Chapter 21

(Sophia's POV)

Like I'd thought my father was on me the moment we walked through the door. "What are you doing home?! You're supposed to be at school!"

"I'm here to get some stuff, Takeda is here to get some stuff and after your outburst last night I do not trust you alone with him."

"You don't trust me?" He laughs "I am the adult here Sophia, you are my child."

"You're the adult here?!" I toss my keys into the key bowl "Would you please tell me what part of last night was you being an adult?"

"I do not have to justify protecting my daughter."

"Protecting me? You stormed into my place of business, you caused a scene, you yelled at my friends, then you went over and screamed at the only woman who's been doing your job for the last three years! I consider her more of a parent than you!" I toss Kaoru's jacket on the couch and place a hand on my mouth, forcing myself to calm down. I was just making both of us angry. "... Why are you here dad?"

"I want to get to know you; I thought you wanted me in your life."

"So you decide to show up unannounced and expect me to be happy and accepting? To just drop everything to accommodate you? Dad, do you honestly think you're the only person in my life? I mean what the heck were you thinking, you just travel all the way around the country without saying a thing, show up at our house and you expect me to be happy about that?! Dad being an adult is more than just a number, being an adult means being considerate of other people's feelings, other people's lives. I mean you don't talk to me for weeks, and now you just show up on my doorstep."

"It's my doorstep, this is my house!"

"This is a house you haven't been in for three years! I am the one who takes care of this house. That is the one thing you never seem to get! Owning a house, having a family is more than just paying bills or child support! Have you even gone to see Christopher yet?" he looks at the ground "Dad, I love you but you need to understand that you are not my father. You are a man that pays the bills and gets angry at me when I don't do what he says. Kinyou, Kozue, Baki, Takeda, Imori's Grandmother, mom, Kaoru, Christopher. They cared for me, they raised me. They are not just my friends, they are my family. You hold onto my childhood photo dad, expecting her to be me. I'm not four Dad! I'm an adult, I have my own life and you need to accept that you are not the center of mine!" I take his hand firmly my voice painful "I want you in my life but first, you need to learn about it."

"And I suppose you feel the same way?"

I follow his gaze and see Takeda standing in the hallway, my school uniform, undergarments, socks and hairbrush in his hands.

"Leave him out of this! This is exactly what I mean dad! You don't have to shout or snap at people because you're not getting your way! Grow up!"

"Excuse me?!"

"When did I meet Takeda?!"

"A month ago."

"No. I met Takeda four years ago. Where do I go to school?" Silence "what's my favorite color?" Silence "What sport do Takeda I practice every day?" At his silence, I cross my arms "I am not kicking everyone out of my life because you decided to be a 'parent'."

"Sophia..." Takeda chides and I sigh, taking my clothes I walk into the bathroom and shut the door

"What are you doing for work here Dad?"

"The company will set me up with something here."

I slide on my bra and turn, looking in the mirror to do up the clasps "You told me three weeks ago that you couldn't leave your big project. Were you lying to me?"

"No."

I change my underwear "No?"

"It's complicated." I toss on my shirt "You know what?! I don't have to explain my life to you!"

"OH! That's rich!" I grab my skirt "You demand that I make time for you in my life but you can't tell me anything about yours!" I clip the button on my hip, grabbing my scarf and socks "Dad you are such a hypocrite it is exhausting!" I open the door and Takeda was there, he grabs my hairbrush, gently running the comb through my hair as I tie my scarf around my neck and fold down my blue-collar "You are never here! You never wanted to be here!"

Takeda ties my hair in a ponytail as I slide on slide deodorant

"I'm here now!"

"Wow, dad! Only fifteen years too late!" His head snaps to me, anger clear on his face "Don't look at me like that! You have no one to blame for this but yourself!"

He storms past me up the stairs and I hear a door open and slam. The house falls silent for a moment.

"What the hell did you do to my office?!"

"We changed it! We needed that space and you weren't here to use it!"

"Where is my stuff?!"

"We moved it!" I grab my shoes "I will get the stuff and set it up down here when I get home today! Don't touch our stuff! Everything in there is expensive!"

"What am I supposed to do until then!"

I grab my keys out of the bowl and glare up the stairs "WHY DON'T YOU GO VISIT YOUR SON!"

I slam the door shut, following Takeda down the steps and release a muffled shout of anger.

