TIRED

Chapter 6

TW: mentions blood, abuse

When Mei opened the door, she saw Yuzu's back full of scars, as well as fresh wounds. She gasped out loud which startled Yuzu. Yuzu turned around and saw Mei standing there in shock, annoyed, she pushed Mei and closed the door. After a couple of minutes she came out of the bathroom like nothing happened. "Sorry for staining your clothes" Yuzu said "What happened to you?!" Mei responded. "Nothing particular. I had a fight again" "DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU WON'T FIGHT ANYMORE?!" Mei yelled. "How the hell am I supposed to keep my word when they suddenly attack me. And I can't really fight back because they're stronger than me" That was a lie, Yuzu IS stronger than Ume but chooses not to hurt her mother because she still loves her.  "Anyways, let me help you clean out the wounds" Mei said. "No need. I already did. I would appreciate if you could change the sheets" Yuzu responded. Mei hesitated for a moment but eventually went and did as Yuzu told her. Yuzu went to sleep like nothing happened while Mei stressed about it for a while until she finally fell asleep. 

The next day, Yuzu went back to her usual gloomy self. "Ehhh~ what happened Yuzuchi?" Harumin asked worried. "It's just....I had a bad dream and my mood is shit because of it." Yuzu said. "Oh. Well...I'll try to cheer you up as much as I can today okay?" Harumin said cheerfully. "Alright..." Yuzu sighed. After countless attempts at making her smile again, Harumin almost gave up, until she got a nice idea. "Hey Yuzuchi" she said slyly. "What is it?" Yuzu responded like a dead rat. "I have a BRILLIANT idea. Let's go to a karaoke place and get wasted!" She exclaimed proudly as if she found the answer. After a moment of silence Yuzu said "I've never drunk before though..." "It's fine, it's fine, I did. I'll be there. I guarantee you it's gonna be fun!" Matsuri said. Yuzu let out a sigh "Haaa~ alright." Yuzu got up and went to tell Mei that she will stay at Matsuri's tonight. Mei not thinking much of it, except getting jealous of Matsuri because she get's to spend time with Yuzu.

After they finished school. Harumin and Yuzu headed to the karaoke place, ordered the drinks and waited for them to arrive. When the drink arrived Harumin said "LET'S DRINK UP! Let all your worries fly away tonight!" as she took the first shot. Yuzu watched her as she cheerfully exclaimed that sentence, not leaving her a choice. Yuzu took a shot. Harumin started singing while Yuzu watched her amused. She didn't like her voice so she never sang. After a couple of shots, she started getting loose. She finally gave in and started singing. When she finished her song, she looked over to the drunk Harumin who was wiping her tears "HEY! What are you crying for?!" Yuzu yelled. "It's just...I've never heard anyone with such a beautiful voice" Yuzu looks at her for a couple of seconds and then bursts out laughing. Seeing that, Harumin also started laughing her, lightening up the mood. They took a couple more shots and sang karaoke together. Yuzu thought that this was the first time in a long time she genuinely had fun. When they finished, they walked in the same direction for 30 minutes, swaying, laughing and having fun, until they went they're separate ways. They said goodbye to each other completely forgetting that Yuzu was supposed to sleep over at Harumin's.

Meanwhile at home

Mei got home and saw a note that Ume left it said "I'll be out of town for a couple of days. Mei, ask Yuzu if you need anything. There's money on the counter. Take care! -Ume". Having read that Mei went to her room to get changed. Then she finished her school work. Now home alone, with nothing to do she went to the living room, watched some TV until she got bored. She decided that she's gonna clean up the house a bit. Yes, this late at night. She hated being alone since her father left her to fulfill his dream. She started cleaning, while cleaning she debated on cleaning Ume's room. But eventually found the courage and went in. It looked normal for a mother's room. She started cleaning the shelves and around. She accidentally bumped into her closet and something from behind fell. It sounded like a stick. She went to look at what it was. Her eyes widened as she saw a stick, the stick that Ume uses to beat Yuzu. Of course Mei didn't know that. But something felt off in her stomach. Yuzu's wounds looked like they were cause by a stick this size. She thought about it, and as she was going to grab it to inspect it further, she heard the door opening. So she quickly hid the stick back and left the room. To her surprise it was Yuzu. A Yuzu that reeked of alcohol. "Yuzu?! What are you doing here?! I thought you were staying over at Taniguchi's house?" Mei said. "Mmm?" Yuzu groaned. "Oh~ yeah~ I was supposed to *hiccup* sleep there wasn't I..." she groaned some more, mumbling her words. As she started taking off her shoes she started stumbling, Mei wanted to grab her quickly and managed to catch her. 

