Alright, here's chapter 2! Some darker stuff will start happening in this chapter, so be warned. From here on in it starts getting darker and there's going to be more sensitive subject matter in coming chapters, as well. (Panic attacks, torture, death, mental illness, etc.) Proceed with caution, dear readers!
On a lighter note, in case anyone hasn't noticed, I'm really terrible at chapter titles. So they are subject to change and I'm also open to suggestions if anyone has any.
Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!
Mayuri jolted awake as she was pulled out of bed. She cried out, only to have a hand pressed over her mouth. She stared up at the person who had grabbed her and it took her a second to realize that she was staring at her mother.
(It was her mother, wasn't it?)
Slowly, the hand was removed, and her mother signaled for her to be quiet. Mayuri nodded, though her eyes were wide with confusion and concern. The smile that she received in return filled her with dread; It was the same one that her mother had given them when she told them that their granny was sick but would get better soon, or when she promised them she'd get them a new puppy after the villagers killed their other one.
"Everything will be alright," she promised, and there was something pinched and painful in her voice and expression.
"Mama, what's going on?" Mayuri whispered, reaching out to grab her mother's hand and squeezing it tight.
"Nothing. We're just going to be leaving soon," she whispered back, fingers trembling as they tightened their grip around Mayuri's hand. Her smile grew just a little bit brighter, and Mayuri let herself relax a little. "I was thinking we could leave the Compound, and maybe leave the Land of Water all together. How does the Land of Waterfalls sound to you? I hear it's warm enough to go swimming all year round there."
A hand was clapped over her mouth once more as Mayuri started to let out a whoop of excitement. Again, her mother gestured for her to be quiet.
"Oops. Sorry, mama," she mumbled, voice muffled under the soft hand that left her mouth stinging with the force of it.
"It's alright, baby. We're going to leave now, but I need you to stay very very quiet while we go, okay? Pretend you're a kunoichi on a special mission. Can you do that for me?"
Mayuri nodded enthusiastically, and was pleased to find that her head didn't hurt anymore.
With a smile, her mother turned away, pulling her hand from the girl's grasp. With the loss of contact, Mayuri swayed a little. The world around her seemed far too big. She leaned backwards to rest against the bed she had been on and was surprised to find that it was almost taller than she was. She couldn't seem to recall if that was normal or not.
Her mother turned back around, Hiroko balanced on one hip, and quickly swept Mayuri up as well. The girl made a soft noise of surprise, throwing her arms around her mother's neck and wrapping her legs around her waist. She was delighted to be picked up, but also confused. Wasn't she far too heavy to be carried around like this? Across from her, she could only just see half her sister's face, smooshed up against their mother's shoulder, her eyes still closed. Still, the sight filled her with warmth.
"You sister is still asleep, Mayuri," their mother whispered as she moved towards the door, her footsteps silent. "I need you to make sure she doesn't fall, and if anything happens, I want you to protect her. Do you understand?"
"What's gonna happen?"
"Nothing, sweetheart. It's going to be alright. I just need you to promise me you'll take care of your sister, just in case."
"I promise, mama," she mumbled, reaching further to grasp at Hiroko's shirt, hoping that if her sister fell, she'd be able to catch her that way.
"Good. Now, I need you to close your eyes, and don't open them until I tell you to."
"Why?"
"It's part of the game, baby. Just close your eyes for me. If you open them before I tell you you can, it will mess up the mission."
Mayuri nodded, tightened her grip on Hiroko's shirt, and buried her face in her mother's shoulder, eyes squeezed tightly shut.
There was the quiet swish of the door being opened, and she had to resist the urge to gag at the sudden overwhelming smell that hit her. The tang of iron hung heavy in the back of her throat, mixed with the smell of feces and sweat. She knew this smell. After a second, she realized what it meant.
She had seen her Clansmen when they came back from battle, covered in blood and filling the streets of the clan compound with the same smell that fills her nose and mouth now. She shuddered, pressing her face closer, trying to block out the scent with her mother's familiar one. She smelled more sour than usual, sweat dried on the collar of her shirt. Still, it was comforting and familiar, and it made it easier to ignore the fact that there were definitely dead bodies all around them.
