Natsuki slowly opened her eyes.

Yuri filled her vision which made her smile. She was asleep like a baby. She looked like a sweet, little angel. It was amazing for her to wake up and see her.

It was something that Natsuki wanted to see everyday, every morning. If she didn't want to get out of bed in the morning for whatever reason, she would get up because of her. She'd wake up and get out of bed just to be with her.

She could touch her soft, beautiful face, but she didn't want to wake her up. Yuri was a light sleeper after all. But she was the most beautiful person she met, inside and out.

Of course she won't admit it to anybody, especially not to her. It was really nice to sleep next to her, though. It was great to even live with her.

Natsuki felt the most comfortable with her. If she needed to, she would and could tell her anything. Yuri wouldn't judge her for what she would say or do. Anything she loved, she wouldn't say a word about it.

Natsuki did the same. Anything that Yuri liked, said, or did, she didn't judge at all. Just as long as it wasn't dangerous to herself or anyone else, she was fine with it.

The small girl closed her eyes, deciding to lay there for a little while longer. Once Yuri was awake, she'd be out of bed to make them breakfast.

Natsuki would make food now, but she knew Yuri liked to wake up some before she ate. Very rarely would Yuri wake up feeling hungry. Usually it took her about ten to thirty minutes to feel hungry enough to eat something.

It didn't bother her too badly having to wait. If she wanted anything specific for breakfast, she would make it for her.

She then heard the doorbell ring. Natsuki felt her heart stop, hoping it wasn't who she thought it was. Her eyes popped wide open and she began to breathe heavily and slowly. She prayed to the lords above it wasn't him.

This woke Yuri up and she sat up. She stretched before going to the curtains to see who was ringing the doorbell. It rang again.

Yuri peaked out the window while Natsuki went onto the other side of the bed.

The taller woman could make out a man with blonde hair and he looked like he either was ready to go to work or had just left work. He had a stubble beard in which he scratched with impatience.

If she had to guess, he probably didn't have too much sleep lately as she saw bags under his eyes.

Yuri looked over to the bed to see Natsuki was not on the bed. She walked over to the other side and she was curled up into a ball.

She opened her mouth to speak.

"Who's out there, Yuri?" Natsuki asked in fear.

"A blonde haired man with a goatee. He looked like he either just got out of work or he's going to work." Yuri described him.

Natsuki felt a pit in her stomach and her heart began to race. What she had feared was true. Her dad was right there at their front door.

Her mind started racing, wondering how he got here. If he knew she was in the house. She hoped that he didn't know she's there hiding from him.

"Don't let him know I'm here!" She said.

Putting two and two together, she clenched her fists and walked downstairs. She opened the door. She was prepared for anything he was going to do. If he was going to do anything, that is.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but have you seen a girl this small?" He put his hand at Natsuki's height. "She has pink hair a bit below the jawline that's in pigtails, and she has pink eyes."

"I haven't seen anybody like that, sir." She lied.

"She didn't come home last night, and I'm very worried about her." He said. "Again, I apologize if I disturbed and woken you up. I just wanted to know if you've seen my daughter anywhere."

"It's alright, sir." Yuri said. "I hope you're able to find your kid sometime soon."

He left the door and waved goodbye. Yuri closed the door and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She did what she could to get rid of him for now. He might come back to check again, so they had to be prepared for if he did return.

If he knew Natsuki was here, she only hoped it wouldn't get violent.

She went back upstairs into their room. Yuri opened the door to see that Natsuki wasn't in the room. Her guess was that she's hiding somewhere. She went to the closet next to the bed and opened it.

There she was, hiding in the closet.

On instinct, she had a pocket knife near her face. Yuri didn't flinch one bit, even though she saw how close it was to her nose. She was shaking and sweating. Her eyes were moving very slightly, but Yuri was able to notice the subtle movements.

It took Natsuki a second to register that it was only Yuri. She put the pocket knife down right beside her. She then got up slowly.

"Don't worry, Natsuki, I got rid of your father." She sternly reassured. "At least, for now. I won't let anything happen to you."

Natsuki looked towards the window and then back to her. Still feeling terrified, she only mouthed 'thank you' to her.

Getting caught by surprise, Yuri pulled her right into a hug. Natsuki wanted to resist the hug, but she decided to let it happen. Yuri held onto her tightly and put her face on the top of her head.

