Yu's P.O.V.

"Mom?" I can feel my heart dropping to the bottom of my chest, her harsh breathing masking her angry voice that is threatening to spill over any second.

"Where have you been?!" she shouts at me, her anger seeping through the phone and chilling every inch of my body. "You just up and disappear? Do you know how worried we were when you come to get you and you aren't there? Your bag is gone, you things aren't there, and your bed is cold as if you left sometime in the middle of the night." I wince, I actually left in the early afternoon, Dad was watching TV and mom was complaining on the phone to some "friend" of hers about a job deal that wasn't going the way she had planned. I haven't even been gone twenty-four hours yet.

"Are you there!?" she shouts loud enough that I jerk the phone away from my ear, by now all my friends are staring at me. Even Nanako, who came out of her room when the phone rang, is staring up at me, clutching her hands to her chest. I press the phone back to my ear and calmly begin speaking to her, hoping that I can at least get her voice down so the others can't hear her anymore.

"I'm at Uncle's house." I tell her, focusing my attention on the calendar that is covered in Nanako's tiny handwriting of upcoming events and dates, she has deemed important to know. "I told you I was going to finish my senior..."

"You never said anything about leaving!" she hollers without giving me the chance to finish, I move the phone slightly from my ear again as her voice continues, growing in anger and volume. "Not once did you tell us you plan on leaving the house. How dare you lie now, saying you talked about this with us? Do you really think just because we're your parents and you've always behaved before that we would let it "slide" this time? It doesn't work that way Yu." For a minute there, she almost sounded like a real mother scolding a younger child and not a crazed woman who could only see things that would result in her gain.

"I never thought about that. I haven't lied to you, I did tell you I was going to leave, I even made sure I mentioned it from time to time so you knew." I say, keeping my voice level and quiet. "I told you a week ago even, that I would be leaving for Inaba, Uncle called you too and talked to you about. You told him it was ok." I remember Uncle calling me shortly afterwards as I was walking home from school that he managed to convince my mother that I could come and stay with him. I never did ask him if she was sober at the time or if she was even paying attention to him. I guess I just took advantage of the situation and left, not wanting to stay longer than necessary, longer than I have to.

"He never spoke to us about this!" she continues to yell, shouting at someone who I presume to be my father before returning her fury to me. Even though I can't see her and I know she can't reach me right now the intense dread continues to rise through my body, my anxiety skyrocketing as I squeeze my eyes shut and force my heartrate to slow down. "Don't drag you uncle into this. He has nothing to do with this, this was your decision and no one else. You are already causing problems for him don't continue to do so." I resist the urge to hang my head in defeat and instead clench my hand into a tight fist, swallowing the bile that was rising in my throat. I was beginning to feel sick and miserable, I just want to hang up and crawl back into bed and hope I won't have to wake up tomorrow.

"But I did tell you." I whisper closing my eyes and tilting my head up letting my hand fall limp to my side. "Uncle called you a couple days ago asking you if it was ok for me to come here for my last year of school. You just don't remember. You've just been too...busy, with other things to remember it. I should have left a note just in case, but I didn't."

"You're coming home immediately." she cuts me off and I can feel what little restraint I have to keep a level head slip away. I look back down and lower the phone, staring at it. It's like its on speaker anyways, everyone in the house can hear her voice. The issue of when to tell my friends what's happening isn't an issue anymore, they know, maybe not exactly what's going on, but they know something's up and they know whatever it is it isn't going good. "You bought a ticket there, you can buy a ticket back."

"..." I don't respond, I can't, I have nothing else to say; nothing else I could say. I dug my fist into my forehead as the shouting continues on the other line.

"You were never like this before. You weren't raised to act selfish, but since we sent you to live with my brother you were more withdrawn from us, you stayed more in the city than you did at home. There were times were it seemed like you were avoiding us. Did you meet some girl in the city or something? Who is she, what does her family do? You could have told us you know. Though I doubt you would have good judge in taste if you did find a girl. Is she pregnant? Is this what you've come to? Where you even thinking?" she shrieks on and I can do nothing more than stare at the wall, resigning myself to her thoughts that I can never defend myself from. Then she suddenly goes quiet on her side and I feel myself freeze, waiting for a blow that I know can never come here. "That's why you suddenly left wasn't it? Why you never said anything to us? And those good for nothing friends helped you, I should have known they would be involved. The few times I called, I could always hear them on the other end making so much racket, like they were heathens. Though in the dump of a town I sent you to, I'm not surprised they act that way. Nasty people are those who come from places nowhere even close to other civilizations. I should have put more thought into where I was sending you. And with all those murders that were happening, for all you know those kids where in on it, I heard a student had been arrested for killing a teacher….

"Shut up!" I yell at her and everything becomes quiet on her side and I clench my fist tighter, feeling the sting as my nails break the surface and a warm stickiness begin covering my fingers.

"Yu!" Yosuke cries as the others also let out a protest, whether from the blood or my sudden snap I don't know and I shake my head, they go quiet just staring at me. I can tell, I can feel their eyes on me.

"Wha-" she starts her voice icy but I cut her off. The damage is already done, I see no point in keeping quiet anymore.

