A/N: 'allo!
Disclaimer: I, uh, do not own anything. Except my OC. But my OC is an evil baka, so you can have him. :D
Summery: lol, I've got so many inspirations for STCNK (Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi) ficlets that I've started so many and have only posted - what? Four? Five? Sheesh. Anyhow, the summery of this is, (oh, and it's AU b/c I couldn't write canon if my life depended on it - OOC, anyone?) that Kohaku (whom I will refer to as Haku) has a twin brother! I mean, it's logical - shall we use the Nile river, for example? ::ahem:: the Nile River flows, blah bleh blah, but it also splits in two; the White Nile and the Blue Nile. SO, the Nile River Spirit (should there be one) should have two brothers. Or two sisters. Or a brother and a sister. Understand my reasoning? So I'm guessing that the Kohaku River was filled in - but come on, it's hard to fill in a river big enough to drown a little girl. (then again, those babies are stupid enough to drown themselves in a toilet, so. . .) SO, my guess is that the Kohaku River was "temporarily" destroyed, but then took a new course, a new path, a new place, underground at first - maybe it shows up as a little stream? A trickle into the ocean?
'nyway.
Now that I'm done ranting to you about the possibilities of Kohaku (whom I will name Haku from here on in!) having a twin brother, or maybe a little older, I think I'll tell you the summery. And you know, it could be that he has a SISTER too, but, uh - I don't want to start on that. ^^;
::Ahem::
ACTUAL Summery: Chihiro gets kidnapped after running away. Short and sweet, ne?
Rating: I'm guessing pg13... if not, then tell me, okay?
Genre: erm... okay, I'd make an educated guess with angst/romance/teeny weensy bit o' horror/action?/adventure/drama?/suspense?
Length: you know, I ALWAYS say around five to thirteen chapters, but I always go over or under. . . so. . . I don't know. ^_^0
WARNINGS: uh, lemme think. Um... lessee, there's your usual blood 'n gore, and all that good stuff. ^_^ just kidding. I hit the main character on the head a lot, though. So if that bothers you, then why the heck did you watch the movie in the first place of all she does is hit the back of her head and flip so that her feet touch her nose? Sheesh. Okay, okay, I'll stop kidding around! Rotten Peaches, really. Tough crowd, ya? 'nyway, there's blood and everything else. 'scept I could write a horror story if my life depended on it (next to a canon ficlet) so, ya, whatever. Geeze! If anything gets beyond my liking I'll raise the rating! Alright! ALRIGHT! *dodges rotten peaches* abuse, implied raape, and unhappiness. The ending is fluff, though! Well, maybe not. See, it all depends upon my mood. . .
Chapter Started: 5/2/03
Chapter Finished: 5/2/03
Chihiro's POV
Three years after the movie
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.
.
It had happened gradually.
He had been completely normal at first, but then, slowly, it happened.
Started coming home later, drunk.
Became easily irritated.
Shouted at mom and I a lot.
And we just accepted it. Like I said, it happened gradually.
We didn't really notice, in fact, until just after I had turned eleven. He - I had managed to anger him, I suppose, but either way, he hit me; mom hadn't been there.
I never told her. I dismissed it, at the time.
But then, I came down for breakfast one morning, and it was obvious mom had been crying. There was a dark bruise forming on her jaw.
She insisted it was nothing. I accepted it. she accepted it. We dismissed it.
He became steadily worse over the next few months. By now he was always coming home late, drunk. He had been fired from his job, so mom was working full time. He was always away with friends. It became obvious to me that he was using mom as a punch bag.
And so was I - being used as a punching bag, I mean. I knew it. she knew it.
It became harder to dismiss. Harder to forget.
Then, two days exactly after my twelfth birthday - I remember how many days? - I lay curled in my bed. By then, both mom and I had learned to lay awake in bed until we heard the door open and close, so that we could relax. My door was cracked, and I watched his dark shadow walk down the hall, past me. I heard my parents' door open and close. There was momentary silence. Then, I hear it.
At first, I told myself that mom wasn't - you know, in pain. But a few minutes later, I realized it wasn't.
Trembling, I got up and closed my door, then went back to bed.
