"Kenji, Kenji wake up." Misao gently shook awake the little boy whose head rested in her lap. After Kanryu had come in and introduced himself Kenji had attempted attacking the man who had them kidnapped and paid for it. A large bruise covered the left side of the boy's face, mirroring the many that probably covered the rest of his body. Of course, she had her share of cuts because, as wounded as she had been already, she had crawled over and covered Kenji with her own body to shield him from the rest of the beating. Misao knew that if Kaoru or Kenshin were there they would have done the same thing. Misao continued trying to wake Kenji up for a few minutes and when he didn't wake she placed his head softly on the ground and stood, pain coursing through her entire body.
"Good morning Misao Makimachi, would you do me the honor of dining with me this morning?" Kanryu said from the now open door. Frustrated that she let him sneak up on them like that again, she crossed her arms and tried not to move an inch, "You should not try and stand on your own yet. My men do not know how to hold themselves back," Kanryu laughed to himself as he caught Misao as she lost her balance. With a smirk he helped her walk down a well lit hall and into a large dining room.
"I can't believe this greasy haired, well dressed, rich, bastard! Who does he think he is touching me like this? What the hell is this guys problem, the evil, low life, four-eyed, jerk!" Misao mumbled angrily to herself as she was plopped into a seat and as Kanryu took the chair across from her. Looking around she saw that a chair with restraints was located behind a wall made of glass. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling and there were large windows close to the ceiling. Misao shivered at this room, nothing felt right in it.
"Please eat Misao, I cannot witness a girl starve to death." Kanryu propped his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together as he stared at Misao who immediately grabbed for an apple, secretly grabbing two and stuffing one in her obi. As she took a bite her senses went on high alert as she heard a faint clicking noise to her right where the glass wall was. From out of the sides of her eyes she saw a door opening and gasped at what she saw reveled behind the glass door, "Ah, I see that our guest has arrived. You, of course, know Aoshi Shinomori."
"Lord Aoshi!" Misao yelled and tried to stand, but she only fell face down onto the ground. Grimacing she slowly lifted her head up and watched as three men forced a struggling Aoshi into the chair and belted him down. Through the glass she heard the sounds of struggle, "You bastard!" Misao turned her head to Kanryu who was smiling.
"This is what dogs who don't obey their masters get, besides, part of my plan in kidnapping you along with Battosai's brat was to get my revenge on Aoshi for disobeying direct orders and not obeying as a dog should. Please, stand up and get a better view." Kanryu nodded and two large men pulled her up by the hair and neck, forcing her into a standing position. Tears began running down her cheeks as she yelled and screamed at everyone and everything in the room.
"Uh, uh, uh…I wouldn't struggle if I were you. I really don't want to kill him in front of you but if you prove to be more trouble than it's worth I will make you watch and then you will join him after your own suffering brews for a while." Kanryu walked towards Misao and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him and walking closer to the glass wall. Misao watched as a man in a white coat moved closer to Aoshi, taking what looked like a needle and small glass bottle out of one of the coat's pockets. Kneeling next to Aoshi, the man in the coat ejected some of the liquid in the bottle with the syringe and then stuck the needle into the arm of Aoshi. Sharp piercing screams were heard from where Misao stood and she knew that it was worse.
"Stop it!" She screamed trying to loosen Kanryu's grip on her body, only to successfully fall to the ground one more time. Tears were flowing down her face in torrents as the screams in the background began to slow and then cease.
"While Megumi Takani was here she wrote many different recipes for different types of drugs. One special drug was made specifically for torture. I do not care how it works, nor do I care exactly why. It just needs to be replicated when I am in use of it, and it needs to do what it can to produce excruciating pain. Whatever is in this drug enters the bloodstream it causes severe pain as it courses through the body and hitting all of the vital organs. It will not kill someone, but the suffering is said to be unbearable." Kanryu began to laugh his sickeningly high pitched cackle, its sound mixing with a fresh batch of screams.
