TITLE: Starting Over

AUTHOR: Lemony Chocolate

PAIRING: Marron/Carrot (and yes they are brothers!)

RATING: NC-17

DISCLAIMER: Look people, I don't own the Bakuretsu Hunter, the Sorcerer Hunters or any other Hunters. They are a copyright by A.D. Vision

FEEDBACK: Hell yeah! Uhm, sorry, yes please.

DISTRIBUTION: Archive please away

SPOILERS: none that I can think of.

SUMMARY: This fic. is an A/U dealing with child abuse, molestation and incest. This is a dark fic that came to me in a nasty little nightmare while I was sick.

A/N: Meet the Sorcerer Hunters: Five extraordinary young humans charged with the task of traveling the land in secrecy, hunting down evil Sorcerers--masters of powerful and forbidden magic who use their dark abilities to enslave, to kill the weak and helpless.

Carrot Glace, a lecherous young warrior, without many other talents, save one: the ability to transform into various giant beasts by feeding off the power of sorcerers when attacked by unfriendly magic.

Marron Glace, his younger brother and master of the Eastern magic; always cool, calm and collect unless someone hurts his older brother....then he become a raging psychopath.

Tira Misu, an unassuming woman who, when faced with a challenge, presents her rather dominant alter ego, secretly in love with Carrot Glace.

Chocolate Misu, her older sister the more forward of the two and even worse when she's ready to kick some ass with her needle tipped garrote wire. Very obvious about desire for Carrot Glace.

Finally, Gateau Mocha, the muscle of the team with brains; consummate flirt, especially with Marron Glace.

A/N 2: ' ~ ' is internal dialogue

I would like to thank the EXTREMELY excellent beta Sarryn.

Introducing the Cast of Characters:
Stella Church = multi-billionaire business woman
Marron Church = her adopted son; genius; age 18
Gateau and Eclair Mocha = her nephew and niece; ages 20 & 18
Dota = Stella Church's personal assistant and right-hand woman
Syrus =Dota's fiancé and a noted psychiatrist
Mille Feuille = part of Stella Church's household and her personal physician
Onion Glace = president of the American branch of Church Corp.
Carrot Glace = his son; age 19
Apricot Glace = deceased, first wife to Onion Glace
Moss Glace = second wife to Onion, socialite
Zaha Torte =son to Moss by first husband; age 20
Willow = Original character, Onion Glace's executive assistant
Cinnamon Misu = old friend to Apricot Glace; socialite
Chocolate & Tira Misu = Cinnamon's daughters; Carrot's best friends; ages 19 & 18

Starting Over
by Lemony Chocolate

PROLOGUE

Their damp bodies arched and twisted in the bed. The musk of intercourse hung thickly about their writhing forms. The lush sounds of sex filled the air with the woman’s husky moans of encouragement to her lover. His slender back gleamed under the moonlight as muscles rippled up and down his back with every slow, languid thrust into her willing body.

My god, she thought dazedly to herself, he may be young but he's incredible. Her body arched up as he thrust expertly into her, delving deeper into her with every twist of his hips, his hair spilling over her body as she clutched his shoulders in reaction.

"Oh god," she cried out, her head flung back in ecstasy writhing upon the hard cock of her lover.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Came the faint sound of his cell phone.

"Don't answer it," she gasped out, her body dewy with sweat, her hips churning under his.

"What if it's important?" he murmured into her ear, his hips never faltering.

"They’ll…call......back," she gasped between thrusts.

He shrugged and resumed his measured thrusts, sometimes speeding up and then slowing down, driving her insane.

Suddenly the phone by her bed rang and rang and rang. After the fourth ring, her answering machine clicked on. They never stopped moving as her voice said,

"You have reached Toni Mason, leave a message at the sound of the tone," * CLICK *

"Marron, it's Gateau. Pick up the damn phone. We've found him!"

Marron froze in mid thrust before swiftly rolling off of her and grabbing the phone. She nearly screamed in anger but knew better than to let him see her that way. She knew that she had a better chance of landing Marron Church if she didn’t act like a raging wild-woman. He liked his women calm and controlled, just like him.

"Gateau, it's Marron. What's the situation?" Marron asked calmly as if he always got interrupted in the middle of having sex.

"The detectives finally located him. Both he and your father are alive. And you'll never believe this one: your father works for Aunt Stella!" Gateau laughed at the sheer irony of the whole situation.

"He works for Mama?"

"Yep, he's the President of the American branch and he's in the position of making CEO within the year." Gateau laughed with obvious relief now that their search was finally finished.

"Have you told Mama yet?" Marron inquired as he got up, grabbing his underwear and pants and putting them on. All the while Toni looked on in disbelief.

"Yeah, man, I told her just before I called you," Gateau responded. "What do you want to do?"

Marron tugged his shirt off the chair and pulled it on with ease despite still holding the phone. "Get the jet ready, of course. I'll be home in about forty-five minutes. That'll give us time to pack and then hit the airport," he said as he picked up his shoes and sat of the bed putting them
on his bare feet.

"I thought that'd be what you wanted, so I already made arrangements. Mama and Eclair are already here packing for you, so why don't you meet us at the airport. The plane will be ready within the hour." Marron could hear the smile in the other man’s voice.

"Thanks man, what'll I ever do without you, I don't want to know," Marron said smiling, easy affection in his voice. He hung up the phone and turned to Toni, quickly reading her eyes before her mask of calm could slide back in place. He wasn't fooled by her and he never would be.

Toni was seething. Just when she was about to make her move, that fucking idiot called. She knew he couldn't stand her or her twin brother, and she really didn't give a shit about him. He always got in her way when it came to Marron.

"You have to leave?" she asked softly, pulling the sheet over her chest, coyly hiding her breasts.

"Yes," Marron replied, fastening his watch. He gave her a sidelong glance and saw the fury reflected in her eyes before she swiftly lowered them.

"Oh, when will you be back?" She lifting her head and presented him with the cool, calm exterior that she knew he liked about her.

"I have no idea," Marron answered coolly as he slipped into his jacket. With a wry twist of his lips he put his socks and tie into his jacket pocket. "I'll try to give you a call next week," he finished vaguely, well aware of her machinations. The only thing she wants from me is my cock and my name, he thought cynically.

"I'll miss you." The sultry yet innocent whisper of her words was intended to intrigue him with a cool, unruffled exterior yet at the same time convince him that she actually needed him.

Marron quirked an elegant brow at her, "Toni, be honest with me for once. The only thing you really want out of me is the Church name and the Church money. That's the only reason why you dropped Gateau like a hot brick. You didn't think he was the heir to the Church fortune."

"How dare you say that?" she demanded, furious that he had read her like a book, "I have exclusively been your lover for the past three months. I've been turning men down ever since I met you. how can you say that about me?" Contrived tears began to fill her eyes. Beat that, you little fucker, she thought viciously.

Marron gazed at her unimpressed, "When you decide to be real with me, give me a call."

With that he turned and walked out the door. Through the thin wood he heard her cry of rage just before he heard the telephone slam against the door.

Chapter 1

Onion Glace left the limo without a backwards glance as he strode into the multibillion dollar company that he was president of, the Church Corp. He rarely bothered to acknowledge the various greetings from the employees in the building and today was no exception.

He was furious. After all his careful plans, that fucking Church bitch was coming to America with her entourage in tow. She could upset almost all his plans if he wasn't careful. He knew there was no way he could get caught; he was too clever for that, but by her presence she could delay operations long enough that it would take him an additional six months to get back on track. After that, I’ll take the boy and say bye-bye to America and hello Sri Lanka, he thought with a smirk.

This will be a long night, he thought with a smile as he strode into his opulent office. His executive assistant, Willow, saw the smile and shuddered as apprehension coiled tightly in her stomach. She knew her boss and his vicious temper and she prayed that he wasn't going to turn his temper on her. Curiously enough, whenever he got this way, he would sometimes go home
and come back in a more cheerful mood. Probably went home and banged that cold stick of a wife, she thought cynically as she gathered up her files for this morning's meeting. A cruel smirk quirked her lips at the thought of the coldly beautiful, milady Moss getting mussed with sex.

"Mr. Glace, sir, were you aware that Ms. Church will be arriving within the next week," she quietly asked almost recoiling at the brief, burning fury in Mr. Glace's dark eyes. She blinked nervously.

Onion leaned back in his chair, inwardly amused at the look of fear on her face, as he said laconically, "Why, yes, I did hear. Her secretary called me in the car this morning. I take it that they called here also?" he asked raising a brow and nodding at the acknowledgment from Willow. "Well then, let's get down to business. We want to look nice when the Boss Lady gets
here." He strode to the boardroom with Willow scurrying behind.

* * *

That evening Carrot slowly made his way home from the Misu's household, extremely reluctant at the thought of going back to THAT place. His slender figure shuddered with dread as he prayed as hard as he could that his father was in a good mood tonight. His fingers worriedly twisted at the hem on his too long sweater as he slowly entered the opulent mansion that was the Glace residence.

He looked up to see Moss walking down the stairs and looked away. He never liked looking at her, knowing she knew every dirty thing he had ever done.

Her lips tightened at the sight of her husband's son. Then she smiled slowly, cruelly and said, "He's waiting for you in the room." Watching with coldly amused eyes the shudder that ripped through the slender frame, as he turned and slowly mounted the stairs, his head hanging low. She continued down the stairs, laughing softly, as she went into the kitchen to told the cook to hold dinner back for 90 minutes.

* * *

Carrot stood before the room door, shaking so hard his teeth were chattering. He bit his lip before taking a deep breath and opening the door. Quietly, though he knew silence was futile, he closed it behind him. He rested his back against the closed door, staring at the floor to avoid
staring at the powerful figure seated on the bed.

"You know what to do boy," came the whisper from the bed.

Carrot nodded his head as he toed off his shoes, unbuttoned his pants and slid them down his slim hips to pool about his ankles. The wicked observer’s eyes were black with lust as he avidly consumed the sight of the beautiful slim body slowly being revealed, waiting with bated breath the boy's naked body to be revealed in its entirety.

Carrot grasped the hem of his sweater and pulled it off revealing his body, his bruised, mottled body to the lustful gaze of the man on the bed.

"Come here," he hoarsely said, nearly salivating at having his boy beneath him, loving the fear on boy's face.

Carrot knew the ritual. He slowly crossed the room and climbed up on the bed, kneeling between the spread thighs of the aroused man gazing at him with hard, cruel eyes. He slowly crept closer and lowered his mouth to the hard flesh in front of him and began sucking on his father's cock.

Some time later, had the room not been sound proofed years ago, a curious listener would have been thoroughly alarmed at the cries of pain echoing through the room and the sounds of a whip cracking against flesh.

* * *

Zaha and his mother sat at the dining table waiting for Onion and Carrot to appear. Onion finally entered, practically bouncing into the room; pleasant satisfaction radiating from every pore as he cheerfully greeted his stepson.

"Zaha, how have you been doing boy?" he cried hugging the tall young man and clapping him on the back. "How's college life, getting any of those cute college girls to put out for you," he asked lecherously, wagging his eyebrows comically.

Zaha laughed at the sight hugging him back. Onion was his idol, always there for him, ready and willing to expend time and money on him. Why just the other day, he’d surprised him with a brand, new fire-engine red Mustang. All his friends were envious of how generous his stepfather was with him.

"Actually, I've managed to get quite a few girls to put out for me," Zaha laughed back at his stepfather.

Carrot sidled into the room, limping slightly as he quietly made his way to his chair, wincing in pain as his sore ass and back made contact with the chair. He looked up into Moss's cold, mocking eyes and quickly averted his gaze.

Zaha and Onion separated going to their respective seats. Zaha took note of how Carrot had winced as he sat down and thought with an inward sneer, ‘What’s the matter pretty boy, daddy rode your ass too hard, you little whore.’ He loved his stepfather; he just had a hard time reconciling this man with the one he knew was fucking his own son. Therefore, he blamed Carrot for tempting him, corrupting him. He despised the boy. But wanted him too. He burned to feel that slim body writhing against his in passion. However, Onion possessed the little boy-whore, and Zaha hated him for that. This ambivalence between love and hate drove spikes of confusion into his soul.

They had their usual quiet dinner, Onion remarking that Stella Church was arriving in America either late this week or the following week.

"And how will this affect us," Moss asked emotionless as they finished their dessert.

"Not by much," Onion admitted, "Perhaps a few dinners with her family, a little socializing. You know the routine."

"Hmm…I heard that she always comes with a large entourage of bodyguards and servants. I heard a rumor that her son was some sort of genius, and was adopted. Is it true that she is single and never married," she asked indifferently, not really caring unless it interrupted her comfortable life and position in society.

"I really don't know about everything else but I do know she's single," Onion replied. "You know it's very curious that no one has ever really seen a picture of her son. The other children that she travels with, the boy and girl, are always photographed at some party or event, but never him."

Carrot sat silently through the discussion, waiting for dinner to end so he could get some rest. His young body ached from the wicked abuse. He and the Misu sisters were supposed to go to the movies in a couple of days and he needed to be somewhat rested up. The sisters were cutting classes at college in order to take him.

Finally, the dinner was over. He didn't move until he saw Moss and Onion get up. Then he carefully leveraged himself out of the chair. H knew better than to cry out loud from the pain riding his body.

"Thank you Moss," he said politely, going through the usual after-dinner ritual, remembering with an inward shudder the first time he forgot. "Dinner was delicious as always."

"Why thank you dear, why don't you go to bed. You look like you had a rather.....hard day," she said with mock concern.

Carrot kept his eyes downcast and his body still as he replied, "Thank you. Father, if I may be excused." He turned to Onion and bowed slightly, wincing in pain.

"Sure, go ahead. Anybody want to catch a movie with me," he said looking around as Carrot limped away.

"Sorry darling, I'll have to take a rain check," Moss said smiling as she turned away and went to bed.

"C'mon, I'll watch a movie with you, old man," Zaha answered.

"Oh man, I'll show you old man," Onion cried out in mock anger, then acted as if his back was paining him. "On second thought, I'll show you some other time." And with arms companionably around each other's shoulders they retired to the den to watch movies.

Carrot heard the laughter and wondered just what was it about him that made his father treat him like this. He didn't try to do anything to his precious Zaha, Carrot thought bitterly. Hating the young man fiercely, hating himself for staying, he just wanted to die and get it over with. Wearily he trudged into the bathroom and stepped into the shower stall fully clothed.

Carefully, relieved to be able to voice his agony, he turned on the shower and let the warm water beat down on him, soaking through his clothes. He watched the water turn pink as the water soaked through his blood encrusted clothes. Every now and then he tugged gently to see if the clothes had loosened enough from the bloody marks striping his body to allow their
removal.

His waterlogged sweater hung off his body, stretching to his knees. It pulled at his narrow shoulders as he gradually worked his way free from the neck, dropping the sodden material in the tub and pushing it behind him. He gritted his teeth as he unfastened his pants and gently pushed them over his hips. His abused body shook with pain as he twisted his hips and lifted his
legs, working the pants off his dully-pulsing body.

Cautiously he maneuvered his slowly stiffening body around so that his back faced the spray of water. Harsh sobs of pain escaped his mouth as the water pounded down upon his lacerated flesh, opened the marks, and allowed the water to cleanse and ease his pain. The water swirling madly down the drain changed from pink to red then slowly back to pink again. One more thing to do, he thought grimly knowing that this would hurt the most. He shuffled forward, leaned forward and placed his forehead against the wall. He took a deep, steadying breath, reached back and spread his cheeks. He almost howled at the stinging pain, watching with glazed eyes as the clear water abruptly turned red, holding this position until the water in the bottom of the stall was clear again.

Carefully, he left the stall and gently patted himself dry taking care that the marks didn't start bleeding again. He reached into his medicine cabinet for one of the many antibiotic creams and smoothed the stuff into the many lash marks covering his body, and got into bed naked, face down. He knew that HE would be along soon to put on more of the cream. He fell asleep,
only waking quickly and quietly when he heard someone enter his room. He didn't relax as the figure bypassed his bed and went into the bathroom. The light came on, there was the sound of the cabinet being opened and closed, and the lights went off.

Onion sat beside the bed looking at the lacerated back of his son. He loved the marks decorating the golden flesh. Slowly he worked the cream into the rigid back, making sure he covered each mark with the soothing cream. Enjoying the pained moans coming from the boy, he slowly pulled the sheet back, revealing the naked globes of flesh of the boy's abused ass. He
smoothed his hands over each cheek, slowly massaging the flesh, enjoying the resistance he felt in the boy. He parted the cheeks and, bending down, flicked his tongue against the clenched muscle. He smirked at the way the boy tried squirm away from his hateful presence. He chuckled into the torn flesh before giving it one last swipe of his tongue. He put a large blob of
ointment on his finger and slowly massaged it into the cringing flesh. Twisted delight suffused him at the sight of the boy flinching, clenching his hands in fear and hatred. He loved watching the boy's impotent rage at what he was doing to his body.

Finally, he finished his ministration to the tortured flesh and pressed a kiss to the back of Carrot's neck as he whispered, "It shouldn't take you more than a week to heal. I'll be back to ride your beautiful, tight little ass next week." He reached back and cupped a tensed globe.

He left. Carrot finally allowed himself to cry. Harsh racking sobs shook the boy as he cried himself to sleep, curled upon himself for protection.

* * *

"Do you think he'll like me?" Marron Church asked his best friend nervously. He was pacing back and forth, anxious about meeting his brother who the Misu sisters were bringing to meet him. He nervously fingered the key around his neck, his only link to a dead woman.

Gateau looked at his usually calm and collected friend and nearly laughed, "Sure, he'll like you. You're his otooto; of course he'll love you. Beside, you know after that meeting we had with Mrs. Misu and her girls how important it is to get your brother away from that sick fuck of a father." He rage grew as he recalled the meeting they had had with the Misu family four days ago.

* FLASHBACK *

"Mrs. Misu," Dota said smoothly into the phone, "You don't know me but I work for Stella Church as her personal assistant. She's very interested in meeting you and would like to know if you and your family are available for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Why, certainly, I wouldn't mind having dinner with Ms. Church after her generous donation to the Cancer Society," Cinnamon replied flattered and excited about attending dinner with the most influential woman in the Western world. Stella Church dined with kings and queen, met with dictators and presidents and she wanted to have dinner with them. She felt faint as they talked. She couldn't wait to tell all her friends.

"Very well then, we will see you at eight tomorrow," Dota said as she finished the call. "Okay, it's all set for tomorrow night."

"Do you think she knows anything," Marron asked quietly, staring out the window.