I still heard it. them. Him. Her. He was hurting her. And I was too cowardly to get up and try to do something. What could I do? I rolled over so that I was facing the wall, burrowed deep in my blankets, put my pillow over my head.
And though it muffled the sounds, her screaming, crying, begging, it did not completely block them out.
I began to cry, and tried to think of Haku. I always did that when I was scared or sad or angry; his image in my mind soothed me, and it often calmed me down, and made me smile, and blush.
This time, though, it didn't work.
I spent that night listening. Crying. Shivering. Praying for mom, and for daddy.
I didn't fall asleep until well after it was over.
When I woke up, it was after nine o'clock. That day had been Friday, a school day. When I went downstairs, afraid of what I'd see, and what I saw scared me.
Mom had bruises all over her - and a sad attempt had been made to cover them, and her water-logged eyes, up with make-up.
We both cried, and hugged each other.
She let me stay home from school that day.
And I think... I think that's when I stopped calling him father.
I refer to him as 'It' or 'Akio,' his first name. Once I accidentally called him 'Oni' in front of mom, and she cried, and - oh, this is pathetic - she agreed. In private, we call him 'Oni.'
Two months later, mom found she was pregnant. We didn't have enough income to support a baby, and after some convincing (and begging, arguing, informing) mom let me, even helped me, find a job. It is very hard to find a place that would let a twelve-year-old work at for money, but I got a job at a pet store after telling the manager I was very good with animals - and that there was a baby on the way.
The store manager obviously thought that *I* was the one with the incoming baby, and was working frantically for money to support it.
I didn't have the heart - or guts - to tell her that it was mom.
Besides, I managed to use her thoughts and guesses and assumptions to my advantage. Working twenty hours a week, I managed to earn the same as mom did. We hid the money carefully from Oni, who refused to help with his incoming children.
She had triplets, two boys and a girl. Mom let me name one, and she named the other - we compromised on the third. We had been putting a lot of thought into names, and called them Daisuke, the first boy, the second boy we called Yamato and the girl we called Sakura. They all had big brown eyes, and adorable chubby faces, and little silky tufts of brown hair. I loved them at first sight, and so did mom, of course.
Oni didn't.
Soon, mom was taking them to work with her, and I was sleeping with them. We got a special lock for my door, and I locked it every day and every night.
A month after my thirteenth birthday, he did it again;
It woke the babies and I up, and I spent that night keeping them quiet. I obviously didn't do a good enough job of it, because Oni was banging on my door and jiggling the handle, trying to break in and carry out his threats for killing them.
I said a quiet prayer for mom, then shouted I was sorry for her, and I would save her soon, I promised.
I felt sick about leaving my own mother - whom I loved more than the world, just like Daisuke and Sakura and Yamato and. . . Haku.
We had stashed the money in my room, and I took it all (except for a twenty, just in case) and put it safely deep in my pockets after getting dressed in some knee-length pink shorts and a light blue shirt that said 'hands off!' on. I dressed the babies quickly, and jumped, and began to cry as Oni almost broke my door open. Mom must have been unconscious, or worse - I prayed she was okay.
I put Daisuke down my shirt front, tucking in the fabric down to my thighs and tying a tight belt on to support him. I put Sakura in a baby-carrier and put her in front of me also, moving Daisuke to the side. then I put Yamato in another carrier, on my back.
I cried as I opened my window and escaped onto the roof, dropping safely to the ground from the garage. Mom and I had thought out this safe route just in case.
After pausing a moment to quiet my brothers' and sister's crying, I took off on the sidewalks at a light jog, headed toward my boss's house.
Long ago, I had told the store manager everything - as in, *everything* and she had agreed to keep her door open twenty-four/seven in case something bad happened. We - she and mom and I - had become close, sisters it seemed like.
And for this, I was very glad.
I had given up on knocking on her door, and started slamming my fist on it. her husband answered tired and grumpy, and I had begged him to see the store manager, my boss, and friend.
He refused, of course, shouting something incoherent in another language and finally she came down some stairs and spoke to him. Still grumpy, he left and fell asleep on the couch immediately.
