Part Six: Secret No Longer

Chapter Nine: Pain

Tai awoke to find himself sprawled out on the cold wooden floor of his bedroom. It took his brain several moments to get its bearings. What the… he thought in confusion. Then the memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. The wonderful evening he'd spent with Kari, being caught by their parents while they were having sex, the subsequent fight and... He winced as he tried to pick himself up, pain rushed from his abdomen to greet him. It was intense enough to cause him to cease the action for now. Damnit, Dad, he cursed under his breath. The strength of that blow had been excessive. However, he supposed that had been the point. His father had clearly not wanted to risk a full-blown fight with him.

Grimacing and bracing himself for the flare-up of pain, Tai pushed himself up off of the floor and onto his knees. His stomach hurt like hell, but he managed to suppress it enough. He rested for a few moments, taking a few deep breaths, before forcing himself to stand; the pain intensifying. It probably wouldn't be so bad if he had not taken several blows to the gut the previous week, which may not have fully healed. But his father would not have known that when delivering the blow. With difficulty, he staggered over to the door and discovered that it had been locked. It was no surprise. His parents were not about to exert that much effort in separating him from Kari, only to let them go about the apartment as they wished. He turned around, his gaze falling upon his empty desk surface. Bastard! His father had taken both his cell phone and laptop. He was completely cut off from his sister!

Last night's anger reignited inside Tai and he hammered a fist against the door with enough force that the bang echoed around the deathly silent room. He knew it would not likely gain any attention, but it felt good; a show of defiance. And if it had woken his parents, all the better. Never in his life could Tai remember genuinely hating either his mom or dad… now he hated both. Only this was a newfound level of hatred that he had never known before. Never when he'd thought about how his parent might react to the news, had he pondered how he might feel about their response. Well, now he knew and it was not pretty.

How dare they think that they could lock him and his sister in their bedrooms. What did they hope to accomplish? That somehow, if they kept them locked up long enough, they would suddenly shed the feelings they had for each other? Tai sighed as he sat down on his bed. Their parents had completely ignored anything he and Kari had tried to tell them. And he doubted they would be willing to listen come morning. His eyes wandered to the alarm clock; 4:35 am. There was nothing he could do at present. Climbing under the covers, his head hit the pillow and his eyes closed. He felt absolutely exhausted. Only sleep did not take him immediately. His mind continually whirring with thoughts about how his parents had reacted, what would happen now and above all, about what state Kari would be in. When eventually he did slip into unconsciousness, it was not a restful sleep.

##

It was about six am when Yuuko Kamiya finally gave up on the notion of getting any meaningful sleep. Having lay awake for the majority of the night, she felt both physically and emotionally drained. Yet even in this state, sleep would not come. Electing not to wake her husband, if he was able to rest then good for him, she silently slipped on her house shoes and left the bedroom. Out in the hallway, a cold chill gripped her, even though the apartment was suitably warm. As she passed them by, her eyes lingered on the doors to Tai and Kari's bedrooms and the keys that resided in the locks. The memory of last night doused her like a bucket of cold water. She and Susumu had been forced to separate their children and then lock them inside their respective bedrooms. How on earth had it come to this?

From out of nowhere, a voice from the darkest recesses of her mind, whispered to her, "it's all Tai's fault."

Yuuko stopped dead on hearing the thought that she knew had come from some part of her own mind. "Shut up!" she snapped internally. There was no evidence to suggest that this was all Tai's fault.

Making her way to the kitchen, she set about making a pot of coffee. By the time Susumu woke, she would not be surprised if she had drunk the whole thing. It was while waiting for the coffee to finish dripping into the pot, that the voice spoke again, "Tai is the older sibling, the responsible one. He is the one who should have stopped this thing before anything happened."

Yuuko almost dropped her mug upon processing that thought. She could not argue with herself on that point at least. Tai was the older sibling. He should have stopped, no, ensured that something like this never happened.

Before this realisation had properly set in, another point was provided by the voice, "then again, Tai's also the irresponsible, reckless one. The one who has a track history of putting his interests first. If there was something in it for him, would he have stopped it?"