Stella's eyes softened as she looked at her son. She blessed the beautiful woman that she had met that fateful night, grateful to her for bringing her boy into the world. She was single and childless by choice. She never thought that she would enjoy having children around until her sister and brother-in-law died in a plane crash leaving behind two lonely little children clutching each other. She took them in and found that she enjoyed having the children around. Then came little Marron. So needy and sad after his mother Apricot had died, leaving him alone. He had lost his beloved niisan and now his mother was gone.

Nothing they could do would soothe his frantic cries for his niisan while his mother lay dying. Gateau tried holding him, but the little boy protested his hold crying "You not niisan." He only wanted his niisan. They finally found a cure for him, a stuffed rabbit in the mother's ragged bag. He clutched the rabbit to him fiercely, finally able to sleep.

After his mother passed away, he was even more lost, and dependent on the stuffed animal, rejecting them; dragging it around everywhere he went; talking to it; holding it; sleeping with it clutched in his arms. Her heart went out to the woebegone little boy. She fell in love with his beautiful golden eyes, and she was determined to keep him. After all, she had promised his mother to keep him away from his father, whoever he was, and to protect the little boy. She called her lawyers and they strong-armed the necessary adoption through. It may have been a little questionable, but perfectly legal. She made sure that she covered all her bases just in case the father did come back. She gathered her new family and left America.

Her happiest day was the day they all started calling her Mama; that was when she knew that they were a family.

This was the first time they had been back in fourteen years. She had had people investigating every aspect Apricot's life and it had taken them fourteen years to put together a very disturbing picture about the senior Glace, which she hadn't had the heart to tell Marron yet. Suspicion and
innuendo wasn't enough, she needed proof and she hoped that the Misu woman could provide it.

"Don't dwell on it, honey. Whatever happens, we will get your brother away from Onion Glace," Mama said hugging her son tightly to her, glad that he hadn't stiffened up as usual. She smiled down into the normally emotionless eyes. If she was right, she would do whatever she had to do to get that boy away from his father. Even if I have to kill him myself, she thought coldly.

The Misu family arrived at the palatial mansion and was ushered into the living room. There Stella Church warmly greeted them as she introduced them to her family.

"And this is my son," she concluded gesturing to a boy looking out of the window. He turned to face them, his face in the shadow.

Cinnamon squinted, he looked familiar somehow. Her eyes widen and she screamed as he came further into view, "Apricot!"

"No, not her. Her son," was the quiet reply from the boy.

"How? Why?" she sputtered unable to take her eyes off the boy. His uncanny resemblance to his mother caused her to began crying as she walked towards him. She did not notice Gateau and Eclair protective stances to either side to him through the veil of her tears.

She touched his face gently and quickly pulled him into a hug. "You're alive, you're alive. Oh god forgive me, Apricot; I believed that fucking bastard! I believed that bastard! You were my best friend and I believed him," she screamed falling in on herself in despair, clutching her stomach in pain at how she had been tricked and betrayed into giving up.

"Mama," Tira and Chocolate cried out running to their grief-stricken mother.

Dropping to her knees and keening in pain, she rocked back in forth at Marron's feet, unaware of anything but her pain. Marron dropped swiftly down and drew her into his embrace, holding her as she screamed her pain, rocking her, soothing her as she cried convulsively into his chest.

"I looked for you. I swear I did, until he showed me the bodies. Oh god, oh god, he showed me the bodies." She moaned weakly into his soaked shirt. Marron's eyes closed, stunned, as he realized what she was saying.

"Shhhh, it's okay, everything alright. Please stop crying. You're going to make yourself sick." Comfortingly, he rocked the sobbing woman.

"Go fetch Mille and tell him to bring a tranquilizer," Stella ordered in a whisper to Eclair as everyone watched, riveted to the scene.

"But I believed him," the woman moaned low in her throat.

"You had no choice," Marron whispered against her temple, before pressing gentle kiss there, still rubbing her tenderly. "What else were you supposed to do?" He felt her wild grief slowly easing. He pulled away gently and watched as she tilted her face up. Her eyes searched his face, seeing his mother in every line and plane. Her mouth worked convulsively as she gently
traced his features. She smiled slowly, tearfully and pulled him into a fierce hug.

"I'm sorry that I’m behaving like a big baby," she laughed through a tear-clogged throat. "Where's your mother? I’m really mad at her for not coming to me when she left that bastard." Eagerly she scanned the room for her friend.

"I'm his mother," Stella stated quietly stepping forward. Marron braced the stiffening woman in his arms.

"I'm sorry, I mean his real mother," Cinnamon said not meaning any insult, wondering at the tense silence in the room.

"She is my real mother," Marron said behind her. His hands fasten firmly on her suddenly shaking shoulders a she realized her friend wasn't there. "Apricot died fourteen years ago." She stiffened, breathed deeply, and tried to control herself.

"How did she die?" she asked quietly as her girls ran to her and hugged her to them. Her eyes were steady on Stella Church, who nodded approvingly.

"We almost ran her down when we were here about fourteen years ago. She had apparently been badly beaten and was suffering from exhaustion and lack of food," Mille said as he entered the room.

"She fell in front of the car and seemed very distraught, we put her and the child"—he nodded at Marron—"Into the car and drove home. She died within four days of various complications including internal bleeding…" His voice trailed off.

"She made me promise to hide him from his father, and at the end she tried to tell me someone or something named Mainski. Do you know what she meant by that?" Stella queried quietly.

Cinnamon turned and looked at Marron and smiled. "Before she left, she gave me this locked box and told me to hold on to it for her. She told me that it was to protect the children. So I did."

"Yeah, but if it's locked, how do we get it open?" Gateau demanded with obvious frustration, growing annoyed at the eerie smile on the woman's face.

She walked to Marron and gently lifted the necklace he wore and revealed a key. "Marron's key," she said softly, "Not Mainski."

"Good lord, I should have thought of that," Stella exclaimed looking at Marron and the key he always wore; that he had been wearing for fourteen years, each time replacing the old chain as it broke.

He frowned. "I remember Mama telling me, no matter what, to never take it off, and I've never did."

* * *

"Can we get the box now?" Chocolate asked excitedly.

"Wait a minute," Mille said slowly, "You said that she said that whatever was in the box would protect the children, implying that something or someone was hurting or would hurt the children. Meaning Marron and his brother." He lifted an inquiring eyebrow.

"I've suspected that Carrot was being abused by his father, and I've questioned him endlessly on the subject, trying to get him to admit or even leave. But he won't or can't leave. It's as if Onion has some type of hold on him." Cinnamon paced back and forth angrily, suddenly noticing the uneasy looks the sisters were giving each other. Her eyes narrowed suddenly, they
knew something.

Marron's eyes were glowing with fury at the thought of someone hurting his niisan.

"Mama, I...we—" Tira stopped and glanced at her sister for encouragement. "We don't just think he's physically abusing him, we know." She finished in a shamed whisper, shocking the room into horrified silence.

"We've been trying for years to get him to come live with us. That's why we both work two jobs and moved out just so he could come stay with us if he didn't want to stay with you. But he won't admit anything. He just laughs and jokes away everything. We even tried kidnapping once to get him examined by a doctor, but he came to in the doctor's office and ran out. He wouldn't
talk to us for almost a month," Chocolate ended, tears pouring down her face as she hugged her equally distraught sister.

The room was stunned at the lengths the girls had gone through to get Carrot help.

"You could have been arrested and maybe sent to jail," Dota pointed out. They nodded miserably.

"But it would have been worth it if it got Carrot out of that house," Tira said fiercely.

"At least Carrot would be free," Chocolate added equal ferocity.

"My god," their mother breathed at the sacrifices her children were making to free their best friend.

"I'm going home and bringing that box back," she said, "This will end here and now. Tira, Chocolate, you stay here." Quickly she exited the room. They heard the front door open and close, and then the sound of a car starting.

*

Thirty minutes later she came running in huffing and puffing, lugging the box and placing it on the table.

Marron took off his necklace and tentatively fitted the key into the lock, smiling in relief when the lock clicked open. They opened the box and saw numerous dated tapes and a journal of some sort. Marron realized that these tapes very old. He would have been about three or four years old at the time.

On the top were two letters, one said Marron the other, Carrot.

He picked it up, opened it and read it out loud.

Marron,
If you are reading this letter, it means that I'm already dead and wasn't successful in getting your brother away from your father. If I had been successful , this box and it's contents would have been destroyed and no mention would have ever been made. You would’ve never find out what
kind of monster Onion is. Never ever trust him, my son, no matter what promises or lies he tells you.

I managed to make copies of tapes he had hidden. I don't think he suspects what I've done. But I needed incontestable proof of his evil.

Look at the tape labeled My Tape. This is the tape that I made secretly of his atrocities. I
didn't have the guts to watch. And if you have the stomach for it, watch the rest of the tapes
he made. I'm sorry, but I'm weak and I just couldn't.

After you watch the tape, do whatever you have to do, but GET YOUR BROTHER! I can't stress this enough. You'll see when you watch the tapes.

I'm begging you son, get your brother. I'm counting on you to finish my task. I will always love you,

Your mother.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," Eclair whispered to her brother.

"Yeah me too," Gateau whispered back as they trailed into the family room with the box of tapes.

As instructed, Marron put "My Tape" in first and sat down. They watched as a six-year-old Carrot hesitantly entered the room with his head down.

They watched as Onion put down his paper and said quietly to the shivering little boy, "Well boy, what it's going to be? You or your brother."

Carrot head lifted up with a jerk as he screamed, "You no touch my otouto, no touch my otouto, no touch him!" before launching himself furiously at the adult. The man casually backhanded the small child.

Everyone winced in horror at the scene, unaware of the true magnitude of Onion's crime.

"Well boy? You or your brother?" Onion asked harshly as he grabbed the tiny boy by the shirt and ripped it off his body.

Their eyes widened in burgeoning horror as they watched Carrot remove his pants and bend his naked form over a chair. There was a concerted rush to the bathroom and garbage can. Sounds of people being sick and the recorded screams of Carrot resounded in the room.

"Turn it off. Turn it off," Eclair screamed from her position in the corner where she was violently ill. When no one could move fast enough to stop the videotape, she grabbed a heavy stone figure and threw it at the TV. The glass exploded, sending fitful sparks flying.

Blessed silence reigned as everyone tried to comprehend what he or she had seen.

"Oh, god, oh god," Cinnamon kept crying seeing the image still in her mind.

No one was safe from the horror they had just witnessed.

"He has to die," Marron said in a daze. "Mama, I have to kill him. You do understand, don't you?"

He went to the locked gun cabinet and, with a jerk, broke it open and took out a rifle and a handgun. Tira and Chocolate silently joined him. Their eyes were wide and dazed also, as they each picked up a gun and started searching for shells, growing more frustrated when their search proved futile. Drawers crashed onto the floor, spilling their contents, but no bullets were to be found. Then providence, or perhaps the cruel face of vengeance, seemed to smile upon them as their eyes lit upon a beautifully worked, and menacingly sharp, silver letter opener. There was a brief tussle before Marron won the battle and seized the normally harmless weapon. Tira and Chocolate whirled around and searched thought a nearby cabinet, and smiled viciously at the serrated hunting knives they found therein. All three headed for the door on a simple mission: find Onion, skin Onion, kill Onion, get Carrot, hurt everybody that hurt Carrot.

Stella and Cinnamon came out of their mental petrifacation when they saw their children heading out the doors with knives and a countenances that screamed for blood, Onion’s blood. They ran and quickly stopped them.

"Get out of my way Mama," Marron said in a eerily calm manner. The letter opened gripped in one tense hand.

"Marron, stop and think for a minute. They'll take you away and you'll never get to see your brother," Stella said softly, hoping to reach the boy shaking with barely suppressed wrath. Cinnamon attempted to reason with her own offspring. Stella signaled Gateau to come up and restrain him.

Unadulterated fury burned through Marron’s body. He couldn’t suppress the horrified shaking that had started upon seeing that damned tape and knowing what his brother had been forced to live through all these. He needed blood: Onion's blood coating his hands. He needed to feel Onion screaming beneath him and writhing in pain as he plunged the knife into him over, and over and over again. Distantly he could hear Mama calling him, telling him that there was a better way to exact revenge. And he listened, snarling, because he wanted Onion to suffer, to suffer and know why.

After Cinnamon had finished they all had bloodthirsty smiles on their faces. Onion was going down.

END FLASHBACK

Carrot stood in his bathroom getting dressed. Relief filled him with the knowledge that his father wasn't going to be making any demands on him tonight since he had left for an unexpected business conference. He opened the door and stopped abruptly at the sight of his stepbrother laying across his bed.

He flushed in fury as he snarled, "What are you doing in my room. I thought I told you not to come in here again ever again. Now get out!"

Zaha gracefully got off the bed and paced towards the smaller boy in a way reminiscent of a stalking tiger. Eyes burning with unsettling heat, he backed Carrot against the wall. He leaned in with his lips a bare inch away and breathed, "What are you going to do about it, call daddy?" Without waiting, or allowing, for a response, he crushed the boy against him, delighting in the squirming body. Finally, Carrot managed to break away. He shoved the surprised Zaha away and wiped his lips in disgust.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? I keep telling you that I don't want you. Just leave me alone," he cried backing away. The older boy advanced and then pounced. He rode the smaller boy down onto the bed.

"Don't do this to me," he begged before Zaha seized his lips and started humping against him. Tears trailed silently down his face as he struggled against the heavier form. His body shook with sobs as Zaha, with an arrested look upon his face, slowly sat up.

"I don't get you," he said coldly, flinching inwardly at the tears on the boy's face, "You've been fucking your father for years and you complain about me? At least I'm not your father…" He faltered to a stop at the sudden fury burning in the wide eyes. Carrot, growling inhumanely, attacked him. The ferocity of the attack forced him to defend himself as he grabbed the furious boy and restrained him.

"Don't touch me," Carrot shouted angrily. "Get out of here! Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"Okay, I'm going." Zaha raised his hands and slowly backed away from the enraged boy. He opened the door and, as he was stepping through, he sneered, "Daddy's little fuck-toy." The pale, haunted look on Carrot’s face drove a spike of nausea into his stomach.

He rested his forehead against the door, listening to the muffled sobs from the boy. He wondered why he always tried to hurt him when he only wanted the boy's love and affection.

He was really starting to dislike his stepfather.

* * * *

Carrot laughed as Tira and Chocolate dragged him into their car. He had had a wonderful day, soaking up good times and memories to tide him over during the dark periods of his life. They couldn't ever know the truth. He could never tell them, for he knew he would lose them forever. No one would want to be associated with filth like him. Therefore, he kept his silence and played the jesting clown, hiding his pain.

He whistled as they coasted up a long driveway to a huge palatial mansion. His eyes bugged out at the impressive sight.

"Good god! Who the hell do you know living here?"

Tira and Chocolate giggled at the flabbergasted look on his face as Tira parked the car. "Guess who we met a couple of days ago?" Chocolate said in a singsong voice.

"We met the Church family," Tira answered excitedly unable to wait for Carrot’s response.

"Hey, that was my news," Chocolate complained good-naturedly slapping at her sister.

Carrot laughed as he watch the sisters get into a silly slap fight in front of the house. Oh, he needed times like this, he thought, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. The sisters always acted so silly around him that he couldn't help but laugh.

They got out of the car and strode up the stairs.

"We met them a while ago and Ms. Church gave us a standing invitation to come over anytime. Besides there's someone we want you to meet. We think you'll like him," Chocolate said mysteriously.

"Oh, a mystery man," Carrot said smirking, "Which one of you is sweet on him?" He grinned wickedly as glanced between the two sputtering sisters.

"You idiot, neither one of us likes him like that," Tira said with a little moue. "Besides, I kinda got my eye on Gateau." She leaned over and said in a loud whisper, "I think that Chocolate has the hots for Dr. Feuille, though." She shrieked with laughter, avoiding her sisters elbow jab. The door opened and she darted in followed closely by her yelling sister.

Carrot regarded the large blond man gazing at the laughing sisters rolling around on the floor. He was still chuckling as he looked at Carrot.

"C'mon in," he said, "I think you had better go break them up before they break something." Carrot sidled past the large man, careful to avoid any contact with him. Not that he was worried, not with Tira and Chocolate there, but better to be safe than sorry. He knew this from experience.

"Hey girls, is this anyway to behave?" he chided them with his hands on his hips. "And you didn't even invite me to play with you. You know how I like that girl-on-girl action." He pouted, laughing as they shrieked and pulled him to the floor, embracing their beloved friend; giving him comfort and support that they knew he would need in the upcoming hour.

Gateau extended a hand to each of the girls and pulled them up laughing. Then he reached down to pull Carrot up. Belatedly he heard the girls cry, "NO!" and saw Carrot scrambling away from the extended hand.

Tira keep her hand on Gateau arm, patting it comfortingly. He didn't understand. She watched in sympathy as Carrot flushed and scrambled to his feet with Chocolate's help, warily eyeing the bewildered Gateau.

Carrot instinctively tried to cover up the moment with a smile. "Sorry man, you just took me by surprise like that. Boy, you're awfully large. Say this is a nice home you got. You got some real beautiful things here." Nervous babble fell from his lips as he looked everywhere but at the silent blond in front of him. He heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing a beautiful, older woman coming towards him with a gracious smile. She was followed closely by a smaller blond girl and a brunette with a cheerful smile gracing her face.

"Whoa mama, look at those hot chicks," Carrot whistled admiringly. The older woman merely smiled at the young man while the two younger ones rolled their eyes. If this is Marron's older brother, I don't think I’ll like him very much, they thought until they looked into his eyes and saw the nervousness flickering in the boy's big eyes.

Carrot almost kicked himself for acting the fool, but he was so nervous and that Gateau fellow had thrown him for a loop, acting hurt because he wouldn’t touch his hand. I didn't need help from him, he thought fiercely, I don't need nobody's help!

"Mr. Glace," Stella said warmly and swiftly corrected herself upon seeing the boy flinch at the name, "Carrot, welcome to our home." She added watched how the boy relaxed upon hearing his own name spoken.

"Chocolate and Tira said that they would be bringing you by soon. We are all quite eager to make your acquaintance," she continued gently to the seemingly fragile young man. It was all she could do to restrain herself from snatching the slender young man in the too-large clothes to her and hugging him. She vowed that he would never going leave this house. Not today, not tomorrow, never, she thought, fiercely protective.

"I see you've already met my nephew, Gateau. These lovely young ladies behind me are Eclair Mocha, my niece and Gateau’s younger sister." She turned and gestured to the intimidating, silent blond girl before turning and indicating the cheerful brunette. "And this bubbly young woman is my personal assistant, Dota, who I don't know what I would do without." She regarded the young woman with a fond smile as a wild blush suffused Dota's face at the compliment.