"Just shut up!" I say, making my voice as strong as possible and straightening up. "I don't particular care what you say about me, I'm used to it, you never had anything good to say. I gave up on trying to please you a long time ago, I just went with it because I didn't think I had any other choice. You were my mother, what else was I supposed to do? Where else could I go but to your side whenever you decided to remember you had a son. I knew I could never be the perfect child for you, I accepted that fact. But after coming here and living with Uncle and my cousin, I realized it wasn't that there was a problem with me, but with you. It wasn't me who was doing something wrong, it wasn't me who didn't know how to act like a son. It was you who didn't know how to act like a mother. My Uncle showed me that, I realized it wasn't normal for a high school student to never speak, to do nothing but study and work. I always thought having friends or any kind of acquaintance outside of a business deal to be pointless. But I was wrong, it was fun. It was fun to go hang out in a mall just for the hell of it, or eat lunch together. It was fun to play on a team because you experienced things you couldn't get anywhere else. It was fun talking on the phone at night because someone saw something funny on TV and you had to let a friend know." As I continue to talk to her I remember everything I did last year with my friends, how being with them opened my mind to what its really like to just be normal and not have to worry about everything and pleasing everyone. As I continue to pour everything out to her, I realize, I don't want to go back. I don't want to be with my mother and father, I want to be here, where I have friends and a family that cares if I'm alive or dead. I realize, I love this feeling, I don't want too loose it, sure I got into some trouble last year and I got scolded for it, but it was because I did something stupid not because I did something.

"So say what you like about me, but don't say a thing against my friends or Uncle Dojima and Nanako." I say with as much force as possible. "You don't know a thing about what happened here last year, my friends had nothing to do with the murders, even Nanako was targeted and they wouldn't do that to her. And yeah a student did get arrested for killing a teacher, but he was a creep who was lonely and desperate for attention that he never received. And no I didn't get a girl pregnant, I don't even have a girlfriend; my friends didn't help me get here because I never even told them I was returning to Inaba. I stayed in the city as much as possible because I hated being around you, I hated being near you. I was done and I was tired. I was tired of the fighting, of you screaming at me and hit…" I stop and my eyes widen whipping around staring at the others who immediately caught onto the fact that I had said something I shouldn't have. I gripped the phone tighter and completely turned from them only to come face to face with Uncle and immediately broke out into a cold sweat, his eyes were narrow and I could almost see the wheels in his head spinning. I want to hang up, I want to run, I don't want to be here right now. I almost hang up when she speaks again.

"You are so selfish." she says through her teeth. "You have the nerve to say that too me after I've taken care of you for nineteen years even though you have never once been grateful. I let you live here because I'm your mother and I took responsibility for that fact, I could very easily have given you up for adoption or handed you over to another family. I did all that and you still think its ok to treat me this way?"

"It would have been better if you just had given me up to someone else." I tell her, cradling my bloody hand to my chest. I can't feel the burning anymore, just my heart pounding in my chest and ears as the adrenaline continues flowing through my system. Blocking any pain and telling my mind to run, to run away from this mess. "At least then I may actually have parents I can be proud of and talk about, but I won't ever be able to do that because I'll never be able to be proud of you. I can, however, do this, I'm not going to come back to you, and I'll never live with you again. Even if you do drag me back, I'll fight, I'll keep running away, for a whole year until I don't have to go back to you anymore. So you can wait for me to get off that train all you want, I won't get off. You can come here and try to force me back, but I won't go. I'm going to finish my last year of high school here and then I'll find a home of my own. But I promise, it'll never be near you or dad." I hang up the phone so fast that it falls to the ground and I just stare at it. Trying to wrap my mind around everything that has happen. I feel a hand on my shoulder and jerk slightly.

"Go sit down Yu." Uncle says picking up the phone. "Nanako get the first aid and disinfectant, then go to your room, keep the door shut till I tell you to come out." She nods and takes off upstairs to the bathroom as Yosuke places his hand on my arm and guides me to the couch and forces me to sit. I hunch over and place my head in my lap clutching my hand and breathing deeply. As the rush passes the pain in my hand gradually increases and I keep my hand in a fist as I hear Nanako return. I imagine her handing it to Uncle fast as her bedroom door shuts only a few seconds later. I hear heavy footsteps and look up as Uncle sits on the table in front of me and opens the box and takes out a cotton ball and glances around the room. "I don't care if the rest of you stay but Yu and I will be a having a conversation and I don't know if he wants you to hear it or not."

"I don't care." I say quickly, I went too far, I said too much, there's nothing they don't know now. What difference will it make if they hear it again? "They already heard it all anyways, I've got nothing left to hide." I sit up straight and look at everyone with tired eyes. They glance at each other and sit down, but none of them sit next to me except for Yosuke who is already sitting right next to me leaning forward with his hands together and elbows on his knees, staring at my hand now covered in blood. Uncle sits still for a second staring at me and I keep my eyes on my hand, letting him come to whatever thought he wants. I hear the bottle being open and see Uncle sit the cotton ball on his knee before cradling my injured hand in his, he forces me to open my palm and I hiss as my nails move out of skin and he begins dabbing at the blood and wound. I don't make a sound or move after that as he continues, despite the pain it causes. I know how to handle this small amount of pain, though it doesn't make it go away. Once he's done I can see the damage I did to my hand. There are long and deep looking cuts in my hand, at some point I managed to completely scratch my palm up.

