hey guys it's animecat121 here!thanks for reading up to this far. this chapter is long, sad, and kind of disturbing. but it brings up an insight to kieko's past, there is a lot more cursing in this one than any of my other ones, but to tell the truth i think this is my favorite of all of them, sorry if you don't like it but thats the way it info. at the end!
it was sunday,a light breeze rustled the trees outside, kieko laid wide awake in her bed staring at the ceiling above her, Ran cuddled at her side. her life was so different now, she was now constantly monitored, the complete opposite from how she was...always alone. she felt like her room was the only place where her life was exactly the same, no one but her and Ran came in here, but that was okay she needed to be alone with her thoughts right now,"the fight i had with zero really changed how i looked at him didn't it?"she thought to herself "i didn't think he could be so cruel, to be honest i'm scared to be alone with him now, i'm not sure i want to be near him but, there no where for me to run is there? he lives here too, i feel like a caged animal, i want to apologise but what if nanase was right? what if i did nothing wrong?" she felt so frustrated "I wish i never let them stay here" she said under her breath, she then gasped was that her voice?she then clasped a hand over her mouth as if that would erase the words from escaping her mouth. did she really say that? how dare she say that when ,they have done so much for her "i really am a terrible person aren't i?"she thought, it was 10:30 she had spent enough time dawdling in bed it was time to start the day.
kieko's outfit for the day was a white t-shirt that had a kawaii ice cream on it but it was mostly covered up by her black hoodie that was slightly over sized,and a pair of blue jeans that hugged her hips. as she stepped into the kitchen she saw both boys eating breakfast "good morning kieko" ichi said, kieko glanced at him in a rather guilty way as if to apologise,"good morning" she replied. she slowly walked over to the pot where she kept the tea, some one had heated it up, must have been ichi, zero don't like plain tea too much. as she filled her mug and was almost out the door zero stopped her "kieko do you...hate me?" he asked pitifully. she stopped in her tracks, without turning around she answered; "honestly? No. but if you really want the truth… it's harder to smile at you, don't get me wrong i'm not mad but i just….it's different now" she forced, saying this was not easy for her but if he wanted to know who was she to stand in his way? the last thing she wanted to do was give him the wrong idea. but just as she was about to leave the phone rang, after saying what she said she found that it would be easier to answer it herself instead of making one of the boy pick up. she picked it up and brought it close to her ear, and what she heard nearly made her drop it.
"kieko it's me, yeah im coming over for a day or two , it's been a while but i'm coming to check up on you" said the voice "but, i.. well, umm the thing is, i…" she was cut off by the voice "clean the place up would you?i'll be over in about 4 hours, i'm on my way now"but before kieko could reply he hung remained motionless, she made no sounds, or movements. "kieko are you ok?" ichi asked after a long pause, her eyes widened. "no" she then ran to the broom closet and grabbed several cleaning supplies,she ran back into the kitchen and handed one to each of the boys. "clean" she demanded "hey, since when do you tell us what to do?!"zero yelled kieko gave them both a death glare as if to say; defy me now and i'll kill you, without any objections the boy began cleaning about an hour the house was spotless, mostly because of kieko's furious of the boys were astonished how much kieko had done in a matter of minutes, "now,what?"huffed zero, "now...i need to make lunch"kieko said in a manner that said that she was beyond tired "what? but you just woke up, why do you need to make lunch?"ichi asked "you can cook?" asked zero sounding astonished, kieko stopped for a moment, "you're right" kieko went over to the phone and dialed yumi's number. "hello?" said yumi "he's on his way back!"she said rushed, "kieko do you need help?"she asked in a worried tone kieko sighed "yes"she replied in a pitiful manner "i'll be right over!" yumi responded. within 20 minutes yumi walked up to the door with a box similar to the one from friday. "where's mika? i thought you two were inseparable?" zero blurted out"yeah well not for the moment, right now she thinks i'm delivering some kimonos, well technically i am but...never mind"she said in response, she then handed the box to kieko, "go get dressed i'll take care of the food" and both girls dashed off in separate directions, leaving the boys staring at each other in confusion.