"Why don't we go into the living room? I'd like you to meet the rest of my household," she added, still smiling. Silent insistence for Carrot to follow filled those congenial words. He obeyed with wondering bemusement.

Carrot was almost ready to wig out. The woman, this incredibly rich woman, was warmly smiling at him despite his ill-advised wolf whistle and tactlessness. He vowed then and there not to act so boorish again around her. She is a lady, he thought, through and through. Add to that the fact that she was introducing her family to him as if he mattered. But, thank god, she didn't know what a filthy creature he was or, he knew he would never have been admitted to the house, much less her presence.

Everyone trailed uneasily after the chattering pair. Stella was trying to keep the boy distracted, and Carrot was simply trying, for once, to be charming to someone. They knew what was ahead and they were prepared for anything but the reaction that followed. Mille sat in one chair aimlessly chatting with Syrus, Dota's fiancé, about what he had no idea. He was tense and nervous about the upcoming reunion between the two brothers, as was Syrus.

Syrus had been summoned in order to gauge the best way to proceed and how Carrot would react. He gave his best advice, suggesting that the boy had probably blocked certain memories, and insisted on being present just in case things went wrong.

Marron was standing with his back to them when they entered, his niisan laughing and at his charming best and his Mama, willing to be charmed by the young man.

Carrot entered with Stella ("Why, call me Stella," she had asked) attached to his arm. How she had managed to do that without setting off all sorts of internal alarms in him, he had no idea. He relished being able to touch some and not be consumed by terror. Even with Chocolate and Tira, he sometimes found difficult to touch them, afraid of what he didn't know…just afraid.

He noticed the three men in the room. Two of the men were achingly beautiful, but strangers. The third man looking out of the window, teased him with familiarity.

"This is my personal physician, Mille," Stella said warmly, gesturing to the flamboyantly dressed man. She felt the boy tense then forcibly relax himself. Her heart wept silently for the pain he had endured. "This is Syrus, Dota's fiancé. He's a psychiatrist," she continued, indicating the
other man, who had gotten to his feet and was smiling at them. "But don't let his fancy degrees fool you." She leaned over to Carrot and mock whispered to him, knowing the others could hear. "He's just as crazy as the rest of us." She delighted in the chortle of amusement from the boy. That startled, honest laugh suffused his face with a light that his normal amusement never had.

"And finally, and certainly not least, is my son, Marron," she said.

Carefully she watched how the boy stiffened at the name. She threw a worried and confused glance at Syrus, who was fully focused on the slender young man.

Carrot, feeling himself tense up at the name 'Marron', forced himself to relax. It's just a name, he savagely told himself, So stop freaking out. He turned his attention back to the longhaired boy. Damn, why would she let her son wear his hair so long. People probably think he's gay or something. Eh, it could be worse. Instead of being below his shoulders, it could be as down to his butt, he thought with an inward smirk.

"Nice to meet…" his voice committed suicide, ending abruptly with a gasp as the man, no the boy, turned around. It couldn't be! Not after all this time!

He paled and then everything and everyone else faded away as he began slowly walked forward. Nothing existed anymore except the golden-eyed boy before him.

Everyone tensed at the coming confrontation.

Slowly, Marron turned around at the sound of the greeting. Wondering how he would feel at meeting his niisan after fourteen years. The hot, protective fury rushing through him totally confused the hell out of him. All he wanted to do was to put his niisan's too slender body behind him and kill everything that threatened him. Everything deliquesced as he slowly began approaching the boy until they met in the center.

Carrot eyes traveled searchingly over the palely perfect face, the golden eyes searching his own, the nose, the lips. He reached out a trembling hand and gently traced the finely boned features, tears running unchecked down his face.

"It's you," he breathed, nearly delirious with joy. The others couldn't hear what he said, but whatever he said caused Marron to widened his eyes.

"Niisan," he couldn't help say. It had been almost fourteen years since he had last spoken that word to his beloved brother.

"Marron!" Carrot cried out and collapsed, unconscious.

The others exclaimed in surprise at the shocking reaction and rushed to Carrot's prone body. Syrus wasn't very surprised. He had reasoned that a number of responses could have occurred; passing out during a stressful situation was only one of them.

Quickly snapping out orders, Stella got Carrot upstairs to Marron's bedroom, it being the closest. Gently placing him on the bed, Gateau backed away, surprised at his own feelings of protectiveness towards the slender figure in Marron's bed. He had initially thought that he would hate the boy for taking HIS place in Marron's life. Even after they had found out about his father, he still possessed an irrational resentment towards the boy, but now all he felt was protective fury.

He wanted to smash his fist in Onion's face for hurting him.

He wasn't alone in that desire.

They all stood back from the bed, talking and arguing about the best way to wake him. Nobody wanted to listen to Syrus, "Excuse me?! EXCUSE ME?! HELLOOOO!? Who's the psychiatrist here," he asked indignantly. As they continued their bickering, the silent figure on the bed listened, feigning unconsciousness. A silent presence flew back down to the others, keeping a watchful eye on the outside world.

~"What should we do," one asked sibilantly in the shadow, muscles shifting restlessly , coiling in the darkness.~

"We do what we have always done: protect the boy," another hissed out, tongue forking uneasily out.~

~"Hey, I don't need protecting," Carrot growled, annoyed at the bossy, shadowy figures. "I've been protecting myself all this time."~

~"With our help you mean," another purred out, casually licking a paw, admiring the deadly claws.~

~"Had it not been for us, you would have died.," another growled out, stalking back and forth of powerful legs.~

~"Don't forget about Beast," another snorted out, hooves ringing on the hard floor.~

~"Okay, okay, I'll admit that if it hadn't been for you all, I'd have died or gone mad," he said and added with a shiver, "Better to die than to wake the Sleeper."~

As one, they froze in fear at the thought of seeing HIM awake. They gradually relaxed, safe in the knowledge that, for now, He still slept.

They had all appeared when Carrot was about ten years old. Onion had given him to two of his ‘friends’ for the weekend. He left little instruction for the demented duo. They could do what they wanted. His only stipulations being that only 15 thin cuts could be made on the boy and he couldn’t be fatally harmed. He hadn’t wanted them to kill him. He had been just paying off a favor to them.

He had left the shaking, terrified boy with them. When he had come back, Carrot was found hiding in a closet, knees drawn up, bloody and keening. Cautiously he had approached the boy and swiftly put him in his car and locked the doors. He had searched through the house until he found the men's hacked-up bodies strewn across one of the rooms. It had appeared, for all intents and purposes, as if some wild, demonic force had torn through the men, ripping and gutting their bodies in enraged frenzy. He had backed out slowly, making sure to cover his tracks by wiping his fingerprints and Carrot's from the place.

He had left and never looked back. He had never thought to ask the boy what he had seen. If he had he would have been shocked and terrified to his core.

HE had appeared, disturbing the demented duo in their play. He had swept through the house like a force of nature, a maelstrom of annihilation, destroying everything in his path, the men and the furniture. But, before he had been able to make his bid for freedom, the Guardians had appeared and he had escaped the only way he could: he disappeared within the boy, knowing they would not dare harm an innocent. The four Guardians had consulted with each other and split. Together, they created 12 smaller guardians to protect the boy. Then they had faded into the deeps of Carrot's mind to resume their guard duty of the Sleeper.

~"Okay, then what should we do," Carrot asked in exasperation, running his fingers through his hair.~

~You wake. We hide. Simple" said one of the shadows, cocking it's head to one side, twitching shadowy wings.~

~"As we always do, until you have need of us," another snarled, muscles flexing under thick fur.~

~"Since it appears that the child is okay, what do you intend to do no?" another asked.~

~"What I've always intended do, once I know that he's happy and safe," Carrot responded in puzzlement. They knew his plans and had discussed them many times.~

~"Why don't you wait and see what develops?"~

~"Why? You don't actually think someone would want a filthy creature like me around do you," Carrot demanded disparagingly.~

The shadowy figures exchanged glances. They had tried, over the years, to convince Carrot that he wasn't responsible for what his father had done to him. He maintained that, since he consented, he was responsible. This had been an ongoing argument for years, and didn’t appear to be any closer to a conclusion.

~"Give them a chance."~

~"Fine! Don't wake the Sleeper," Carrot said ritually~

He climbed back to the surface, giving the sentry standing guard a nod of thanks before alerting the people standing in the room to the fact that he was awake.

Marron beat the others to the bed. He had only allowed himself to be a certain distance from his niisan. My niisan, he thought wonderingly. Everyone watched in amazement as a gentle smile curved Marron’s lips. Gently, reverently, he touched Carrot's cheek and smiled with unabashed
warmth. Marron never showed his emotions!

Carrot opened his eyes to see a pair of golden ones staring down at him with obvious worry and delicate brows pulled down in a concerned frown. He reached up and smoothed his fingers gently over the frown, erasing it. The others were ready to drop to the floor. Seeing Marron easily accept the touch without pulling away was mind blowing.

Marron tilted his head and closed his eyes under the sway of the soft touch. Carrot laughed softly at the look hedonistic pleasure on Marron's face. The others watched the two brothers, slack-jawed. The Church household had never seen Marron react that way with ANYONE, not even his lovers. The Misu sisters never seen Carrot voluntarily reach out and touch anyone, much less another male.

Marron almost purred into the soft caress as he opened his eyes to see the amused glint in his niisan's. He smiled gently. Niisan, he thought, quiet satisfaction radiating from him.

"Are you okay," he asked quietly, not wanting to startle Carrot.

"Yeah, it just shocked me that, after all this time, we’ve finally found each other," Carrot answered, his smile lighting up his entire face. However, Marron saw the darkness in his eyes and wondered why.

"Well, I never intend to lose you again. You're stuck with me, and if you ever decide to leave, I'll be right behind you, following you," Marron said with a smile that lit up his golden eyes. You could get lost in them, Carrot thought dizzily.

"We've been looking for Marron's natural family for almost 12 years. But by the time we started, the trail had gone cold. Your mother covered her tracks only too well," Stella said quietly, not knowing if the boy heard her; he was so focused on Marron.

"Uh huh," Carrot said, not really giving her to much of his attention. He wanted, no NEEDED, to feel his brother against him, to know that he was real, that this was real and not one of his dreams that vanished upon waking.

Marron smiled. He found the focused look on his niisan's face amusing. Never had he had been the recipient of such unwavering attention from anyone, as if only the two of them existed in the world. It was, oddly enough, extremely flattering, he realized.

As Carrot slowly began to acknowledge the outside world, he became aware that Stella had said something, something important.

Pulling back from Marron with a reluctant sigh, he turned his attention to the woman and attempted to remember what she had said.

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that," he asked politely, becoming distracted again when Marron slowly ran his fingers over the back of his hand before entangling the slender digits.

"Marron," Stella said in exasperation, "Will you please stop touching him so that he can listen to what I'm trying to tell him." She was secretly amused at the intensity between the two boys.

Slowly Marron drew back his hand and settled more comfortably on the bed and, feeling Carrot shift towards him, he lifted an arm and hugged the smaller boy against his side. The rigid tenseness subsided within his niisan's body from the comforting contact.

They turned their attention back to Stella while she waited with mock impatience. The others were stifling their snickers of amusement.

"If I have your attention…Good. Carrot I know that this a shock to you, but there are still things that you have to know for your own protection we believe. Your mother left you a letter, that I feel you should read. We'll wait outside the door so you can have some privacy." She gave him the letter with a reassuring smile.

Marron looked at her coolly from his seated position and said, "I am not going anywhere Mama, if that letter says what I think it says." An unreadable look passed between them that made Carrot frown and burn with curiosity.

He reluctantly sat up from his position against Marron and watched as the others left the room. Tira and Chocolate gave him worried glances before exiting.

He studied the letter in sudden fear, wildly curious to know why his mother left him behind. An extreme desire to runaway from the somehow threatening letter assailed him.

Marron looked at him amusedly and said, "It's not going to bite you, you know." He moved further up on the bed, resting his back against the heaped pillows.

Carrot started. While still something in him sang with the joy of rediscovering his little brother, the envelope distracted him, picked away at his mind. He looked at Marron, reclining against the pillows and crawled up beside him. Once again Marron put an arm around his niisan's shoulders, hugging the slender form against him. We need to fatten you up, the younger boy thought as he felt the bones in those narrow shoulders.

Chapter 2

Carrot rested his head on Marron's shoulder as he opened the letter with trepidation....

My darling boy,
If you are reading this letter, then it means that I am dead and failed to get you out of
Onion's clutches.

I know that he must have told you that I had abandoned you, but never believe that! You have
always been and will always be my darling boy.

When I found out what your father was doing, I tried to get help. Everywhere I went, the doors were closed to me. I even tried the police. They called your father to come and get me. They old him I was making wild statements. I didn't know what to do. All my life I had been raised for one purpose: marry a rich man and be an obedient wife. But when you came along, all my priorities shifted and now my purpose in life was to see you grow up, get married and have children. For the first time in my life, I didn't mind getting old. I didn't mind getting wrinkles. Your birth was the single most important event in my superficial life. Before, I was all about parties and make-up. The typical things of an empty headed debutante.

How I hated being pregnant. God, I wish I could go back in time and relish that feeling of having my first born nestled beneath my breast. I wish I could SLAP some sense into that empty-headed fool I was.

But all my priorities changed the instant they put you in my arms. Everything I once was didn't exist any longer, and now I was simply MOTHER. You, at that moment, became my reason for being, for living. I knew in that timeless moment, gazing into your eyes, that I would fight the devil himself to protect you. And I tried everything I could think of. I even starting reading mystery novels for any ideas.

And I finally came up with a plan and if you are reading this you'll know that my plan failed because I was too weak to protect you like a mother should. But God willing, I have at least gotten one of you out of the house. I don't want to think that I failed you both.

I failed you for not noticing your father's abuse. At first, I simply thought that he had been harsh with you and that's why you were so afraid of him. I learned better. I knew that it was no use confronting HIM. He would just deny it and hurt you more.

So, I made plans to escape with you and your brother. I tried to make sure that I stole some evidence, enough to force him to leave us alone.

I left a similar letter to your brother, along with tapes your father secretly made of his sessions with you. And no, I didn't watch them.

Find your brother, Carrot, if you have not already. And remember that I've always loved you and am so proud to have you for my son for such a short time.

I love you,
Apricot Glace
Loving mother of Carrot and Marron

Carrot’s mind was in a whirl of joy and terror. On one side, he was happy that his mother didn't deliberately leave him behind. On the other side was his panicky thought, "They know. They know what he did, what WE did." His body shook. He was going to fall apart right then and there.

Marron felt the body against him first become rigid and then begin to shake. He murmured comforting words and pulled the body into his lap. Slowly he stroked up and down his back as he tried to calm his terrified niisan. He had seen the letter and read it along side Carrot.

"What’s wrong," he asked anxiously.

"You know," Carrot choked out, burying his face in Marron's chest.

"Know what," Marron asked, honestly bewildered.

"You know what HE did, what I did with him," came the shamed whisper. Tears fell down his face, wetting Marron's shirt.

Marron closed his eyes at the softly spoken words understanding finally what his niisan was talking about. "It wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong," he said firmly, trying to convince the shivering boy in his arms.

"Hey, luv, look at me," he said softly attempting to get his niisan to meet his eyes, not stopping until he had his full attention. His eyes were gentle and open as he looked in the guilt-ridden face. He could see his niisan fighting desperately not to cry. Quivering lips threatened to crumple before firming up. Hitching breaths shook the too-slender form as the boy fought for composure.

"First, Onion was—is—a pedophile. He preyed on your weaknesses and your defenselessness. You were a child. Dear god! Carrot, you were a six-year-old child, luv. He knew better. You fought him. You fought for me, to protect me," he exclaimed softly, holding Carrot's eyes willing him to believe him.

"I should be the one ashamed. Mother managed to get me to a safe place, and all I did was cry for you," he said tracing a gentle finger under wet eyes.

Carrot frowned as he said, "But you were a baby…" He faltered and then stopped upon seeing the smile on Marron's face. "You were a child, I was a child," he said tentatively peering up at Marron and was rewarded by the widening of the smile on Marron's face.

"We weren't to blame," he continued determinedly, with a firm nod of his head, hearing the voices saying a chorus of 'we told you so's. He scowled at them to shut them up. Marron wondered what that look was for, forgetting the thought as Carrot turned his attention back to him.

Then something Marron said struck him as he asked, "How did you know that...what I…that I did what I did to protect you?" He cringed at the babble of words and hoped that Marron understood.

"Mother made copies of tapes that Onion had made of his sessions with you," Marron said, his arms protectively tight around the suddenly pale and rigid form in preparation for the inevitable reaction to this announcement.

"Nooo," Carrot moaned, his hand clamping across his mouth to hold back the sickness he felt roiling in his stomach. Quickly getting them off the bed, Marron raced to the bathroom just in time to position Carrot over the toilet. Gracelessly he emptied the contents of his stomach, crying at the thought of anyone seeing the tapes.

Marron flushed the toilet and, wetting a cloth, washed his niisan's face with it. Carefully, as though he feared breaking him, he picked up shivering boy in his arms and carried him back to the bed. Settling him on the bed and then getting in himself, he pulled the shuddering boy firmly into his lap and stroked the shaking back.

"We didn't watch it all," he said in the silence trying to comfort him.

"We?" Carrot moaned at the thought.

"We," Marron confirmed gently, trying to soothe his niisan. "Our mother had left a box with Cinnamon and gave me the key. Cinnamon brought the box here and there were tapes inside. We managed to get through about ten minutes of the first tape before we were all heaving our guts out. Eclair threw a statue through the TV to stop it."

"Tira and Chocolate too," Carrot queried in a small, tremulous voice.

"Yes," Marron said, his arms tight around the shivering form for comfort.

"I'll never be able to look at them again," he moaned into Marron's chest, small sobs shaking his body.

"Oh, luv, they've known for over a week now. Has their behavior changed towards you? No, it hasn't. They still love you and are your friends. When we realized what Onion was doing, it took a lot to stop us from going over to the house and carving Onion to pieces," he said trying to get Carrot to smile, which he did when the boy imagined gentle Tira with a knife in her hands and vengeance in her eyes.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Marron asked observing the small spark of amusement in Carrot's umber eyes.

Carrot shook his head firmly.

"Ask Mama what happened that night. Chocolate and I got into a fight over the letter opener before I won. Then she found a hunting knife and gave one to Tira. We were headed out the door when Mama stopped us." Marron remembered that night with a rush of protective wrath.

