Double Trouble!
By: SuperHyuga Yoshi-chan
Chapter 11: Dealing with the trauma
I sat on my bed, looking up at my ceiling. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that my father was going to be released from prison today. I had prepared myself for this moment: physically and mentally. However, every time I tried to prepare myself emotionally, I would get scared and freak out. My imagination would spiral out of control, and I would have these terrible visions...
Thus, flashing me back to the moment that led up to this one...
Flashback
"I said, GET ME ANOTHER PLATE, BITCH!"
My dad was yelling at my mom. Again. It scared me the way he did that. The scariest thing, though, was that he yelled at her over the littlest things; so anything could set him off. Yesterday, it was the door. Today, it was the food.
"I go out and work 12-hour shifts everyday, working to feed this STUPID FAMILY," He pointed at me and my three brothers. "and you don't even have the decency to keep my damn food warm for me?" He slammed the plate of food into her face. "I don't think so!"
My mother slowly slid down the wall in shock and fear. The macaroni, spareribs, and coleslaw we were eating for our lunch dripped down her face and clothes as if to say she were wilting. She sat on the floor in silence for a few seconds; although it sounded like forever. Then, she finally spoke up.
"Please...Please Takashi don't hit me-"
"AND WHY SHOULDN'T I, DAMNIT? IS IT BECAUSE YOU THINK I'M STUPID OR SOMETHING? HUH? I KNOW THAT AS SOON AS I TURN MY BACK ON YOU, THAT YOU'RE GONNA GO OUT AND SLEEP WITH EVERY MAN ON THE PLANET! I'M NOT STU-"
"NO!" My mother shouted. "it's because...it's because I'm pregnant."
My father's look of anger was replaced by a blank look.
"Oh." He looked at my mother. "Then in that case, then I don't care."
"W-what? But Takashi, this is your child we're talking about here, an-"
"You think I care?" He walked up to where she was sitting and grabbed her shirt by the collar and slammed her back against the wall. "Do you really think I care? As far as I'm concerned, I never wanted this DAMN FAMILY! I never wanted kids!But you HAD to keep on pushing! You just HAD to!" He turned to glare at us. "You all...you all were accidents. Curses. Burdens. You think this woman loves you?" He pointed to our mother, who was looking down at the tiled floor in shame. "No. She just puts up with you only for God-knows-what."
"STOP IT!" She shouted. "Kids, you know that's not true! Mommy loves you! Mommy loves you so-"
"SHUT UP!" He kicked her in the side. "Kids, don't listen to that bitch. She's lying."
"I wouldn't...I would never...lie...I wouldn't-"
My father kicked her in the stomach hard.
"Don't you EVER talk back to me! You understand?" He grabbed her neck and started choking her.
At this, point, I was fed up with all of my father's behavior. I mean, who does he think he is to take his anger out on her? So I picked up my fork, and slowly crept up behind him. Then I stabbed the fork into his back. Hard.
"YEOUCH!" He yelped. He was so startled that he let my mother's throat go.
"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" I shouted at him.
He laughed at me and said, "Wretch, who the #%$ do you think you're talking to?"
"You daddy! You can't go and hit mommy for no reason. It's wrong!" I shouted at him.
Maybe it didn't seem tough, but it sounded like the right thing to say, so I said it.
"Oh yeah?" He gave me a cocky look."well in that case, why don't I just pick on you?'
Before I knew it, his hand shot out to grab my throat, but I lifted my left arm in self-defense. He lifted me up and threw me against the wall outside the kitchen.
"Ouch!" I yelped.
I stood up and ran for the door. However, my father grabbed a knife and blocked me.
"Where do you think you're going, bitch?" He growled at me.
I high-tailed it out of there and made a break for the back door.
"Oh no you don't!" He shouted. "You're not making it out alive this time! He threw the knife at me, which hit my rear end before I crawled through the doggy flap in the doorway.
From there on out, I ran down the steps to the grass in the backyard, and started to run towards Neji's house.
{End of flashback}
I didn't feel like remembering the rest, so I blocked it out. However, I couldn't help but shudder at the memory. I mean, what was I going to do?
"Am I going to tell Neji?" I asked myself.
It was one of the biggest questions on my mind. I mean, he was there on those nights when I ran to him. I had no one else to turn to, so I turned to him. Those were the moments that brought us closer together. I remember his overprotective aura...his minty scent...his warm arm and his baseball bat covering me...the rocking me to sleep...the lullabies...all the warm feelings from these experiences wrapped me in a blanket of warmth and security.
I still was mad at Neji for cheating on me. I really was. But my heart was telling me to let go...just this one time.
'Alright.' I said to myself as the feelings lulled me to sleep. 'But just this one time.'
{Neji's Place-Neji's room}
"That was some first day at work." I said to no one in particular. I collapsed on my bed, exhausted.
After crying my eyes out, I had to tell my fellow Co-workers the whole truth. It felt embarrassing at first, but after awhile I got used to it. And you know what: it felt good talking to these guys. They didn't judge me at all or anything. However, I still felt something unnerving in the air around me, and it wasn't my body odor. Something was up, and I had a hunch it was about Tenten.
"Maybe I'll just sleep it off. They say that's a great way to avoid your problems." I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Little did I know about the dream that was going to come next...
{Neji's Dream}
"Neji! Neji!" I heard a familiar melodic voice from call from my doorway.
Except today, it sounded distressed. I was concerned, because there was only one person who could make a distress call like that. I opened the door, only to reveal a panicked stricken and bleeding Tenten.
"N-neji...Please...help me." She collapsed into my arms.
"Tenten!" I noticed the knife sticking out of her rear and pulled it out. "Tenten, stay with me, okay? Stay with me." I whispered into her ear.
