What have... literally what even have I written. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it's already longer than my senior thesis, so I need a fucking break. Goddamn it *rakes hands through hair.* One simple what-if? oneshot and...this... comes out of me. Anyway, I've been looking at this too long, so I hate it, but I hope a few of you enjoy it anyway. I'll finish it for sure, but for now this is what I have.
Oh yeah, and inspired by H0saki... thanks, babe, you've destroyed me.
xxx
The newly setting sun cast whorls of slick purples and greens across the puddles of diesel bobbing serenely on the choppy water. It would have - might have - been beautiful, and to Matoi Ryuko, it was. A sudden explosion from deep within the bowels of the sinking ship set the glistening puddles aflame, burning atop the water like some deep magic, and Ryuko smiled, laughing a little, enjoying the acrid, new plastic toy smell of the burning fuel.
A sick spark of heat splashed through her mind and Junketsu squeezed his approval. She could feel his chuckle ripple against her skin, and she tossed her head back as tingles of unrefined pleasure coursed beneath her skin.
Too high up.
The fumes had turned the ripple of her laugh into a choked croak, but yet she did not close the hot red furnace of her mouth, laughing until her lungs cried out for mercy. Even to them she had no compassion. It was funny, foolish, and even the reverberation of her crow against the slowly sinking metal tickled her to near frenzy.
Her sister squirmed like a restless puppy, nearly dislodging herself, struggling towards the water below. Her hands pushed at Ryuko's wrist, desperate to slip her hips through the hoop of her arm.
"You want down? Okay, let's go down."
Ryuko shifted her grip to under her arms, pulling her up and close. The smoke was burning her eyes, now, mixing with the salt in the air and scorching her nostrils with the overpowering stench of burning rubber. Ryuko licked her lips and the top of her mouth, making a halfhearted attempt to cleanse her palate.
The sound her sister made when she sank her teeth into her shoulder was brilliant, unforgettable. The pain sounded sweet and low, like the thrumming of a cello, overlaid with the bright, high tinkling of surprise. Ryuko grinned into the bite, closing her swollen eyes as blood throbbed between her teeth, filling her mouth with the taste of salt and of copper coins that had been standing too long in a hot windowsill.
Throwing her arms out wide, Ryuko released both her sister and her hold on her dress' senpu mode. Another cry, this time less like a laugh, tore from between teeth still firmly clamped against Satsuki's trapezius as she fell head-first towards the water. A thrill of inexpressible joy tore from her scalp down through every nerve in her spine as the wind ripped at her hair. The flavor of the blood pouring into her mouth changed slightly, growing darker and dirtier with her sister's involuntary terror at the sudden drop . The fact, the idea, that she could literally taste fear paralyzed her in morbid ecstasy.
Junketsu forgave her her shortsightedness, pleased also with the fresh blood soaking into his collar. He pulled them effortlessly out of the less-than-controlled dive, smoothly resuming senpu mode. Disappointed with the shortness of the fall rather than appalled at her own lack of forethought, Ryuko wrapped her arms around Satsuki before gravity could tear her away, releasing the painful grasp on her shoulder. Feigning care, Ryuko licked away the blood and mockingly kissed the bruise she had left, crooning giddily into Satsuki's ear.
"Here. You want to be all clean for your friends, don't you?"
xxx
They're smiling, soft, sad smiles, but smiling all the same. Though huddled on some ragged shore, carried by some makeshift raft of rubble and destruction, hope burns fierce. Mrs. Mankanshoku, in her absurd way, has managed to concoct an abundance of croquettes, and they, soaked to the skin but alive, alive eat and protect their strength.
Look, Nonon and Uzu are fighting, bickering over some childish distinction. Mikisugi for once in his ageless existence wishes he has more clothes. He's shivering, and Mako offers her damp scarf, staring pleasantly at his glowing nudity.