"We wanted to make him pay for hurting you. We wanted to slice him and watch him die of a thousand cuts, slowly and in agony," Marron growled, lost in the memory of that night. A gentle hand on his face brought him back to Carrot's worried face. He broke into a shy smile as Marron's attention focused back on him.

"I'm glad you didn't," he said quietly. "I like this ending much better," he added with a small smile peering up at Marron. He yawned suddenly, looking astonished at his tiredness.

"You're tired," Marron remarked with indulgent amusement as his niisan’s big eyes tried to stay open.

"I don't know why."

"Well, after the day you've had, I think you have cause to be a little tired," Marron mocked gently, pulling on a messy lock of hair. "Come on, let's get you to bed. He prepared to move off the bed to let his niisan sleep, but was startled by the sudden rigidity in the body on his lap,
wondering at the cause.

"Can…c-c-can you stay? Until I fall asleep?" Carrot pleaded in a stammering rush, quickly looking down, ashamed to sound so needy.

A hand gently raised his face as Marron said, "I'll be happy to stay until you fall asleep. Just let me go change. I'll be back. I'll bring you something to sleep in too, okay?" He wanted nothing more than to erase the look of unhappiness on his niisan’s face. A fierce exultation shot through
his body when he received a tentative smile in return. Quickly he kissed the boy on the cheek before getting to his feet and heading out the door to the waiting crowd of people. They all started asking questions as soon as the door shut behind him.

Raising a hand to quiet them he said, "Look, right now he's okay. He's tired and sleepy and wanted me to stay the night with him. I'm just getting something to wear and getting something for him to sleep in too. We’ll all talk in the morning, okay?" Marron was anxious to get back to his niisan, missing the warmth of his body.

Gateau frowned, wishing that Marron would be a little less impulsive about the situation with his brother. He snorted thinking that he would never have used the words 'impulsive' and 'Marron' in the same sentence before Carrot came in their lives. He just didn't want Marron to get hurt.

Marron watched everyone leave and sprinted to his room. There he changed into his usual night attire: a pair of black silk pajama pants; no shirt since Eclair always wound up taking his and Gateau's to sleep in. Quickly snagging a blue pair that he had that were too small for his long legs, he headed through the connecting bathroom back into Carrot's room.

Seeing Carrot start at his entrance, he explained, "Your room connects to mine." He watched, entranced, as a small shy smile appeared on Carrot's face when he looked around at the richly appointed room.

The room back home was stark in comparison to this room. But the best part of the room, he thought as he struggled into the pants Marron had tossed him before turning his back politely to give him privacy, Was that he was close to Marron.

"Ready," he said with a cheerfully forced smile. He waited for Marron's reaction when he saw his half-naked body and the pale, silvery lines of old whip marks crisscrossing his chest and the redness of the latest. Other that a slight narrowing of his eyes, Marron said nothing.

Carrot sighed in relief as he climbed back into bed. He waiting until Marron had climbed in on the other side and cut off the light before scooting closer. He wanted to feel his arms around him again, giving him comfort and feeling safe. He wiggled with joy as a long arm came out of the darkness and pulled him close. With a smile, he slept and, for the first time in over fourteen, he sleep without nightmares, without waking as each of the Church family and Misu family made their way up to check on the boys. The females smiled softly at the picture the two boys made, curled up like puppies, while Gateau frowned hoping that Marron wasn't making a mistake.

* * * *

The next couple of days and nights followed a predictable pattern. During the day Carrot was a chatterbox, always talking about anything and everything. Clearly nervous around Gateau, making sure to keep a respectable distance between them. He was always charming towards any female in sight, especially if she was pretty. The female would react in one of two ways:
with a giggle and smile or with a blank look wondering about the intelligence of the boy in front of her.

But around 5 or 5:30 pm he would get quieter and quieter until they began to look at him with concern. It wasn't until Stella finished her last conference call and announced that it was 5:30 pm that she understood the significant of the time. Fury filled her body and she shook with rage. She tried to calm herself as Dota and Cinnamon looked at her with concern.

"That bastard," she hissed, her eyes nearly glowing with rage. "That fucking bastard." Angrily she paced back and forth, desperately trying to calm herself before she appeared in front of the family.

"Stella, what’s wrong?" Cinnamon asked anxiously. She had been hired as Stella's social secretary, taking the burden off of Dota and allowing her more freedom to be with her fiancé.

"Every day, Carrot starts getting quieter around five-thirty. I just figured out why. It's quitting time!" She watched the other two women pale in fury and snarl as the realization clicked in their minds.

Gradually they calmed themselves in order to present the picture of composed tranquility. Gateau and Marron exchanged glances when the women entered. The two weren't fooled one bit and decided to corner the three women as soon as possible after dinner.

When they heard the explanation, they, too, growled and had to calm themselves. Together, they all vowed to help Carrot overcome this.

They retired to bed to seek their rest.

Carrot paced in his lonely room as he waited until Marron was asleep before creeping into his room and climbing gingerly into his bed. He snuggled against his side for comfort. Ever since the first night after he had arrived, he did this and snuck back out at the light of day. However, on the third day, he overslept and was caught.

Gateau walked into the bedroom to wake Marron for their early morning jog and discovered Carrot wrapped around Marron. He stood frowning over the pretty picture they made as Marron slowly awoke.

Marron opened his eyes to see his friend frowning at him and asked why he was frowning.

His eyes widened when he felt arms wrapped around him from behind. Twisting his neck he realized that Carrot had crept into his bed sometime during the night. Without waking me, he thought in astonishment. He turned back to Gateau with a puzzled frown as he struggled to untangle the arms wrapped around him. Every time he got one arm off and started working on the other arm, the first arm would come back. This continued and Gateau was bent over laughing, seeing the frown of concentration on Marron face as he tried to escape without waking Carrot.

It wasn't until he asked for help from Gateau that he was able to get free, but at the cost of terrifying Carrot. He realized this as he felt the body behind him jerk away at the touch of Gateau's hand on his arm. The boy screamed. He heard Gateau gasp at the sight of Carrot's lash-marked body. Quickly flipping over he dragged the shaking boy into his arms. He murmured reassurances and endearments against the shell of the boy’s ear. While he soothed the shivering Carrot, he signaled Gateau to leave, knowing Carrot wouldn’t relax in his presence.

Quietly whispering "I'm sorry" over and over into his ear, he gently calmed the quaking body in his arms.

Waiting until he had calmed sufficiently, Marron asked, "How long have you been sneaking in the bed with me?" He felt him stiffen and slowly stroking the tension from the slender back.

"Since the first night," came the shamed reply. Marron was floored at the thought that Carrot had been creeping into his bed all this time without triggering his deadly reflexes.

"Tell you what," Marron said, raising the woebegone face to his, "Every night, you have my permission to sleep in here with me." He smiled and was rewarded by the wide grin that split Carrot's face. He leaned up for a swift kiss before bouncing out the door, a cheerful song drifting over his shoulder.

Marron smiled indulgently. I have the bounciest niisan in the entire world, he thought with an amused shake of his head before getting out of bed and dressing to go jogging with Gateau.

He decided to take Carrot shopping that day to buy him clothes. He didn’t want him anywhere near the Glace residence and he sure as hell want Carrot to have anything from that place. After their jog, he ran up stairs and changed.

He located the little chatterbox flirting with one of the giggling maids. Quickly he seized his arm and dragged him away while Carrot shouting to the girl, "Call me," before being pulled down the stairs. Bouncing along side his taller brother, he asked brightly, "So, where’re we off to." He expected the answer to be the Library, the Den, or the Family Room so he was shocked still at the reply of The Mall. Marron, feeling the resistance in the hand, looked back wondering what was wrong with Carrot. Upon seeing the shocked look on Carrot's face, he, trying to ease away the frown he saw gathering in the wide eyes, said quickly, "I just want to buy you some new clothes. You can't be very comfortable wearing mine all the time."

"You want to buy me clothes?" Carrot said softly, incredulity and written across his expressive face.

"Uh yeah," Marron replied tentatively, hoping that Carrot would agree and not fight him on this. He wanted to give him so much; he hurt with the need to give his niisan anything he wanted or needed.

Carrot looked into the pleading eyes of his otouto and jumped into his arms with a glad cry, trying manfully not to cry over this beautiful, generous boy that was his beloved brother. His lips quivered before he buried his face in Marron's neck and his legs wrapped around Marron's waist.

Marron staggered back against the wall with his welcome burden. Feeling the wetness on his neck, he gently stroked Carrot's back waiting for him to calm down, to tell him what was wrong.

Gaining control over his emotions, the boy lifted his head and said simply, "You are the most generous person in the world. No one's ever taken me shopping before." Marron blushed at the praise, and Carrot watched the redness creeping into his cheeks with delight before swiftly kissing each red cheek and unwinding his legs to slide down to the floor.

Seizing Carrot's hand again he pulled him out the door and headed off to the local mall.

Trying on clothes in the various shops, Carrot wondered what he had done to make Marron want to torture him. He now had enough clothes to last him for several years. He whimpered as they entered another clothing store and wearily leaned against Marron's side, holding tightly to his hand for comfort. A salesman approached wiggling his hips, eyeing Marron lustfully up and down, and licking his lips.

"What may I help you with," he breathed, eyes gleaming at the thought of helping the beautiful boy in and out of his clothes.

Marron, recognizing the look in the man's eyes, simply ignored him, squeezing Carrot's hand in reassurance at the fear he could feel radiating against his back.

"We only need a couple of things from here and then we can go back home, okay," he whispered quietly, ignoring the slavering salesman as he pulled Carrot to him.

"Okay, but this is the last one," Carrot said shakily. He was so tired, and he certainly didn't like the way the salesman was eyeing his otouto. He moved slightly in front of Marron and narrowed his eyes fiercely at the twitchy salesman, who drew back in alarm from the fierce little creature
with the messy hair. Just my luck, the man thought in disgust, He's already got a boyfriend and a jealous one at that. With that he turned off the charm and politely escorted them to the appropriate section of the store.

Marron selected several outfits for Carrot to try on as the poor boy, aching and tired, stood by wearily. Marron directed his weary niisan to the dressing room. Poor Carrot was so tired that he didn't even bother glancing at the outfits Marron shoved at him; he just took them and stumbled into the dressing room. There he dressed in the clothes and, not even bothering to look in the mirror, walked out.

The salesman gasped at the picture Carrot made framed against the red doors of the dressing room. Marron's eyes narrowed as he looked at his niisan wearing in the black, slim fitting jeans and the almost sheer black top. Wearily Carrot waited for each subtle nod before he turned away and changed again. The salesman was in heaven watching the modeling session. Each
selection was more heart stopping than the last.

The salesman, watching Marron's impassive face as he tentatively said, "Your boyfriend has the body for the clothes that you chose for him."

Marron turned and directed a cool look at the man. "He's not my boyfriend, he's my brother," he said coolly before turning away again.

Yippee, the salesman nearly screamed with joy internally, I still have a chance. Again he turned on the charm especially since that Carrot was still in the dressing room.

"Is there anything I can help you with," he purred, moving closer to Marron who didn't move as he gazed at the dressing room door.

Carrot head lifted with a jerk as he sniffed the air lightly. A growl twisted his lips as he banged out of the dressing room and looked at the salesman oozing charm at HIS otouto. Marron's eyes widened at look of naked aggression on his niisan's face.

Stalking forward, eyes blazing he slid between the two, getting up in the suddenly terrified salesman's face, he hissed, "Don't you know the meaning of BACK THE FUCK OFF? Because if you don't, I'll be glad to show it to you—in extreme detail." Deadly rage filled his eyes until he felt a gentle touch on his back. Quickly he backed into the soothing touch, feeling the rage deliquesce under the stroking fingers.

"We'll take everything I picked out, plus the clothes he's wearing," Marron said calmly, continuing his soothing stroking of his almost purring niisan. He gave the man his credit card and watched him goggle at the platinum card and the name on it.

"Certainly, Mr. Church, sir," the salesman babbled out, getting away from the terrifying smaller man.

"Want to tell me what that was all about?" Marron whispered into Carrot's ear, gently enfolding the smaller figure in his arms.

"No," Carrot answered sulkily, his lower lip thrust out in a pout as Marron gently turned him around. Placing a nibbling kiss on his neck, he listened to him giggle at the sensation. He did it again and again, delighting in the giggles shaking the slender frame.

"Come on, tell me," he breathed into Carrot's ear, his hair hiding what he was doing from the salesman.

Carrot sighed. "He annoyed me. You weren't interested and he still kept trying to touch you," he said in an aggrieved tone.

"Gateau touches me. So does everyone at home."

"Yeah, but they're family and…" he faltered unable to put into words why the thought of the man's hands touching his otouto made him want to rip the man's face off.

"Here's your card, sir, and your packages," the salesman.

Marron murmured thanks. He reached to take the card from the man's hand, but Carrot, issuing a low growl, snatched both the card and packages first. He handed the card to Marron and, retaining the packages, seized Marron's hand and pulled him from the store.

"Carrot we ARE going to talk about this when we get home," he informed him, halting and looking down into his niisan's sulky face

"Fine," Carrot said angrily. He was determined NOT to talk about it when they got home. He had no idea why he was so angry with the salesman in the first place, and, if he didn't know for sure, he sure as hell wasn't about to admit that to Marron.

Marron searched his shadowed eyes and sighed as he read the resistance in his niisan's eyes; they'd only been around each other for a few days, and he already knew it was going to be like pulling teeth to get an answer out of him.

"Come on," he said quietly, gently tugging at the smaller boy. He chuckled tenderly at the sulky face of his niisan and pulled him into a one-armed hug, unaware of a pair of dark eyes that widened at the sight of Carrot with strange, young boy. Zaha smirked at the thought of telling his stepfather that he had seen Carrot with a most beautiful stranger.

The ride home was silent until Carrot screwed up his courage and began talking—babbling actually—to fill the uncomfortable silence between them. Marron reached out and grasped his niisan's hands, gently squeezing to let him know that everything was alright between them. Hearing the happy sigh, he smiled.

If he was able peer into the future, he would have known that the next day was going to bring turmoil back into their lives.

* * *

Onion returned home from his business trip wanting only three things: a hot shower, Carrot's lips wrapped around his cock and Carrot's tight ass impaled on his cock.

He walked down the hall to his room and passed Zaha going the opposite direction. Putting a hand out, stopping the young man, he asked jovially, "Could you asked Carrot to see me in my study in about a 45 minutes. I've got a surprise for him."

Zaha smirked inwardly. "Oh, Carrot hasn't been home for the past several days. I saw him at the mall with a rather beautiful boy. They seemed to be very...fond of each other," he drawled out, carefully watching for his stepfather's reaction to the news that his little fuck toy had someone else.

His efforts did not go unrewarded; his stepfather stiffened and rage glittered in his eyes.

"What did you say," he grated out. Zaha stepped back, a little fearful of the look in Onion's eyes.

"The Misu sisters took him to a fair or something the day you left and he hasn't been home since. I saw him at the mall yesterday, hanging on some boy," he stammered out.

Those fucking girls, I'll twist their little necks. I'll teach them not to interfere in my business, Onion thought venomously as he stalked away from his trembling stepson. Reaching his study, he picked up the phone---stabbing at the buttons and dialed the Misu household.

* * *

"Hello," Tira chirped into the voice piece.

"Where is my son?" a cold voice growled into the phone.

"Excuse me," Tira said quietly, quickly motioning Chocolate and their mother over to the phone.

"I said, ‘where is my son?’ Zaha said that you and your sister," he spat out, "Took Carrot to some sort of event and he never came back home. You know how mentally unstable he is. Now I'll ask you again, where is he?!" He was virtually screaming the last words into the mouthpiece.

"Carrot won't be coming back to your house, Mr. Glace. He's decided to stay with Stella Church and her family. They suit him much better," Tira said coolly into the phone. Inside she was shivering with fury. She had never thought she could possibly hate another human with such passion until Onion Glace.

"What do you mean, he's not coming home? And how the hell does Stella Church know Carrot," he asked coldly, furious that his plans were being overset.

"We introduced him to them," Tira said and hung up the phone, snatching the coat Chocolate tossed to her. They jumped into the car and hastily departed for the Church residence.

"Chocolate, call Stella and let her know that Onion may be on his way there," Cinnamon said calmly as she raced through the city with a fine disregard for the city's posted speed limits. Onion was far closer to the Church residence than they were and would probably beat them there.

Onion growled as he slammed the phone down and strode out the door. "When I get the little bitch home, I intend to flay the flesh off his back," he snarled to himself as he got into the car and drove to the Church's residence.

Carrot sat on the couch of the recently remodeled family room getting ready to enjoy a comedy/horror that Gateau had rented. He now sat curled up next to Marron with Gateau on the other side of Marron. When they had first sat down, Marron had been at the end and Carrot had curled up next to him. When Gateau and Eclair had entered the room with munchies, Carrot had initially took no notice of them other than a wary eye while he chatted animatedly with Marron. It was only when Gateau took the seat next to him that he abruptly fell silent, sitting tense and faintly shaking at the bigger boy's closeness. Pressing closer to Marron, as he stared unseeingly at the blank screen, faint tremors almost visibly shaking his body.

He was trying so hard to control himself and not runaway screaming. He knew he had nothing to fear from Gateau. In fact, the older boy had been nothing but helpful, yet he couldn't help himself. Men had always hurt him. Gateau was a male. Therefore, Gateau would hurt him. He knew he would be closer to winning the war with his instincts if he could just last for five more
minutes. Just a few more minutes, he chanted silently to himself.

Eclair sat frozen beside Gateau. She could feel the deadly tension rippling through the air. She couldn't even turn on the VCR.

Gateau cast a dismayed eye at Marron; he didn't want the boy terrified of him all the time. He had noticed that, whenever he entered a room, Carrot always kept an eye on him as if he expected him to attack him any moment. The boy was getting better at being around him, but he tended to make sure that there was a nice solid object always between them. He was surprised
that the boy had lasted this long sitting next to him.

Marron knew that Carrot was trying to overcome his fear of Gateau, of men in general. He was fearless when he thought he was protecting Marron, but, when it came to himself, he was a terrified little boy waiting to be hurt.

Finally, Marron couldn't take it any longer; Carrot's tremors were getting worse. Gateau made to get up, when a grip of steel on his thigh stopped him. He blinked, realizing that it was Carrot who had stopped him from getting up. Marron eyes narrowed as he settled back to see what would develop. He had a sneaking idea of what Carrot was trying to do.

Carrot abruptly exploded off the couch racing for the window, causing the other three to jump. Leaning out the window, he took deep breaths to calm himself down. I did it, he thought triumphantly to himself, I lasted ten minutes sitting beside him. Composing himself, he turned back to the couch and flushed to see everyone staring at him. He gave a sheepish smile and
tried to play it off with a joke.

