Chapter Two

One Father Too Many

"HEEEEYYY BLADE! WAKE UP! IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOOOOOL!" I hollered as I passed Blade's room on the way to the main room for some breakfast.

I heard him grumble lazily and skipped light-heartedly into the huge room of Kid's mansion with the long wooden table in it.

"Finally. I was beginning to think you'd never get up." Liz teased.

I rolled my eyes and sat next to Patty who was giggling at her plate which had two fried eggs and a piece of bacon that made a smiley face on it.

Blade clumsily walked into the room, black hair a mess. For a moment, it looked as if he couldn't remember where he was, but then his expression cleared and he took a seat at the table across from Patty.

I didn't want to be rude, but I was terribly hungry so I asked, "Um, where's the rest of breakfast?"

"Kid's finishing it right now…" Liz said, fidgeting with a pair of nail clippers.

I smiled to myself at the thought of Kid cooking breakfast, in an apron and chef hat. I nearly laughed out loud but restrained myself and waited patiently while Blade, Liz, and I all sat in an uncomfortable silence, Patty laughing in the background.

Finally, Kid walked into the room with a tray of food with some plates on it in his left hand and balancing a stack of four other plates in his right hand.

Just to be polite, I said, "Here, let me help with that," and got up out of my seat and took the plates from his right hand and setting them on the table.

"Thanks." Kid said with a friendly smile as he set the tray down in the middle of Patty and Blade.

I took my seat next to Patty again as Kid distributed breakfast and then he took a seat across from me.

"Mmmm looks good." Blade complimented coolly. I was surprised at his calmness, because usually Blade was a sarcastic, joking nut, but then realized he probably wasn't comfortable yet with his new surroundings. Ah, well, I'll give him a week, I thought, he'll be cracking stupid jokes and pulling pranks in no time.

Blade was right. The food was fantastic, bacon and eggs. I've had eggs, but never ever, EVER bacon, and I have to say, for a pig's rear end, it was pretty good.

"Alright, we'd better hurry." Liz said, looking up at the clock.

"Kay'!" Patty said as she quickly ran back into the recesses of the house to get something.

"Would you get out of those PJ's Blade? Seriously…" I said to him.

Suddenly, Blade had an alarmed look on his face, his brown eyes panicked, and then rushed out of the room to get dressed.

I laughed silently to myself and waited by the front door in my casual jeans and white and gray shirts. Liz walked over and joined me and Kid leaned against the wall on the other side of me. We waited in awkward silence until Patty scrambled towards the front door and nodded, her hat now in its proper place atop her head.

Growing impatient, Liz yelled, "Hurry up, Blade! We don't have all morning!"

Blade suddenly emerged from his room, dressed in proper day clothes, that is, his slightly baggy, dark jeans, teal shirt, and white sweatshirt with two thin, dark teal, vertical stripes on one side and then a thicker teal horizontal stripe that crossed paths with the vertical stripes.

"Let's go." Blade said, hands in his jacket pockets.

Suddenly, Kid seemed agitated by Blade and then I realized why when he said, "Couldn't you have worn something a little more symmetrical?"

Blade seemed lost at the comment and replied, "Erm, is it a problem?"

Kid's eyebrows furrowed in frustration, "Just a bit, yes."

Blade shrugged, maintaining his temporary "cool", "Oh well. I don't really have anything else. Most of my stuff is back at my place. It is really fit for living conditions so I should probably retrieve them later today…"

With a pang, I realized that I'd have to get the rest of the few possessions I owned from my father's house too. I wasn't looking forward to that.

"Well, no use worrying about it now, right?" Liz said, "Let's just get to the academy or we'll all be late."

With great reluctance, Kid turned his gaze from Blade and opened the door of the manor. A rush of cool air emanated from the open doorway and outside the weather was extremely dreary. The sky was filled with dark, threatening clouds and the air smelled of rain, a rare one for Death City. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a distant boom!

I felt a hand on my shoulder, "It's just thunder."

I looked over and saw Kid's calm face and felt reassured, so we began walking towards the academy, the beginnings of a storm looming over our heads.