almost 2 hours had passed and yumi had finished making the food, and by any standards the smell was so fresh,and the food was cooked to a point where everything just glistens, the smell of the food was so great that it carried over the whole house."i didn't know you could cook yuimi"ichi said politely "yeah there are a lot of things you don't know, for instance i didn't bring mika because she would have been whaling on zero until he got here"she said bluntly "please i could have taken her!" zero yelled "you don't know what rage can do to a woman"she said. just then the doorbell rang, "kieko open up!", yumi grew pale "crap,i thought we had more time!" she exclaimed, "tell kieko i said i'm sorry" she said to the boys "but why?" asked ichi "just stay in here and stir the rice ok?" she said anxiously. she then scurried to the door, and opened it revealing a rather tall boy who was wearing a black t-shirt and straight leg jeans, his hair was the same light brown as kieko's and it slightly hung in his face, at the sight of yumi he smirked.
"oh it's the dear dormouse, so kieko had friends over? wheres you reached sister?" the tall boy asked, yumi avoided eye contact, "she's at home, but i was just dropping off keiko's home work" yumi said in a wavering voice "i'm not stupid you know. yo shouldn't have done kieko's chores"he replied in a harsh kieko apeard st the end of the hall in a kimono that looked much like what a priestest wares ( ) he looked over to her, and started to glare, "sumimasen! sorry for the intrusion!" yumi yelled and bolted out the door. the boy dropped his stuff, he began walking towards kieko, she did not move, he came abnormally close, he bent slightly so that they were face to face, he then scowled "a true woman can cook for herself without help" he said in a bitter, unforgiving voice.(back with the boys) "gee i wonder what's going on, everyone's acting strange, zura" said zura. "i don't know but whatever it is we'll find out soon"zero said ichi sat stirring the rice, he was worried about kieko, she said so little but when she talked it was like a hole new window you never saw really was scared for her, and upset that he had dragged her into the magic exam,she didn't need that type of stress, she was just getting her life back together,although he didn't know how it would feel to lose his parents on account that they were never there, he imagined that it would be like losing zero, or sarusa, the pain must be thoughts were interrupted by a loud smacking sound followed by the sound of someone shouting;"how dare you go against my orders?...NO dont touch me!"they heard the voice yell. zero and ichi swiftly made their way to the doorway .the first thing they saw was a strange man in the living room pushing kieko to the floor.
ichi immediately rushed to kieko,she sat on the floor with her legs loosely pulled towards her, and clasping on hand over her cheek. the second he got close enough to her he kneeled down and looked her in the eye, but in a strange way she didn't look scared or shocked or even hurt, her expression looked unchanged as if nothing out of the ordinary had hated that, because it told him that whoever this person was had done this type of thing before and many other times. kieko didn't deserve this, she was too kind and had done little to nothing wrong, he slowly moved her hand away to reveal a red mark across her face in the shape of a large hand too large to be her had it, "what the hell is wrong with you!?"he screamed but zero was already doing the same thing,"why the hell would you do that?"zero yelled furiously "do not talk to me like that, who are you any way? a friend of that whore?"said the the boy with a smirk, "what the hell did you just say!?" zero screamed, "miroku!"kieko cried "don't you dare address me so informally" cried the boy now identified as miroku, "don't talk to her like that!"ichi yelled still tending to kieko. she turned her head to him, ichi saw a change in her expression instead of the once blank expression that overcame her face was now filled with sympathy"ichi.."she said in a soft tone. "so i see kieko they don't know who i am? why don't you tell them?"miroku said with a strict voice "your business is with us now, not with her so leave her out of this"zero said loudly. "stop it miroku!"kieko said "I SAID TO ADDRESS ME PROPERLY YOU WHORE!"screamed miroku, ichi watched as kieko let a tear stream down her face, who ever he was she didn't want to say it ichi knew this, but all the same she bowed her head and braced herself"please stop...oniisan (brother)" kieko whispered
the room went still, "this monster could not possibly be kieko's brother,they're like polar opposites but was it possible they were actually raised by the same people?"thought ichi. zero stood still "so what? you her brother, who cares? but i had a brother to and ichi had a sister, so we both know that the way you're treating her is not right,"zero stated "we told kieko we'd protect her and if that means from you then so be it" ichi said "stop it" kieko said in a wavering voice. "miroku these are my guest, i ask you treat them well, for it is a maidens duty to treat her guest with the utmost respect and decency"kieko said in a formal voice "what the hell are you talking about kieko? a maidens duty?you never act like this, it's freaking me out! act like a normal human being!"zero yelled. kieko's eyes grew wide, miroku pulled kieko to her feet "you've been lying to me? what a disgraceful being" he pushed her into the hallway "i'll be with you momentarily"she then slowly walked to the room at the end of the hallway, it wasn't kieko's room nor the boys', it was a room that was always empty, as she entered the room she close the door behind her, and for half of a second ichi though he saw her start to cry. "don't treat her like an object" ichi growled. miroku stared down at ichi with a menacing look "i suppose you the main boy in that little whore's relationships? it 's funny actually almost a year ago i set up for a nice boy to watch over kieko and tell me how she was doing, as of a few nights ago he told me he quit,i guess she just scared him off didn't she?"miroku said in a vicious tone "shut up" zero said.
