The road the master's location was a silent one. Watanuki now knew what "calm before the storm" meant all too well. It was like bracing himself for a hurricane. He didn't know what was coming, but he knew that it was not going to be very pleasant. He prayed silently for his limbs that he still felt very attached to, no pun intended.
He reached the entrance to the lord's war room much quicker than he would have liked. He rested his hand above the door, but lacked the courage to open it. The hard wood felt cool under his palm and fingertips. It served as the last barrier between Watanuki and the turmoil inside and gave nothing away concerning what lay on the other side. .
The texture grazed his skin softly in an attempt to delude his mind into thinking this was just another simple door to be opened. Watanuki let himself be fool for a second voluntarily. He drew his breath as if he was about to plunge into the ocean and then pushed.
Watanuki took a moment to look at his surroundings. He had never been in the war room before. It was a traditionally furnished room containing a large table and chairs scattered randomly across the floor. The walls were lined with various paintings. The ranged from hunting scenes to fierce battles to canvases depicting specific forms of torture. The different levels of violence were disgusting and slightly alarming. Watanuki drew his eyes away from the monstrosities with some difficulty and settled them upon the master who was seated before him.
"Watanuki! How very nice to see you!" The master attempted a warm smile and Watanuki had to stop himself from thinking how much it looked like the lion about to eat a deer in one of the more mild paintings.
Watanuki bowed lowly not caring about how much this exposed the back of his neck. At worst the master could strike him, kill him, and put him out of his misery.
"Please, take a seat." The master stood up and gestured to the chair he had previously occupied. Watanuki dared not argue. He sat down in the hard wooden chair uneasily. It was still quite warm.
The master leaned against the table lazily looking very nonchalant. He pulled his arm back and grabbed a wooden staff that was sitting on the surface. He rubbed the smooth, worn wood between his fingers and looked at it lovingly.
"You see, Watanuki," he began without warning, "there seems to be a problem within the castle.
Watanuki swallowed. "What sort of problem, sir?" he said, keeping eye contact with the floor.
"Not a very big problem," the master replied, shrugging, "but enough to put me in to a somewhat uncomfortable situation." Watanuki didn't reply so the master took this as a sign to continue. "Recently, we've observed that there's been some sort of information leak within the castle."
Watanuki felt his blood run cold and drain out of his body. The master had found out. The master had found out Watanuki had been listening behind that door and now he was going to be killed. Or tortured. Or both. His mind raced through the many stages of panic while his body remained in shock.
The master observed Watanuki's reaction and smiled. "Guilty conscience, I see."
Watanuki kept his gaze on the floor, he didn't trust himself to speak.
"So, Watanuki. I'm going to ask you a question. It'd be easier for us both if you answered it truthfully.
Watanuki nodded slowly, his body still refusing to do much else.
"Do you know anything about this leak of information."
Watanuki felt his whole body tense up. What was the master asking? This didn't make any sense. How would he know anything about the spy? Watanuki sat still for a second, then shook his head.
The master sighed as if something regrettable had come to pass. He slowly stood up straight and made his way to where Watanuki was seated. Watanuki saw the master's polished shoes on the patch of floor he had been staring at. He barely had the chance to glance up before something struck him hard across his right cheek.
He was almost knocked out of the chair and yelped at the pain the wooden staff had caused him. Watanuki pulled is hand up to his face where the weapon had struck him. It stung horribly and would probably bruise, but there was no blood or sign of broken tissue or bone.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this Watanuki, but I really have to take care of this unfortunate situation…" The master spoke as if this was some sort of inconvenience that could be tidied up later. What did he really want?
Watanuki's eyes widened fractionally as a possibility suddenly occurred to him. Did the master think he was the spy? How could he possible do something like that? He didn't even have the people to give the information to if he had it!
"I'll ask you again, Watanuki. Do you know anything about this information leak?"
Watanuki could think of no reply. It seemed no matter what he did now, nothing he said was going to be valid. Apparently he was going to be tortured until they realized he had no information to give. Then they'd most likely kill him…
"Answer me Watanuki."
Watanuki raised his visage, looked into the master's eyes, and shook his head slowly. Watanuki saw something in the master's eyes snap. Suddenly he felt he hard blow of the wooden staff on his fingers that had been holding his cheek.
"Damn it!!" the master screamed. He walked around the room knocking over furniture and cursing the world.
Watanuki leaned forward in his chair, clenching his teeth to keep himself from screaming. At least one of his fingers had to be broken, if not his whole hand. He clutched his fingers painfully. It would probably take more than a couple of days for this to heal and he was still trying to keep himself from passing out from that blow to the head.
As if to answer some sort of unspoken prayer, the door suddenly opened. Watanuki looked up and saw the butler standing in the doorway looking calm as always.
"Sire, there seems to be some sort of disturbance that requires your attention," he said as he bowed lowly. The master glared at him with so much venom Watanuki was surprised the butler didn't flee on the spot.
"Can it wait," the master spoke with some effort to keep his voice level.
"I don't think so, sire," said the butler bowing coolly again.
The master kicked over one final chair and marched out of the room, muscling past the butler in the door way.
"It'd be best if you returned to your room," spoke the butler, before leaving him alone in the room.
Watanuki glanced around at the now empty and meaningless room. Somehow he was still alive, still breathing. Watanuki collapsed on the floor, hardly daring to breathe. He was not going to cry. He was not. He promised himself he wouldn't.
Watanuki picked himself up and t began mentally preparing himself for the trudge back to his room. Maybe there he could get a nice nap. Maybe he'd have some nice dreams for once if there was any sense of justice in the world.
Watanuki reached for the doorknob with his uninjured hand. Before he reached it, the doorknob starting turning of its own accord. Watanuki was in to much pain to care anymore. Perhaps the master was coming back to finish the job. The door opened slowly and ominously.
It was only that idiot Doumeki.
Strange… He looked somewhat distressed. Maybe he'd forgotten to eat or something.
"What did he do to you?" he spoke quickly as he looked at Watanuki's current state.
Watanuki shrugged. "Apparently he thinks I'm a spy…" Watanuki sensed some sort of change in his assistant's stature. Some insignificant change in expression he couldn't quite place.
"What did you say?" Doumeki asked quietly.
"What do you think I said," snapped Watanuki with as much vigor as he could in his half dazed state. "No, of course. I may be a coward but I'm not a spy. And for another thing I know you're the laziest oaf on earth but I've injured my hand and you're going to have to do some extra work for the next couple of days because I can't…"
Watanuki passed out mid rant and Doumeki gracefully caught him before he hit the ground. He took a glance at Watanuki's soon to be bruising face and obviously broken fingers and steeled his expression.
Without a word, he pulled Watanuki up in his arms and walked out of the room.
Nyeh... I didn't mean to torture Watanuki... It just sort of happened. Please forgive me! T-T
