"Fathers are kind. Fathers protect you. Fathers raise you."

-Raven; from Teen Titans (2005)

Disclaimer: For anyone who's squeamish or otherwise triggered at the mention or hinting of sexual abuse, maybe go to the middle part of the story.

Eiji Hisakawa's house was the definition of a pigsty. No, even worse than that. The house, which itself wasn't very big, was coated in all kinds of filth. The walls had all kinds of stains; the sink was piled high with dirty dishes; the floors were covered in stains, garbage, and unclean clothes. The smell was the first thing that hit, taking anyone who opened the front door by surprise. For Cassidy, it made her stomach churn so violently she felt bile rise in her throat. Eiji had originally kept his house clean when she first started living with him, but she hadn't realized that the cleanliness was a front, just like his supposed kindness. When law enforcement and protective services loosened their grip on Eiji enough, his behavior began to decline. Once he was deemed a worthy guardian for Cassidy, that was when everything spiraled downhill.

Eiji's business, an auto repair shop, had been going through a difficult time around the first couple months Cassidy went to live with him. He was getting frustrated, his bills were piling up and he couldn't figure out a way to pay them off. After managing to get a second job on the side, the finances were able to balance themselves out after a while. But Eiji's attitude didn't change. He was still angry, still unsatisfied with things. For Cassidy, the first part of her abuse from her uncle had been his yelling and insults. The young girl had been sent to her uncle not long after her eighth birthday, and seeing her uncle behave in such an erratic fashion reminded Cassidy of how her mother acted, especially when she was high or drunk. Géneviève's favorite drug was cocaine, it gave her energy. Mostly negative energy. It fueled her anger towards Cassidy, which led to a lot of hitting, shouting, insults, etc. For Eiji however, he didn't need alcohol or drugs to fuel his rage; it happened naturally.

Cassidy had learned to block out her mother's outbursts whenever they happened, so when her uncle started lashing out, she reverted back to that mindset. Unlike Géneviève, however, who was usually too drunk or high to notice her daughter's blocking out of her rants and abuse, Eiji caught onto it quickly. The physical abuse started mingling in with verbal abuse early on. Hits, punches, kicks, slaps, violent shoving — anything Cassidy could think of, her uncle did. Anytime Eiji caught Cassidy blocking out his verbal assault, he'd beat her. Then it went to whenever he had a bad day, he'd beat her. If the house wasn't looking the way he wanted, he'd beat Cassidy. If he was in some kind of weird mood — not quite angry, but not calm, either — Eiji would beat Cassidy. By the time she turned twelve, that was when the young girl got her first period. Eiji caught wind of it and the abuse went beyond physical and verbal. It went from touching, to groping, to basically everything else that would happen when that kind of situation would be allowed to escalate.

It was around the time Cassidy turned fourteen that her uncle had gone beyond just touching or groping. He'd go into her room at night, and then she ended up pregnant not long after. Fourteen year old Cassidy was, of course, petrified at the thought of having to bring a child into the world at such a young age. Her uncle, however, seemed rather indifferent on the matter. He had scheduled a doctor appointment after Cassidy's pregnancy test came back positive. Eiji made Cassidy swear that she would tell the story of how she met up with all these different guys that eventually became intimate. He wanted her to tell the doctors and nurses that she didn't know who the father was. Eiji didn't want to be discovered.

It was after the doctors and nurses suggested Cassidy abort her pregnancy with Kai that she fully started to realize the situation. She had tried distancing herself from everything that had happened up until that point. She didn't want to come to any conclusion or understanding that she was being beaten and raped by her uncle. Cassidy had been fourteen, who would think anything like that would happen to a fourteen year old? She didn't go to anymore doctor appointments after that. She eventually gave birth to Kai in her uncle's home, considering she had no other choice since he refused to take her to a hospital. Kai had come out healthy, screaming and crying. Cassidy had cried, but it wasn't so much out of happiness as it was out of regret and sadness. Eiji didn't lay a finger on her for the first couple months after she gave birth. Casside thought it odd, but didn't think too much on it. Her main priority was keeping her son safe.

After Kai hit the four month mark, Eiji's abuse came back.

Out of everything Eiji had done to her, the one thing Cassidy seemed to do was take in all the filthiness of her uncle's home. The stains on the wall; the garbage and clothes on the floor; maybe afterwards she'd go to the kitchen and see all the dishes in the sink. Seeing the filthiness reminded Cassidy of herself. She felt disgusting, unclean. Eiji always said no one would want someone as disgraceful and horrendous as her. She believed him. She didn't have any friends in the neighborhood. She didn't even do well in any of the schools she attended.