The question shook Yuuko to the core as she filled her mug with thick, black coffee; almost to the point it overflowed. And she knew two things for certain, 1) her son did not have the best track record with relationships and 2) teenage boys could easily become obsessed with sex. Once he had convinced Kari to sleep with him, would Tai have ever have thought to put an end to things? Probably not. Hell, what teenage boy would give up someone who was willingly opening their legs for them? Yuuko shuddered at thinking of her daughter in such terms.

"That's not Kari!" the voice practically shouted inside her head. "My daughter is not some common slut! She is a good girl who wouldn't just open her legs for anyone."

Her hand shook as she took a sip from the steaming coffee mug and made her way over to the dining table to sit down. Kari had changed over the past year, that point she could not argue. But even taking that into consideration, she still could not envisage her daughter as having become the sort of girl to engage in casual sex. So why had she been sleeping with her brother?

"Well… since we know Kari is not a slut, we only have three options. Either Tai has been blackmailing her, he's coerced, corrupted and deluded her into thinking they are in love or…"

"NO!" Yuuko yelled internally, already knowing what option three was going to be. While she hated options one and two, she could not bear to think that her children had fallen that far as to genuinely believe that they were in love with each other. In fact, she'd sooner believe that Kari had indeed become a common slut and that this relationship between them was purely depraved casual sex, than have to deal with the possibility that her children had fallen in love with each other.

"Which brings us back to the original point; it's all Tai's fault."

Yuuko gulped down some coffee as this thought filled her mind. Kari had always been impressionable, especially when her brother had been involved. Had Tai, for whatever his own depraved reasons might be, manipulated his sister into sleeping with him? She was a good-looking girl and him incapable of keeping a girlfriend for more than a few weeks. Had Tai's lust for sexual gratification led him to use his influence over his sister in such an untoward manner? It would certainly explain all the gifts he had given her. In fact, had that not been how this whole thing had started; Tai paying for Kari to have her hair dyed?

"It's a grim thought, but it fits," the voice hissed. "Kari's always looked up to her brother and he's used that to take advantage of her… corrupt her."

"I… don't… know," Yuuko thought to herself. Her eyes screwed up and she shook her head.

"It would mean that Kari's only crime in all of this is her impressionable nature… she's a victim… a victim of her own nature and of her brother's selfishness… it wouldn't be the first time…"

Images from ten years ago, from memories that she had tried to suppress, worked their way from the deep, dark depths of Yuuko's mind and forced themselves front and centre. She saw Kari, pale and fragile, lying in a hospital bed and felt the dread of not knowing whether or not her daughter was going to live or die. Then Tai, foolish and frightened and the anger from all those years ago coursed through her like it had happened only yesterday. Her son's foolish and selfish nature had almost cost Kari her life when she was only five and Yuuko would be damned if she was going to allow him to ruin it now. No matter what, she had to protect Kari at all costs.

##

It was the sound of the key scraping in the lock that initially started to rouse Kari from her fitful slumber. However, when the door opened, it hit her backside, sending a signal of discomfort straight to her brain and caused her eyes to snap open. A brief glance at her surroundings was all it took for the memories of last night to rush to the fore.

"Kari?" her mother asked in surprise from the other side of the door when it failed to open any further.

Kari scrambled across the floor and to her feet. Turning, she saw the door open and her mother enter, a neutral expression on her face.

"How are you feeling?" the woman asked, her voice level, almost friendly.

On hearing her mother's words, she immediately felt the flames of last night's anger and rage be stoked inside her. And it was a struggle to keep a lid on them. From her mom's expression and tone, she sensed the situation could go one of two ways. If she played nice and did as she was told, she would receive better treatment, whatever that might be. However, if she exploded again, her mom may well leave the room and lock the door until she cooled down. "Stiff and sore," she replied darkly, feeling her limbs ache. She'd lost count of how many times she had slept either all or part of the night on the floor in the past few months.

"I think it was a difficult night for everyone," her mom said sympathetically, "but it's over now and we all need to try and move on."

There was a level of niceness about her mother's tone that served only to rub Kari the wrong way. Like the woman's intention was to whitewash over what had happened, apply her own conclusions to it and expect everyone else to fall in line. If that transpired to be the case, she had no intention of pow-wowing, even before she figured out what exactly her mom had decided in her own head. "That's easy for you to say. You weren't the one forcibly separated from the person that you love."

"Oh, Kari, you're not long turned sixteen," her mother sighed. "You don't even know what love is yet. However, we can talk about that later. For now, why don't you come and have a nice hot shower and some breakfast."

