'What to do'

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He ran, and it hurt him to do so.

Sanemi felt his composure crumple, his soul damaged beyond mortal repair, and yet he didn't stop. 

He swiftly put one foot in front of the other, past the gorgeous houses he promised his little siblings they would live in one day, just give him some time. Past the soft leaves, blowing in the bland, late morning sun.

But soon, he felt weak, and he stopped to catch his breath. 

The sweat dripped off him, but that wasn't his biggest concern. He felt his chest empty out, and his all that remained was a hollow boy, the horrible sinking feeling leaving him with the need to scratch, kick and scream.

He continued down the road. That innocent girl made him want to throw up. It wasn't her fault, but he felt resentment rising in his hollow chest, filling his nothing with something.

 His mind jumped from Kanae, to her broach, to his mother, and to his siblings. His siblings! How would he tell them. Would he dump it on them fully, full on 'dead' and 'not coming back', or sweet and soft.

Mother left for a long while. In the meantime, grow big and strong while you wait for her to return.

The though made his stomach twist into a deeper knot. He felt gratitude towards their poorness, as he would be regurgitating the remains of food they didn't have.

He looked up from the dirt path, worrying for his future.

The houses soon changed. The beautiful houses, with exquisite details and expensive touches morphed into bland houses as he passed, the people gaining clothes that were no where near the smart clothes of the rich.

 The houses faded, until finally, the safe-space slum he called his home, cheap pain, cracked windows, shoddy sliding doors, and the undeniable, yet familiar sense of disgust building up, greeted him.

He stopped, train whistles and shrieks replaying in his mind, over and over as he took big strides towards his shaggy home, now housing six lonely kids.

 He finally found himself at the door, the rusted groove dirty and brown in his shaky hands.

He slid the door open, eyes prickling with tears at the sudden chill the home radiated, yet he found five other children, seeming to glow with an individual, exquisite shine of happiness and warmth from within.

"Nemi!" Sumi yelped, the first to notice him, and his other siblings clamored to greet him. Sanemi felt the whole in his heart rip wider.

"Hello, Sanemi." Genya greeted,  Shoko sleeping softly in his arms.

"Where's mom?" he asked, seeing no one flank Sanemi as he slid the door closed. Sanemi looked at him, softly shaking his head, and Genya cocked his head, confused. 

"Listen," he said to his siblings, slightly inaudible over the giggles. "Mom's not with us anymore," he said. 

Genya looked up from his younger sibling, alarmed by the soft-toned words that shouldn't have been spoken today.

His siblings noticed it, and they looked at him, confused. They didn't know or understand what he said, but all they knew was that their mother had vanished.

"Genya," Sanemi said, his tears controlled, calm, and now, gone, "follow me, please."

Genya kept his composure, even as the entered the thin-walled room, and sat down opposite of each other.

He didn't crack, no matter what. Sanemi admired him for that.

"So, she's," Genya whispered, looking up at his as his tone went stiff. The white-haired boy nodded, and spoke back quickly.

 "So, what should we do?" he asked, his eyes tracing the items that outlined Genya's shadow.

"There's little we can do without getting our family split." Genya replied. Sanemi sighed, worry creating knots in his chest. 

He shook like hell, and his future didn't exist in that moment. Just an empty boy, no reason to live, just floating through space.

"Well, then there's nothing we can do until the police evict us, once the months over and rent can't be paid," he says softly, shutting his eyes as despair crowded him in, enclosing him a  wave of sadness. 

--- <3 ---

Kanae scrunched her mouth together, tears clouding her vision, emotion clogging her voice. She killed a woman, she though as Shinobu looked at her, concern spreading like syrup across her face.

Kanae felt quiet, didn't eat much, and definitely didn't go outside for a while after the incident happened. 

But now, two weeks later, she felt capable enough to.

A sense of guilt formed, worming into her brain until nothing ever passed through her head but the shrieks of the poor woman and the white-haired running from the scene, pity in his walk and hate in his eyes.

 It was a sight to behold, and she felt her guilt beating in her heart, spreading through her veins, infecting her body in a sickly glow.

Kanae knew well that she couldn't take it when people treated others poorly, but killing them was on a taboo level of disrespect. At best.

As they walked down the wooden bridge, crowded with unfamiliar faces, she saw something that caught her eyes like nothing else.

Her shrewd, keen eyes lead her to a girl who seemed to far away into space to be conscious.