She hid her face in her mother's shoulder, kept her eyes squeezed shut, and held on to Hiroko as tightly as she could manage. She trusted her mother to keep her safe and to know what's best, but there was still something niggling at the back of her mind. Something about this seemed so strange, so wrong. It wasn't just the dead bodies, or the way her mother seemed so on edge. It felt like there was something watching them, hanging over them the same way the mist once did, just waiting for a single misstep so that it could jump in and do something awful.
She was used to the feeling, of course. She had dealt with it her whole life, coming from her fellow clansmen, the ones who felt that only pureblooded Kaguya clan members should have been allowed to stay in the compound. She had no doubt that her mother was able to feel it too, since she was often subjected to scathing comments and heated glares and the occasional outright fight over her decision to have children with someone outside of the clan. She thinks, that if her granny were here, she'd know just what to do. As someone who was cursed their whole lives, Mayuri knew that her granny would probably be the best at sensing such bad things in the air and would know just how to take care of it. She had heard the things people whispered about the cursed members of the Kaguya clan, and how they weren't to be associated with outside of battles.
She had never said anything to her mother, of course; it was always obvious that she didn't want them to know. She was young, but Mayuri wasn't stupid and she wasn't deaf, so of course she could see the nasty looks and hear the mean comments, and every time her mother came home with another bruise and blood under her nails was more proof that their family were outliers within their own clan. The fact that their clansmen were more than happy to let granny die of disease was just frosting on the cake.
The way they had attacked Hiroko and her had only served to prove that they would never belong.
Her fingers tightened further on her sister's shirt. She still wasn't really sure what had happened, and how it was that they were both okay. She had been so sure, while those men were chasing them and hurting them, that they would both die. She had seen the way her sister's face had been mutilated and she had felt as her own features were smashed and kicked until she was sure that she should have been unrecognizable.
That was probably what the people who had attacked them had been aiming for, anyways. They didn't look exactly like their clansmen did, but they still shared many similarities. Those men had probably wanted to put an end to that.
Mayuri realized she was trembling. Taking a deep breath, as quietly as she could, she tried to calm herself. She was being silly now. They were going to be alright, and they were going to leave and never return to the compound. Mama said so. Things were going to be better. She just had to believe that they would be.
She felt her mother's hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly. Mayuri smiled and nuzzled her face further into her shoulder, inhaling deeply again. She tried to ground herself to the moment, the familiar smell of her mother, of home, the feeling of Hiroko's shirt, the way she was always so much warmer that Mayuri herself was. Even now, she could feel the heat, like a sauna beneath her fingertips. It was comforting.
Things would be alright.
"We're almost out," her mother breathed, the sound barely reaching Mayuri's ears, despite how close she was. The promise and the hope was apparent in her mother's quiet voice as she said, "We're going to make it, baby. Don't worry."
Then, of course, everything crumbled around them.
She heard her mother take a sharp intake of breath and felt as she stumbled, her nails suddenly digging into Mayuri's back. The girl muffled her whimper of pain in her mother's shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to ignore the surge of curiosity that made her want to open her eyes to find out what happened. Mayuri tried to hold on tighter to both her mother and sister, trying to ignore the pain of her mother's grip, of the fingernails digging into her skin, even through her shirt.
Her mother stumbled, lurching enough that Mayuri was afraid she might be dropped. There was a second of silence. Everything was still. Then, without warning, they were moving, her mother running so fast that Mayuri struggled to keep her grip. There was an odd shift in momentum that made her stomach twist, bile clawing it's way up her throat. Mayuri felt her mother's hair brush her face, and her own heavy braid was hanging sideways. Were they on the wall?
Her mother screamed and Mayuri's blood ran cold at the sound. She felt as she stumbled and Mayuri's stomach lurched into her throat at the sudden sensation of weightlessness.
They fell, and the girl couldn't help the cry of pain as they hit the ground, her head bouncing off the stone floor. Blood filled her mouth as she bit her tongue and she sputtered, red globules dripping down her chin and further staining her mother's shirt. She opened her eyes.
"Mama, what's happening?"
"Mayuri, take your sister and run," she whispered, shifting Mayuri off her hip and standing up, straight and tall. The girl stumbled backwards, blinking up at her mother with wide, scared eyes. Hiroko's limp form was hoisted into her arms, and her knees almost buckled with the weight of her twin.
