I had been subjected to several different forms of torture since my recapture. Each time was worse than the last. Thanks to my demon fury healing abilities, I had no physical scars. However, I unfortunately had a plethora of mental scars...He's pushing the limit, gauging how much my demon turned fury body can take...
The door slid open and I tensed as I turned my attention to the door. Wait, nani? Instead of Kioshi, the woman who was with him when I first arrived here walked in. She was carrying a tray I assume had food on it. She closed the door behind her and sat down in front of me. Upon the tray I saw a bowl of ramen and a cup of green tea. "I'm not hungry..." I turned away from the woman.
"Please, you have to eat as much as you can"
"Why do you care? Don't you want me dead like Kioshi?" I questioned coldly. "Just drop the nice and innocent girl act, would ya?"
"I'm afraid it's not an act. Please eat Chiyeko, there's no telling when Kioshi will decide to..." She trailed off. "You'll need the energy" I turned back towards her with a raised eyebrow.
"Who are you anyway?"
"My name is Kinu...Nishikiri Kinu"
"Kioshi has a sister!?" I was genuinely shocked by this news.
"Hai, I'm his younger sister. Well, his younger half-sister...It's no surprise you don't know about me, Kioshi doesn't speak about me much"
"But I thought his whole demon clan was murdered"
"Most of them were, but not all of them. Our life is quite a story, will you listen to it?"
"Well, I don't have anything better to do so go ahead" I tried to feign nonchalance, but the truth is I was slightly interested to learn how Kioshi became the bastard he is today.
"Our village was attacked. By an unbelievably powerful male demon. He slaughtered nearly everyone in his path"
"Nearly everyone?"
"Hai. He left the women and children alone and only attacked the men. Unfortunately, some of their lives were lost because they tried to protect their husbands, fathers or sons"
"Oh..." I felt kinda scared knowing that my brother was capable of such things.
"That was the case of our mother and older sister. They tried desperately to protect our father, but this demon murdered him and my sister. He was going to murder our mother too, but he decided not to"
"Why?"
"Our mother was pregnant, with Kioshi"
"I see..." At least even Chikage has boundaries.
"After our mother was spared, she fled from our village along with the other woman and children. They thought they were lucky to have been spared, but they thought wrong. There was a great distance they had to travel to reach any kind of civilisation. Many of them died of starvation, dehydration or were too tired to go on.
"That's horrible..." I can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like...Kinu nodded in agreement sadly before clearing her throat and continuing;
"However, a few survived and reached civilisation. From there, our people began to mix and breed with ningens. Our mother was one of the lucky survivors and made a living for herself to pay for raising baby Kioshi" I have trouble imagining Kioshi as a baby...I bet he looked like an evil baby. I kept these-admittedly childish-thoughts to myself as to not offend Kinu. "It was our mother who turned Kioshi into the man he is today. She always told him stories about how Kazama Chikage had slaughtered their entire clan and that someday she would get revenge" I can't believe it...The way Kioshi talked about the incident, you'd think he was there and experienced it himself. I mean, I guess he was there, but not in the way he makes it sound like he was. "But as time went on, my mother began to put the incident behind her until she eventually fell in love with a human man. They engaged and got married within five years of meeting each other. After that, they had a baby together. That baby was me. I was born with human and demon blood running through my veins. I guess I was lucky though, I have more demon blood in my veins than human"
"That could be seen as lucky to some, but not all"
"You have a point there. Anyway, when I was five our mother died suddenly. That was when Kioshi took it upon himself to honour mother's wish for revenge. He left home and began to search for Kazama Chikage and killed any other Kazama demons he found on his journey to him"
"...Wow, I never would've imagined Kioshi's life started out like that"
"Not many people would"
"He's only got himself to blame for that..."
"Indeed. Gomemasai Chiyeko"
"Why're you apologising to me?"
"I know it's not my fault, but I'm gomen that you got dragged into this. As soon as Kioshi found out that Kazama Chikage had a sister, he made it his life mission to torture her and make him suffer like he did. Or more accurately put, like our mother, sister and father did"
"So, let me get this straight...Even after Kioshi told you all that, you don't hate me?"
"Of course not! It is not your fault that your brother killed our clan! Besides, I didn't grow up with the stories Kioshi did. I lived a fairly normal childhood"
"...I see"
"Be rest assured that I am not lying to you. I honestly hope that somehow you survive this"
"If you want me to survive then let me go" I decided to take a gamble.
