Chapter Nine - Unintended Betrayal

                                    

                                          
Chapter Nine – Unintended Betrayal
                          
The milk very nearly left her grasp as a panicked gasp pierced into the silence of the kitchen.
                          
“Yami.”
                          
“What are you doing up so early?” He asked groggily, closing the door behind him. He hardly sounded impressed, but concerned nonetheless.
                          
Having caught her breath back by then, Victoria could have given a vocal reply. But she had nothing on her mind that would leave him with no worries so instead she just shrugged and walked back to the counter with the milk carton.
                          
“Do you usually awaken this early?” Yami asked, fetching a mug of his own and choosing a tea bag.
                          
Victoria shrugged. “These days, yeah. It must be the cold or something.” She lied, hoping that would be enough for him.
                          
It wasn’t.
                          
“I doubt that the cold would cause you to wake earlier.” Yami corrected. “It’s more probable that you would sleep longer because it is cold.”
                          
Victoria simply shrugged again. “Then I don’t know what it is then. I just wake up early. Leaves me tired as hell during the day and I get to bed at the proper time. It could just be a phase I’m going through.”
                          
“If that’s the case then your body will balance itself out eventually.” Yami assured her.
                          
“Thank god for that.” She whispered as the kettle clicked and she proceeded to pour the water into both of their mugs. “I hoped that I wouldn’t be the first to wake up. At least. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
                          
Yami shook his head, adding sugar to his tea. “I’m a light sleeper. The shower running woke me first.”
                          
 “Sorry.” She muttered, sipping her tea nervously before taking the milk back to the fridge – anything to distract herself.
                          
But when she turned back to the counter to retrieve her mug Yami gave her a look, though it was hard to see it in the lack of light. “Don’t worry about it.”
                          
Victoria sighed lightly, carrying her mug over to the table they’d eaten dinner at. Thankfully it had been somewhat cleared so all she had to do was push the stacked pizza boxes to the side as she sat down. Yami followed her lead and sat across from her at the small table, which looked larger now that there was only two sitting at it – rather than all seven of them at dinner.
                          
“Tori…” Yami began, pausing for a moment as he seemed to hesitate – a rare novelty as he never seemed to hesitate about anything. “There was something that I wanted to ask, to quell a small seed of concern that you placed when you told us about…well…the way things were for you when you were younger.”
                          
She mentally tensed, preparing for whatever he wanted to ask. She would either be able to answer without a problem or she would have to find the right words to tell him to butt out.
                          
She kept steady eye contact with him, allowing him to ask his question.
                          
“Did you have a happy childhood? Despite all of the complications with the less pure of heart, were there still times when you were happy? When you felt joy and some form of love no matter how miniscule?”
                          
She almost sighed with relief. “Yes. There were many times that I felt happy – though I was always forced to be cautious. The other girls and several of the pure of heart boys were like siblings and we all took care of one another. We were a family – but…there was always that part of my mind that told me not to completely trust anyone until given proper reason.” She sighed a little. “I suppose that part of my mind has begun to lose its touch – I’m trusting people so much easier these days.”