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Chapter Ten: Break With:

June 3rd, 1982.

Daisuke awoke to a cruel surprise that morning. First off, it was dead silent in the house. Haruka would usually be yelling at Yasuo in the mornings. That was the first thing the youngest son noticed. At first, he thought that he was dreaming. He pinched himself on the hand. His kitsune appeared beside of him.

“Something wrong, Dai?” Jin whispered. The boy shushed him as he waved him off.

“Do you hear that?” he asked. The kitsune took a listen.

“I don’t hear anything,” Jin answered. He turned to his master.

“Daisuke…” the kitsune spoke up. Daisuke got out of his futon and wandered around the house.

"Hello?" he asked as he looked around him, "Anybody here?" The boy looked around as no one answered. A chill danced up his spine. Maybe they've left for good and he's all alone now? No, that would be too much of a dream. So where are they?

Suddenly, Daisuke happened to look out the kitchen window and see smoke. Curious, he walked to the back door for a better look. He noticed that his mother was dumping a box of stuff in a fire pit in the backyard. At first, Daisuke thought nothing of it. She was probably cleaning out the house. That was until he noticed a familiar fluffy pink bunny being sacrificed to golden yellow flames below.

That's Kirika's bunny!, he thought with big shocked eyes. It didn't take long for the boy to piece together what was going on. He raced outside to his mother in fear.

"STOP!" Daisuke cried out as he ran over to his family as fast as he could. Haruka and the boys all paused and looked up. The youngest boy stopped to catch his breath.

"Stop!" he cried again, "What are you doing?! That's Kirika's bunny!" His mother sneered at him.

"For fuck sake, she and Yumiko are never coming back!" she yelled, "It's time to forget about them!"

"No!" Daisuke argued. He tried to save what was left of his sisters' belongings from the famished flames. He just about made it to one box when Yasuo tackled him to the ground. Daisuke yelped in pain.

"Get off me!" he cried, "Let me go!" He struggled to get away as Haruka dumped another box into the growing fire.

"Keep still, runt!" Yasuo growled as he sat on his brother to keep him pinned to the ground.

"No!" Daisuke shouted. The boys tussled on the ground even more. Yasuo tried to use his weight to keep the seventeen-year-old from moving around. The other sons watched silent.

"Make this easier on yourself," the third son said quietly. Usually, that command worked. Today, Daisuke resisted his brother's calm voice and command failed. Something in the youngest son completely broke down and snapped. He shoved Yasuo off of his body. The oldest son fell backwards with a thud. Daisuke scrambled to his feet and raced to one of the boxes. He snatched up the nearest thing his fingertips could touch. The boy would've grabbed more if Yasuo hadn't come up behind him and roughly yanked him away. Daisuke fell to the ground with Yumiko and Kirika's birth charms clutched in his hands. Haruka was now pissed.

"Give those to me!" she snapped.

"No!" Daisuke protested.

"I said give those to me!" his mother yelled.

"No!" her son screamed as he held the charms to his chest. Haruka's rage flared up out of control.

"YOU!" the old lady snapped. She picked up her bamboo cane and began beating her youngest son in the head, back, and legs. The other boys watched as the lashes kept coming. Daisuke would've usually folded by this point to stop the pain. This time, something in him just wouldn't take his mother's abuse anymore. He couldn't explain it at the time, but this was all he could do to fight back.

Daisuke tried to go to school as if nothing happened. For first time in years, he couldn’t ignore the eyes locked on him. They all gave him this judgmental look that screamed, “Murder,” at him. Their whispers made his stomach ache.

Please don’t look at me like that, he thought, I’m not a monster like my mother. I’m actually a nice guy. I didn’t choose this for my life. He could barely eat during lunch. His teachers showed great concern for him.

“Dai-kun,” Kuga-sensei addressed him, “What’s the matter?” The boy tried to make himself smile like he always had.

“Nothing,” he lied like his brothers taught him to, “I’m fine.” This time, his homeroom teacher didn’t believe him. She rested her hand on his shoulder.

“Please see me after class,” she said. Daisuke looked at her with big silent eyes. She knows something is wrong!, he thought. Despite the order, the boy went straight home. As he walked home alone that hot summer day, a realization woke up in his mind.