(Marcus's POV)

I walked down the hall, standing by the open door to my son's room. He looked the same as when I'd seen him last. His hair was cut shorter and his nails were trimmed. The gentle air of the room and the removal of years of grime had left his skin looking softer than before. I paused by the door, fighting the urge to run away and finally force myself to go in. I walk around the bed, grabbing one of the chairs and sit down beside the child I'd lost and the man I didn't know.

I run my hand up his arm, turning it gently and see the birthmark on his bicep. Just seeing it made tears come and I tilt my head down, holding onto his hand tightly.

"Oh my boy, I'm so sorry." I sob, my tears wetting the bed below me "I'm so sorry you've been alone all this time. I had no idea you were alive."

I sit up, gently kissing his forehead and hug his face, my hands touching the skin I once knew so well. I still remembered him playing in the backyard, the day he was born. How small he was in my arms and that love that filled me when he opened those blue eyes and smiled for the first time at me. God, how did things turn out this way? How did I promise to protect him from all harm and now found myself helpless to do anything else than sit by his bedside and wait? Wait for a miracle to happen.

I feel my knees buckle, my butt falling back to the chair and I grab his hand and arm, squeezing both of them tightly. The tears fell more as I imagined him lost and afraid, wandering through the forest for years. The scars and wounds on his flesh were extensive, telling me he had gone through hell while he was out there. The people who found him had to sedate him, Christopher put four people in the hospital and disappeared into the bush before they found him again. Some people had claimed he was bigfoot and went looking with camera crews but the cops knew better and within four days he was found, sedated and brought to a hospital. They think he was in a constant state of survival, his body pumping with adrenalin and when the sedatives kicked in and his body relaxed he collapsed from exhaustion. The doctors are amazed his heart didn't give out from the strain.

I hear the door open again and assumed it was one of the nurses. They constantly came in here, switching his IV's and checking his vitals. I was sure they would see the emotional scene and give me some privacy but the sobs die in my throat when a calm voice speaks.

"Family is everything isn't it?"

My eyes snap open, taking in the bed below me and I feel the cold dread of icy death grabbing at my neck. I feel my fingers shake as I slowly lift my head. I wipe my tears away, taking in the face of a man I knew a long time ago. Ryuukou Yanagi.

"I-I-I, You- you" I stutter out, my brain failing to comprehend anything other than fear.

He smiles softly; the action was anything but comforting "Hello Marcus, it's been a long time."

"I-I-I, You are- they told me you were dead!"

"They tried but at least the sweet release of death has alluded me yet again." I step back, knocking the chair against the wall in my haste "I've learned to enjoy life's cruel tricks." At my silence, he smiles "But I returned when I heard you needed my help."

I feel my face twist "H-Help?"

"With your son." He moves to the end of the bed, gently touching one of his feet "Do you think they just found your son? Do you think some could just survive in the wilderness with the wounds he had?"

"Oh dear god..." I whisper, turning away from him to look out the window. My heart was in my chest and my guilt was through the roof "Y-you had my son...?" I glance from him to my son "All this time he's- He's been with you... Why? What do you want?"

He steps forwards and I step back "I still have resources in Japan, Associates," he laughs "Including one in the D.A.'s office." He takes another step forward "I followed the investigation about the crash with interest. The ease in which you lied about us for years, it made me wonder if you'd lied to me."

"No! No!" I try but still step back, feeling my back against the wall "No..."

"It was a matter of a simple surreptitious genetics test to prove my suspicions."

"Don't."

"Imagine my joy when I learned Sophia was my daughter." His hand grabs mine and I feel the flesh twisted painfully "An odd thing when you two told me she had died at birth." I bend my knees, the motion forcing me to the floor in pain "Even Naomi swore to me, saying till her dying breath that she had died."

I look up at him despite my pain "What do you mean Naomi swore –Ahhhhh!"

He smiles darkly, leaning down to whisper in my ear "Do you still believe they died in a car crash...?"

He releases my arm before it breaks and I clutch the limb to my chest painfully

"You killed my wife?" my eyes snap to my son "Oh my god, you did something to my son, didn't you? You bastard we gave you what you wanted!"

"I know you wish I was lying in that cemetery instead of your wife. But now you know how it feels to sit helplessly beside the ones you love. To struggle and pray, hope and beg until you can do nothing more than give up."