That whole day, I stuck to Kid like glue to paper. I still didn't know anyone there besides him, Liz, and Patty and was still extremely shy. I had history classes with this guy named Sid, a guy who apparently used to be a regular human being until he willingly became a zombie. It made me a little nervous being there, but Stein's class was even worse. Stein, this crazy scientist-like person who had this huge screw in his head and stitches on himself and even his clothes, was obsessed with dissecting things. To add to the whole creepy effect, his glasses reflected the light from the light bulbs or from the windows whenever he said something that really made chills run up my spine.

Despite the creepy teachers, I never thought it would be so fun to learn things. It was such a weird, exciting experience for me that by the time we got to P.E. I was ecstatic to come back and learn more.

P.E. was fun, especially for Blade. In that class, we basically trained with our weapons in the gym. I got to try out Blade's three weapon forms for the second time. I really like the first one I tried, which was this long, silver sword with a sharp hook at the end. It proved to be my favorite to use. Blade's other forms, I learned, were a silver-staffed soul wavelength staff with a blue orb at one end and four burgundy demon wings around the base of the orb. The last form of Blades was a golden shield with a red "X" on the front and four deadly looking spikes sticking out of the middle.

Currently, sitting and waiting for the school day to end, I sat in the library (which is freakin' HUGE) reading a book on soul resonance (which I am hoping to attempt soon!) when Blade walked over and sat by me with this gigantic stack of books.

"Do you really believe you'll be able to read all those books anytime soon?" I asked, turning the next page in my book.

"No, but I can try." Blade said simply.

There was silence for a while, so I read on, not expecting him to say anything else, but he did anyways, "Have you thought about what you'll do when you go back to your dad's house to get your stuff?"

My stomach twisted in a knot at the mention of my dad and I immediately closed my book, "I don't know. I really don't want to go back there."

The middle of my chest began throbbing again and I pressed a hand against it. This happened frequently to me, why, I cannot say. I don't even know why. Maybe there is something wrong with my heart. I don't know, but it's happened all the time since I was about five years old. Right around the time my mom was force….. Er, left.

"Didn't you have something back there that really mattered to you? Have you forgotten about your mom's pendant?" Blade asked, looking up from his book.

I huffed out a breath as I remembered me forgetting to take that with me to my first day of school, "I nearly forgot… oh, I just don't know how to confront him! He's just going to hurt me again…"

"Who's going to hurt you again?" Kid asked in a concerned voice as he suddenly appeared next to Blade, Liz and Patty absent from his presence.

I noticed Blade about to say something, and I was apprehensive about telling Kid the struggles between me and my dad, but realized I probably should just tell him anyways so I silenced Blade with a gesture of my hand and began explaining, "Well, um, my dad…"

Kid's eyes widened, "What?"

"Um, I don't want my dad to hurt me again… he always does…" I said cautiously and quietly.

Kid looked horrified, and asked darkly, "Why is that? What kind of a father would do such a thing?"

"That's what I want to know…" I said, and surprise surprise, my eyes filled with tears again as I poured out everything.

I told Kid about how when I was five, my father suddenly went mad and threatened my mother that he would kill me if she didn't leave. So, as expected, my mother left me to my fate, not wanting to hurt her little daughter. My father then began having me complete massive amounts of labor, rewarding me with tiny amounts of food which explained why I looked like an anorexic person.

I told Kid how my father isolated me from the outside world so I never had any friends or gotten any education except the very basics like reading, writing, and small amounts of math and science, but no history. I explained about his abusive ways, like how if I asked for more food or didn't do what I was told, my father would beat me senseless and literally throw me up the stairs and into my tiny bedroom, leaving me there for hours, sometimes a day or two, without any food or drink.

I finally ended with how Blade had convinced me to leave my father behind and attend the DWMA.

By the time I was done, Kid's face expressed several emotions; anger, pity, compassion, and hatred.

"Kukuru, why didn't you tell me before?" Kid asked.

"I was nervous to tell you…. I don't know. I guess I didn't want to trouble you." I replied softly.