The patronising nature of the woman's words was almost enough to cause Kari to combust again. It was almost as bad as the way her father had spoken to her the previous night. She sucked in a slow breath to help steady herself. "Where's Tai," she asked, only just managing to stop it sounding like a demand.

Her mom shook her head. "You don't have to worry about your brother, he's in his room."

"How is he?" she cut in before the woman could say anything else.

"He was asleep when we went in. I left him some painkillers for when he wakes up." Her mother's lips then thinned somewhat. "I'll make him something to eat when he does."

"I want to see him."

"I'm afraid that's out of the question," her mother replied, still trying to sound friendly but there was a definite edge to her tone now. "For now, your father and I think it best that you don't see your brother."

"I want to see him!" she reiterated with force.

"That is not going to happen, Kari," her mom said firmly, though if she was angry, she hid it well. "Now, how about that shower and some breakfast."

The continual use of the whitewash felt like turpentine being tossed on the flames of anger that burned inside Kari. However, she knew that further attempts on her part to try and argue with her mom would be liable to result in her remaining locked inside her bedroom. And that would accomplish nothing. She took in a long breath through gritted teeth as she slowly walked towards the door. "Fine," she said, unable to fully keep the bitterness from her tone, "I'll go for a shower." She stalked into the hallway, her eyes immediately drifting towards her brother's bedroom door; the key was in the lock. Before Kari could even think about darting for it, she felt a hand on her shoulder, the grip light but the intent making itself known.

"Let's go to the bathroom," her mom said purposefully.

Kari did not resist when her mother directed her towards the bathroom door. Not only did she have her mom behind her, but she'd caught a brief sight of her father sitting at the dining table. It would be foolish for her to try and make a break for Tai's room right now. Even if she broke free from her mother, she would not elude her long enough to reach her brother's room, open the door, get inside and lock it behind her. There would be a struggle, which would allow enough time for her dad to reach them and subdue her. Then it would be back to her own room with the door locked behind her. No, she would need to bide her time, perhaps play along and wait for her parents to lower their guard around her, despite how long that might take. They reached the bathroom and she stepped inside.

"Why don't you undress, hop in, then I'll get you some fresh clothes," her mom then said, releasing her grip on Kari's shoulder.

Clever, she thought. Her mother wanted to make sure she was in the shower before leaving the room. Granted, truth be told, it came as somewhat of a surprise that the woman did not plan to stand in the doorway the whole time. "Ok," she said, before crossing to the shower and turning it on. Although she did not like the idea of her mother staring at her as she undressed, Kari chose not to let it bother her. The woman would not likely leave and she could not afford to increase tensions between them if she hoped to get her to let her guard down. She stripped off her pyjamas and climbed into the cubical.

##

Kari stepped out of the bathroom and was ushered down the hall to the dining table by her mother. The shower had been hot and helped ease some of the tension in her stiff limbs. When she'd got out, she had found her ripped black jeans and green weirdo t-shirt waiting for her, along with fresh underwear. She sat down at the table and drew a semi-friendly look from her father.

"Morning, Kari," he said, his tone slightly stiff and lacking the normal warmth she normally received with such a greeting.

"Don't talk to me," Kari snapped back, unable to control herself. A single glance at his face had been all it took to remind her of what he had done the previous night.

Her father seemed to recoil slightly at the savageness of her tone.

"Kari, that is no way to speak to your father," her mom said at her from halfway between the table and the kitchen. She sounded quite taken aback.

She knew she shouldn't have reacted like that, but knowing that could not stop the rising anger inside her take root. "He's lucky I spoke to him at all," she spat with venom, "he hurt Tai!"

"Kari, try to understand, your brother left your father with no choice last night…"

"He didn't give Tai a choice!" she yelled at her mother, then rounded on her father. "I saw what you did. The second our hands separated, you hit Tai in the gut then marched him out of my room in an arm lock." She was seething now and her rage un-tempered. "Now, while Tai is still locked in his room, the two of you are trying to whitewash over what you did and sell me whatever reasoning you've decided upon. Well, I'm not buying it."

"Kari, what your father and I are trying to do is for your own good."

Kari slammed her palms onto the table surface as she stood up with enough force to send her chair toppling over; it hit the floor with a loud clatter. "If you and dad really cared for us, you would sit down and actually listen to what we have to say, instead of forcibly trying to keep us apart!"