He sits back and again and covers the cotton ball with the disinfectant before applying it to the cut. I shiver at the coldness but say nothing, waiting for him to speak. I can still feel a since of dread in my stomach that has yet to disappear. He remains silent before finally taking a breath and speaking. "That was your mother right? She wants you to come home?" I'm a little surprised by the question but answer anyways, knowing he's only avoiding the real question as long as he can.

"Yeah, she doesn't remember us telling her I was coming here." I say quietly leaning back and stretching my arm out, staring at it in disinterest. "She's been really….busy lately…she doesn't remember the conversation. I was reminding her and she got a little heated."

"After all that and you're still going to try and defend her?" Kanji asks with a frown. I don't look at him and continue to stare at my hand.

"I have to, she's my mother" I whisper. "No matter what she does."

"That may be but she doesn't deserve you defending her." Kanji says before receiving an elbow in the side by Naoto to be quiet.

"Kanji's right." Uncle frowns, going over the cut again with disinfectant. "You have no need to defend her, no cause. You owe her nothing."

"She kept me." I say in response. "Even if it would have been better if she hadn't, she still did. I owe her that much."

"Keeping a child isn't something someone should repay another for." Uncle glances up at me. "Especially if that child is the one you give birth to." I remain quiet as Uncle finishes bandaging my hand, wrapping a long white bandage tightly around me palm before standing up and heading to the bathroom. I drop my hand to my side and just let it lie on the couch. The silence stretches until Uncle returns and sits on the couch beside me. Yukiko is the one who finally breaks the silence.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Yukiko asks, looking up from the floor beside Chie with sad eyes as she tries to process everything she heard only minutes before.

"You mean why didn't I just tell you?" I say with a bitter smile playing on my face. "You weren't supposed to know. I was going to tell you, I kept telling myself I was going to explain everything. But…I guess, I never really believed I was actually going to. I made myself believe coming here meant it was over, that I didn't have to put up with her anymore. Guess I should've known better." I give a bitter laugh at the end.

"You didn't have to explain." Yosuke says slowly, like he's treading on ice that's about to break at any moment. "All you had to say was that you need to come back, any one of us would have come to get you, to help you. No questions asked."

"I could have." I agree, it's not like I never gave that idea a thought. But it wasn't that simple, they should already see this. "And I could have given my mother a real reason to go after you guys. By involving you I could have given her a reason to go after and cause a lot of trouble with your families. She has more connections than you think, she could easily put every one of your families out of business and make it extremely hard, it not impossible, for any of you to get somewhere in life after school. Besides, everyone thought we were the perfect family, I couldn't shatter that illusion. I would let so many people in the family down, I didn't want to feel responsible for that….I didn't want that burden."

"They could be charged with child neglect….and abuse…" Naoto said, tip-toeing around her words. "The blame wouldn't fall on you but on them. No one should put up with that just so the parents can have a good image."

"She's right." Uncle says, lighting a cigarette and turning to look at me. "And since she brought up the subject. Want to say what all she did?"

"No I don't." I stiffen as he turns the topic to what I was dreading.

"I told you this house will always be open to you." Uncle says, still watching me. "It always will be, when you called and said you wanted to come back because you couldn't handle the arguing anymore I immediately agreed, I never asked any questions or thought anymore about it. Maybe I should have."

"I didn't lie." I tell him immediately, just barely glancing over at him. I didn't want him to think I was lying about that and then take back his offer of letting me live here. "I was done with all the arguing, between mom and dad, and between her and me."

"I never said you lied." Uncle replies. "But is that all that you wanted to escape from?" I remain quiet and he gives a loud sigh of irritation. "Then I'll just ask right out, has your mother or father ever hit you?" I flinch at the question but remain silent, not meeting anyone's eyes. The living room falls silent as everyone waits for my response. "Yu, this isn't a question you don't have to answer, you need to tell me if they did or not."

"No." I say before he can even fully finish the sentence. "No, they never did anything."

"That's not what it sounded like you were going to say." Uncle says, leaning forward and I tense up even further. Uncle knows I'm not telling the truth, even Naoto could probably tell; maybe even the others.

"It wasn't often, just once or twice." I whisper and I can feel Yosuke jerk next to me. "It was when she was drunk. But that was it, nothing to get worked up and cause problems over."

"Senpai…." Naoto says sadly, and I glance up at her. She doesn't look at me and waves her hand across the floor. "Abuse is abuse."

"Abuse is long term." I say sternly, dropping the conversation. "It's not something to be concerned over now, it's done."
"Alright." Uncle says quickly with a nod putting his cigarette out. "You're right, it's over; you aren't going back so we're not going to worry about this anymore tonight." I relax slightly and Uncle stands up. "Yu, come here, I need to talk to you." I stand up slowly and follow him outside and stand next to his car.

