The Key to the Blackened Cage (closed)(mature)

[Bayushi Haruka]

It was now that Haruka tensed her hands into fists in the restraints, she didn't like the sound of any of it now. The feel of having the clothing removed drove her a little over the edge as she started to fight against it and conjured up whatever physical strength she could. Her patience and courtesy was dissipating quite rapidly as her irritation with the situation accelerated.

"...Think that all you like. I'll die before I cave in to a creature like you.." A much more feral growl came from her. "I suspect your little kami will find me most unappealing, I suspect you're just wasting your time."

She didn't bother looking at her captor, or her pets as they were. She couldn't help the situation as the cloth left her form. The kimono would not come away with her arms being bound like that though. Her arms would have to be freed or the cloth cut, she couldn't have it both ways. A little bit of sweat built up on her skin though in spite of the cold from both Haruka's anxiety and struggling.

[Zeure]

Rashiru threw open her kimono, such that she was now entirely nude all along her front side. She stared at Haruka for a moment, and there was something there, some form of desire. Something taboo. "Oh, my. Well, I don't think you have a problem appearing unattractive. And our little kami is a man after all..."

She looped a piece of fabric around Haruka's shoulders and tied her sleeves back into Tasuke so that they were be out of the way and otherwise decided not to mess with it. She tilted her head as if in thought. "I've never really thought of Fu Leng as little. The stories describe him as a match for the Hantei and the Hantei was not a small man. Well.. no matter, no matter at all."

Rashiru circled around Haruka, but when she came back into view she was holding a long handled knife with a small blade. It looked fairly sharp to Haruka. Rashiru knelt in front of Haruka, looking up at her face as she twisted in torment. "Now...where should I begin... Heheh..."

She wrapped a hand around the restraints that held Haruka at the ankle. She ran the knife across her tongue while she eyed Haruka. Then, the first cut was given, from the restraint edge up along her calf. It was not a deep cut, in fact it was quite shallow, but the pain was there none the less; and the blood. Rashiru wiped her hand across the cut, bringing up some of the blood on her fingers and played with it momentarily. Then her gaze fell back on Haruka and she smiled widely.

[Bayushi Haruka]

So it begins.

Haruka bore her teeth a bit and breathed deeply, but she would not betray a sound. Frankly the pain was to be expected, and part of her wanted to egg her on. For as long as she tried she could summon up any amount of her old training to keep her focused.

Particularly deep cuts would get to her though, there was only so much she could control about her immediate reactions. In a way a perverse thought entered Haruka's mind from the way Rashiru looked at her.

"...Don't stop now, you're only getting started." A challenging gaze kept watching as the blood would start flowing. She shuddered and hissed but she'd never scream. In the back of her mind her thoughts started pounding.

If this is how I succumb to the taint... I will have been a failure of a warrior...

[Zeure]

Several cuts along her calf later, time seemed to be moving at a crawl. Rashiru was quite talented, if one would call this a talent at stretching it out and making each cut last. Haruka knew that she was in no lasting danger from the cuts that Rashiru was making, but still the pain just kept coming. And not in a constant wave either. Apparently Rashiru was well aware of how pain worked. If you kept up on a target at the same level of pain for a long period of time, they would grow numb or used to it. And Rashiru was giving Haruka no part of that. She kept using other sensations to draw her mind. She would slap Haruka's stomach, or pinch her or scratch her, or any number of other things that would distract Haruka from preparing for the pain.

In an incredibly perverse line of thinking, Haruka might realize that, from another perspective, it might look like Rashiru was 'attending her'. Like Haruka had done so many times to Senshi, like she had done to Yun. The most obnoxious part was the laughter. She had fits of it, seemingly at random and it never ended. The whole activity took on a seperate and distinct bizarre nature because of her demeanor.

Haruka now bore a ring of cuts that crawled up from the restraints to her knees all the way around her calf. Eight different incisions in all. Each delivered in a different way, at a different speed and after a different distraction to keep her off balance.

[Bayushi Haruka]

The blood coated her leg and dripped down to her feet and onto the ground without restraint. Haruka was breathing deeply, her eyes fluttering and unable to stay open as she winced and continued to experience the pain. Each strike made her strain against the restraints all the more, making her wrists and ankles red, the bindings even starting to cut into her flesh a bit.

By the time the eighth cut was finished and Rashiru stood before her laughing away, Haruka was starting to double over forward using controlled breathing. She could feel her pulse feeding the blood to the ground. Her joints were starting to hurt from the struggle as well, it seemed like there was no end to the agony of it.