A long silence reigns. The white sand seems to be glowing in the thick darkness, keeping at bay the damp smothering of the velvet air. Small animals rustle in the bushes, sending splatters of dew down the slick, grey-green leaves. Startled, repressed shell-shock rising, they all huddle just a little closer.
"We'll find them again." Gamagoori proclaims suddenly with that booming, ridiculous steadfastness. "The Naked Sol may have been destroyed, but our wills have not! So long as I live, Lady Satsuki will have her shield." Nonon flinches and looks away.
"She's not here, idiot," she mumbles under her breath, "Ryuko took her with her."
"All the same!" if his voice were capable of rising above a middle C, Gamagoori would have screeched. Animosity suddenly dissolved, Sanegeyama leans over to bump Nonon with his elbow.
"We'll make it, Jakuzure. We all will. Look at us, we all got the stuff. We're alive, aren't we?"
Couldn't it be true?
Good God, please let it be true.
xxx
"Sats, babe, look. I don't think they can hear you anymore. Well, y'know, 'cause they're all dead."
Satsuki was getting harder to hold on to. Suddenly enraged that her sport was being spoiled by her sister's desperate thrashing, Ryuko gathered a fistful of hair and pulled until she could see the throbbing of Satsuki's heart through the vein pressed tight against the taut tendons in her neck. "Hey, look, maybe not." An unusual movement in the water below had caught Ryuko's attention, and she let go of her sister to point, holding her only by her hair. It took a long moment for Satsuki to lever her eyes down far enough to see with her head held up, but it was well worth the wait to hear her breath catch sharply in her throat. Ryuko rubbed her sooty eyes with the back of her hand, smearing her white glove with filth. Slowly, barely able to contain the ferocious glee that threatened to crack her ribcage wide open, she descended slowly, careful not to let the flame splash up to lick her.
Trapped amongst puddles of liquid fire, a blonde head bobbed weakly, arms barely sculling the water. Clinging to the thumb held valiantly above the water, Mako shouted encouragements to an exhausted Gamagoori. Ryuko cocked her head, content to watch and hover. Satsuki was shouting again, reaching up to grip the wrist of the hand that held her. Silly Satsuki. Victory was hers, anger dissipated. Why bother shouting back? A flutter of crinkled black caught her eye and Ryuko chuckled.
"Don't take you boots off, stupid, your feet'll bur-AH, BITCH!" A sudden, searing pain had her reeling with rekindled rage. Her sliced hand held only a fistful of hair that took up with the wind to wrap around her bloodied palm. Though the wound zipped neatly, tightly, a cataclysmal eruption of anger splashed and seared through Ryuko's veins, setting Junketsu abuzz as if with demonic laughter. Her teeth ground until they cracked, healed, then ground again to their breaking point.
"Fuck…" She paused to take a few ragged gasps, "…YOU!"
"Satsuki-sama!"
She had adopted a rapid Tarzan swim - careless, exhausting - to reach him, barely skirting the sections of searing hot water in her haste. Spitting out a mouthful of burning salt water, Satsuki reached out her hand, ready to take him around the arm in a cross-chest hold, ready to keep him from drowning, even if only for a little while, even if it meant she would drown in his stead. He waved her off, trying to keep her away, pushing Mako towards her. He couldn't speak, his face was burned. Satsuki was having none of it. She threaded her arm under his.
Crack
A sudden streak of metallic red, a spray of deeper cochineal, unbearable horror and death to the soul. Lungs already filled with water, he sank quickly, head broken open by the rounded handle of the scissor. Ryuko pounced on Satsuki, wrapping both her arms and legs around her, yanking her out of the water, squeezing her hard. She was screaming, now, really screaming. They both were.
Ryuko jerked at the sudden weight added to her back. Mako had her arms around her neck.