"What do you mean? I-I thought we were going to all leave together!"
Her mother whirled on her, dark eyes wild. Mayuri flinched back, noticing for the first time the blood that was congealed along her hairline. "Shut up! Just do as I say! Take Hiroko and run!"
Tears welled in the girl's eyes, but she turned, struggling to pull her sister's limp form along with her. Her mother's heavy breathing filled the hallway, rattling in Mayuri's head and filling her with panic. She had never heard her mother sound so scared, or so fierce. She struggled to move faster.
"How noble," a new voice said. A raspy laugh echoed throughout the space, and something about the sound was enough to raise goosebumps along Mayuri's flesh.
"Don't touch them! Leave us alone!" her mother cried. Mayuri paused, turning to see who her mother was talking to, cradling Hiroko's limp form to her chest. Her sister was as warm as ever, and her breaths ghosted over Mayuri's neck, the only signs that she was even alive.
A man stood in the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest. He wore a white kimono, only a bare shade lighter than his chalky skin, and his hair was a long ebony color. In the flickering shadows of the torchlight, his blurry form seemed ethereal and ghostlike to Mayuri. She gaped as he tutted, raising a hand to shake a finger in her mother's direction.
"I do believe we had a bargain, Kaguya-san," his voice was quiet and mocking, yet it seemed to hold more weight and authority than anyone else Mayuri had ever heard speak, even the clan head. "Do you know what the punishment is for breaking such a promise?"
Her mother was shaking. When she turned to look back at her daughters, there were tears streaming down her cheeks. She smiled again, that same awful smile from before. "Hiroko. Mayuri. Please, just—"
Blood splattered the walls. Mayuri felt it hit her cheek, felt it on her chapped lips. She whimpered, and as she opened her mouth to cry out, the taste of it danced across her tongue. She found, suddenly, that she didn't have enough air left to scream.
Her mother collapsed. Her head rolled towards them, coming to rest at her children's feet. Her eyes were still open, and they seemed to be staring straight at Mayuri.
The girl scrambled backwards, pulling Hiroko along with her. Her knees couldn't seem to support her weight for more than a few steps and she collapsed, still cradling her sister close to her, making sure her head was turned away from the grisly sight. But she couldn't look away from the dark eyes. Was that really her mama?
(No, no it's not. Something inside of her whispered. Mom's back at home. She's alright. This is a stranger, just a stranger.)
She was shaking. Shaking so badly she could barely keep a hold on her sister. The ghost was coming closer, stepping over her mother's body like it was nothing. He trailed blood after him. Mayuri couldn't bring herself to look away from her mother's dark, empty eyes. They were still wet with tears.
The ghost knelt before her, and he took her chin in his hand, leaving behind a streak of blood. Her head was jerked sharply, forcing her gaze away from the head and towards the ghost's own face. He was smiling, golden eyes glowing in the dim light. There was something strangely familiar about his features, like something from a half remembered dream. She couldn't tear her eyes away. His smile grew wider and she couldn't seem to find the strength to scream.
"Do you wish to die today, child?" he asked, his voice soft, soothing, like he hadn't just slaughtered her mother right in front of her. She couldn't stop trembling. His eyes slipped from her face, down towards Hiroko, who had only just begun to twitch in her lap. "Do you wish for your sister to die, perhaps?"
"No, please!" She gasped, pulling her sister closer, as though that could somehow protect them from this monster. Her voice was shaking, barely audible as she sobbed, "Please, sir. Please don't hurt her! I'll do anything you want."
His eyes flickered back towards Mayuri. He licked his lips. Mayuri's eyes welled with tears at last, thoughts that did not belong to a four year old running through her head, going through every outcome, each more hopeless and horrific than the last. She squeezed her sister who, at last, began to stir.
The ghost's eyes moved back towards Hiroko.
"I see the effects of the jutsu have finally began to wear off." He murmured. "She did not take to it as well as you did."
He reached out, as if to take her. Mayuri jerked back, glaring, her eyes wide and wild.
"Don't you touch her! Don't you dare fucking touch her!" the words seemed to come unbidden, and as soon as she had screamed them, it hit her that this man could kill her just as easily as he had killed her mother. She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in Hiroko's hair, waiting for a blow that didn't come.