"What are you doing-?"

Shinobu raced after her, stunned by the sudden change in course. Kanae sped faster, her lilac eyes twinkling with rage in the deep morning breeze.

A  rickety, mean version of a normal man came into her view clearly. With his dirty, bald head, tan skin, and sharp bug-eyes, he looked ready to kill at any given second.

 But, he held a girl by a rope, which had caught her attention. 

She had dead purple eyes, unwashed fluffy black hair, and a dirty cloth of a piece of clothing wrapped around her thin frame.

She found herself taking small steps towards the man,  finding that holding someone hostage or at least by ropes as horrible as murdering someone.

He continued down the bridge though, and she was getting closer as he continued pulling the girl as if she were a motionless dog. 

She finally reached him, a small buzz of nervousness fluttering in her stomach. She ignored it as she softly tapped him. He turned, his expression dazed and confused.

"Excuse me, why is the child all tied up?"

 She asked it brightly, leaving everything that she loved and hated and felt guilt for and felt good for in the back of her brain, desperate to stay in the moment.

 He sneered, "Isn't it obvious?!" he responded quickly, eyes thinning with a tint of hatred, "She's dirty and flea ridin', "

 Kanae nodded, brushing past him. She bent down to the child with a soft smile, "Hello! I'm Kanae Kocho. What's your name?" 

"..." 

Hmm,

Kanae frowned, chewing her lip as she looked into the girls pale purple eyes, any signs of soul and life gone. The man clicked his tongue in annoyance, pulling the girl away. "Hey, don't waste my time, brat!" he seethed, his grip tight on the rope, veins popping from his forehead.

Kanae looked at him, nothing but a spacey, dreamy girl. But her mind was far elsewhere. 

How on Earth could she do that to a child? Try to intervene, when, in fact, she made it worse. She needed to do something,  something good to right the wrong and balance herself. But deep down, she knew nothing would fix that, and nothing could change that. 

Stop thinking of it, she snapped to herself, let the past be the past

So lost in her own mind, she barely noticed the man raising his hand, ready to strike out of pure anger.

As he put his hand down, Shinobu slapped it away, her purple eyes brimming with anger and annoyance.

Shinobu was always waiting for someone to start something, so she could hit back twice as hard.

 The man drew back, and she turned to Kanae, nearly unaware. "Please dont touch my sister" she said calmly.

 "What is the deal with you two?! If you wanna talk to the brat, you gotta PAY." he jeered

Shinobu paused, but swiftly reached into her inner-coat pocked, shuffling around until she found it

 "Very well then," she said, and flung her money all around, "We will."

 The people around them were openly gawking now. As if she was human-incarnated lightning, Shinobu quickly took the girl and Kanae by each hand as she ran. 

About 15 feet away, she looked back and smiled.

 "You better pick that up, there's a strong wind and a hungry crowd!" 

"Really sorry! We have to go now!" Kanae squeaked to the man. 

People stared, eyes widened, as if witnessing a crime ( they most likely were ). The wind blew against them, but they had no difficulty running. 

She turned to Shinobu once they had gotten of the bridge, the gawking people lessening. "My, my, what a commotion! Are you sure mom and dad will be fine with this?"

 Shinobu laughed, "Absolutely not!" she said, "but, how about a name to start off with?"  she replied, nearly grinning at the child.

Kanae smiled, and Shinobu seemed to nod as they paused into a slow walk.

"Okay, what about ... Charonda?"

  Shinobu visibly frowned. 

  "Hanako?"

 Shinobu didn't quite see it.

 "Kanao?"

 Shinobu smiled. "I like Kanao!"

 Kanae turned to  Kanao, a warm smile on her face. 

"Do you like Kanao?" she asked, even though she knew no reaction would come. "I guess we'll have to figure it out later, but for now, it's Kanao." She paused, then added. 

"Kanao, I swear if we can't let you live with us, we will find you a nice, new home with a lovely family!"

Neither Shinobu nor Kanae noticed Kanao's eyes as they continued, though. 

The dead purple, gridded, calculated, and cold, starting to sparkle. Her soul revived. Her life returning to her. 

Happiness clouded the young girl, bit by bit.

( W/C: 1678 ) Chapter two was a success for me, hope I hooked you into reading deeper into the story <3 ! Anyway, I'm editing this book every night, chapter by chapter, so it should be edited but not complete veryyy soon. Until then, love you so so muchh !

(Love, Avii)