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flybycontactThis was written for Angstober 2024 using prompt 16, "No One Else to Turn To".
Title: Unspeakable
Fandom: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Characters: Touga, both the shitty Kiryuu parents, mentions of Nanami, brief mentions of Saionji
Rating: R (heavy angst, child sexual abuse, more general child abuse, victim-blaming, victim-silencing, the Kiryuu parents being the absolute worst)
Summary: Early into his life in the Kiryuu household, Touga tries to turn to his new mother for help. Set several years before the series.
-
If anyone could help him and stop his new father from doing the terrible things he was doing to him, it was his new mother. That was the naive hope Touga had had a week into his life at the Kiryuu residence, back when he still possessed things like naivete and hope.
There wasn't anyone else he felt he could turn to. Not any of the house servants, who seemed to know what was going on and simply turn a convenient blind eye to it all. Not his teachers at school, who apparently weren't supposed to meddle in the private affairs of their students' families. Certainly not Saionji, who in his innocence hadn't noticed anything different about Touga since he'd been ostensibly adopted by the Kiryuus -- not that Touga particularly wanted to go to someone his own age about something that children his age weren't supposed to be going through. Least of all Nanami, so young as she was and even more innocent than Saionji as she was; keeping her safe was the very reason Touga had been remotely willing to accept his lot in being sold in the first place.
That left the woman he now had to call his mother.
"What did you want to talk about, dear?" He'd been able to get her attention, and now they were alone together in a private room, just as Touga had hoped for. His mother wore a gentle smile on her elegantly made-up face as she spoke, and her voice and words seemed kind enough. That smile, however, did not quite reach her eyes -- cold eyes, like they belonged to someone who already knew and wasn't going to offer the salvation Touga wanted.
As dim a hope as she offered, though, Touga knew this was the only chance he had, and he was going to try and take it. "You've got to help me! Dad's been... since we first got here, every night Dad's been..." Now he was trying to talk about it, it was proving difficult to find the words for what his father was doing to him. "He's been... what he's been doing is..."
"What about it?" Cold words from his mother, as cold as her eyes, stabbed into him like a sharpened icicle.
"What do you mean?" Touga, taken aback, blinked at her with unbelieving eyes. "Did you already know? Why don't you make him stop? It really hurts, and it's dirty and horrible and-"
"Will you shut up already?" More icicles stabbing into him; this time they felt laced with venom. "That's what you're here for. Didn't you know that already?" Mrs Kiryuu wasn't even pretending to smile anymore, and now she seemed more like an ice demon in disguise than a mother. "Just be quiet and do as you're told."
Touga didn't want to accept it. Despair and desperation and anger welled up in him, tangling into each other. "Why won't you do anything? You're his wife, aren't you? Can't you-"
His mother struck him sharply across the face, cutting him off. "I wonder which of us is actually his wife," she spat.
Touga's mouth hung open, but no words would come out of it; he couldn't even gasp. All he could do was stare at this woman in shock, not wanting to process what she'd just said. He couldn't suppress his shaking as he raised a hand up to his cheek where she'd just slapped him.
"I'm just here to make that man look good in the public eye," Mrs Kiryuu continued, voice full of spite, "while he gets to do whatever he likes to pretty little brats like you behind closed doors. Do I make myself clear? Keeping up appearances is everything here, so you had better do your part as well when you're not warming his bed at night. Unless you're going to try and run away again, like before?" She glared frigidly at him as she said that. "If you've got the nerve to do things like that, then perhaps you deserve everything you're getting now."
Touga still couldn't say anything. Tears he hadn't realised he still had started to blur his vision.
"If that's all you wanted to talk about," Mrs Kiryuu said, "then it's a waste of my time and yours. Just go along with whatever your father wants, and don't even think of complaining again. Behave yourself for that pointless little girl's sake, if nothing else will make you." Finally, she turned on her heel to leave. "Goodnight." With that, she opened the door, stepped out into the hallway as if nothing was particularly amiss -- true to what she'd said about keeping up appearances -- and shut the door behind her, leaving Touga alone in the room.
