"You moron!" Akane, Karamatsu's wife screeched angrily, throwing a beer bottle at her husband's head.

Karamatsu dodged her sudden act of violence toward him, allowing the bottle to crash into the wall, shaking it just a little as glass flew everywhere.

"H-Hold up!" Karamatsu stuttered, cautiously approaching his wife, trying to hide the fear in his voice. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, his angst could be seen clearly in his eyes. "What's gotten into you, my honey?"

Karamatsu gently grabbed his hotheaded wife's hands, holding them close to his face as he lovingly stared into her eyes.

Akane inhaled loudly, jerking her hands away from him as bitter tears welled up in her eyes.

"You've been cheating on me!" she screeched as she slapped her beloved husband across the cheek, leaving a bright red mark on it.

"You've got it all wrong!" Karamatsu exclaimed, completely ignoring the fact that she had just slapped him, not showing him any sympathy.

"How do I have it wrong?!" Akane yelled, lunging at Karamatsu, trying to wrap her hands around his throat to suffocate him.

Falling to their living room floor, which was covered in glass, Karamatsu backed himself up into the corner of the room, trying to avoid getting killed as bits of the broken bottle pierced into his skin.

"I-I wasn't out with another girl last night!" Karamatsu gasped as Akane stared at him wildly, slowly reaching towards his throat. "I was with my younger brothers Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu!"

"You liar," Akane rasped, grabbing his throat, digging her sharp, ragged fingernails into his soft, pale skin. "Any smart person knows that that's not what you were up to last night!"

"But it was!" Karamatsu wheezed, grabbing his wife by her wrists, pulling her cold hands off of his throat so he could breathe. "How come you don't believe me?!"

Akane backed away from her husband, nastily hissing under her breath as tears rolled down her face, "I hate you."

"No no no no!" Karamatsu exclaimed, shaking his hands in front of his face, not wanting to upset his wife despite how she was treating him. "I'm sorry I haven't been spending much time with you! My brothers really have been needing lots of help!"

"Stop lying..." Akane spat, glaring disgustedly at her husband before she began to kick him with her pointed toe boots. "I'll have you know how it feels to be unloved and forgotten!"

"But, my honey," Karamatsu said gently, making no attempts to stop her angry kicks that would eventually leave dark, purple bruises. "I do love you! I don't want you to feel forgotten! I want you to feel loved."

"I've felt everything but loved today!" Akane screeched, gasping for air as she began to sob, kicking her husband one last time before she fell to the floor, her face in her hands. Shoulders jerking up and down, Akane continued to hurl nasty, hurtful words at her husband.

"I don't even know why I married you in the first place!" she choked out angrily, punching her husband in the face with one of her hands which was soaking wet with tears. "You're so full of yourself! You only care about your own feelings! Do you have any idea how terrible it feels to wake up every single day, knowing your circumstances will never change?!"

"Shhshh..." Karamatsu said, grabbing his wife, holding her tightly as he rubbed her on the back. "Calm down..."

"You want me to calm down?!" Akane screamed, pushing away from him. "I'm sick of all the abuse that comes from you!"

"Akane, what have I done wrong to you?" Karamatsu asked, keeping his voice just as calm as before.

And without receiving an answer, Akane instead lashed out, punching Karamatsu in the stomach as she screamed hoarsely, "I'm divorcing you, you worthless idiot!"

Karamatsu didn't respond, a weak smile creeping across his face as he stared into his wife's eyes, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks.

"Wh-What now..?" Karamatsu asked, his voice shaking, not believing what he had just heard.

Akane stood up and walked across the room, picked up another empty beer bottle, then walked back towards Karamatsu, towering over him as he seemed to shrink in size as he sat in the corner of the room, his feet bleeding from the glass in them.

"I said..." Akane growled, raising the beer bottle above her head, preparing to strike Karamatsu. "I'M DIVORCING YOU!"

And just like that, Karamatsu felt glass shattering over his head, blood blinding his eyesight as he fell face first onto the floor, unconscious.

One hour later...

"Nii-san!" five year old Jyushimatsu giggled, clinging to Ichimatsu's leg, his sixteen year old brother. "Are we gonna go see Uncle Karamatsu?!"

Jyushimatsu let go of his brother's leg and toppled over onto the floor, giggling insanely.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Ichimatsu said, sighing just a little as he crouched down on the floor next to his brother, helping him to his feet. "He's not our uncle. He's our older brother."

"Then how come we never see Uncle Karamatsu at home?" Jyushimatsu asked innocently. "Family is supposed to stay together!"

"He just came over last night," Ichimatsu said, rubbing his little brother on the head. "But just because he's family doesn't mean he's gonna live with us...he's married. Usually when people are married, they don't want to stick around. They want to have a life of their own, even if it's rough the first few years."

"Then how come you're not married?" Jyushimatsu asked, throwing himself to the floor, rolling around, giggling.

"I'm still in school," Ichimatsu replied, finally just siting down on the floor, drawing his knees to his chest as he watched his little brother's every move. "Plus, nobody likes the quiet people who don't stand out."

"But I like you, nii-san!" Jyushimatsu said, crawling up next to his brother, hugging the side of his legs.

"Not in that way," Ichimatsu laughed a little then let out a sigh. "Speaking of which..."

"What?!" Jyushimatsu said, jumping up excitedly.

"Let me finish!" Ichimatsu snapped.

"Don't get mad, nii-san..." Jyushimatsu whined pitifully, sitting back down quietly.