I explained to her what had happened, and begged her to watch Daisuke, Yamato, and Sakura for me, and not tell anybody. I gave her the money, and she promised that she would watch them. She had wanted to call the police, and keep me there, but I refused. I told her not to worry, and that I was going back to get my mother.
And I took off at a run back to my house.
It turned out that the boss didn't keep her promise (@$$hole.) and the police caught up with me just as I had climbed through my window. They thought I was a thief, and I ended up screeching at them to shut up and go away through my window, then choked and squawked in surprise a large hand jerked me back and hauled me into my parents' room, throwing me on the floor next to my mom, who was clutching a dirty sheet around her body. She immediately pushed me behind her.
I knew what had happened.
We both looked up at Oni in fear, silent tears making their ways down our cheeks.
I found it hard to believe that this... monster, had once been my father. I cursed him.
And, in instinct from three years, my thoughts turned to Haku. What would he say now? What would he do? Probably tell me to calm down, relax, turn into a dragon and we'd fly off into the night.
A shrewd smile crossed my lips, and I stood up behind mom, who was standing as well.
Nobody said anything, and we all listened half-heartedly to the policemen trying to break the door in downstairs.
"Where are my sons and daughter?" he hissed dangerously.
"I saved you the trouble and killed them," I replied coldly.
"Chihiro!" mom cried, and blocked me fully with her body as Oni came forward angrily. He threw her aside, and she landed with a yelp.
His fingers closed around my throat, and mom screamed.
"Get the police!" I shouted, and she immediately took off out the door and downstairs. I know she felt sick leaving her own daughter behind.
Oni shook me like a rag doll, tightening his fingers.
"Don't speak to your father like that!" she snarled/roared at me.
And, oh, the irony! I couldn't help myself. I knew how important the situation was, that he would probably kill me without a second thought, then mom, then my brothers and sister, but for some reason I didn't care. I reached up, and closed my fingers around his, and looked him square in the eye, and...
Laughed. I practically howled with sick mirth. "You're not my father!" I snarled through my guffaws. "you are Oni! My father died a long, long time ago! Gradually, and I'm certain, painfully too!" and I continued laughing.
I believe the only thing that kept him from killing me was his confusion and thoughts of 'she's crazy', probably. Right about then I was thinking I was crazy as well.
Just then, the door slammed open, and at least twenty police officers filed in the room, guns drawn. Now I'm certain that this shocked Oni enough - that is the only reason I can think of that his grip loosened. I ripped his fingers away from my throat, and did something that threw all honor down the drain and gave me a sick, pathetic sense of satisfaction.
I buried my fist in his stomach, and then pointed at him, finger under his nose.
And I said one thing before the police singled him out from me. "HA!"
Then one ushered me downstairs where an ambulance was waiting, and mom was cautiously being led in and strapped to a bored. It was only then I noticed the blood covering the left side of her face.
"Chihiro," she said when she saw me.
"Mom." I told her. "I'll take care of the babies."
"Be careful," she insisted. "do you promise? Don't hurt yourself or the triplets."
"I promise."
They took her away then.
I was questioned, then was ushered into a police car that would take me to the small hospital to see mom. Only one officer was free, and he drove. About halfway there - and here's where it all fell apart - he falls face- first onto the wheel, as though he's passed out, then we swerve, and crash into a tree. I have my seatbelt on, and I'm not hurt. I didn't even scream.
Almost calmly, I got out.
That's when I saw it.
Out of the corner of my eye, a white flash - of a thing.
And the first thing I thought was it might be a dragon.
One particular dragon.
Haku?
And like an idiot - a stupid, love-sick thirteen-year-old idiot - followed it.
It began to rain. Hard. So hard, and it was so dark, that I got completely lost in a matter of seconds.
Now THAT was pathetic.
And, oh joy-joy, I was hit in the back of the head from behind.
And...
Fell into a blackness.
An oblivion.
And all those other fancy-pansy terms for unconsciousness.
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And I woke up to a nightmare even worse then what had happened in the last three-four years of my life.
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A/N: well. That wasn't too bad a Prologue, I guess... I dunno. I like Constructive Criticism. You don't have to Review, if you don't want to.