His heart sank as if disappearing into a void. As he finally removed his hand from his reddened, still-stinging cheek, the tears that had been blinding him started to fall.
He quickly wiped his eyes before leaving the room himself. Even apart from keeping up appearances, the last thing he wanted was to let Nanami see he'd ever been crying.
Night soon arrived, as it always inevitably did.
Mr Kiryuu was even more rough with him than he usually was. He was angry at Touga for trying to tell on him, and angry at him for letting his face be injured as if he was to blame. He, too, let him know in no uncertain terms that he was to keep up appearances for the Kiryuu family and not speak of anything that was being done to him.
He told him while raping him that Nanami wouldn't love him anymore if she knew. He told him while raping him that Saionji wouldn't want to be his friend anymore if he knew. He told him while raping him that no one would want to marry him when he grew up if they knew. He told him while raping him that all of that was if anyone believed him in the first place.
The last hope Touga had of escaping his fate died then. That night was the last time he shed tears before his heart started to freeze over, his despair giving way to hollow resignation.
He obeyed his parents in continuing to keep up appearances. Mr Kiryuu presented himself as a respectable member of the upper class. Mrs Kiryuu presented herself as a dutiful wife who doted on her new son -- while never extending such grace to her new daughter as well, Touga noticed even back then. And Touga presented himself as the family heir and their golden child, and more honestly -- for now -- as a loving brother to a baby sister whom no one else in the household bothered to even pretend to love.
He would not try to speak of what was being done to him behind closed doors again.
-
As always, comments and constructive criticism are both welcome and appreciated.
Title: Unspeakable
Fandom: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Characters: Touga, both the shitty Kiryuu parents, mentions of Nanami, brief mentions of Saionji
Rating: R (heavy angst, child sexual abuse, more general child abuse, victim-blaming, victim-silencing, the Kiryuu parents being the absolute worst)
Summary: Early into his life in the Kiryuu household, Touga tries to turn to his new mother for help. Set several years before the series.
-
If anyone could help him and stop his new father from doing the terrible things he was doing to him, it was his new mother. That was the naive hope Touga had had a week into his life at the Kiryuu residence, back when he still possessed things like naivete and hope.
There wasn't anyone else he felt he could turn to. Not any of the house servants, who seemed to know what was going on and simply turn a convenient blind eye to it all. Not his teachers at school, who apparently weren't supposed to meddle in the private affairs of their students' families. Certainly not Saionji, who in his innocence hadn't noticed anything different about Touga since he'd been ostensibly adopted by the Kiryuus -- not that Touga particularly wanted to go to someone his own age about something that children his age weren't supposed to be going through. Least of all Nanami, so young as she was and even more innocent than Saionji as she was; keeping her safe was the very reason Touga had been remotely willing to accept his lot in being sold in the first place.
That left the woman he now had to call his mother.
"What did you want to talk about, dear?" He'd been able to get her attention, and now they were alone together in a private room, just as Touga had hoped for. His mother wore a gentle smile on her elegantly made-up face as she spoke, and her voice and words seemed kind enough. That smile, however, did not quite reach her eyes -- cold eyes, like they belonged to someone who already knew and wasn't going to offer the salvation Touga wanted.
As dim a hope as she offered, though, Touga knew this was the only chance he had, and he was going to try and take it. "You've got to help me! Dad's been... since we first got here, every night Dad's been..." Now he was trying to talk about it, it was proving difficult to find the words for what his father was doing to him. "He's been... what he's been doing is..."
"What about it?" Cold words from his mother, as cold as her eyes, stabbed into him like a sharpened icicle.
"What do you mean?" Touga, taken aback, blinked at her with unbelieving eyes. "Did you already know? Why don't you make him stop? It really hurts, and it's dirty and horrible and-"
"Will you shut up already?" More icicles stabbing into him; this time they felt laced with venom. "That's what you're here for. Didn't you know that already?" Mrs Kiryuu wasn't even pretending to smile anymore, and now she seemed more like an ice demon in disguise than a mother. "Just be quiet and do as you're told."