My eyes narrow at him "Do you think I'd feel sorry for you? You killed Zero Yanagi, not me. You killed your son; you cannot take my daughter from me."

"She is my daughter!"

"Sophia is innocent; she still believes I'm her father. Please don't take that away from her I'm begging you."

"Sophia is all I have left." He steps close to my face, the deadly aura seeping from his body "If you wish to save your son you will tell her and tell her soon."

(Sophia's POV)

I came into the door as a loud crash echoes in the kitchen "Dad?!"

Takeda and I run to the kitchen, Takeda had his weapons out as did I, the red bars spin once threateningly and I pause seeing my dad spinning around the kitchen

"Dad?" I turn, taking in the large wet stain on the wall and the shattered glass bottle on the floor.

He stumbles again, turning to face us and he stops, his eyes narrowing on us and I notice the red braided handle of the wakizashi Kaoru had given me after I'd been kidnapped. The wakizashi has a blade between 30 and 60 cm (12 and 24 inches), close to the length of a katana.

"Why do you have this in my house?!"

He tosses the blade across the room. It shatters the flower pot on the kitchen table and embeds itself into the wall.

"Dad!"

He cuts me off "I don't want this in my house, Sophia! This is Kaoru's isn't it?!"

Takeda goes to move and I lift my hand to stop him, I then move it down, clicking my weapons into place and speak in a calm careful voice "Yes dad, it was a gift. It gives Kaoru peace of mind but I don't bring it with me, it stays here in our training room."

Had the situation been any different I would have left upstairs to check the damage but I stand still as Takeda hides his weapon in his jacket and places a hand on my back. My father sticks a finger towards me angrily.

"You told me to get to know your life, so why is it every time I learn something about it I wish I hadn't?" He knocks over the basket of bamboo swords dragged into the kitchen and looks at Takeda "So this is what you've been doing?! You've been teaching her, to use things like this?!"

"I asked Takeda to teach me." I bring his eyes back to me "I had already completed three years of kendo training before he even thought about other things. Dad, I use that training for self-defence, that's it. Everything else, all of this," I reach down grabbing a bamboo sword "This is a sport. This is a way for me to relax and burn off energy. It's a way to help me focus and find happiness. That's all. It makes me happy."

"Violence creates more violence."

"Dad."

"When did this start? I never let you do things like this, why are you doing them behind my back?"

"Because I know how you feel about them. Dad, I never meant to lie about this but I'm good. I'm good at this. Takeda says I'm one of his best students. I've won two championships! I have another one in two weeks."

"You also have mid-term exams in three weeks. Do you think you're going to do well on them if you're spending all your time on this?"

"Dad, I've kept my eighty GPA for all of high school. That's two championships and nothing changed. My grades are important to Takeda just as much as they are to you."

"Well you've also been in the hospital more lately, are your grades still okay now?"

"The teachers have given me some lea-way with that."

"Oh, so now your cheating." He tosses his hands up, removing a flask from his jacket "Great." he tosses back another drink "So now my daughters a violent delinquent and a cheater, lovely."

At this Takeda moves, ripping the flask from his hand and grabs him "That's enough Mr. jones, it's time to get you to bed."

"I don't want to go." But Takeda wasn't listening and I watch both of them move down the hall "Get your hands off me!"

"DAD!" I snap "YOU ARE DRUNK! Now that is enough. You've said what you need to say now go to bed and we will talk about this in the morning! Now let Takeda help you, I will not have you breaking more stuff and I can't do it with my stitches." He looks at me and my eyes narrow "GO! I have to clean up your mess."

..
..

I was reaching over grabbing the blade out of the wall when Takeda touches my back. His long arms reach faster, grabbing the handle

"I got it, you should go to bed."

"It's my dad's mess, I can help..." he pauses and my face falls "Please, I don't want to go up there yet." Thankfully he relents "how was the kendo room?"

"Still in one peace. A few things are knocked down but they're okay."

I nod, tossing a dishtowel on the pool of water. I let the towel do the work, mindful of the glass and carefully scoop up the towel.

By the time we get the kitchen cleaned up, it's late and we both fall into the couch, too tired to go upstairs. I pull the blanket off the back of the couch and drape it over us. His arms weren't as large as Kaoru's but I still felt safe.