I've been updating rather fast in comparison to most stories...maybe it's because I have more time due to the epidemic. Or maybe I'm just really in a good mood for writing. Anywho, onto the chapter.

Chapter 2 : Chances Thrown, Nothing's Free

January 19, 2006

"They've got to be around somewhere…" a brunet seventeen year old young man muttered as he opened the cabinet in the bathroom. Narrowing his chocolate-colored eyes, he searched around for the compress, all the while cursing in his mind at the lot of his life. Sitting on the closed toilet, was a fourteen year old girl, her dark brown hair cut very short save for the two side bangs, her pink-colored eyes looking downcast, rubbing her bruised arm, her long sleeves folded upwards. In her mind, she was racking her brain on how to explain this to peering eyes from students and teachers at school tomorrow.

"That Chikushō!" the brown-haired young man growled to himself in anger as he grabbed the warm compress and gave it to his sister, who placed it on her bruised arm. The tanned young man snarled, "I swear to God, not counting the death of Mom, living with that piece of shit is the worst thing that could ever happen to us." The young teen noticed her older brother's glare in the mirror, and felt deeply ashamed.

"I'm so sorry…." the young teen girl apologized, facing away from her older brother.

The young man softened his expression, and said, "Kari, don't blame yourself. It's not your fault, just that….Oh, Kari, why does he do this to you?"

"He's been doing it for years. Not just to me, but to you Tai." Kari countered, continuing to press the warm compress on her bruise. All the while, she didn't look up to face Tai, fearing that if she did, she would start crying. "At least he's not coming back for a while, but I don't know if it's for a day or less or more…"

"That won't stop him from continuing to do this to us, especially you." Tai argued, a stern edge to his voice. "We have to get out this cycle or one day, someone's going to end up dead and I'm afraid that it might be you."

"I know…" Kari whimpered. Upon hearing Kari's tearful voice, Tai's facial expression dropped and he gently stroked his sister's hair. Tai had become Kari's protector in a sense. Just like he promised his mother the last time they had talked to each other….that had been six years ago. Sometimes Tai found it hard to believe that his mother had been dead for six years now. "Shh, Kari...I didn't mean to be harsh, I swear…" Tai murmured softly to his sister.

"No, Tai...that's not what I'm upset about...I...I just want to get out of here. I'm scared….I'm tired of being scared…"

"Then we don't have to stay here. We don't. We can get away from this place of broken dreams, torn and swallowed lives, and that man." Tai said, determination filling his heart in that moment he did his mini rant. However, before he could get truly passionate, Kari shook her head sadly.

"But Tai, we have nowhere else to go...our grandparents, from Mom's side and Dad's side, are dead and our aunts, Mom's sisters, live farther away. And even if we were to get out, he knows where they live. And he'll get real mad at us for doing that. Just imagine how much we'll bleed if we do that."

This did little to deter Tai however in his passion. He got wild, not feral per say, but soon he began to say the first plan he got no matter how absurd it sounded.

Tai continued, his voice becoming more fervid, "Once I graduate, I'll get a job. I don't know where. But I will get a full time job. I'll be a mechanic at that auto shop managed by that dude who thinks he's being persecuted by 'those Americans' his words not mine. I'll be some cashier at that stupid dollar store run by that guy who smells like onions. Heck, I'll even be a male stripper in that weird sex toy shop if I have to. Money is money."

"Tai, please don't say that." Kari muttered, but her eyes were slightly dancing at the humorous thought of her brother doing such a job of dancing and stripping himself in front of hundreds. It was so not Tai in her mind.

"Look, point is, it doesn't matter what the job is. Once I get enough money, we can move out one day when he's out doing God knows fucking what, and just leave. I don't know where. We'll go to Nara, live in that almost-abandoned theme park, Naradayland or something? Doesn't matter. Or we can go to Urasayu. Maybe we can live near Tokyo Disneyland and I can get a job there, maybe being one of those costumed characters, I can do a decent Pinocchio impersonation, I already got the lying part done right. Or a clerk, or even being a janitor. It doesn't matter. We'll find a new home that isn't in fucking Edogawa. We can do it, Kari. We can fly away to a place where it can just be ours."