I picked her up and carried her through the door bridal style. I set her down on the couch and cooed to her softly.
"Sssssssshhh...sssshhhh... what happened, Tenten-chan?" I asked her, running my fingers through her hair.
"I-it's...i-it's my Dad again. He's choking my mom, Neji! We have to help her!" She panicked.
"Shh...you need to get some rest, Tenten. You can't go back there, not in your current condition. Stay here." I told her.
"But you can't go there alone! My dad...he'll crush you, Neji!" She whimpered.
"Not if I can help it." I growled.
Just then, Hinata nii-chan walked into the living room.
"Woah. Neji-nii-sama, what's going on here?" Hinata asked me.
"Hinata, I need you to take care of Tenten-chan for me."
"B-but what about you, nii-sama?" She asked me.
"I need to do something real quick." I said as I ran up the stairs.
As soon as I burst into my room, I grabbed my baseball bat and ran back into the living room.
There I saw Hinata wrapping up bandaging Tenten's wounds. She pulled her pants back up and helped her turn around. She then covered the bun-haired girl's body and rubbed her back reassuringly. Tenten shivered quietly. I walked up too the couch and squatted down to meet her eyes.
"Ten-chan don't worry. I'll be back." I kissed her forehead and grasped her hand.
"Be careful... Neji-kun." She whispered in a faint, hoarse voice.
I let go of her hand reluctantly and walked out the door.
It took about 15 minutes to make it to Tenten's house since she lived several blocks away, but I made it in about 7 minutes since I was running. I ran up and kicked down the front door. The anger and resentment that was building up inside me had turned into adrenaline; thus turning into strength. Just then, I heard heavy drunken feet stomping down stairs.
"H-hey! *Hic!* Now what the hell was *hic!* that?" I heard a slurred voice yell.
No one responded. I dove straight into the dining room at my left, which was used for visitors. I then walked into the kitchen through the door at the far left of the dining room. I then hid inside one of the bottom cabinets, but left it open a crack.
A few moments later, I saw Tenten's dad, Takashi, walk into the kitchen. I head what sounded like a fridge opening up. Then came shuffling, and the opening of a carbonated drink. The alcoholic aroma wafted to my nose. Beer. The whole house smelled of it. I head him gulp it down quickly, then the crushing of the can. The aluminum then clattered to the floor.
"Damn woman needs to buy me some more beer." I heard him mutter.
His footsteps came closer to the cabinet that I was in. I held my breath; my heartbeat speed up. However, he turned around and started walking away from me.
'Well, here goes nothing' I thought.
With abrupt quickness, I jumped out of the cabinet and struck him in the back of the head with the baseball bat. Hard. I then hit him in the spine. Despite this, he didn't pass out or fall like I hoped he would. He swerved around to face me with bloodshot eyes. And boy, was he angry!
"YOU!" He snarled at me. "YOU'RE THAT HYUGA BRAT!"
"Who you callin' a brat, you brute?" I snarled at him.
"YOU!" He swung his fist at me, but I blocked it with my bat. I then scurried through his legs and struck him in the neck. He stumbled to the left, then to the right, and collapsed on the ground with a heavy 'thud'.
"If you ever lay a single hair on my Tenten-chan ever again, I swear I'll..." I turned away from him. "I'd hate to think of the hell I'd put you through."
I started walking away from him, but just then, he grabbed my right ankle and pulled me down with him.
"Not so fast, you brat. Nobody tells me what to do with my daughter and gets away with it." He stood up, with me dangling in the air from his big, beefy hand.
"Nng...let...me...GO!" I swung to strike him in the stomach, but he hit my bat away from me.
"Now...I'm going to crush you like the little cockroach you are. Just like my stupid whore-for-a-wife and her so-called 'ba-by'." He growled in a mocking voice.
'No! I'm not going to fail Tenten-chan!'
Just then, I heard footsteps storming in the house. Some were heavy, some were light, and one was oddly patterned. I heard the sounds of guns being pulled out their holsters.
"PUT THE KID DOWN TAKASHI AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!" The cop yelled.
'Apparently, he already has some bad history with this guy.' I thought.
"Fine." Takashi let me go, and I landed feet first on the floor.
"NEJI!" Tenten cried and limped towards me. she stumbled into my arms as soon as she reached me.
"Neji-nii-sama! You're okay!" My cousin Hinata came up to me, looking concerned.
"H-Hey! What's that *hic!* little wretch doing in this house? I t-thought I *hic!* killed her!" Takashi slurred.
"So you're the one who did that, huh? You're gonna be behind bars for a long time, Takashi."
"Hey! That's not *hic!* fair! And since when were we on a first name basis?"
However, Takashi's arrest (or his babbling) didn't matter to me right now. All that mattered now was that Tenten-chan was safe inside my arms...
{End of flashback}
I jumped up out of my bed. That wasn't what I expected. Unless...
"No...he can't be..."
{Yoshiro's Point-of-view}
After taking Tenten out on her date and walking her back home, I went back to the small apartment I was staying in. I pulled out the key, opened the door, got in, and shut it quickly. On the bed was a man with broad shoulders, black eyes, and dark brown hair. He was a heavy-muscled man as well, one that would've made wrestlers quiver in their feet.
"So..." He asked me. "How'd it go?"
"That Hyuga brat is out of the way, Tenten's vulnerable, and I've got her in the palm of my hand like putty. Everything is going according to plan," I smirked. "Takashi."
"Good." He smiled evilly. "I guess that means that now would be a great time to see my daughter Yoshiro."
)
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Author's Block!
Hey, guys! Forgive me for the late update; my personal life is getting a bit...well, overbearing. It's driving me emotionally sick. See ya soon!
-'till next time though
imma stay posted!
Yoshi.C!