Chapter 2

Maids and butlers were standing inside the door as Yumi entered the house. In one day, she had seen more people than she had ever seen in her entire life and as she continued on through the house, various people were trying to help her with things. She just shook her head and said a small "No" to whatever they offered, until someone offered to take her hoodie for her. She was still using it as a shield. She nearly yelled the short word at the woman's face.

It took Yumi a second to realize what had happened, but when she did; tears sprung to her eyes and she held the hoodie up as if to protect herself with it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell," she said, her voice filled with fear. Hands went on her shoulders and she cringed away, fearing for the worst. Yumi looked over her shoulder to see a tall man with black hair and dark brown eyes, his face appeared to be completely emotionless. When it dawned on her that he was the one that had his hands on her, she closed her eyes and tried to bite back the tears that were already falling in anticipation for what was going to come next. But when nothing did happen, she slowly opened her eyes and turned around to face him fully.

He dropped his arms to his sides, but wasn't doing anything except looking her over as if assessing her for damage. Damage is something she definitely had acquired over the years. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, but she was too frozen with fear to do anything about it. From over his shoulder, Yumi saw Rae standing near the door with her bags piled up in a way similar to how they had been at the airport.

The older woman took a few steps closer to her and offered a kind smile. "Yumi," she said gently, "you're safe here."

Safe.

It was a word she had heard so many times in her life that it had lost all meaning. No one was ever safe, everyone was meant to get hurt; at least that's how Yumi came to see it.

She dropped her eyes to the floor, no expression was on her face and all that was left of the previous occurrence was a slightly damp trail from her tears. That word was nothing more than a word in her eyes. "I see," she said simply. Yumi pulled her hoodie up and held it close to her chest. She glanced at the man and for the first time wondered who he was, not that she was going to ask, but she was curious.

"Rae is she here yet!" A voice called from another room somewhere in the massive house. Rae rolled her eyes.

"Would I be here if she wasn't?" She called back. Out of seemingly nowhere, a boy that looked ridiculously similar to the man popped up in front of Yumi causing her to let out a squeak of surprise. She took a step back so he wasn't so close to her.

He stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Satoshi Morinozuka. You're Yumi Yamahata, right?" He asked in a loud voice. Yumi nodded, but only looked at his hand. By taking his hand, her arm would be exposed and she was always told that she had to keep them covered when people outside of the family were around.

"I can't shake your hand," she said softly while looking at the floor. Her thick-framed glasses slid down her nose slightly and she used her hoodie to push them back up. Satoshi leaned over so he was in her line of sight.

"Why not?" He asked incredulously. She had to think about a reason that would seem plausible, but she couldn't. She shrugged and shook her head gently.

"I just can't," she said still without looking at him. He gave her a huge smile and went over to stand by the man that looked very similar to him.

"This is my older brother Takashi," he said proudly. "He's a third year in high school. What year are you in, Yumi?" She looked up at him, but without making eye contact. She never made eye contact with anyone.

"Second year in high school," she mumbled slightly before stifling a yawn. Satoshi rush over to her, taking her hand and saying something about how he was going to show her to her room that was only a few doors down from his. She was surprised though and dropped her hoodie, the one thing that was shielding her previous life from her new one.

Yumi instantly pulled her arms close to her body and tried to cover them as best she could. Satoshi let go of her and simply looked over her arms. Takashi took a step closer to her and placed his hand gently against her arm. She flinched away slightly at the touch of his rough hand. His hand went over a few of the faded scars and yellowing bruises that covered her arms (almost her entire body really). "They're nothing," she said. "I'm just really clumsy and fall over myself a lot."

He looked at her, right into her eyes before she had a chance to look away. She knew he knew that she was lying and it didn't matter to her. She always lied about it and it wasn't going to change for the people that allowed her to live with them.

"We already know of how your parents treated you," Rae said. Yumi's eyes widened; no one that had ever even had an inkling admitted to knowing. "You won't be treated that way here."

That's what she had meant by safe. Yumi dropped her arms to her sides and Takashi dropped his hand from her skin and simply looked at her. He could see the pain in her eyes through the protection of her thick glasses. I won't be treated that way anymore? Is that possible? "I'll be able to eat every night?" She asked, he voice full of hope.

Rae smiled and nodded her head even though the girl wasn't looking at her. "Of course! You can eat whatever you want, whenever you want." Yumi looked up and as if her stomach had heard those words, growled loudly. She blushed and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Satoshi gently took her hand and pulled off toward a hallway.

"Let's go get some dinner, Yumi! I hope you don't want any cake… Our cousin was over earlier," he explained as they entered a room that contained a long table. Yumi was overwhelmed by the size and extravagantness of everything in this house, she felt as if she shouldn't be allowed to be there, but she was glad that she was.