The very thought of such a thing happening to her made her feel extremely angry.

She wanted to know why someone would do this to such a young, sweet little girl. She knew Natsuki and her father didn't have a great relationship, but she didn't think that abuse was involved.

A tear fell down her face. No wonder why she wanted to move in with her. She wanted to get away from him. If he ever showed up again, she swore she would-

"Yuri, can you loosen up a bit? You're crushing me to death!" Natsuki said what she could get out, quickly tapping her back.

She snapped out of the state she was in and immediately let go of Natsuki. The smaller girl stood there catching her breath.

"Were you trying to kill me by squishing me to death? Your boobs weren't helping any, either!"

"I'm- I'm so sorry! I don't- I have no clue what came- came over me!" Yuri apologized as she looked away.

Her face was turning into a ruby red, feeling embarrassed for what she did. Natsuki rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Well, whatever came over you, it was a good thing I guess." She said, somewhat accepting her apology.

Assuming it went well, she didn't think that Yuri would've led her dad away as fine as she did. If anything, she thought she'd mess up. It's not to say she wasn't grateful for what she did, because she was, but knowing her she thought she'd slip up a bit.

Her being brave and her handling it well was what she appreciated the most. She loved it whenever Yuri was like how she was just a moment ago.

If she was like that, it'd be great. Though, she didn't want to trade that for anything else. How Yuri was now was all Natsuki wanted. Nobody trying to be somebody else, but Yuri being who she is, being herself.

She walked over to the door in order to exit the room, but stopped. Natsuki looked back at Yuri. She looked at her for a few seconds and then left the room.

Yuri went to pick up the pocket knife Natsuki had. She looked at the knife to find any changes, in case if she accidentally did something she wasn't aware of. The only noticeable thing she could find was a smudge on the handle.

She licked her thumb to wipe over the smudge. Then she used part of her shirt to wipe it clean and dry. It wasn't the best way to clean it, but it was good enough for now. She could always clean it later on in the day.

As she closed the pocket knife, she sat it down onto the end table.

How Natsuki found one of her knives was beyond her. She shrugged it off as her trying to find something to protect herself with as fast as she could.

A weapon in hand was better than nothing to protect herself with.

Yuri looked through the drawers, grabbed some clothes, and left the bedroom. She walked down the hallways into the bathroom. She walked in and closed the door behind her. She put her clothes down onto the toilet seat.

The sound of water running soon became audible. She thought she'd take a quick, five minute bath before she headed downstairs. She put her hair up in a ponytail as it didn't need to be washed at the moment.

After checking the water a few times and turning the nobs, she took her clothes off and went in. She washed her body and cleaned her face as fast as she could. Yuri didn't want to use too much of the water in case Natsuki wanted to take a shower soon after.

When she was done, she got out and turned the water off. After drying herself, she put her clothes on and made sure her sleeves covered her arms entirely. She didn't want Natsuki to see all of the wounds on her arms. Questions about them were not something she wanted.

She fixed up her shirt some as it was uneven in some areas. Yuri took her hair out of the ponytail, putting the rubber band down on the sink.

She walked out of the bathroom. As she did so she brushed some of her hair with her fingers. She went into their room and got out her manga to read. She left and then walked downstairs.

When she got downstairs, she saw that the kitchen door was opened. She peaked inside and saw Natsuki making them breakfast. She was making hash-browns, eggs, and waffles.

The smell of the food reached her nose, making her smile. She walked into the kitchen and semi-closed the door.

"Do you- Do you need help there, Natsuki?" Yuri asked.

"Nah, I got it." Natsuki said. "I should have it finished in a few minutes, so you can go ahead and sit down."

Yuri pulled a chair out and sat down, getting it close to the table. She opened up her manga and went to where she left off last time. As she read the manga, she got lost in it and her mind. She became very focused reading it.

A few minutes passed. Natsuki put their food on a couple of plates. She sat one in front of Yuri. The other plate was set at the spot she was gonna sit down to eat. She grabbed the syrup for the both of them; maple syrup for herself and raspberry for Yuri.

Natsuki knew that she liked raspberry from that one time they were at a café. It was a story that she could tell another time, though.

She sat down right next to Yuri and tapped her shoulder. It made her jump and look at the smaller girl.

"Yuri, you can start eating now." Natsuki told her.

