Tell Me You Love Me 10

The scream echoed through the mountains causing Kyuzo to halt. His heart trembled as his knees nearly gave way underneath him. They were still leagues away from the caves and the scream was but bouncing off of glistening rocks and deep pools of water that was surrounded by the heavily plumed, low hanging branches. Silent was Kyuzo's wondering what they had done to Kureha to make her scream in such a wild manner. There was no doubt that it was her, he would know her voice through the haze of his own last breath. For a little over a month he had allowed himself to find succor in the softness of her arms and the sweet taste of her flesh. Never had she denied him, always welcoming, always loving, accepting him for who he was. Sometimes when he grew confused and wondered if life had dealt him a pleasant dream she woke him with a kiss. Now his honeyed kisses had been stolen from him and there would be hell to pay.

"NO..." Kyuzo paused at that muffled scream his ears pricked to detect the direction of the sound only to have his efforts defeated by the echoes of the beach. The crashing waves amplified through the slick rocks.

"They will be expecting us," Kambei said as they cleared the edge of the trees to see a small assortment of tents. "There will be an ambush."

"They do not know our true number, Sensei," Katsushiro said as he too looked at the crude condition of the tents. "One of them could tell us much."

"Very astute observation." Kambei said then turned to Kyuzo.

"Then I leave," Kyuzo marched forward. "For every mark upon her flesh I will take a pint of his blood."

-

Kureha shoved her feet hard into Du An's chest and took a moment to be thankful that his pride would not allow him to call for the bandits to aid him in subduing her. A scream was wrenched from her throat as she felt his hand on her ankle knocking her to her bottom. Du An looked up rage pouring from him in waves of unadulterated lust that warred with his sanity. "Now you will open to me like a late blooming flower in the fall sunlight."

"No!" Kureha screamed when she felt the blunt tips of Du An's fingers on her thighs prying them open. Cloth ripping was loud in the confines of the cave as Du An tried his best to climb atop her heaving form. Kureha wriggled exerting her best effort to dislodge her attacker all the while praying that her acolytes, Naomi and Sasha, were faring better than she herself. "You are mad," Kureha sobbed. "Stop it Du An. We were friends, now you would do this to me?"

"This and much more, swear you are mine." Du An snarled as still he had no luck. For each time he tried to release his garments she twisted free of his grasp and he had to spend valuable time getting her legs open again. "Swear you are mine!"

"Never," Kureha spat her vision doubled at the hand that left yet another print across her face. She blinked several times panting to still the inferno that swept through her heart. "I belong to Kyosuke Kyuzo, now and forever. No matter what you do to me that will still be true."

Du An smiled as finally he was freed and leaning heavy above her. "Say you are mine and I will be gentle."

"I despise you," Kureha spat another scream leaving her as Du An squeezed her bosom in a brutal grip that left her breathless. "Kyuzo...oh...Kyuzo..." Kureha sobbed as Du An prepared to impale her on his flesh.

"Say it," Du An demanded waiting wanting her to capitulate before he claimed her. Needed that complete surrender as he panted seeing Kyuzo's face in happiness as he had been granted the lady's favors by Gorobei. "Say it and I will be gentle."

"Brutality is all you will have. My favors willing belong only to my husband." Kureha sobbed through her bloody lips swollen by his slaps and her own teeth biting through the tender flesh of the succulent morsels that Kyuzo spent hours nibbling. "You may as well consign yourself to rape you monster, I will always love him and I will always belong to him."

-

He was surrounded. Kyuzo could smell the sweat and filth of the men around him and he smirked taking a step into their trap. The first one to attack was dead long before his bulk hit the sand. Three men came at once all meeting with the same fate as Kyuzo's blade swallowed the blood of their wrathful lives. "He's going to kill them all," Heihachi commented as he drew his sword. "We had better get in there so that we can find out where they are keeping the women."

"Yes," Kambei took his sword in hand and walked forward. Just as Kyuzo was swallowed by the frenzied flow of the bandits the other six men came out of hiding killing until there was only one crawling on his bottom trying to get away from the wave of angry samurai. Kyuzo walked towards him but halted as Gorobei grabbed his arm. "Hold, Kyuzo," Kambei called.