"Got kinda hot in here; felt like I was about to pass out. Maybe I'll sit close to Eclair and pass out on her chest," he said with a wink and a lecherous wiggle of his brows at her. Her annoyed glance and chiding laughter had him feeling better.

Marron exchanged glances with Gateau and moved over, leaving a space at the end for Carrot. Carrot smiled and gave Marron a grateful look as he curled up in the space provided and settled down to enjoy the movie.

*

Onion pulled up at the entrance to the palatial mansion and stalked to the door. Quickly calming himself and presenting a smooth, charming façade, he rang the doorbell and was ushered into the home.

"Good evening, I was told that my son, Carrot Glace, was here. If he is here, would you tell him his father is here for him?" he inquired charmingly to a young servant girl. She blushed and stammered that she would fetch him right away. She ran to fetch Carrot, thinking what a wonderful, charming father Mr. Carrot had. With a giggle, she thought, I can see where Carrot
gets his charm. Hearing the sounds of laughter in the family room she turned in that direction, and saw Carrot in the hallway heading in that direction.

"Oh, Mr. Carrot your father is here," she called to him excitedly and drew closer in alarm as he seemed pale and sway on his feet.

He smiled to reassure the girl that everything was all right. "Thank you. I’ll go see to him. Could you also let Marron know that Onion is here for me," he said and smiled. Had she been more observant, she would have seen that the smile never reached his fear-dilated eyes.

"Yes, of course, Mr. Carrot. Is everything alright?" she asked anxiously, feeling that something was out of place or that, perhaps, she had done something wrong.

"Yes, of course everything is okay. Just make sure you let Marron know that Onion is here, okay?" he said over his shoulder, moving swiftly to the confrontation that he was about to have. His stomach churned with fear.

"Well, it took you long enough," Onion snapped seeing Carrot arrive from the shadowed hallway. The mask that had so charmed the young girl vanished in an instant. "Get your fucking things, bitch, and let's go," he ordered, his eyes glittering dangerously; a sign that Carrot was intimately acquainted with and what it would mean to him.

"No," Carrot responded calmly. His stomach was threatening to wrap around his spine, but he stood strong before Onion.

"What did you say to me, boy?" Onion growled lowly, his eyes narrowing to glittering slits. Carrot began shaking as old fears overtook him. Onion's eyes gleamed with satisfaction at the fear in the boy's eyes and a singularly nasty smile crept over his face.

"I said NO!" Carrot said, as fiercely as his shaking voice would allow. "I let you do all those things to me because you said you still had Marron, that you would hurt him or worse if I didn't cooperate. You fucking bastard, I let you fuck and beat me senseless believing that you still had him, and I wasted fourteen years of my life letting you touch me, hurt me, abuse me to keep him safe, while I looked for him. And all this time you never even had him." His voice firmed as rage swept through him.

Brave Carrot, was the thought in the minds of the figures lurking in the shadows of the hallway. Marron wanted to race out and protect his niisan, but knew that it was important for his brother to stand up and face his fears, to face Onion. Marron and Gateau exchanged proud smiles as they listened, waiting for the right time to approach, already having summoned the others.

"What the hell do you mean I never had him?" Onion demanded furiously, wonderingly if the boy really knew the truth.

"He said that you never had me," replied a low, cold voice from the shadowed hallway behind Carrot as Marron walked forward, with Gateau at his back, and slid an arm around Carrot's waist. Carrot backed into the warm support, feeling the arm tighten as Marron registered the shivers coursing through his body.

Onion gasped. "Apricot?! It can't be, you're dead." He gazed in wonder at the pale, elegant figure holding Carrot, not even sparing a glance at the blond boy standing behind the beautiful person.

"No, not Apricot. Marron. So, you do remember me Father," Marron spat out, enraged at the thought of coming from this filthy monster's loins.

"Marron?!" Onion's eyes quickly lost their dazed expression and grew calculating. Seeing the image of the smaller boy clasped protectively in the embrace of the beautiful, elegant Marron, he was swamped with lewd images of the two---naked and writhing against him, against each other. He licked his lips, unaware that his thoughts were fully revealed on his face for them all
to see.

"Well, well, well," he purred as a charming, almost seduction, mask slipped over his face. Marron's eyes narrowed as he saw the look on Onion's face and felt Carrot shake even harder.

"I see that my two boys have....found each other," he smirked. "We thought you were dead, actually. Killed by your mother in a fit of one of her insane rages." His face softened and look of sorrowful compassion graced his face.

Carrot wrenched himself out of Marron's arms and screamed, "Filthy, lying bastard," taking an angry step towards him, his hands balled into fists, hearing a whispered "No, Carrot, " from behind. He stood trembling with rage before he abruptly turned back to the comfort of Marron's chest and protective embrace, feeling nausea rise. He couldn't help remembering all
the things he had let Onion do to him. He felt his stomach heave in protest at the memories.

"The boy's as sick as his mother was, poor things. Always making up fanciful stories. I just never wanted to commit the poor boy to an institution, but I don't see that I have any choice now. Why don't you go get your things, Carrot and Marron, and we'll have a long talk at home, where you both belong," he said, mock parental concern in the forefront as he moved closer to Marron. He stopped when the big blond moved towards him threateningly.

"I'm afraid that you are under some misconception, Glace. The boys aren't going anywhere with you. As a matter of fact, the only thing that's going to happen is that you WILL sign over all parental rights to the boys. You will never get you hands on either of them ever again," Stella informed the startled man as she came down the stairs and stood in front of the boys. The look in her eyes, Onion thought uneasily, was the look of a mother wolf protecting her pups.

"I hope you haven't been believing his fanciful tales," he laughed easily. "The boy is as sick as his mother was, and look at what she did with my youngest child. She kidnapped him and god knows where he's b..." He faltered to a stop and looked, for the first time, at the elegant, expensive cloths that Marron was wearing. He came to the conclusion that Marron was the boyfriend of the big blonde—what was his name?—Gateau. He was obviously supplying Marron with his expensive wardrobe. He smirked. He’d do that and much more when he finally got his boys home.

"Oh, but we do believe him," Cinnamon said from the doorway (the Misus had just arrived). Onion whirled to face her, them, and the look on HER face was scary. For the first time, he was seeing her true face, and what he saw shook him a little.

"Surely, you don't think I..." he gasped out, incensed at the thought that these people believed Carrot.

"Surely, I think YES!" Cinnamon said coldly, mocking him.

He stiffened ramrod straight and said quietly, as if what he was about to said pained him, "Well, Ms. Church, since you are my boss, I'm not going to protest or argue with you. You may believe any disgusting," he allowed his eyes to water and his voice to quiver, "thing you want. However, I would like to say that my son Carrot has emotional deep problems. I thought that
he was getting over them, but I obviously see that he's not. I don't know how my other son got here, but I will take them both home now." His eyes hooded at the thought of getting Marron home and the delightfully nasty things he would do to the two of them.

Carrot started shaking harder at his words. He knew what would happen if Onion took him away, them away. His stomach heaved alarmingly. He looked up at Marron with miserable eyes and quietly said, "I think I'm going to be...," and before he could finished he was messily sick over himself and Marron. He started crying; he was so ashamed and embarrassed.

"Marron, take him upstairs and calm him down," Stella said gently as Marron scooped his trembling brother up into his arms and started up the stairs.

"Hey, where are you going with your brother. I don't know how you got here, but you bring him back down here this instant. I'm taking you both home with me right now. Carrot needs to take his medicines," Onion protested, seeing Marron swiftly ascend the stairs.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Stella inquired with a sweet malicious smile, "I adopted Marron about fourteen years ago. He's Marron Church, your new boss. And since Carrot is of legal age and Marron too, I'm afraid that they are going nowhere with you." The venom dripping from her words stunned Onion.

His eyes narrowed as he glared at her. He now knew that she was his enemy.

"Well, I may not have any rights to Marron, but I have plenty of rights to Carrot. I have medical proof that he has an emotional mental problem," he said arching his brow as if to dare her to call him a liar.

"And you, Onion Glace, are a child molester. One that has been abusing and raping his own child for over fourteen years. If you think that I'm going to allow that boy back into your possession, you are out of your MIND." She had begun quietly, but ended in a near roar, vibrating with rage to hurt, to maim him. As one they all stepped forward, growling with the urge to rip Onion to piece, to make him pay for hurting Carrot.

Onion took a swift look around at the menacing faces and tried to scoff at the claim. "A child molester, is that what he's told you? My god, I've always known he was sick, but this," he wave his hand expressively, "This goes beyond what he's done in the past. I'm afraid that this time I’ll have find him a good home, someplace where qualified people can help him help himself." He shook his head, the very image of heart wrenching parental concern, unaware that they already knew the truth.

"Fuck you," Tira said quietly, her voice almost explosive in her quiet intensity.

"What did you say, young lady?" he gasped angrily, "Cinnamon, I think you had better teach your daughter some manners. Speaking to me like that." He snorted with indignation.

"Actually she's being rather mild, considering all the things I want to say to you," Cinnamon answered as savage smile crossing her face, giving her the appearance of a mother lioness protecting her cubs.

"Did you really think we are that stupid, that we wouldn't notice or be concerned with his appearance, his attitude changes? At first we thought that you were physically abusing him, we were willing to go to jail to get him from you. But when we saw the tapes..." Tira choked to a stop. Tears of rage glittered in her eyes as her mother took her in her arms.

"Tapes, what tapes?" What tapes, they couldn't know, he thought frantically. All his plans would be ruined; he would be ruined if they knew. He knew these bitches wouldn't be able to keep their fucking mouths shut.

"Apricot made copies of the tapes you made of your ‘sessions’ with Carrot," Cinnamon said simply as Onion froze in shock at the words.

"This is what you will do: You will leave this house immediately. I will have lawyers at you house tomorrow and you will relinquish ALL parental custody of the two boys. If you do this, I won't release the tapes to the media," Stella said coldly, determined to fight for her boys. And they are
all my children, she thought wonderingly, including Tira and Chocolate.

"You wouldn't dare," Onion spat out, knowing he had lost, but determined to go down fighting. "You wouldn't hurt Carrot like that. Think of what it would do to him." He was still confident that they would back eventually down and he would be able to reclaim the boy.

"You forget that with the amount of money I possess. I can swiftly have Carrot out of the country and away from the media frenzy that will envelop you. The media will rip you to shreds and the rest of us will be sitting someplace, perhaps on a beach, laughing as they take you away in chains," she continued coldly, a look of dark joy on her face at the thought of his coming humiliation.

Onion paled, imagining the situation going down exactly as she said. He stiffened. They had to be bluffing. Apricot didn't have the intelligence or courage to do something like that, he thought smugly, content with this thought.

"You're bluffing," he said smiling coldly. He saw them hesitate, glancing at each other. Aha, he crowed to himself, I've called your bluff. Now what are you going to do you fucking bitch, he sneered silently at Stella.

Stella sighed. "Eclair, go get a tape and put it in the VCR." Eclair ran and quickly selected a tape and placed it in the VCR before reporting back.

"Mr. Glace," she said, her lips twisting as if she had tasted something nasty in her mouth, "After you." She gestured towards the direction of the family room.

*

Upstairs, Marron got Carrot into the bathroom. Carrot was shaking so hard that he couldn't even undo the buttons on his fouled shirt. His fingers were slimy as were the buttons. Marron quickly shucked his befouled shirt and helped Carrot out of his cloths. Then he got him in the huge shower stall and turned on the water. He swiftly stepped in getting his pants wet upon seeing Carrot collapse on the floor of the shower. He quickly peeled off his pants and tossed them onto the tile floor and gently picked Carrot up. Holding the shaking and shuddering boy against him until he became calm. Gently he ran his hands up and down the shuddering back and waited for the shaking to ease.

Grabbing the shower gel, he swiftly lathered up a cloth and began washing the smaller body pressed against him, murmuring soothing nonsense into the shell of his ear. Feeling the quaking slowly subside and knowing that Carrot was listening, he quietly said into his ear, "I was so proud of you." He leaned back and looked into his niisan's wide eyes. A tender smile curved
his lips.

"Y-you were?" Carrot stammered out, blinking furiously against the water dripping from his wet hair. A warm glow spread through him at the praise. "But I was so weak and cowardly. I was terrified and shaking like a leaf. If it hadn't been for you holding me up, I would have collapsed on the floor. And then to thrown up all over you."

"You were terrified, but you STOOD up to him. You were shaking like a leaf, but, Carrot, you defied him. You were strong not weak," Marron reassured him. He grasped Carrot's face between his palms and searching the wide eyes, willing him to believe him.

"You think so," Carrot asked, a shy, pleased smile crossing his face at the words. I did stand up to the bastard, he thought wonderingly, I did it! And a wide grin settled on his face. Marron, seeing the look, braced himself.

"Yeah!" Carrot cried, jumping up and wrapping his legs and arms around Marron. "I did it!" he crowed, flinging back his head in delirious joy. Marron gritted his teeth to stop his body from reacting to the wet, naked body rubbing against him. An involuntary reaction, he told himself grimly.

Abruptly, Carrot jumped down, and Marron sighed in relief. Then groaned as Carrot turned around and pressed back against him, lifting his face to the water. Grabbing Marron's hand with the washcloth, he swiftly turned around and began washing Marron's front.

"Yeah, we showed him," Carrot said fiercely as he washed Marron's chest and stomach, still thinking the confrontation he had with Onion. He failed to notice Marron's reaction to his touch. Marron swiftly grabbed the cloth back and turned Carrot around, ignoring his protests. He did not wanting to scare his niisan with his obvious hardening. Holding the squirming Carrot with one hand and pushing open the door with the other, he got them out of the warm shower. Quickly seizing a towel, he wrapped one around his narrow hips and grabbed another and proceeded to roughly towel the complaining Carrot. Gradually he gentled the rough toweling until he managed to get Carrot to giggle from the ticklish sensation. Finally, he relaxed seeing the beautiful smile on his niisan's face and feeling his disturbing arousal die down. He wrapped the towel around Carrot's waist.

And pulling the warm, laughing boy to him, he slipped an arm around slender shoulders as they walked into Marron's room. "Do you want to go back downstairs," he asked quietly as he gathered a pair of silk pajama bottoms from the drawer for him and a pair of the new ones for Carrot.

"I dunno, do you think we—I—should?" Carrot asked hesitantly, dropping his towel and pulling on the thin silk black pants. He looked over at Marron, who was just bending over and pulling on his white silk bottoms, and felt a hot, tingling rush go through him. Pressing a hand to his stomach, he wondered if this was the first symptom.

"Carrot," Marron said as he turned and noticed Carrot had a hand pressed against his stomach and an odd expression on his face. He watched as Carrot jerked his hand away and the expression disappeared before Carrot's jester's mask slid firmly in place. He wears it even with me, Marron thought in shock and some anger. His eyes narrowed.

"Aw, it was nothing," Carrot said waving a hand in dismissal, "I was just making sure that I had emptied my stomach. I'd hate a repeat performance." He finished the performance with a wide grin and a wink. He blinked at the cool look Marron gave him. As if he knew I was lying, he thought uneasily and closed his mouth. Shirtless they walked out the room and, hearing the voices coming from the living room, they wandered in that direction. Carrot breathed a sigh of relief seeing that his messy little accident had been cleaned up. Could have been worse, he thought, I could have shit in my pants. I was so scared.

Seeing everyone simply sitting down and talking he wondered.

"What happened to Onion, did he leave," he asked looking around. He avoided eye contact with Marron, who seemed to be angry at him. And I don't know for what, he thought miserably to himself.

"He's watching the tape," Stella said quietly, her eyes sympathetic as she saw Carrot pale alarmingly. He glanced at his otooto before biting his lips and sitting down in a chair. He looked so lost and alone with his arms wrapped around himself for comfort. She and everyone else looked accusingly at Marron, who took no notice as he regarded his niisan. Stifling a sigh he stalked over to the chair, scooped up his squirming niisan, sat down and pulled the stiffening Carrot into his lap.

"I don't need you to comfort me. I'm not weak. I'm not a baby that I need to sit in your lap. I can stand on my own. I'm your older brother, I'm supposed to protect you. Not the other way around," Carrot said quietly, turning to look Marron in the eye.

Marron smiled. "What makes you think it's for your sake that I want you to sit in my lap," he said equally quiet, "Did you ever think that it comforts me to have you so close, to feel you, to touch you and finally know that you are real and not my imagination; to know that my niisan is finally with me. You have no idea how much it comforts me to have you like this." He gestured
to their current seating arrangements. "Of course if you were bigger," he teased trying to get a smile out of his niisan, "I'd be sitting in your lap." He watched with satisfaction as a smile bloomed on his niisan's face. He should always be smiling, he thought with wonder. His face is made for joy.

Carrot leaned his head again Marron's shoulder with a sigh. Puzzled at the looks he was getting from everyone else, he stiffened slightly. Marron accurately reading the looks on everyone's faces, rolled his eyes and glared at them all as they turned away with smirks on their faces. They were getting a big kick out of seeing Marron act mushy with his niisan.

The door to the family room opened. As one their eyes hardened as they turned their attention to the man frame in the doorway. Onion took no notice of them. His eyes were fixed on his two sons cuddled together in an easy chair. Sick rage burned in his eyes as he took in the protective way they clung to each other. He saw the enraged fury glowing in Marron's eyes. He saw how Carrot gently rubbed his hand up and down a tense arm, the look they exchanged at the touch, and how the rage and tenseness ease in Marron's eyes and attitude.

That stupid cunt, he thought foully, if she were alive, I would love to wrap my hands around her fucking throat and choke the life out of that bitch! Knowing that, with the tape, he didn't have a snowball's chance is hell of getting either of the boys, much less Carrot, back into his clutches. He smirked inwardly thinking of his plans. All I need is another eight months. If I can just hold on for another eight months, I'll be able to have both of my boys. I'll still have my revenge. First on those Misu bitches. I know the perfect people that would love to have the two young and sweet and undoubtedly virgin bitches like Tira and Chocolate, and I know just the person for that cunt Cinnamon. As the nasty thought emerged, he nearly laughed at the expression of horror and terror that would soon sweep over the Misu household, or should he say the ‘whore’ household.

Carrot shuddered. He recognized the look on Onion's face and knew that it wasn't over. Not by a long shot. Onion still had some tricks up his sleeve and everybody had better be on their guard.

"Well, Ms. Church, it appears that you have me by the short hairs," he said coolly, inwardly raging at her. He would destroy her. If it was the last thing he did, he would destroy her, see her crushed in the dirt and filth. He would watch the knowledge dawn in her eyes as to who brought her low.