"poor kid kept saying that kieko was a whore, never knew she was this bad...but she is right, so i'll let you stay at my house. but of course under a certain binding…" he said mischievously. "what would that be?" ichi asked in a harsh tone "let's discuss this in the morning, i've come all this way from america and immediately a greeted by an unwelcome house guest, well a few to be exact, and now i must go disciplined my dear beloved sister" he said putting harsh emphases on the last part "i won't let you hurt her!" ichi shouted as he jumped to his feet and clenched his fist. in that split second ichi started running towards miroku, ready to punch him in the face, he promised kieko that he would protect her, he wanted to keep his word, he felt in the back of his mind that he owed it to her before ichi could land the punch miroku swiftly grabbed ichi's wrist and pulled them between his shoulder blades, ichi then lost his footing and was on the ground face down. "you are not clever"miroku said standing over ichi, "kieko will be fine, she has always lived like this, so stop worrying, she's not worth it" he said grimly ran slowly appeared from the dark hallway " miroku, release the boy now"she said demandingly. he glared at the snow colored cat,"fine i was done toying with them anyway" he huffed, he then went to going kieko.
ichi reached out to stop him, but he still lay flat on the floor squirming around."why would you do that!?" ichi asked in an irritated tone. "i'm sorry but miroku wouldn't have stopped there, he would have beaten you till you could not stand, i will not let you protect kieko under those conditions, besides if that were to happen kieko would have blamed herself, no one wants that"ran explained "but what about kieko?!she is sitting in the same room as that guy and he is angry now!" zero protested "precisely my point, miroku will only get more mad if you fight with him, it will only get worse for her, he won't stop till he's dead i know you wouldn't kill him, kieko won't listen to me either, she doesn't want to leave the only family she has left"ran forced. ichi went silent,no the world went silent,how could he have forgotten? he was all she had left and he was hurting her
maybe 3 hours later ichi heard footsteps outside the door, he quickly opened the door only to see kieko for a brief second,(kieko's pov...i guess 0.o) kieko started to close the door but the boys' door suddenly swung open, kieko hid half of her face behind the door, ichi and kieko met eyes,, maybe it was only for five second but it felt like forever,kieko saw so much sympathy and fear and anger in his eyes at once, kieko just wanted to tell him it would be ok but she wasn't going to lie to him, she had no idea. ichi was about to say something but kieko broke her gaze and closed the didn't want him to see her, not right now
when zero and ichi woke up they were greeted with a surprise that could only be described as that. in the kitchen was kieko sitting on her knees while miroku sat at the table. the table was laid out with a delicious spread of poached eggs, fresh pancakes and tried to get a glimpse at kieko but her head was bowed just far enough that her bangs covered her face, ichi gave a slight stare at the food longingly, "where did you get all of this?" he exclaimed. miroku turned to face him, "it was simple really i just had kieko make it, isn't that right kieko?"he asked in a knowing tone. she kept her head lowered not saying a word,ichi slightly tilted his head he noticed keiko's hair falling to the side awkwardly, he felt the urge to fix it but feared that miroku would be upset if he did."answer me girl" miroku demanded "yes" she said in fearful voice "answer me properly!" he commanded, kieko's body quivered "yes...oniisan"she said still bowing her head.
