Darker Than Night:
I
"How does it feel?" His sinister voice rings loudly in her ear. Her body tenses. She turns her head to him, trying to pretend that it didn't faze her: the bluntness of his tone, or even the ghastly look in his eyes as soon as she turned around.
She looks into his maroon purple eyes. They hold nothing but contempt. A cruel smile is across his lips. The words that she had ready to retort already begin to fade.
"What are you talking about?" The question is shadowed with slight hesitation.
He runs his fingers through the loose silver hairs that aren't slicked back from his forehead. Then he smirks lightly at her once more, sadism darkening his eyes. "I'm talking about how your clan still isn't here yet." His voice is low and husky.
She swallows. As if someone had just clenched her heart in their fist, her chest pains. The girl looks away—anywhere else than his manipulative eyes, eyes keen to cause pain.
"Well…" Her lips suddenly feel dry. "That's because they don't…" Her reply trails off. Images of the village and its pillaged remains flash into her mind—pictures of the houses lit up in flames, and the people screaming and crying. The village elder's aged face in distress and hopelessness as he could only look on upon the souls that were transitioning into another place. He looked at her solemnly that night. He only stared.
'They don't' what? It bothers her to lie. What was she about to say? That they didn't know her location, and didn't know that she was captured? They have enough to worry about—what with the war and the great fire that had raged on.
His laughter is dark and uneven. "Oh, really? What don't they know?" He leans in even closer until she can hear the rise and fall of his breath in her ear. "Your clan knows fucking well that their precious little bitch is in the possession of a criminal organization. Do you think they give a fuck?"
Anger radiates within her mind. In another situation she might scream—shout, just anything to say that he was wrong, and that she didn't believe a word he said. But who is she fooling? She knows he's trying to hurt her, but it doesn't make each hit any lighter.
Her chest constricts even more until it's hard to breathe. So is this what they sought out for? Her thoughts leave a bitter taste lingering on her tongue. Did they think that tormenting a girl would solve anything? People are dying or already dead because of the war.
"And you know what else?" The eager sound in his voice is enough to make her want to puke.
"Hidan!" A sharp tone from another voice scolds in the background. "That's enough!"
"Pein, get that uptight stick out of your ass!"
She listens to him argue for back and forth for a while, but it only gives her more reason to interrupt.
"You are the most disgusting, revolting being to ever walk on this land." Her normally calm tone trembles with animosity. She can't stop the words as they start to rush out. "Is this what you wanted? Do you feel better now?"
Her vision is blurry—though her hearing is fine, but even so she doesn't hear a single ounce of humanity in his words.
His tone is low, but it sounds too loud, violent—aggressive. "Playtime is over, little bitch. You can go fuck yourself if you think that the world is a perfect place. If you don't want to be killed, then do the killing."
Pein walks silently beside her. She can only look at the ground. What possessed her to be acting so belligerently? Did she want to be killed after living only eighteen years of her life? She feels like smacking herself, over and over, and wishing that she isn't in this situation. The girl can't even walk without staring at the ground; neither can she speak without a stutter.
Her long black hair acts like a curtain blocking her from view. If only it could actually do its job: hiding her self away so that nobody could see her in this pitiful state. She can only hide behind like a coward, pretending that no one can see her. Her hands tighten into fists as she keeps thinking—back on his words, and on her life after what he said. Did she ever do the killing? Was she only the slaughter of the village—a sacrifice for peace?
It still angers her very soul to think about him. I'm not a coward. She moves her hair behind her ears.
"So is this how it ends?" Her words are lifeless. She wants to laugh at how that man before had ridiculed her. When she was still in the village she would often speak to herself. There was only her to talk to. What had changed?
He stops and looks at her. She tries to stand her ground, stopping as well and looking square into his eyes, but as soon as she looks into his emotionless hollow eyes—each swirl after another, she keeps thinking back on the look on that being's purple eyes and how dark they had gotten, and his words about her clan. She thinks about the war, her past as the daughter of the clan's leader, and her future as nothing more than a corpse with all the other dead bodies.
It was all a joke. Hikari… It was the light that brought her into the world for which she was named, and the light that destroyed them as a clan in whole.
His voice is as emotionless as his eyes. "Don't speak unless you are spoken to."
And then he keeps walking. It takes a while for her to realize that her cheeks are wet with tears from looking at his eyes. One day, she would have been angry just to have him look at her while she's in such a weak state, especially since he's an enemy. But it seems as if none of that matters anymore.
