Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Invisible ❯ Revelations ( Chapter 4 )

Here's Chapter four of Invisible!! Please tell me what you think!!

 

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of the characters from that show, except for my own, Kasumi. I'm not in this for the money, just for the fun, so please don't sue me!

 

*************************************

 

The next few days passed mostly like that first... the boys hung out with Kasumi at noon hour, visiting with her and trying to learn more about her. But getting any real answers proved to be a bit of a challenge. They noticed her occassionally wincing with this or that movement, but didn't question her about it, even though the three of them had suspicion in the back of their minds that something was, indeed, going on in the life of this quiet and self conscious girl.

Four days after their first lunch under the sakura tree (and the day after Yusuke got Nashuma-sensei and Rikuto-sensei fired from their jobs, following the sound advice of the surprisingly shrewd woman they had befriended), Kasumi came to school, her head hanging so low that the boys couldn't see her features at all. She cast a bare glance up and, to their surprise, seated herself as far from them as she could. Once the first class was over, she was on her feet and out the door before any of them could so much as blink.

The second class was exactly the same, and once it was over, they were even more surprised and curious when she never showed up for their regular lunch under the sakura tree.

Kuwabara blinked. "What's goin' on? Did we do something to upset her or something?"

Suichi shook his head. "I don't know. I think something might be bothering her. Let's see if we can't find her."

The first place they checked was the janitor's closet, and they found it empty... which probably meant she had been expecting them to look for her. They searched the roof, to no avail, and the classrooms that were open during the lunch hours, but they could find no trace of her anywhere.

She showed up in the third period, but seemed no more inclined to seat herself close to them. As before, she never lifted her head once and was out the door almost the second the bell rang.

In the final class, Suichi made sure he had his satchel with him, and Yusuke and Kuwabara (who didn't really care if they had their bags or not) were fully intending to catch the girl ass he was heading home.

When the bell rang, she was out the door, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Suichi seconds behind her.

Outside the school, they saw her headed for the street, taking her usual route to get back home. Kuwabara wasn't going to have it this time. He charged forward. "Kasumi!!" He quickly cut her off, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "What's wrong with you today?! How come you've been avoiding us and you never..." As Suichi and Yusuke watched, as well as an approaching Hiei, they saw Kuwabara's eyes go huge as he looked at the girl, who had looked up in surprise at his action of cutting her off. "Ho-lee SHIT!! Kasumi, who did this to you?!"

Suichi and Yusuke were there as well, and their own eyes went wide when they saw what their friend had. Suichi felt Youko seething with rage instantly.

Kasumi's right eye was sealed shut, and was covered with a huge shiner that extended down to her cheekbone and up to her eyebrow. They could tell just from looking at her that she was very nervous and most certainly not looking forward to the next few minutes. Hiei, who had by now seen the injury himself, stood off to the side, his arms crossed, and his mouth set in a deep frown.

She took in a deep breath. "It's nothing. Just don't worry about me." She quickly stepped around Kuwabara, but Suichi frowned deeply and cut her off, holding her by the shoulders.

"Oh, no you don't! Not this time! I was willing to accept that one story, but this is where I'm drawing the line, Kasumi! We all suspected something was happening with you, and this only confirms it! You're going to tell us what's going on!" She shook her head, her features going hard for the first time that he could remember. "Stay out of my business, Suichi! This is NOT your concern!" She broke away from him and started off once more.

He looked after her, his frown deepening. "If you walk away from us right now, then I'm going to march straight to Yamamoto-sensei and report this myself. And you can explain what is going on to the police when they show up at your door."

He struck a nerve, and they all knew it. She stopped dead cold in her tracks and stiffened. When they heard her voice once more, it was low and filled with a threat. "Don't you fucking dare, Suichi Minamino. It's not your place to do that."

"I beg to differ. Whether you like it or not, Kasumi, the three of us consider you a friend... and friends do not let friends suffer behind closed doors. Now, through a process of elimination, I think it is safe to say that the one responsible for your abuse is your father, am I correct?"

