With a low groan, Danny rolled over. A loud thud followed by a louder groan sounded a second later. "The hell... ?"
"You sleep harder than the dead, did you know that?" Emma asked with a light chuckle as Danny sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eye.
She let out a hum as she stretched her arms over her head. "Yeah, that tends to happen when I don't sleep well for a few days. Did Take already leave?"
"Yeah. About three hours ago, I think? We all tried waking you up, but..."
She chuckled a bit as she pushed herself up. "Well, thanks for letting me sleep. I definitely needed it."
"It was no problem. Before you go, think you could do my hair real quick?"
"Sure."
~
Once she was finished with Emma's hair, she finally began heading home. And, wanting to wake herself up a bit more, she took out her MP3 player and listened to some American Rock music. Despite her liking mostly J-Pop, vocaloid mostly, math rock, and instrumental music, there had always been certain bands that were an exception.
Frail, the skin is dry and frail, the pain will never fail. And so we go back to the remedy, she mouthed the words to the song as she bobbed her head lightly to the beat. ... Just leave them where they lie, and tell yourself, "You'll be the death of me." She felt someone roughly take ahold of her shoulder, but before she could even attempt to defend herself, everything went black at the sound of metal on flesh.
~
Fuck... She slowly opened her eyes only to see darkness. After blinking them a few times, she was able to see that she was in a dark room. It wasn't a big space, from what she could see at least. It might've been a closet or just a small storage room somewhere. The ground was concrete, she could tell from how cold her butt and legs were getting. Then, she registered the feeling of her hands being tied behind her back, something tying her to a pole or pipe, maybe, and a gag tied around her mouth. I know I wanted to sleep, but damn. This ain't comfy at all.
After looking around the room, and adjusting to the darkness, she could tell that there was no one there. Being as quiet as she could, she maneuvered her legs to where the heel of her right boot was between her left thigh and calf. With a bit of effort, she got her foot out and, to her dismay, the clinking sound of metal falling onto the concrete floor sounded. She held her breath, straining her ears to pick up on even the faintest sound, but, once she heard nothing after a few moments, she got back to work. Using the heel of the boot that was still on her other foot, she pulled her, thankfully, short sock off, exposing her toes to the chilly air of the room. Quicker than before, she repeated the process with her left foot. Once her feet were both bare, she grabbed the switchblade that had fallen from her boot earlier with her right foot. Careful not to slice her own foot open, she flipped the blade out with her other foot. Thank God for my monkey feet. With extra caution to make sure she didn't lose her grip on the knife, she bent her legs at odd angles until she had the knife at the rope that bound her hands. Slowly, and with a little bit of help from her fingers, she began to saw at the rope.
After what felt like a couple of minutes, the rope finally snapped, releasing her hands. With a silent cheer, she grabbed the knife from her foot and cut the rope holding her to, what she could now tell was a pipe before cutting the gag off. Quietly, she stood and grabbed her socks before putting them back on. Her toes were cold, don't judge. Once she had the second one on though, she could hear a pair of light footsteps echoing from the door off to her left. Shit, she cursed as she looked around. After a split second, she found a decent, albeit not a great spot. Grabbing her boots, she silently clumb the stack of boxes and stayed perched on top as the door swung open.
The light flicked on, blinding her for a few moments. She squinted as her grip on the knife tightened.
"Look who's awake," a familiar voice mused. The voice sent shivers down her spine, but where had she heard it before?
A second later, when her vision was somewhat adjusted to the sudden brightness, her eyes widened in shock at the sight of the person at the door.
Luscious red hair cascading down in waves.
The glistening of blood flying through the air.
Eyes as dark as an abyss.
The thrilling chorus of bones snapping and cracking.
Skin as pale as the falling snow.
Agonizing cries and screams for mercy.
Those were the things that the girl standing below her was made of. She was a forbidden beauty. A girl that drew prey in with her stunning, harmless appearance, only to snap her fangs on the enthralled victim's throat once they got close enough. Once they were comfortable enough in the viper's nest.
That was Rin Kamishiro's entire being.
Danaju could feel her throat constricting on itself. She couldn't breathe. She could feel her hand tremble slightly as the memories came flooding back. She needed to get out of here. Whatever it was that she wanted, she knew it wasn't good.
"You've grown stronger since your days in Black Dragon," Rin observed, her venomously sweet words bringing Danaju back to reality.