"So it would appear, Glace," Stella said quietly, watchfully. She had faced too many opponents in her life to be a fool at this point. He hadn't given up; he had just changed directions. Her eyes narrowed in calculation. He would bear careful watching. She made a mental to step up their campaign against Onion Glace. She had a feeling that whatever was going to happen would take place within the next few months, and they would need all their resources to battle this evil man.

"I will then await your lawyers at my home tomorrow," he murmured coldly and departed.

Carrot held himself tense in Marron's lap, feeling his hand stroking gently at the small of his back, pleasure easing the tension from his too tight muscles. He shifted subtly in Marron's lap, arching to get more of that wonderful touch. Marron laughed softly at the movement, seeing Carrot's eyes close in pleasure.

"I can't believe it," Chocolate cried out hearing the door slam and the car roar off, "We won!" She excitedly grabbed her sister and they danced in enjoyment at their victory.

Carrot's eyes snapped open as he flowed out of Marron's lap and stalked over to the laughing girls.

"Silly fools," he hissed watching in dark satisfaction as they froze at his tone, "Do you honestly think he's given up this easily, this quickly. Do you think he's risen to the top of Church Corp. without being utterly ruthless." He stalked around the motionless girls.

The others eyes widened at this abrupt change in Carrot's attitude. One moment he was sweet and cuddly in Marron's lap and the other he was this dangerous predatory creature. Syrus' eyes narrowed at the change.

"You have no idea of what he's capable of. He perceives you three," gesturing to the three Misu women, "As the weakest link and he will go after you. First Tira, next will be Cinnamon and last will be you Chocolate. He will want you broken and terrified like little mice." He continued, speaking quietly, stepping into Chocolate's face and watching the fear fill her face, "And when you are finally out of you mind with terror he’ll strike, and by that time you will welcome anything and everything he will do to you."

"Back off," Tira said angrily coming out of her horrified daze and pulling her trembling sister into her arms. "Just because he broke you and did that to you..." She broke off ashamed, holding Chocolate tightly in her arms.

Carrot smiled strangely and stepped closer to them, his eyes distant, "Do you remember when you had kidnapped me to get me to the doctor because you thought Onion was abusing me?" He waited for their nods of assent as the other exchanged puzzled glances. Marron waited knowing that something horrible was going to issue from Carrot's mouth.

"Onion found out and took me to this place simply called The House. He intended to put you all there," Carrot said, remembering the horror of that place. His eyes snapped back to the Misu sisters as he reached out a hand and gently stroked Chocolate's cheek. He stepped closer and crooned, "Beautiful, lovely Chocolate with the most beautiful eyes a woman can have, he had such plans for you. He would have put you in with the rest of them, in the Hall of Screams. Your beautiful body dangling from the ceiling, screaming and writhing under the whip as it caressed your bare body with lightening pain; screaming as untold number of strange men savaging your body while you're chained down, pissing on you, shitting on you, cutting strips of flesh from your body, raping you; and when you are finally broken you'll be sold as a slave, collared and branded 'Property of' some other sick bastard. You would have begged for death and he would have laugh as you serviced your 'Master'.

"And I mustn't forget you, my sweet, gentle Tira," he purred switching his attention to the quivering younger girl, "Lovely, quiet Tira. Oh how he would have loved making you scream. You have such hidden reservoirs of strength within you that he's itching break. By the time he and they would be finished with you, you would have been crawling on for them, waving your pretty little ass, doing anything so that they wouldn't hurt you." He circled around her and enfolding her in his arms as he stroked his cheek against hers.

"Stop it, stop it," Tira cried tearing herself out of his arms. Carrot advance on her as she backed up in fear.

"It took me over two weeks of begging him, satisfying him, letting him do every little filthy thing he wanted to me before gave up his plan of putting the two of you in that place," Carrot hissed. "It took me two weeks of total bed rest to heal both the internal and external injuries."

Carrot cocked his head to the side and smiled strangely. "Did you honestly think that Marron was the only one he held over my head." He shook his head watching the horrified realization on all their faces as they comprehended that Onion had also held the Misu family hostage against Carrot.

"But he never broke me, not like he will if he gets his hands on the three of you," Carrot continued calmly turning to leave the room. "I learned a long time ago to sacrifice the outer me and how to protect the inner me. I'll see you upstairs Marron." With that he exited the room leaving a horrified silence behind broken by only Tira and Chocolate's muffled sobbing. Cinnamon hurried over to her sobbing daughters, trying to comfort the girls as they kept crying, "We didn't know, were sorry! We didn't know!"

Syrus turned to Marron, "I need to see him in my office as soon as possible. He has problems I think he hasn't faced yet. I don't care what he says; he's been through too much not to have been affected by Onion's abuse, especially without a support system in place."

"Yes and I'll need to see him also," Mille said quietly. "If what Onion said was true, I'll need to know what medicines he gave Carrot, in addition to getting a full physical and blood work done on him. There's no telling what he's got running through his system."

"Okay, I'll talk to him about coming to see you. Also, Mama," Marron said quietly, knowing that everyone was concerned about his niisan, "I think that we need to get someone to work with Carrot to teach him self-defense. We're not always going to be around and if Carrot needs help, I want him able to defend himself until we can get there."

"I was just thinking the same thing. Also, I want you all assembled in the War Room at eight am. We need to escalate our plans against Onion as soon as possible. Like Carrot, I don't believe for a minute that it's over. In addition, Cinnamon, I think you need to move your daughters and yourself into the house for your own protection. I don't think I like the way he was looking at the three of you. Take a couple of my guards and go home now and pack everything of importance to you and get back here." Stella summoned her bodyguards and gave them orders.

Chapter 3

"Stella, do you remember what he said about The House," Syrus asked without looking at anyone.

"Yeah, what was that all about? He almost had me wetting my pants; he scared me so bad with that nonsense," Gateau snorted and Eclair nodded in agreement.

"It wasn't ‘nonsense,’" Syrus said quietly, his arms wrapped around himself as if for protection. Dota walked over to him and held him.

"What?" Eclair asked uneasily, "He had to have been making it up. People don't really do that shit to other people. Do they?" She turned imploring eyes to Stella.

"During my second year of practice, I had a patient. He was about twenty or twenty-five
years old, with the most ancient eyes I've ever seen. So full of pain, horror and self-loathing that I almost cried the first time he met my eyes. He had been the property of a master, and he still was. His 'master' had fallen in love with him on his first visit to The House and arranged to
purchase him. His 'master' wanted him mentally healthy even if it meant losing him. The things he told me…," Syrus swallowed convulsively. "I couldn't get the nightmare images out of my mind for months. And for Carrot to have been there and for Onion to have threatened to put you there…"

Syrus whirled around, his eyes fierce and raging. "Whatever you need from me, I'm there. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it no questions asked," he grated out stunning everyone. Gone was his usual calm, easy going demeanor. A Warrior stood before them, ready to fly with them into the upcoming storm.

"What happened to your patient?" Marron asked into the uneasy silence.

"He couldn't handle what had been done to him. He committed suicide a year later," Syrus answered flatly, and abruptly left--leaving the room stunned again.

They all exchanged a silent vow: this would NOT happen to their Carrot!

* * *

Carrot lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to deal with the horror of what had almost happened to Tira and Chocolate. Onion didn't know how close he had come to breaking him. All would have been lost. If he had broken, he shuddered, there would have been nothing to stop HIM from waking. He quietly spoke with the others in his mind as they helped him cope, unaware that Marron had slipped into the room and watched the different expressions cross Carrot's lively face. Almost as if he's talking to someone, he thought uneasily and quickly shook the thought from his mind.

He crawled into bed and watched as Carrot started and turned to look at him. Marron almost pulled back as something almost alien slid behind Carrot's eyes before he put on his usual jester's mask, bright smiling eyes and a wide grin.

Carrot came back to the surface, finding Marron looking at him, an inscrutable expression on his face. Carrot quickly hid behind his façade, forcing a smile to his face. A smile that slowly faded under the unrelenting expression on Marron's face. Solemnly they gazed at each other. Each seeking to see past the other's expression, to see into the other's heart.

Marron sighed and turned away, switching the light off on his side of the bed. Reaching out a long arm he gathered Carrot to him. Carrot squirmed happily in the embrace, always happy whenever he had his otouto holding him.

"Why do you do that," came a quiet voice out of the moonlit darkness, slowly stroking his back.

"Do what?" Carrot asked puzzled, looking up a Marron's shadowed face.

"Put on that mask, that jester's mask that you hide behind," was the quiet response. Feeling the slender body tense in his loose hold, Marron tightened his arms in anticipation of Carrot's move to get away.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Carrot said, his heart racing in fear.

There was a flurry of movement and a rustling of sheets as Marron flipped them over and held Carrot's hands trapped above his head.

"Don't ever do that again, don't ever lie to me. Keep your fucking secrets," Marron hissed, looking down into Carrot's frightened face. "I know that there are things that you're not ready to tell me yet, and if you don't want to tell me that's okay, just tell me that. But don't treat me like I'm a goddamn fool, like you treat everyone else. And don't you ever fucking lie to me again. Do you understand me?" he grated out, waiting until he got Carrot's frightened acknowledgment before rolling off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Carrot asked timorously, watching Marron stalk away.

"I'm going to sleep in the other bedroom. Right now I don't even want to see your face, much less want to talk to you, I'm so angry," Marron said over his shoulder and disappeared through the doorway.

Carrot sat up, pulling his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He rocked back and forth. Tears pooled in his eyes and he sniffed them back, trying manfully not to cry. He drew a shuddering breath, feeling his chest hurt from the threatened tears, and got out of bed and climbed into the window seat. Through the cold glass he stared at the uncaring moon
above.

["I screwed up guys," he said miserably with despair-bowed head to the shadowy figures encircling him.]

["No you haven't," a figure argued, "You need to talk to him. Tell him what you can and say him that you'll tell him the rest but not right now."]

["You heard what he said, he doesn't want to see me again or talk to me," Carrot said, tears rolling down his face] On the outside, his expression changed rapidly as they spoke.

["You didn't hear him right. Now he's angry and hurt that you lied to him. He feels that you don't trust him enough and that you are treating him the same way that you treat all the others," said another, moving his head, shadowy light gleaming off horns.]

["What way do I treat everyone?" Carrot asked in honest bewilderment.]

["You've been doing it so long that it’s almost an unconscious reflex. You smile and joke to hide your true emotions, to hide yourself from everyone, fearing that they will not accept you, the real you, if they knew the truth," said another pacing back and forth.]

["It has become a defense that you use to hide yourself. You don't even notice that you're doing it anymore," came the words of another pacing figure, claws clicking on the imaginary floor.]

["You do that so people will take no notice of you. If you act the clown, the jester, people have a tendency to underestimate you and not see the incredibly strong person you are," said another, gliding down from a perch above.]

["Strong," Carrot scoffed, "I'm not strong. I'm weak. What kind a man runs to his little brother for comfort? Seeks comfort in his presence? I cry at the least upsetting news, look at me now." He sniffled back tears and tried to hide behind a derisive sneer.]

["Only in your culture are tears a sign of weakness. ‘Real men don't do this. Real men don't do that.’ So far the only thing we've seen real men do is kill each other in a variety of different ways," remarked another dryly, coiling tighter about a thick pole.]

["Carrot you are an incredibly strong individual. Not many would have survived this long without being broken," came a gentle growl from the shadow.]

["If it hadn't been for you guys," Carrot began only to be interrupted.]

["You were only a cub when he began his abuse and you survived it unbroken until we came along. We only increased the strength you already had within you. You did what few have learned to do: you learned to separate Self and protect it while sacrificing everything else," it snarled.]

[Carrot bowed his head in thought and slowly raised it as he realized what he needed to do. He was scared but he had to see it though. The others nodded their various heads, sharing his thoughts, silently offering him strength as he rose to the surface.]

Marron lay in the bed, facing away from the bathroom, seething. He lay right there and lied to my face, he thought angrily. Seeing something from the corner of his eye, he stiffened. Carrot approached the bed. Carefully he seated himself on the edge and, looking down, plucked at his pants.

"I...I...uhm...I," Carrot took a deep breath and cleared his throat and began again, drawing strength from within, "I wasn't aware of what I was doing. It's become such a habit that I've gotten to the point where I do it automatically. I didn't really know what you were talking about when you mentioned it. No one has ever seen through it." He raised his head and peeked at Marron seeing him watching and listening before continuing.

"There's a lot that I haven't told you, secrets that I'll probably keep for as long as I live." His mouth quirked oddly at statement. "Because I know that you and the others won't want me around anymore or love me if you knew," he added in a near whisper, hurting inside. Seeing Marron sit up and open his arms, Carrot gratefully flung himself in the warm, comforting embrace. Suddenly he felt as if everything would be okay.

"We will always want you and love you. And if they turn their backs to you, I'll always be there. Remember what I told you, if you ever try to leave me, I'll be right behind you, every step you take," Marron said holding him tightly and pressing a kiss on his niisan's head and pressing his cheek to the messy, spiky hair. "All I ask is that you don't lie to me again. If there's something you're not comfortable with telling me, just tell me that and I'll try to understand and not press you until you're comfortable with telling me."

"No more lies," Carrot agreed, happy to be somewhat forgiven.

"Now get into bed," Marron ordered with a slight smile, "My chest is getting cold." He moved back and watched in amusement as Carrot dived under the covers and happily settled against him with a little wiggle.

Marron settled his arms around the smaller figure and tightened his embrace. He knew that what he had to say would probably freak Carrot out, but he was determine to say it.

"By the way, Mille and Syrus want you in their offices tomorrow. Mille for a complete physical and Syrus for therapy." The boy grew rigid with each word until, with a cry, he tore himself out of Marron's embrace.

Yep, freaking out has now commenced, Marron thought dryly to himself as he watched Carrot rant and rave about bloodsucking doctor and shrinks. Barely understanding anything in the flood of words coming from Carrot's mouth, he simply lay back waiting for the flood to subside. Occasionally he heard a word here and there, ‘Leeches,’ ‘Dr. FeelGood,’ ‘Bloodsucking fiends,’ ‘Dr. Touchy Feelie.’ He waited until he heard Carrot begin to repeat himself before he slid out of bed and halted the angrily pacing figure.

"Carrot, you need to do this," he said and firmly restrained Carrot when he tried to jerk away. "You have no idea what the medication Onion's been giving has done to your body and, despite all you protestations that you are all right, I would feel better if you spoke to Syrus. You don't have to tell him anything if you don't want. He won't force you to, okay," he said crouching to peer into Carrot's downcast face.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. You may not like what they find out," Carrot said crossly.

"What will they find out?" Marron asked curiously, wondering at the tingle of dread that rippled through him at Carrot's words.

Carrot sighed. "It's one of the things I'm not comfortable with telling you yet. Maybe by the time the results come through, I'll have worked up enough courage to tell you," he said peering up at Marron earnestly.

"Fair enough." Marron nodded. He led the way back to the bed. Quickly they crawled in, and he pulled Carrot into his arms as they settled down to go to sleep. Thinking of something else, he sat up.

"What is it now," Carrot muttered sitting up as well. He really wanted to sleep now; it had been a long day.

Marron smirked, "I want you to go to school and also take some self-defense lessons."

"Fine," Carrot snapped and pushed Marron down and settled himself over him. "Can we sleep NOW," he asked sarcastically. The annoyance he trying was ruined by a huge yawn that split his face.

"Yes we can," Marron said softly, watching his niisan's big eyes fall shut in sleep. He gently stroked his cheek as he, too, fell asleep.

As usual, sometime during their sleep Carrot managed to turn Marron over so that he was able to spoon against Marron's back—protecting his sleep.

As usual, Gateau went to Marron's room to wake him for their early morning jog. Not seeing Marron and Carrot in the room, he went to Carrot's room and almost busted a gut trying not to laugh at the sight of Marron sprawled over Carrot like a big cat. He met Carrot's wide amused eyes as he idly played with Marron's hair while waiting for him to wake.

Seeing Gateau there, he gently tried to shake Marron awake. Squirming in protest, Marron settled more firmly on Carrot muttering "It's too early, go back to sleep" at Carrot before sinking back to sleep. Feeling his bed shaking and quivering under him, he sleepily opened one eye, and was startled to find himself face to face with Carrot's laughing face. He quickly opened the other eye and was abruptly aware of his sleeping position.

Hearing noises he twisted and looked to see Gateau snickering at him. He sighed and dropped his head on his giggling niisan's shoulder. Silently he wondered what had happened to his well-ordered life. Ever since his niisan had come into his life, everything was topsy-turvy. It was getting harder and harder to tell up from down.

His smiled to himself. He couldn't imagine his life better than this. Sitting up, his smile widened looking down at his laughing niisan, wondering what he had did to deserve such a beautiful person in his life. He made him smile and laugh more than he had ever done so in the past. He made him care about others, letting them into his close knit circle of people he would die to protect, like the Misu family.

Carrot looked up at Marron and saw the smile and asked, "What are you smiling about, mister?"

"About how blessed I am to have you back in my life," was the soft response and Carrot felt tears prickle at his eyes and he muttered, "Me too." Swiftly he pulled Marron down into a hug, kissing his cheek. Each of them held on to the other for the warmth and comfort that they found with each other. Gently, Marron pulled away to dress and go on his early morning jog with
Gateau.

Carrot sighed wearily before throwing the covers back and getting out of the bed. He remembered his promise to Marron to see the Mille and Syrus. As he dressed he muttered to himself, "A promise is a promise."

The days bled into weeks, then into months as Marron and his team of Hunters (Gateau, Eclair, and now Tira and Chocolate) pried into Onion’s finances. Carrot continued his hour-long sessions with the good Dr. Syrus, deftly dodging his questions. He snickered in amusement at the oh-so casual questions about if he had ever had blacked out and lost time; the good doctor Mille was waiting for his third set of test results to come back on Carrot (the first two having been lost somehow in the computer system).

Carrot became more trusting and less wary of them. Gateau’s happiest day was the day that he told a silly joke that had everyone laughing. Carrot punched him in the arm and leaned against him, shaking with laughter. Marron and Gateau exchanged looks before looking away smiling, their eyes wet.

Stella’s happiest day came when Carrot came running into her office shouting, "Mama, tell Marron to stop picking on me, he's being mean." Pouting, he sank into a chair. Marron strolled into the room a few seconds later and she had her mouth open to say something teasingly when his words registered. He had called her Mama. She looked at Carrot and saw the tentative wary look in his eyes and held out her arms to him. Joy bloomed in her heart as he buried his head against her chest. Looking at Marron, she saw the pleased look in his eyes. My sons, my boys, she thought. And from that day on, she was referred to as Mama by the children and Big Mama by the others.

