Estranged

Kaoru was awoken by the slam of the front door. Slowly raising his torso, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes to see the long-legged black haired figure stagger into the room. The teen rushed to the woman's side and led her into her room, which, contrasting his room, was turned onto its side. She tried hard to maintain a sense of order for her son, but he was old enough to know how the divorce had affected her. He tried not to think about it as he pull off her dress and shoes to tuck her into bed.

"Ah…Kaoru…you're…."

"Shh…go to bed, mom….it's okay…" he assured with a small kiss to her forehead.

"Ah….I can't take you to school."

"I take myself to school, mom. Remember?" the woman sighed at the correction and rested her hand on her head.

"Ah….that's right…and…do I work today?"

"…Should I call in for you again?" the teen inquired, but he decided he'd inform her co-worker of the woman's condition despite her head-shaking. It was good thing she was manager or she would've lost her job a long time ago.

"Goodnight." he bid with another kiss. He noticed it was almost 7AM and, after calling the mentioned co-worker, he started on a quick breakfast for himself and Daisuke. About a half hour passed before the house guest joined him in the kitchen with bedhead and the spare school uniform Kaoru had left him at his bedside. Although it was significantly baggier on the teen, he seemed appreciative and greeted the boy with the first genuine smile. It made Kaoru's morning all the better, and he served breakfast more cheerfully.

"I didn't know you could cook." Daisuke uttered as he took his serving of egg over rice, "This looks good."

"Haha! We'll see about that. I try, and sometimes it's edible, but only sometimes." he confessed with a chuckle, but was pleasantly surprised by the texture of the meal. Usually the rice was either too hard, too dry, or too watery, but he was getting a lot better with the rice cooker. Daisuke also enjoyed the meal and Kaoru was further encouraged by his expressed gratitude.

"…I'm really sorry….about last night, by the way. I really didn't mean anything by it." Kaoru voiced shamefully, "…It's just…although I know you've stopped playing 'The World', I'd like to think we're still friends. I just….I wanted to know about the real you, but I know that was creepy of me to follow you."

"Eh…a little…" Daisuke returned, "But…with how I've been acting, I guess I can't blame you for being curious. There's really not much to know, though. To be honest, you've always been the mysterious one. Like, how did you even get together with a player like Mia?" Kaoru must have looked as surprised as he felt by the question as Daisuke continued with, "It's not something I really thought to ask until she was deleted."

"Well…" the modelesque teen began, "…she actually approached me…asking me if I wanted to join her. I was a new player back then, so I didn't have any friends and…I was happy to see someone wanted to play with me."

Daisuke furrowed his brow a bit.

"You…seemed to have had it rough in the past. You mentioned you were bullied, but it really beat down your self-esteem. You were a good player." Kaoru smiled at the teen's encouragement and hummed appreciatively.

"Well…it's not like that anymore. Even though we started off roughly, I was really happy I ended up transferring into your school."

"Oh pssh." Daisuke dismissed with a wave, "It ain't that hard to get in to."

"But isn't it one of the high schools some of the top universities admit students from? I couldn't sleep for a week I was so scared I wouldn't be able to successfully transfer. I study hard, but….I dunno…."

"Haha! You're probably all smart and shit. I don't even know why I'm in high school. I lost interest in it a long time ago." Kaoru's breath hitched at the declaration.

"What were you planning on doing, then?"

"Maybe I could join a Visual Kei band. Whaddaya think?" Daisuke inquired with a wiggle of his brow, "Haha! I noticed all your Visual Kei posters. Somehow it doesn't surprise me you like that style, now that I see what you look like."

"Well, I'm really interested in all sorts of fashion, but I really like the eccentricity of visual and oshare kei. Outside of school, I wear a lot of gothic and punk style clothing."

"Eeeh?! Really?! I don't remember seeing you in anything like that."

"Maybe you didn't notice. I don't spike my hair up or dye it, but I wear a lot of plaid and stripes…y'know. I wore some bright red shorts on the day we saw Akira."

"Oh shit, I guess that's right. Haha! I wasn't really paying attention, honestly."

Their laugher, however, was cut short by a loud thump in the back. Kaoru then shot up and urged Daisuke out of the house at the sound of his mother's door being opened.

"W-What? You-"

"I'll catch up with you later!" Kaoru bid before slamming the door shut. He then hurried into his mother's room, where the woman was clawing at the floor with crimson-stained fingers. She cried out his name as she was helped to her feet, revealing the deep gashes on her arms. Kaoru's heart sank at the sight, but he swallowed back his tears and offered a smile to the broken woman.

"We're gonna get you some help, okay?..."

He turned away to hide the familiar stinging in his eyes. Dammit…why did she have to keep doing this?