"I have to head back to work now, I just came by to see how you were feeling." he says, leaning against the car. "But before I leave I want to make sure you understand something; what your mother and father have done to you, everything…even what you haven't told me," I look away and hear him sigh. "None of it was your fault, and what happens from here on out will be unavoidable but it won't be your fault. And I'll explain that as much as need be, but none of what's happening now or what will happen is your fault."

"Look, it's over now. So please don't worry about this anymore." I tell him, giving him a wry smile. "Besides you've done enough, I can't ask more of you than I already have. Besides she's your sister. It wouldn't be fair to you or Nanako to get caught up in all of this."

"Enough Yu." he says sternly. "You shouldn't have had to ask, you shouldn't have had to go through any of this. You're parents abandoned you, and that's harsher than I meant it to sound but it's the truth. I won't ignore that, you're a great kid and I'm not going to let this slide. And she may be my sister, and that's why I won't stay quiet about this; she may not like what I have to say, but she will listen to me. When did she want you back?"

"By tomorrow." I reply, rubbing my arm. "But I told her I wasn't going to return. That I had no intentions of going back. She definitely wasn't thrilled with that answer. "

"I imagine not." he shakes his head. "If you're smart, you won't go back."

"I already made it clear to her I wasn't." I tell him again. "Which is why there's no need to make any more of an issue than it already is. She's not actually going to do anything. She'll come up with some kind of lie and eventually it'll die away. It's not like any of this is worth it anyways."

"Yu, this isn't some argument that's just going to go away." Uncle says opening the car door. "It's something that's going to have to be dealt with. Listen, just go inside and rest up, you haven't seen you friends in almost two years, I'm sure you want to catch up with them. They're worried about you, it's been a long time since I've seen that face on them before."

"Yeah." I mumble. That face was one they always wore when we had to enter the T.V. world to save the "victim". Not that Uncle would know that.

"There's no point in you going to school tomorrow." Dojima says quickly. "You'll only go for three days before you're off for a week for some inspection the school wants to run." Dojima mutters under his breath something about teachers not knowing anything about saving time and gets in the car and rolls his window down to tell me one last thing. "You don't have to stay cooped up inside, do whatever you feel, I'm sure your friends are ready to hang out with you like old times." He sends me a smile and drives off. I stand there for a second and turn around coming face to face with Yosuke.

"You listened." I say simply and he nods.

"You make it sound like this is all something you deserved." Yosuke pauses in his words and walks up to me. "Saying that it's not fair to Dojima and Nanako; but it's not fair to you either. You've been directly hurt by all of this…emotionally and physically…but Yu, you can worry about us all you want, but none of this was fair to you either, and every single one of us is also worried about you. And no matter what may happen in the future, regarding this ordeal or any other, we'll stand beside you and we'll do whatever it takes put things straight again. We're not going to walk away from this. We're a team partner, nothing's going to change that. Besides, Dojima's a cop, no matter how many connections you mother may have, she can't blackmail the law." Yosuke drapes an arm over my shoulder and starts walking back inside the house. I want to believe Yosuke, that Uncle will be able to handle this situation, that I will finally be free of my parents. I desperately want to believe that this is one less thing I'll have to really worry about. But deep inside, I know it's not going to work out this way.

Dojima's P.O.V.

I pull into the parking lot of the station and turn the car off. The drive over was shorter than usual and tenser. My thoughts entirely on the situation at hand and what all I will have to do to keep my nephew safe from his own mother. When I took him in, I never expected this kind of a situation to happen. It's been a long time since I last spoke to my sister, well two years anyways, I never thought she would be capable of abuse or neglect ever. But unfortunately that's what is happening, Yu's not the type to make this kind of stuff up for attention, he was hurting in more ways than one and I was going to put a stop to it. If that means taking custody of him, then so be it. I'll do what I have to, he saved Nanako, and brought us back together. He's to kind of a kid to go through something like this, I don't want to change his look on life, not for the worst anyways, like I had seen it do to so many other kids.

I pull out my phone and dial my sister's number, tensing up as it went through. I only got in two rings before she picks up and begins to shout in a voice I have never heard from her before.

"What?!" she yells and I immediately jerk the phone away from my ear, slightly put off guard.

"Sister." I reply sternly, bringing the phone back to my ear. I keep my voice tight and straight, making it clear I'm not happy with the situation going on.

"Oh, you." her tone quickly becomes one of boredom and I hear a glass being sat down on the other end. "Listen, the boy will be returning tomorrow, no matter what he says. He knows better than to disobey me. He'll be out of your hair…"
"He's not going back." I interrupt her, getting straight to the point. I won't allow her to believe she's going to win this, she may have always been able to before with Yu, but I'm entering this now, and she won't have any more control over him. And it's clear that she's not even sober. Her speech is slurred and I can hear the sound of a bottle being sat on the table every few seconds. It makes me angry and sad to know that Yu had to speak to her like this only minutes before, and that sadness deepens when I realize this is probably how he always had to see her before. "He's not going to come back to you, and he doesn't want and I'm not going to allow you to force him or guilt trip into returning. Not now or ever again. No matter how old he become I'll continue to defend him from you till I no longer have to. So I'm going to warn you now, drop all contact with him, it'll be better for you and that damn reputation you care so much about if you do."

