It's the last Chapter, everybody! Hope you enjoyed my story and head on over to read 'Never Too Late', if your intrested! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

P.S - FF is REALLY pissing me off, screwing up all of my stuff. Where it said 'Um, I feel like shit, no duh' was formally seperated by a line from the sentence above, but of course FF screwed it up. Sorry about that and any other confusion.

Chapter 8

One More Piece

Kouji landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

And right when he tried to lift himself up, he heard a sharp crack.

"Oh, crap. Oh, dammit. Dammit, dammit...," Kouji hissed through his teeth as he sat up. Pain spiked up and down his entire right arm as it hung limply at his side. His bandana had been knocked off, but he managed to stuff it in his pocket with his good arm.

Kouji ran across the grass, hoping no one would hear him.

I'm almost there! he thought to himself. Just a little more...

Kouichi glanced out the window, skimming the grass for anybody coming across it. He hoped that Kouji had remembered.

He heard the almost silent footsteps of his mother walk up the steps, and he quickly dashed to his bed and pulled the sheets over him. He heard the door open and the inaudible sound of Tomoki's feet against the carpet. She peered over him, making sure he was asleep, when there was a knock on the door downstairs that made both of them jump.

Kouji!

Kouichi jumped out of his bed, and his mother raised her eyebrows at his excitment and the fact that he was still dressed. Kouichi ignored her stares and ran past her.

When he opened the door just as his mother was following behind him.

"Yo."

Kouji stood at the doorway, holding his right arm with his left. He tried to make the gesture look casual, but the strain on his face ruined his cover.

"I told you using the front door would be easier," hissed Kouichi. Kouji shrugged.

"It makes too much noise. Dad would have heard me already." he said lightly. He walked into the room, ignoring the shocked expression on his mother's face.

"Kouji! Why are you...? Where is...?" she stammered. Seeing his arm, she gasped. "Kouji-chan! Your arm!"

Kouji looked back at her.

"What? I jumped out of a window."

Tomoko went into hysterics, flinging her arms and screaming and demanding to know what happened.

"Dad forbade me to see you, so I jumped out of a window and ran over here." he said cooly, sitting in a chair by the kitchen table.

Tomoko gave up, searching for a first aid kit in the kitchen cabinets.

While she searched, Kouji, went over and sat in a chair at the table. Kouichi glanced out the window, then came over and sat next to Kouji in another chair. Koji glanced at Kouichi, who returned the hesitent stare.

Tomoko returned with a roll of bandage strips, muttering to herself angrily. She dragged Kouji out of his chair and ordered him to sit on the counter.

"You're thirteen years old...I never dreamed teenagers could be so reckless...," she grumbled, making Kouji take off his jacket and roll up his sleeve. She wrapped a bandage around the scraped and bruising arm, pulling it tight to keep it firm. She layered it several times until Kouji wondered if she was making a cast for him instead of a temporary fix.

Kouichi stared out the window while Kouji complained about how tight Tomoko was making the bandage, wondering how screwed up Kouji's life really was. His own life wasn't too peachy either; they didn't have a lot of money, Tomoki was always sick, and had to work all the time, and he even began to feel jealous of Kouji when he first heard about him when his grandmother died. But everyday, Kouichi, Takuya, and Zoe could see the bruises on his arms and legs, especially at gym. The teachers wondered, he bet, but they had never asked.

I feel so selfish. Kouichi thought angrily to himself. While I sat here and got nothing but love and care from Mama, Kouji had to live in that hellhole with Papa all day and all night, getting him flared up and hit by him. I am a terrible brother.

There was a pounding at the door.

Kouji jumped off the counter and dashed behind the couch. Kouichi also realized who had arrived, and fearfully opened the door with Tomoki coming up at his side. Just as he unlocked the door, it was forcefully pushed open. Being right there, the door whacked Kouichi in the head and slammed him into the wall.

"Kouichi!' Tomoko cried. Kouji winced, feeling tremendous guilt at that moment.

"Where the hell is he?!" roared a familiar voice. Kouichi struggled to open his eyes and focus on the intruder. Tomoko was clinging onto him, letting him lean on her for support.

"Get out, Kousei." growled Tomoko. She hugged Kouichi closer, who looked up fearfully at his father. His head was throbbing, but it couldn't block out the fear in his heart at that moment.

"Not before I take Kouji with me," Kousei snarled back. "I know he escaped and ran over here, so shut up and hand him over."

Kouichi was pissed off.

He broke away from his mother's grasp and looked Kousei right in the eye.

"We aren't giving him back to you, Papa." he snarled. "You are never going to hurt him again..."

Kouichi stepped closer, his voice dripping icicles.

"...you piece of shit."