"yesterday i told you that you were expected to stay at my house if you lived by my rules,are you ready to accept them?"miroku questioned "sure what ever" zero said with his face stuffed with the delicious food. "rule one:kieko will be treated as a dog because she is only she has tricked you into treating her better she will be punished" ichi glared at him, this was not true nor fair kieko deserve so much better than that "rule two: kieko will obey all of your orders within reason,if she doesn't she will be punished, rule three: you and kieko will have no contact whatsoever after 9 pm, any later than that and kieko will be punished, rule four: you are not to be closer than 1 foot of kieko, any closer and she will be punished"miroku finished. well at least most of these are not that bad, ichi thought to himself"do you agree?" miroku asked hastily "yes"said the boys in unison, "and you kieko?" he asked "yes...oniisan"she muttered with her head still bowed "it's rude to keep your head down when talking, raise it before i rase it for you" he threatened. she didn't move "did you hear me girl?" he yelled, kieko cringed, she slowly moved her head up words.
slowly her head was lifted revealing bandages that wrapped around her head and over her face, over her left eye was a square gauze did her best to avoid eye contact but it was eminent,she saw so much sympathy in both boys eyes, she hated wasn't some broken toy for them to stare at and fix, because she wasn't broken,ichi turned his head away he didn't want to see her like this, in such a pitiful position because she was not a pitiful person, she was strong and independent one, besides he could already feel the rage building up inside of him. if he continued to look he would end up letting the anger getting the best of him and try to hurt miroku, and in the long run make it worse for her. how could she let him do this to her? ichi could only wonder how long she had lived with this, he was sad and upset that he could do nothing about it, but he continued to think, maybe it was his fault that kieko got hurt like this,he attacked miroku and he did seem kind of upset at the fact that Ran made him let go of became sacred, was it him who hurt kieko?he couldn't take it, ichi left the room, he swiftly made his way to his room,and he slammed the door shut,kieko slightly flinched she blankly stared into the dark hallway hoping that he'd come back, but he never did."kieko, go cheer him up" miroku demanded"it's no fun having an angry guest" he said with an aggravated tone. kieko stood and bowed, she then slowly made her way to the room. she had no idea what to do so she sat next to the door and waited for the words to come from her mouth.
"ichi?" she asked, "what?"he replied sounding upset, "i'm sorry you had to see me like this but please believe me when i say he's not a bad person" she said gently "not a bad person huh?(ichi flashbacks to when he said the same thing about zero, in episode 2 i think)well if he wasn't so bad he wouldn't have hit you."he protested. "thats not entirely his fault,when he gets angry he don't know how to vent it, he has been this way ever since mom and dad died, so i can't blame him, it's been hard for me too" she said in a very melancholic way. ichi let his eyes grow wide, "of course these two were siblings" ichi thought to himself."it couldn't possibly be that kieko would have had a brother who was afraid of his own shadow, no it just had to be someone who was a total dick to her" he thought." please ichi forgive him, i know you're upset but theres not much i can do,i am trying my best but sometimes it's just not enough" she said in a trembling voice, ichi slowly open the door, "kieko, why did you come to cheer me up?"he asked, "because...i know you would do the same for me"she said as she hid he face with her banges. ichi smiled,he would have too, "it's almost time for school, we should be getting ready"ichi said to ease the tension.
*at school* as the teacher blabbed on about meaningless studies ichi concentrated on something else, what kieko said this morning "when he gets angry he doesn't know how to vent it, he's been this way ever since mom and dad died, so i can't blame him, it's been hard for me too" ichi couldn't stand it she was justifying his cruelness towards her with something that happened to her,ichi turned to look at kieko, her eyes were set on the board in front of her, she was completely taken up by the task at hand, she wrote her notes faster and neater than any of the other kids in the whole school, she was a prize student, ichi sighed laid his head on the desk, he couldn't understand it. kieko of all people, it had to be her, she who had so much pain in her did it have to be her? why did she have to deal with him and zero on top of everything that has happened?why did she have to go and put herself in danger, when all she needed was peace and quiet?