"I..." She looked hesitant for a few seconds before she nodded her head resolutely. "I will" She untied my wrists and ankles. "But before you go, please eat" My stomach rumbled loudly, supporting Kinu with her insistence to get me to eat.
"I'll take you up on that" I accepted the warm bowl with a slight blush. I happily enjoyed the ramen and tea. "Arigato. It was a lovely meal"
"You're welcome. Now, let me tell you how to get out the castle..." Kinu expertly described the path that would get me to the back gates of the castle. "If you take that way, the only people you should run into are the furies guarding the gates"
"Arigato Kinu, that's some really helpful information!"
"I would hope it is. All that's left now is this" She handed me her wakizashi.
"What's this for?"
"If Kioshi finds out I let you go, he will not be happy to say the least. This way, I can say you knocked me out and stole my wakizashi to free yourself"
"Knocked you out?! But I don't-!"
"It's okay Chiyeko. You knocking me out is much better than whatever Kioshi will do to me. Plus, you'll need something to defeat the fury guards"
"I mean, it's true that I need something to fight with, but knocking you out...Are you sure that's what you want me to do?"
"I'm sure. Don't hold back now" She smiled brightly at me.
"Kinu...Arigato gozimasu"
"It was my pleasure Chiyeko" I reluctantly knocked her out with the hilt of the wakizashi. I won't forget you Kinu...I silently prayed that she would be alright as I slid open the door and stepped out into the hallway. Luckily, it was empty. I stealthily made my way through the castle, making sure to follow the mental map that Kinu had laid out for me. She was right, there's no one around or in these corridors and hallways. I walked for about three minutes before I reached the back door. Like Kinu had said, the back gates to the castle were open. She never told me the reason why though. I shrugged, brushing the reason off as unimportant. There were eight guards standing outside. Okay, time to take a page out of Kioshi's book...Is something I never thought I'd be thinking to myself. I shook my head and tightened my grip around Kinu's wakizashi. I stepped outside and kept to the shadows of the castle. I took a deep breath with my eyes closed. Keep calm and focus Chiyeko...I opened my eyes and moved. I swiftly stabbed the closest guard through the heart and then retreated back into the shadows. He collapsed and his companions quickly rushed towards him with their hands on their sword hilts. At least they don't drink the blood of their allies like the Fury Corps did.
"Who did that?!"
"Show yourself!" Gladly. Two of the guards had their backs to me. This'll be the last surprise attack I can do, better make it count. I jumped out of the shadows and stabbed one of the furies through the back making sure to go through his heart. I quickly pulled the sword out and stabbed it through the second guard's throat.
"Hey, you're the prisoner!"
"Get her!" The remaining five furies rushed towards me. I ducked down and rolled out of the way causing all the guards to run into one another. I acted quickly and managed to kill two more guards. The remaining ones clashed swords with me, but were making sure to keep their distances. Damnit! They're not letting me get close enough to them! I gritted my teeth as I fended off the furies. I was trying to come up with a new plan when I felt a sharp sting in the back of my neck. Ow! What the heck was that!? I put my hand to the back of my neck and felt something small and roundish. I pulled it out of my neck with a wince before bringing it into my line of sight. A blowdart?! I whipped around to see one of Kioshi's ninjas with a blowgun. Suddenly, I lost control of my body and collapsed. Not again...It wasn't long before I was enveloped by darkness.
I woke up with my wrists and ankles tied back together again. I'm starting to think escaping Kioshi is impossible...The door roughly slid open and Kioshi marched inside looking extremely unhappy. "Do you really think I'm baka?"
"You really don't want me to answer that" Kioshi swiftly approached me and lifted me off the ground by my neck. He wasted no time in tightening his grip up to the point that I could no longer breathe. I wriggled around as I gasped for air.
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out?! That you used my own sister against me!?" I couldn't answer. "It would've been believable if at least one of the set of binds were cut, but they were both in one piece. That means they were both untied and there was no way you could've done that on your own" He threw me into a wall and I coughed several times as I tried to get my breath back. "Next time you come up with a plan, make sure it isn't as obvious as this one"
"...Thanks for the advice"
"Oh, I almost forgot"
"Argh!?" He moved so fast...Suddenly, he was in front of me and I now had a sword going through my abdomen.
"That's for one of the guards you killed. I'll punish you for the others later" He removed his sword with a smirk and left the room. Damn you Kioshi...! I curled myself into a ball as best as I could to try and relieve the pain.