While she didn't want to admit defeat, she couldn't help restraining a constant wimper from the absolute suffering she was going through. Haruka could not pick her head up, and didn't seem able to move unless another cut was made. Her entire form kept trembling on its own now, from the trauma, from fear starting to creep into her mind from the sheer shock of it all as the tears rolled down her face.
But she said nothing.

[Zeure]

Rashiru was just coming down off a fit of laughter based on the reaction she was getting. She loved that Haruka was whimpering. It was so... cute. Rashiru could not wait to break this one into tiny fragments of her self. She had so many things running through her crazed mind about how she could use this woman. At least her body if nothing else. She was excited at the thought, these images going through her head only exacerbated her mood.

She dropped down to one knee in front of Haruka and letting the utensil that she had been using to make the cuts fall into her off hand she used her main hand to grab Haruka's chest. She pulled on her breast and her nails left red trails where they had drug across the skin, not blood, just welted skin. She ended on Haruka's nipple which she dug in to with her thumb nail.

"Oh don't leave me yet, sweetness. We are just getting started." Another series of made cackles erupted from her.

[Bayushi Haruka]

Haruka grit her teeth in reaction, a fury still burned in her gut no matter how much pain she was in. Picking her head up a bit after the initial jolt of being grabbed so roughly. She didn't understand why Rashiru was doing this anymore, it all seemed to be senseless violence.

Her mind was stirring. She knew she couldn't keep up this silly show of bravado on forever, but that was not all she was. As if to try and strangely reassure her and to continue to study her captor, Haruka looked up at Rashiru with weary but determined eyes.

"Don't worry Rashiru-san... I'm," she coughed a bit as a reflex from the pain, "still here."

I'm not broken yet... I'm just winded.
You can smile and prance along all you like.
Only a coward would break someone this way.
In the end you're the one who'll always fear to release me..

In that thought she actually smirked, one of her canine teeth biting into her lip a bit as she did.

[Zeure]

Rashiru smiled down at Haruka and in a weird way it looked pleased, happy, giddy even. Rashiru was genuinely happy that Haruka was not falling into it yet. She tilted her head back, her attention focusing on something else. Something that Haruka was not aware of. Perhaps she was just being crazy, it was certainly possible given the evidence that had already been presented. She nodded her head several times in acknowledgement with...nothing and then her gaze came to rest on Haruka again.

"Unfortunately I am though. With you, anyways. I have to exchange you for Yun. There is a vital piece of information that I have to extract from him that I have just been made aware of."

She gestured for the two things that were in the room to grab Haruka again. This was the first time that Haruka had gotten a real good look at them. The seemed to be human at first, but, they weren't. At least not completely. They seemed to be an amalgam of human and beast; something in between. They had human faces but their jawlines were extended slightly, more pronounced and they had razor sharp looking teeth. Their bodies were heavily corded with thick muscle and they were only lightly clothed with enough for modesty's sake and nothing else. They had a sort of fur in places, more like human hair but thicker. And a shaggy black head of hair.

They undid the straps on her legs first, then on her arms and they grabbed her in much the same way as they had before. Rashiru didn't bother to tell them what to do with her clothing, so they left it as it was. Back down the hallway they walked, and this time Haruka got a good look around, not that it did her any good. It was a simple stone pathway between the torture room and the holding cell.

As they re-entered the cell Haruka could see Yun laying on the floor. As she had guessed before, he was bound and gagged. He did not have a blindfold on though. His arms were bound to his legs and both behind his back. He looked up at them as they entered and he noticed the state Haruka was in. He struggled and began trying to speak, but the gag prevented all such things.

Rashiru had them bring Haruka over to a wall opposite Yun. They sat her down against the wall and that is when she saw the next piece of her torture. There was a chain attached to the wall by heavy metal rings, and on the end of the chain was a collar with a lock. Haruka began to struggle as much as she could against this, but the creatures were overpoweringly strong and she could not avoid it. She found herself chained to the wall by her throat.

Yun continued his protests while Rashiru spoke to Haruka. "I...well, wow... it's been a pleasure, Haruka-chan. I truly...truly...." She took a greater notice of Yun than she had up to this point, slowly turning to face him. " SHUUT UUUP!! I'M TRYING TO SPEAK TO HARUKA!!" It was a loud shriek, something that you would assume that her voice was not capable of any longer. She took several heavy steps across the room and kicked Yun, much as she had probably done before when she was in here; deep in the midsection. She caught herself and motioned for the two things to pick Yun up.

