Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ How To Save A Life ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

AN: Note that this is for mature audiances, aged 16^, due to subject matter and language. And it is very, very angst-y.
Be forewarned, again, that this chapter will feature rape/incest and maybe a few other deplorable acts. It's not that graphic, but it is there. Furthermore, it will be done to a young child.
I do not in anyway condone these acts, and I urge anyone who has actually had something like this happen to them, or knows someone who has, to call a help-line.
Trust me, child abuse is no laughing matter and is not to be taken lightly. The situation in this story is purely fiction, but it does have roots in truth.
Thank you.
~rooftops
Chapter Six
"And I would have stayed up with you all night,
Had I known how to save a life."
Friday
It was only the second time Heero had seen the psychologist, but he felt odd all the same. Those indigo, almost violet, eyes looked right at him, as if they could see right into his soul. Heero was and had always been a quiet person by nature. He'd never volunteered any information, and had only spoken when asked a question. Except with Kaori. He and Kaori had been... different.
"So," The braided doctor began, "Have you completed the task I set for you last week?"
Without a word, Heero held out the book in his hands. It was a simple folder filled with pages, the pages were littered and filled with various pencil sketches. Well done, but not prize-worthy by any length.
Dr. Maxwell took the book and spent a silent few moments looking through the drawings.
He hummed, and ahhed a couple to times, softly under his breath. Eventually, those violet eyes came back up to meet Heero's.
"These are good," he commented.
Heero shrugged.
"And you lied to me. You said you didn't have a hobby. Some of these sketches are old. Years old."
Another shrug. Dr. Maxwell sighed, and Heero could tell, despite his outward demeanor, that the doctor had been affected by the content of those drawings.
"Heero... would you like to talk about these?"
He held up a single page. It was beautiful and mysterious, but horrid in a way. A young girl, small and frail, huddled into a shadowed corner. Bruises shadowed her bare skin, and she clutched at the remnants of her torn nightgown. Tears could be seen sparkling on her face, but the expression in her eyes could not be fathomed. It could have been fear. It could have been sadness. Or it could have been condemnation, anger, or anything at all.
The picture struck a chord within the psychologist, but he pushed the feeling away, focusing on his patient. Something told him there was a story behind this sketch.
And when Heero's eyes shadowed, grew cold and distant, and the older man opened his mouth to speak, Duo knew he'd never met anyone like the man in front of him.
*Flashback*
Heero closed his eyes against the rage. The screaming was loud. He tried to fight it, but it didn't work. How? Why? What had Kaori done?
And so, his feet blindly leading him, he found himself at her door. He wasn't all that big. Scrawny was what Odin called him. Slender is what Setsu-san called him. Strong what what his mother had called him.
He was small... but he would save her! She was innocent!
Lost and insecure,
His eyes blurred at the sight when he opened the door, using a laminated baseball card to slip the flimsy little lock. His six year old half-sister was on the bed. Her skirt was bunched up around her waist, panties were torn and pulled down to her knees, and tears were streaming down her face. She was kicking and screaming, but it didn't deter the man looming above her, pinning her arms with one hand, tearing at the closure to his own pants with the other.
"Get off of her! Leave her alone!"
He threw himself at Odin, fists flying in a fast flurry, recalling the hours his mother had spent teaching him martial arts. Nothing mattered but to get Odin away from the girl. He had to protect her.
You found me, you found me,
"Wha... why you little b*stard!"
Odin turned, tried in vain to push the little boy away. Odin was larger, but Heero was trained. Odin was stronger, but Heero was faster. Heero landed one solid punch to Odin's face and the bigger man stumbled backwards off the bed.
Lying on the floor,
Heero grabbed Kaori's arm, pulling her up off the bed and placing himself between her and Odin. Setsu-san had said he was a big brother, and that meant protecting Kaori. Even if he had to protect her from her own father.
Surrounded, surrounded,
"Leave her alone," he said again. "She didn't do nothing!"
"You little bastard. I'll teach you to..."
Odin took one wild swing, a back hand towards the boy. But Heero had expected this. Pulling Kaori with him, he sidestepped the swing and Odin went sprawling. Heero caught the distinct smell of whiskey as Odin stumbled by.
Why'd you have to wait?
Kaori was crying, clinging to Heero. Odin muttered obscenities as he staggered out of the room. Heero knew there would be hell to pay later, but he didn't care at the moment. He turned his attention to Kaori. He dried her tears on his shirt sleeve as he righted her clothes the best he could. She sobbed, weeping into his arms.
"He'll punish you," she whispered. "And he'll punish me."
Where were you, where were you?
Heero nodded a little as he sat on the floor, his sister still clinging to him. He could see the faint bruising on her arms, everywhere. He knew this wasn't the first time. Far from it. He'd ignored the screams before, but not anymore.
Just a little late...
But Heero couldn't always be there. It was far from the last time. Kaori would never speak of what happened when Heero wasn't around, but sometimes he'd have to hold the girl as she wept, and he saw the bruises. Eventually, as years passed, they appeared less often, until by the time Kaori was eleven, they almost never showed up.
