"Help Me!" she screamed "Help me! You cannot do this to me, its sick. Please please anything but this!" her pleading and begging fell onto our deaf ears, we all instead stared at our feet or out of the stain glass windows casually doing everything to avoid looking at her trying to get away from the two men. The only one's who were not making attempt to look away were the young children, their eyes stared blankly at her fearful face, they did not know what this was about.
"Please help me! Anyone!" the two men were trying to restrain her on the ground, she was putting up a fight from what I could tell from the corners of my eye. Eventually after more screaming and several thuds the two men managed to get her to the ground, two more men entered the silent church with a chain and a piece of cloth. They tied her hands and legs, covered her eyes and gagged her mouth,then they grabbed her roughly and dragged her out of the door leaving only a smudge of blood from when earlier her father had kicked her in the heat of the argument.
Through the tensioned silence someone sighed deeply, the rest of the congregation took that as a sign to simultaneously start chatting. People started standing up, mothers picked up their children and hitched their skirts over the blood smudge as they left. Men crowded into small clusters to murmur about stuff. I just sat there staring at my hands in the pew waiting for my own father to come get me.
"I heard they are sending her out at midnight." my ears flick towards one of the clusters behind me, "Yes , they already have a meeting place ready, she is just waiting on the edge of the village with the officials."
"Kotoko" I look up from my hands
"Yes, Father?"
"Let's go home now."
"Yes" I whisper hitching my own skirts above the smudge.
"Goodnight Father." I call from the bedroom "I'm going to bed now!"
"Yes, honey! See you at sunrise" I blow the candle out and stand in the silent darkness. As much as this darkness scares me more then anything I know that tonight this darkness will be a friend of sorts. I put on my cloak and make sure I have everything I need in the bag. I slide to the doorway of my room and peer out. My father is already in bed and if I wait a bit...
Soon enough I can hear the rhythmic snarling snore of his, trying not to giggle, or to cry I slowly slip outside shutting the door as not to wake him. Unsure of how much time I had left I ran, only slowing down to hide behind a haystack or a house. Panting heavily I reach my destination.
I hide behind a tree and watch as they carry the girl from before. The girl, timid now, resigned to her fate, the slump of her shoulders emitting a little "Aww." from my lips. They half carry her and place her on the back of the cart. The men who also seemed to realise how resigned she had become, left her unattended in the cart and turned to walk back to the village to collect something...
"This is your only chance Kotoko." I say to myself "You can do it."
I creep out from the bushes and make my way over to the cart, and climb up there with the girl.
"Matsumoto" I whisper gently" Are you OK?"
"Who is that?" the girl, Matsumoto, whispers back " I can't see." I bend down and pull the blindfold off. "It's Kotoko."
'Kotoko? I... I... never knew that I would be happy to see you..." she starts sobbing "Wh...why are you here? If anyone finds out you..."
"Matsumoto, I am here to take your place, I need you to sit up. Quickly before they get back." in no position to argue she obliges, I struggle with the chain but eventually I get them off her. "Now listen carefully. I want you to tie me up with that chain and blindfold me, but not too tight. Once you have done that take this bag, and go upstream and pitch camp there for a couple of days. Then come back, with some sort of fake injuries. Just so it looks like you escaped later." I take a deep breath "Got that?"
"Yes... but why are you replacing me? You don't even like me. I'm cruel to you and.."
"I need to go. That's all you need to know, now tie me up like the bitch you are." I try to joke as she tentatively picks up the chains, and places them loosely around my wrists, pulling the blindfold around my eyes and tying very gently. "OK all done" she says "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, now go Matsumoto."
"But.."
"Just take the bag and leave... before they come.
"Kotoko.."
"I'll be OK," I snap " Get away now!"
"Th...Thank you." I feel her slid off the back of the cart and I can hear her feet falls as she runs for the woods.
I lay face down onto the back of the cart waiting... waiting for the men to come back... waiting for the men to take me there, as the sacrificial lamb, the real one hiding out in the woods. "This lamb is intent on revenge" I grin as the grunting of voices indicate that the men are back and preparing to set off towards the meeting post, towards fate and my revenge on Naoki Irie. The revered vampire lord of our age...
Haha first one to write a vampire story for Itazura Na kiss! hahahaha I beat you all! ahahahahahaha! Anyway I hope to make it into an epic of some sorts. I even made a plan for it so I vaguely knows what happens, which may help in someway. I'll try my bestest to not turn this into some generic vampire story and try to be funny, yay!
YAY!
And sorry it seems so fast paced. I just needed to get this prelude thingy out of the way. Why Matsumoto was in that situation isn't very important at the moment
