Author's Note: I know, I know, one new fic after another when I said that I would update the un-updated still, I had this idea coming to me one fine day of stoning during classes and it was too good to let it go, for me at least. :D
Disclaimer: I didn't steal RK. Those money-faced OVA producers did.
…
-Branded For Life-
…
Two heavily armed men bore a young, pale woman by the name of Takani Megumi into a dinghy room at the back of a tattoo parlour and dumped her unceremoniously onto a black leather chair set parallel to the floor. Without speaking, they strapped her to the chair and left the room. The woman shivered both from fear and from the chilly air that permeated every part of the room; there was no central heating system installed.
It was only when a surgical glove touched the small of her back that she realized that she was not alone. She wondered what kind of punishment Kanryuu had in mind for her attempted deviation. Then to her horror, she remembered where she was in the first place, and came to the conclusion that the person in the same room was the resident tattoo artist and she was to be tattooed against her own will. Without a word, the tattoo artist imprinted the outline of the tattoo on the lower region of her spine.
"Don't touch me," she snapped, as the contact made her feel dirty all over, dirtier than the jobs that Kanryuu had assigned her. The tattoo artist paid no heed and made preparations for the process. Megumi contemplated hitting the bastard, she was sure that the force of her rage would be enough to land him in hospital, but she was also aware of the fact that struggling would be useless; she was bound to the chair and in no means to escape. There was nothing she could do but grit her teeth and bear with it.
The real hell began when the needle struck her snow white skin and sent shots of pain through her body. She forced herself to remain still even though she writhed in pain on the inside, and despised every minute the ink tainted another inch of her skin. She needn't bother speculating what kind of mark Kanryuu had ordered to be branded on her; all the cronies working under his dubious drug syndicate bore a black tattoo in the form of a spider. In a way, they were all small flies trapped in his web, stuck forever and never able to escape till the big spider descended on them and devoured them whole.
Finally, the torturous procedure came to an end. The tattoo artist kept his equipment, released her from her bondage and left her alone in the room. Megumi kept her head down to hide the hot tears that streamed down her pale cheeks. She clenched her fists so tightly that her fingernails dug into the flesh of her palms and drew drops of crimson blood. She was branded for life, she was one of Kanryuu's cronies that she had detested so deeply and vowed never to be a part of.
"Yare yare, you knew what would happen if you carried on with that little stunt of yours," the man himself spoke smugly as he strode into the room, wearing a navy blue business suit and a self satisfied smirk. He paused and let his gaze saunter up and down Megumi's bare back and rested on the spider tattoo, as if admiring the handiwork as his own.
"You bastard!" She spat out. "You think you can just play me like that?!"
Kanryuu's smirk faded as he hated any show of defiance from her subordinates, much less from a mere woman like her. He pressed the raw area marked by the tattooed-hard- and ignoring Megumi's cries of pain, said smoothly, "Be careful with your words, my little fox. You'd better toe the line now that you're one of mine, or- I don't know, but I think the spider mark would look just as good on your precious Zanza, wouldn't it? Right next to the one he already has. In fact, I think this place does offer.. couple packages for tattoos as well. What do you say?" At this point, he stopped applying the pressure. The skin around the region was now a fiery red, raw.
Megumi bit her tongue to keep from saying something she would regret later on. She could take all the punishment she needed for the crimes she had committed, albeit unwillingly under Kanryuu's command. But she could never let Kanryuu get his claws on those who weren't even responsible, those who had suffered because of her sins, or she would never forgive herself unless condemned to Hell. At first, she had tried to warn them, to get them out of the trap she had unwittingly fallen into, part of an attempt to protect those she knew, but she had failed, miserably.
"Please don't touch them. I'll do anything you want." She forced the words out of her mouth. Nothing made her more disgusted than having to submit to a power hungry demon like Kanryuu.
Kanryuu said nothing. Instead, he tossed a folded black tube dress onto the floor. "Put it on, or you'll freeze to death." He simply said, and walked out. It was not a sudden switch to compassion he had after carrying out that perverse act on her; it was simply the fear of having a dead body to deal with if he wasn't careful enough. The spider liked seeing his prey struggle in discomfort from being trapped, but wasn't open to the idea of any of them dying on her own web. He was a dirty, low-down man that way.