"This is between me and him. It had nothing to do with the four of you," she said quietly.

Yusuke's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So it IS your father, then?!" he asked, his teeth clenching, and fantasizing about meeting this man so he could beat the crap out of him himself.

Kuwabara growled. "How long as this been goin' on?!" Kasumi knew they weren't going to let this rest. But she didn't want her father to go to jail. She didn't want anyone to take her father away from her. She loved him, in spite of the way he treated her. So she sighed and turned around, seeing the set features of the four boys.

"You want to know what I go through every day? From school, I head home. I immediately start on the housework. I scrub the floors, do the laundry, the dishes and generally clean up the house. Come seven or eight o'clock, I get started on supper, in case my father happens to come home by ten or eleven... which rarely happens, but sometimes he does. I continue my work until my father comes home, making sure that when he gets home from work, his food is in his place at the table. He comes home, normally at around midnight or one o'clock, drunk out of his mind, having gone to a bar or strip club with his buddies after work. He eats, inspects the house, and then, depending on how good his day was, how drunk he is, and how well I did maintaining a clean house for him, he'll beat me. I go upstairs, do my homework, finish around three or four in the morning. Go downstairs to make sure my father is sleeping on his side in case he happens to throw up in the middle of the night, and then I go to bed. I wake up at around seven in the morning, make up breakfast for my father, possibly call in sick for him if he's too hung over to go to work, and then I go to school and the cycle repeats itself. It's been like that since I was seven."

Suichi's expression was now stony... which was usually a VERY bad sign. Yusuke and Kuwabara both looked like they were ready to go on a killing spree, and Hiei, although his eyes had narrowed somewhat, still maintained a cool exterior.

"And you put up with it?" Suichi asked, his voice deceptively calm. "All these years and you've never informed anyone? You've never called the police? You never tried to get away from it?"

She shook her head. "And I still have no intentions of going to the police. I've lived with it for ten years. I'll survive the last six months up till graduation."

Yusuke shook his head in shock. "If you called the police, you could live those six months with a family who loves you! You deserve better than this, Kasumi!"

She shook her head. "That's the reason I refuse to tell anyone. I don't HAVE any other family than him. My aunt died when I was seven, and she was the only blood relative I had left other than my father. I know he treats me like shit, and I have no pretensions of changing him. I know he hates me, but that doesn't change the fact that I love him, and I will NOT let anyone take him from me. He needs me. I can't tell you how many times I've had to steal money from him because he wasn't paying attention to our finances and we would have lost the house, or the phone, or the power. I can't tell you how many times I've had to roll him over onto his side to keep him from choking in his own vomit. I can't tell you how many times I've had to buy food because the cupboards were empty and we had nothing to eat. If I wasn't there with him, he'd be dead by now."

Kuwabara's hands were balled into fists now, and he was struggling to control his anger. "That... isn't your responsibility! It's like he's the kid and YOU'RE the parent! Except your a parent who's getting the crap kicked outta you because the kid's not getting his own way!"

Yususke shook his head. "Why does he treat you like this? You're his DAUGHTER, for fuck's sake!!"

She shrugged, as though it was obvious. "Because I killed my mother coming out of her. He's always resented the fact that I lived and she died."

Suichi looked officially ready to blow his stack hearing this, a sight that was incredibly rare and often one that was dreaded. They knew that Youko Kurama was enraged as well.

She sighed. "Don't tell Yamamoto... and don't tell the police. I've lived with this for ten years, I'll survive six more months. The moment I graduate, I'll be booted out and I'll be free of him." Then she looked at her watch. "I've got to get home now." She turned and started off.

She cringed slightly when Suichi cut her off. His features were stony, his eyes hard as he looked at her. She could have sworn for a moment that his eyes flickered golden. "For the time being... we will keep silent, Kasumi."

"Suichi!!!" Yusuke and Kuwabara shouted in disbelief.

