Broken Porcelain

I had run into a few snags with this story and with those snags came a lack of time to fix them. I'm sorry I got this out so late but I did my best and I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Also, I do need a beta, as some of you can tell so if anyone would be kind enough to lend me a helping hand, even on one chapter, it would help me greatly.

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Broken Porcelain

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His eyes quickly scanned the entire room and all through out it he saw Americans. Each and every one, with the exception of his mother and father, were English; meaning that they only spoke English. This had happened before and he should have seen it coming. He mentally scolded himself for getting his hopes up.

Sighing he scanned the room and saw some of his fathers Japanese associates speaking English with the Americans and frowned. He really had been looking foreward to the small talk that was required upon his introduction but now all he could do was smile and nod to whatever they were saying.

He felt the more than gentle push from the maid behind him and started foreward, lead to where his parents were. His heart started to race and his palms got sweaty as he neared them; this would be the first time in nearly three weeks since he had last seen them and he couldn't help but feel excitment. He knew full well that he shouldn't get like this just by just merely seeing them, especially after what had happned last time; but the ultimate truth was that they were his parents and because they were, he loved them.

When he was placed in front of his Mother and Father he bowed and smiled like he was the best child in the world as his parents introduced him. Though he couldn't understand what they had all said he knew he had done well since one of the Americans smiled and patted him on the head while she talked to his parents.

"What a cute boy you have. He has such unique hair and eyes!" a blonde woman with dark blue eyes exclaimed as she smiled down at him. She placed her hands on her knees and bent down slightly to smile warmly at him, her long black dress swaying slightly as she moved.

His mother nodded, "Yes, I was... ill when pregnant with him, so he turned out like this..." She spoke the last word like it tasted badly and the women tilted her head and nodded, giving his mother a quizzical look. She bent down a little more and placed her hand on his arm and came face to face with him.

"Well aren't you... What's the word for cute in Japanese? I'm afraid I'm not so amazing when it comes to the language." She said with a slight look of embarrassment towards one of the men.

"I'm not really..." One of the men started but the boys father cut him off.

"Kawaii."

Smiling her thanks she turned back to him, "Cute, you look cute."

The small child just grinned happily up at her, as he was supposed to, but perhaps he enjoyed her appraisal a little too much because his parents shot twin glares at him. He took his smile down a notch and bowed slightly, excusing himself knowing he had overstayed his welcome.

"You have to go already?" The blonde woman asked, disappointed.

He nodded and murmured a small, "Sorry." She just nodded and gave him a nice pat on the head.

"Well, let me at least tell you my name. It's Abigail Simmons." She smiled happily as did the small boy and she looked towards his parents. "What's his name again?"

His mother forced a smile on her face and said, "His name's Shuichi."

"Shuichi." The women said, as if tasting the name before she smiled.

"I like that." Giving him a grin and a small pat on the head she stood up and watched as he smiled back at her and bowed before quickly walking off. With one last look she turned back and joined in on the conversation full of politics and business.

He knew that his parents weren't pleased that one of their clients or friends, or whatever she happened to be, took interest in him. He had to think of a way to correct this but left that for later as he stood in the corner of the room and began to survey the crowd of people.

For the most part he was left alone with the exception of the very few times when someone would come up to him and ask a question or something but all he could do was smile and shrug since he had no idea what they had said.

They party started to get a little heated as more and more of the alcohol was dispersed. He laughed when he saw some people, who had looked compsed only an hour before, laugh their heads off when someone said a word they found particularly funny.

Soon he saw a fimiliar face walk towards him and once he clearly saw who it was he smiled happily. It was Abigail. But as upon further inspection Shuichi notice that Mrs. Simmons wasn't walking very straight and the drink she had in her hands would spill over everytime she stumbled. He found this very funny but kept his laughter to himself, not wanting to be rude.

"Shu-hic-ichi!" She shouted happily, in a slurred voice, "Where have... Damn... I fergot how ta say thae resst... Well, come'er, I haiv somone's I want yoo ta meet." He cringed slightly as the strong smell of alcohol wafted over his senses but none the less smiled at her. She kept on talking even though he could only understand a total of of two words hardly understand her, but he was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about.

"Come onn..." She drawled, her hand latching onto his, "I'm gonna take yous to my..." She paused as if she was thinking about what to say before shouting out, "him!" Shuichi looked around trying to figure out who 'him' was but it proved to be unsuccessful as she pulled him over towards a set of tables.

"Roger! Roger!" She wailed, waving her glass high in the air, spilling whatever liquid was left in it. The man Shuichi guessed to be Roger looked mortified and covered his face, looking as if he was going to die.