*Thud* They both fell. Yuzu on top of Mei, not aware of the situation. Mei clearly aware, blushed a deep red color. "Y-yuzu" she stuttered. "Can you please get off me?"......"Mmm~?" Yuzu opened her eyes and saw that she was on top of her. "Oh~ yeah, sure." as she was trying to, her arm slipped and she fell on top of Mei, this time accidentally kissing her. It was a quick peck but Mei felt it and her body heated up.

Mei was thinking for a bit until she said "I-I'm sorry Yuzu" as she went and put her mouth on hers. Kissing her deeply. Yuzu feeling the kiss started using her tongue. Mei was surprised that Yuzu responded back. 'Aw hell. She's so drunk she probably won't remember anything from tonight' Mei thought to herself as she deepened her kiss. You can hear them both moaning. "Mmmm~" "mhhh~" they both moaned. After  a while Mei took Yuzu's hand, put it on her breast beneath her shirt. Yuzu feeling the softness started groping and feeling the nipple. Mei started feeling good. She put her hand under Yuzu's shirt and started sliding it to her back. That's when she felt the scars. It made her pause, but she continued until she reached the fresh wound that was barely a day old. Yuzu obviously felt the pain that stabbed her. She yelped and sat up. "S-sorry Yuzu. I-I didn't mean to-" that's when she felt a tear drop on her face. She looked at Yuzu whose eyes were filled with sadness and tears. "I'm sorry! It's my fault! Please! Please forgive me! Please! Please don't hurt me! I still love you and I'll forgive you so...Please! Stop!" Yuzu sobbed, she was reminded of what happened to her the moment she felt the pain from the wound her mother gave as she was beating her while saying it's her fault. She was begging someone so desperately that even Mei teared up seeing her in this state. Mei sat up and hugged Yuzu who was shaking and still sobbing and still begging for forgiveness. "Shhh. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here." Mei said to comfort Yuzu, but to no avail. Yuzu knew that Mei can't do anything, she knew that it wasn't okay, because it wasn't her that she was asking forgiveness from. It was from her mother, and from her dead father. 

Yuzu was sobbing, trembling and begging for 10 minutes until she calmed down. She then got a little sober from crying all those tears and got up to go to her room. She took off her shirt, because she was too hot, revealing her scars which Mei saw this time up close and had a good look. Suddenly, the stick she found in Ume's room flashed in her mind. She shook her head and thought 'No, it can't be. Ume is such a sweet woman. She would never do that to a child she loves', little did she know that there was no love for Yuzu left in that woman. As Yuzu laid down she was still trembling, but not sobbing anymore. She was out of tears to cry, all that was left was an emotionless face. Mei quickly after laid next to her waiting for her to fall asleep. When Yuzu finally fell asleep, Mei turned around and started stroking Yuzu's hair. "I wish you could tell me what was bothering you. Or who. I wish you'd just spill everything so I can help you. But it's okay. We can take it a step at a time." Mei said in a soft voice not to wake up Yuzu. After seeing Yuzu so distressed, Mei forgot all about her little stunt in making a move on Yuzu and so she fell asleep.

Yes. I wish Yuzu would spill everything to Mei as well, so Mei can hear all about her life. :(

Is it just me or is this story going at an incredibly slow pace? I'll try speeding up the process and make more development in Yuzu's opening up and Ume's downfall.