"HOWEVER," he continued, ignoring the shocked cry of his friends. "We do this very hesitantly, and only for these reasons: First, you make a valid point that you will only have to tolerate this disgusting treatment for another six months. Second, informing any authority figures at this point in time would only result in you hating us, and we don't want to damage the friendship we have developed with you. And finally..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and paper. He jotted something down on it and handed it over to her. "This is my phone number and address. I want you to PROMISE me, Kasumi... promise me that if you need help, no matter what day or time it is- I don't care if it's four in the morning and we have a final in our first class the next morning! If you decide you need help, then you come to me, and I will do everything I can to help you. Only if you agree to that final condition, will we keep silent."

The girl blinked slowly, and then accepted the paper. "I promise," she said quietly.

He nodded. "Alright. Go on home, then. We'll see you in school tomorrow. And this time we expect to see you under the sakura tree at lunch."

She nodded. "I"ll be there." Then she hurried off once more.

Yusuke had the kitsune by the front of his uniform an instant later. "What are you DOING?! You're just going to let this go on?!"

He sighed. "Yusuke... even if we DID inform the authorities, she would only deny it. She could think up a thousand and one different excuses for the injuries she's sustained. She's probably been doing it for the past ten years. I'm sure we're no the first to notice her injuries. However, I am certainly NOT going to just leave it at this." He turned to the koorime. "Hiei... can you do something for me?"

Hiei smirked and nodded. "I know what you're going to ask. I'll observe her."

He sighed. "If her father starts when he gets home, don't interefere. Unless you believe her life may be in danger. And when you're finished, come and report what you saw to me."

Hiei nodded and vanished from sight.

 

**********************************************

 

Kasumi continued walking towards her home. It was about six blocks from the school, and with her fast pace, it only took her ten minutes to reach it. Had she been the kind of person who walked with her head up, she just MIGHT have noticed the dark blue the jumped from tree to tree at her side.

She reached home and her routine started once more. She brought her things up to her room, changed out of her school uniform, being sure to empty her pockets first. She blinked when she saw the slip of paper that Suichi had given her, considered, and slipped it into the pocket of her jeans. She doubted she was ever going to take him up on his offer, but she may as well keep it on her at all times. After all, she DID promise him.

Then she headed down stairs, starting on the laundry, determined to catch up with the rest of it. While she had a load washing and another drying, she started bustling around the house, cleaning up as usual, even taking the time to clean the shelves and all the items on the shelves that had gathered dust over the past few months. When she saw the time was seven o'clock, she started on supper, taking a chicken she had bought on her way home the day before from the freezer and started defrosting it before putting it in a roaster and slipping it into the oven, checking it occassionally and adding a few spices to give it more flavor.

Her father never came home until twelve thirty, and he greeted her with his usual cold look and grumbles, eating his dinner quietly as Kasumi rushed off to continue her housework, trying to find anything else that might require her attention.

Her father's excuse for hitting her tonight turned out to be that his favorite mug, strategically placed on the back of the counter, had not been washed by her. Her punishment was a usual banter of insults and put downs, followed by a hard slap across the face and a shove into the wall, before he sauntered into the living room to settle down on the couch, reeking of vodka and whatever else he'd partaken of in the bars tonight. He snatched up the remote and started to watch his shows.

Kasumi quickly cleaned off the table, putting the dishes in the sink to wash when she got home from school tomorrow and putting the leftovers in the fridge before she was finally able to head upstairs to start on her homework. It was almost one thirty at this time.

She almost jumped clean out of her skin when she saw Hiei standing in her room, his arms crossed as he looked at her cooly. Her heart rate sky rocketed, and then settled when she recognized him, and then she blinked curiously, wondering how the hell he'd gotten into her room.

"Hiei! How... did you get in here?"

He shrugged. "Hn. Your window was open. I climbed the tree outside it."

She blinked again. She knew that the tree didn't have any branches closer than eight feet to the ground, so he must be one hell of an acrobat for him to have accomplished THAT feat, she decided. "What... are you doing here?" she asked a little warily.

