A one-shot based on a very obscure anime. Keep in mind I have only watched said anime up to episode 13.
Not Again
Based off of Higurashi - When They Cry
He had heard it again... he was sure.
The low gurgling noise that came from just a few feet away seemed to strike a memory that Keiichi had long since forgotten. he held back a pained groan as he lowered his head onto his lap in an attempt to conceal his eyes. With the events that he knew were going to unfold, the last thing he wanted was to see the culprit. The last thing he wanted was to leave this world with a sour memory of the person he cared for most.
There was a low creak as the door to Keiichi's house was opened agonizingly slow. He just wanted everything to go as fast as it could... but then again, how could he expect such hospitality from the Demon that had tortured and killed millions before him? How was he any different from the man who was taken away from his children and wife? If anything, he deserved to die more than any of the people before him. With a gulp, Keiichi waited nervously for the Demon to start with whatever it was it was going to do to him.
"Do you realize what you have done?" A voice came from in front of him, a voice that he remembered from somewhere. He ignored that fact, pushing it as far away from his conscious mind as he possibly could. There was a forced cough from the voice, reminding Keiichi that it was expecting an answer.
"Yes," Keiichi lifted his head slightly, but kept the figure in front of him out of his line of sight. The creature gave an angered snarl before gripping the side Keiichi's head, forcing him to look it in the eye... the worst torture that he could have ever possibly gone through.
"Now tell me, do you think you deserve this?"
Keiichi couldn't stop the tears from welling up in his eyes as he looked into the Demon's olive ones. He unwillingly gazed into them, thoroughly inspecting every millimeter. He could practically see Mion through them, begging him to say no, begging him to say that he did not deserve the kind of punishment that he was about to go through. But, as much as it pained him to do so, Keiichi ignored one of his best friends.
" I do," Keiichi answered, a hint of regret in his voice, "I deserve everything..."
With a surprised yelp, Keiichi felt himself being lifted from his kneeling position by his hair. The Demon ignored the sounds of pain that came from the young boy's mouth and threw him across the room, where he hit his bedroom wall with a loud thud. He couldn't stop the grunt of pain from leaving his lips at that point. He simply let his body go limp as he did his best to ignore the unbearable pain that came from his now cracked ribs. The Demon walked up to him and, again, forced him to look at it in the eye.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't just watch as the spirit of Mion blamed herself for what was happening. He couldn't take the constant apologies for something she had no control over. The Demon let out a sinister laugh, a laugh that made Keiichi sick. Keiichi did all he could to sustain the screams that his body wanted nothing more than for him to excrete. The Demon let go of his hair and let him fall to the ground with another thud.
"You don't want to look at me, huh!" the Demon screamed, "Well then you won't be needing these anymore!"
With a psychotic look on its face, the Demon began tenderly rubbing her thumbs on Keiichi's eyelids, effectively causing them to slam shut in an attempt to protect his eyes from any harm that may come. Sadly, the thin slab of skin would offer no protection at all towards what was about to come...
The Demon laughed hysterically before pushing her thumbs into Keiichi's eye sockets with as much force as it could possibly muster. Keiichi let out a bloodcurdling squeal of pain as his eyes were squished like nothing more than one last push, the demon pulled its fingers out of Keiichi's eye sockets and place them on his forehead. With a squeal of delight, the demon opened her mouth to speak.
"Well, try to look at me now,"
And that's just what Keiichi did. With all of his might he tried to muscle his eyelids open, but for some reason he couldn't. It was as if his eyelids were taped shut with duct tape...
And that's when he realized something.
Something that made want to vomit.
His eyelids were open, he just couldn't see anything.
He denied it with all of his heart when the thought first came to his mind, but as he continually scrunched his face up in a desperate attempt to pry his eyelids open, the thought became ever so obvious. And when he felt the strange liquid run down his cheek, he lost it. He could imagine it... the remainder of his eye sliding down his face...
He wanted to cry, and he was sure he would have if he had the ability to. Instead, he simply sobbed pitifully.
Through it all; the Demon kept giggling like a small child. He could practically feel the giddy vibe projecting off of the sick and twisted creature. It angered him beyond belief, more than he though anything possibly could. With an angered cry, Keiichi used the last of his strength to pounce on the Demon and force it onto the ground. He began randomly punching below him, and felt a wave of happiness wash over him as he felt his fists connect with the figure below him.
"I didn't know you hated book shelves so much..." the Demon's voice came from behind him, mocking him. Keiichi's jaw fell open in disbelief, "There is no use in fighting me! You are blind!"
