing but a selfish act. The secret she kept had to remain untold. Tasuki's presence only served to jeopardize her relationship with her mother. For if she found out that the child she carried was seeded by him, death – Tasuki's means of escape- would surely be her own.

B r e a k

A/N: Thank you guys so much for reviewing. I had one hell of a writer's block over the past week. I tried my best over the past few chapters to put a lot of emotion into what Tasuki was feeling. It is something that I'm not really great at, I must confess. Trying to put yourself in the shoes of someone who has been abused when you never experienced it yourself is so hard. I hope I came close enough in my descriptions. If I don't experience writer's block again, I'll update with the next chapter sooner…