Looking at the house, Cassidy felt Kai's hands grip her leg tightly, burying his face into her leg. The house's putrid smell lingered heavily, making Cassidy's stomach churn painfully. She fought the urge to vomit. Placing a gentle hand on her still flat stomach, Cassidy frowned deeply. If she and Kai left, they'd be homeless. If she stayed, she would have to face the consequences of having to tell Eiji she's pregnant again. She couldn't physically handle that.

"Mama?" Kai's voice snapped the young mother out of her thoughts. "Mama, you OK?"

"I'm fine, bebê," she murmured. "Let's get your things together, sweetie. We need to hurry, OK? No dawdling."

"Unca Ji," Kai exclaimed. "We tell Unca Ji!"

The one thing Cassidy was happy for was that Kai didn't have the slightest idea that Eiji was his father; only seeing the older man as his great-uncle. "No, bebê," Cassidy said, keeping her voice firm. "We're not telling him. This is for us. For your baby brother or sister. We need a break, and Uncle Ji can't know." Tears formed in Kai's eyes. "If you cry, then mama will be upset," Cassidy said, her voice low. "We're in a rush, we can't afford temper tantrums, Kai. Do as I say, understand?"

The tears in Kai's brown eyes trembled, his nose was as red as could be. Wiping his eyes, he mumbled something under his breath, but didn't argue any further.

"I'll help you pack," Cassidy grumbled. "You're only allowed to bring one toy, though, so pick carefully."

~. . . .~

Cassidy had taken one of Kai's favorite superhero backpacks and filled it as full as it could get with his clothes. After that, she took her son into the bathroom with her after she took a duffel bag out of her bedroom. Thankfully, Kai's decision on what toy to bring was simple, having settled on an old teddy bear she gave him for Christmas. The bear itself was in tatters, having several parts sewn back together, with some patches here and there from areas that couldn't be sewn back so easily. Kai loved it nonetheless.

Opening drawers in the bathroom, Cassidy threw in some personal hygiene items, trying not to fill in too much space in her bag. Right as she was about to finish up, she saw a pair of scissors in the corner of a slightly open drawer. Cassidy used those scissors to give Kai haircuts sometimes. Picking them up, the sixteen year old held the scissors in her hand for a long moment before looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had long dark brown hair, ending just below her elbows. Pursing her lips, Cassidy picked up a handful of hair and clipped it off. The hair fell all on the bathroom counter and all over the floor. She faintly heard Kai let out a gasp, the two year old surprised that his mother would do something like that. Grabbing more and more of her hair, Cassidy quickly ran her hair through the sink water in hopes of making her hair damp enough to work with. Afterwards, she quickly started cutting it all off.

It felt like a lifetime later before Cassidy allowed herself to stop. Her hair littered the sink, counter, and floor, some of it even clinging to her clothes. Cassidy looked at herself in the mirror, her expression blank as she observed what she had done. Her now short hair was longer in some areas, shorter in others. Patches of hair stuck up in certain areas, while others were flat. Running a hand through her hair, Cassidy swallowed thickly. Looking down at her son, she noticed how he was looking up at her in a stunned silence. The toddler looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"You'll help mama pack, right?" she asked, kneeling down to be at his eye level. "Right, Kai?"

The two year old reached out and touched Cassidy's hair. There was a look of concentration on his face, as if he was thinking really hard about what was going on. The young mother felt her heart pounding painfully in her chest, hoping her son would just hurry up and help her. When he nodded, as if coming to some conclusion in his little mind, Cassidy nodded in return. The young mother kept her instructions simple for Kai; he'd gather up what few safe belongings she might need — any money she had stashed around the place plus a few sweatjackets she wanted to bring — while she went and packed in more clothes into the duffel bag. When everything had been packed, Cassidy threw on one of the sweatjackets Kai had given her before putting the hood up.

Kneeling down to her son's eye level, Cassidy brushed his hair out of his face. "Are you ready to go?" she asked. A bright smile came on his face as he nodded, hugging his teddy bear close to him. "OK, let's go."

(A/N):

What'd you think? Was it good? Was it bad? Was it meh? I honestly don't know how I feel about this chapter, but hopefully it's decent enough. For any of you who have some sort of issue when it comes to sexual assault, I hope the warning at the beginning of the chapter was helpful. For any other future chapters that have a dark theme to it, I'll try and add those kinds of disclaimers near the top of the chapter. Or you guys could just let me know and I'll try to tone down those kinds of themes. If you want to leave a review on the matter, go ahead; other than that, PM your thoughts.

OHSHC does not belong to me. All I own are my characters and subplots.

If you've got ideas for OCs or subplots, PM me or leave a review.

Thanks a bunch.

Willow