"Are you threatening me?" she hisses and I shake my head. I can't even begin to imagine the type of world Yu saw when he was with her. How did he manage to come out so positive and cheerful when he was surrounded by so much negativity? When we first met, yeah he was quiet, but never angry or resentful….except when I made Nanako cry, now I understand that there was more behind his anger than his growing attachment to my daughter. He went through the same thing on a much high level, he didn't want Nanako to go through it too.

"No sister, I'm promising you." I tell her, my voice filling with authority. "I can and will file a charge against you for child abuse as well as neglect if you continue to do this to Yu. He can't handle any more of this, it's too much pressure, his health has deteriorated just from him coming back here to get away from you. His nerves are shot, he can't handle this pressure and anymore of it will land him in the hospital. He'll never acknowledge this and he won't ask me for any more help than this, at least not easily. As his parents you should both be ashamed how you're acting. If you want to get a divorce fine, I couldn't care less about that. But I will not allow you to drag Yu through this anymore. He's your son for crying out loud! Did you forget that?"

"He's no son of mine." she says so calmly that I feel my heart tighten. "I didn't raise him to be so selfish and impolite. I don't know who he is now, but that selfish brat…isn't my son."

"The selfish one here is you!" I yell at her. "What's he done to deserve any of this?! All he's done is open up, when he first came here he was all stiff and quiet, he wouldn't talk much and stuck to himself. He got a job and did nothing else but study. He made friends sure, but he never actually spent time with them, not like a normally teenager would. I took him two months before I saw him actually smile or laugh, two months before he began to act like a normal teenager. No teenager should live the way he was before he came here. You weren't parents to him, you were people who used him for your own personal gain. As long as he made you look good, he was useful. There is no love in what you gave to him, just hatred and anger, and you instilled in him a sense of fear and the need to repay people for anything and everything. Before he came here I don't think he even knew what it meant to be loved. But he showed it, and he did so much good for my daughter and I just by being around. But, after finding out about all of this, I think Nanako and I may have done more good for him."

"What would you?" she begins to raise her voice again, becoming flustered. "He's not you child. You had him for a year, you know nothing about him!"

"You're wrong." I tell her with a smile. "I may have only had him for a year, but in that year I was more of a parent to him than you ever where in the 19 years he lived with you. In that one year I learned more about him than you probably ever tried to."

"You…" she trails off, I know she's listening to what I'm saying, but sadly it's too late to change how this is going to end.

"What's happened to you?" I ask her with sorrow. "You were never like this, what you made become so bitter. What made you change?"

"Life made me change." she says, strangely sounding kind all of a sudden. "The "real" world changed me, it's not all happiness like I foolishly believed. There is no happiness in this world, only pain and suffering. I was showing that to Yu, I didn't want him to grow up being blindsided by the lies that world sells to naïve, stupid boys like him. I was showing him the truth in this world. That no one is on your side."

"No, you were the one selling him lies, not the truth. And because of that you just lost your only child. You'll never speak to him again unless he wants to speak to you, you won't speak to him again unless I'm present. And you can be damn sure his friends will be present to, they were not happy to learn about what you put Yu through, those "heathens" will always stand beside Yu, no matter who or what is their opponent. If I've learned one thing from them, it's that when one person in their group is in need, every single one of them is right to lend whatever help that person needs. And you should know this as well, Yu is not leaving the house with you, he will never be alone with you and he is not going back with you. You can come tomorrow, but I won't blame him if he never wants to see you again."

"Oh, you can be sure I'll be there tomorrow." she hisses with so much venom I momentarily forget this is my sister I'm talking to. What happened to her? She used to be such a sweet, innocent, happy girl. Now she's nothing but hate and malice.

"Fine." I reply without missing a beat. "But you'll have to wait, he'll probably be meeting up with is friends tomorrow after school and they'll want to hang around like usual. And I'm not gonna stop him from that just so a mother who doesn't care can talk to him and try to force him back. Now if you don't mind, I have to end this call, I have more important things to do that converse with you about how to raise your own child." I hang up the phone and drop it to my lap before leaning against the hear rest and covering my face with my hands, letting out a shaky sigh. I could barely handle one phone call with her, I don't know how Yu managed to handle so many conversations, face to face with her. Before coming here maybe he never noticed it, he didn't know me or really anyone else in the family to contact for help. But after leaving he put up with this for another two years and only just a few days ago called me to ask if he can come back to live here. To say I didn't hear the hurt and pain in his voice that he was trying so hard to hide when he called would be a lie. When he said he was only struck once or twice, it chilled me to my bones, I felt something break. And no matter how much or hard I wanted to believe that was true, I couldn't. I knew it was more than once, and I willing to bet, it wasn't always because they were drunk.

I can't ask him outright either, he'd only deny it and end up hiding himself away from me and then he might not tell me anything else, I don't want to go back to that. I'd have to check him for more bruises tonight while he's asleep. I should have done it last night, but I didn't understand just how bad it was until I saw heard their conversation and saw his expression, and now after talking to her, I should have acted much sooner. I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn't know it would be this bad. She wasn't even sober when I talked to her, that wasn't the sister I knew. The sister I knew couldn't wait to have a child, she so desperately wanted a son too, but after she became pregnant, little by little she started to change. I don't know when, but she slowly became a complete stranger and I didn't even notice.