*after class* as usual mika and yumi came to meet the three at their class, as the five began to walk down the halls to the normal eating place kieko realized something, "oh crap, i forgot my lunch up stairs, i'll meet you guys down there okay?" she said in a purely innocent girls waved her off as she ran back up to the classroom, ichi felt an absence in his hands, did he forget his lunch too? (of course he did this is a middle school romance dramedy there have to be some conveniences in the story)"i forgot mine too"ichi said in a clumsy voice."wow , well now that i think about it we shouldn't of let her go by herself so you may as well catch up with her, keep her out of trouble" zero stated "i'll keep you out of trouble!" mika said while clenching her fist at zero "yeah well what's that supposed to mean?"zero replied angrily"it means treat kieko like an adult, not like a child"mika yelled "well you don't treat her much differently!"zero protested, "shut up!"mika shot back "guys calm down!"yumi pleaded, the three continued their argument on the way to the tree.
as ichi walked down the hallway he started to think, "why did she put up this?" he knew she wasn't week,ichi was just down the hall around the corner now, he heard a group of girls chatter down the couldn't help but eavesdrop,he wasn't even sure that was the right word they were basically yelling "have you seen kieko?" "oh my gawd yes! what the hell happened to her?" "i heard that after andrew left her, she went totally nutso and did it to her self" "OMG! hashtag attention whore!" "lol totally, i'm literally dying!" "i knew she was a freak! i mean seriously she only ever talks to those two bitches" "she also talks to the two hotties, zero and ich!" "i know right? it's fucking weird! i mean how did she of all people land that!?" "she such a cry baby too! i mean shes all like im soo sad! my parents are dead,boo fucking hoo!" "they probably died because she's so annoying!" "and oh my gawd she is friking hideous! how does she even come to school "she thinks shes all that because shes good in class, god thats so stupid i mean i could get better grades than her if i wanted to!" "i know right? shes so freaking dumb!" the whole group burst out in laughter.
ichi cringed at this, were they serious? kieko was the most kind, sweet, loving, compassionate girl there ever was! she always did her best to keep her composer and as far as ichi knew had never done a single selfish thing, she was always apologizing for things that were not her fault, and she did her best to make sure that him and zero were comfortable, even before miroku's stupid rules. ichi knew kieko did her best, and he hated that, because he knew in the back of his mind that he could do better. ichi gritted his teeth, he poked his head out from the corner, he felt his blood boil as he got a glimpse of how close to the classroom they were, if kiek had heard any of this how would she feel? ichi felt a pang in his chest, these walls were thin and with these girls practically yelling,...it was almost certain. ichi slowly stepped in to view, the second the girls notice him they were star struck, "ichi how are you?" "i like your hair!" "can you tell us a joke?" none of them caught him attention except one ; "ichi i've liked you for a long time, what do you think of me?" ichi stopped walking, "what do i think of you?" he echoed the girl looked at him with puppy eyes and tried to mimic keiko's smile, "no" ichi said blankly, the girl looked at him heart broken and confused, "what do you mean by that?" she asked as if there was a glimmer of hope left, "no, i do not like you, i don't care for you, and i do not think your beautiful or cute, in fact i despise you, all of you. none of you have any regard for anyone other than yourselves, you are terrible people, kieko is better than all of you combined, so stop acting like princesses, because you are no better than trolls."
the girls looked at him confused, saddened and heart broken, ichi, the kindest guy in the world was telling them off, who wouldn't feel bad? ichi entered the classroom his first objective to find kieko, she was sitting at the far end corner, next to the window . she had a pencil in hand and a booklet filled with words across the table, she did no look at him, she was staring out the window...into oblivion. there was no sign that she even noticed him entering the silently walked up to her, he looked over her shoulder at the notebook, there were in a different language, he wasn't sure but he thought it was english, he was rusty but he was able to read it, "forgive forget, never remember. forgive forget, never remember," and so on until the words were smudged with tears, he gave her a soft look, how long had she lived this way? acting like shes fine, never complaining, pretending that she didn't hear the harsh words the world through at her, why did she put up with this? she deserved so much better… "kieko" he said in a voice that sounded of pain