"I wish I was as brave as you, Tai. You always stand up to Akihiro. You never give up…" Kari muttered sadly. "Me….I just get all so weak-willed…."

Tai gently held his sister's hand, "Kari, you're not weak. You're a sweet, responsible young lady. I know he says otherwise but I know that all the insults he says are never true…"

Later that night, as Kari slept in her room, Tai took a walk around the mansion's rooms, with the exception of that man's room. Sure enough, Akihiro wasn't coming back. Not for another day or so. Not that Tai would have minded. There was anger in his heart at knowing what that man, Akihiro, had done. Imagine his rage when he came home from the dog-sitting job and saw Kari bruised, and hiding from him, tears in her eyes. If looks could kill and Akihiro was there, he would have been dead long before he hit the floor with one look at Tai's glare.

It turned out that Akihiro was not the man Tai's maternal grandparents had hoped he was. In fact, he was nothing like them. Not his strong but protective and warm grandfather. Not his well-meaning and nurturing grandmother. In fact, he wasn't even his grandmother's son.

Apparently, from the little details Tai gathered in the family, mainly his aunts, as he grew older, his grandfather had a one night stand with a woman long before he met his wife. Akihiro was the result of it. His actual mother was still alive, albeit living in a nursing home. And from the one time Tai met that woman, Tai understood why Akihiro was the way he was. Grandpa didn't even know that he had a son until Akihiro came in his late twenties. And it went all downhill from there. All the olive branches, apologies, peace offerings that his grandfather could give could never truly mollify Akihiro. He had a calm, wise front in public but in the home, he yelled, insulted, sometimes hit them. The worst part was all the times his grandparents from his father's side of the family would try to contact them and Akihiro would get furious. Akihiro never had a kind word towards Susumo. It drove Tai angry how he'd just insult his father like that...like it just didn't matter.

It was the same. Akihiro would get angry, And then he'd say sorry and things would go quiet and peaceful until something set him off again. Tai was sick of living like this as well. Sick of having to deal with this man he refused to call his uncle. Sick of seeing Kari hurt and in tears thanks to that man. Sick of lying to his classmates who wanted to come over his house and hang out or do homework that his uncle wasn't feeling well when it wasn't true.

At his room, as he undressed, Tai took a glance at the mirror. The bruise on his midsection from that punch Akihiro gave when Tai took a blow for Kari. That was from a week ago. It was there that Tai felt a tinge vulnerable as Kari had...before it was replaced by a sort of anger.

Grabbing the bed sheets and pulling them over his mostly unclothed body, he glanced at the ceiling, a dark frown still etched on his face.

"I can't let him keep doing this to her...someone has to stop him. And nobody's helping us...if nobody won't help us, then I'll have to do something myself."

A redheaded young lady glanced at herself in the mirror. A slight frown escaped her lips as the seventeen year old studied her hair. Normally she was not a vain person. However there was one small thing that was bothering her about the appearance. Okay, 'bothering' wasn't the word. It was more so, making her question it. She had recently cut her hair into a bob cut of sorts. At first, she was rather proud of herself. Her parents complimented the new look. So did a few students, her friends, and two of her teachers. Even the 'hottest' guy in her grade told her that she was, in his words, 'looking smoking hot today'. It made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. But then she looked at it and felt that it just didn't fit right. Sometimes she thought it looked nice on her. But other times like today, it felt it was too short for her tastes.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting too hot during the times I play tennis and/or soccer and work in the community garden..." she muttered to herself. But it just didn't feel right still, even as she said it. "And hey, hair grows back so I can decide to cut it or not…" she added, trying to be cheerful.