"Come 'ere hunny, I have sumhun fe you to meet." if her words hadn't been slurred, they were now. She leaned over and gave her husband a sloppy kiss and laughed, he just looked bewildered and ready to crawl into a coffin for his early funeral.

"Rog, this was the bo~oy I was talkin 'bout." She let go of Shuichi and latched onto her husband arm, laughing hysterically for, what appeared to be, no reason. He shook his head and looked sympathetically at Shuichi and sighed.

"It's nice to meet you. She has told me a lot about you, too bad she's drunk right now... She usually isn't..." He trailed off, not sure what to say. To Shuichi it seemed he hadn't been around children much, and as he took the couple in front of him in, he couldn't help but smile. He bowed and gave them a small goodbye. He thought it best to seperate himself from the drunken Abigail and the nervous Roger for now, nothing good came out of out of control adults.

Shuichi wandered back into his original corner and watched the events of the part; happily observing the people throughout the room. Sometimes not being able to speak someone's language wasn't such a bad thing.

The party ended and he was sent back up to his room, given strict orders to go there and not to wander since all of the maids were to busy to escort him because they all had to clean up and make the house look presentable again; his parents were all about appearances.

He opened his door and slowly walked in; his eyes scanned the room quickly before they fell on what he had been searching for. He rushed into the room not bothering to close the doors as he picked up Alexandria and spun her around a few times. He settled down after a moment and sighed happily.

"Dria, the most wonderful thing happened today..." He trailed off, not sure how to explain but after a moment he continued, "Someone noticed me and said I was cute. Her names Abigail and she's really pretty; she has hair just like Emily..."

He stopped as he said the name of one of his other dolls, his eyes going wide for a second before he wiped around. He looked frantically throughout his room to see if he could spot any sign of blonde hair and when he found none he dropped Alexandria onto the floor and ran out of the room. He sped down the stairs and into the study in which he had dropped his doll in. He frantically flipped over cushions and looked under chairs. Feeling tears sting at his eyes he started to breathe harder and harder as he spun around in circles.

"Emily!" He called out, "Where are you!?" He called her name again and again, expecting an answer and when he got no response as the minutes ticked by he became hysterical and started to whimper and cry louder, soon falling to his knees and clutching tightly onto himself. Tears trailed down his cheeks and dripped to the floor as he rocked back and forth, staring at the wall; this feeling of dread and fear all too familiar to him.


~*~Flashback~*~


“Ciò è irragionevole! Non tollererò questo!!” {1} His father yelled from downstairs. He had just been called by an Italian associate of his and it seemed their conversation was going rather badly. He knew he shouldn’t have gone down and peaked, he knew that his father had been stressed out, but he wanted to make his Father happy; because when he was happy he would play with him and everything would be okay again.

He tilted his head slightly so he could see the shadow of his father as he paced throughout the room. He was spoke Italian to the man on the phone and from what words his father had told him of the language; he could only understand a few.

“Siete…”{2} the rest was cut short as his mother walked in from the other door and whispered softly to his father.

“Shuichi's not in his room, have you seen him?” when he heard his father mutter an annoyed no, he whipped around and raced back towards the stairs, knowing he was in trouble if his mother was the one looking for him and not the maids.

He ran as fast as his five year old legs would take him up the stairs and rushed towards his door. He already heard his mothers footsteps from down the hallway and as fear raced through him he ripped open his bedroom door and dived in, slamming it shut with his foot before clambering over the toys that littered the floor and proceeded to hide under the covers but was stopped as a strong hand grabbed him by his collar.

He looked behind him and gave his mother a guilty smile and laughed sheepishly. Her stern look melted away to a smile and she released him with a sigh.

“What do you think you were doing downstairs, little one?” she said affectionately, patting him on the head. He started to stutter out an excuse but she raised her finger and shushed him.

“Think before you speak Shuichi. We’ve taught you better than that.” Her voice was stern as she spoke but the smile she had on her face made the whole affect of her words useless and he couldn’t help but give her a toothy grin before he blurted out his answer to her previous question.

“I wanted to make father happy!” she looked surprised for a moment before she laughed and ruffled his hair and picked him up.

“Is that so? Then I suppose I can’t punish you for that, now can I?” her voice was soothing as it echoed throughout the near silent room, and he snuggled his head into her shoulder as she sat down in the rocking chair; gently pushing them back and forth. She than proceeded to sing a song that he himself had memorized after all the times she had told him it, and as her voice wrapped around him like a melancholy blanket of musical notes, he closed his eyes.