I heard footsteps nearby and looked towards the stairs to see a dark creamy haired, green eyed girl dressed in a black overcoat with a green and yellow tie on and a short, red, plaid shirt with these really cool black, buckled shoes closely followed by an albino looking boy who was wearing a headband with two patches on it with something written on them, a yellow and black jacket, burgundy jeans, and yellow and black shoes that matched his jacket. The two were followed by a boy with spiky blue hair, green eyes, and dressed in a black, white, and silver outfit that seemed to fit the description of an assassin, and a girl whose long black hair was drawn back into a ponytail, indigo colored eyes, and wore an outfit consisting of a dark brown scarf, a pale yellow, sleeveless, dress with a slit on one side, wrist bands, and a yellow star on my left side of her outfit.

"Hey Kid! Who are they?" The dark cream colored haired girl asked.

Kid quickly wiped all emotion off of his face and I looked in the other direction long enough to remove any traces of my (lets' see um…) third breakdown in less than two days.

"Ah, Kukuru, meet Maka. Maka, this is Kukuru, a new meister I helped just yesterday." Kid said.

"Hello!" Maka smiled at me.

I waved shyly just as Blade said, "And what am I, chop liver?"

"Oh, sorry. Maka, this is Blade, Kukuru's weapon." Kid said, gesturing towards Blade.

"Hey, I bet you all know who I am!" The blue haired kid shouted, suddenly jumping out of nowhere in between Kid and Maka.

I looked up at his confident face, wondering and then realized, "Hey, wait a second… You're that guy I overheard talking about Kid! And you," I pointed at the albino boy, "I saw you too!"

The blue haired boy seemed a little set off but then he "corrected" me, "No, no, no. You must be new here. Let me just tell you that my name is the Great and Almighty Blackstar! You'll hear my name everywhere for here on out, because I am the greatest assassin ever and will transcend the Gods! Just count on that you won't ever here the last of me in these parts!" And then Blackstar went off into this crazy laughing fit. I swear I'd never seen a more boastful person in my life.

The girl with the long black ponytail, who looked a little sheepish at the moment, said, "Sorry about that. I'm Tsubaki, Blackstar's weapon."

Blade nodded and I said, "Hi."

"What about you?" Blade asked the albino boy.

"I'm Soul, Maka's weapon partner." Soul said simply.

I smiled and Blade, who seemed satisfied, closed his book and placed it on the stack of books he had brought with him up the steps.

"Well, uh, Kid, we're going to hang out at our place after school today if you want to come. Kukuru, Blade, you both can come too if you want." Maka invited.

I was a little bit shocked at first, actually meeting new people and hanging out with them and stuff was something I didn't really have much knowledge in, but Blade said, "Ya, sure. Sounds cool."

"Alright then," Maka beamed, "School should be over soon. We'll meet you guys there."

Maka walked off with Soul and Blackstar high-tailed it to the comic book section of the library, Tsubaki following closely.

The three of us left were silent a bit longer until Kid sighed and said, "Well, at least this'll give us time to sort out a solution to get back inside your dad's house. I'd better go find Liz and Patty," Kid began walked off, hands in pockets, "I'll be back."

"I'm glad we're meeting new people already." I said to Blade absent-mindedly as I picked up my book again.

Blade huffed out a breath through his nose and just stared off at the other side of the library where Blackstar ran off to with Tsubaki.

Suddenly, the throbbing of my chest increased and it developed into a tolerable pain. Oh dear. I knew what came after this. Maybe I should just stay back at Kid's house instead of go to Maka and Soul's place. It would be smarter, because if I was right, I'd be in for a one hell of an afternoon.

BRRRRRRRRRRR! The sound of the buzzing bell echoed of the walls of the library and made me jump, nearly tossing the book out of my hands. Whatever, I thought. It might just go away…

I checked out my book when we got to the main floor of the library and Blade checked out four or five of his huge stack and Kid, alongside Liz and Patty, joined us at the door.

"Hehehe I can't wait to get to Maka's!" Patty squeaked excitedly as we left the DWMA.

"Just so that you don't freak, it's only fair to warn you that not just Maka and Soul live at their apartment…" Liz began, somewhat reluctant, "there's a, um, cat that lives there too…"

"Why would a cat freak me out?" I asked curiously. What, did Liz think I was allergic or something?