"Ryuko-chan! Ryuko, Ryuko, Ryuko!" Her tears were like a waterfall, slipping down between Ryuko and Junketsu, soaking the threads that bound them together. For once, Mako had no words, only that unfathomable love. Her fists smacked against Ryuko's head as if beating sense into her, her eyes still gushing as she cried for Gamagoori and for her friend who had killed him. Ryuko tried to shake her off, but it was no use. Her hold unshakable. Eyes narrowing, anger rising into a near-solid ball of heat in her throat, Ryuko purposefully dropped Satsuki back into the water.
"Junketsu zenkan!"
xxx
She's naked and trembling as Ryuko tosses her carelessly at her mother's feet. Ragyo can't help but smile, leaning over to affectionately ruffle at her second daughter's hair. Ryuko all but purrs as she pushes her head into that loving hand.
"I knew I could trust you to take care of that unpleasant business, my sweet child." Ryuko just grins, wiping at some blood crusting on her cheek as she plants a foot between Satsuki's shoulder blades, pushing her hard into the dirty floor. Her mother chides her, tugging at her lips with the tips of her fingers. "Be sweet to your sister, you don't want her last thought to be a bad one, do you?"
Ryuko's brows are furrowing, looking suspiciously up at her grinning mother. Her distrust fades suddenly and a sooty, croaking laugh barks from between her lips. She shoves her sister over onto her back and sits on her, latching her fingers onto her face. Kiryuin Ragyo turns away, brushing at her dress as if to remove some small speck of dust.
"Kill her. She is useless to me now."
The red scissor, now made small and manageable, flashes suddenly, throwing reflections of color across the dark puddle quickly staining the floor.
Wouldn't it have been better if it were true?
xxx
Short freedom makes renewed captivity unbearable. Not long enough to give her body relief in healing, her escape only offered her stiffness and pain. Every breath felt like a yanking, shuddering pull on the starter rope of the rusty, metaphorical chainsaw that had been shoved into her lungs. Still, somehow, Satsuki felt above it.
Pain to her was like those breath training exercises for veteran swimmers. Three strokes without breathing, then five, seven, nine. Over the jump between seven and nine, the body beings to panic, begging to thrash and struggle for the air that lies mere inches away. Still, there's a quiet place, controlled, calm, inside the mind of the athelete. The body is acknowledged, not ignored, but set aside. Satsuki hung quietly inside this calm place, staring up at the bundle of fibers that held her wrists to the chain from which she had so recently shorn herself free.
More comfortable than the shackles. Fewer edges. Still, she wondered how long the calm would last. Eventually, she would need to breathe.
The screech of metal on metal didn't bother her per se. The sheer lack of necessity, however, rankled her nerves. Satsuki bit her tongue, shifting her shoulders, putting all her weight on one, then the other, in quick succession.
"Harime," she barked suddenly, sounding more annoyed than anything. "If you continue to sharpen those pliers in some pathetic excuse for a scare tactic, you'll ruin them." Nui banged the tool against the bars, the sound echoing against the single round wall. Satsuki jumped involuntarily, and Nui giggled, clanging the bars again. To her great surprise, Satsuki found herself jumping again, and bit her lip to still herself for the third shock. The blow struck her heavily between the shoulder blades.
Nui wasn't stupid enough to strike her spine, but the blow still set her teeth on edge and had her gasping for air. Satsuki could almost hear the muscles in her arms tearing at the sudden strain. Still, she didn't lift her head up for air, keeping calm and quiet even as her body spasmed forcefully. Nui cocked her head, amused, stepping around to face her and dragging a finger down Satsuki's lateral line, poking it into her bellybutton. Sneering, Satsuki tightened her stomach around the invading digit, lifting a knee to shove her away. With one hand, Nui grabbed her under the knee, twisting her fingers under the tendons as she snapped the pliers under her nose.
"What, do they look ruined to you? I think you're right, the teeth have been rubbed away." Satsuki rolled her eyes. Nui thought she was cute. Nui was very wrong. "I might have to squeeze them extra tight to get them to hold on. " She paused to boop her lightly on the nose with the closed pliers. Satsuki didn't reply, choosing instead to glare balefully at the girl who was thrumming with sadistic mirth. Nui's expression suddenly changed, contorting with frightening swiftness into animal rage. The closed pliers cracked into Satsuki's jaw. A low groan rumbled in the back of her throat, barely loud enough to be heard. Nui's face softened again and she leaned back, settling her weight on one hip.
