DISCLAIMER!
I, AnnaNero, does NOT own any of this material.
All copyrights are reserved to Tite Kubo, Shonen Jump, and National Geographic.
A small girl named Yuzu fell sick in 1692. Her "fitts"—convulsions, contortions, and outbursts of gibberish—baffled everyone. Other girls soon manifested the same symptoms. Their doctor could suggest but one cause. Witchcraft.
That grim diagnosis launched a Puritan inquisition that took 25 lives, filled prisons with innocent people, and frayed the soul of a Japanese community called KaraKura.
Set the scene by reading the prologue. Or click below to...
You are hot, and you are tired. Your business in town did not go well, and you seethe each time you think of that cold, covetous merchant. The prices he expected you to pay! And without credit!
You'd like to
see him . . .
No, that sort of thought
comes from the devil. You murmur a quick prayer for forgiveness, and you struggle—though not too hard—to forgive the merchant. You ride on.
The horse is tired too, and the trudge back to the village feels longer than ever. You can already taste that cider at Urahara's. There should be a few villagers at the public house. And maybe the afflicted girls will have more of their Witch Tales.
master of disguise.
You think of Tatsuki Arisawa, the slave who kept house for the Reverend Keigo Asano.
She confessed to being a witch. There were others, she warned, and they all served a master wizard. KaraKura cannot rest until this evil has been purged.
They're here.
Young Rukia Kuchiki and Yoruichi Shihōin are sitting in the is Orihime Inoue. She had accused the other girls of lying, but that was only because she was bewitched.
It seems a few nights in jail helped clear her mind.
The girls are quiet, confident of everyone's attention. No one is afflicting them...
yet..
You would never admit this aloud, but you're a bit disappointed. Their outbursts are always, well, alluring in a scary sort of way.
You smile just a little as you imagine them shaking and snarling like wet cats, then Rukia catches your eye for an instant. Is that a hint of a grin in reply? If so, it fades quickly.
Her eyes widen, and her whole body goes limp. Yoruichi and Orihime begin screaming. Rukia stays still a few more seconds, then leaps to her feet and starts "flying" around the room. She flaps her arms and lets out a sound that no one has ever heard before. It's sort of a squawk and sort of a bark and sort of a scream.
"Who is it, Rukia? Who is tormenting you?" Rukia shrieks and flaps and runs. "Tell us, Rukia. Tell us."
The girl pauses, turns, and names her torturer.
YOU!
No nightmare ever came close to this.
The darkness.
The smell.
The clammy air that seeps through your skin.
And the chains.
Even while you're in the town jail— wondering if hell could be much different— the girls claim your specter has been tormenting them back in the village. So the jailer has locked heavy irons around your legs. Somehow the chains will stop your specter, even though walls apparently couldn't. It makes no sense to you, and you wonder if it makes sense to anyone.
Squinting through the gloom, you spot Mashiro Kuna. Your soul shivers as you look at this condemned witch.
Just a few days ago, you watched her trial.
You saw her puppets stuffed with pins, and you heard how her specter climbed into bed with several men of the village.
She's a witch, all right, and her hanging will be God's punishment.
But nothing can make you believe that Lisa Yadōmaru and Ururu Tsumugiyabelong in this pit. You've seen them; you know them. These are good women. Goodwife Yadōmaru bows her head in prayer. You watch a minute, then bow your own head. But no prayers come.
There is your place, a seat on a hard oak pew worn smooth by years of sitting through sermons.
You long to sit there, to be among the elect again. But the constable hauls you gruffly to the front of the room.
All you see are eyes.
The icy eyes of the magistrates.
The clouded eyes of the girls.
The wide-open eyes of the audience.
And the soft, sad eyes of a few old friends.
Neighbor after neighbor accuses you.
One saw your specter fly from the Kurosaki household, then turn into a blood-red hawk.
Another recounts how your specter attacked her by night;
teeth marks line her right arm.
"I've been stabbed!"
The white-hot cry fills the room.
Your specter has plunged a knife into one of the girls, and she holds the blade before the magistrates.
You gulp..
This is evidence, the kind that gets people hanged.
But then a boy named Jinta Hanakari comes forward...
The blade is his.
It broke yesterday from his knife, he says, and he gave it to one of the girls. The magistrates look angrily at the girls and warn them
never to lie again.
Then come the questions—
fierce,
fast,
furious.
Are you a Witch?
Why do you
TORMENT these folks?
How do you know you are not a
HYPERLINK ""W I T C H?
We KNOW you are a
W I T C H.
How L O N G
have you been a witch?
Don't
deny
that
you
are
a witch.
Why won't you confess?
How long have you been in the
S N A R E
of the devil?
Why do you LAUGH at it?
HYPERLINK ""Is this folly,
to see these folks so hurt?
Why won't you confess?
Did you make a compact
with the DEVIL?
YOU CANNOT EXPECT PEACE OF
C O N S C I E N C E
WITHOUT A FREE
C O N F E S S I O N!
WHY WON'T YOU
C O N F E S S ?
C O N F E S S !
Will you Confess?
Yes or No
This is my very first story, so if there are mistakes, I don't know how to work everything yet. If you could give me some pointers, that would be awesome. R&R PLZ!