Keeping his promise to Marron, Carrot enrolled at the University. He enjoyed his first day at the university hanging out with Tira and Chocolate between classes while Marron, Eclair and Gateau went to Church Corp. to begin the audit of the company records.

During the second day of school, Carrot came face to face with a smirking Zaha. Fortunately, he had Chocolate and Tira backing him up and holding him steady as they walked past. After that, he made sure that if he was alone and saw Zaha in the hall or anywhere else; he would quickly turn around and get the hell away.

A week into their audit (Eclair and Gateau terrified half the employee with their silent intimidation and Marron the other half with his icy demeanor) Marron started feeling uneasy, as if something was wrong. He jumped up and started pacing back and forth while trying to figure out where the wrong feeling was coming from. Gateau and Eclair had stopped looking through
reports, motioning the others to keep going, as they watched Marron pace.

Abruptly he stopped and, racing out the door, shouted, "Come on we have to get to the school." They jumped up and, with fear clutching at their hearts, raced after him. They knew of only one thing that could have set him off: Carrot.

They jumped into the car and raced to the university at breakneck speed. Fortunately, they got all the green and yellow lights and weren’t stopped by a policeman. They came to a screeching halt outside the building. Marron jumped out and raced to one of the buildings with Gateau and Eclair right behind him.

Twist, turn, left, straight, now right and right again, Marron followed the silent instructions his instincts were screaming at him, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, STOP. He threw open the door to see Carrot struggling desperately between two large men, crying and shouting ‘NO! NO! NO!’ His pants were unzipped and his cock hung out. A dark-haired youth toyed cruelly with it while smirking.

With a roar of fury, Marron flung himself at the dark-haired youth, backhanding him viciously to the wall. Gateau and Eclair, with twin roars of rage, threw themselves at the men holding Carrot. With one heavy blow, Gateau knocked his man to the ground while Eclair disabled hers with vicious kicks to the head and ribs.

Carrot sank to the ground and quickly scooted away to a corner where he tried to fasten his pants with numb fingers. Taking no notice of the war going on outside, he huddled in his head surrounded by the others as they tried to bolster his shaking spirit.

Outside, Marron and Zaha continued fighting, or rather, to be more accurate, Marron continued to play with him. He wanted to hurt him, to make him terrified with the knowledge that he couldn't defend himself, and Zaha was terrified. Every blow that he threw, the boy blocked easily, contemptuously and delivered two of his own. He felt his ribs crack and gasped at the sharp pain. He tried to throw a desperate blow, which the boy caught with one hand. Slowly he began to squeeze. Zaha saw the insane rage in the boy's eyes, the same boy he saw Carrot hugging that day at the mall. He knew that the boy intended to crush his hand, possibly kill him, when a voice interrupted him.

"Marron, see to Carrot," Gateau said urgently from his position as close to Carrot as he dared for he saw how the boy flinched and growled each time he or Eclair ventured too close.

"What's going on here?" demanded the school administrator as he pushed past all the curious students gawking into the room. He gasped when he saw the overturned chairs and desks; the two students lying on the floor out cold; and Zaha on his knees with an arm wrapped around his waist, the other arm held stiffly, and his face white with pain.

Chocolate and Tira, on their way to their next class, saw the commotion and elbowed their way to the front, causing everyone else to glare menacingly at them. They quickly entered the room when they saw Marron, Gateau and Eclair crouching down in front of a corner.

Marron ignored everything else but the shivering, shaking figure of his niisan crouched in a corner. "Carrot," he whispered reaching out a hand to him, "It's me, your little otooto. I'm here, Gateau and Eclair are with me. Nothing is going to hurt you; no one's going to hurt you. We're here, okay? Come on now, let's get you home and cleaned up, okay?" Receiving a tiny nod, he quickly scooped his shaking niisan up. Gateau stepped forward, blocking everyone’s view, while quickly Marron tucked Carrot back into his pants. Shrugging off his jacket, he covered the shaking form up, feeling his heart lighten with the shaky smile of thanks he received from Carrot.

As Marron turned with Carrot, he caught sight of Zaha being helped to his feet by the school administrator who was muttering about the police and pressing charges. Zaha, being in considerable pain and humiliated, blurted out, "I don't get it! He's"—a slight gesture to Carrot—"Been his daddy's little fuck-toy for years, yet he's always rejecting me. At least I'm not his fa—" He stopped abruptly upon seeing the cold, deadly light burning in Marron's eyes again as Carrot whimpered in his arms and hid his face. The students in front stood aghast at what they had heard and then quickly began whispering it back to the others who hadn't.

Tira and Chocolate stepped up to Carrot and stroked his head to calm him. Quietly they whispered soothing words to comfort him.

The school administrator dropped Zaha’s arm as if he had touched something foul and slowly stepped back. "What did you just say?" he whispered in revulsion. Zaha shut his mouth with a defiant look on his face and averted his gaze.

Marron looked down at the shaking bundle in his arms and quickly made a decision. "I want those three immediately expelled from this school," he said quietly, menace evident in each word.

With a quick look of disgust at the slowly stirring boys and Zaha, the administrator said, "Done, and if I had my way this will follow them where ever they try to go." His face was cold. He had just realized with they, Zaha and his henchmen, had been trying to do to the shaking young man.

Turning to Zaha, Marron said coldly, "If you want the truth be at the Church residence at seven p.m. tonight," before striding through the silent crowd, the rest of them following behind him.

Later that day, at a little past 7 p.m., Zaha showed up and was ushered into the living room. He had left a message at home for his mother as to where he was going. Inside he found them gathered in the room waiting for him, their eyes glittering dangerously. Carrot was curled against Marron's side, fear flashing briefly in his wide eyes before he swiftly lowered them, pressing tighter against Marron.

Zaha's lip curled in disgust at the sight. Secretly he wished it was him who Carrot was curled against.

"It didn't take you very long to find another protector," he sneered, "Or are you the little fuck-toy for everybody here." He gestured at the people in the room. He jumped back upon hearing the low growl issuing from Gateau’s throat as he stepped forward. Only Marron’s outstretched hand stopped him.

"I assume that you're here because you wanted to know the truth," Marron said quietly, his eyes glowing with a disquieting intensity and a cold quirk to his lips.

"Yeah. I bet you're gonna give me some song and dance that poor little Carrot was being abused by his father. Well bullshit, he's been willingly fucking his father since he was 16. I ought to know, I caught them at it one time," Zaha said with a nasty laugh, which trailed off at the unreceptive looks on everyone's face.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" he asked, puzzled at their silence. "He's been fucking his own father, his flesh and blood."

Stella ignored him. "In the room to your left is a VCR, when you get in, grab the remote control and turn it on. Then come back out and we'll talk. If you don't, then get the hell out of my house," she said coldly.

Zaha narrowed his eyes before nodding angrily and stalking into the room. "I sure would love to know what the hell could be so important on this tape," he muttered sarcastically to himself.

Gateau and Eclair positioned themselves outside the room with two garbage pails. Five minutes later, Zaha stumbled out, his eyes wild and his hand over his mouth. Gateau shoved the pail at him and stepped away as he began to retch into the receptacle. After clearing his stomach he collapsed to his knees, crying. Harsh, ragged sobs issued from his throat as he looked around
the silent room. Carrot was now curled in Marron's lap looking at him wretchedly with big miserable eyes. Zaha looked at his hands in horror. He wanted to cut them off for daring to touch Carrot.

I'm as filthy and perverted as Onion, he screamed to himself. "Oh god, Carrot. I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you. I'm so sorry," he kept repeating, hoping that someday Carrot would forgive him, that he could forgive himself. He had almost took him by force, twice.

"Oh god, I have to tell my mother," he thought out aloud, "She has to get away from that filthy monster. My God, he's been touching her, sharing her bed!"

"She already knows," Carrot said quietly from his perch, feeling Marron's arms tighten about him, feeling Tira hold his hand in support and Gateau grip his shoulder for courage.

"No," Zaha said after a moment of frozen disbelief, "She couldn't have known. She couldn't have known, Carrot. Why are you lying?"

"She's known since I was ten what he's been doing to me. She called me his filthy little whore and told him to be more careful with the servants as she had to get rid of a couple that had gotten to close to me. Then she told him that he needed to increase her allowance by three thousand dollars." Carrot's words filled the silence as everyone was overcome by the sheer
calculated indifference of Carrot's stepmother.

Appearing in the doorway, stood Moss Glace. She saw Carrot sitting in a strange boy's lap and sneered silently to herself. Marron's lips flattened in rage as he read the cold contempt in her eyes as she looked at Carrot.

A graceful smile on her face, she walked forward, extending her hand. "Ms. Church, how very pleased I am to finally meet you. I've heard so many wonderful things about you that, when I saw Zaha's message about where he was going, I just had to come…" She faltered to a stop as she saw the cold disdain on Stella's face. Glancing swiftly around the tense room, she saw
equal parts contempt, disgust and anger on everyone’s faces, except for Carrot, who had no expression on his usually lively face and Zaha, who was looking at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"Mother, they know," Zaha said quietly, his eyes searching his mother face for clues, for answers, for something to explain away what Carrot had said. His mother couldn't have known.

"Know? Know what darling?" Moss said, fiddling nervously with her pearl necklace. She felt uneasy under the hostile looks directed at her.

"They know about Onion molesting Carrot," Zaha said, carefully watching her reactions. He had to know; he had to know the truth, even if it killed him!

"What?! What has Carrot been telling you?" she cried out with a fine show of anger. "I've told Onion time and again that he needs to get you help. You're always been spreading your filthy lies. This time you finally got someone to believe you." She swiftly turned to Stella. "Ms. Church, please don't believe what he's been telling you. Carrot has emotional and mental problems like his late mother. Onion's always been reluctant to get him the help he needs and...." She was interrupted by Zaha saying "They have tapes, Mother."

They watched the sly cunning flicker briefly in her eyes as she tried to think of something to say.

Zaha said with cold disgust, "Carrot was right; you did know what Onion was doing. My God, Mother! He was only a child, a baby. I would have thought that a woman of all people would have tried to protect him. Yet you, you selfish bitch, all you cared about was your social position and spending money."

Moss gasped. "How dare you talk to me like that. I am your mother! Is that what he's been filling you head with? Don't think I haven't noticed the looks you've been giving him. But he's got property of Onion Glace written all over him." She smirked knowing that she had lost the battle. By now the room was in an uproar. Marron was struggling to get up but hampered by Carrot's determination to hold him down.

She sneered contemptuously. "I see it didn't take long for the little whore to find him a new daddy. Of course this one's a little young though and—" Her words were stopped by a hard slap across her face, which left her gasping in shock and stumbling back against a chair. She held her cheek in numb amazement.

"You are the most disgusting creature I have ever seen. You are not even fit to lick the shit out of Carrot's ass. You are beneath contempt," Zaha added in a cold, hard voice, shaking with rage. Moss was stunned by the burning contempt and revulsion she saw in Zaha eyes, directed at her!

She realized what she had done and tried to hastily make it up to him. "I only did it for you," she cried in a desperate attempt to win her son back. She glared venomously at Carrot, blaming him for turning her son against her.

"As of this moment, I have no mother," Zaha announced quietly, firmly. Iron resolve showed in his face and she knew that she had lost the one person most important to her: her son.

"Mrs. Glace," Stella called out as Moss, defeated, turned to go, "A word of warning, we intend to destroy Onion and everything he holds dear. If you continue to stay with him, you'll get caught up in the crossfire."

"We will show no mercy to anyone that sides with Onion. For what he's done to my brother, I want to watch him writhe in the purest of agonies," Marron said dangerously.

"Your brother," Zaha and Moss gasped.

"Yes, my brother," Marron snapped.

"What is with you and the men in your family," Moss muttered a little to loudly, flushing at the glares she received from everyone and departed quickly.

"I sorry I didn't realize. I didn't know," Zaha said softly trying to gaze at Carrot's averted face. Stiffening, he met Marron’s cold gaze. He knew that Marron would always stand between them. Marron and Zaha exchange wary nods, acknowledging that there would always be animosity between them. Marron saw the look in Zaha's eyes and knew that Zaha still wanted his niisan, but there was no way in hell was he going to let that happen. His eyes narrowed on Zaha.

Zaha bowed in temporary defeat.

"Where will you go, Mr. Torte?" Stella asked quietly, her eyes searching the pale face of the young man. She saw abject self-loathing lurking in his bruised looking eyes and recognized that he was still in shock from the way his hands trembled and his face kept twitching.

"I have a couple of friends that I can stay with for a few days," Zaha said raising his head proudly, not wanting their pity. "My father also left me enough money that I won't have to find a job for while. I think that I'll go out to the West Coast try to find someone to help me deal with all of this, and what I've done to Carrot," he continued in a low quiet voice. He stood tall, making no excuses for his behavior.

Carrot stirred, wanting to reach out to him, but was afraid. He twisted in Marron's lap, looking pleadingly up at Marron and Mama. Stella's lips tightened and Marron's jaw clenched. They exchanged glances and each sighed, not able to resist.

"If you like," she said grudgingly, "I know a couple of people out on the West Coast that are looking for help. It's a somewhat menial position, but room and board are free and you can go to whatever school you want."

"Thank you, Mrs. Church. But no thanks, I think it's time I stood on my own two feet, to be as strong of a man as Carrot is," he said, his eyes resting on Carrot who blinked and flushed, casting his eyes down in confusion. He still wasn't comfortable with people complimenting him.

Marron's arms tighten, he saw the look in Zaha's eyes.

"Take the offer, Zaha," Carrot said in a small voice, resting his head against Marron's shoulder. "Beside your mother was half right about Onion, if she hadn't let him have me, you were next in line for his bed." He didn’t look at anyone. Instead, he picked at a spot on Marron's thigh.

They all froze, realizing who else Carrot had sacrifice himself for. Zaha took a deep, trembling breath before turning to Stella and accepting her offer with tears in his eyes. He refused to shed them, not wanting to cheapen what Carrot had done for him.

Marron stood up carefully and lowered Carrot to the floor before drawing him out of the room. Silently they went up the stairs to the bedroom. "I think I'll go take a shower," Carrot said quickly, running to the bathroom. He turned the shower on, shucked his clothes and stepped into the stall. He stood leaning against the wall before his shoulders began shaking with sobs as he sank to the floor of the stall. He started when he felt warm hands on his shoulders before he relaxed and turned into Marron's embrace. He sobbed out his anger, his shame, his frustration, his helplessness, everything. Wet fists pounded on Marron's chest in rage at what had been done. He cried that he didn't want to do it; he never wanted to do it; why did it have to happen to him? Why? He screamed, sobs shuddering through him.

Marron just held him, letting him cry it all out. The too slender body gradually grew limp. Shuddering breaths shook his frame. Marron drew him carefully up to his feet and into his arms. Stepping carefully out of the tub, grabbing a towel and throwing it over Carrot, he carried the shuddering boy quickly into the bedroom and lowered him to the bed.

Feeling Carrot clutch at his neck, he whispered, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm just getting another towel, I promise." Carrot slowly loosened his arms with a soft "‘Kay," his breath hitching. He watched him carefully, making sure that he kept his promise to come back to him.

Marron hastily ran back to the bathroom, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. He grabbed three more huge towels, raced back out to Carrot. Motioning Carrot up, he laid the two of the towels on the bed and pulled Carrot to him, wrapping him in the third towel. Briskly he rubbed his niisan's slender arms until his skin glowed a rosy color. He knew that Carrot needed this time to regain control over himself.

"She was wrong," Carrot said quietly, watching Marron, trying to make him understand. "I'm not like that."

Marron looked up and observed the bone deep misery in his niisan's eyes with a breaking heart.

"I know, luv, I know." With a weary sigh, Carrot leaned forward and rested his head against Marron's shoulder. He grunted softly when Marron began rubbing his back gently. For a few minutes they sat, each taking comfort in the other's presence, before Carrot moved away and slid off the bed. He walked like an old man. Carefully placing each foot in front of the other, he walked to the dresser and pulled out their pajama pants. Shucking the towel on the floor he pulled on his pants, tossed the other pair to Marron, and crawled into bed. Silently he waited for Marron to get in and spooned himself behind the younger boy as soon as he got into the bed.

* * * *

The days continued as everyone tried to heal Carrot's wounded spirit. The watched with barely concealed joy as gradually his smiles started coming back.

Mille frowned as he received the first reports back of Carrot, wondering what had happened to the others. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

* * *

Mille watched the two boys before him. Carrot had insisted that Marron come with him to Mille's in-house office. They sat side by side in the two chairs facing the man. Carrot fidgeted nervously. His eyes darted around the room while Marron sat calmly, only his glittering eyes belying his calm exterior. He reached over, trying to still Carrot's nervousness, and quietly ordered him to calm down. He knew that it wasn't going to work when he saw Carrot's knee start to jiggle.

Getting up, he pulled a startled Carrot to his feet and guided him over to the couch. He forced the jittery boy to sit before sitting also and pulling Carrot close. Bit by bit he felt the nervous tension in his niisan flow away.

Mille watched with secretive amusement the way that Carrot seemed to be with Marron. He acted as if time was precious to him and he had store up memories. The doctor’s amusement faded as he thought of why they were in here. What they told Big Mama was up to them.

"As you know, I took a blood sample from Carrot and had a couple of tests done. I had certain suspicions about something the moment I saw the resemblance between Carrot and Onion. From all accounts, you, Marron, look amazingly like your mother while you, Carrot, look amazingly like Onion. It puzzled me as to why you were so much smaller than either Marron and Onion." Mille glanced at the puzzled faces before looking down.

He took a deep breath and then continued. "According to the blood analysis, Onion has been feeding you a cocktail of pills over the years, which have effectively stunted your growth. In addition, it appears to also be affecting your moods. This explains your rapid oscillation between different emotional states."

Marron and Carrot sat stunned on the couch. They exchanged a look of bewilderment.

"But why?" Marron almost stammered. "Why would he do that?" Carrot looked down as the reason suddenly dawned on him.

"To keep me weak and under his control. If I had grown big like him, he knew he wouldn't be able to hurt me," he murmured quietly.

"Dear God," Marron whispered, sickened by the stark cruelty of the man.

"Yes." Mille nodded his head, giving Carrot a swift appraising glance. The boy wasn't as scatterbrained as he had thought. Briskly he continued, wanting to be done with the angst-ridden mood, "These mood swings show that your body is beginning to stabilize and recover from the prolonged usage of these chemicals. I think, I hope, that, in a few years time, you'll begin to catch up with your body's intended stature." Mille smiled at the pleased, happy look on Carrot's face.