kieko turned to meet eye with him, "ichi?" she quietly gasped, he could see the tears welling up in her eyes, "you are so unfair you know that?" he said, she said nothing "you help others with no worries at all, but the second we want to help you, you turn away. why? why do you do that?we want to help, we want to be there for you but you won't let us… you're no fair" he explained, she hid her face, "why should i worry others? why should i drag them down with me, when i have been nothing but a burden? how fair would i be if i asked day and night for more than i need? i am fine, i don't need any one, because... im fine"she said. ichi stared at her "you are not a burden,okay? i want to help you" kieko let her tears fall, she slowly raised her face to meet his, "why do you care?" she asked curiously "because… you would do the same for me" he said with a slight looked down at her hand, the bracelet it was different, there was a new charm,"whats this?" ichi asked while pointing at silver star shaped lock, kieko grabbed it with her free hand , "it was something my mother gave me, i hope you don't mind but i added it to the bracelet"kieko said while gazing at the lock, "of course i don't mind it, its a beautiful ornament" he said with a smile,
kieko gazed into his eyes, they were a beautiful shade of brown with flecks of green in them,the sun hit them in just the right way so that hey shimmered, she couldn't help but stare she had never seen someone willing to do something like this for her, she felt her cheeks get slightly red. she didn't realize how close they were with his face only inches from hers, the atmosphere stared down at her, she was beautiful he watched her eyes sparkle like emeralds glistening in the sun , had no one ever told her that? was she always alone? not physically but mentally. was she always so frail? had he never noticed? right now all he wanted was to protect her, so keep her safe, slowly he started to realize kieko was so close, he could actually feel her breaths on his face, his face became hot. ichi felt his heart skip a beat, slowly he leaned closer, he slowly closed his eyes. kieko's eyes grew wide, what was he doing? she could feel her heart beat get faster, she did not move, she had no reason to,she slowly closed her eyes, they were so close now she could feel his hair prickling against her forehead,her face was hot, she held her breath…
the door sung open with a loud thud as it hit the wall, both of them immediately separated, kieko slammed her booklet shut, and looked away from ichi as did the,(so close! T^T ) mika yumi and zero entered the room, "hey guess what this shit head did!" cried mika in a sarcastic tone. "can we use a bit of discretion?" yumi asked with an exhausted voice." hey all i did was forget my lunch, not like they did anything different!"zero protested. as the two continued to fight , yumi popped up next to kieko, she then grabbed her face and stared into it,"kieko… your face is wet...were you crying?" yumi asked swiftly turned around, she then rushed over to kieko's side, "WHO DID THIS!?" she yelled, she turned to ichi and grabbed him by the color. she then lifted him up, her eyes had fire in them "if you did hurt her i will tell one thing before you die… hell hath no fury like me and my hatred"she growled, kieko reached out a hand to mika, "no it's not like that,mika… he was just cheering me up"kieko said worriedly. mika put the boy down, "im watching you." she said viciously,yumi was now codling kieko, "well now that we have our lunches we might as well eat up here"yumi stated while practically squishing kieko to death.
*at home* when the three arrived they were immediately greeted by an unwelcome surprise, miroku was waiting by the door staring intently at the watch, "where have you been?" he demanded, kieko bowed "my apologies we are 2.55 seconds late, i am ashamed to admit we dawdled on our way here" she said formally ichi and zero looked at her astonished, she had counted the time down to the second. "no matter, today we're visiting them" he said with an annoyed tone, "but miroku..i..i...can't…" "oh, cut the mellow drama were going and thats that. and you two are not invited" he interrupted. he then grabbed kieko's arm and pulled her out the door, kieko gave a short gasp of shock as he swiftly pulled her away from the house, ichi turned around to grab her and protest, but they were gone, "i'm going to follow them" he proclaimed, "now might not be the best time to spy on them" zero warned, ra slowly stepped out from the hallway, "kieko doesn't want to go, but miroku made her, isn't that more than enough reason to follow them?today she will need you to help her, even if she doesn't act like it"ran warned. zero and ishi stared at her, "blue one you can stay or go as you please, but ichi you have no choice in the matter, go help her"ran said,without a second thought ichi bolted out the front door and then took off without zero, "hey! you forgot me!"zero yelled. ran looked intently at the floor, yes it must be him, she thought to herself.