The ghost chuckled, and she heard the rustling of fabric as he stood. "Very well then, child. Come along. I trust that you understand that if you disobey me, you and your sister will both die."
Mayuri raised her head to stare at the man. He loomed above them, larger than life. She knew that he would not hesitate to kill them. She nodded and struggled to her feet. In her arms, Hiroko groaned, twisting in her grip and nearly causing Mayuri to drop her. She opened her eyes, and somehow the sight of blue eyes staring up at her was at once utterly shocking and totally expected.
(Her eyes had been black before, hadn't they? Or had they always been blue? Suddenly, she wasn't sure.)
"Don't look, Hiro. Go back to sleep," she whispered, trying to blink away the tears that were further blurring her vision. Her sister gazed up at her with bleary eyes, so trusting, unaware of the fact that their mother lay dead a mere meter away, unaware that her life was being bartered with at that very moment. Mayuri's lips trembled and her voice cracked as she whispered again, "Go back to sleep."
Hiroko reached up, her fingers tracing curiously through the blood on Mayuri's cheek. She looked perplexed, brow creased with confusion, eyes bright with worry.
"You're hurt."
"No, it's not mine. Please go back to sleep. Please."
Hiroko's eyelids seemed to be growing heavy again. She blinked a few times, eyes unfocused, before nodding. She turned to nuzzle further into her sister's hold before going limp once more. Mayuri heaved a sigh of relief, but the breath caught on a sob somewhere in her throat. She wanted to wipe away the wetness on her cheeks, but didn't dare let go of her sister.
The ghost had been watching the exchange, his face expressionless. "Come along now."
And he turned and began to walk down the hall, stepping carelessly over her mother once more. Mayuri was suddenly painfully aware of her bare feet, and of the fact that the blood had already pooled across the width of the hall.
She shifted Hiroko onto her back, bent double so that she wouldn't fall. Taking a deep breath, she trudged forwards, skirting the wall to avoid having to step over her mother's body. She did her best not to look, but couldn't ignore the way that warm blood squished between her toes. She gagged, acid burning her throat and tears stinging her eyes. The smell of blood seemed overwhelming, filling her senses, making it impossible to breath. Her legs were trembling from exertion already.
"Hurry," the ghost snapped.
She shuffled a little faster, trying to focus on the weight of Hiroko on her back, the feeling of her gentle breathing against her shoulder. She pretended that she wasn't leaving a trail of bloody footsteps behind her with every step. She ignored everything around her besides the warmth of Hiroko at her back and the man leading her towards an uncertain fate.
There was blood on the hem of his kimono.
She jerked her eyes up, focusing on the center of his back instead and letting her mind go blank. She allowed herself to drift, mechanically putting one foot in front of the other, pausing only to readjust Hiroko's limp form to ensure she didn't fall off. It was easier if she just allowed herself to not be truly present for this.
She could cope.
She had to.
She was so focused on feeling nothing that she didn't notice that someone had come up behind her until she felt Hiroko being lifted from her back.
Mayuri screeched, whirling back to face the person, already lunging forward and prepared to attack with tooth and nail to get her sister back. Her hands closed around the person's wrist, nails drawing blood. Before she could do anything more, though, she was being lifted up, her arms pinned to her sides.
She screamed again – a shrill, animalistic sound – and thrashed wildly against the tight hold, trying to break free. She twisted, teeth gnashing as she attempted to find a way to hurt whoever it was that had taken her sister away. There was nothing she could do, though. Her tiny body simply could not reach.
Eventually, she went limp, chest heaving with each breath. In her peripheral she could see someone kneel down so they were on her level.
"Mayuri-chan," a familiar voice said. "We're not going to hurt your sister. Will you be calm if we put you down?"
She turned her head to look at him. The doctor from earlier was staring at her intently, his grey eyes narrowed behind his round glasses. A strand of hair fell across her face, obscuring her vision. She hoped it hid the tears in her eyes.
Mayuri blew it away before she nodded slowly, terrified out of her mind but not knowing what else to do. She was lowered to the ground and turned to face the person who had been holding her. It was a woman, tall and heavyset, dressed all in grey with a mask over her face. Next to her was another person, their face also covered, and in their arms was Hiroko.
