CHAPTER 23

I do not own skip beat! Nakamura Yoshiki does.

~New beginnings can be ignited by horrendous events~ part two~point-one.

Warning(+ mild spoiler alert):

The second part of this chapter contains fiction of sexual assault. It is NOT described in explicit terms. It's mostly kept in shadows. But it does happen. If you are uncomfortable with reading this, skip this passage until next chapter. I will never describe something akin to sexual assault in explicit terms. I think it's something i shall say to reassure readers. I will keep it as tastefully blurry as i can if must broach this subject.

Second i explain my reasons to do this plot choice later on, but i still want to say this. i didn't make this choice lightly or for drama purpose. I had other reasons. Neither for morbid reasons.

I apologize for any reader it made uncomfortable.

It had been two weeks.

Two weeks since her mother announced she was going to marry Toudou-san and that she wouldn't be invited, of course.

Two weeks since Kyoko had learned her father wasn't Misonoi-san. But some foreigner recognisable by the characteristic eyes he apparently shared with his daughter.

Kyoko had been rattled for a few days after that. She was still a bit.

She wasn't blaming her mother, it was cold and a bit cruel but it made sense knowing her. Kyoko couldn't really hold it against her.

No, she had been far more shocked at the discovery of her father being someone else than Misonoi-san. It wasn't like Kyoko was really hoping to meet her father some day or that he, whoever he was, would like or be interested in her. No, she knew better.

But, even if Misonoi-san had done disputable things, being in the capacity to put a name on her genitor was like an unknown piece that had been missing inside of Kyoko was finally put into place, finally appearing. She didn't want anything from Misonoi-san even when she thought he was her father.

All that matter was to be able to have a name. To understand.

She got people could be really imperfect and she had enough comprehension to understand perfectly well that she wasn't the kind of child a person could desire to have or meet. She could fathom that a person had made mistakes in his life. Furthermore, a child could be never an option for some people.

So, she didn't, hadn't expected anything to begin with.

But to understand. To have the knowledge of where you were from. Why those people couldn't do it. Why couldn't they be parents. Why couldn't they be loving. Why they couldn't be there. Why wasn't she right for them? What happened to them? What mistakes did they do that made them who they are?

To have the consciousness of who the people that put you into the world are and the reasons that made them like that, even if it's mean they won't ever be able to be how you wish they were, to be loving arms, reassuring words; to be happiness, family: Simply your closes ones. Even in the cases of you can't stand them or they can't stand you…

To have this knowledge is infinitely precious insight of where you're from of what are your roots.

And now…

I'm in the dark again…I don't want anything special…no bonding…no special treatment…no gifts…that person wouldn't even needs to know I exist…Kyoko thought with kindness. I don't want to break any family because I would have been nosy by inadvertence…

I just wish I knew a name…a simple name is more than enough…

The heart beating a bit emptily in her chest, Kyoko sighed.

We don't have everything we wish for unfortunately…

I will just have to get use to it…

She knew she would eventually manage even if now it was still a raw.

It will just take a bit more times…As some I had let raise my hopes up…

Kyoko got out of LME buildings and shook off the bad feelings. She grabbed her bike and started heading back home.

That's right. Ren is back. Let's focus on that.

Yashiro-san was busy managing Ren's schedule precisely because of that as Ren has just came back a few days ago and so Yashiro-san wasn't available to drive her off right and left for the next ten days. Yashiro-san had profusely apologized and even proposed to rent someone else for that time but she had declined, embarrassed at the simple notion. She had understood, it was totally normal of the priority was set on Ren's schedule. He didn't even have to apologize.

But it was the reason why she had been riding her bike again since a two days ago.

Honestly, she didn't understand the president. She knew her popularity was slowly rising but she was still very unknown by the public. Kyoko didn't find it fair to borrow such a famous manager as Yashiro-san anyway.

I don't deserve it…Yet.

Plus, Yashiro-san was far more useful to Ren. She was really feeling like she was imposing on them by sharing Yashiro-san with Ren.

It must complicate their life quite a bit.

She was feeling ashamed.