She nodded as she put a bookmark at the page she was reading. The manga was set down onto the table. Yuri began eating the food and Natsuki followed after her.

Natsuki was eating slower than she was the night before. There wasn't any rush to eat it, since she could eat at any time now.

It made her feel glad and happy that she could eat anything she wanted whenever. She didn't have to worry about not being able to eat when she wanted or needed to do so.

Aside from the chewing, silence filled the room they were in.

Yuri looked over to Natsuki, who looked unsure. She assumed it was from before. She looked back at her food as she ate.

Yuri did have to admit, she was good at making food as well. Natsuki was almost a natural cook when it came to making meals. Her sweets were better, but she did like the food she made.

It was good to know she was able to make food for herself.

Minutes passed. Yuri was the first one to finish eating. She got up and put her plate in the sink. Yuri grabbed her manga before she left. As she began walking out the kitchen, Natsuki looked at her.

"Wait," Natsuki said.

Yuri stopped in her tracks and looked at her small girlfriend. Natsuki averted her gaze back to the direction of her food. She closed her eyes. Yuri walked over to her and bent over.

She awaited for her to speak.

Natsuki collected her thoughts on what she wanted to say. She wanted to make sure she had everything ready to say. It was something she felt she needed to say.

Natsuki figured she probably pieced it together, but she needed the full story. Yuri needed to know everything that happened. The smaller one patted the chair next to her, signaling her to sit beside her. She still wasn't looking at her.

"Sit down for a minute. I need to tell you about what happened." Natsuki told her.

Yuri sat back down next to her. "You don't need to, Natsuki. I- I know that you've been-"

"No." Natsuki interrupted. "You need to know the whole story. What you know is only part of it."

"You don't have- You don't need to if it makes you feel uncomfortable, Natsuki." She told her.

Natsuki only glanced at her. "I'm fine with telling you. You have to know, anyways. I can't keep you in the dark about this. Not anymore."

I'll start from the very beginning.

My dad never wanted a daughter, but he didn't argue when I was born. In fact, he was happy about me. It might've been only at first, though. I'm not sure anymore.

We used to be a happy family when she was around. There wasn't anything bad between any of us. Sure, my parents had some fights now and then, but it wasn't really too bad.

We used to spend time together every day whenever my dad was home from work. He hardly ever worked late like he does now, so he was always home to tuck me in 'goodnight' while my mom read me a bedtime story.

The house was always cleaned, nothing was broken, there was enough money to pay the bills and still go out to buy whatever we wanted.

One day, when we were going out for a picnic, my mom had to go buy something real quick. We didn't know what it was she needed to get. Nearly half an hour passed. We didn't know what was taking her so long.

There was a store nearby where we were so she shouldn't have taken too long. My dad and I decided to go to her, see what's keeping her up.

When we got to there, being across the street away, she was just coming out. We assumed it was taking her some time to find it, as that shop changed their layout quite often. So that might've been the case back then.

Luckily, nothing bad happened to her at anytime in the shop.

Notice how I said in the shop, Yuri.

After seeing there wasn't any cars at that moment, she walked across. A car came out of nowhere at full speed and hit her. My dad covered my eyes as soon as he could, but I already saw it.

I was only nine when that happened.

We tried to get her to the hospital as fast as we possibly could. Hours upon hours of waiting later, the news my dad had wasn't good. They tried everything they could to help her, but nothing.

They couldn't save her. She died the moment the car hit her, he told me. When I heard that, I began crying my eyes out and my dad did his best to comfort me. It took nearly an hour for me to stop crying.

My dad says that it was an accident, I say it was murder. There was no way that was an accident. Who drives at full speed and calls it an "accident"? I'm not sure if the driver was arrested for that or not. They never said anything about them.

I visit her grave almost every single day. Even if she might not be able to hear me, I tell her everything that happens. If she is able to hear everything I say, then I want to at least tell her what's going on in my life.

Ever since she passed away, though, my dad had began getting more and more abusive, little by little.

First thing that started happening was him starving me. Whenever he was home, I begged of him to make me something to eat. I didn't know how to cook at the time. He told me to "go fend for myself" since I'm "old enough" to get myself food and make it.

He didn't even give me money for anything, though, and he still doesn't. No money for school, no allowance, nothing. The most money I get is from when he drops anything in the couch or if it fell out of his pocket and he doesn't notice it.