Finally, after having kept her temper in check since waking her up, her mom finally snapped, "that is it, young Lady, you're going back to your bedroom."

The last shred of common sense was consumed by the fires of anger that raged inside Kari and she bolted towards the hallway. Feet hammering on the wooden floor, her eyes homed in on her target; Tai's bedroom door. Her heart pounded inside her chest when she heard the yells of her parents from back in the main living area. She did not waste time with a glance over her shoulder, for the knowledge would do her no good. Skidding to a halt, she had to seize the doorknob in order to stop herself sliding past the door; it cost her precious seconds. Frantically, her fingers found the key in the lock and turned it. The second the lock clicked open, she twisted the handle and burst the door open. Her feet crossed the threshold and… CRASH! Next second Kari found herself sprawled out on the floor inside Tai's bedroom with her father on top of her.

"LET GO OF ME!" she yelled as her fingers struggled to gain any purchase on the smooth wooden floor. Helplessly she was dragged backwards. Thrashing her body this way and that, she managed to catch her father in the chest with a kick and scamper forward. For a few brief seconds, she thought she had freed herself, only for the man to dive on top of her once more. "TAI, HELP!"

As she was dragged from the room on her hands and knees, Kari saw her mother quickly move around her father and herself to intercept the mass of chocolate brown hair that started to rise form the bed.

"TAI!" she screamed at the top of her voice, just before the door was slammed closed from the inside.

With all her might Kari fought against her dad, but it was no use; he was far bigger and stronger than she was. A few moments later and she found herself back inside her own bedroom, with the door locked behind her. She beat on it for a minute or two but got no response. Seething with rage, she picked up her headphones from the nightstand and thrust them over her ears. Throwing herself down atop the bed, she found The Wall Live on her music player, hit play and turned the volume up loud. It seemed that, like the protagonist of Pink Floyd's epic, there would be no quick fix to her problems.

##

The sound of his sister screaming roused Tai from his slumber. His bleary eyes opened to the blurred sight of her being dragged from the room by his father. Without thinking, he tried to scramble out of bed to come to her aid, only for the abdominal pain from last night to shoot through him once more and cause him to buckle. Eyes watering, he sucked in a difficult breath as he tried to summon the willpower to overcome the agony. Kari needed his help. Far slower than he would have liked, he steadily began to rise from the mattress. For a moment, his vision began to clear, just in time for him to see the figure of his mother step forward and block his sister and father from view, before another stab of pain hit. Tai screwed up his eyes, felt his arms give way and would have toppled onto the floor had his mother not caught him.

"Don't try to get up," his mom said sternly as she lay him back down on the mattress.

"No…" he grunted as he ineffectively tried to resist, "…have… to… help… Kari."

"Your sister doesn't need your help," his mom replied, her tone laced with venom. "You've already caused more than enough damage to her for one lifetime."

"I want to see her," Tai protested as he tried to sit up again. "Argh!" he received another stab of pain for his efforts.

His mother let go of him and busied herself with something on his bedside table. "That's not going to happen."

He lay on his back and took in a few sharp breaths as he waited for the pain to subside again. "You can't keep us apart," he growled through gritted teeth.

His mother turned around. "If I have my way, you will not see your sister again. Now," she held out a small tablet and glass of water, "you can either take this painkiller, which in your present state will probably knock you out for several hours, or you can lie here in agony… and I'm not sure I care which you choose."

Never before could Tai recall seeing his mother look so deadpan and serious. Add to that the almost sadistic undertone of her words and it was like he was talking to a complete stranger. He'd bore the brunt of her wrath and anger countless times, some of which had been exceptionally serious, but he'd never seen her like this. It seemed the events of last night had taken a serious toll on her. "I'm sorry you had to find out about me and Kari that way," he began but was swiftly cut off.

"Don't talk to me about your sister," his mom snapped, showing a hint of her anger. "I don't know what you did to seduce her, but the sooner she is free of your corrupting influence, the better."

"I didn't seduce her… argh."

"I don't want to hear your lies. Now, do you want the painkiller?"

