Abuse

Thanks to

fyrbyrd (I´m glad you liked the story! As you may have noticed I changed it a bit and corrected the spelling mistakes as good as I could... Can´t wait for you to put up the new chapters, so it´s good to hear that you´re writing on them right now :) Btw: If you want to, you can also review on ff.net since I enabled anonymous reviews.)

VampyKitty (Heh, Yazoo´s my favorite too! I hope my AU won´t disappoint you :) If you like him with Vincent I could recomment my other fic 'Shadows within darkness' ;))

and Elenna (Well yes, the theme in itself indicates that this won´t be exactly a happy story... But I worked in a few relaxed chapters, so hopefully it won´t be too angsty :))

for reviewing!

I hope you enjoy!

2

Elena nervously twirled a short strand of blond hair around her finger, waiting for Tseng and the boy to come. The rest of her lessons had seemed to stretch like the gums her students were constanty chewing.

If she was honest she felt very uncertain and a bit sick again. This wasn’t going to be easy. She wasn’t familiar with this kind of problem! Sure, she had had a brief lection on child abuse when she had studied, but this was YEARS ago.

And only had been theory.

She stiffened when the door opened and Tseng walked into the empty classroom.
Alone.

She raised an eyebrow in question, hiding her nervousness as best as she could.
"He will come in a minute. I had a rather hard time convincing Loz that he let him come, but he and Kadaj will wait outside. It seems that all three of them are very close and attached to each other."

Tseng sat down next to her on one of the small chairs, then stood up again and grabbed another one for the youth, placing it in front of their own seats.

"What did you tell Yazoo why we want to see him?"

"Nothing in particular. I only needed to tell him that there was a problem with Kadaj and he didn’t need another reason to agree meeting us. So, if he comes in just try to be relaxed, alright? I will do the talking since he knows me." He shot her an understanding look which she answered with a thankful one.

Their conversation was ended when the door opened again, and their guest entered.
Elena could not say what she had expected. Maybe she had thought of an older copy of Kadaj.

Well, he wasn’t exactly. Although one could tell from the first sight that they were siblings, sharing the same unusual silver hair and cat like eyes, their behaviour and attitude couldn’t have been more different. The loud, noisy, chaotic little person Kadaj was, the quiet, collected and calm composure his older brother carried with him. He was taller, of a slender figure and almost somewhat… elegant.
Yazoo was beautiful, there was no other word to describe him.
Huge eyes, glowing in a deep green, were framed by long, black lashes. Marble like, pale skin. He had rather feminine features which fit his general appearance, the slim figure and the long, shining hair very well.

No doubt that he was the nonplus ultra; the perfect victim for any perverted paedophile bastard.

His rather deep voice surprised here a bit when he greeted them, and Tseng answered while making an inviting gesture towards the empty chair in front of them.

"Hello Yazoo. I’m glad you had time to come. This is Miss Elena, Kadaj´s teacher. I don’t think you met each other before?"

"No, I didn’t have the pleasure yet. Nice to meet you," Yazoo answered politely, sitting down and mustering her briefly. Elena nodded in response.

"So what is it with Kadaj? Does he have any problems with his grades?" The boy tilted his head to the side in question. There was a worried look in his eyes Elena could compare to those of concerned parents. The thing was: he wasn’t a parent. And he had much more to worry about himself, hadn’t he?

Admittedly it confused the young teacher that he didn’t seem to be nervous or broken at all. If she thought about it now she had imagined him to be more like a wrack and less... calm and confident.

"No." She shook her head in denial and straightened a little. "His grades are ok, not the best, but he will be able to move up to next class without much problems."

"Actually, we want to talk about a more personal topic," Tseng continued. Yazoo’s face remained calm and there was no hint that he may have felt uneasy.

"Kadaj should do a special homework for today and it turned out to be a bit... worrying."

The teacher´s voice had become softer and he leaned forward to get the homework out of his bag.

"If you don’t mind I want you to read it and if you feel like it you can tell me what you think about it, alright?"

He handed the notes to the boy, who took them with an unreadable expression.

"Miss Elena and I will leave you here to give you some privacy, but please don’t mind talking to us."

With this Tseng and the woman stood up in unison and went to the other side of the room, pretending to be busy with looking out of the window. But they both watched the reflection of the youth, who observed them for a brief moment, then looked down on the pages and started reading. Tseng gave her a meaningful look and they continued stalking Yazoo, trying to find a sign that assured them that their suspicion was founded.

But there was just... nothing.