"Don't speak unless you are spoken to." Is that message for that being's case or for him and every other member in their organization?
Hikari attempts to ask him, but he doesn't reply.
"This is where you'll be staying." He turns the door knob and pulls it, letting her peek inside. The room is surprisingly auspicious, given the fact that these people are supposed to be her captors. It's a simple room with white walls and a white ceiling. There's a small bed in the corner, and a window, although it's barred. There's another door to the right, but it's best not knowing.
She turns around, but there's no one there anymore. Even though the room isn't in a ghastly state, uneasiness is at the corners of her mind. She could be killed at any time by anyone, anywhere. She wasn't aware of this fact before. Now it's the only thing she can think of. What happens if her clan doesn't come? What if they do come, and they get cheated and killed? And at the expense at everything they had, would they throw it away to save her?
Hikari moves to the bed, and sits down on the edge. Her stomach is churning painfully. Her lungs feel deprived of air. She can't stand another minute in this hideout.
Standing up, she begins to walk towards the door, praying each step. Let me escape…Let me escape…Let me escape to my clan…Let my clan be alright…
But what are the odds of it happening when one needs it the most?
"Where are you going?"
She jumps at the sound of a voice. Her mind is rushing for ideas. The man in front of her is wearing a black cloak with red clouds and a high collar. He looks like the rest of them. His hair and eyes are the same color: a depthless or deep black. To her it looked merely stoic.
"I'm…lost. I was trying to find the bathroom." They are powerless words.
He scrutinizes her for a while under his stern gaze. Then he turns around and says, "There is a bathroom in the room you are staying at."
And with that, he leaves.
"Waaaaa! Tobi is so happy to meet you!"
Stumbling into her room from the doorway is an energetic masked man. The mask is orange with black swirls that all lead to the only eyehole. The eyehole is for his right eye. He's also wearing a black cloak with red clouds.
He jumps up and down in that same spot. "Tobi wants to be your friend!" When he outstretches his arms, her panic rises.
"Don't touch me!" Her voice is hoarse from crying.
He freezes. "B-But Tobi is a good boy… Tobi only wants a hug."
Who is Tobi? Does he refer to himself as 'Tobi'?
She vehemently glares at him. "Is this a joke? Don't touch me!" Taking another second to think, she continues. "Who sent you? Was it that purple-eyed guy? Tell him that I give up. I don't care anymore!" Her words come out one after another—everything on her mind in one breath, one angry breath.
"B-B-But Tobi is a good boy!" His voice is a lot quieter than before, sad, almost.
Another man rushes in, yelling so loudly that it sends booming echoes that bounce back to her eardrums from the walls of her near empty room. She winces at the sound.
"Tobi! Stop messing around—we need to go on watch duty!" His hair is blonde, put into a ponytail at the back, with his bangs covering his left eye. He's wearing the same uniform. He looks irritatingly at Tobi, and then notices the girl.
"Who is this?" He asks plainly.
There is silence until Tobi erupts into tears. "D-Deidara-senpai! Tobi is a good boy! Tell the mean lady that Tobi is a good boy!" His words then start turning into incomprehensible speech.
The blond man 'Deidara' starts yelling on top of his partner's incoherent mumbling. "WOULD YOU SHUT UP, UN?! I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU'RE SAYING!"
From a mixture of noises consisting of shameful howling, and furious torrents of yelling, Hikari tightly closes her eyes. She clenches her jaw, gnashing her teeth together painfully. Why do they have to be so loud?
"TOBI—GET OUT THE DOOR BEFORE I COUNT TO TEN, OR I'M GOING BLOW YOU UP, UN!"
"W-What about the mean lady? Pein-sama said she was a guest!"
"…I'M GOING TO START COUNTING…!"
"Hehe… Go ahead~!"
With that, something pressed up against her: something warm and of flesh. She freezes.
"TOBI!"
Finally at her breaking point, Hikari whips around and pushes the man off of her. He clumsily falls down, groaning and rubbing his bottom.
"Don't touch me ever again."
"Playtime is over, little bitch. You can go fuck yourself if you think that the world is a perfect place. If you don't want to be killed, then do the killing."
The words repeat over and over in her head, until it's almost as if he's actually standing right behind her. No one from their disgusting organization can touch her again. She just wants to go back to her village and forget everything—forget about that purple-eyed man and his words, the stoic, dead looks of all the members, the annoying masked boy, and the endless yelling that prevailed when around that blonde-haired man.
If only.