Sneakers En Pointe

Four Years Ago.

Aoi shudderd and ducked into a corner, hugging her two younger siblings, Noemi and Riku close to her chest as her dad started hitting her eldest sibling, Raiden. Bad.

"You frickin' kid, do you have any idea how hard I've worked for that money? Then you just go and spend it on beans and rice? How dare you! Who do you think you are?!" he shouted, slapping Raiden across his face for the sixth time that day.

The oldest Setsuna child made no sound, shed no tears, but simply looked into his father's cold, hard grey eyes and said calmly, "We needed it. My sisters are growing, as well as Riku. Mom is working extra hours so she needs more energy. Better food is much more worth buying than the stuff you buy to get high on."

Another slap.

His head whipped to the side, and Aoi covered her mouth as she could see her brother holding back a wince.

*"Onii-"

"Silence! Go to your room before I give you a beating as well!"

Noemi, only six-years-old at the time, sqeaked at the harsh responce and quickly ran to the room she shared with Aoi. Aoi followed behind, carrying Riku who was sobbing silently, afraid that if he made a peep, the monster would come after him as well.

Once they were in, Aoi locked the door and huddled with her younger siblings, trying to calm them all down.

The room was tiny, but that was just part of having a small house. Homes in Japan are already quite small compared to say, houses in America, but they all learned survive. The thing about small houses though, was that there was less places to hide, and fewer places to search.

Taking the lead as the eldest sister at age eleven, Aoi nudged Noemi and Riku into the closet, pressing a finger to her lips to tell the others to be quiet. She draped a heavy jacket over Noemi and a pile of jeans onto Riku. Boy, their closet was a mess.

"I can't take it anymore," Aoi said. This was it. Seeing her brother treated that way for simply buying the family food. "I'm calling the police."

"What?! He'll kill you if he finds out!" Noemi both whispered and yelped at the same time. "Seriously kill you!"

Little Riku curled into the corner of the closet, almost blending into the pile of unfolded clothes. "I'm scared...," he whispered. Barely a year old, that was his first ever words.

"Me too," Aoi whispered, leaning over to kiss Riku's tear-stained cheek. The young boy pouted and went back to hiding, shaking like a leaf.

Noemi held back tears, then wrapped her skinny arms around her sister's neck. "I love you, **Onee-Chan."

"I love you too," Aoi responded. "I'll get us to safety soon, I promise. Just stay hidden. If you hear me yelling, I want you to take Riku and run to the school and to call the cops, you hear me? Don't look back. Me and mom will find you guys." She instructed her sister who nodded wearily as before ducking back into her hiding space.

"You can do it," she whispered, voice cracking with fear. There was a loud crash and Noemi jumped, covering her ears.

Quickly, Aoi shut the closet door and grabbed the disposible camera Raiden had bought her for her last birthday. Her brother had done odd jobs around the neighborhood just to get enough money to buy this gift, so Aoi wanted to make sure she used the gift wisely.

Quietly and slowly, Aoi turned the door knob. Raiden had told her to use the camera for something important. Photograpic evidence was important, she decided. Very important. Once she stepped out of the bedroom, Cheiko Setsuna, Aoi's mother, was on her knees, hands over her heart. "Put. The. Gun. Down, Kiito," she said, her voice trembling almost as much as she was.

The young girl saw her own father holding a gun, the barrel against Raiden's head.

Ch-click.

Aoi's eleventh photo taken with that camera. She would be able to take fourty-nine more. Fourty-Nine more pictures that would prove the hell her family went through.

"You know what?" Kiito said. He dropped the gun and lunged toward Cheiko, grabbing her chin. "You, nor anyone else will speak a word of this. Got it? If I find out, I'll come back for you all. And trust me- It won't be pretty." And then with that, he walked out the door, leaving his family.

That was the last time they saw him in four years.

Later on Aoi realized, the ch-click sound was not her camera. She hadn't pushed the button down all the way. The clicking sound was Kiito pulling the trigger. The gun was just empty, thanks to Raiden emptying it earlier. He suspected something like this would happen sooner or later. His father was psycho.

Which meant a "father" had just pulled the trigger on his own son.

Authors Note :

* Onii-Chan means " Older Brother "

* * Onee-Chan means " Older Sister "