Kyuzo halted his amber eyes glowing golden in the blazing rays of the sunset. With his sword dripping a crimson rain into the sand he seemed menacing to the man who had only joined this group as a way to have some fun. Sure steal a few things, kill a few people, but nothing had prepared him for this. "Where is my wife?"

The bandit stared at Kyuzo in horror. His wife? They had stolen his wife? What was a killer like him doing with a wife in the first place? And why... Why in the burning flames of hell would they steal the woman? "I don't know what you are talking about," The bandit tried to think of which of the three women could belong to the mad man before him. Surely not the two young girls, they were even too young for his taste. Then he knew, the priestess. As surely as the realization struck another scream came barreling through the rolling hills of sand and grass.

"Tell me and I'll kill you,"Kyuzo promised both of his swords coming up to either side of the man's trembling throat.

"Or," The bandit swallowed. "You mean, or you kill me. I'll tell you."

"No," Kyuzo said the menace in his voice sparking chills down his companions spine as yet another scream could be heard. "And I'll kill you. You will be glad to die than suffer what I will inflict upon you. Tell me which of these blasted caves he is hiding in." Kyuzo punctuated his words with slashes on his arms and his chest and neck. The man howled in pain and fell blubbering on the ground at Kyuzo's knees. "Tell me and I'll end your pain."

"They," The man halted as more blood spilled when Kyuzo's blade slide across his stomach. "Are in the third cave."

"Be glad you spoke," The bandit gurgled one last time as his throat was slashed all the way through. He fell into the puddle of his own blood. Kambei stood aside not willing to follow Kyuzo in on this personal vendetta. Neither of them was sure of what condition the young samurai would find his wife in and they allowed him his privacy. Katsushiro moved to follow but Kambei caught his arm.

"There are still other bandits we can rid ourselves of and we can clean this camp of debris." Kambei said as his own remembered pain tried to bear witness in the haunted, hollow look of his eyes. "The night is growing rapidly upon us. We will stay here tonight and move out at first light." Katsushiro nodded then moved off to aid the others. He cast one last long look at Kyuzo who was already on the second level of the cliffs before disappearing inside.

"Say it..." Du An demanded his hand coming down hard on Kureha's face. "Say you are mine, you'll like it more with me. I know he must not be gentle. This must seem like paradise." Kureha screamed as she felt him trying to press himself against her. Du An paused, then howled in pain as a sword went all the way through his hand.

"I told you that the hand you would dare to lay upon my wife," Kyuzo twisted his sword rending the hand in half. "Was the hand I would sever from your body."

"Kyuzo!" Kureha screamed in joy as Du An fell heavy on top of her. Despite the agony in his hand, Du An grabbed Kureha and pulled her in front of him to back up against the wall. Kyuzo stood staring at his wife with her clothes hanging in limp trails of cloth down her limbs exposing her to his view. Kyuzo swallowed bile as he saw the hand prints and bruises that marked her tender flesh.

"Take another step and I will kill her." Du An promised pressing a dagger to Kureha's throat. Kyuzo halted his movements. Kureha sobbed then brought her elbow firmly against Du An's stomach earning a small nick on her neck but also her freedom. She ran to Kyuzo intent on getting into his arms. Kyuzo gasped and shoved her to the side sitting her on an upraised boulder he turned and stepped aside. Du An stared at Kureha just as Kyuzo swung his arm wide taking is entire head in one blow. Kureha's scream was short lived as blood covered her face, chest and arms. The head landed with a muffled thud on the rocks moments before the rigid body followed still twitching in the throes of death.

Kureha stopped screaming to stare wide eyed at her husband her breathing coming in short pants. Her eyes dropped to her hands to stare at the blood that dripped onto her lap. Kyuzo dropped to his knees in front of her and wrapped what remained of her skirt around her waist covering her. He took her hands drawing her eyes back to his saying nothing. Tears marked a trail through the grime and blood that covered her entire face. "Kureha," Kyuzo's soft voice did not get a reaction. "You are safe now little one." Kyuzo looked around and saw a clean blanket stolen that very morning from their town and bundled her in it. Scooping her into his arms he left the cave to see a reasonably clean camp set up for the night.

