The Broken Shadow of You~||KazuScara||

Chapter 7

TW; ABUSE, SWEARING

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Of course that bright light  was extinguished when Shoko and him entered the house to find their father sitting at the dining table, expression angry. 

Shit, Scaramouche thought, he was home way too early...

This was bad. He was probably pretty mad since Shoko and Scaramouche had been out of the house since yesterday evening and it was already near evening now. Their father stood up. This made Scaramouche flinch even though he hadn't done or said anything. Shoko just looked a bit confused but also quite wary of their father.

"Where have you been?" His father asked, danger threatening in every syllabus.

"I was out with some friends..." Scaramouche muttered, in a low voice. looking down at the floor. He couldn't muster the courage to look at their father when he was angry. It always felt too scary for him. 

"Oh? Out with friends? You went out WITHOUT permission to go out with friends? You left your responsibilities back home to go out with friends?" His father said.

Scaramouche could feel his entire body shaking. Shoko must have noticed and held his trembling hand, giving it a small squeeze. He looked at her and she looked back with a fierce and encouraging expression which gave him some courage. 

"Look at me!" His father yelled. "The amount of disrespect! I work my ass off for hours and hours to provide for you ungrateful brats and yet you cannot even do some small chores for me?! Your run off late into the night to hang out with these stupid friends?! Are your friends more important or the work you have to do?!"

His father punched Scaramouche. Shoko let out a scared shriek as Scaramouche held his bruised his cheek but apparently his father wasn't done. Another punch came and blood spilled from Scaramouche's mouth. Tears were falling from Shoko's eyes and their father decided to move onto her. But before he could slap her, Scaramouche came in the way and took the blow, surprising them both.

"Oh, so you want your sister's punishment?" His father said. "Fine by me."

"Go wait for me in the basement." Scaramouche told Shoko, who nodded and ran off, before he was punched by their father again. 

Shoko felt terrified. This was the first time she was seeing this violent side of their father that Scaramouche experienced almost every day. Is this what Scaramouche kept hiding from her? Is this why she wasn't allowed to go near their father and he always told her to stay in the basement when he wasn't around or if their father was home? Had he been taking all this pain by himself for all these years. Large fat tears rolled down her face as she thought about this. She hated this. Why did this have to happen her brother? Why was he doing this? Why was he enduring all this pain and not saying a word to her? She wanted to sob on the top of he voice, but she couldn't. All she could do was sit, huddled up in the corner and cry quietly while waiting for Scaramouche to come down. 

"Shoko?" Scaramouche's voice called.

"Ah, brother!" Shoko exclaimed, as he appeared in front of her. Seeing Scaramouche's appearance made Shoko want to cry even more.

His face was a mess and the blood was still trailing out from his mouth. Their father beat him up badly. But he was still smiling his gentle smile at her. Shoko broke into tears once more as Scaramouche hugged her. 

"Don't cry, alright? I'm fine." He consoled her. 

"Why didn't you tell Shoko any of this?" Shoko cried. "Why didn't you do anything about this?"

"I guess I just wanted you to have this little, oblivious and happy childhood until I could find a place for us away from father." Scaramouche said. "It was foolish of me to think that was possible. I'm sorry, Shoko. I shouldn't have kept something so serious from you."

"Why don't we just call the police? We can ask Tamaki to help us!" Shoko said. "You don't have to keep living like this, brother!"

"I'm not sure whether calling the police is the right choice..." Scaramouche mumbled.

"Why not?!" Shoko felt frustrated at her brother's stupidity. Sure, she didn't know how it felt to be abused her entire life until she was sixteen but she just wished her brother would for once be brave and call the police or take any action against their father. She didn't even want to see him as their father now...

"You're starting to sound a lot like Tamaki now." Scaramouche said, with a small chuckle, but Shoko didn't find anything funny here.

"Tamaki knows?!" Shoko exclaimed.

"Yep, why do you think he's so kind to us? He feels bad and wants to help us the best way he can." Scaramouche said.

"Did you stop him from calling the police that time when you threw his phone to the ground and had a fight with him." Shoko asked.

"Yep."

"Why did you stop him? That could have put an end to your shitty life here!" Shoko yelled.

"I don't know, Shoko, I don't know. I don't know why I can't call the police or do anything against father. I guess I just feel... scared. Can we just drop this now?" Scaramouche said, annoyed. 

"Fine." Shoko muttered. She didn't like arguing with her brother like this, so it was best to just drop this. 

"Come on, let's watch some T.V. I think PowerPuff Girls are going to be on soon. Wouldn't wanna miss it, right?" Scaramouche said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, alright." Shoko said, as they both sat down on the couch together. It was just their tiny little world here in the basement, just the two of them and nobody else.