That woman killed my sisters, she thought, And I could be next. The boy froze in place and shook his head. I don’t want to die! He needed to do something to stay alive in that Hell. What could he do? Only one thing came into his mind. When he got home, he acted as if everything was “normal” in that place. His brothers ignored him just as their mother ordered them to. He didn’t even get dinner that night. As he took his bath that evening, Daisuke began to map out what to do next. The water calmed him enough to think. He would have to be quick in order to execute this. He drew his eyes closed and gathered up his nerve.

I can do this, he thought. After his bath, Daisuke climbed out of the tub and hurried straight to his room. He peeked through the open crack.

“Nobu?” he whispered, “Are you sleeping?” When he didn’t get an answer, the boy slowly pushed open the door and crept inside. Daisuke pushed his dark blue backpack onto the futon and started packing. He made sure to pack only what he needed such as clothes, his homework, and little personal items. Daisuke kept Kirika’s bracelet and diary keys well-hidden in his jacket. Those were the only two things that Haruka couldn’t get her hands on this morning. Once he was packed, the seventeen-year-old boy took one more look around the room. Going out the front or the back doors would draw too much attention. He needed a quick and clean escape. Only one answer came into his mind.

I have to try, Daisuke thought. He readied himself to go out the bedroom window. The boy took one more look over at his older brother. Lucky for him, Yasuo and Shichiro already moved out and got married. Nobu only stayed over because he was visiting home for the summer. Plus, Haruka could practically sleep through anything. Daisuke steadied himself to the small closed window.

I only have one chance at this. The boy unlatched the window and pushed it open inch by inch. He looked over his shoulder the whole time at Nobu sound asleep in his futon. If he woke up and caught him, the man would try to convince him to give up on this plan. If Daisuke refused, the older brother would turn him over to their mother. The boy tried to shake himself of those thoughts and shoved his backpack out the window first. Once he heard it hit the grass, Daisuke pulled himself together and pushed his head out the open window.

“Need some help?” Jin whispered.

“Thanks,” the boy whispered back. The kitsune gave him just enough of a nudge to go get the rest of his body out the window. Daisuke hit the ground and landed on his hands and knees.

“Ow,” he muttered to himself. Not how he wanted to get out, but he got his wish. Daisuke pushed himself to his feet, grabbed his backpack, and began his run down the dirt road. He didn’t even bother to look back at that house he had known as Hell ever since Kirika was born.

“Where to now?” Jin asked as he flew behind his master.

“Doesn’t matter!” the boy yelled back, “I have to get out of here.”

“So, you don’t know, do you?” the kitsune questioned him.

“Shut up!” Daisuke hissed. Jin drew his mouth closed as he sailed behind his master.

“Alright,” he muttered. In fact, there was only one place that Daisuke could take of running to now. The boy ran all the way to his high school and pounded on the glass doors. He didn’t know why he chose to come here all places, but he felt that was the only place that he had at the time. Jin shook his head as he smirked.

“It’s nighttime now,” he said, “Who the hell is going to be at the school now?” To Daisuke’s surprise, Kuga-sensei just happened to exit her classroom when she looked up and saw him pounding on the door. A surprised look came over her face before she raced over and pushed open the door.

“Dai-kun?” she asked, “Where have you been? What are you doing here?” The boy swallowed before he gathered up his words to answer.

“Actually,” he admitted to his homeroom teacher, “There is a problem at home.” She gave him a sympathetic look.

“You want to talk about it?” she asked.

“I do,” the boy admitted.

“Come with me,” the teacher told him. She walked him back to the teacher’s office. Once inside, Kuga-san prepared him some green tea in the kitchen area of the office.

“Here,” she said, “Drink this.”

“Thank you,” the boy muttered. He took the cup and took a big sip. His stomach growled loud enough to be heard from the hallway. He gave off a nervous laugh as Kuga-sensei eyed him.

“Have you had anything to eat at home?” she asked. The boy hung his head in shame.

“No,” he muttered. His teacher turned his head to face her.

“You wait right here while I get you something to eat, okay?” she said. The boy lowered his head.

“I am so sorry for this,” he said in a whisper.

“It’s okay,” Kuga-sensei told him, “After you eat, we can talk, alright?”

“Alright,” Daisuke replied.

“You stay right here,” his teacher told him. She turned and went out the hallway to try and get him something to eat. The boy slumped back into his chair. Daisuke’s paradise might have been lost now, but there would soon be a chance that it would be regained again in the next year.