"Suichi sent me to assess for myself just how bad your situation is. I followed you home from school."

She blinked, a little at a loss now, and quite honestly, she wasn't sure if she should be flattered or freaked out. She decided to settle on being flattered for the time being, and just hoped that this whole 'let's spy on the abused girl' thing was a one time thing only.

"I told you, I'm okay."

"Is that usually as bad as it gets? If you say yes, I'm going to have to point out an obvious injury."

She sighed. "This was a good night. He hit me with an open hand and shoved me into a wall. There won't be any marks, and no pain for me tomorrow. Last night was rated about a four or a five... medium. It very rarely goes beyond that."

He snorted. "Hn. Well, he did it for a stupid reason. Not washing a mug? That's pathetic on his part."

She blinked in surprise once more. This guy was shocking her left and right. "You actually HEARD that? How could you hear it from outside the house?"

He smirked and she felt a chill race down her spine at the almost malicious glint he got in his eyes. "Suichi told me that observation was your strong point, as far as he could tell. Well, it's MY strong point as well." Then he snorted and turned. "I'll leave you so you can get that homework of yours done. I've got to go talk to Suichi." He cast a glance back at her. "I may drop in on you guys under the sakura tree tomorrow. Goodnight."

Then he was down the tree and gone.

Kasumi blinked a few times, her mind still trying to catch up with what had just happened. Then she just shoved the matter from her mind, and took her homework out of her bag. She had to finish this before she went to sleep tonight.

 

***************************************

 

Suichi was lying awake in bed, reading a book when he sensed the familiar presence of Hiei outside his window. It was just after one thirty in the morning, and he got up to open the window and let the koorime inside.

"Well?" he asked, the moment Hiei was standing in his room.

Hiei's arms were crossed and his expression was impossible to read. "She reached home within ten minutes of leaving us. She immediately put her school books up in her room, got out of her uniform, and spent the entire time cleaning the house, running around like a good little house maid and cooking dinner. Her father came home at twelve thirty, ate his meal, found she had forgotten to clean his favorite mug, of all the stupid things, and used that as an excuse to slap her and shove her into a wall. Then he went into the living room to watch TV and left the kitchen to his daughter to clean up. She cleaned it and was up in her room to start her homework only about five minutes ago. I was in her room waiting for her." He smirked. "She almost had a heart attack when she saw me there."

Kurama sighed. "Hiei..."

His smirk widened. "I questioned her about the incident that occurred tonight, and she said that this was classified as a good night for her. And don't worry. There's a tree right outside her window, so she doesn't have any reason to suspect that I'm anything other than a human."

Kurama frowned slightly, but didn't pursue the matter of Hiei speaking with her and what possible ramifications it might hold in the future. "Was there anything else?"

Hiei shrugged. "Hn. Not really, though if you want my own opinion, her father is an asshole, through and through. If it weren't illegal for demons to kill humans, I would take it upon myself to be rid of him."

The kitsune knew exactly what his friend meant. Kasumi was a very self conscious and solitary girl. Knowing that a man that was supposed to love and care for her was looking for excuses to hit her every night... it made his blood boil just thinking about it.

Hiei shrugged again. "Well, I did as you asked. I'll be dropping in on you guys under the sakura tree tomorrow. And before you ask, the ningen woman knows as well. I told her before I left her. Later, Kurama."

Then, before he could blink, Hiei was gone, little more than a blur as he leaped out of his bedroom window and vanished from sight. Suichi frowned slightly, his thoughts centering around Kasumi once more. He looked at the book he had been reading, knew there was no longer a point to reading it tonight with his mind distracted the way it was, and decided to simply turn in for the night. Putting a book mark in his place, he set the book on his night stand and shut off his light. Taking off his shirt, he climbed into his bed and tried to sleep.

 

***************************************

 

Kay, there's chapter four!! Please, please, please, R&R! I want to know what everyone thinks !! Thanks!!