"Well, um, she's kind of also a human…" Liz said, "a dirty-minded cat-human. Her name is Blair, and Blade, if she gets an eye for you, just, I don't know, try to avoid her…"

Blade looked a little nervous but then cleared it up with a sarcastic phrase, "Wondrous. I can't wait."

I was about to roll my eyes when the next step I took seem to split my body right down the middle. I shrieked loudly and fell to the ground, chest burning in pain. I closed my eyes but felt the tears fall anyways. It was happening again.

I opened my eyes again to see what the others were doing. Through my tear blurred vision, I could see Kid leaning over me, concern and a tiny bit of panic in his eyes. He was trying to talk to me, but my ears were ringing with the pain rendering me unable to hear him. I was also unable to speak.

Blade looked horrified and kept yelling something. Patty looked worried and Liz seemed to be trying to get me to talk.

I curled into a ball on the ground, clutching my shoulders, trying to speak, but all that came out were shrieks of pain. Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted up off the ground and realized that Kid had picked me up and we was running somewhere fast, Blade, Liz and Patty close behind.

I looked up at Kid's determined and worried face, wondering if this was the worst I'd had these huge pain fits, when I lost all grip on consciousness and passed out.

When I woke up, the excruciating pain was gone. I kept my eyes closed because they still ached a little, but I knew I was on a couch somewhere. When I finally opened my eyes, my heart thudded but then calmed down again and I sighed a breath of relief.

Kid, Liz, Blade, Patty, Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, Blackstar, a purple haired girl, and two other people I didn't recognize, one who seemed much older than everyone else in the group and another who looked extremely pale and nervous looking. The elder was dark skinned and had dark hair with bandages wrapped around most parts of her body.

The other forlorn looking guy had light purplish- pinkish hair and pale blue eyes and seemed to be wearing a long black robe. It was probably a trick of my eyes, but I thought I saw another person sticking out of the person's back…

The purple haired girl had cat ears on her head so I made the assumption that it was the cat lady that Liz had been talking about, or Blair.

"Kukuru?" Blade said apprehensively and in a relieved way.

I looked up at him and Kid who were standing closest to my head. Relief flooded their faces and I sat up, folding my legs underneath me comfortably.

"How did I get here?" I asked, still a little groggy.

"Kid carried you all the way here and Blair took Maka and Soul to go get Nygus. She's the nurse at the DWMA." Blade explained, nodding towards the dark woman.

"Yes, when I got here, you were already passed out, but in your unintentional slumber, your body was still in immense pain. I gave you a muscle relaxer, several in fact, but I still wasn't able to figure out what was causing the pain. Do you know anything about it?" Nygus asked me.

I sighed heavily and then answered, "No. I've had this happen before but never this bad."

Nygus looked surprised, "How often does this happen?"

"Twice a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average it normally happens two times a month." I answered.

Nygus furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the wall beyond me, "Hmm."

Suddenly, Maka gasped. All heads turned towards her, wondering what caused her to gasp.

Maka, noticing everyone looking at her, looked at me with a concerned face, "Kukuru… it's…. you're soul, it's…"

I was now in for another shock, I could just feel it, "Maka?"

"It's….. it's like it's in pieces! It's broken into three pieces!" Maka said, astonished.

All heads then swiveled in my direction, all except Kid's, who was staring hard at Maka, "Are you sure?"

"Positive. I can see it very clearly now. It looks extremely painful. Nygus, do you think that's what caused the pain fits?" Maka asked.

"That could be a high probability… But I've never heard of someone having a broken soul so I wouldn't know." Nygus stated, inspecting me from head to foot with her eyes.

Kid seemed to grow a little agitated, "Do you know how this could've happened?"

Nygus thought a moment and something clicked just as Tsubaki said, "Well, you know how in some books, people say they beat people to break their spirits? Maybe that happened to Kukuru."

I locked eyes with Blade and Kid. We knew exactly who that was, but true to their words, they didn't say a single word.

"It's possible, but I think for now we should leave Kukuru alone. She's had quite the day and I don't think she needs anymore pestering," Nygus said, sensing my discomfort, "Kid, Blade, Liz, Patty, keep an eye on her when I'm not around. This is very odd indeed and I should probably let Doctor Stein know about this. He'd know more than I do."

