Character(s): Chinmei, Kyousaburou, wife.
Theme: #15 ("Something's wrong here…")
Genre: Angst, tragedy.
Synopsis: He wanted to see her cry and beg; he wanted to see her eyes go dark—that's why he killed her on that summer night.
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai Deeper Kyo.
Warning: This is dark, people! And AU, for once. Despite that, if you don't know about Chinmei's past or who Kyousaburou is, there are spoilers ahoy.
Love and Peace
"A long time ago, you told me that you loved her."
Eyes dark and mouth drawn into a thin line, the man hangs drunkenly against the bars of his cell and doesn't answer. One thin, knobby hand gropes for a cheap wooden picture frame, set up on a desk just outside his reach. An insane smile suddenly stretches across his long, thin face, and eyes that had once been as bright as the sun glitter with lunacy.
The man's guest turns to the table beside him and flips the photo facedown.
"Why did you kill her?"
Still no response. The man in the cage merely frowns and presses himself closer to the metal bars in a futile attempt to snatch the picture. "L-love and peace," he stammers, voice scratchy from disuse.
Kyousaburou sighs and massages his temples. "Kyojiro," he says, and removes the frame from sight. "Or is it Chinmei? Which do you go by now?" He shakes his head. "In any case, brother—"
"She called me Kyojiro," the prisoner says suddenly. "Don't call me that anymore. It makes me think of her. Of the ocean… the moon. That night…"
"Chinmei, then," Kyousaburou says quickly. "Why?"
"It was said she could see the future," Chinmei exclaims suddenly, drawing back from the door to his cell and retreating to the shadows. His dark, greasy hair flops into his face and he doesn't bother to push it away, smiling. "She had no right to live. Brother said so."
Kyousaburou straightens in his seat. "He forced you to do it?"
"No," whispers Chinmei. "I wanted to. I wanted to see that pretty, pretty face twist in pain… I wanted to see those shining eyes go dark… I wanted to hear her plead…"
"Kyoji—Chinmei. Two years ago, you killed your wife and were condemned to life in prison," Kyousaburou says seriously, leaning towards his elder brother. "I want to get you out of here. You need to trust me, Chinmei! I'm only trying to help!"
"But I don't want to leave," he replies. "It's nice here. Quiet. No screaming. People don't visit me anymore. She doesn't come… she doesn't…" He smiles distantly. "Love and peace."
Kyousaburou stands, knowing that they aren't going to get anywhere. "I'll come back tomorrow," he says, picking up the picture that his brother had been reaching for and tossing it through the bars, onto the concrete floor. "Get some rest."
And then he's gone and Chinmei drops to his knees, crawling forwards on all fours, lunging for the photo. Mouth wide open in a twisted, insane grin, he smashes the frame on the ground until it snaps, and glass litters the floor, shooting up Chinmei's legs. He doesn't notice as he hurriedly takes the worn picture from the shattered glass and presses it into his face, remembering…
-
It had been a bright night, so lovely that they had gone out to eat. Chinmei and his lovely, simple little wife
(Oh, how he loved her)
returned home close to midnight and that's when he tugged her into his arms and led her away into the evening. She giggled the whole way there, asking, "Where are we going? What's going on?"
Chinmei's only answer was a secret little smile
(How he wanted to crush her underfoot)
and he said nothing until they arrived at a small gazebo near the edge of a cliff that overlooked the ocean.
"Oh, darling!" she cried, stretching out over the gazebo's railing and staring at the waters below.
Jagged rocks waited at the bottom; it would have been so easy to just give her a little push and call it an accident… but then Chinmei wouldn't enjoy it.
"The sea is so beautiful tonight!" she chirped, settling back down onto the bench and patting the space next to her. "Come sit next to me."
Smiling, he complied and placed himself next to her, one arm snaking around her shoulders. She beamed, oblivious, and he whispered, "Love and peace," in her ear as his hands gently, innocently, encircled her neck. Chinmei kissed her there in the moonlight, smothering her cries against his mouth as he slowly began to tighten his grip on her throat, sharp nails pressing into the jugular that beat steadily underneath his fingertips…
Slowly that pounding rhythm slowed, and her arms, held down, lost their strength. Her cries died in her throat, and when Chinmei pulled away her eyes were dim, and her body was limp.
He stroked her flushed cheek gently, and his mouth curved in a tiny half smile as he told her one last time, "I'm a peace-loving man…"
With that, Chinmei gathered her in his arms and walked to the railing. He kissed her unblemished cheek and let the weight of her body slip away from him, tumbling down into the darkness and vanishing, with only the faintest of splashes, into the ocean below.
And something inside him snapped.
The man's eyes widened and he laughed feverishly, bending desperately over the banister, searching for her wave-tossed form. There was only darkness, and he stumbled out of the gazebo and down to the beach, down to where the rocks waited, down to where her cooling corpse should be still.
He was still laughing, loudly, obnoxiously, and he boasted, "I'm a peace-loving man!" even as the light in a neighbour's house turned on, and someone stepped out onto the porch.
Chinmei turned to them and grinned lopsidedly. "Love and peace!" he sang, before turning away and throwing himself into the water. "Love and peace!" he repeated, wading deeper and deeper, hands groping desperately in the darkness as unnoticed tears raced down his cheeks.
His voice grew steadily louder until he was screaming and searching desperately, she had to be here, she couldn't be gone. He pawed desperately through the sea, grabbing nothing as tears spilled from his wide eyes, no different from the burning saltwater. Chinmei dove in further, choking and coughing as water filled his mouth and nose, until he was splashing around like a dying man, screaming, screaming.
"Love and peace!"
And suddenly hands grabbed his shoulders and hoisted him from the water. Harsh white light flooded Chinmei's vision, and he crumpled.
-
When Kyousaburou returns the next day, he knows immediately that something is wrong—and soon finds his brother curled up in a fetal position in the back of the cell, his body stiff and cold, the picture of his wife still pressed to his white, tearstained face.Author's Notes: Depressing Chinmei-fic, yay. (Obviously, the switch in tense from Chinmei's flashback to the present is on purpose.)