Heihachi dropped the tent pole he was repairing to watch as Kyuzo carefully descended the mountain. "I found a cove with a warm waterfall. She can bathe."

"We will help," Naomi said as she and Sasha came running to Kyuzo's side.

"I will tend her," Kyuzo said and Kambei felt the words were tantamount to the pain the samurai was feeling. Kambei followed a short distance with Kyuzo leading him away from the others. "She won't speak." Kyuzo said sending a worried glance at his wife.

"She is in shock, it will wear off," Kambei assured him as he looked into Kureha's unfocused eyes. "Take this," Kyuzo accepted the bundle of bandages and salves. "And this," Kambei handed Kyuzo a small clay jar that he had retrieved before they left the village. "She may not speak it, but from the look of her, she fought a mighty effort against him." Kambei halted and took a deep breath hating the words that had to come from his own mouth. "The rape would have been brutal. She may be bleeding inside." Kambei looked away to the dark waters swirling in the turbulent wind not wanting to see the tears that continued to fall down Kureha's bloody, swollen face.

"I should have cut off more than his head." Kyuzo whispered before he stepped away from Kambei and into the seclusion of the low hanging branches. The words 'thank you' reached Kambei's ears through the swishing leaves so that he thought he might not have heard it. Kyuzo was gentle as he peeled the blanket away after setting her on the pillow that had been left in preparation for him to bring her here. Kureha sat and allowed him to move her body as he needed to in order to strip away what was left of her ensemble. Gently, he cleaned the blood from her face dipping the towel again and again in the hot water. The sound of the waterfall was almost soothing as he saw that the most damage to her face was hand prints on her cheeks. Du An had not blackened her eyes.

Kyuzo traveled further cleaning her neck and arms. Finally he went to her chest nearly losing his lunch at the sight of the evidence of the brutal grip Du An had of her bosoms. His blunt fingertips leaving indelible proof of his cruelty. "Oh, Kureha," Kyuzo whispered as he moved on to her stomach and her legs. Kyuzo swallowed his own breath coming in hard pants as he saw the marks of Du An's hand having pried her legs open. Before a sob could leave him he scooped her up and deposited her into the depression underneath the waterfall where the warm water had collected making a natural bath. As he bathed her still she cried saying nothing making his heart feel like a piece of lead occupying the biggest part of his chest. "I still love you," Kyuzo promised when he lifted her from the water and wrapped her in a fresh blanket after toweling her off. He moved around to her back to press a soothing oil to the scratches there then he bandaged the area. Kyuzo took care of her arms and the rope burns on her wrists. Then he moved on to her breasts, rubbing the oil there then binding them. Kyuzo was tending her thighs when Kambei's words came back to him. With a sigh he parted her legs and frowned. Her womanhood seemed alright. The most damage was to her thighs. Coating his hands with the rose oil in the jar that Kambei had given him Kyuzo checked and his heart beat triple time in relief. She was untouched by any but him. Du An had failed. Judging from the tenderness of her legs, had Kyuzo tarried but a moment more, Du An would have succeeded.

"My little one," Kyuzo pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I will never allow this to happen again." Bandaged and dressed in warm clothes Kureha still sat silent as Kyuzo carried her to the camp. He sat her in the tent that Shichiroji offered his eyes racking in the roiling waves of the sea.

"We may have to take to the caves." Gorobei said as the first raindrops fell. "Even these tents are no match for the fury of these storms. Come on, gather what is necessary and try to keep the wood dry." The young girls sobbed as they watched their teacher being moved along as if in a daze. She was taken in Kyuzo's arms and carried as the storm grew in size in moments swallowing the beach with it's fury. They reached the cave just as the world was covered in a blanket of falling water. Gorobei swore then hammered an oiled cloth into place among the stone entrance with Heihachi. Kikuchiyo, who had shocked all with his mature silence up to that point clanked noisily in the stillness of the large cave.