Disclaimer: I, uh, do not own anything. Except my OC. But my OC is an evil baka, so you can have him. :D
Summery: lol, I've got so many inspirations for STCNK (Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi) ficlets that I've started so many and have only posted - what? Four? Five? Sheesh. Anyhow, the summery of this is, (oh, and it's AU b/c I couldn't write canon if my life depended on it - OOC, anyone?) that Kohaku (whom I will refer to as Haku) has a twin brother! I mean, it's logical - shall we use the Nile river, for example? ::ahem:: the Nile River flows, blah bleh blah, but it also splits in two; the White Nile and the Blue Nile. SO, the Nile River Spirit (should there be one) should have two brothers. Or two sisters. Or a brother and a sister. Understand my reasoning? So I'm guessing that the Kohaku River was filled in - but come on, it's hard to fill in a river big enough to drown a little girl. (then again, those babies are stupid enough to drown themselves in a toilet, so. . .) SO, my guess is that the Kohaku River was "temporarily" destroyed, but then took a new course, a new path, a new place, underground at first - maybe it shows up as a little stream? A trickle into the ocean?
'nyway.
Now that I'm done ranting to you about the possibilities of Kohaku (whom I will name Haku from here on in!) having a twin brother, or maybe a little older, I think I'll tell you the summery. And you know, it could be that he has a SISTER too, but, uh - I don't want to start on that. ^^;
::Ahem::
ACTUAL Summery: Chihiro gets kidnapped after running away. Short and sweet, ne?
Rating: I'm guessing pg13... if not, then tell me, okay?
Genre: erm... okay, I'd make an educated guess with angst/romance/teeny weensy bit o' horror/action?/adventure/drama?/suspense?
Length: you know, I ALWAYS say around five to thirteen chapters, but I always go over or under. . . so. . . I don't know. ^_^0
WARNINGS: uh, lemme think. Um... lessee, there's your usual blood 'n gore, and all that good stuff. ^_^ just kidding. I hit the main character on the head a lot, though. So if that bothers you, then why the heck did you watch the movie in the first place of all she does is hit the back of her head and flip so that her feet touch her nose? Sheesh. Okay, okay, I'll stop kidding around! Rotten Peaches, really. Tough crowd, ya? 'nyway, there's blood and everything else. 'scept I could write a horror story if my life depended on it (next to a canon ficlet) so, ya, whatever. Geeze! If anything gets beyond my liking I'll raise the rating! Alright! ALRIGHT! *dodges rotten peaches* abuse, implied raape, and unhappiness. The ending is fluff, though! Well, maybe not. See, it all depends upon my mood. . .
Chapter Started: 5/2/03
Chapter Finished: 5/2/03
Chihiro's POV
Three years after the movie
.
.
.
It had happened gradually.
He had been completely normal at first, but then, slowly, it happened.
Started coming home later, drunk.
Became easily irritated.
Shouted at mom and I a lot.
And we just accepted it. Like I said, it happened gradually.
We didn't really notice, in fact, until just after I had turned eleven. He - I had managed to anger him, I suppose, but either way, he hit me; mom hadn't been there.
I never told her. I dismissed it, at the time.
But then, I came down for breakfast one morning, and it was obvious mom had been crying. There was a dark bruise forming on her jaw.
She insisted it was nothing. I accepted it. she accepted it. We dismissed it.
He became steadily worse over the next few months. By now he was always coming home late, drunk. He had been fired from his job, so mom was working full time. He was always away with friends. It became obvious to me that he was using mom as a punch bag.
And so was I - being used as a punching bag, I mean. I knew it. she knew it.
It became harder to dismiss. Harder to forget.
Then, two days exactly after my twelfth birthday - I remember how many days? - I lay curled in my bed. By then, both mom and I had learned to lay awake in bed until we heard the door open and close, so that we could relax. My door was cracked, and I watched his dark shadow walk down the hall, past me. I heard my parents' door open and close. There was momentary silence. Then, I hear it.
At first, I told myself that mom wasn't - you know, in pain. But a few minutes later, I realized it wasn't.
Trembling, I got up and closed my door, then went back to bed.