He gets a lot of money from work, so a good amount sometimes fell out. How he didn't notice it went missing is beyond me.

Slowly afterwards, the fridge was becoming empty and it stayed like that. There was hardly any food in the kitchen for me to eat. That was when I was getting skinnier, I was becoming more malnourished, and I wasn't getting taller.

Not that I care if I'm short or tall, mind you. It doesn't really matter if I am tall or short. But, it didn't stop there obviously.

When I turned thirteen, it started to get violent. Really violent. He started by slapping me, then he did more and more than that. Sometimes, he would hit me so bad to the point where I'd need to put make-up on my bruises and black eyes to cover them up.

We never got rid of some mom's old stuff, just put them away in the attic. All except her make-up, which was in the bathroom. So, since it was there, I used whatever she had in there to cover each and every wound up.

I didn't want anybody to see them because I was scared that if I told anybody about the abuse, Dad would beat me even more.

That I didn't want.

There were times where he was planning on taking it further than just physical abuse. He didn't, though, which I'm glad he didn't but why he didn't do it was beyond me. He could've done so at any time he wanted. Whatever it was that stopped him from doing it, it was for the better. I'm not sure what else he was planning on doing, but something tells me I don't want to know about it.

Maybe me starving to death and being beaten was good enough for him- I don't know. I really don't know.

This week was getting really bad. He nearly broke a bone in my body when I came back from school the other day. If it was any worse, I would've needed to go to the hospital.

I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to get out of there, there was no other choice. I couldn't just stay there.

You were the only one I could go to. I don't have any older siblings to go to, I'm an only child. I couldn't go to anyone else in my family, they live far away. I don't feel comfortable enough with anyone in the club to live with them.

I... I...

A few tears streamed down Natsuki's face.

She was shaking at this point. She saw how bad her hands were shaking. Quickly, she put her hands onto her arms to make it seem less noticeable. Yuri most likely noticed it at this point though.

Natsuki looked at Yuri, whose face is covered with her hair. Her hands were on the table rolling up into fists. She noticed her heavy breathing.

"Yuri? Are you doing okay?" Natsuki asked in concern.

Her only response to her question was silence. Yuri got up and left the room.

Natsuki put whatever leftover food she had on her plate in the trash, put her plate in the sink, and went after her.

She didn't end up going anywhere; the taller woman appeared to be pacing around the living room. Natsuki could only guess that she was trying to calm down. What she told her apparently pissed her off.

She wouldn't blame her for being so mad. She'd be furious too if she heard something like that. Seeing that Yuri was only trying to calm down, she wiped whatever tears were on her face. Natsuki didn't want her to see them when she was done calming down.

She walked over to her and grabbed her hand. Yuri nearly yanked it away, but she didn't knowing it was only Natsuki. She felt calmer and more relaxed having Natsuki's hand in hers. A breath escaped her lips; she didn't realize she was holding a breath until now.

Natsuki looked down at their hands and back up at her. Quickly, her pulled her hand away from hers and crossed her arms.

"Are you alright? You're not on the edge of snapping, are you?" Natsuki asked. "Not that I care or anything, but I want to make sure."

There was a second of hesitation, but Yuri slowly shook her head 'no' as an answer.

"I'm fine, Natsuki." Yuri answered calmly. "You uh- You wanna read something with me?"

Natsuki nodded. Reading something, doing anything, would help take their minds off of what Natsuki was talking about before. It would help them calm down, as well.

Yuri grabbed something for them to read.

She made a mental note on being prepared for everything in case if he ever came back. She also kept in mind to call the police about this later.

She couldn't let a man like that walk around free with no consequences. A man like that should be in jail.

Yuri sat down on the couch and Natsuki went to sit down on her lap.

They opened the book and started reading.

A/N: I apologize I ended this chapter the same way I did last chapter, them reading something. I wasn't too sure how to end this one and I went with that. It won't end like that on every chapter, though, so don't worry about that.

I wanted to try at least explore a bit of Natsuki's parents in this one, like when the abuse happened, why the mom isn't doing anything about it and what happened to her, etc. etc. I will get to Yuri's parents sometime later on, I just gotta think of everything for them first. Maybe the next chapter I'll get to them, maybe something else, I'm not too sure yet. But I hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter and all.