Almost never, but they never truly left.
You found me, you found me...
*End Flashback*
Heero's voice was soft, quiet. It was dead. He related the events with a detachment that Duo knew he didn't feel. Duo had to force his own face to remain impassive and professional. What the hell had Trowa gotten him into? This went far, far beyond simple war-wounds. This was much deeper than simple suicide. There was way more to this than most people could see.
This was going to test Duo's resolve. He was determined not to leave the case like this, but he wasn't sure if he could handle this. This was far more complicated than his usual cases.
And he wasn't going to work on this for professional reasons, either. No. He wad going to do it so he wouldn't have to see that cold, dead look in those beautiful eyes. He was going to do his damnedest to save this man.
Heero kept his eyes on the psychologists face as he spoke. Emotions were so evident on that heart-shaped face. They flickered through those eyes before a stone mask slammed down, hiding everything from view.
It was such a beautiful face. Heart-shaped and framed by a few stray strands of dark chestnut. The nose was slightly crooked, as if it had been broken more than once or twice. There was the shadowing of red almost hidden under the strands of hair on his left side. Like an ages old scar, or maybe a burn. What had caused it? When? How old? How? Questions itched through his mind, but he clamped down on them, keeping his voice on the story he was telling.
He hadn't really planned on telling anything. It was Kaori's story just as much as it was his. But Kaori had insisted he do this. And he loved her. He would do this for her.
And because he felt that there was something different about this doctor.
Meanwhile...
As per his new, quickly forming routine, Trowa took lunch with his blonde patient. He could see the time wearing on his... friend? or was there more there than that? Those eyes remained bright, but with more sickness than vitality now. His skin, already pale, grew paler. It seemed every moment effected him, changed him more from the way he was and more into the likeness of a person who only had months to live.
That knowledge tore at Trowa's heart. For no matter how he tried to deny it, he did love the violinist. It had been quick, but Trowa couldn't doubt his love, couldn't doubt the depth of his feelings.
Lunch was a simple affair, often cut short due to Trowa's job. Quatre, Trowa learned, worked only very rarely, as one of two assistants. And he worked for his brother in-law's sister, the ADA, Releena Darlian. Releena felt it to be her duty to see that Quatre didn't over-exert himself. An endeavor that Trowa whole-heartedly supported.
After lunch, Trowa busied himself with his filing until late in the evening. He was occasionally interrupted by other duties, but it was soon time for him to leave. He sighed, but he was happy. Chances were he might could talk Quatre into dinner- an uninterrupted dinner.
As he locked his office door and turned to leave, his cell 'phone rang. Hoping it wasn't Sally with some new chore for him to do, he pulled it out and peered at the number, and was pleasantly surprised to see Quatre's name on display. Quatre had entrusted the number to him after that first long leisurely day together- Trowa hesitated to call it a 'date'.
"Hello?" he asked after opening the phone and putting it to his ear.
"Oh, Trowa!" Quatre seemed happy, but Trowa could detect a bit of sadness in that voice.
"Is something wrong, Quatre?"
"Oh, no," came the laughing response. "Releena just had an unexpected twist in a case, so she needs my help for a few hours. So, I can't ask to spend the evening with you," Trowa grinned, pleased that the same thought was on Quatre's mind as well as his. "But I have a favor to ask of you. I know I shouldn't, and I really wouldn't under any normal circumstances," Quatre's voice seemed uncertain.
"What is it you need?" Trowa asked. He had no problem granting favors to Quatre.
"You know Kaori, right?" It was a slightly irrelevant question. Of course Trowa knew Kaori.
"Is something the matter with her?"
"Well, no. Not really. I was going to stop by her apartment for a moment, though. Heero's busy at work right now, and I wanted to see how she was doing. She's off work tonight, and I don't like leaving her alone for too long. I... I'm just a little over-protective of her, I guess. I was just wondering, if maybe you could... well, if you could stop by there..."
Trowa smiled. "Of course I can. I actually have a few files I'd like to drop by for her. Just give me her address and I'll swing by right now."
Twenty minutes later found Trowa standing outside a small apartment, in a small apartment complex in the middle of town, only about ten minutes from Quatre's place. He rang the doorbell.
"Who's there?" A voice rang out from far inside.
"Dr. Barton. I have a few files for you, Miss Kinomoto."
"Oh. Ah... I'm kinda.... occupied at the moment," she sang, embarrassment tinting her voice. "The door's unlocked, just come on in. I was expecting Quatre by soon."
Hesitantly, Trowa opened the door and stepped inside. It was a flat, a wide open room that held kitchen, bedroom, living room, and dining area all in one. Beside him was a door, steam was billowing out of it. He figured it for a bathroom. Kaori appeared from the doorway, affirming the observation. Her hair was wet and falling in thick strands. A white towel covered her from armpit t mid-thigh, and she was shrugging into a thick, lavender terry-cloth robe.