"Aren't you feeling musical today?"
"Thank you," Satsuki mumbled, spitting out a molar. "You've saved me the trouble of having my wisdom teeth removed."
"Those should have fallen out the moment you decided to turn your back on Lady Ragyo."
"How very like you to capitalize on some poor innocent misnomer." Nui closed her eyes, smiling with lips tight and closed. She pressed a thumb into the corner of Satsuki's mouth, freeing the blood inside to run down her chin. Satisfied, she licked her thumb and stepped back.
Satsuki opened one eye, scrutinizing Nui. Something wasn't right. Her eye was shifting and even her smiles seemed sour, her usual relaxed countenance overshadowed by something…bigger. The corner of Satsuki's mouth twitched.
My sister is so easy to read.
"Tell me, Harime, how do you like being second-best?" Nui's ear twitched, but she looked away, her eye jittering slightly. "How do you like living in the shadow of yet another big sister, eh? Nui started to smile, showing each tooth one-by-one until every molar was visible. "How do you like being second-best in every way? Does it hurt you? Does it hurt you that Mother now has a daughter she bore herself, who can wear a kamui, who is better than you in every way?"
Mouth still frozen into that wide grin, eyes glassy and body stiffly trembling, Nui snatched up Satsuki's ankle, slamming the pliers shut around her false nail.
"I don't know, Satsuki-chan." Her voice was squeaky, high-pitched as though her voice had never broken. "Does this hurt you?"
She kept her head underwater.
xxx
"Mom! Sats won't give me the baby pig!" Ryuko ran up to her mother, panting and flushed with rage, fat childish fists clenching and unclenching as if they didn't know what to do. Ragyo picked her up and cuddled her daughter against her with one arm, holding slightly back so she could look at her face. Ryuko aggressively bunched the fabric of her mother's dress under her fists, chin crinkling like old cellophane. "I want it and she won't give it to me!" Ragyo smiled softly, almost sadly, brushing her daughter's hair from her face.
"If you want it, sweet Ryuko, you deserve to have it." her face suddenly hardened, the tiniest tweak of a smile at the very corner of her mouth. "Take it, Ryuko, and punish her for keeping you from what you desire. We are her gods, and the gods of all like her." Ryuko furrowed her brow, but reckoned she had got the gist of it.
"Fuckin' Dad won't let me touch her!" Kiryuin Ragyo laughed, ruffling her already tousled hair before setting her on the floor.
"I'll take care of Soichiro. Run along now." Ryuko did as she was told, somehow managing to cackle despite her age.
Ryuko lifted her head from where it leaned against her hand, lounging on the steps with her legs bent and her scissor across her knees. Holding her free hand in front of her face, she traced her thumb over the place where Satsuki had cut her. There was no wound, no jagged landscape of a scar, but she stroked the imaginary line over and over in some intense fixation. She paid no mind to the places grazed while they fought on the naked sun, nor even to the wound where she had tried to stuff that filthy dishrag excuse for a kamui into her chest. Then they had been equals, then, warriors. There was something about that defiance in utter defeat that rankled Ryuko's nerves, setting her on a humming, fixed-stare edge.
Who the fuck does she think she is… some hero? The thought sent a whirring top of hatred spinning deep in the center of her chest, throwing sparks of nervous energy into her limbs. Her fingertips tapped erratically on the plane of her own cheekbone before brushing the wisps of damp hair from her reddened eyes. I'll show her, I'll show her, I'll teach her a thing or two… Fucking Kiryuin Satsuki still thinks she's the fuckin' greatest. I hate you, I hate you, I hate y-
"Mother," her own words did not cut off her train of thought, the repetition continuing like a throbbing, swollen drum behind her eyes even as she spoke. "Do you remember what you told me when I was little, when Sats took my pig?"
