Rememberance

Chapter 3:

The headmaster wasn't the only one who abused him. It was the older kids, too. Akutagawa was often called a freak, or useless, or something offensive and generally beaten up along with other younger kids. On these days, he'd often tell Gin to run and hide in their room to avoid getting hurt herself. One night, he slowly crept out of the covers and made his way to the front door. He opened it slightly and sat still, in the front yard, where kids were allowed to go at times. That's when he saw it. The thing that would change his life.

"Huh? What's that...?" he wondered out loud. On the ground was a long black coat. Akutagawa curiously picked the coat up and draped it over his shoulders, and suddenly his head began aching extremely and he could have sworn he heard a voice.

RASHOMON!

"R-Rashomon...?" Akutagawa asked. Suddenly, a blade was sent flying out of his coat and slammed into the front gates. Akutagawa felt his eyes widen, but he decided to creep back into his room.

***

"Morning, big brother..." Gin said, waking Akutagawa up.

"Morning, Gin," he replied calmly sitting up as well.

"W-what's that?" she asked, pointing at his coat.

"It's just a coat I found...might be useful to keep warm..." Akutagawa said. Gin nodded and got up.

"Tch. The little freak is back. And look, he's got his princess sister too," one of the kids muttered, violently pushing their door open and coming in.

"Hey, s-shut up! He's not a freak!" Gin screamed angrily. One of the guys chuckled and kicked her in the stomach, and she coughed up blood. Slowly, she sat up, trembling.

"YOU LITTLE-" Akutagawa ran towards the kid and bit him hard on the arm. He cried out in pain and punched Akutagawa in the face.

"Take this, you little bastard!" the kid aimed to hit him again but another small boy ran over and blocked him.

"Stop it! Leave them alone!" the kid screamed.

"Tch, you're the one who got tortured for 2 days, right...? I hear the headmaster got you pretty good. Hey...those ribs were broken, right?" he said, kicking the other boy hard.

Akutagawa finally had it. He grabbed a butter knife that lay beside him and slashed the other boy on the face. The other boy screamed, running off, followed by his companions.

"Oi, are you okay?! Come on, answer me!" Akutagawa cried, shaking the other boy by the shoulder. He had sunset colored eyes, and his bangs were uneven and silver.

"I-I'm fine..." he said, trembling and standing up slowly. He suddenly smiled, as if to cover up his pain and reached out his hand. Akutagawa shook it and an extremely warm feeling spread throughout his body.

"My name's Atsushi..." he said softly. "What are your names?" he added, helping Gin up.

"My name's Akutagawa and that's my sister Gin," he said, pointing at her who waved shyly.

"Well, do you want to be friends?" Atsushi offered. Akutagawa felt his face become slightly warm and nodded. No one had ever been so kind before. He never felt such warmth like this throughout his life.

"Can I call you Aku?" Atsushi asked playfully.

"S-sure..." he responded.