I shivered a little at Stein's name but let the thought pass. Knowing what I knew about Stein, Nygus was probably right.

"You were really stealing my show earlier! You'd better be careful, doing that!" Blackstar warned, not really seriously but not really jokingly either.

I smiled apologetically and said, "Ya, ok, sorry oh mighty assassin!"

Blackstar seemed satisfied and looked as if he were to glorify in the title "mighty assassin" which I bestowed upon him for a moment, but then let it pass and walked off with Soul to find some food. I sat on the couch talking to Tsubaki and Liz while Maka was preparing food for us, Blade and Kid keeping a close eye on me like Nygus instructed.

A few moments later, Maka came out of the kitchen with bowls and plates of food followed by Soul. Blackstar was following close behind, carrying a bowl of rice that he was consuming at lightning speed.

Maka placed the food down and we all marveled at it a moment and then began to dig in. Between bites of food, we exchanged stories, told jokes, and did all sorts of other things that I thought I'd never get to participate in. I was also introduced to the pale kid whose name was Crona and apparently had black blood, so his weapon, Ragnarok, was in fact the little thing I thought was attached to Crona's back.

Through all our fun, Blade and I had completely forgotten about Blair until she showed up, stark naked, in the doorway, inviting the boys craftily to come and join her in the next room over. Soul got a nosebleed and was on the floor, Blackstar was oblivious (or at least pretending to be), Kid had his head in his hands, Crona seemed disturbed and nervous, and Blade face palmed and looked the other way, trying not to notice.

Eventually, Maka told Blair off and we continued our festivities until about eight o'clock.

"What a late ending." I said tiredly as I was about to step out the apartment door.

"Pfft late? You should see how late we hang out till on weekends." Soul remarked.

"Well, excuse me Mr. Cool." I taunted sarcastically.

Soul rolled his eyes and we all said our goodbyes. We walked some ways with Blackstar and Tsubaki before they left too.

Patty was conversing with me about the moon and the crazy face on it when we arrived at the mansion and Kid silenced her, ushering everyone inside except myself and Blade.

"Blade, I have a plan to help Kukuru, so if you want to help…" Kid began solemnly.

Blade looked over at Kid and then at Kukuru, "Actually, as much as I'd like to help Kukuru, I can't take her dad for more than two seconds. It wouldn't be wise of me to accompany you."

Kid nodded and Blade walked inside the manor, shutting the door behind him without another word. At first, I was totally mad at Blade, but then realized he was right. Blade and my father had met once, and it didn't end well for either of them.

"Kukuru… I've decided. I'll accompany you to your dad's house in case anything goes wrong, but you must go in alone. I've noticed your lack of courage, and I just want you to have more confidence in yourself. Please, just try this." Kid said, noting that my face got paler and paler as he talked.

"What? No way! If I get caught… Oh jeez, I'll screw it up somehow…" I stuttered fretfully.

"Kukuru," Kid placed a hand on my shoulder and I met his golden eyes once more, "just try. I'll be right outside. You can accomplish this if you set your mind to it."

I was shaking uncontrollably at the thought of me getting caught by my dad, but deep inside I knew that Kid was right. I had to try.

I heaved out a huge breath and said, "Ok. But please, stay close to the house."

Kid nodded, "If you're in trouble, just scream as loud as you can."

"Ok."

We crept under the cover of darkness towards the rickety shack that was my father's home. The wooden boards around the house were covered with splinters, the windows covered with a musty film of dust and all of them were cracked.

"This dump is where you lived all your life?" Kid asked, his nose wrinkling at the sight of it.

"It didn't always used to look this awful." I commented, thinking about the short five years when my mother was around.

Kid shrugged and we walked up to the front door of the shack, Kid holding an umbrella over our heads because the first raindrops of the massive storm had begun to fall on our way to my dad's house. I reached out to touch the rusty doorknob, my hands shaking with fear. As it turns out, Kid had the exact same thought as me, that is, he reached for the handle too, so our fingers touched ever so lightly, and for some odd reason, I blushed. Kid, noticing my discomfort, withdrew his hand slowly and allowed me to open the door.

I stepped inside and gave a last, unconvincing smile to Kid before I stepped inside and shut the door.