"Seriously, I have had a lot of fun tonight. We'll pick this up again later, ok hon!?" She did not wait for an answer, they left, and Haruka was all alone.

[Bayushi Haruka]

Still exposed, still trapped but her hands were free. Once she got over the initial panic of trying to get the collar off with no success her attention turned onto her clothing and her rather vulgar state. A quick rip of the bottom of her attire made a ribbon to at least tie the two sides together. It was imperfect but something at least, otherwise her hands would hold everything together as she hid her form.

Something about her flesh being shown and the level of closeness between her and Rashiru physically put her off, Haruka struggled to keep from vomiting right there and then, ironically the chain helping in this matter. She did her best to refocus herself and try to push away the image of her previous scene with that... thing.

Panting and reaching down she could finally feel her leg, her fingers ran along the skin until they finally reached the strikes against her calf. Her digits did not enter and the wound was not deep enough to have severed anything essential within, but there was no denying the absolute agony of having these exposed wounds. The cold air did serve to gradually numb her flesh a bit and helped with the scratches and other marks as well. The cool stone also helped to numb her skin as she rested against it once again, trying to keep her legs down so as to keep her exposure to a minimum. Her garments under the kimono were still in place but Rashiru's rough touch had torn the top of them somewhat.

With time her thoughts wandered onto what Yun might be experiencing. He'd seen her return in such an appalling appearance, she could only wonder what the sick mind of Rashiru was coming up with to get him to fess up the information she wanted. Wiping her leg and sending a heavy stinging sensation through her form, she quickly put those thoughts out of her mind.

Finally she'd leave the wounds alone, her fingers drenched in her own blood as she held up her hands looking at them. Her gaze was fixed on them as if studying the various colors and thickness of the blood.

Not black... not yet at least.
But why must it be blood, why must it always be about power?
I've spilled the blood of so many of my enemies it never phased me once..
But now I see every pulse, the result of such assaults on the human body.
...It's so horrific I would never wish it upon any of my enemies..
....And yet the color of it all.. There's something.. beautiful about it.

Her mind started to wander a bit further as if she had never stopped to notice her own blood before, not that she hadn't spilled it, but her training told her to ignore to the wounds and always to focus on the mission at hand. It was strange in her mind to see such an essential part of the body on her hands, so fresh and so warm.

In an odd moment of revelry Haruka did as she had before in her youth, gaining a wound on her hand had always given her the instinct to stick it in her mouth to help heal it of course. Her fingers covered still she licked off a single finger and slowly realized that the taste wasn't quite the same, but then again she'd never licked off this much blood off of anything before.

[Zeure]

Haruka sat in the room for several minutes with nothing to guide her but her own thoughts. There was probably a conversation going on between Yun and Rashiru, she thought, something similar to how her own torture had started. With Rashiru dancing around him gleefully laughing about his impending damages. She wondered after him and how long he would last. Unfortunately, she did not have long to wait; as the screams of agony began to pierce the air, coming from the chambers that she had left all too recently.

[Bayushi Haruka]

The screams were sobering, even she looked at herself and stopped, wincing as the natural instinct to try and intervene and protect started to jolt through her system. But she was powerless to act. She realized how foolish she looked and wiped the blood off on her kimono. By this point it was ruined and needed to be burned to purge the memory of this place anyway.

For now she just sat there tensely, trying to find some sense of center again but her whole body just was a little off, like someone who kept being disturbed in their sleep during the night. The effects of the torture already taking a foothold. Haruka was displeased with herself and grumbled irritably, gently knocking her head back against the solid wall to punish herself. This pain she would accept as her eyes wandered up to the stone ceiling.

The hum of the room started to come back again, though she did not know where it was coming from. It took some time, but Haruka realized that Yun's torture would last far longer than hers it seemed, either that or her pain clearly blurred time, she couldn't be sure. Nor was there a sun to verify the time with, only her internal timing was left to try and rely on. She felt she had to fight the silence off, but her will to sing was somewhat weakened from all the strain she was feeling.

So for now she used a different set of thinking to fill the emptiness.
I wonder when I should act broken.. they'll let their guard down..
And I'll tear free of this place, with my bare hands if I have to.
Shameful or not, there's no peace for me now, nor will there ever be.
I will be free again, it's just a question of how and when now..
Time continued to drift as gradually the numbing sensation of the air let Haruka's pain subside enough to let her eyes relax and she started to rest a bit against the wall.