Misao lay on the ground paralyzed, she wanted to fight and scream all of the obscenities that circled through her head but she was unable to utter them. Her body hurt all over, she knew that if she tried to stand she would just fall again. It was her soul that hurt most of all. She didn't want to believe what was going on, she couldn't. Mustering all her left over strength and courage she pulled herself into a sitting position. Once she was standing she noticed Aoshi being unhooked from the chair and dragged out of the glass room.
"I'm sure that both of you would be happy to see one another after what you just saw. However, if either you or that Battosai brat attempt to attack me again, it will not only be you both who get punished, but it will also be your precious Aoshi Shinomori." Kanryu walked over to Misao and dragged her up by the back of her Kimono as the two large men who brought Aoshi into the room where they were.
"Lord Aoshi!" Misao forgot her pain and ran stumbling towards Aoshi and flew into his arms. Aoshi caught her and hugged her close to him. He looked down on her, his bangs hanging into her forehead. Misao looked up into his eyes and started for a moment, but then hugged him closer to her.
"Hey you! Kid! What are you doing here?!" One of the bodyguards yelled. Misao turned around and saw Kenji standing across the room in the doorway. The two guards holding Aoshi pulled him away from Misao and took him away while another guard grabbed her and forced her towards the door.
"Kanryu! I know your little trick! You are a fraud and you'll pay for this!" Kenji screamed before he had been grabbed by two guards whom he fought off as hard as he could.
Kanryu stepped forward when both Kenji and Misao were held back by his guards and spoke, "Both of you are tiring me. Guards, take them back to their cell and doctor," Kanryu turned towards the man in the lab coat who had just entered the room, " Doctor, I would like you to give the little brat a taste of the drug given to Aoshi."
Misao screamed as both Kenji and herself were dragged back through the hallway and into the room they had woken up in days ago. One guard held Misao against the wall, his hands like shackles over her wrists, as the other forced Kenji onto the ground. Kenji was screaming and fighting as hard as he could to get away, but his little body was no match for those that were around him. Just like Misao had witnessed, the man in the white coat pulled out the syringe and the glass bottle and pushed it into the small arm of Kenji Himura. No screams were heard as Misao was let go and dropped to the ground. As the men left she crawled to Kenji who was convulsing on the floor, his body jarring. Water flowed down his cheeks, his face an emblem of pain.
"Kenji, no, I'm so sorry! It's what they did to Lord Aoshi too. Let it out. You don't have to hold it inside!" Misao cried as well as she bent over the suffering body of the child.
"I wouldn't give Kanryu the satisfaction," Kenji choked out, his voice low and quaking, "Misao…"
"Don't try and talk, you don't have to say anything," Misao shushed Kenji and brushed some of his bangs from his forehead. His head was burning and droplets of sweat were beading on his face.
"No, Misao, that wasn't Aoshi. He was smaller than Aoshi, his whole demeanor was different. He also didn't show any signs of pain when he hugged you. You had to notice he wasn't the same…" Kenji coughed, blood dripping out of the side of his mouth.
Misao realized what he was saying. Kanryu had said that Kenji was given a smaller dose of the drug than Aoshi was, and it was given to Aoshi twice, yet when she ran to him he did not buckle under her weight, nor did he look as bad as Kenji did now. Misao gasped, "His eyes weren't green…it wasn't Aoshi!" Misao gasped and felt so relieved in that one moment. She cupped her hands over her face and wept out of joy. Suddenly she felt a warm feeling on her wrist; she looked down and saw that Kenji had grabbed her wrist. She curled her hand around his and moved his head onto her lap.
Kenji shivered and closed his eyes, "Some trick huh?" he asked softly before falling asleep, Misao's hand comforting in his small grasp.
IIIII
A/N - Update on the Lullaby, i got two votes more that said to write my own, and so i may do that as well and just use Somewhere Only We Know as a chapter theme. This chapter was somewhat hard for me to write, mostly because i hate that i did this to Kenji...plus ive realized that kidnapping and torture is a frequent thing in my stories. Anyways, i guess it works for me and i hope it worked for you too. Please review! Thanks to those of you who reviewed and those of you who are reading this fic. Love you all and hugs!