No shock, no hurt. No harsh breathing, no sweat, no shaking, no tears. Neither anger nor sorrow or whatever.

Yazoo´s face remained impassive. Far to grown up for someone his age. He couldn’t be older than 14. In Elena’s opinion he was by far too calm and collected. Maybe this said more about him than anything else...

After two minutes, and what seemed like an eternity to both of the teachers, he dropped the papers and looked back at them. Tseng turned around, went to their chairs -followed by his comrade- and sat down in front of the boy. He cleared his throat and asked softly, but still serious:
"So what do you think?"

Yazoo watched the worried two faces for a moment, his own remaining expressionless until a small smile appeared around his lips.

"I think it is wonderful."

Elena’s jaw dropped at least to the cellar.

" I know how it must have been looking to you when you read this. I am glad you showed me so I can clear some things up.” He tilted his head in question again and Tseng motioned for him to continue, frowning. Yazoo slowly folded the paper, looking thoughtful for a moment and then starting to give his explanation.

“You see, since we live with our foster father some things have changed indeed. Kadaj has problems to cope with them, with our new life. It is not easy for him to accept someone new in our family, since it always just had been Loz, him and I.

I suppose he is a bit jealous, because it is not only him who is at a difficult age. He doesn’t understand that I need time for myself now, that I have to think about certain things and figure them out. So he blames father for it. It is true that I got accustomed to our new situation best, but it is not easy for father either. He is trying his best, I can assure you. But you know, Kadaj can be very rejecting and difficult at times. I just hope they get along soon."

He sighed and made a short pause, looking slightly troubled but then continued.

"As for the fact why I sleep in my fathers room, you surely wondered, but I have to say that it is absolutely necessary. It is no secret that I am absent from school sometimes. This is because I am ill. I won’t specify what it is, since this is very personal, but I get attacks which have to be treated with medication immediatly. Someone competent has to be around me at certain times and the only person who is able to help me then is my father. We’re just trying to do our best out of it.

Maybe that’s another reason why mostly I get the attention of our father. I have to. We did not tell Kadaj about my illness, because I thought he would worry too much, but now I consider it to be a wrong decision. I will remedy this mistake.

I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble, but we will handle this by ourselves now and there really is no need to worry. Since I know now how my little brother is feeling I will try and help him coping with the circumstances as good as I can.

So, thank you for your trust and showing me this first instead of calling our father. It would have complicated many things and since it would only have hurt him I think there is no need for telling him about this misunderstanding now."

He gave them a questioning smile which was answered with a brief nod from Tseng.

"Well then, if this was all you wanted to show me..." Yazoo stood up, looking kind of apologetic.

"This was all, thank you." Tseng replied.

"As I said, I have to thank you. Have a nice day."

With that said he turned around and walked to the door. As he was just about to reach it Elena snapped out of her totally confused and flustered condition, shouting after him. "Wait a moment! You still have the notes! "
Yazoo stopped, rolling his head over his shoulder and looking at her, still smiling. "I think we cleared everything up, so you won’t need them any longer. I’d like to keep them if you don’t mind."

"It´s alright, you can take it." Tseng nod again and Yazoo went out of the classroom.

*

"This was... strange" Elena shook her head to clear, pulling one leg over the other and still facing the door Yazoo had gone through just a few seconds earlier.

"Yes," Tseng admitted.

"I mean... He wasn’t the slightest bit surprised or so... "

"I guess although he pretended to not know anything he briefed himself. Kadaj seemed to be nervous "

There was silence for a moment until Elena spoke up again. “Did you know about his illness?”

Tseng shook his head.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit strange? I mean… If he really is that ill you would have to know. What if he gets one of those attacks at school? No one would be able to help him then…”

The dark haired man nodded absently, still deep in thought.
“Tseng?” Elena touched his shoulder to get his attention and the man finally snapped out of his revery.

“I´m sorry. Yes, I should know. I will study his record again, maybe I just didn’t overlooked it.” He gave her a reassuringsqueeze, but she could see the confusion hidden in his dark eyes.

“You think that he’s not telling the truth…”

Tseng broke the eye-contact and let his gaze drift back to the floor. “I don’t know. But to be honest… Yes, I still thing there is something wrong about the whole story.”

“Mh. He behaved far too collected. I don’t know how to describe it. Just… Not like someone his age should behave when confronted with such a thing. It seemed to be too… constructed. Too well thought about.”

A small smile crept over Tseng´s lips, which caused her to raise an eyebrow.