The next day
From the position of the sun in the sky I deduced that it was somewhere around midday. The door slid open and Kinu walked in causing me to gasp, but I wasn't surprised by her coming here. No. I was surprised by her appearance. She had many bruises and appeared to be limping. She looked absolutely terrible! "I'm sure you already know, but Kioshi found out that I helped you" She chuckled sadly. "I never was a good planner"
"Kinu..." I felt immense guilt because it was my fault this happened to her in the first place.
"Here's your lunch. Let me untie you so you can eat"
"Wait...This could've happened!"
"What are you talking about?" Kinu looked at me confused.
"You could've untied my wrists so I could eat dinner! Meaning that both binds could've been untied because I could've taken your weapon and knocked you out before untying the second set of binds!"
"Well, that is true, but what's done is done" She untied my wrists.
"Kioshi just jumped to conclusions and got lucky" Which means I can convince him that I was working alone, although that might result in Kinu being banned from bringing me food. It's a small price to pay to protect her from further harm. When I finished eating, I told Kinu my plan.
"But Chiyeko, he'll surely hurt you more if you tell him that!"
"Better me than you. I'm a demon turned fury, remember? I can withstand a lot more than a half demon, half ningen can" I smiled to reassure her.
"You truly are a kind person. I'm so sorry you got caught up in all this..." Kinu apologised profusely as she re-tied my wrists.
"It's okay, it's not your fault. And don't worry, next time I escape it'll be on my own terms"
"I wish you the best of luck Chiyeko" She bowed before taking the tray and leaving. I can't believe Kioshi is willing to punish his own flesh and blood...That just proves what a bastard he is.
Night
Here goes nothing...Kioshi walked into my room and I smirked at him. "What are you smirking about?"
"Just your hypocrisy"
"Nani?"
"I mean, you're doing all this to avenge your family, right? Yet you don't even trust the only family you have left"
"It's your fault I can no longer trust her"
"Actually, it's your own fault because you jumped to conclusions about how I escaped"
"...What are you talking about?" Now I've got his attention.
"Kinu didn't help me escape. She untied my wrists so I could eat dinner and that's when I took her weapon and knocked her out before I untied the ropes around my ankles"
"Nani!?" His expression was a mixture of shock and anger. I've got to reinstate his trust in Kinu. Hopefully, that will make him apologise to his sister and not lay another hand on her. If I'm successful that is.
"That's right. You should give your sister more credit, I'm pretty sure she's not baka enough to go against you knowing how strong you are" I smiled smugly. "I guess you're not as loyal to your demon clan as you thought you were Kioshi"
"Damare!" He shouted before slapping me across the face. My cheek quickly started to sting shortly after he hit me. "You dare make a mockery of me!?"
"Ya kinda did that yourself, all I did was present you the chance to do so"
"We'll see if you're so cocky after this" He then left the room. Errr...how does him leaving make me less cocky...? I tilted my head in confusion as I stared at the door from which he had just stormed out of.
An hour later
I had fallen asleep thirty minutes after Kioshi had left me, but was rudely awakened by a blow to the gut. My eyes snapped open as I groaned in pain. "Don't you remember what I told you when you first woke up in my castle? You're not going to have a single peaceful night here. Ring any bells?" Kioshi was smirking at me as I slowly curled into a ball to ease the pain. "You don't know how happy it makes me feel when you're in pain"
"...That's because you're a sadistic bastard" I spat out at him.
"I don't enjoy everyone's pain. Only the pain of the demons of the Kazama clan" He smiled darkly before jabbing something into my neck.
"Ow!" I felt something being pushed into my bloodstream. "What was that?! What did you do to me!?"
"Oh, I only injected you with a fast acting poison that robs you of your ability to move. Nothing serious" I'd say that's serious! "And now it's time for your punishment for making me hurt my sister" He lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder before walking out of the room. He walked for around five minutes before he reached the room he wanted. By this time, I had been rendered completely immobile. The only thing I could move was my mouth.
"...What are you gonna do to me?"
"I'm going to make you feel the helplessness my clan felt when they were murdered by your brother"
"N-Nani!?"
"You heard me" He lifted me again and chucked me onto the floor. Now that I could see the room, I was even more confused.
"All that's in this room is a bucket...?"
"You can't move and the bucket is full, do the maths" My eyes widened when I caught onto what he meant. Once he saw my look of recognition, he smiled as he dragged my body over to the bucket.
"None of this will bring your clan back to life Kioshi!"
"Don't you think I know that!?" He yelled angrily before picking me up and shoving my head into the water.