I still heard it. them. Him. Her. He was hurting her. And I was too cowardly to get up and try to do something. What could I do? I rolled over so that I was facing the wall, burrowed deep in my blankets, put my pillow over my head.
And though it muffled the sounds, her screaming, crying, begging, it did not completely block them out.
I began to cry, and tried to think of Haku. I always did that when I was scared or sad or angry; his image in my mind soothed me, and it often calmed me down, and made me smile, and blush.
This time, though, it didn't work.
I spent that night listening. Crying. Shivering. Praying for mom, and for daddy.
I didn't fall asleep until well after it was over.
When I woke up, it was after nine o'clock. That day had been Friday, a school day. When I went downstairs, afraid of what I'd see, and what I saw scared me.
Mom had bruises all over her - and a sad attempt had been made to cover them, and her water-logged eyes, up with make-up.
We both cried, and hugged each other.
She let me stay home from school that day.
And I think... I think that's when I stopped calling him father.
I refer to him as 'It' or 'Akio,' his first name. Once I accidentally called him 'Oni' in front of mom, and she cried, and - oh, this is pathetic - she agreed. In private, we call him 'Oni.'
Two months later, mom found she was pregnant. We didn't have enough income to support a baby, and after some convincing (and begging, arguing, informing) mom let me, even helped me, find a job. It is very hard to find a place that would let a twelve-year-old work at for money, but I got a job at a pet store after telling the manager I was very good with animals - and that there was a baby on the way.
The store manager obviously thought that *I* was the one with the incoming baby, and was working frantically for money to support it.
I didn't have the heart - or guts - to tell her that it was mom.
Besides, I managed to use her thoughts and guesses and assumptions to my advantage. Working twenty hours a week, I managed to earn the same as mom did. We hid the money carefully from Oni, who refused to help with his incoming children.
She had triplets, two boys and a girl. Mom let me name one, and she named the other - we compromised on the third. We had been putting a lot of thought into names, and called them Daisuke, the first boy, the second boy we called Yamato and the girl we called Sakura. They all had big brown eyes, and adorable chubby faces, and little silky tufts of brown hair. I loved them at first sight, and so did mom, of course.
Oni didn't.
Soon, mom was taking them to work with her, and I was sleeping with them. We got a special lock for my door, and I locked it every day and every night.
A month after my thirteenth birthday, he did it again;
It woke the babies and I up, and I spent that night keeping them quiet. I obviously didn't do a good enough job of it, because Oni was banging on my door and jiggling the handle, trying to break in and carry out his threats for killing them.
I said a quiet prayer for mom, then shouted I was sorry for her, and I would save her soon, I promised.
I felt sick about leaving my own mother - whom I loved more than the world, just like Daisuke and Sakura and Yamato and. . . Haku.
We had stashed the money in my room, and I took it all (except for a twenty, just in case) and put it safely deep in my pockets after getting dressed in some knee-length pink shorts and a light blue shirt that said 'hands off!' on. I dressed the babies quickly, and jumped, and began to cry as Oni almost broke my door open. Mom must have been unconscious, or worse - I prayed she was okay.
I put Daisuke down my shirt front, tucking in the fabric down to my thighs and tying a tight belt on to support him. I put Sakura in a baby-carrier and put her in front of me also, moving Daisuke to the side. then I put Yamato in another carrier, on my back.
I cried as I opened my window and escaped onto the roof, dropping safely to the ground from the garage. Mom and I had thought out this safe route just in case.
After pausing a moment to quiet my brothers' and sister's crying, I took off on the sidewalks at a light jog, headed toward my boss's house.
Long ago, I had told the store manager everything - as in, *everything* and she had agreed to keep her door open twenty-four/seven in case something bad happened. We - she and mom and I - had become close, sisters it seemed like.
And for this, I was very glad.
I had given up on knocking on her door, and started slamming my fist on it. her husband answered tired and grumpy, and I had begged him to see the store manager, my boss, and friend.
He refused, of course, shouting something incoherent in another language and finally she came down some stairs and spoke to him. Still grumpy, he left and fell asleep on the couch immediately.
