It was dark.
Very dark really, but the difference between the two had faded some after 'Kaasan and 'Tousan had gone away. Now dark was just dark and bright was just bright and there really weren't many things that fell in the middle. But at least there was a middle. Without that middle she didn't know where she would be, though her present company said it would probably be in the section she now classified as dark. But that dark and this dark were two different things. One was the dark you saw with your eyes, the kind she saw right now, and then there was the dark that you saw but only if you looked really hard because it was inside of people where they hid it and tried to pretend it wasn't there. But these two people were very dark, and anyone could see it at the moment, since there was still blood on their clothes. 'Cousin Ryu's blood', the girl reminded herself and shivered despite the heat of the summer night. She glared at the head of the woman in front of her. She didn't want to be with these people but...She didn't have very many options, she knew that they wouldn't hesitate to shoot if she had refused. They hadn't hesitated when Ryu told them that they couldn't have the two girls.
Thirteen year old Miyano Akemi shifted her baby sister Shiho in her arms and continued to walk behind the bad people as loudly as possible, if only to be defiant towards her captors. The lady turned around and glared at her.
"Can't you walk any quieter, brat?" she hissed.
Akemi put on her best I-Have-No-Clue-What-You're-Talking-About smile as she looked up at the woman. "But I am being quiet, aren't I?"
The man behind her grunted angrily. "Shut it, wretch, and be quiet or I'll take that kid from you and splatter her brains all across this alley."
Akemi clamped her mouth shut trudged on slightly quieter, but not too quiet, it wouldn't due to be too good at sneaking. Kaasan had always told her to never, ever be too good at something because it would make her a candidate. For what, she wasn't sure but certainly for nothing good. But at least they both seemed to buy it and they led her deeper into the shadows.
A long time ago, Akemi had believed there to be only good and bad, black and white. But now she knew there were shades of gray. And as she trudged down the dark alleyways with the dark, bad people who hadn't hesitated at all, gray had never seemed more appealing or beautiful.
Especially compared to black.
---
"Akemi, correct?" a smooth and definitely dark voice asked from the extra dark shadows. But the extra darkness wasn't really noted, as said before, she really couldn't distinguish between the different darks anymore. They were all just dark.
"Yessir." She said, keeping here eyes on the floor and holding Shiho-chan a little closer to her chest. Speaking of her chest, that reminded her how some of those men had stared at her chest on her way to the office (if it could be called that) in a way she did not like. Kaasan had always told her to run away if people looked at her like that, but she couldn't, the only thing she could do was pick up her pace a little and hope that the people she was with would at least offer some kind of protection against them.
"And the little one is your sister?"
"Yessir." she responded.
"Good, good. Tell me, child, were you treated kindly other than during your capture? Were my agents nice to you?" he asked and I seemed as though he might be nicer than the other people and maybe he would protect her from the bad people.
"No sir."
"Oh really?" he asked quizzically. "Please do explain."
"They called me names and pulled my hair and said they were going to splatter Shiho-chan's brains all over the floor and the men in the hallways all looked at my chest in the way Kaasan said was bad and I couldn't do anything and...I don't want to die, Mister! I just want me and Shiho to be safe and...I'm afraid." She said and she felt a couple of tears roll down her cheek.
"I'm sorry, my dear, those agents will not lay a hand on you, I will make sure. Now, I suppose you will want some where to sleep and such, won't you? I will see to it personally that you and your sister are well cared for. I'll return in a moment, please just stay seated." And the he left or she assumed he did because she couldn't see him. Minutes passed before she heard him return and someone else
"This is Umi-san and she'll be looking after you until we can set up a more permanent arrangement." Said the man and a woman stepped out of the shadows. She looked to be about twenty with short auburn hair and emerald green eyes. She smiled brightly at Akemi.
"You can just call me Umi-nee. Me and you are going to be just like sisters, now I've got and nice bath and bed waiting for you if you would please come with me. I've got some more clothes too. We can throw those ones you're wearing away, unless you just want to keep them." she said and offered and hand to Akemi who eyed it before climbing down and taking the proffered hand while cradling Shiho expertly with one arm, somehow managing to support both the head and the back at the same time.
"Thank you, Umi-nee." She said politely and the woman smiled and lead her away.
The man in the shadows smiled too, after they left. He addressed the empty room sinisterly like many a cartoon villain will after the hero is out of sight. "Yes, thank you indeed Umi-san." He said before commencing to laugh in a dark, dark way.