"Mmm!" I couldn't move anything and that led to me panicking as I held my breath. I couldn't even attempt to try and save myself. I held my breath for as long as I able to. Apparently, that annoyed Kioshi who wrapped his arms around my neck to speed up the process. Just like he predicted, my body's instincts soon kicked in and I unwillingly opened my mouth to try and breath. I instantly began to drown as my lungs painfully filled up with water. My vision was lost and my consciousness soon followed after.
Some unknown night later
I gasped for air as I abruptly sat up. "Chiyeko, thank goodness you've woken up!"
"...Kinu...?" My vision soon cleared and I saw Kinu looking at me worriedly.
"You've been unconscious for a day and I thought Kioshi had managed to kill you!"
"Kill me...?" I looked around as my hand wrapped around my throat loosely. My memory was fuzzy and I couldn't remember exactly what had happened to me. "W-Where am I?"
"We're in my room. After Kioshi drowned you, he dumped your body in my room and told me he'd toss your body into the river if I couldn't revive you within 3 days" It all came back to me in fast paced, vividly detailed flashbacks. I put a hand to my head as I winced quietly.
"Thanks for the recap..."
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, all things considered"
"I can't stand by and watch my brother kill an innocent woman. At least, not anymore. I refuse to"
"But if you help me escape and he finds out there's no telling what he'll do to you!"
"This time he won't find out" Her determined expression shocked me.
"Kinu, are you sure-"
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life" She then gestured for me to come closer to her. I did so and she lowered her voice to a hushed whisper. "In a week's time, I am scheduled to go into town for supplies. It is there that I will get you help"
"I've got a better idea. My brother and nakamas are on their way to find me. I'm not sure how far they've gotten yet, but please be on the lookout for them. They'll definitely be the help I need to escape"
"Okay, I will keep an eye out for them. In the meantime, you must do everything in your power to survive the week"
"I have a tendency of not dying when I'm supposed to, I'm fairly sure I'll be fine. If I'm not then I can just try to escape again"
"Well, I wish you the best of luck in dealing with my brother"
"And good luck with finding my nakamas" We smiled at each other before the door slid open and Kioshi walked in.
"My, my...She survived! Thanks sis, now I get to have a little more fun" He smirked before approaching me. I'm free so I might as well take this opportunity to escape. That's when I struck. I swept his legs out from under him and punched him in the nose before taking his sword and using it to kill the guards outside the door. Kinu gave me a discreet thumbs up before tending to her brother. I ran through the corridors and killed any furies or ninjas that tried to stop me. I was nearing the entrance when suddenly, a burning pain erupted in my leg. I collapsed and looked down to see a glowing red dagger in my leg. I turned around to see Kioshi angrily approaching me. I removed the dagger, but it was pointless because he had more. He just threw another overheated knife at me, this time in my other leg. I pulled myself along with my hands, but it was obvious that I was only delaying the inevitable. When Kioshi reached me, he removed his second dagger earning a cry of pain from me before he grabbed a fistful of my kimono and lifted me so we were face to face. "Remember Chiyeko. I don't need you alive, I want you alive. And the only reason I want you alive is because I enjoy your pain, but do not test my patience" He stated in a deep and foreboding tone before he punched me in the nose hard, instantly knocking me out.
I woke up surrounded by dimness. Where am I...? I tried standing up, but my wrists and ankles were restricted by something that made a metallic rattling sound when I moved them. Wait, these must be shackles which means-! When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could make out several metal bars where the door should have been. I'm in a cell?! "I warned you many times to stop attempting to escape, but it seems words don't work on you" Kioshi stepped in front of the bars and I could vaguely make out a smirk on his face. "So it seems I'll have to make you listen with actions instead. You'll live out the remainder of your days here"
"What do you mean remainders of my days?"
"I have decided to kill you" My whole body paled at those dreaded words I was hoping I wouldn't have to hear. "The date for your execution is set for next week. On the day that your brother took everything away from the Nishikiri clan"
"I won't let you kill me!"
"I'm afraid that you don't have much of a choice. I hope you enjoy your final days of living" He chuckled sinisterly before I heard his footsteps recede. He's going to kill me in a week...That's when Kinu is going to get me help. I really hope she manages to do so before he...I sniffled as I hugged my knees to my chest. Where are you guys? I'm running out of time...
DISCLAIMER: SOME lines or scenes MAY have been taken or adapted from Hakuōki/Hakuouki: Memories of the Shinsengumi. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL CHAPTERS!!!