Dressed in a warm pair of her flannel pajamas for the cold winter, she glanced around at the room. Tomorrow was Saturday and the girls had a day planned out. It was a little get together planned by her, Eri, Miyako "Yolei", and Jun to cheer Mimi up after a rough break up with her boyfriend of five years. Ever the one to want to be prepared for the next day, she went to her closet to choose her outfit. Just as she was about to, a small box fell off the edge of the closet, and landed near her feet. The box was a light blue colored box with a cream lid, and wasn't too small but not too big either.

"Hmm…" Sora thought out loud as she picked it up. Her curiosity over the box (and even if she didn't want to admit it, wanting a trip down memory lane) winning over her desire to pick an outfit to wear for tomorrow, she sat down on the bed and opened the box.

Nostalgia hit her like a bus. They were little items that she had collected with her friends back in middle school.

An invitation to Daichi and Eri's 13th birthday, the party themed to the joys of a zombie wasteland.

Black cat ear hair clips that Kosei and Eri had made for her to wear for that 'maid cafe' thing her soccer team had made at the end of the school year.

A seashell that she had gotten the last time she went to the beach as part of the 'super six'.

A few faded photographs. There was one that stood out the most and she picked it up.

Tears threatened her eyes as she held the faded photograph in her hands, watching it. There were six kids. A black haired boy, Kosei, holding the soccer ball in triumph. A boy and a girl with matching dirty blonde hair, Daiko and Eri, holding each other. A boy with glasses, Heiji, grinning sheepishly. And in the center was a brown haired boy in goggles and a girl with her red hair covered by a ski hat smiling at each other. This was after the group had won a soccer game.

Back when Kosei was still alive, back when Heiji hadn't skipped a grade and graduated early before leaving to Los Angeles after he revealed he was gay, a revelation that split the community in two….and back when…

"I miss you, Tai…" she muttered. Wiping her eyes, she held the faded photograph close to her chest.

It had been more than five years since Tai and Kari had left. And the loss still stung Sora badly. No contact, no exchange of emails, no nothing. It was like they had fallen off the face of the earth. Sometimes she was tempted to go to Edogawa and try to look for them, to see if they were still there.

Once upon a time, the future was so bright. Everyone was going to grow up to be successful and famous. And then the neighborhood became torn apart by tragedy, controversy, and loss. Nothing was free in life. Nothing was guaranteed in life.

As strange as this sounded, this last statement gave Sora some hope. Perhaps there was a chance to reconnect with Taichi one way or another. There was no guarantee that Sora would see Tai again one could argue. However, there was also no guarantee that she wouldn't see Tai again, Sora would argue back.

Once again, another time skip in this chapter. Hopefully, this will be the last time that I do that, for a while in this story at least.

The title 'Chances Thrown, Nothing's Free' is taken from a lyric of The Offspring's 'The Kids Aren't Alright'. An allusion to Who's 'The Kids Are Alright', the theme of the song discusses how childhood innocence can be lost and the problems people can face throughout their lives. And as we see in the song, from two of Tai and Sora's old friends dying or leaving to Tai and Kari living in the situation they are in now, life doesn't always work out the way we want to. Tai also references the song while talking to Kari, "broken dreams, torn and swallowed lives...".

Chikushō is a strong word that means something along the lines of 'son of a bitch'.

The almost abandoned theme park Tai refers to in his rant on how life can be better without his abusive uncle is actually called Nara Dreamland. Japan's answer to California's Disneyland, the theme park enjoyed success due to it being the closest thing to Disneyland for Japan...before Tokyo Disneyland of course. The construction of the latter caused decline in attendance to the park, causing it to permanently close it's doors in late August 2006, so eight months after this chapter.

I head-canon that Sora works in something related to botany instead of fashion in her adult years. I just felt it would fit her character more, no offense to those who don't mind her getting a job in fashion, I just think she fits better in another job. This is why I mention her working in the community gardens.

The black cat ear hair clips were an actual item that I wore for high school during an event involving the clubs. Our club did a sort of cat maid cafe.

I do not claim ownership of the canon characters. Reviews, especially constructive ones, are always appreciated. Do enjoy this chapter, readers.