“Remember all the times we used to play, you were lost and I would save you. I don’t think these feelings will ever fade; you were born apart of me. Won’t you cure my tragedy, won’t you cure my tragedy…”

She stopped and looked down at him before she smiled softly. He was snoring quietly in her arms, thumb in his mouth and hand gripping her kimono. She carefully stood up and walked to his bed and laid him down softly. She looked down at him and brushed some hair out of his eyes, and stood there for only a moment more before turning away and walking towards the door. With one final look back she sighed and stepped out, closing the door gently behind her.

As the door shut she leaned against it and sighed heavily. She loved her son; she really did, but sometimes… She shook her head, not wanting to think about it. She looked towards the stairs and heard her husbands voice as it yelled vehemenantly at the phone ad sighed. It was best she go and calm him now before he did something he would regret later.

Shuichi sat up groggily and looked around the room, expecting to see his mother but was only met with the soft glow of the dimmed lamplight in the corner of the room. He got up and rubbed his eyes and looked down at his bed. Next to him his sisters doll laid, its liquid black hair pooled around her perfectly sculpted face and her dark brown eyes stared up at him. He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that his mother hadn't seen it. He had tooken it from his sisters room earlier and if his mother had seen it... He shivered, not really wanting to think of the consequences.

He sighed, knowing that he should bring the doll back before she got mad and blamed him for stealing it like the little theif he was. He picked it up and held its hand in one of his own before he slowly walked towards the door. Once he was in the hallway he looked around and saw a light from his sister Maiko’s room and headed towards it.

He reached up and knocked lightly on the door. He wondered if his sister had already gone to sleep and as he reached for the doorknob to check he stopped, wondering if that was even a good idea. Last time he came in without her permission she was in a foul mood and he couldn't hear for about an hour after the encounter. He had asked his mother why Maiko had been so grumpy and her only reply was to mumble somthing that sounded like 'teenagers' before walking away.

After some more thought he shrugged, what's the worst that could happen? He peaked in slightly to see if Maiko was even in there and froze instantly at the sight that met him.

There was a trail of blood that led from the bed to the bathroom and as he stumbled into the room he heard strange noises coming from his right. As he walked closer towards the door the sounds grew softer but more muffled until they almost became completely silent. As he opened the door he felt his heart stop.

His sister lay propped up against the wall and a knife was imbedded deep in her stomach. She seemed to be fighting for breath and as her eyes locked with his she groaned and shifted slightly.

“Shu-Shucihi…” She choked out as she looked at him with pained eyes. “H-help me take it o-out, please.”

He shook his head and stayed rooted to his place as he watched the blood slowly pour from her. He didn’t know what to do. His sister was telling him to help her but he was so afraid of what was going on; he didn’t even know what was going on. When she asked him again he felt his body move on its own accord and his hand reached out in front of him and he dropped the blonde doll in the pool of blood at his feet, hardly hearing its face shatter, before he gripped onto the knife. He felt her tense before he pulled it out and as a scream tore from her throat he froze on the spot, his breath caught in his chest.

He didn’t know how much time had passed; whether they were minutes, or seconds, but in whatever time it was his parents had ran up the stairs and were headed straight for her room. He heard it slam open and jumped, turning around quickly and faced his parents and saw horror etched into their eyes.

He never knew something so simple, like doing what another asks of you, could change everything.

~*~ End Flashback~*~


He sat on the ground chanting Emily's name over and over again the pictures of what happened four years ago flashed through his mind. He had lost his sister back then and now he was going to lose Emily too? He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes tightly closed as painful memories of the aftermath flashed behind his eyelids and he screamed, thinking it all too real and all too much.

As a maid came up to see what all the noise was they found him on the floor like that, as if he was in another world completely. She immediately became worried and went to go get Shuichi's parents, telling them what she saw.

His parents were up stairs in a few minutes and when they saw him on the floor, chanting and rocking back in forth they thought him possessed. With angry, if not scared, looks, they gave the maids strict orders to put him in his room and keep him in there.

He cried out loudly when one of the maids tried to move him and it took three more to successfully get him into his room and locked up. He lay on the floor, crying as sobs harshl racked his body as he tried to calm. Emily was gone, they had thrown her away, he knew that they had. And Maiko was gone too. He couldn't stand the thought of either thing and he shook as his body convulsed and bile rose up in his throat. He swallowed it back down and crawled over to where Alexandria lay and hugged her tightly to him, shaking horribly as he cried himself to sleep; nightmares sure to consume him.


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Well, I hope that cleared up a few things though I know it probably brought on more than a few questions. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you all for reading!

{1} This is unreasonable! I will not tolerate this! - Italian

{2} You are... - Italian