[Zeure]

Hours Passed...

Yun was brought into the cell. His clothes were torn open in several places as clearly Rashiru had not been so kind to his outfit. There was blood all over him, he looked like he had been beaten in addition to having been cut in several places. He was unconsious and they showed no restraint in unceremoniously throwing him to the ground. After they did, the proceeded to rebind him in the same way they had before. Then the guards left them, alone in the room together.

[Bayushi Haruka]

Haruka was jarred awake by the sound of their entry, but she did not reveal her awakened state as she stopped and waited and listened. The sound of a body being thrown in nearby, more footsteps, and the door closed. When all finally fell into quiet Haruka pulled her lids apart, a bit of crust had already formed on the edges and she dutifully wiped them away.

The first thing she noticed were no guards present,
Strange.
She even looked around to be sure they hadn't hidden some elsewhere. Or were observing through some peek hole.
Then again I probably wouldn't see it that easily if they didn't intend for me to.
Haruka sighed heavily and then looked over finding at least a familiar face again though he was fairly roughed up as well. Nothing deadly as to be expected for those meant to be left alive for further use. But he was out cold it seemed, so after another cautious glance around Haruka gave a little whistle at him, something to hopefully grab his attention.

It didn't seem to work, so she just assumed him to be further gone than she first anticipated. Having found at least some kinship in him she wondered what might help him through this trying time and be something pleasant to awaken to. Unable to reach him physically due to the chain around her neck and limiting her movement, she had to figure something out. Then the thought hit her.
I'll sing for him.

Her voice started to coerce the air as an old song passed down through the Unicorn clan. The words were in Rokugani but were spoken with enough of an accent that only those who were used to the accent the Unicorn sometimes tacked onto their words would understand. The few recognizable words singing something about a young man coming home from a great journey, or something along those lines.

But sure enough with time it would work, Yun's eyes fluttered slowly open as he jolted in realization of where he was. But then his attention turned next to the origination of the sound where he saw Haruka. Unbound by chains to limit his movement he came to his senses and painfully, slowly managed to crawl and squirm his way over into her range of reach.

She heard him move and stopped, coming to where she could reach him and undoing the gag for him.

"Yun, I'm so sorry. I know it's not my fault but.. I still wish there was more I could do for you, anything to ease this process."
Her gaze then traveled down to the binds on his hands and legs, her hands went to those next.

[Zeure]

He managed to squirm all the way over to her and he put his head down in her lap. Where he had been comfortably telling her all about his days in Ryoko Owari only a day or so ago. He coughed a bit after she had spoke and she could see that there was blood inside his mouth too. He looked up at her with weak bleary eyes.

"You sing as... *cough* beautifully as you look."

He smiled as he rolled over onto his back so that he would be looking up at her. The rolling caused him to come off of her lap and his head hit the floor, jarring him a bit.

"I don't know how long I can last in here, Haruka. I'm not going to lie. I can feel the taint emenating from this place so deep in the shadowlands... It calls to my own. And... and I've never really been that strong..."

His body was wracked by a series of coughs, it shook him entirely from head to toe.

"But...but I just... I just have to tell you that... even though our time was short... I've never loved someone as much as I do you..."

[Bayushi Haruka]

Haruka leaned over to pick him back up, folding her legs to better secure and cradle him. Her eyes started to get very moist as she started to stroke his hair and try to tend to the poor soul. The only thing she silently but purposefully made sure of was that the open wounds on her leg were covered by her clothes, separating her blood from his.

"No Yun, you mustn't give in. You mustn't speak so lowly of yourself. Please.."
Her hands ran through his hair as she caressed him and tried to add a gentle touch along with her words.
"I beg of you, don't let those words come from your mouth. You must promise me, if anyone will give in and admit anything, it will be me Yun, not you. We must find courage in spite of it all... we must.."

Her head dipped down as it was able as she touched her forehead to his, a few of her tears falling onto his head.
"You're the only one left in this world I can count on, the only one I'm still alive for.."

He could feel her trembling then, her hands held him to prevent from shaking on their own accord. With a few deep breaths she was able to still her tears but she still held her head to his. It was improper for one to touch like this, but they were far away from any judgmental eyes that could contest what they needed, what she needed.

"You're freed now, you can summon the kami for sure, you can get us out of here! You just have to believe!"