Inside the house, it was eerily quiet. I looked about at the dark room, my heart pounding. The shadows in the corners of the main room of the house could easily conceal my father, but I tried not to think of that and climbed the rickety staircase up into my tiny room. I opened my drawers of the dresser and found my mother's pendant. I took that and some extra clothing items and stuffed them into a cloth sack. I slung the sack over my shoulder and proceeded to leave my bedroom, feeling way more accomplished than before. I had actually done it!

But, unfortunately for me, I kind of jinxed myself.

As I retreated from the room, I suddenly felt someone move behind me, and then, as fast as lightning, my father pulled one of my arms back, causing me to cry out in pain and shoved my head onto the floor, splinters finding their way into my forehead. As I stared into the coarse wood flooring, he bound my wrists together with a thick cord.

"You've been a naughty girl, Kukuru. I thought you knew better than to run away!" My father said, his voice causing my skin to crawl.

My dad, that monster, that thing then held me a foot off the ground by gripping the beginning of where my bun met the back of my head, my head screaming with the pain of my hair being pulled so hard.

"You know what happens now?" My father asked creepily, his other hand reaching for something behind him.

I tried to scream, but I was paralyzed by fear and pain. I knew what was going to happen now. My dad pulled a gleaming knife from out of the darkness, its edge getting closer and closer to my skin. Time seemed to slow and I was growing steadily more anxious every passing second. Then, the blade point made contact with my clothes, and then pierced my stomach. Now I had the energy to scream.

I screamed as loud as my throat and lungs would allow, and I thought of the great irony of the situation when my father said, "No one will come for you, girl. There aren't any heroes to come to your aid tonight."

I heard the door burst open and my dad's grip loosened, allowing me to lean my head down and bite my dad's hand hard enough to cause his arm to retract in pain and drop the knife, but not before it tore across my stomach, causing blood to stain my white shirt and the darker long sleeved shirt I was wearing. In his pain, he also let go of my hair, giving me a window to escape, which I took. I tore through the door and down the stairs where I full on ran into Kid. We toppled over, but he immediately recovered and took my arm forcibly and pulled me to my feet. Soon, we were running out the front door of my dad's house, my sack of belongings hanging snugly on my back but wounds aching terribly.

I looked behind me at my dad's house as we ran to find that my father was not following us, but one look at Kid and his eyes seemed to light on fire, "You'll pay for this! You'll never get away with taking my daughter!"

Kid's face was emotionless as we ran off into the night back to the safety of Kid's mansion.

"Oh my God… what the fu-…" Blade began as he saw Kid supporting me as I entered the mansion.

I smiled sheepishly as we entered, "Our visit didn't exactly go as planned."

"Liz!" Blade yelled as he helped Kid set me down on the couch.

"What?" Liz yelled back as she ran into the room. Her eyes widened when she saw my condition and she immediately ran off for something to help.

"Again…. What happened?" Blade asked worriedly.

"Well, I went inside to get my things, my dad nearly tore my torso off my body, but we got away before he did any real damage." I recited.

Kid shook his head, "You said your dad hurt you, but you didn't say that he hurts you this badly."

Liz re-entered the room with a medical bag and snipped the lower portion of my shirt to fix up my cut. Blade was pulling small splinters from my face and Kid loosed the cord that had been binding my arms together. What is it with me injuries? Or more rather, why did my dad give me so many of them?

It turned out that the cut on my stomach wasn't as deep as I had expected and Liz was able to take care of it. In the morning, a ton of bruises showed up on my body and I suffered from a bad headache, but otherwise, I was feeling pretty good. I had managed to get away from my father mostly on my own. My first actual victory over another person, another living being, was keeping me from being too shaky at the academy.

We reported the incident to Lord Death, of course, and he promised to keep an eye on my father's estate. Something peculiar happened when I met him for the first time, though. Lord Death looked at me once, just once, and muttered something about seeing me before. I think he just made a mistake and saw some other person who looked like me, and I just shrugged it off.

Somehow, the news of what happened had gotten around the academy too, and I was receiving sympathetic looks from everyone. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they care, but I felt uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

Oh well. I'm just glad I'm alive right now.