"Do you want to go visit Karamatsu tonight? He told me yesterday that we could. It might be nice to go see him for a change, right?" Ichimatsu asked.

Jyushimatsu's already bright eyes seemed to brighten even more, his mouth opening into a huge smile.

"I want to see him!" he exclaimed excitedly, running to the other side of the room, grabbing his small baseball bat which he had gotten for his birthday a little over a week ago. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah..." Ichimatsu mumbled, looking at the clock on the living room wall. "I told him we'd be there around this time.."

Jyushimatsu smiled with his mouth wide open and with his eyes squinted shut as he began to swing around his baseball bat excitedly.

"Uncle Karamatsu! Uncle Karamatsu!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, dancing around the living room while swinging his bat around.

"He's your brother!" Ichimatsu corrected somewhat sleepily, standing up, stretching while he yawned.

"Are we gonna go now?!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, throwing his bat down onto the floor, almost hitting Ichimatsu with it. He was lucky he hadn't hit his brother, for if he had, things wouldn't have ended well for him. Not at all.

"Once you get your coat and shoes on, yes," Ichimatsu said, already walking out into the hallway, slipping on his shoes once he had reached the front door.

Jyushimatsu quickly followed after his brother, running faster than Ichimatsu had ever seen a child his age run.

"Let me get my coat!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, jumping up and down as he tried to get his coat off of the coat hanger by the front door. But sadly, he was so short for his age that he couldn't even grab the hem of his coat.

Ichimatsu took his own purple scarf off of the coat hanger, wrapped it around his neck then slipped on his purple wool coat.

"Nii-saaaaan..." Jyushimatsu whimpered, tugging on the hem of his brother's coat to catch his attention. "I can't get my coat!"

Ichimatsu stared down at his brother with a blank expression, not saying a word.

"Do you want me to get it for you?" he finally asked, smiling a little.

Jyushimatsu nodded his head.

Ichimatsu carefully removed Jyushimatsu's small, yellow wool coat and yellow scarf from the coat hanger and began to help his brother get them on.

With all the love and care in the world, Ichimatsu knelt down, gently wrapped his brother's yellow scarf around his neck, then helped him get in coat, making sure his two arms were in each sleeve.

"Do you need me to help you button it up too?" Ichimatsu asked, grabbing his brother's yellow knit hat and wool mittens off of a nearby table. .

"Thank you, Ichimatsu nii-san!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, then shook his head. "But I don't need help now!"

"Good," Ichimatsu said, kneeling down again, fixing the hat on his brother's head. "Now, put on your mittens. If you catch a cold I'll get killed by Mom."

Jyushimatsu giggled a little then, with great difficulty, put on his mittens.

"Can we go now?" Jyushimatsu asked, his voice regaining its excitement.

Ichimatsu nodded his head, sliding open the front door, stepping out into the freezing cold.

"Let's go," Ichimatsu said, grabbing his brother's hand as he buried his nose and mouth in his scarf, trying to stay warm as the two walked down the street to their brother's house.

But as soon as Ichimatsu was in front of his brother's house, Akane stormed out of it, slamming the front door behind her as she hauled a huge suitcase behind her, muttering curse words to herself.

Ichimatsu quickly covered his innocent brother's ears, glaring at Akane in disgust. He hadn't liked her since the day Karamatsu had told him he was dating her, but he never told his brother such. He loved Karamatsu too much to hurt his feelings.

Ichimatsu sighed as he watched Akane speed off in her small red car.

"She's never going to change, is she?" Ichimatsu thought, shaking his head a little as he knocked on the front door. "She'll always be the same angry lady she was the day Karamatsu introduced her to us."

There was no reply.

Ichimatsu knocked on the door a bit more loudly, but there was no reply.

A puff of air escaped Ichimatsu's mouth, the "smoke" visible in the brutally cold night air.

Tightening his grip on his brother's hand, Ichimatsu knocked even more loudly than he had the other two times. There was still no reply.

"Nii-san what's wrong? How come Uncle Karamatsu isn't answering?" Jyushimatsu asked, his eyes twinkling as he stared up innocently at his brother.

"H-He probably didn't hear..." Ichimatsu muttered, sliding open the front door. "He already knew we were coming over too, so...everything's fine..."

Ichimatsu took one step forward, setting one foot inside his brother's house, yet Jyushimatsu didn't budge.

"You don't sound fine, Ichimatsu," Jyushimatsu said, still staring up innocently at his brother.

"Tch.." Ichimatsu spat, tugging gently on his little brother's arms pulling him inside the house. "I am fine, Jyushimatsu. Don't worry."

Ichimatsu let go of his brother's hand and shut the door behind them, keeping the cold from entering their brother's house even more than it already had.

"Uncle Karamatsu!" Jyushimatsu laughed, running down the hall, still in his shoes. "We're here!"

There was still no response.

Jyushimatsu peeked inside the living room, then stopped dead in his tracks, a strange sort of whimper escaping his lips as he began to tremble at the sight he saw.

There on the floor in the corner of the room lay their unconscious brother Karamatsu, blood covering his entire face. Glass surrounded his body, clearly showing he had been in a violent fight with his wife.

"I-I-Ichimatsu!" Jyushimatsu screamed, his voice cracking as he fell to the floor crying

Ichimatsu ran to his brother, grabbed him, and gently caressed his head as he himself tried not to panic at the sight of his older brother.

"Stay right there," Ichimatsu ordered, running to the phone, quickly calling an ambulance.