“This has nothing to say. That’s just Yazoo. Always controlled, quiet and rational. He knows what he´s doing, even at that age. But that also means that we won’t get anything out of him.”

The smile vanished and the teacher was serious again. “And right know we have no evidence that he might be lying or hiding something. Until we don’t have anything else beside Kadaj´s homework, which I copied, don´t worry, we are not authorized to do anything.”

Elena stared at him in disbelief. “Are you going to tell me that we have to sit here and wait until something really bad happens?!”

Sighing, Tseng shrugged. “I fear so. Either that or he tells us.”

Upset, the blonde woman sprang to her feet and paced the room. “I can’t belief this! There is something we have to do! I mean we both know something’s fishy about the whole thing!”

“No.” His voice was calm, but filled with authority as he interrupted her. “We don’t know anything. We suspect. This is far to little.”

“But-” Elena stopped in her tracks, a stubborn expression on her face that reminded Tseng of some of his pupils.

“Elena, listen. I understand your concerns, I even share them. But there is still the chance that it really was a misunderstanding. Then what? Do you want to be responsible for the consequences? Maybe we destroy a family.” He paused for a moment and then added quietly “And we are risking our jobs if it turns out to be nothing but an unreasonable suspicion.”

“If we are right it’s worth it!” Elena hissed. “What’s more important to you? Your job or that you might help this boys to get back a normal life?”

Tseng shifted uncomfortably on his chair, but eventually shook his head. “We are not authorized. We don’t know anything. I love my job. And if I’m fired I can help him even less.”

Elena stared at the teacher in disbelief, then her eyes went cold and disgusted.

“You above all should risk something and help. I wouldn’t have ever thought you are that selfish!”

She reached for her bag and turned her back on him to leave the classroom.

Before she reached the door though, strong fingers hold her arm firmly, and turned her around again so she was forced to look Tseng into the eye. They were sad and frustrated but when he spoke his voice was low, controlled and authoritarian. “It seems that I cannot convince you to think better of me. I’m sorry, really. And I’m afraid you won’t think better of me now, but I forbid you to go any further. Officially this problem is solved. No actions on your own. That’s an order.”

Anger burning in her eyes she scowled. Not bothering to answer Elena freed herself and rushed out of the room.

*

Catching her breath, Elena stopped a few meters outside the school area. She had almost been running, trying to escape the building as fast as she could while hot tears burned in the corner of her eyes. Biting her lip she hold her aching side and tried to gather herself. Actually she had expected Tseng to follow her, to tell her that she was right and that he had changed his mind.

Or even… She didn’t know.

Maybe make the helpless feeling go away.

His words only had assured her that her suspicions were right, that she had to do something. On the other hand, when she thought about it in a rational way, Elena had to admit that Tseng was right, too. Apart from her instinct they had no prove… Maybe she had been a bit unfair.

Closing her eyes she led out a deep sigh.

The sun was still burning warm into her face although it already was already afternoon. The school building was empty now, the lack of giggling, pubescenting pupils suddenly sinking in.

Sighing again the blond opened her eyes and slowly started to walk down the avenue towards the bus station. Being still distracted by her thoughts she almost didn’t see the three boys standing at the station. Only when she heard the heart wrenching sobs Elena snapped out of it and recognised the tree silver haired students.
And something was going on.

Quickly she hid behind a tree and observed them, wondering what they were up to. The owner of the sobs was Kadaj, who stood with his back to her, his head lowered and shoulders shaking slightly.

The second boy, a bulky young man with short silver hair and an uneasy expression, stood next to him, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Although he was the tallest and obviously the oldest he appeared to somewhat be the youngest, his gestures were unsure and kind of childish.

One single tear rolled down his cheek, which he suddenly wiped away as if he feared someone could notice. Elena figured that this had to be Loz, the cry-baby.

In front of them stood Yazoo. His attention was focused on his youngest brother, but now he wasn´t smiling anymore. Instead he stared down at Kadaj very coldly, but also hurt. In his left hand he held some papers, which had to be Kadaj´s homework.

“I am very disappointed. I thought we were brothers. But I must have been wrong, because brothers don’t betray each other. What you did today showed me that I cannot trust you.”

Another sob could be heard, followed by a shaking voice. “But, I wanted to help-”

“Help? You only made it worse.” Yazoo’s voice was filled with frustration he could barely hide. He still watched his little brother with eyes that could have frozen hell and caused some more whimpers.

“You hate me now, don’t you?” Kadaj whispered fearfully and managed to look up.
The other boy´s face remained distant. Then he slowly put something out of his pocket and held it, together with the homework into Kadaj´s direction.