"And after all, I thought you got your fill of hurting Mion's body when you stabbed it fifteen times in the back..."
All of his pain disappeared instantly, every emotion other than pure regret and sadness left his body as quickly as it could, leaving a bitter taste behind. He remembered why he deserved all or this, remembered why he had planned on sitting back and letting the Demon have its way with him and ultimately take away the one this that deserved to be taken away from him the most... his life.
Please! I'm sorry! Please just stop! It hurts so much...
The final sounds that he had heard come out of her mouth, the words that he wanted to forget and never remember again. And even if it had happened less than an hour ago, he felt like a memory that he had been hiding for the past thousand of years had been dug from the confines of his sub-conscious. He let his body go limp again, he didn't care what happened after that. With his head lowered shamefully, Keiichi made one last final request and hoped with all of his heart that it would be granted.
"please... kill me..."
And for the next minute or so, the impossible happened. A somber silence engulfed the two in the room. And when the Demon spoke again, the usual anger and sickening happiness that engulfed its voice were all but gone, replaced instead by that of sympathy.
"...You have my word,"
Keiichi felt a wave of relief wash over him at the words that the Demon had spoken. He could tell that the Demon was being a hundred percent honest, something he was almost sure he would never think of the Demon's words.
It was then that the moment was interupted by the sound of Keiichi's front door being opened once again.
"Keiichi-Kun?" The familiar cheerful voice called, "I knocked but no one answered,"
No... not now! Any time but now! Any at all!
"NO!" Keiichi screeched as loud as he could, ignoring the constant cracking of his voice. Why did Rena have to walk in at this moment when he could literally feel death right behind him waiting to swipe his scythe?
"Keiichi-Kun? Whats going on?"
He heard the door to his bedroom being slammed open just a few feet in front of him, and a second later could feel Rena's gaze rest on his slouched over body. There was a sharp gasp as Rena quickly covered her mouth with her palm. There was an extended silence as Rena continued to lock her eyes on Keiichi's body, unable to tear them away for even a second. With a shocked expression on her face, Rena looked over at the bloodied body of Mion.
Rena opened her mouth, but couldn't find anything to say. Instead, she simply locked eyes with the Demon and began stammering, searching her mind thoroughly for something to say. The Demon shifted it's gaze, turning her head slightly as to break the eye contact.
"You shouldn't have come here..." The Demon seethed through tightly clenched teeth, "I told you to stay at home..."
Rena was speechless. Indeed, she had been told to go home and stay in her house no matter what happened, but she didn't know that this was the reason why. She just wanted to hang out with Keiichi, not walk in on him being killed by a Demon!
"You promised that Keiichi would have nothing to do with the ceremony this year..." Rena glared down at the wooden floor below her, clenching her fists in anger.
Keiichi's jaw dropped in surprise. Rena knew about this? Rena knew all along that Mion was housing the murderer who was killing all of these dam supporters? Keiichi's surprise was replaced with anger less than a second later. He grit his teeth, holding back the outburst that he was sure would have come out of his mouth if he hadn't suppressed it.
If Rena had told me this all could have been avoided...
That thought repeated itself in Keiichi's head over and over again, simply angering him farther.
"I don't care what Mion said!" The Demon snapped back, quickly sending a sharp glare towards Rena, "He meddled and it is my duty as the village guardian to take care of him!"
Rena didn't reply for some time, she simply returned the Demon's glare with ten times more intensity. With a exasperated groan, Rena turned and began walking towards the bedroom door.
"Just get it over with already..." Rena stopped on her way out to gaze at Keiichi's weakened body one last time, "It looks like you've put him through enough torture already anyway,"
"He doesn't deserve any more sympathy from me than Satoshi did..."
Rena ignored this remark, simply walking out the door and closing it behind her.
Keiichi had listened to the whole conversation intently, his curiosity still beaming despite all he had gone through in the past hour. He heard the demon sigh from a few feet behind him.
"She cares too much..." She spoke this softly, almost in a whisper, presumably not wanting Keiichi to hear. Keiichi wanted to respond, but could find nothing to say. He sat in the same position he had been in for the past ten minutes and wondered what the Demon was going to do to him. Whatever it was, he still knew he was powerless to do anything about it.
"He reminds me so much of Satoshi," The demon thought aloud, walking aimlessly around Keiichi, "He looked so much smarter than him... but he made the same stupid mistake..."
With one last sigh, it raised it's hand, then jammed it down.
The last thing he remembered was the feeling of the knife piercing his skin.