"Of course." She didn't. It never happened. It didn't matter. Memories are flexible, made to further the future. Solidifying the past is for fools. Ryuko hopped to her feet, swinging her scissor up to clang against Junketsu's epaulette.
"She never fucking learns!" Ryuko neither noticed nor cared that she didn't finish her thought. The emotion that boiled beneath her lowest ribs was difficult for her to express, to deal with. "We teach her every lesson in the goddamn book and she still thinks she's the Queen of France!" Ragyo nodded sleepily, bypassing the urgent need to explain the French revolution to her teenage daughter, and instead kept one eye carefully trained on Ryuko as her motions grew more frenetic. Ryuko had begun to pace, chewing on her lip as false memories, like memories in a dream, were accepted as soon as they surfaced. She almost startled, her stomach jumping in hot flutters as Ragyo's cool fingers brushed at her hair.
"Shh, my baby," her voice a soothing coo, she folded a jittering Ryuko into her arms. For a brief moment, Junketsu strained towards her, but the sudden, dangerous tightening of her arms stilled him instantly. Ryuko shuddered, eyes wide and glazed as the white dress rippled and crawled over her skin like a thousand liquid centipedes. A bright light, a single one-dimensional point of pleasure enveloped her completely, and Ryuko relaxed, sighing, into her mother's arms. Ragyo laughed, more like a small puff of air than anything, and kissed Ryuko's cheek.
"You're a good girl, Ryuko." Ryuko hummed and nuzzled into her mother's shoulder, now completely at ease. "In time, all will be as it should."
"We are her gods…" Startled, Ragyo pulled back a little, a wide smile breaking suddenly over her face as she realized what Junketsu had done. She laughed again, this time aloud, rippling in delight for her newly-made child.
xxx
I am alive.
A ragged breath.
So long as I am alive.
Another.
There's a chance.
A tiny, rebellious voice poked out through her subconscious mind.
I am alive… but they are not. Who is left to save?
Satsuki choked, caught unprepared for the wave of emotion the poured suddenly from her heart, flooding her completely and slipping from her eyes in fat salty tears. The tiniest of sobs, no louder than the beat of a moth's wing, slid free and broke the perfect monotony of her breathing. She could still see Gamagoori slipping beneath the waves, feeling his blood splatter against her face, seeing him still reaching for her with his last ounce of strength. The tears continued to fall, the salt scratching like sandpaper against her scraped cheeks.
A sudden flood of unwanted imaginings crushed against her mind. She hadn't been there, hadn't seen them die, but her thoughts acted as though she had, presenting to her the gruesome spectacle. Houka and Iori, covered in oil and burning alive even as they bobbed in the ocean; Nonon held underwater by a twisted steel beam, desperate to reach the unattainable light that filtered through the water; Soroi, crippled by age, unable to swim any longer. Satsuki's body spasmed, her chain shrieking as it twisted against her weight, giving voice to her pain. She could still smell the smoke, taste the burning oil.
It was real.
It was over.
She had failed.
Her head fell back, sending the relentless tears flooding into her ears, drowning out any sound and leaving her in perfect silence. She continued to struggle as she forced the images to fade, pushing them into a place in her mind where she could close and lock the door. The pain was…unbearable. Her mouth cracked open, a howl ready to tear free from her chest.
Suddenly, before she could make a sound, it all just stopped. The door was closed and locked, she could think clearly again. Satsuki lifted her head, stilling the trembling of her limbs.
Ryuko. I still have her. She needs me.
Satsuki closed her eyes, taking a moment to scrub her cheeks dry on her arms. If I can get through to her, get her back, all may not be lost. She didn't blame her for… for what she'd done. It wasn't her. Not really. Surely? Taking as deep a breath as she could, Satsuki settled into her thoughts, teeth firmly pressed together.