"I want my sister back. You can't have her," Mayuri rasped, holding her arms out expectantly. The two people shared a look before the woman snorted, the cloth covering the bottom half of her face billowing.
"She weighs as much as you do, kid. You could barely hold her."
Mayuri stomped one foot on the ground, feeling a scream building once more like some unbearable pressure filling her chest. She beat it down, doing her best to hide her fear and frustration with cold fury. "Give her back. Now."
"Mayuri-chan, you're tired and hurting. It's been a long day, hasn't it?" the doctor was speaking, his voice soft and soothing.
(It was the voice of someone speaking to a child. Why did they keep using it on her?)
"It would be easier to allow someone else to carry Hiroko for a little while, don't you think? We can get the two of you fed and you can take a bath, and after you're done we can talk. How does that sound?"
Mayuri didn't take her eyes off her sister. "Are you going to kill us, too?"
"Of course not!" Kabuto declared, sounding so affronted it was laughable.
"He killed our mama. Why not us?"
Kabuto sighed, his eyes flickering over to where the ghost stood outside of Mayuri's line of sight. He looked strangely put upon. "Your mother broke a promise. She knew what the penalty was for that."
Mayuri said nothing. Her hands were shaking. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kabuto reach for her. She flinched away, scared of the thought of him touching her. She turned to glare at him, finally breaking her gaze away from her sister in the process. Kabuto was smiling, and in the flickering torchlight it looked more menacing than comforting. She wondered vaguely if he realized that.
She tore her gaze away, back towards Hiroko, only to find that she and the woman who had been holding her were both gone. She stared at the spot they had been, eyes wide and jaw slack as panic surged inside her. Her breaths were coming faster, her heart pounding so hard it felt as though it might be about to burst from her chest. She couldn't lose Hiroko. She just couldn't.
She whirled, eyes darting along the hallway for any sign of them. There was nothing. No figures fading into the gloom or echoing footsteps. Not even a doorway they could have disappeared into.
Her eyes fell upon the ghost. He was smiling, wide and eerie, like his face might split open any second. His eyes were alight, amused by her panic.
He was laughing at this situation, laughing at tearing her family apart and at the way she was falling to pieces right in front of his eyes.
Something inside of her seemed to snap.
Screaming, she charged the ghost. He didn't move and his smile never faltered. If anything, she might have said it only grew wider.
"GIVE HER BACK TO ME! GIVE HER BACK OR I'LL—I'LL—"
He caught her by the hair, long fingers tangling in the black strands and jerking her back. She choked on her scream, neck bent back at a painful angle, but still she fought her way towards him. Her short, chubby arms reached for him, her fingers curled into claws. She wanted, more than anything, to bite and claw at him, to rip him to pieces and see his blood splattered across the walls. Just like he had done to her mother.
She bit back a sob, trying to turn it into another battle cry. It came out as a pathetic little moan instead. More tears slipped down her cheeks, making tracks through the blood and grime. Her hands twisted through the air as she strained against his hold, hair coming free from her scalp in bloodied clumps. No matter how much she pulled, though, she never seemed to be able to get any closer to him.
The ghost tutted, the way he had before he had killed her mother. Mayuri sobbed again, gnashing her teeth in hopes of sinking them into the pale forearm that hovered above her, just out of reach.
"If you do not calm down, child, I will order your sister to be killed immediately," he hissed, and then chuckled when Mayuri stilled immediately. "Very good. Even if you are a bastard child, I see you still carry the bloodlust of your clan."
"What do you want from me?" Mayuri whispered, ignoring his words and the way they made her stomach twist with apprehension. The hand in her hair loosened it's grip, allowing her to look at him.
He regarded her thoughtfully before saying, "What I want from you is simple, Kaguya Mayuri. Your bloodlines are unique, and I want to see how I can mold them, and by extension, you."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"I can make you strong, child. You carry within you the potential for not one, but two kekkei genkai. I want them."
Mayuri gaped at him. "You mean the curse?"
He scoffed, "It is no curse. Kekkei genkai are gifts. Your fellow clansmen and the people of the Land of Water seem incapable of realizing that."
