Hopefully this chapter makes sense... I had a hard time deciding how to start the rest of the story.

Kaoru stuffed his clothes into his bag without caring which way they fell into the bag. He just wanted everything packed and ready. It had already taken him two weeks of procrastination before this point to actually motivate him to get his possessions together. And now it was only a matter a time until he could leave this hell hole.

"So you left everything until now, didn't you Kaoru?"

Kaoru turned and grinned, seeing his father standing near the closed door with crossed arms and a grin. "Hey Dad," Kaoru said happily; a warmth spread through his chest.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other."

Kaoru looked down away and grabbed at his picture frame that held an old photograph of their little family. "Yeah, it has, hasn't it?" Kaoru mumbled, throwing it face-down into the suitcase.

Dad came closer to stand just out of Kaoru's reach, near the end of the bed. "It's okay Kaoru. We'll get you through this."

"You'll get me through this," Kaoru corrected.

He looked away. "Okay son, we'll do it your way."

There was swift knock at the door and Kaoru ran a weary hand over his face, preparing, and then plastered on a smile before approaching the door. He opened it quickly and softly, "Hi guys."

Kaoru was tackled into a huge hug by his 15-year-old twin. "Kaoru!" Hikaru cried, squeezing Kaoru hard when he returned the hug.

They pulled away and Kaoru turned to Mom. "Oh, my baby," she managed to breathe. She gathered him loosely, but tenderly to her chest. He came up to her shoulder now, he noticed as she pressed his head against her collar bone. The last time they saw each other, Kaoru had been a few inches shorter… He squeezed his eyes shut. No, he wasn't going to hold hard feelings. All she'd wanted was for Kaoru to get better.

She released him and stepped back, holding a watery smile. "So the doctor said you are all cured now. Is it true?" she asked quietly.

Kaoru's eyes flickered to his left to Dad who gave him an encouraging smile. "Yeah, I'm completely cured. I can come home now?"

Mom started crying. "Of course you can," she sobbed and wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of this, but I just wanted you to be normal."

Kaoru flinched internally. "Thanks Mom," he forced himself to say. He still wasn't normal.

"I've missed you, Kaoru," Hikaru spoke up and draped an arm over Kaoru's shoulders.

Returning the gesture, Kaoru said, "I missed you too brother." And that was the honest truth.

Kaoru had been gone for… two years now in estimation. When he was young—six, if he could remember correctly—he'd almost died, had died, out on the street after being hit by a car. But then, he'd breathed suddenly and lived. Kaoru didn't remember anything from that accident; he just knew that he'd been in bad shape and it was a miracle to survive something like that.

Shortly after that, Kaoru had started seeing people, hearing voices. Mom had at first thought Kaoru just had a lot of imaginary friends, but then it got scary… So she'd gotten him help and medication. Kaoru had been taking anti-psychotics since he was about seven and they worked… until recently when he was thirteen. And that's when Mom had thrown him into this mental hospital/therapy center to help him get past his hallucinations.

But they weren't hallucinations, Kaoru knew that now. Kaoru hadn't taken his medication since the first day he was brought to this place… but so far, the consequences weren't so bad.

Kaoru stared at his identical brother; even after all this time being apart, the two still looked exactly the same and acted in similar ways. Kaoru wondered if Hikaru thought Kaoru crazy or insane.

"Should we go?" Kaoru asked quietly. "I am excited to be back in my old room."

Mom smiled. "Of course, dear, and then you can redecorate it any way you want. Okay?"

Kaoru nodded but didn't reply. He just wanted to be out of this place. Mom nodded back and took a step back to the door and her two sons followed behind her. Kaoru glanced back at Dad and to say goodbye, but he was gone.

A pang of sadness filled Kaoru's chest.

Eight Years Ago

Yuzuha sat at her worktable and stared at her fabric numbly, with tears streaming down her cheeks. She scraped her fingers over her eyes, removing a mess of mascara, eyeliner, and shadow from the corner of her eyes, but it smeared hideously across her skin. She looked awful.

She forced her fingers back to the pins in front of her, forcing her fingers to work at binding the fabric together temporarily with the pins so that they were ready to be sown, but she stopped again. Everything was too painful.

Her husband had only died two weeks ago, and even after the funeral, it was still too fresh. She was without her love now and her boys were without a father. But she kept on living, at least for her boys.

Suddenly she heard the soft pitter patter of light feet running down the hallway. She stopped what she was doing and glanced over her shoulder at the door. It was nine at night and her boys were in bed, she was sure of it. There was no light in the hallway—there shouldn't be—she was the only one awake.

She stood slowly, allowing the chair to scrape across the hardwood floor, and then made her way into the hallway. A tiny laugh echoed down to her, making her frown. So one of the boys was up? She stepped quietly down towards the living room where she first heard the noise and stopped.

The door was partially open and from inside she could hear the voice of seven-year-old Kaoru saying something quietly. She placed a hand on the door and pushed it open slowly.

"What, Daddy?"

Yuzuha froze, her breath catching, and she stared at her child. Kaoru was sitting on the couch in his jammies, staring at a space near the wall where there was nothing, nothing at all. She knew Kaoru had had a few too many imaginary friends recently but…

"Mommy's here?" Kaoru suddenly asked. Then his head swung in her direction. His face was shadowed when he smiled. "Hi Mommy. Daddy says hi. He says not too miss him. He's okay."

"Stop it Kaoru, stop it right now!" Yuzuha snapped, her whole being shaking with grief. "Daddy is gone, he's not there."

"But he's standing right there!" Kaoru cried, pointing at the blank wall.

"No! You can't make an imaginary friend out of Daddy. That's bad!" She stomped forward and scooped her stunned child into her arms. "We're going back to bed."

As soon as she reached her sons' room, she tucked Kaoru into bed and kissed his forehead but Kaoru never said a word. Instead, he just stared at a spot somewhere behind her. And when she closed the door, through the crack, she heard, "Love you too Daddy." And that's when she knew she had to get her son help.

So how did you like it? I'm really nervous for this chapter...