I must do my upmost to burden them the least possible…

Mhmm…Maybe if there an occasion I can ask the president if I really need a manager and propose to see when I would really need one.

For now, Yashiro-san should be focused on Ren, anyway.

Kyoko decided she had made her decision when she turned at the left on the little alley going to the backside of the Daruyama.

She hopped off her bike when all of sudden a dull sound resonated and she saw stars. Next instant, a cloth was pressed against her nose and the curtain of her sight fell back in her eyes before losing consciousness and she heard a sickening familiar cackle.

Everything faded away.

|You are about to read a scene slightly/vaguely describing sexual abuse. If you are uncomfortable with this, move to next chapter.|

When she woke up, Kyoko tried to move. First her fingers, then her legs but next came her head and when she attempted to shift it, it pounded and jangles heavily and she painfully stopped the bile in her throat and resisted throwing up. Her head was crushing her conscience making her mind foggy and unable to think and her stomach nauseous.

Kyoko couldn't see anything, it was too dark but a gruesome smell was coming from somewhere near and seemed horribly familiar with sewer odours. This time she did vomit and oddly enough her puke didn't hit the ground until a little splash echoed further down and rushing water made its existence known when Kyoko suddenly paid attention to it.

Hoping to reach a wall or something Kyoko scrambled as much as she could in her state to the back and ache shot throw her left arm when she pushed on it.

-Ouch.

Then she heard sickening snorts behind her and slowly, very slowly turned around. But quietness answered to her.

But she knew she had heard it.

But it was useless, Kyoko couldn't see anything. It was as dark as in a hole.

Until a car noise occurred in a not so far distance above her and then faint dime lightened up sparsely the place and Kyoko discovered she was in a downstream short tunnel partially hidden from the higher grounds levels of the city that was allowing direct access to some part of the sewage.

So that's where came the smell…

To Kyoko's Horror, it wasn't the only thing she discovered under the tunnel unfortunately.

There, four meters from, stood three concealed men and farther, at the other side of the tunnel, Kyoko also spotted a lot shorter and feminine build.

Escape!

Feeling the danger and listening only to her instinct Kyoko tried to run.

-Now!

But for an obscure reason, her legs wouldn't move. They were so numbed Kyoko could barely feel them.

She attempted to push on her arms and it's at this instant Kyoko noticed the blood running out from her arms, from some deeps wounds at both of her forearms.

And strangely, she only feels the pain in the left arm. The right one was as numb as her legs.

Kyoko looked back desperately and saw that the men were closer to her. About two meters from her.

She could now see they were snickering with dark desires while looking at her and were feeling positively giddy about it.

A cold but feminine voice echoed in the tunnel when she cackled.

-Do it, the voice said, but remember no pictures. It would be too obvious she didn't want this and hadn't consented to it.

Terror rose inside Kyoko and she crawled back further.

The men nodded silently and advanced to Kyoko when the feminine figure disappeared and Kyoko had absolutely no doubt of what was to come when she saw the faces and the bulges just below their waists.

The next instants would only be excruciating pain and though she fought and even managed to hurt them, she was just not strong enough.

Tears gulped back in rage and sorrow because she wouldn't gave them the honour when after a while they eventually won.

PS:

Soooo….Don't kill me, please.

I had warned it would be dark, very dark.

But not very long.

As you can see I'm not describing it.

I wanted to show another aspect of this sort of dreadful event that can sometimes happen unfortunately to lot of people. But I didn't want to take the view of THIS being an end. I wanted to show my take at what can do the people that went through that.

Because if there is one person that can show us you can survive, it's surely your strong Kyoko. I didn't want to make of that sort of event when It's happening, a big deal. Because giving too much important to exactly what happened it's like giving too much importance of the abusers and giving the scene to them. When it concern abuse, no matter how far it went, it's still wrong. S o I didn't want to focus on the event itself.

But on the real big deal: how you will raise again.

I'm not saying I will make it easy for her. Far from it.

So to show what happened next, I needed the event to happen first. But I never planned to fully describe it.

Plus the smut I want to write is well, consented one.

Soooo…I think the worst is passed.

The angsty chapters aren't done but there won't be darker chapters after this one.

Anyway, hope you will still like it.