I explained to her what had happened, and begged her to watch Daisuke, Yamato, and Sakura for me, and not tell anybody. I gave her the money, and she promised that she would watch them. She had wanted to call the police, and keep me there, but I refused. I told her not to worry, and that I was going back to get my mother.
And I took off at a run back to my house.
It turned out that the boss didn't keep her promise (@$$hole.) and the police caught up with me just as I had climbed through my window. They thought I was a thief, and I ended up screeching at them to shut up and go away through my window, then choked and squawked in surprise a large hand jerked me back and hauled me into my parents' room, throwing me on the floor next to my mom, who was clutching a dirty sheet around her body. She immediately pushed me behind her.
I knew what had happened.
We both looked up at Oni in fear, silent tears making their ways down our cheeks.
I found it hard to believe that this... monster, had once been my father. I cursed him.
And, in instinct from three years, my thoughts turned to Haku. What would he say now? What would he do? Probably tell me to calm down, relax, turn into a dragon and we'd fly off into the night.
A shrewd smile crossed my lips, and I stood up behind mom, who was standing as well.
Nobody said anything, and we all listened half-heartedly to the policemen trying to break the door in downstairs.
"Where are my sons and daughter?" he hissed dangerously.
"I saved you the trouble and killed them," I replied coldly.
"Chihiro!" mom cried, and blocked me fully with her body as Oni came forward angrily. He threw her aside, and she landed with a yelp.
His fingers closed around my throat, and mom screamed.
"Get the police!" I shouted, and she immediately took off out the door and downstairs. I know she felt sick leaving her own daughter behind.
Oni shook me like a rag doll, tightening his fingers.
"Don't speak to your father like that!" she snarled/roared at me.
And, oh, the irony! I couldn't help myself. I knew how important the situation was, that he would probably kill me without a second thought, then mom, then my brothers and sister, but for some reason I didn't care. I reached up, and closed my fingers around his, and looked him square in the eye, and...
Laughed. I practically howled with sick mirth. "You're not my father!" I snarled through my guffaws. "you are Oni! My father died a long, long time ago! Gradually, and I'm certain, painfully too!" and I continued laughing.
I believe the only thing that kept him from killing me was his confusion and thoughts of 'she's crazy', probably. Right about then I was thinking I was crazy as well.
Just then, the door slammed open, and at least twenty police officers filed in the room, guns drawn. Now I'm certain that this shocked Oni enough - that is the only reason I can think of that his grip loosened. I ripped his fingers away from my throat, and did something that threw all honor down the drain and gave me a sick, pathetic sense of satisfaction.
I buried my fist in his stomach, and then pointed at him, finger under his nose.
And I said one thing before the police singled him out from me. "HA!"
Then one ushered me downstairs where an ambulance was waiting, and mom was cautiously being led in and strapped to a bored. It was only then I noticed the blood covering the left side of her face.
"Chihiro," she said when she saw me.
"Mom." I told her. "I'll take care of the babies."
"Be careful," she insisted. "do you promise? Don't hurt yourself or the triplets."
"I promise."
They took her away then.
I was questioned, then was ushered into a police car that would take me to the small hospital to see mom. Only one officer was free, and he drove. About halfway there - and here's where it all fell apart - he falls face- first onto the wheel, as though he's passed out, then we swerve, and crash into a tree. I have my seatbelt on, and I'm not hurt. I didn't even scream.
Almost calmly, I got out.
That's when I saw it.
Out of the corner of my eye, a white flash - of a thing.
And the first thing I thought was it might be a dragon.
One particular dragon.
Haku?
And like an idiot - a stupid, love-sick thirteen-year-old idiot - followed it.
It began to rain. Hard. So hard, and it was so dark, that I got completely lost in a matter of seconds.
Now THAT was pathetic.
And, oh joy-joy, I was hit in the back of the head from behind.
And...
Fell into a blackness.
An oblivion.
And all those other fancy-pansy terms for unconsciousness.
.
.
.
And I woke up to a nightmare even worse then what had happened in the last three-four years of my life.
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A/N: well. That wasn't too bad a Prologue, I guess... I dunno. I like Constructive Criticism. You don't have to Review, if you don't want to.