Megumi didn't pick it up immediately, but just lie on the chair and let the cold surround her like a shroud. What was the point when Kanryuu had just violated her that night? If only that "Zanza" had been there to stop him, but then again, after what she did would he even bother to protect her, or even give a thought to her? Probably not.
Kanryuu was a monster, but she was no different. Perhaps the whole cycle of events leading up till now could have been prevented if not for that meeting of chance that night, but who knew what kind of twists and turns fate had in store? And, like Kanryuu had done, fate toyed with her, and she had toyed with him.
Then she buried her face in her hands and cried, not for the first time in her life, and neither would it be her last. Minna-san, gomen nasai..
…
She remembered that fateful night when she first met Zanza. She was a bar tender working at Toxique, the newest kid on the block in Tokyo's kaleidoscope of nightclubs where hardcore youths partied the night away without a care for the hangover that awaited them in the morning. Of course, it had been opened by none other than Kanryuu himself in an attempt to suck more money out of the capital city and she was deployed there. Nights passed in monotony until she spotted him that young man with a fiery temper and hair done up in gravity-defying spikes. The one with the infamous reputation of being thrown out of every single nightclub in Tokyo for getting into fights with arrogant asses who acted like they owned the place. After eyeing her from a distance for some time, her had come over and ordered a round of drinks for himself and his friends, and introduced himself as Sagara Sanosuke. He thought that he had found her, when in fact she had already done that a long time ago, the moment he stepped into Toxique.
Those intense ebony eyes that watched her like a hawk yet never made her feel stalked. The well-defined muscles showed off by the tank top he always wore. The tattoo depicting the word Aku, inked onto his back, just below his neck. He was unlike any man she had ever known, surpassing even the prowess of her ex fiancé. He liked her for being "the fox amongst the common hounds", the mystery behind her, and a secret she kept well outside her working hours at Toxique. The nights spent speeding around Tokyo after her shift was over, always ending up in a secluded spot outside the city area. Just sitting there like a normal couple, breathing in each other's scent. Her tracing his tattoo with her finger, him running his calloused palm through her thick hair which she chose to let down past her shoulders instead of styling and colouring it the way every other girl in Tokyo did.
She gave him the female companionship he lacked in his life; he gave her excitement and romance beyond what she had ever known. He courted her; she kept him on his toes. She knew that it would be a dangerous affair getting involved with him, as Kanryuu didn't let his subordinates have any relationship outside the syndicate for fear of having his secrets exposed to someone from the outside world. Yet she couldn't stop herself from wanting more and more of the man she called Sanosuke; Zanza to the other bartenders who were wary of his brawling tendencies.
He didn't just give her a relationship; he introduced her to his social circle in a bid to get her acquainted with more than his nightly existence. Megumi had blended in easily, feeling like she finally found something close to the substitute for the family she never knew. And then, with just a single command from Kanryuu, she had destroyed her utopia. He had come to know of her connection with Sanosuke and his gang, and ordered her to cut off the relationship. She refused, and he got his revenge by tricking her into drugging his best friend Tsunan, by mixing his drink with a brand of opium he had called Spider's Web. And as if that was not enough, he claimed for his own, by branding her with his own mark.
Megumi wanted to cry and scream like a damsel in distress at the unfairness of it all, but she knew she had brought this on herself. If she had managed to stay distant and not flirt with danger in the first place, she wouldn't be in this position. There was nothing she could do to amend her faults which had implicated others.
She contemplated the existence of a tattoo on her back, how ironic it was that she had previously wondered what it would be like to have one, though she would have preferred to have it on an area where she could see it. Now she had one in a place she couldn't see unless she twisted around in the most uncomfortable way, and like the mark would be there forever, the dark sins she had committed would follow her like a shadow twenty four hours a day.
She shouldn't have gotten involved with Sagara Sanosuke, but now the toxins of Kanryuu's drug operations and Spider Web had infected not only her but the ones who didn't deserve it. Like an ink drop in a basin of holy water, they had all been tainted in a cycle of cruelty and vice; they were all tainted for life.
…
Author's Note: wrote the original version over two days, but tore it to shreds when THIS came to mind. Whether or not this remains one shot or develops, it all depends on the muses and the reviews hint hint