It was cold, too cold to be wearing a micro mini that her mother mistook for a belt when she bought it. If she were honest she'd have to admit that spending time with the older woman was nice. They had fun times together shopping and talking and just being close. Still it wasn't enough to fill the empty ache inside of Setsu. Her beloved brother was never coming back and her father would tell no one where he had sent Cain.
"Setsu, what the hell are you wearing?"
Dressing like this was supposed to be a surprise for Cain but he had left before she could show him. Her mother had embraced the new look believing it was just a phase that would pass quicker if she supported it. Teenagers always rebelled so if you gave them nothing to rebel against they'd become bored. Her father on the other hand swore at her constantly. He wanted a little girl not a barely covered slut.
"Clothes, daddy, clothes that I like and that mom gave the ok for me to wear. I have to go to school now." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran out the door to catch her bus. Her father dropped his head in his hands trying to remind himself why sending away the only person that girl listened to was the right decision.
"Setsuka!" Shona called out running up to her abused friend. She used Setsu often for homework help and copied her style to seem as if she were the fashionable one. "Did you do the chemistry assignment last night? I forgot, Shawn came over last night and we fooled around. Not that you know what that means never being able to get a man. Well there was Cain but honestly that couldn't have been much right?" Setsu ignored her knowing Shona could talk forever and never care if anyone listened.
"He was totally hot and so good but you would never know. Poor you, it must suck being related to some one as sexy as Cain and well you look so..." Shona took Setsu's wrist. "Oh Setsuka, you have to learn to do your make up right. I'm sure you could catch the attention of a decent looking guy."
A blank stare was all Shona got out of her before her boyfriend Shawn came over to them. He greeted her with a kiss then smiled at Setsu. They had math together next period and she'd promised to help him. Shawn was concerned for his friend and he knew that his girlfriend cared about her too, in her own stuck up way. After all they had known each other since first grade and Shona had dated Cain for that one week last year when him and Setsu couldn't stop arguing. He was sure deep down his girl had some friendly feelings.
"Hey you know I know how you feel. My big bother and I were close, like best friends and when he went away to college I was extremely depressed. It can be hard to get used to not having some one to talk to but with phones and email it's less painful. It isn't the same but you had to know it would happen someday, everyone has to grow up and leave the nest." Setsu pretended not to listen but she was grateful for his attempt at cheering her up. They sat beside one another desks pushed together with an open math book between them. They were oblivious to the stares from Shona and Shawn's friends as they worked to help Shawn make sense of the subject.
Whispers erupted and texts were sent out. Speculations made and rumors spread so by the end of the period Setsu had a reputation for stealing boyfriends. Not only had she been seeing Shawn behind Shona's back she had also forced herself between Cain and all his exes, she had stolen a teachers husband and ruined the marriage of one of her friends parents.
"You dirty slut! I trusted you!" Shona screamed when they walked out of the classroom.
"What?" It was the first reaction she had gotten from Setsu since her birthday party. The bully reveled in the doe eyed expression of her favorite prey.
"What?" She mimicked and mocked her. "I'm sweet innocent Setsuka. That's why nobody cares that I wear clothes made to fit a two year old and hooker boots. What would it matter I have no figure and ugly legs anyway. Quit the act we all know you'd fuck any one. I'll bet Cain showed you all sorts of ways to please a man. Do you fuck your father to? How about that uncle of yours. That's why Cain left isn't it? He was disgusted and tired of having to touch his own sister so inappropriately and to top it off she's ugly as hell... Aaaahhhh!" Shona ran clumsily in the boots she had taken from Setsu. Setsuka quickly caught up to her perfectly able to run in the tall heels.
Setsu tackled her to the ground sick of hearing her high pitched voice. She was the only girl who ever spoke to Setsu but that had only been because they had some bond as children. The friend she once cared for was corrupted and changed by popularity and high school drivel. It took a moment for the other students to catch up to them and surround them forming a barrier the teachers could not break through.
Shrieks echoed through the hall when Setsu punched the bleached blond girl breaking her nose. She punched her twice in the left eye and again in her mouth cutting her knuckles on the pristine white teeth, four of which were expensive porcelain veneers. The girl was a bloody mess by the time the principal had broken through the crowd and yanked Setsu off of her.
"I'm sure she deserved it but you are smart enough to know the consequences of such an act. Her father is a lawyer and her mother is a benefactor of this school. She remodeled the library and donated a lot of high tech shit to our classrooms." The principal grumbled while skimming through Setsuka's file. "I'll call the school psychiatrist up so we can try to spin this in a more positive light for you. You're at the top of your class trying to earn a scholarship to Tokyo university. That's obviously a lot a pressure for a young woman who is being bullied by less ambitious girls. You'll probably have to apologize and I'll set up a self defense class so you can do some community service. Yes, we should be able to handle this quietly. I am certain that girl's parents are more reasonable than she is."
The principal looked across her desk to smile reassuringly at the student she had come to like. Setsuka was smart and she helped with bake sales just because she enjoyed baking. Lately however she was simply a name on the paper. Her assignments lacked personality. She no longer raised her hand in class or even answered when a teacher called on her. Even now when they were having a one on one with no one judging or spouting hurtful comments she simply would not acknowledge the presence of another living being. Her teachers had sent concerned letters both to the principal's office and home to her parents in the passed three weeks but nobody seemed to find a way to cheer the girl up. Her mother claimed it to be a phase that would pass but added a cryptic whisper about a heart breaking for the first time being traumatic. She was still at the top of her class so every one went along with the excuse. If they gave her time she would be her happy vibrant self again.
Time didn't help and her bad behavior only escalated.
"Where did you get all this money from?" questioned her mother after cleaning her room. She sat at the dining table counting large bills out as Setsu painted her nails as if bored of the conversation. She decided she liked all her pretty new nail polish and nail art pens so she would have to tolerate the interrogation from her mother. That didn't mean she had to be honest and say she had been pick pocketing instead of going to school.
"Some man pays me for my mouth." Terror filled her mothers face and she dropped the money in disgust. Setsu almost felt bad, she would have taken it back if she didn't have a goal to reach. The worse she got the more her parents fought, the topic always being about sending her to live with Cain. Her mother went straight to her father to complain about the vulgar things she said and did.
"Let's send her away at once. She listens to him and he could use some one looking after him as well." Her father shook his head and waved his hands to dismiss her words. "At least tell me where my son is."
"Why, so you can send that girl there to be ruined?"
"I can't control her. She could become pregnant you useless husband!"
He put his head in his hands, "That's exactly what I'm afraid is going to happen. We'll send her to a convent or let her be arrested. She's bound to start another fight or get caught stealing money."
"She isn't stealing she's prostituting herself. How can you be aright with that? There are diseases and dangers out there that I don't want to think about." He waved his hand to dismiss her for good this time. He knew Setsu was smarter than to sell herself. He also knew she was too in love to permit another man to touch her in any way. She was safe as long as she was no where near her brother.
Her mother wasn't blind or stupid but she didn't believe Cain would ever do anything to hurt his sister, and hoped that Setsu would grow out of her adoration for him eventually. This arrangement however was clearly hazardous to Setsu's health and any fate with Cain was better than what Setsuka was choosing now.