The image of his mother blurred and he forced himself to nod. The pressure on his stomach then lifted. Unable to properly sit up, Tai had to make do with lifting his head and shoulders enough to allow his mom to deposit the tablet inside his mouth and then bring the cup to his lips. He slowly sipped enough to allow him to swallow the tablet; his mouth tasted like sandpaper. He then waited a few seconds before taking a longer drink. His mom then removed the cup and set it on the bedside table. Without saying another word, she left the room and locked the door behind her. From between the cracks in his drawn blinds, Tai could make out small streaks of daylight. Or perhaps that was all happening inside his own head, as the painkiller quickly took effect and pulled him under into unconsciousness.

##

After having deposited his daughter back inside her bedroom, Susumu had gone to fetch the mail from the box outside and then returned to the dining table and another mug of strong coffee. He sat the collection of three envelopes on the wooden surface and absentmindedly rubbed the spot on his chest where Kari had managed to lay a foot on him; it was actually rather tender. A good thing his daughter had not been wearing heels, or she would have probably done a lot more damage, maybe even enough to stop him from recapturing her.

He opened the first two letters, which were addressed to him and read them while he drank the second mug of coffee; one a bill and the other from an ex-colleague who wished to know if he fancied a round of golf at some point. However, it was the third letter, addressed to Tai, that drew his undivided attention. A quick look at the return address told him where it had come from. He hesitated. It was exceptionally bad manners to read someone else's mail, but in this instance, he would make the exception. Ripping it open, he withdrew a single sheet of paper and began scanning the text until he found what he was looking for. Despite the circumstances, a sense of pride filled him and a slight smile formed on his lips. Then he let out a deflated sigh. Today should have been a day on which the family celebrated together. Instead, they found themselves in the midst of the biggest crisis they'd ever faced. He looked at the paper again and thought for a moment. This might just be the solution to their problem.

"How's Kari?"

Susumu looked up to see the tired figure of his wife pull up her chair and sit down at the table. "Pissed as a hornet," he replied grimly. He held Tai's letter out towards her, "however, we may just have found a solution."

Yuuko took the paper from him and let out a gasp of surprise as she read it. She paused for a moment before saying, "I know what you're thinking and Tai will never agree to it."

"I don't intend to give him a choice in the matter," Susumu said firmly. "We agreed that the best course of action is to ensure that they are kept apart."

This morning it was his wife's turn to play devil's advocate, "and how do you intend to make sure of that? Even if Tai did agree, what's to stop him showing up in Odaiba whenever he feels like it and continuing this sordid relationship. We can't exactly monitor Kari twenty-four seven."

He scratched his chin. She made a good point. They could send Tai across the globe but would be powerless to stop him coming back if and when he chose to. And keeping Kari under house arrest would not allow her to move on. Not to mention that she would need to go to school. While he already had an idea of something that might deter their son from coming back to Odaiba, it might not be enough. Ultimately, they would need some way of keeping tabs on him… it was at that moment, that an idea popped into his head. It might take a bit of wangling, but there may be an option in that regard, someone who could do the job for them.

"Leave it with me," he eventually replied, not wanting to divulge the details of something that might not come to fruition. "For now, why don't you try and figure out some way of calming Kari down. You've always been closer to her than I have."

Yuuko nodded her head in agreement, "ok, but I've got a bad feeling that it might be some time before she's even willing to talk to us."

Susumu finished the last of his coffee, put the letters back in their envelopes and then rose from his chair. No time like the present, he thought as he went to the coffee table and picked up Tai's cell phone. His wife had told him which of their children's friends had told her about their depraved relationship and it just so happened the individual in question was the one who had sprung to mind. He flicked through the list of contacts on his son's phone until he found the one he was looking for and took note of the number. Crossing over to the other side of the main living area, he picked up the house phone and dialled.

"Hello," a voice on the other end said after three rings.

"Hello, it's Mr Kamiya," Susumu replied, "you recently spoke with my wife about Tai and Kari and the indecent relationship they've been having."

"Ah," the person on the other end replied, which was followed by an awkward pause.

Only at this point did he realise that the individual might think he intended to yell at them for having spread such vicious gossip. So, he elected to quickly put pay to any such thoughts they might have, "thanks to you, we were able to confront them about it and begin to take steps towards putting an end to it."

"You don't need to thank me."

"If it had not been for you, we may not have found out about it. Tai and Kari covered their tracks very well," Susumu admitted. "That's why I have a proposition for you…"