"Oh, darn," she gasped as she almost ran into him. Trowa looked as she swiftly tried to pull the robe on. She hadn't been expecting him to be standing so close. Trowa started to take a step back when something caught his eye. He hadn't been staring, but as he tried to avert his gaze, his eyes noticed the bright red against her pale gold skin.
"Kaori... what?" Trowa could hardly speak, knowing what he saw. Forgetting any sense of decorum, and thinking only as a doctor, and her best friend's friend, he gripped her wrist tightly, holding her arm up and jerking the robe down and away. Long red gashes traveled the length of the inside of her arm, almost from armpit to elbow. Suddenly so many things hit him. The long sleeved shirts. The first day he met her and 'It'll be the last thing I do.' His conversation with Quatre a few days before. 'I wonder why it's Heero that's suicidal and not her.'
Realisations flooded him.
"Kaori... what have you done?" He whispered, staring at the marks. She jerked her arm away, crossing both across her chest, and not bothering to bring the robe back up to her shoulders, leaving it hanging.
"Nothing," she muttered. Trowa could tell by the scars that these ragged wounds were old, recently reopened. "Nothing," she repeated. Her voice was vehement, but somewhat childlike.
"Kaori," Trowa said... "Tell me... what..."
She sighed. "Doesn't look, she doesn't see. Opens up for nobody. Figures out... she figures out." Her voice was soft. Trowa was confused for a moment, before the words hit him. Familiarity blossomed, and he recalled the song.
"Narrow line, she can't decide" he murmured. "Everything short of suicide, never hurts... nearly works."
The song struck a chord in him. He meet her eyes, emerald to sapphire.
"You wouldn't..." He began.
"No," she said definitively. "Quatre needs me. Heero needs me. I will not let my life end until they don't need me anymore."
"They'll always love you," Trowa pointed out.
"Not the same thing," Kaori returned, and Trowa was surprised at the tone of the girl's voice. It was too soft, too... sad. "One day... they won't need me. And then I can go. Then I can leave this all behind. My life is not easy," she said. "But I have never tried to kill myself. This world needs Quatre and Heero a lot more than it needs me. So... when they don't need me..."
She left the sentance dangling.
"Kaori..."
"No. Go away. And don't dare tell Quatre. He's sick enough without your adding my problems to his plate."
Her eyes flashed at him, sparkling with unshed tears, and he nodded. His relationship with the blonde was growing fairly quickly, and he didn't think even the observant girl before him knew how fast, or how deep, it was. But he would keep her secret. For now.
"Fine. But don't sell him short. He probably knows a lot more than he lets on. And you should be honest with him, at the very least."
He left the files on a table by the door and left it at that.
Closing the door and locking it behind him, Kaori braced her back against it, and slid down to the floor, tears falling freely.
*Flashback*
Something is scratching it's way out...
Kaori was curled into the bedside chair, her feet drawn up, her chin resting on her knees, one hand wrapped around them, one hand gripping Quatre's lifeless one. She was wide awake, staring at the wall blankly, but not really seeing anything.
Iria was curled on the other chair, clinging to the form of her boyfriend, both sleeping soundlessly- well, Zechs snored a little, but quietly.
Something you want to forget about...
"Oh, Quat..." she sighed. "Please... don't die on me. I need you. Without you... I have no reason to live."
Why did everyone leave her? First Heero... now....
No. Heero would come back. He would. And no. Quat wasn't going to die. No. He would be fine.
Noone expects you to get up...
So why was this all so hard? Why did she feel helpless? How could she keep going on through all this? How... how?
And why? What was the point? What's the use in living, only to die? Living an empty, shell of a life? Her father had long ago taken all the life out of that shell. Only Heero had saved just the remnants, the ghost of the person she'd once been.
So what was the use? Why bother?
All on your own...
Her grip on Quatre's hand shifted, as a small little epiphany crossed her mind. Quatre was her life-line. Heero had been once upon a time, Heero had protected her, comforted her. But now, she was in the role of protector. She had to be strong for Quatre. She wasn't going anywhere. Quatre was hers... and she wasn't going to leave him all alone.
With no one around...
*End Flashback*
tbc...
AN: Song at the beginning (Duo/Heero part) was 'You Found Me' by the Fray. The second song (All the rest of the story) was 'Little House' by The Fray.
Eh... AND... Be forewarned that the next chapter is a LEMON! I expect all of my readers to act maturely, and only read it if they are certain that they do not mind graphic sex. I will edit it just a little- just a little- so that it's not as graphic.
And I'm always open to new ideas. If you think of a scene for our characters, a song you'd like see, or anything at all, let me know. If there is something you didn't like, let me know. If there is something you did like, let me know. I understand that my work is nothing but a poor imitation of some people's writings, but I can get better- only if my readers respond to me and tell me what I'm doing right/wrong.
I enjoy reading reviews- even flames. It lets me know you're paying attention to me, and I always try to respond to each reveiwer personally to thank them.
And thanks for reading this far. Hope to see you back here soon!