After some seconds the boy finally took the offered items with shaking hands and hold them stiffly in his little fingers.

Suddenly Yazoo’s eyes softened and he crouched down to be eye-level with his brother.
“No Kadaj. I don’t hate you. I never will. I just have been… upset.”

Elena noticed how Kadaj´s tensed shoulders relaxed.

“I know you only meant to help me,” the long haired boy continued, stroking some hair out of Kadaj´s face. “But you can’t. No one can. I don’t want help b ecause I don’t need help. Whatever you think is going on is only my business and yours. No one else’s. Promise me that you won’t do anything like this again alright? Or do you want me to get into trouble?”

Instantly Kadaj shook his head. “I… I promise you. I really didn’t want you to be angry.”

“Good.” A warm smile appeared on Yazoo’s lips. “Then prove it.”

The younger one held the papers next to the other item, Elena noticed now was a lighter. He turned around to a trashcan and held the flame onto his homework. The paper was on fire very soon and he let it fall down into the bin.

Silently the three brothers watched the flames, Loz having a sheepish look on his face, Kadaj being tense and biting his lips, and Yazoo rising up and remaining expressionless.

Eventually the scenery was ended by the coming bus.

Sighing in relief Loz was the first to notice. “Bus is coming.”

A mischievous gleam appeared in his eyes and he boxed his youngest brother into the side,ordering haughtily “Get up brat. My bags want to be carried.”

“Your brain wants to be used too. But it’s not happening either,” came the sweet reply and before the bigger one could answer Kadaj had already vanished inside the bus, holding his head out of the window with a wide grin and sticking his tongue out at his oldest sibling.

Growling Loz grabbed his school bag himself and followed, glaring daggers at Kadaj.
“You know, ´could have been sulking a little longer… Would have shown the brat some manners…” He stated into Yazoo’s direction, who just smirked.

“Dont cry Loz. We can’t punish him for stating facts, can we?”

“Eh, well… No?” Quite confused Loz scratched his head.

“Don’t bother…” the other murmured and followed the eldest into the bus.

After the vehicle had passed by Elena came out of her hideout and watched the bus driving out of sight. Taking a side glance into the trashcan and its burnt inside she decided to walk home.

*

The next day, Elena sat down on a bench in the schoolyard, sipping at her hot coffee and lazily watching the students who left the building. Having break, the children gathered in groups to eat their lunches and enjoy the warm sun.

A glimpse of silver caught her attention, and she observed Yazoo and Loz, who walked down the stairs with some other students. Kadaj was nowhere in sight. As they reached the end of the stairs the group stopped and seemed to discuss something, maybe where they should have their lunch.

Finally they went to the left, heading for the park and only Yazoo went to the right, waving a short good bye. While Loz and the others left he slowly walked towards a free bench in his own graceful manner and sat down in a quiet corner, away from the trouble and other students. Opening his schoolbag, he put out an old and expensive looking book, whose title Elena could not read, and started somewhere in the middle of it.

Bending one leg over the other, the blonde teacher took another sip and continued to observe him, although there was not much action. He seemed to be totally occupied by his book, and there was absolutely no sign which indicated that something was wrong with him. Quite the contrary; he looked relaxed and absently pushed some long silver strands out of his face.

Elena sighed and let her gaze wander over the schoolyard. Everything was just so normal…
Looking back at the boy she noticed someone approaching him from behind. This someone had fiery red hair, his hands casually put into his pockets and a mischievous grin on his face. Although she didn’t teach him Elena knew very well who this was. Everyone here knew about Reno, since he was the school rowdy, spending more time in the principal´s office than in class. Normally he would have been suspended from school by now, but Elena had heard something about him being a problem child with a very twisted past.

Everything she knew about him was that he was an orphan and lived in the school dormitory now. Apparently the principal thought there was a real chance to re-socialize or tame him.

But right now Reno seemed to have other plans than being a nice guy and following the script. Carefully, as to stay unnoticed, he leaned over Yazoo’s shoulder and with a quick movement snapped the book out of his victims hands.

“What-” Caught by surprise the silver haired boy flinched and turned his head around to stare into Reno’s wide grin.

“Yo, what do we have here, eh? ” Smirking, Reno slowly walked around the bench, the book still in hands.

He took a short look at the title and spat on the ground. “´Faust´ eh? And here they say I´m a freak… bat shit insane, are ya? To read this stuff voluntarily.”