miroku threw kieko on to the ground,"do you see that!? do you see it?"she turned to face her mother's tomb stone, "WELL? DO YOU?" he screeched"yes" she responded. kieko crouched down near the stone, "miroku did you bring the sponge?i wish to clean the dirt off of it" kieko said between ragged breaths of air, "thats not why we are here" he barked, kieko cringed at the harsh words, "may i ask why then...oniisan" "cut the crap, if you want to ask then you ask, guess who i got a call from….huh...GUESS!" he howled "i don't know"she replied quickly. "you're old friend andrew, yeah you wanna know what he told me? that you were getting a little cozy with the boys, you broke 2 rules. you conniving whore"miroku said "kieko remained silent and stared down to the floor "look at you you're just as pathetic as you mother…"
kieko momentarily stopped breathing, her aurora became dark, "please do not speak ill of her" she said in a tone that said she was holding back all her anger. "oh i see, you think that she was a great person…. (enter maniacal laughter) she was so bad she makes you look like a saint, she was a pathetic person just like you!" kieko felt anger fill her body, but she kept it in. "take it back" kieko growled. "how dare you tell me what to do after how you acted!" kieko stood up, and looked him in the eye with the over the top 'i'm going to kill you' look "apologise to her" she demanded "why should i? it's true, she was a whore a skank a prostitute among women"kieko's body trembled, "fuck you" she growled under her breath "WHAT DID YOU SAY!? to hell with you and your whore of a mother! by the way she's fucking dead! did you ever realize that? she's gone she's never coming back there is no one to save you! " he sneered he then pushed kieko to the sage tree next to the grave, he grabbed her by her neck and squeezed, he pulled her off of her feet as he did this. kieko made no sudden moves, "apologise" kieko managed "NO!" kieko gave him a look of pure and utter hatred, "then i will not apologise for what comes next" she huffed. kieko brought her knees up to her chest and kicked him as hard as she could , he went flying away from the tree,kieko could hear footsteps drawing near she didn't care she ran towards miroku.
( i recommend reading the next part to this song- watch?v=wE6jzP2FLIU
ichi almost stopped in his tracks when he saw kieko pinned up against the tree like that, "kieko!" he cried. he must have been too far because no one noticed, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him, kieko ran at miroku. miroku got to his feet and swung at her, she ducked and grabbed his arm pulled it between his shoulder muscles, the fight didn't end there oh no, it had only begun. "miroku screeched like a dog causing kieko to get startled and let go, he then kicked her and tried to grab the back of her neck, kieko elbowed him in the ribs knocking the wind out of him. "you can't win you sick freak of nature, you're just as bad as she was!" miroku screeched. as he said that ichi noticed something, kieko's eyes lost all their warmth, they were a piercing blue, and showed no emotion,they were frightening. and her fighting style turned from an experienced fighter, to what he could only describe as a priestess fighting a demon. this was not kieko,he was sure of it, it couldn't be right? kieko with one swift blow to the knee brought miroku to the floor, she grabbed his arm and twisted it to an upright position as he layed flat on the wailed in pain, kieko put a foot on his back, "apologise" she demanded he said nothing he just laid there, "i can handle with you treating me like a pile of shit but the second you insult my mother…."kieko paused she grit her teeth as tears fell from her eyes her tone turned from cold stone to an almost weeping voice "miroku it is with a heavy heart that i dispan you from the family shrine and home, no matter how you age, no matter how sick you get you may never return to these landmarks….you are cast from the Tsukino family" she managed keiko's breath became ragged she covered her face and ran off.
ichi was about to follow her but miroku grabbed her pant leg, and said in a quivering voice "go to the substation on dire at 5, i will inform you of…" ichi kicked him away "please ichi, thats not kieko...believe me. what you just saw was not her!"he screamed ichi went running after kieko, why was she so different? why? why?this question rang all throughout ichi's mind but just the thought of kiek sitting alone crying to herself kept his mind clear to one objective, to find kieko and bring her home, ich ran to the front of the staff house, as he turned the corner of the building he looked both ways, no sign of her "kieko!" he called, no response. just then ichi thought he heard the slightest thing from behind him, he tuned his head there was no one there. he called again "Kieko!" still no answer. ichi turned to the shed, how did he not notice the slightly opened door? he slowly walked in, he in to the still darkness of the room, it was too dark to see. soon his eyes started to adjust, "kieko?" he asked in a helpless voice. ichi heard the sound again, he could make it out this time, a small barely audible gasp for air ichi let his eyes soften, he followed the sound to the back of the shed, what he saw nearly broke his heart.