Carrot made sure that he had a happy look on his face as he twisted to look up at Marron, "You mean that I'll be bigger than Marron?" he said delightedly, a happy glow in his eyes.

"Yep," Mille said with a laugh, looking at the mock-disgusted look on Marron's face.

"Yippee!" Carrot cried jumping up from the couch and bouncing around the room. He was trying to make them believe he was ecstatically happy about the news.

Marron frowned. Something was wrong with Carrot. Marron realized that he was putting on a show for Mille, for them, and a dangerous anger was building in his eyes. Softly he asked, "Mille would you mind leaving us for a moment?" Carrot stopped acting happy. He turned to Marron with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Mille glanced between the two. Something is wrong here, he thought.

"Sure, take all the time you need." Gathering his stuff, he left the room. Quietly he closed the door behind him.

"So, my niisan, you seemed extremely pleased a few minutes ago, yet you don't seem quite so pleased now," Marron remarked quietly, pacing closer to Carrot, his eyes glittering.

Carrot stood steady, his eyes calm. He knew what Marron was getting at. "You warned me never to lie to you, but you never said anything about anyone else." Marron stopped and simply looked at Carrot.

"Do you intend to tell me the truth?" Seeing the answer in his niisan's eyes before Carrot slowly shook his head, he turned away, angry enough to want to punch something.

Feeling a soft hand gripping his arm, he turned to face Carrot, angry words trembling on his lips. They died away the moment he saw the misery lurking deep within the wide eyes gazing up at him. He sighed and opened his arms and, with a choked sob, Carrot dived in to hold him desperately.

"Will you tell me, soon?" Marron murmured into the dark shaggy head, stroking gently, enjoying the way the strands seemed to cling to his hands.

Carrot pulled back and gazed up at Marron. "Soon, I promise, soon," he said earnestly, and received a slow smile in return. He hugged Marron again and walked away.

* * *

Marron, Gateau, Tira and Chocolate were gathered in the War room. They had hit a roadblock while prying into Onion's finances and the records at CC. They had even more incentive now: Stella had a meeting with the American CIA.

Apparently a key component that the company made was defective. So defective that there was no way that it should have passed inspection and been installed on an aircraft. Ten military men had been killed during a routine flight. To find out what had happened, a detailed investigation was launched. It was found that the key component that linked the multiple functions on the plane had failed. The plane was able to get up; however, there was no way to keep the plane in the air or control the landing.

Stella had come back shaken from the interview. She promised to get to the bottom of this sabotage immediately. She had to call on all her contacts just to get the American's to back off. She had a feeling that this could be traced back to Onion Glace. She had them start digging. It seemed as if this was their first solid lead in months.

Marron cursed in frustration and slammed his hand down on the table with a loud smack. He slouched in the chair, frustrated anger clearly evident on his face as he swung back and forth in the chair. He sat at the head of the table with his computer hooked up to the huge screen on the wall. Codes and numbers filled the screen. He felt as if he was somehow failing his niisan. He felt as if he was running out of time.

The others looked at him, feeling his rage and despair. Urgency filled them now. The sense of sand falling through an hourglass was almost palpable.

Gateau looked up from slicing an apple with a sympathetic expression on his face. He knew how Marron felt as they kept hitting roadblocks and brick walls. Even with Tira and Chocolate's able-bodied assistance, it was slow going.

Stella exchanged a quick look with Éclair. They knew how frustrated Marron was becoming. It was important to them all to find the clues they needed in order to bring Onion's world crashing down on him, but to Marron it was most important. He wanted to bring Onion to his knees.

The only way to make his niisan safe was to utterly destroy Onion and all those complicit with his crimes. Making his niisan safe had become his only goal. And he was getting more and more frustrated with the brick walls they encountered. It was as if Onion was out there laughing at them, at him.

Carrot wandered in the room, eating an ice cream cone. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked, casually leaning against the door.

Marron frowned seeing him with the ice cream. "You're not supposed to have ice cream and you know it. How did you get it?" He groaned upon seeing the cheerfully unconcerned look on his niisan's face. The others began snickering behind him.

Carrot smiled easily. "Oh, I just asked Mable for some," he answered naming the head chief on their staff.

Marron eyes narrowed. "I specifically told her not to give you any dairy products. You know that they aren’t good for you," he growled. Laughter erupted behind him much to his continued pique. It seemed as if no one could resist his niisan, not even for his own good.

"But, Marron, I love ice cream," Carrot whined, his eyes sparkling at the annoyed look on his brother’s face and the laughter on the others’.

Good, he thought with satisfaction. He had been standing in the doorway and watching the dark, angry faces on everyone in the room. He had been wondering what everyone was doing in here for several weeks now, and hadn't been too concerned, until he started to notice the angry looks everyone was wearing whenever they left the room. It would take him at least an hour to get Marron calm once he got him upstairs to their room.

Stella glanced at the others and said, "Carrot, we've been looking into Onion's finances and we've been investigating who's selling defective components from CC, which causing untold deaths." She watched Carrot pace around the room before stopping at Marron's chair, studying the screen. "We suspect that Onion is involved," she added, blinking as Carrot threw her an
unreadable glance before looking back down at Marron's computer.

Marron sighed as he got up from his chair, watching in amusement as Carrot plopped down. He stretched slowly, feeling as if he had been sitting at the computer for twelve hours instead of six.

Carrot, without removing his gaze from the computer screen, asked, "Did you save this?" He gestured to the string of codes up on the screen.

"Yeah." Marron watched Carrot in amusement at the intent way he was studying the screen. With a shrug he turned away to talk to Gateau. He saw Mille and Syrus come into the room and warned Syrus away from Carrot with a quick shake of his head. He knew how the doctor's questions were annoying his niisan. Carrot never discussed what they spoke of, but he knew by the tenseness of his body just how annoyed and angry Carrot was becoming.

They all got up and stretched before wandering over to the tray of fruit and water. "I know that the answer is sitting right in front of me," Marron said grabbing a bottle of water. Viciously he twisted the top off and took a long gulp.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Gateau said morosely, picking at a couple of grapes and eyeing Tira. So far, she hadn't responded to his numerous requests for a date, but he wasn't giving up yet. He sensed that she did like him. He just hadn't come up with enough incentive for her to go out with him. Grabbing the bottle of water from Marron, he raised it to his lips and froze upon seeing the display on the screen change rapidly.

Stella stood quietly talking to Mille when a choked cry came from Gateau caused them all whirl around. They watched him stared at the screen in horror as the months of work disappeared in a flash.

"Carrot," Gateau yelled, "What the hell are you—?" He stopped abruptly upon hearing what the oblivious boy was saying.

"…shunt," Carrot muttered, seeing the codes and strings flashing before his eyes "....pause five…four...three...two…one. Resume... left, enter file, shift down, toggle, enter codes." His eyes were focused on the screen alone.

Marron mouth dropped open in shock. "Holy shit," he said quietly, "He's gone further in a few minutes than I have been able to several in months."

They all watched silently as numbers, codes and strings of characters flashed across the screen. They hardly dared to breath.

The silence was broken by Carrot saying, "I'm in, what did you need to know?" with his fingers poised over the keyboard. Stella was the first to recover from shock.

"Bring up his finances." They watched mutely as slim, nimble fingers danced over the keyboard.

"Shit!" Gateau burst out. "It's password protecte—" His mouth closed with an audible snap as a password flashed on the screen. Carrot cut him an inscrutable glance.

"Print it out," Marron asked quietly as Onion's balance sheet scrolled across the screen. Everyone but Carrot gasped.

"Good God!" Mille burst out. "I didn't know being a CEO paid so much." Disbelief was plainly visible upon his face.

Stella studied the numbers with cold, narrowed eyes. "It doesn't. I think we have our first—" She stopped speaking as the screen changed. Freezing, she read the information contained there. Her eyes flickered to Carrot's still face. He turned to look at her—expressionless.

"Carrot," she said carefully, "What can you show us about Onion? Do you have access to everything on him?" Carrot replied with a slow nod, his eyes flickering to the cheering Eclair and Dota, before going back to Marron. He studied his expression and relaxed upon finding something only he could see.

"How do you know the passwords?" Eclair asked before anyone could stop her. She blinked at the tactless question. Instinctively she knew that she really didn't want to know the answer. Carrot simply looked at her before turning away. Gateau smacked her on the back of her head before hissing, "Think before you speak!" She didn’t protest; she knew deserved it.

Carrot got up slowly from the chair and watched Syrus watching him. He knew that he had better confess now before the good doctor said anything.

"Uhm…guys? Guys," he stuttered nervously feeling their attention swing to him, "I…uhm…need to tell you something. You're not going to like it or me and I'll understand if you don't want me around." Nervously he twisted his fingers in the hem of his overlong shirt.

"Carrot," Marron said quietly, "What did I tell you before? Wherever you go, I'll be right behind you." His niisan gave him a brave, quivering smile before turning to the others.

Carrot turned to Syrus. "You've been asking a lot of questions of me about me having blackouts and losing time. I kept telling you that I've never lost a minute of time and I don't have blackouts. You were sorta on the right track, but you were still looking in a different direction." He took a deep breath seeing the puzzlement on everyone's face.

"Syrus here thinks I have multiple personalities and I've tried to tell him that I don't, but he doesn't believe me." Everyone gasped and exclaimed in relief, except for Marron and Syrus. They heard what Carrot had said before.

Carrot watched them exchange glances before saying, "While I don't have multiple personalities, I’m not exactly a Me; I'm a We."

Everyone turned puzzled looks on him.

Tira said slowly, "You say that you don't have multiple personalities, but you're not alone in your head." Her voice rose inquiringly before she shook it in disbelief.

"That's right," a voice growled out. They realized in shock that it came from Carrot!

"We have been within the cub, protecting him for nine years. We have been his support system when things got bad with the creature that is his father," a voice hissed out from Carrot's mouth as he paced around the room. Even the way he stood and walked was vastly different from the Carrot they knew and loved.

Syrus shook his head in despair. Even now Carrot was lying to himself. He opened his mouth to say something when he noticed Carrot looking at him in silent amusement.

Abruptly a voice cried out, "Look out, Carrot he's esc—" Then they all saw Carrot stagger slightly before straightening up. A shiver passed through them as they felt the room grow darker and colder. Chocolate breathed out, thinking she could see her cloudy breath as she exhaled.

Slowly Carrot paced around the room in silence, looking around and touching things. As he passed Gateau's seat, his left hand flickered out and grabbed the knife Gateau was slicing the apple with.

"And who are you?" Marron said breaking the cold silence in the room. He froze as the cold eyes locked on to his.

"Ah the pretty-pretty that the boy is so determined to protect." Coldness dripped from his lips as Carrot paced forward to Marron who slowly backed away from the predatory glint in his niis....no this was NOT his niisan. His niisan loved him, he was sure of that. This creature, whoever it was, didn't give a damn about him. He saw the knife glinting in the steady hand. Without warning the stranger in his niisan’s body was upon him, hand locked about his throat.

"Drop the knife boy," said the cold voice, his eyes staring into Marron’s. The hand about his throat tightened. Marron's eyes widened as the hand flashed up and pressed the deadly tip against Carrot's own neck! The others were still, knowing that the wrong move would result in Marron's death by his brother.

"Drop the knife boy, or I'll snap your pretty-pretty's neck like a twig. Drop it, I say!" Carrot's voice roared in the room, making the others jump in fear. Marron, looking into Carrot's eyes, knew that whoever the creature was, it wasn't talking to him.

"Do you think, Carrot, that, even if you managed to cut your throat, I still wouldn't kill your pretty-pretty? Even in your death throes, I will kill him. Now drop the knife and he will live. I give you my word," continued the cold voice as everyone began shaking with fear.

"Good," the voice purred as the knife dropped to the floor. "I would not have killed your little pretty-pretty." A look of cold amusement crossed his face.

He staggered abruptly. "Stay the fuck away from my brother, Hakaishin," Carrot growled out. His eyes were blind as he fought his internal struggle. A different expression crossed Carrot's face.

"Gods above, they're fighting," a voice cried out. They exchanged wary glances, realizing that this was another speaking.

"Ooooo, now that's gotta hurt! Hit him again, Carrot," the voice said eagerly. The boy’s body jumped up and down and punched the air before as stern expression crossed his face.

"Silence boy. You should know better than to distract Carrot during this fight." An abashed look flickered over Carrot's face as he settled down.

"Yes sir."

Marron glanced at the others to find their eyes wide in amazement.

"What's happening and who are you?" he asked since no one else was going to say anything.

"Oh, sorry, you can call me Monkey, and Carrot and Hakaishin are fighting," said Monkey grinning at them before wincing at something only he could see.

"What is happening?" Marron said urgently.

"Your brother has some moves on him," Monkey said admiringly. "Uh oh, Hakaishin just pulled a sword on Carrot. Oh but Carrot pulled out a sword too." He gave such an accurate play-by-play of the fight that it felt like they were actually watching Carrot and not hearing it secondhand.

##############################################

Carrot dodged the sword thrust by spinning out of the way. He blocked a savage down stroke and punched Hakaishin in the face before pulling away and aiming a cutting slash, which Hakaishin blocked. They drew back and paused. Warily they eyed one another. Jumping forward at the same time, in a flurry of strikes and counter-strikes, they re-engaged in battle.

Faster they spun and twisted, each dodging and blocking the increasingly savage blows of the other. Carrot received a cut across the cheek when he failed to move quickly enough; Hakaishin, in turn, gained a deep slash across his upper arm when he failed to block quickly enough. Aiming a particularly strong stroke at Carrot, he was astonished when Carrot blocked
him.

Carrot followed through with a sucker punch to Hakaishin's stomach, making him drop his sword. Before he could recover the boy backhanded him across the face and sent him sprawling across the floor.

"Carrot just bitch slapped Hakaishin across the face and he is down! No, my mistake, he's getting back up!" Monkey reported, miming the fight. The others listened breathlessly.

Hakaishin took a ragged breath before rolling over and getting to his feet. He smirked as black ebony wings sprouted from his back and long, black claws extended from his fingers.

His smirk faded as white wings unfolded from Carrot's back along with black talons on his hands and feet.

"Wings?! Where did Carrot get wings and the talons?" Monkey asked, turning to Snake in puzzlement.

"Stupid boy, of course he has wings. Carrot can draw upon the abilities of us all," Snake hissed irritably.

"You may call me Snake by the way," he informed the rapt listeners before he faded away, also avidly watching the fight.

With a wild shriek of fury, Hakaishin sprang at Carrot in hopes of bowling him over in the wild rush. But Carrot was ready for him. He sprang into the air as tactical information was fed to him and neatly avoided Hakaishin attack.

Hakaishin jumped into the air and an amazing aerial duel began. Feathers floated to the ground in their desperate battle for supremacy. Finally, Carrot saw the opening he had been waiting for and seize it. Hakaishin screamed in pain as he plummeted to the ground. Slamming into the ground hard, he lay still as the others looked at him. His right wing was broken. His blood flowed sluggishly from a huge gouge in his side. His cruel lips parted upon each ragged breath.

"And he's down and it doesn't look good for him," Monkey reported and they all cheered between sighs of relief. Monkey had had them on pins and needles throughout the entire battle.

Carrot folded his wings and dived down like a hawk, spreading his wings just in time to touch down lightly. Stooping quickly, he seized his sword and stalked over to the fallen Hakaishin. His wings mantled in menace and a look of deadly cold upon his face, he gazed down at Hakaishin, who began to laugh.

"Oh uh, Hakaishin is laughing. He's got something up his sleeve, figuratively I mean," Monkey said in an aside.

Carrot stared down at the laughing Hakaishin. His eyes turned hard and cold.

"You laugh at your death," Carrot hissed.

"I laugh because I know you can't kill me," Hakaishin said, sure he had the upper hand. He had been planting his seeds of doubt for nine years, and he knew that they were about to flower.

"Killing me would be killing yourself," he said a smirk on his face. "It looks like we have what you Americans call a ‘Mexican standoff.’"

The others exchanged glances upon hearing Carrot talk now.

"Don't you mean, what you humans call a ‘Mexican standoff’?" Carrot demanded coldly as gazed down at Hakaishin, who lay frozen on the floor. "Or did you think me the stupid fool that my father thought I was? I figured out what you were doing by the second day after you had entered me. I knew that I didn't have multiple personalities. Considering that I didn't have them for ten years, it made no sense for me to develop it then." Carrot gave Hakaishin a smirk of his own.

They all started as Carrot began to scream. The boy dropped to his knees and held his head.

"Get out, get out, get out!" Marron ran forward to help his brother, but stopped upon seeing the savage look Carrot gave him.

"Stay back," Carrot managed to snarl out before his body jerked and arched backwards. A pained howl opened wide his mouth.

They all drew back in surprised horror as mist poured from Carrot’s stretched mouth. The vapor shot up towards the ceiling before pouring down and separating into five columns: Dark Grey, White, Gold, Orange and Red. Carrot, bowed forward, coughed and gasped convulsively.

The columns slowly began shifting, changing subtly, until the rest of the witnesses to this strange event could almost see a face in each the column. Marron made his way over to his niisan. Carefully he kept an eye on the five columns as they continued to seethe gently. They began changing, forming into almost humanlike proportions, when everyone else made their way to
Carrot. Suddenly, within the Dark Grey column, black eyes opened, followed in succession by the others. White opened gold eyes, Gold opened blue eyes, Orange opened pink eyes and Red opened cobalt Blue eyes.

Slowly Carrot got his breathing under control and rested in Marron's arms for a few minutes. The five columns stood calmly before him. Pushing gently at Marron's arms, he stood up with Marron's help. Feeling the others, Tira, Chocolate and Gateau, standing to the side of them, he motioned them to get back. With silent shakes of their heads, they refused, their eyes locked on
the shifting columns in front of them. They were determined to protect him. He rolled his eyes and huffed angrily.

"Get back," he whispered furiously at them. They had no idea the danger they were in. Again, silent shakes of their heads. Growing angrier, he put his hands against Marron's chest and shoved. "Get BACK!" he screamed. Their eyes turned to him in shock.

"They can't hurt me, but they can sure as hell can hurt you guys. Now—GET BACK!"

He roared. Again, he shoved at Marron. His heart ached at the hurt look in Marron's eyes, but he was determined to protect them all, no matter what. Shoving and yelling, he forced them all back, three feet…five feet…finally six feet away. His heart was breaking at the wounded looks on their faces. He hardened his resolve, satisfied that they were, at last, at a safe distance.

END CHAPTER 3