Yu's P.O.V.

30 minutes later:

The living room was quiet as we all sat in a small circle, we had small conversations but they didn't last before we became silent again. No one knew what to say, Nanako went to her room to escape the tense atmosphere and do her homework. For a while I thought we would all just sit in silence till Dojima returns, but slowly, Naoto looks up at me and asks me a question that makes me wish the silence would continue.

"Senpai…" Naoto bites her lip before continuing. "Can you please, explain what's going on? I mean I know what's going on but…but why didn't you tell us this sooner."

"You already heard everything there is to know." I tell her. "There's nothing more to say, and I didn't want to tell you, why do you want to know so badly?"

"We're your friends." Naoto meets my eyes. "We're your friends, we heard what she said, that kind of stuff isn't normal. Please senpai, why didn't you want to tell us, we really would have helped you."

"I know, but it wasn't something I wanted to drag any of you in to." I look at the floor. "Like I said I kept quiet mostly for your sake, and my family's sake. And, I did my best not to think about it, before coming here it wasn't hard, I was used to their treatment and at some point I began to think it was normal. They would get angry and as long as I didn't react it would end much faster…it wasn't until I came here that I realized what I was going through wasn't normal….and it wasn't what I wanted. But I didn't know how to get out of it, or if I even should. I didn't care about my parents, I never really had a relationship with them. Even when I was little they were always away at work. I knew them as mother and father that was it, they weren't really a mother and father, that's just what I was supposed to call them, I never paid any mind to it, that's how it always was. Another reason I never said anything was because, before coming here, my mother always told me being alone was best, that's what she taught me from a young age, that you can't rely on other people, that no one is really your friend they only use you to achieve a certain means. So I kept myself isolated, I played the part of that dumb, quiet kid that thought he was above making nice with others. I believe my mom, I didn't need friends, and thus, I didn't want any."

"That explains why you seemed so emotionless when we first met." Yukiko nods, though she still has a sad expression on her face.

"Really?" Rise looks at her. "He always seems so open to me."

"He wasn't when we first met." Yosuke say slowly, his eyes thoughtful. "And since he was from the city it started all types of rumors, some even I fell for." he send me a guilty look before smiling. "He actually didn't really to us till a few weeks into school, we hung out a little, but he always seemed distant. Grated we were kind of forced into a situation where we had no choice but to become friends." The room went silent at his words before Kanji spoke up again.

"I still find it hard to believe Senpai used to be closed off." Kanji mutters with a large frown on his face.

"I have to agree." Naoto responds. "But we also didn't meet him till much later." We all remain quiet since no one was quite sure where this conversation was going.

"So what made you decide to give friends a chance?" Chie asks after having been quiet for the majority of the conversations.

"Like Yosuke said, we had discovered the T.V. world, we didn't have a choice but to learn to work with each other and communicate." I tell her with a shrug. "When I first transferred here I was told to sit next to Chie and she was curious about which led to me walking with her and naturally, Yukiko. That wasn't my choice, but I went along with it because it was easier than saying no. A few days later Yosuke rode his bike into a trashcan and I decided to help him out of it. I don't know why, but I did and that's what got him to start talking to me." everyone laughed, including Yosuke as recounted the tale.

"It sucked too!" Yosuke laughed.

"I figured you were used to it, you rain into a lamppost the day I transferred here." I laugh.

"Dude!" Yosuke acts horrified and looks at me. "You saw that…dammit…I thought no one saw that."

"A lot of people did." I shake my head. "I'm shocked you didn't seem them staring at you.

"Well that's pretty embarrassing." Yosuke scratches the back of his head.

"But why did you continue to talk to us Senpai." Naoto asks with curiosity. "I understand when you had to talk to us about the case and you did that a lot. But you also hung out with all of us outside of the case too, you even helped each of us with our own personal problems."

"That's true." Yosuke agreed. "You even hung out with Kou and Daisuke, and that short girl from band and some others. They all had nothing to do with the case."

"I guess I just got used to the idea of being around people and being criticized for every little thing." I say thoughtfully, resigning to the fact that these are questions I will answer sooner or later. But enough was enough, after this I'm done and moving on. "It was nice not being judged or thought of as being better than everyone else. And I knew in the spring I would to return back to my own solitary life of hate and distrust. I wanted to make the most of it while I could." Everyone looks down as I finish this and give a small sigh. "Listen, this is why I didn't want you guys to know. I knew all of you would get depressed and make a big deal over it."

"But Yu…" Chie and Yukiko both protest but I hold up a hand and stop them.

"And I get it. I really do." I give a small, exhausted smile. "And I'm happy you all care enough to ask, I really am. But I came here to escape all of the things we're talking about. It's over now, and no matter what, I'm not going back. She'll come and she'll leave, she's not really going to try to get me back, she doesn't care one or another, she never did and she's not going to start now. As long as she knows I won't interfere with her job she couldn't care less about what happens to me. So please, no more about this, I'm tired and I just want to hurry up and move on."

