Take My Hand

7: Downfall

A/N: This will be a pretty disturbing chapter, touching on Yuri's dark past. Please read with caution.

Yuri was seven years of age, a pretty young child, when her hatred of her father began.

It had all started one sunny day...

Yuri's mother had just gotten home from work, no doubt that her father would return home soon after. She knelt down and whispered in her daughter's ear gently.

"Your father is probably going to yell a lot when he returns. I'm letting you know now so you don't get scared, alright?"

Yuri quietly nodded, growling internally. She hated when her father got like this.

Guess who's hiding in her room tonight...

That evening, when Yuri's father got home, there was no emotion in his blank expression. He was cold, unyielding. He glared at his wife, and then at his own daughter.

Yuri attempted to run off but he grabbed her by the arm before she could...

"Why are you running away from me?" He asked coldly.

Yuri was silent. She hadn't expected her father to grab her. This had never happened before...

"Answer the question!!" The man barked. "Why are you running from your dear old dad!?"

She still didn't dare open her mouth to speak.

That's when things escalated.

Yuri's father smacked her across the face without warning, causing her mother to yell.

"That's too far!"

The action already caused a dark bruise to form on the child's cheek...

"Are you the one who's in charge right now, Sayaka? No! I didn't think so!"

While her parents were arguing, Yuri managed to escape her father's grasp and made a beeline to her bedroom.

That night, Yuri violently cried herself to sleep...

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Yuri was a ten-year-old when her father's abusive actions completely escalated...

It was a normal day in Yuri's family, her older sister Ayano was fifteen. The family was cooking dinner together when, out of nowhere, Yuri dropped a piece of meat on the floor.

Her father's expression was anything but jubilant...

Ayano seemed concerned, but didn't dare speak up. She despised how her father acted towards Yuri.

Without another word, he yanked Yuri by the hair and dragged her away and out of sight.

He threw the young girl onto his own bed, locking the door so no one could interrupt his tirade.

"I'm so fucking sick of you disappointing me, Yuri. You are a part of this family, you should show more respect!"

"But, Papa--"

"No! Don't 'Papa' me. It's time you finally got what you deserved, bitch."

He pulled out an intimidating-looking needle, which had an unfamiliar liquid in it. Grabbing Yuri's arm tightly and pulling it, he injected the liquid directly into her.

A few minutes later, the young girl passed out.

Hours later.....

Yuri awoke, her blurred vision not giving her any clues as to where she was. When her vision cleared, she glanced around the room.

"This isn't my room..." She murmured under her breath.

She placed a hand on her forehead, then grimaced when she felt liquid. She pulled her hand away, quickly feeling terrified when she realized that the crimson substance she felt was indeed blood... Fresh, too.

"What happened?" She asked herself.

Yuri did not remember anything that had happened the night before.

She very carefully stood up, walking over to the mirror.

"Oh my God..." She covered her mouth.

Pushpins, portruding from multiple parts of her body...

Blood everywhere...

And she realized that she was naked.

Looking at the clothes on the floor, she realized that they were her own...

To make things worse, the area between her legs was killing her...

"What did Papa do to me!?" She asked herself.

She called her sister Ayano to come in and see what happened to her, and she did.

When Ayano entered the room, she held back the urge to vomit when she saw what appalling things her father had done to Yuri.

"Is this what he did when he dragged you away yesterday!?" The teal-haired girl demanded.

Yuri solemnly nodded. "I just wish he'd just stop torturing me!" She sobbed.

Ayano held her little sister close as she cried. "Shh... I know... It's okay now.. I'm here."

Afterwards, it took three agonizing hours to clean up the ten-year-old's wounds.

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Yuri was twelve now. She was relieved that her father had left the family behind, despite her mother's distraught. Her older sister Ayano was seventeen now, about to go into her junior year, while Yuri was about to go into sixth grade.

One summer day, Yuri had returned from her friend's house, and was looking around for Ayano. She wanted to tell her something important. After a long time of searching for her, Yuri had finally found Ayano.

However, the twelve-year-old was horrified at what condition her sister was in.

Ayano's lifeless body was hanging from a rope, her amethyst eyes dull and dark. Blood was dripping from her fingers, and her mouth hung open, unmoving. In one of her hands was a note, the other held a knife with an azure handle.

The note read:

"I'm so sorry, but I just couldn't take it any longer. The abuse, the screaming, the laughter, the ignorance... It was all too much, so I found my own way out. I'm sorry for leaving you all alone, Yuri, even after what Papa did to you all these years ago. Am I selfish for wanting to leave?

Anyways, I left you a little something, Yuri. My favorite knife. This way, you can defend yourself if something were to happen again.

I love both of you so much, and I'm so sorry, once again.

One last time, Ayano."

Yuri was sobbing as she shakily read the note. She carefully took the knife from her sister's hand, studying its features curiously.

Her mother was at work, so she wouldn't know about Ayano's suicide until much later.

A/N: Sorry this is so long, you guys! But I kinda wanted to touch on Yuri's past because of the last chapter briefly mentioning it.