Her voice shook as she said, "I don't want to be strong."
"No? Then what do you desire, child?"
"I just...I just want to protect Hiroko. I want to go home with her. I promised," she sniffled, then scrubbed at her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. She hated that this horrible man was seeing her crying like this. She didn't want him to see her weakness. He didn't deserve to have such an intimate part of her.
"The only way to protect someone is to be strong. Don't you remember what happened before you were brought here? What do you think your mother made a deal to do, exactly?" his eyes were bright and enrapturing, drawing her in, freezing her in place as she stared into them.
"The...the others. They hurt us," her voice was nothing more than a whisper. Her head was spinning.
"You died. Both of you."
"No. That's impossible…."
"I made it possible for you both to be revived, Mayuri-chan," his voice was soft, the rasping whisper oddly soothing despite the way that he said her name making her feel like she was crawling out of her own skin. "If you don't become stronger, you won't be able to protect her from anyone, and I won't be able to bring you back a second time. I can make you stronger."
Mayuri swayed, lightheaded and barely able to catch her breath. She was shivering, arms clutched close to her and fingers digging into her own stomach, breaking through the tender flesh there and creating crescent-shaped cuts. It was the only thing keeping her grounded inside of a skin that felt three sizes too small. She closed her eyes.
She shuddered again, a great thing that seemed to tear through her whole body and settle inside her bones. Then, with a breath that filled her lungs to the point of painful, she willed herself to be calm. She could handle this. She could be strong now, and break down later. She had to.
She met the ghost's eyes once more, and watched as his expression curled into such a self-satisfied thing that she was almost tempted to say no just to spite him. He had won, though, and they both knew it.
"What do I have to do?"
Kabuto had taken her by the hand and led her away from the ghost. He had shown her to a room, quiet and cold, and had her sit down while he fetched her a tray of food and a wet cloth to scrub the blood from her face and hands with. She picked at her meal, trying to focus on Kabuto's words instead of the bitter taste of the food and the churning in her gut as he told her what would be happening.
"We'll be running a few experimental procedures, just to see what effects being revived has had on you. After that, we'll see if we can force the manifestation of a kekkei genkai." He spoke with the slow, casual tone of someone who knew that their words wouldn't be understood. He probably took pleasure in knowing the people he spoke to would feel inferior just listening to him, Mayuri thought with a frown.
She didn't look up from her food as she mumbled, "How would you do that?"
"Don't worry about it, Mayuri-chan. It won't hurt at all."
Mayuri didn't bother to point out how obvious it was that he was lying. She simply nodded and asked, "What will happen to Hiroko?"
"She didn't take to the procedure as well as you did, so she'll be under observation for some time to ensure her condition doesn't deteriorate. After that, if the experimentations are successful and you become stronger, she'll have the choice of whether she'd like to go through the same process."
Mayuri dragged her gaze away from the food to stare at Kabuto with dead, empty eyes. He matched the look easily, the hollow smile he wore never faltering.
"Is there a...a thing I need to sign?" she asked, her frown growing as she realized for the first time how limited her vocabulary was. Pushing down her frustration, she continued, "If there is I want you to promise that if I don't live through your...your ex-per-i-ments, Hiroko won't be experimented on, too. And that if she is, it would only be if she said it was okay. After all, you have me. You don't need her too, do you?"
Kabuto's smile twisted further and a chill climbed Mayuri's spine. A strange feeling settled between her shoulder blades, an anxiety that felt like something had taken up residence under her skin there. She swallowed around the lump in her throat.
"There are no contracts to sign or agreements to make, Mayuri-chan," he said calmly, seemingly ignorant of her mounting horror. "We will take your requests into consideration, since you will be a considerable asset if this experiment works out in our favor. But the moment you took your first breath after the jutsu, you and your sister both became Orochimaru-sama's property."
Mayuri felt like her skull was splitting open. There was something inside her head, screaming screaming screaming, but her body felt far away. "Jutsu? Orochi...maru…?"
Pieces of a puzzle she hadn't realized she'd been looking at slotted together at last. Inside of her, something roared to life, a second consciousness fully forming at last and springing to the forefront of her mind. It was too late, though.
Kabuto's phony smile never faltered as the world faded to black around her.