"Yu's right." Yosuke says standing up with a stretch. "Let's not talk about this anymore until something actually happens. Plus it's getting really late. I don't know about the rest of you but I still haven't done my homework and I'm sure Nanako wants to spend some time with her big bro before school tomorrow."

"Do you ever get your homework done in a timely manner Yosuke?" Yukiko asks as everyone stands up.

"Just be happy I get it done." Yosuke replied. "Since you won't be at school tomorrow, let's hang out afterwards if you're feeling up to it. If not we'll come hang out here instead. It's not rush, you're back now so we can always hang out when you feel up to it."

"I'll meet you all by the gates after school lets out." I follow them all to the door with the promise to meet them after school tomorrow.

"Sounds like a deal." Yosuke says before becoming serious and looking me straight in the eyes. "But I am going to say this partner, if your mom does end up showing up, you better call us. I'm sure your uncle can handle it, but we want to be here to. To make it clear he's not the only one standing on your side." I'm taken back by his seriousness and against my better wishes, I agree to call him if she shows up. "Good, I can let the others know and we'll be over as fast as we can. Which won't take long. Just make sure you call."

"Yes Senpai." Naoto says looking at me as well. "You're no longer alone in this, and you won't be. Well face her together with you."

"That's right Senpai." Kanji says throwing his fist in the air. "You helped us with our problems, and saved every one of us in that world and took care of us pretty much. Now we're gonna help you."

"That's right Sensei." Teddie nods, acting like a wise man all of sudden. "You just leave all of this to us."

"Teddie, we're supposed to be making him feel better." Yosuke grabs Teddie's arm. "We'll see you tomorrow partner. Come one Teddie you still have chores to do." I smile as they all walk away, waving at me as they leave. Laughing and teasing Teddie as they went. For once, I actually feel peaceful, it made me both happy and scared, I don't know how long this feeling will last.

2 hours later:

Nanako lets out a large yawn beside me on the couch and leans into my arms, her eyes slowly closing as the quiz show we were watching comes to an end. I look down at her as she lets out another yawn and I give her a smile as her eyes keep closing only for her to suddenly open them again in an attempt to stay awake.

"Alright Nanako, time for bed." I pick her up as she rubs her eyes. She wraps her arms around my neck and I slowly walked across the living room and into here room. I laid her down on her pinks and cover her with the comforter before getting ready to leave. As I go to leave I feel a tug on the back of my shirt and I look back at here. She's looking up at me with tired eyes.

"Teddie…" she whispers and it takes me a minute before I realize she's asking for the bear I gave to her before I left. I look around until I find it on her dresser and I bring it over to her. She hugs it close to her and whispers goodnight.

"Night Nanako." I say turning off the light. I'm about the shut the door when I hear her speak again.

"Welcome home…" she says slowly, falling asleep. "Big bro…" she smiled before her breathing evens out and falls fast asleep. I smile and shut the door quietly before turning off the lights in the house and heading up to my room and falling fast asleep as well.

Dojima's P.O.V.

By the time I'm return home it's four in the morning. All the lights in the house were off and the only sounds came from outside, a relief to me. I drop my workbag on the floor and kick off my shoes. I enter the living room and open the door quietly to Nanako's room, I walk up to her bed and give her a goodnight kiss, giving a quiet laugh as she clutches onto her bear that Yu gave her. I walk back to the living room and flip on the light and glance towards the stares as I take off my jacket and loosen my tie. I felt a sinking feel in my chest as I look up towards his room, I'll have to check him now, before he wakes up. I can't take the chance that he's not going to sleep in. He might wake up to see Nanako off to school and I don't know if he'll go back to sleep. Right now, I know he's sound asleep. I sigh and slowly make my way upstairs, I open his door and wince as it gives out a small creak before I step inside. I allow my eyes time to adjust before I tiptoe my way towards his futon. I kneel down beside him, his hair fell in front of his eyes and his breathing was much more peaceful than last night when I had to carry him to the futon due to his fever. Luckily his skin was pale enough that that I'm able to make out any details on his skin despite the darkness of the room where the only light source came from the moon shining in through slanted blinds. I bring out my phone and turn the screen away from his face so that I can have some additional light to be able to see any old marks that might have begun to fade. The top blanket conveniently is resting at his waist and I hold my breath as my heartrate picks up, pounding loudly in the quietness of his room.

I reach out and lift the hem of his shirt slowly, I know that with most cases of child abuse, if they leave bruises they're carefully to make sure they aren't where they'll easily be seen. At least if they were smart. I wince at my thoughts, abusing children is never smart, but in a way that though is correct. Plus I already had a good look at his arms and face when I was bandaging his hand, and I didn't see anything on him that resembled a bruise or fresh scar. I knew my sister was smart enough that was going to risk her reputation by leave a bruise on her child where anyone can see it. I look closely for even the slightest discoloration in his skin. I was praying with all my heart that I would find nothing, and for a few seconds I feel relief in knowing that I was wrong in my assumptions. But that relief didn't last long as I come across an oddly shaped dark shadow that lies on the middle of his upper back. I bring my phone closer and switch the screen back on. I bit my tongue as I stare at a large bruise that looks like it's only a few days old, he had to have received it only a day or two before he came here.