Touga didn't want to accept it. Despair and desperation and anger welled up in him, tangling into each other. "Why won't you do anything? You're his wife, aren't you? Can't you-"
His mother struck him sharply across the face, cutting him off. "I wonder which of us is actually his wife," she spat.
Touga's mouth hung open, but no words would come out of it; he couldn't even gasp. All he could do was stare at this woman in shock, not wanting to process what she'd just said. He couldn't suppress his shaking as he raised a hand up to his cheek where she'd just slapped him.
"I'm just here to make that man look good in the public eye," Mrs Kiryuu continued, voice full of spite, "while he gets to do whatever he likes to pretty little brats like you behind closed doors. Do I make myself clear? Keeping up appearances is everything here, so you had better do your part as well when you're not warming his bed at night. Unless you're going to try and run away again, like before?" She glared frigidly at him as she said that. "If you've got the nerve to do things like that, then perhaps you deserve everything you're getting now."
Touga still couldn't say anything. Tears he hadn't realised he still had started to blur his vision.
"If that's all you wanted to talk about," Mrs Kiryuu said, "then it's a waste of my time and yours. Just go along with whatever your father wants, and don't even think of complaining again. Behave yourself for that pointless little girl's sake, if nothing else will make you." Finally, she turned on her heel to leave. "Goodnight." With that, she opened the door, stepped out into the hallway as if nothing was particularly amiss -- true to what she'd said about keeping up appearances -- and shut the door behind her, leaving Touga alone in the room.
His heart sank as if disappearing into a void. As he finally removed his hand from his reddened, still-stinging cheek, the tears that had been blinding him started to fall.
He quickly wiped his eyes before leaving the room himself. Even apart from keeping up appearances, the last thing he wanted was to let Nanami see he'd ever been crying.
Night soon arrived, as it always inevitably did.
Mr Kiryuu was even more rough with him than he usually was. He was angry at Touga for trying to tell on him, and angry at him for letting his face be injured as if he was to blame. He, too, let him know in no uncertain terms that he was to keep up appearances for the Kiryuu family and not speak of anything that was being done to him.
He told him while raping him that Nanami wouldn't love him anymore if she knew. He told him while raping him that Saionji wouldn't want to be his friend anymore if he knew. He told him while raping him that no one would want to marry him when he grew up if they knew. He told him while raping him that all of that was if anyone believed him in the first place.
The last hope Touga had of escaping his fate died then. That night was the last time he shed tears before his heart started to freeze over, his despair giving way to hollow resignation.
He obeyed his parents in continuing to keep up appearances. Mr Kiryuu presented himself as a respectable member of the upper class. Mrs Kiryuu presented herself as a dutiful wife who doted on her new son -- while never extending such grace to her new daughter as well, Touga noticed even back then. And Touga presented himself as the family heir and their golden child, and more honestly -- for now -- as a loving brother to a baby sister whom no one else in the household bothered to even pretend to love.
He would not try to speak of what was being done to him behind closed doors again.
-
As always, comments and constructive criticism are both welcome and appreciated.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-16 08:17 pm (UTC)Okay, now I'm calmer. This is exactly the kind of silencing and victim-blaming you'd expect from people like that, especially in Utena's worldbuilding. A sham of a marriage so the man can rape little boys, the wife punishing little boys who speak up, then those boys being punished with even more rape for daring to be unhappy.
And of course they'd try to use Nanami as leverage against him, the bastards.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-18 08:37 pm (UTC)I headcanon Mrs Kiryuu as a mix of trophy wife and "beard", and if I tilt my head to one side I could maybe see room to think of her as a bit pitiful in that respect, but there's no way I could have sympathy for her if this is how she treats her adoptive children. Even in what little screentime she had in canon, she was awful to Nanami! (Who really does deserve better, and certainly doesn't deserve any of this shit.)
no subject
Date: 2024-10-18 08:41 pm (UTC)I can see it. If her husband's more interested in raping little boys he can't be interested in her. But if her little screen time is any indication of her character she's probably fine with it as long as she can reap the benefits of being married to the bastard.