“Now, since we figured that out I would appreciate it if you could give it back to me,”

Yazoo stated calmly, carefully observing every movement his opponent made.
Reno’s smirk grew wider.

“Of course. My apologies for interrupting your important studies,” he answered sweetly and held the book back into Yazoo’s direction, who reached out to get his item back. Before he could grab it though, the redhead suddenly withdrew it and gave him a thoughtful look.

“Now, now. Let me think about that.”

Smirking he looked down at his prey, who hesitantly put his hand back into his lap.

“This shit means something to ya, eh? You want it back, yo? ”

Yazoo tilted his head to the side, and watched the boy through his bangs, then gave a short nod.

“Thought so.”
Still smirking, Reno took a step back and casually leaned on a tree next to the bench.
“Now since we figured THAT out, I’m extremely curious to know how much it really means to you.”

“What do you want?”

“What do you offer?”

Yazoo pressed his lips together, obviously not enjoying this conversation.

“I don’t know… ”

“Aw, come on.” Reno crossed his arms over his chest, his grin vanishing. “I know you’re a rich man´s child. I’m sure there´s a lot you have to give.”

“I don’t have any money, if that is what you are aiming for…” Before Yazoo could finish his sentence Reno rushed forward, grabbing him by the collar and hissing dangerously.

“Listen brat, I don’t like to be fucked. Don’t make me get angry, understand?”

Yazoo’s eyes widened a bit, then he nodded.

“Good”

A satisfied smile found its way back on Reno’s lips, and he loosened his grip a bit.

“I’m sure someone as smart as you can convince daddy to get some little extra pocket money…”

Elena decided that she had seen enough and prepared herself to end this farce, but she never got the chance. Before she could even stand up a big shadow appeared behind the redhead and grabbed his hair to brutally jerk his head back. Barking out a surprised scream, Reno let go of his victim and tried to reach for his new opponent, but only managed to get his arm pinned on his back in a painful angle.

With a grim expression Loz held his classmate without the slightest sign of exhaustion and growled “Give it back to him. Now.”

His tone made unmistakeably clear that he was pissed and everyone who had at least a bit of a brain would have hurried to follow his order.

Since Reno wasn’t dumb he decided, even if very unwillingly, that it was best to just do what was demanded. However, he was Reno, and instead of just giving the book back to its owner he dropped it with a triumphant smirk before Yazoo could reach it.

He instantly regretted his rebellion as Loz tightened his grip and the redhead winced from the pain that shot through his unlucky arm. “Fuck you!”

This only led to another painful moan, since Loz´ patience was growing very thin now and he was controlled by pure rage.

“Listen bastard. If I ever see you near one of my brothers again I’ll make sure you regret it! And I mean REALLY regret it! Understand?” To underline his statement he nearly broke the poor guys arm, who hurried to nod his head frantically.

“Didn’t hear you,” Loz barked and the other hissed a breathless “Yes.”

Barely satisfied, the big brother finally let him go and Reno vanished very fast behind the building, still feeling Loz´ burning eyes on his back.

When the redhead was out of sight Loz´s attention fell on his brother, who was about to catch his book from the ground.

The older brother´s angry expression changed into a worried one and he bent down to help his younger sibling. “Are you ok?”

“I´m fine.” Yazoo assured him and straightened up, his precious book clutched to his chest.

Loz gave him a sceptical look, then his eyes narrowed and he put down Yazoo’s collar to reveal a scratch.

“Gods, you’re hurt! I swear, I’ll kill that bastard, I’ll… I’ll …” He was on the verge of tears and ready to let his words follow some action, but Yazoo hold him back.
“Stop it, stupid.”

The long haired boy laughed when he noticed his brother´s dumb expression, which obviously confused Loz even more.

“Loz, I´m fine. It’s not even bleeding.”

“Hmpf.” The big boy crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. “Don’t ask me to ever save your skinny ass again.”

Yazoo just raised a thin eyebrow “I didn’t ask you to help me in the first place.”

“Yeah, how could I forget about that… You never ask for help.” Loz stated bitterly and let his arms fall down to the side.

“Right. Because I don’t need it.” The answer came softly and was followed by a reassuring smile. Loz led out an exaggerated breath, shook his head, but wasn´t angry any longer. After a second he even smiled back.

“Now let’s go back to class.” Yazoo turned around and ignored the painful moan coming from his brother, who followed very slowly and with little enthusiasm.
When they passed Elena the boys gave a short nod, which she replied absently, pretending to not have heard or seen anything.

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