She didn't cry again for a long, long time.
xxx
The humming of hundreds of sewing machines somehow both soothed and rankled all of Nui's nerves simultaneously. Halfhearted, she leaned over the table, her sewing scissors hanging limply between the fingers of her left hand. With her right, she tossed and jangled Satsuki's false toenails, treating them like ancient knucklebones. Carelessly, she tossed them onto the table, fascinated by the way they sliced her open for the tiniest of moments. All the grime and blood had been buffed away by the obsessive rubbing of her thumbs, and so they shone of the purest obsidian as they rocked to a still on the surface of the table.
Leaning her chin on her hand, Nui stared at her new trinkets as if expecting mystic runes to appear and tell her her future. Trapped in animal fascination, she lightly tapped the edge of one to set it in motion again.
How do you like being second-best?
Gritting her teeth, Nui pressed down suddenly on the nail, ignoring the tweak of pain as it sliced her thumb open. The blood slid with remarkable speed down onto the cloth covering the table, only to be instantly absorbed by the pure-white fabric. Beneath her hands, Koketsu, still barely nascent, shuddered at the offering. For a long moment, Nui held her breath.
Maybe…
A hot splatter of blood sprayed over her face as the shinra violently rejected the gift. Nui spread her hands quickly over the fabric, stilling it as it flapped as though coughing. Gritting her teeth, she freed one hand to wipe at her face, smearing and staining her eyepatch with brown.
"Okay!" her voice was quiet, but the high register had it sounding like a screech. Angry, she snatched up the nails and smashed them point-down into the fabric, pinning shinra Koketsu to the table. Breathing heavily, she stood and backed away. For a moment, she had no pride in her work, only sudden and intense shame.
Harime Nui jumped as the door to her workshop opened. She didn't turn around, only placing her hands on her hips and pretending to be overseeing the work of her slaves. Her good eye jittered in her head as she plastered a smile over her face.
"Is everything going well?"
"Oui, Mother."
"Hah, are you kidding? Did you eat a rat or something, sis?" Her shoulders raised, nerves put on edge by that rough voice. Eyes darting to the left, Nui smeared at the blood on her face, finally turning and shifting her attention to the catwalk above her.
"Nothing to worry about, nee-chan." Her smile was like spun sugar, hiding the rot growing inside. Her smile faded as she saw her mother slide her arm around Ryuko's waist, fingers stroking at her hip. Nui raked her eye over Ryuko's kamui-clad body, swallowing harshly. "How can I help, Mama?" Ragyo waved her hand, a half-smile quirking her cheek.
"Ah, do I need a reason to visit my children? No, Ryuko and I were just on our way to see your sister. She must be getting lonely."
"Can I-?"
"No, no. You're needed here. Come along, Ryuko." Winking, Ryuko blew her a kiss. Making sure their mother wasn't looking, Nui snatched it out of the air and mimed crushing it between her fingers. Ryuko laughed, far too loudly in Nui's opinion. As soon as Ryuko had left the room, Ragyo fixed her with a thoughtful stare.
"ferrum ferro acuitur et homo exacuit faciem amici sui, ita vero?"
"Mama..."
Nui flinched as the door closed loudly.
As iron sharpens iron… Don't think you're not still mine, Matoi Ryuko.
xxx
Kiryuin Ragyo's voice was mocking, slow.
"' You know but little of the world, since you are ignorant of what commonly occurs in knight-errantry.'"
Ryuko watched carefully, licking her lips, as Satsuki opened one eye. She wanted to taste the bruising there, wanted to take those sapphire eyes and wear them on a necklace. Her preexisting hatred mixed gruesomely with the sudden influx of desire to fill her with some emotion she couldn't name. Jerkily, Ryuko stepped forward, but Ragyo stopped her with an outstretched hand.
"I am no Don Quixote." Her voice was low, roughened by thirst and pain. Ryuko had never heard anything more beautiful. She had never hated anything more.