"No need to fret there girls," Kikuchiyo blustered smoke tooting from his blow horn. "Your lady will be fine, her husband will see to that. This storm is nothing why I've fought in worse. Nice cave here by the way. The leader must have snagged it for himself. Yep." Kikuchiyo nodded. "Glad we killed them all."

"This storm will last the night," Gorobei predicted looking out again and sighing.

"Let's hope we do," Naomi sobbed huddling with Sasha closer to the fire that Heihachi had started after helping to seal the entrance.

"We'll be alright." Heihachi promised feeling bombarded by sadness as he watched Kyuzo make a futon in the corner away from everyone. The stone held the heat of the fire so there was no need to sleep close to it for warmth. He was gentle as he laid Kureha upon it and passed his hand over her eyes to close them for she had simply sat staring up at the dark ceiling of the cave. Kyuzo stripped off his heavy coat and lay beside her pulling a cover over them. The cave grew quiet as the occupants ate a meal then settled down for the night to wait out the sudden storm.

Dreams attacked Kureha as soon as she closed her eyes. Falling into a fitful slumber her small fist clutched Kyuzo to her as she fought wildly against the terror of her painful demons. Sitting up suddenly she screamed staring about to the sound of every sword in the cave being drawn. "She dreams," Kyuzo said to his comrades as he replaced both of his weapons and gathered his wife into his arms.

"Kyuzo, Kyuzo, Kyuzo," Kureha sobbed and Kambei sighed in relief to hear her voice hoping that it signaled that she was coming out of her shock. "He... tried to..." Kureha's eyes widened and she rolled to the side holding her stomach. Kyuzo paled and picked her up and carried to the far back of the cave where there was an opening. Kureha lost the contents of her stomach down the back side of the cliff. It was swiftly rinsed away by the torrents of rain that pelted down upon the world. "He tried, he did, he tried to take what is yours. I am yours and he tried."

"I know," Kyuzo said his voice soothing as he scooted to his bottom with her in his arms. He held her tight rubbing circles in her back. "I took care of it."

"His head," Kureha wheezed feeling her stomach heave at the memory. "It bounced off my shoulder before it fell. His blood is everywhere."

"No, I cleaned it up." Kyuzo promised. "I took care of it. I will always take care of you. I... I love you." Kyuzo felt his face heat as he said the almost foreign words.

"As long as I live, all I need," Kureha vowed laying her head against her husband. "Is to hear you tell me you love me."

"Then for as long as I live, your needs will be forever met." Kureha was again sleeping when Kyuzo carried her back to their bedroll. Kambei looked up from his contemplation of the flames. Kyuzo lay his wife down then went to sit beside the older samurai. "She was untouched, the vermin failed."

Kambei smiled into the flames then turned to look at Kyuzo. "Then your life will have a happier ending than my own."

"I don't understand." Kyuzo frowned then looked back at Kureha to see her laying peaceful among the blankets.

"Long ago, I was about your age, before I met Shichiroji. I had a wife." Kambei said still looking into the flames. "She was taken by the bandits, I went to retrieve her. When I found her..." Kambei paused as his memories threatened to demolish his pride. He blinked several times then regained his composure. "There was nothing left to do but kill them and take her home. She was in much the same state of shock as you witnessed tonight. It is why I feared the worse."

"I touched her," Kyuzo said. "Inside she is whole and clean, untouched."

Kambei nodded. "I treated my wife as well, but the evidence was clear. She had been used thoroughly. Ragged and torn, bleeding," Kyuzo sat silent listening to what, he feared, Kambei had never told another. "A few weeks later, she discovered that she was with child. Not knowing if it was mine or..." Kambei sighed and Kyuzo gasped to see the man lower his head in defeat. "She took her own life. At least you know, that if her stomach rises, it is you who planted the seed." Kyuzo clapped Kambei on the back in a gesture of support and friendship before he nodded his thanks and went back to his futon. He took his wife in his arms and dozed. Not daring to fall into a full slumber until they were safe in their own home.

To-Be-Continued