Satoshi pulled out a chair. "You can sit here next to me!" She walked over to where he stood by the chair and was surprised when he pushed it in for her. She mumbled a thank you. He may be nice, but he's awfully loud…

He sat down in the chair next to her and before any food was served, he began a long rambling monologue about his life. Yumi couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips. The sound startled not only her, but everyone else in the room. She quickly placed her hands over her mouth to keep any other foreign sounds in. It had been so long since she had last even laughed, let alone giggled. It was such a child-like sound. "I'm sorry," she said as she dropped her hands from her mouth. "I didn't mean to interrupt you."

"Why'd you laugh?" he asked curiously. Yumi cringed away, mistaking his curiosity for anger.

She shook her head, "It was nothing. Please, go on." She glanced at him through the nappy hair that fell between them.

"I'm not mad Yumi," he said. She lifted her head and looked at him for really the first time.

"You're… not?" She asked in amazement. He smiled and shook his head. Maybe I really will be safe here.

Takashi joined them at the table, sitting across from Yumi and Satoshi. Satoshi shook his head and he smiled. "Of course not!" Yumi lifted her head up and looked at him. Now that I think about it, he doesn't seem like he's ever been angry in his life.

Satoshi continued on talking and Yumi listened to everything he said. Occasionally, he would ask Takashi to confirm something and he would give a nod. The man that was only a year older than her, that was quiet to the point where she didn't even know if he could talk, absolutely intrigued Yumi. She found herself glancing at him more than once while she tentatively ate the food that was in front of her.

Rae showed her to her new room and before leaving her to herself said, "I know it's not much, but you can decorate it anyway you like." Yumi looked at the woman with a smile. She hadn't been able to do anything to her old room; she just had to sit there unless her parents wanted her. "Maybe that's what we can do tomorrow since it's Sunday," Rae said thoughtfully.

Just before the woman left the room, Yumi stopped her. "Rae, where will I go to school?"

Rae faced the blond and smiled. "Ouran Academy of course!" Yumi nodded and let her leave.

Ouran Academy. Even the people in my little town had heard of that school. A building full of rich kids that know nothing of the horridness of real life. Yumi went into the attached bathroom that Rae had pointed out and turned on the shower. She let the water run over her hand as she sat on the side of the tub. Never before had she taken a comfortable shower, it was always too hot or too cold depending on what mood her mother had been in that night. When the water felt just right on her hand, she shed her yellow t-shirt and jeans. In the mirror that hung over the sink, she saw the purple bruises that covered her stomach and back, two of them were perfect outlines of hands.

Yumi closed her eyes and removed her bra and panties as she placed a foot under the flowing water. With a sigh of what she would describe as contentment, she entered the shower and simply stood there, reveling in the warm water. Yumi ran her fingers through her hair to allow the water to saturate the strands before using the mint scented shampoo that had been provided for her. When she finished washing, she simply stood under the water and enjoyed the feeling of it.

She turned off the water, though reluctantly, and stepped out of the shower. She pulled one of the fluffy white towels off of the rack and wrapped it around her body and used a smaller one to wrap around her hair. Yumi left the bathroom to dig through one of her suitcases to find an oversized red t-shirt and baggy black bottoms. She pulled on a new pair of panties and then the pants; she unwrapped the towel from her body as she pulled on the shirt.

As she returned to the bathroom, she folded up the towel and returned it to the rack. Yumi squeezed the wrapped up hair, trying to get out any excess water and pulled the towel off. She shook her hair and ran her fingers through it to get out some of the knots before attempting to use the brush. She pulled the brushed hair up as it she was going to put it into a ponytail and instead dropped it over her left shoulder.

Yumi left the bathroom and switched off the light. She stood in the half empty bedroom, the only light from the moon outside. Slowly, she made her way over to the large bed and pulled the heavy covers back. She had never been in a bed so big. Yumi pulled the warm blankets up to her chin and laid on the edge of the bed purely out of habit. Before she knew what was going on, she was asleep.

Yay! Update! Well, here was another chapter of Love and Secrets. It's actually interesting for me to write a character like Yumi since I'm simply imagining how someone that had come from an abusive family, I don't know if it's exactly right, but it's how I think I would react to things. I was really just putting that out there. Violence never solves anything, end all wars, world peace and all that.

Just because it's a big deal in my life at the moment, I'm just putting this here to get my thoughts out really. I recently found my brother on facebook and this is after not talking to him for the past like five years. I haven't seen my dad in just as long and now I am going to call him (though not right now) and I'm really nervous about it and I jsut wanted to get it in writing and I for once in my life don't have paper or a pen around me... Okay, I'm done now.

Thanks for reading and putting up with my life,

Megan (MoonDragonlove)