Then Kousei hit him hard, sending his eldest son tumbling backwards onto the floor, landing next to the couch. Kouji could see the welt on his face clearly, on the same place he had seen the door open on him. He silently pleaded for Kouichi to turn and look at him, to make sure he was alright, but Kouichi stood right up without looking at him, not wanting to reveal his location.

Tomoko started bawling, pressing her hands against her face and running out of the room. Kouichi was asking for it now.

"That's right! You are nothing but a piece of shit! I am so ashamed of myself for wanting to meet you, now that you've turn out to be nothing but an damn asshole, and -,"

Kousei grabbed Kouichi's shoulders, screaming out how much of a fricking son of a bitch son he was (using a harsher substitute for 'frick', however), and tears started to stream down Kouichi's crumpled face.

"Stop!" Kouji screamed, standing up and rushing over to try and pull Kousei's arm off of Kouichi. Kousei dropped him on the floor immediately. Kouichi hugged his chest and started to cry, sobs raking his body, tears trickling down his face and onto the floor.

Instead, Kousei lunged for Kouji, throwing him against the wall. He twisted his arm (for some reason, the good one), screamed in his face, and hurt him without any remorse. Kouji's face remained a cold mask of steel, but he was trembling from shock and fear. He hurt all over, and badly, but he couldn't give in to him.

Kousei snarled, seeing he was getting nowhere. Kouji was pressed against the wall, shaking involuntarily and ready to cry like poor Kouichi on the floor. Kousei noticed the bandage on Kouji's right arm for the first time, and twisted it, a satisfied grin on his greasy face.

Kouji screamed, falling to the floor onto his knees, crying out and begging him to stop. When Kousei twisted it harder, Kouji screamed even louder. Kouichi screamed for Kousei to stop, still sobbing.

"Stop it!" bellowed Tomoko, who ran in, holding up a cell phone. "I have already called the police, Kousei, and I'm sure the neighbors have too!"

"You...!"

Kousei squeezed her arm, hard, and slapped her on the opposite side of her face. He screamed at her for her stupidity and everything else he felt she had done wrong.

Hearing the wailing of the sirens, Kouji felt a strange relief flood through him. His mind was growing fuzzy, and soon every movement made him dizzy.

Everything around him swirled into darkness when the police burst through the door.

Takuya was busily scrawling down notes for the science project he had to finish soon with Izumi, who continually flipped her long hair behind her shoulder. She looked up occasionally to change the channel on her television.

Right when Takuya was finishing up writing about dodecahedron crystal systems, Izumi gasped.

"...last night police swarmed the house of thirty-nine year old Tomoko Kimura in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Yasambi to find forty-three year old Kousei Minamoto abusing Kimura and their two sons, thirteen year old identical twins Kouichi Kimura and Kouji Minamoto, who was found unconcious. It appears Kouji Minamoto escaped from his home earlier that night to run away from his father's constant abuse., and was hunted down. Minamoto has been arrested and charged with child abuse, and her two boys are presently checked into Shibuya Hospital, Kouichi Kimura for head injuries and Kouji Minamoto for several injuries, the most pressing one his broken arm, all a result from Minamoto's abuse..."

"Oh, God..." whispered Izumi, tears filling her eyes.

"Shit." Takuya hissed, standing up and grabbing Izumi's hand. "We need to go."

"Um, I feel like shit, no duh."

Kouji was in a hospital bed, his arm in a cast. There was really nothing the doctors could do about the bruises; they would just have to heal on their own.

"Yep."

Kouichi sat in another bed, the welt on his face now bruise. The door had cut up his face a bit without him noticing, so there were a few stiches running down the side of his face. Tomoko slept in another bed behind a curtain, the doctors insisting she needed rest from the moment they laid eyes on her. Junpei and Tomoki didn't see the news special, so it was just Takuya and Izumi visiting them.

"It was on the news, though?" groaned Kouji. "That's going to be so annoying..."

Izumi shrugged. "Oh well, at least you have some kind of excuse for your arm."

Kouji stared at her in disbelief.

"Suuuure. 'How'd you break your arm?' 'Oh, I jumped out of a window, you see, and then my dad twisted it until he broke the bone. You see, before it was just a fracture."

Takuya laughed. "The expression on the kid's face would have been so funny, though."

They all started laughing then.

They're all happy, thought Kouji. And nobody has to worry about me anymore. Now I can live with Mom, and because she has a better job, she can support me and Kouichi.

He glanced at Kouichi. He was laughing at some dumb joke Takuya made, his face light and amused.

Now my life can be like any other kid my age. I don't have to worry about coming home and being hurt everyday, I don't have to feed myself and scrounge for groceries with my own money. I can act like a thirteen year old, not an adult.

I guess I am one step closer to achieving happiness.

One piece at a time.

End

-WingsOfSilverSorrow