I turn my phone off and slide his shirt back down, I already know there's more, I saw them as I was moving my phone down, in a few days those bruises would become darker, and I'm sure they were causing him some pain. Mentally and physically. I hung my head as I pulled the blankets back up to cover him. How could I not have noticed this before, how had I not noticed them when he first came here. There was no way this could have just started happening when he went back home. Did it really happen just like that? So suddenly?

To be honest I try not to think about child abuse or neglect, I have seen it too much and it never becomes easier to see. And even then, I never would have thought my sweet, innocent sister would be capable of something so horrible. She use to never be able to hit a fly let alone another person, and now she's leaving bruises on her own son. I gently push Yu's hair back out of his face and stand up making my way to his door, I give him one last sad look before I shut it behind me. As I think about the bruises I remember the look on Yosuke's face when Yu admitted to being hit. It was a look that even made me go cold, Yosuke had a look of pure hatred on his face, and I knew it wasn't directed at Yu or anyone else in the room. But at a woman he had never even met. I knew all of his friends would be there for him, but I also knew that Yosuke will always be the first to stand on Yu's side. No matter when Yu's mother gets here, Yosuke will be here as well, and he'll be on Yu's side no matter what.

Yu's P.O.V.

3 days later:

"Thank you." I bow as I step out of the Faculty Office and shut the door. I am officially enrolled back into school for one final year. I'll start back after the three day break for the inspection. The school was already empty as the students were quick to clear out, eager to start their break. I let out cough I was holding since walking into the office as I made my way to the doors.

"You still don't sound any better Senpai." Rise's voice came to my ears. I look up and the see the gang all standing in front of the doors, each with their bags slung over their shoulders, ready to leave.

"You didn't have to wait." I tell them, following them out the door.

"Course we did Senpai." Kanji replies. "It would be no fun if you had to walk home by yourself."

"What are we gonna do today Senpai?" Rise moves to my left while Yosuke takes my right and the others file in.

"Uncle wants me to come back." I cough harshly into my sleeve, stopping briefly as I almost double over. My cold keeps getting worse and worse.

"I'd have to agree with him Yu." Chie remarks as my fit subsides. "Your cold isn't getting any better."

"Yeah, I know." I shrug, I told Uncle that if my cold didn't clear up in a week I would go see a doctor, right now I've only had it for three days, I'm sure it'll go away soon.

"You shouldn't put off a visit to the doctor." Naoto says from behind me. "It may be something more than a cold."

"Jeez Naoto." Rise sighs. "Talk about a depressing statement."

"I'm merely stating what I believe to be best." Naoto responds evenly. I shake my head and continue on towards the Dojima Residence.

"I'll be fine. If it gets worse or doesn't clear up in a week I'll go see someone." I promise them.

"Are you up to us being at your house?" Yukiko asks quietly beside Rise. "I don't want us to end up making your cold any worse."

"I don't mind." I smile at her. Its nice having them over, it was something I missed when I was back in the city. "But I apologize ahead of time if you all get sick." I jokingly say. "You've been warned."

"Yeah we've been warned." Yosuke tilts his head back and stares up at the sky. "So what is the plan, apart from hanging out at your house? Is Nanako going to be there today too?"

"Yeah, I think so." I reply back. "She was asking if you guys were coming over today, she said she wanted to hang out with you guys again."

"Ahhh Nanako-chan!" Chie and Yukiko cooed.

"Nanako's so sweet." Yosuke says happily. "Hey, partner, whose car is that?" I look away from where Naoto and Rise were squabbling with each over. I feel my feet freeze and I come to a halt. A red car is parked in front of my Uncle's house, a red car I am very familiar with.

"Partner?" Yosuke asks coming to a stop a couple steps in front of me. Naoto bumps into me as I come to a sudden stop.

"What's wrong Senpai?" Naoto asks looking in front of me.

"I guess she did come after all." I mutter to myself. I force myself to continue walking, fighting the urge to run. I walk up to Uncle's door and enter, the others following close behind me in silence. As soon as I enter Nanako runs up to me, tears pouring down her face.

"You can't go back!" she cries, wrapping her arms around my waist. I look up past Nanako to the woman staring back at me with cold disinterest as I soothed Nanako.

"Hello mother." I say softly.

Me: Alright! Chapter 2 is up and going! I'm so sorry it took this long to update, a year….I'm really sorry. I haven't been able to focus on any of my writings. But I finally got this done, it's been done for a while and I've been waiting for the person beta reading it to return it but that has yet to happen and it's been almost a week so I'm gonna go ahead and upload it and I'll update it again if I find any minuscule mistakes with them fixed.

Me: Alright so on to Chapter 2, this chapter is being divided in half; Yu's part and then the next chapter will be Minako's part. Had I kept the parts together this chapter would've easily reached 30+ pages. So I'm dividing them and the second part will be put up as soon as I'm done. Again I apologized about the long time in updates for this story but I am picking it back up. If you would like to know what's going on for all my stories please check my profile as I have a list of what's being worked on and what is currently on hiatus.

;P Later