kieko was balled up in the corner, hiding her face from ichi, "i'm sorry, i'm sorry im'sorry" she wept to her self,only stopping to let little gasps of air escape."i'm so so sorry, i'm sorry, i'm so sorry" she continued. ichi crouched down to kieko, "kie…" he was interrupted by kieko clasping on to him and burying her face into his chest, "i'm sorry, im sorry" she continued in a muffled voice ichi firmly hugged her back, "it's ok kieko, shh i know"he consulted. kieko had finally slowed her crying to a sniffle about an hour loosened his grip on her, he then let go of her and stood up. kieko stared at the floor and tried to stop her took of the top layer of his shirt and wrapped it around her shoulders. he picked her up piggy back style, he slowly made his way to the door. "kieko, i'll keep you safe no matter what ok?" he asked,no reply all he got was a small squeeze around his shoulders and a small whimper from kieko. he carried her to the bus stop a few blocks from her house before she spoke, "thank you"she whispered. ichi looked back at her and gave a half smile, "you don't need to thank me okay? i'll do this any day" he replied, kieko blushed and hid her face in his back. when they had finally made their way back he carried her in to her room and laid her in the bed, she had fallen asleep.(if you read it at the right pace it should end right about here)
ichi sat at the kitchen table discussion the highlights of to days event to zero, purposely leaving out the dialogue."i hope kieko feels better zura" said zura sympathetically, zero only gave a loud puff of air, he then looked away. "so are you going to do it?"zero asked "i'm not sure, but what do you mean by me? you're not going to go?"zero looked up at him "im pretty sure he only wanted you to go, besides someone has to look after her" ichi didn't respond "i think you should go, maybe you could get some answers out of him like why he was treating kieko like that,zura!"encouraged the seahorse. ichi looked at the clock it was nearly 4:40, "i guess i should get going then" ichi made his way out the door, he took the car this ichi got near the station, he saw someone from the corner of his eye trying to wave him down, it was ran up to catch up with him, "you didn't bring anyone with you did you?" "no it's just me,"ichi assured "lets go to the cafe across the street. when miroku and ichi sat at the booths, ichi wasted no time and started to ask questions.
"why miroku? why did you treat her so badly when she only did her best for you?"miroku looked down at the table,"as im sure you've noticed how kieko is about showing her true feelings, thats my fault you when she needed me most. she was all alone, she had no one to take care of her, so she never learned how much it could hurt her if she kept harboring her feelings. i saw how badly it affected her, the i found the...this 'story' about a girl who was forced to learn to feel, so every year twice a year i would come back to house and torment her, i didn't care if she hated me if i could get her to open up to someone, anyone then .. it would be worth it"miroku explained, ichi gave a slight look of surprise, he didn't expect those cruel act to have a noble cause,"what did you mean back there when you said that wasn't kieko"he asked again, 'that wasn't kieko, that was raw emotions. you see regular people, people like us use a type of muffler to soften the said emotions, kieko never learned to vent that so instead of letting it out little by little, it broke. think of it this way, normal people have a bottle with holes in it, and lets say water represents their emotions, now when the water goes out the holes they don't come out as hard as the water falling by itself. but kieko has a jar with no holes, and she poured more water than most people, the bottle got denser and denser with build up, she just kept filling it up never letting water out,until the bottle burst and the water comes out in a violent array, the bottle couldn't keep it all in, there was just too much pressure."he explained
"why did you leave her?" "kieko would tell you that i was studying abroad but thats not true...i lied to her, i was in the magic world,the family shrine need tending to you the way i am makes it hard for me to take care of it like a large portion of my ancestors could, so i had to stay year round, but no worries, although i am no longer able to take care of it, i have my friends and their familiars taking care of it, but they only have to take care of it until a few months after the sorcery exam, so maybe a little over 8 they will stop, and the shrine will wait until it can wait no longer" he explained ichi became curious "why did you lie to her? why is the shrine in the magic world? why didn't kieko know about magic but did know he shrine existed?" "im sorry thats all i can tell you, buti give you a gift, hopfully this will explain more about kieko, but promise you will not share the conteces of this box with any one, you will most cirtainly not tell kieko of it's you promise?" he asked. ichi looked down he didn't like the idea of keeping secrets from even zero… but something inside him told him to do it, "can you ichi?" ichi looked up "yes"miroku handed him a box, it was a dark oak with leather straps keeping it together, and some type lock system, on the corners there was some type of golden metal. and carved on the top was a bunch of stas in various sizes. "it was nice knowing you ichi" miroku said as he bowed.
this chapter had some thing that made you sad or happy but i hope you enjoyed it. also i found a cool deviant artist, she follows my stories and said she was going to make some fanart for me! yeah!(she is a kiekoXichi fan so be warned!) -
if there are any episodes you want me to do, or if you have any questions please ask in the comments or pm me! thanks for reading my lovely little fanbase!