She swallowed, forcing the lump in her throat down. This wasn't the time to be freaking out. She had to get out of there. "What do you want?" To her relief, she sounded more confident than she felt.
Rin's head tilted a bit as she leaned on a stack of crates near the open door with her arms crossed. She wasn't worried that she would try anything, Danaju noted. "Isn't it obvious?" The corners of her mouth lifted the slightest bit as her abyssal eyes locked with her blue ones. "I want my Devil back."
"That's not who I am anymore," she said before she could even think about how to respond. "I'm done with Black Dragon's brutality. Toman's my family now. I keep them safe. I don't go beating on them if they get on my nerves. You're not getting me to go back to your fucked up sense of how a group should work."
"Oh?"
Another, heavier set of footsteps, echoed through the small room, making her tense up a bit more. A second later, the guy she had seen in passing a few days prior came through the door. Her eyes widened in realization as she recognized him as Izana Kurokawa. Seeing the two of them side-by-side was enough to make her remember him as well. Back when she was in Black Dragon and got to know them, she hardly saw one without the other. And when only one was there, and even when both were, another guy with a scar on his face was always there. Silently, she cursed herself for not realizing sooner.
With a curious look, Izana looked from the cut ropes up to Danaju, noticing the knife she clutched in one hand. "I thought she was searched?" he questioned, looking at Rin, who was the same height as him.
"She was, but the Devil's picked up some new tricks since she left," Rin replied with a light shrug.
"Either way," he looked back at Danaju, the look in his eyes making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, "she's coming back."
Danny's eye twitched in annoyance. These two didn't know how to take "no" for an answer, did they? "I think the fuck not. The only place I'm going is back home. I'm done with all you S62 fucks. Not a single fucking one of you is right in the head and I refuse to go back to that." Anger and annoyance overtook the dread and fear she had been feeling. If there was one thing she didn't like, it would be being told what to do by people she didn't like. "Not now, not ever. I ain't goin' back. Not over my dead body."
A smirk pulled at his lips. "Rin."
"Right away," she said as she pushed herself forward.
Danny's gaze quickly flicked to the window a few feet behind her. She would have to jump to reach it, but right now, it was the quickest way out. Without wasting another second, she snapped the knife closed and put it between her teeth before turning and leaping for the window. She caught the edge of the sill as the crates crashed behind her. Quickly, she took the knife from her mouth and smashed it into the window, making it shatter and slice her hand once it made contact. Not paying any mind to the glass, she pulled herself up and out of the window that was just big enough for a person to fit through.
She fell out of the window and into a conveniently placed bush that cushioned her fall. Her body didn't have enough time to recover or even register the pain that scattered it as she pushed herself up and forward. She ran, not daring to look back. She ran, and ran, and ran. Her lungs burned as she tried to breathe. Her legs dared to give out any second as she kept pushing herself through the darkening streets. And her vision blurred as she tried to keep focused. "Just until I reach the river," she kept telling herself. She was close. Though she was panicked, she knew exactly where she was. Just one more block and she would call someone. All she had to do was go down one more block, then she would call for help.
A few excruciatingly long minutes later, she finally collapsed at the river's edge. Exhaustion and fatigue overtook her entire being. She didn't even know how long or far she had run. More than she ever had before, that was for sure. After a minute, she still hadn't recovered, but she needed to call someone. She needed Sayu. To calm her down before she began to have a panic attack. Seeing them together like that again had dug up a heap of memories, not any good ones either. Forget about being knocked out and kidnapped, just seeing them again was enough to make her dive headfirst into a panic attack. Her hand reached for her pockets, freezing upon contact. She felt them again, digging her hands down as deep as they could go. "Nonono," she muttered, her hands shaking slightly as she turned the pockets inside out, hoping, no- praying that that small device would fall from one of them. "Shit! Goddamnit!" she continued cursing as she felt her pants.
After she finally accepted that she didn't have her phone, thinking it had probably been taken after she was knocked out, she buried her face in her knees, silent sobs escaping her as she rocked back and forth. Her body felt like it was burning. Her lungs felt like they were freezing. She couldn't even feel her toes or fingers. Was her heart even beating? Was she even breathing? She couldn't tell. She could feel her fingernails growing. Every bit of clothing on her felt too hot yet too cold at the same time. The cars rumbling in the distance were too loud, the occasional honking even more so. She tried to think, to focus on anything but the things that felt like too much, but she couldn't. Every time she tried to grasp onto something and focus on it the overwhelming sensations and sounds brought her out of it.