"No? Rocinante, then, mindlessly carrying on the idiot whims of your father." To that, Satsuki made no reply, closing her eye again and rocking one leg to set herself gently swinging. For one ridiculous second, she looked easy and carefree, like a soldier in a Norman Rockwell painting enjoying lying in a hammock on a breezy summer afternoon. Ryuko could feel the heat under her eyes increase. She shouldn't be allowed to look that way, not even for a second.
Who does she think…where does… who does she think she is? Ragyo had left her outside the cage, and she dared not enter. Instead, she pressed her face between the bars, feeling the cold metal press hard against each of her cheekbones.
Ragyo hummed and brushed at Satsuki's hair with the tips of her fingers. Large chunks were missing from where she had sliced herself free from Ryuko's grip, leaving her looking like a straggled stray. A single thread sliced in a serpentine arc, whizzing as it tore the air. What remained of Satsuki's hair fell to the ground, leaving her with a surprisingly neat bob. Satsuki hissed and jerked her head back as the thread sliced her cheek open from the corner of her mouth to the edge of her cheekbone.
Ragyo smiled a little and flicked her fingers. The thread, moving as though autonomous, neatly stitched the wound closed, stopping the flow of blood instantly.
How kind.
Ryuko didn't know what she expected as her mother stepped towards her sister, cupping her face and whispering into her ear. She couldn't hear the words spoken as those hands slid down Satsuki's form, gentle and soft on that tattered body. At first Ryuko didn't understand. Frowning, she shifted to push her face into a different pair of bars. Still unsatisfied with her perspective, she moved again, rattling her knuckles against the metal as she paced like a caged animal.
She had wanted her mother to beat her, hurt her until she cried, but instead she was doing… this? Those special moments Ryuko shared with her mother were being given freely to that useless piece of shit? Still, her feet were suddenly glued to the floor, eyes wide and staring. Clamping her teeth against her knuckle, she watched.
Was it horrible? Beautiful? She couldn't say. Ryuko couldn't keep her eyes away from Satsuki, drinking in the firm lines of her abdomen as her stomach clenched violently, the way her bloodied toes curled against her mother's dress, listening to nothing other than her ragged, gasping breath.
Disgusting.
Exquisite.
Those brilliant eyes were lidded, hiding hatred behind involuntary pleasure. Ryuko gasped, suddenly smashing her knees together, leaning heavily against the metal before her. Ragyo finally finished her work, smearing her fingers against Satsuki's flank as she stepped away. Ryuko continued to stare, eyebrows shooting into her hairline as she witnessed something in Satsuki that she had never seen before:
Shame.
Her laugh shattered the quiet, ecstatic in sudden realization. Ryuko's canines flashed in the dim light as she threw her head back; and despite the wideness of her smile, her eyes did not crinkle, did not soften. That laugh was eminently cruel, a reveling in another's torment. She understood.
Her mother was suddenly beside her, a hand flat on her chest to still the vibration of her voice. Ragyo opened her mouth, no doubt to relay some wisdom, but Ryuko's lips were suddenly upon hers, grateful, reverent, full of passion. Surprised, Kiryuin Ragyo pulled away, one eyebrow quirking. She smiled, eyes closing as she covered her mouth softly with the tips of her fingers. Ryuko stood back, mouth open wide and eyes finally wrinkling at the corners. Junketsu hummed, squeezing her tight and again flooding her with inexpressible bliss. Her mother patted her head, content with the unspoken exchange, and turned to go.
"Be gentle with your new pet, Ryuko," she warned, still cheerful, "It will reflect badly upon you if you kill it right away." Ryuko's head tilted to the side a moment before she nodded, her smile now easy and lopsided. Her eyes flicked to Satsuki and then back again to her mother, suddenly quizzical.
How could something so beautiful make something so insufferable? Ryuko shrugged, not amused by her own thought, and stepped through the open door of the cage, slamming it behind her.