Warning: This chapter contains very adult themes (borderline M material). That said, it also contains information vital to this story. So.

Chapter 14: And the Mask Falls Off

Amaya woke up to the sound of her own sobs. The room was dark, lit only by a low-burning lamp that threw everything into shadow. For a moment she thought she was still in the repentance cell, that the previous day had been a long nightmare. But then she noticed she was lying on a bed, and someone was clutching her hand.

"I'm glad you are finally awake," Sajin said softly. "Captain Unohana said you stressed your body out. You were already dehydrated and malnourished, so it did not take much. You had me worried." He made a move to touch her face, but stopped himself at the last moment. Amaya wished he hadn't.

She cleared her throat, which felt raw. Sajin handed her a glass of water from the bedside table, which she accepted gladly. When she had emptied it, she asked in a raspy voice, "Takara and Hibiki?"

She could tell he did not want to tell her, and that alone told her enough. She bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. Sajin let go of her hand to rub his eyes, and she immediately missed the contact. She wondered how long it had been since he had slept.

Sajin leaned back in his chair and started speaking. "When you passed out, you were taken to the Fourth. The head captain had heard enough that he was convinced of your innocence already, but the story was presented to the Central 46. They agreed and sentenced your brother and sister to death." Amaya winced, but Sajin kept going. "apparently, no one bothered to search them very well. The moment they were certain you would not be punished further, they took their lives."

"How?"

"Concealed poison." He paused to give Amaya a moment to collect herself.

She did not want to collect herself though. She wanted it to have never happened. "Where are we? This doesn't look like a hospital."

"That's because it isn't." She waited for him to elaborate, but he changed the subject instead. "Why were you going to die for them? You had no part in their plan."

She shrugged. "They were my brother and sister."

Sajin shook his head. "There is more to it than that." He smiled a little. "There is always more to it when it comes to you."

Despite herself she blushed. When her smile had faded and she realized Sajin was still waiting for an explanation, she said, "Our parents did not just die. Izo murdered them. They were at a masked ball at one of their friends' manors. Takara would have been too little to remember it exactly, but Hibiki would have known. That would have been why he got that woman to attach the kido puppet to a mask rather than some other object. Izo must have thought it was me for sure then. Of course, the need to be rid of Izo went far beyond just him killing our parents. You know he forced Takara to marry him, but before she was old enough, he raped her repeatedly. The year before their marriage, he pretended to be all nice and stopped raping her. He came after me."

Sajin had to fight down a wave of nausea. He had known there was something wrong with Izo, but he never would have suspected this. The thought that he had hurt Amaya, had forced himself on her… Sajin clenched his fists and took a deep breath to steady himself, but failed. "Oh, gods," he whispered, "Amaya, I am so sorry."

"You need to hear the rest." Sajin was positive he did not want to but let her continue. "Izo came after me in the middle of the night. He announced that Takara had agreed to marry him, but he wanted their first night as a married couple to be special." Her voice was dripping with hatred. "He was not going to touch her for an entire year. But that left him with…urges. He was close to me, and he pressed himself up against me. I could feel his erection through his pants."

Sajin shut his eyes as if by doing so he could somehow take back what had happened to Amaya. He wanted to tell her to stop, as much for his sake as for hers, but found he couldn't speak.

"He pushed me down onto my knees and held my head in place. So I was forced to do it. I bit the living shit out of that bastard." Sajin wanted to laugh with relief, but knew by the look on Amaya's face that that would have been a mistake. "He never touched me again, which was great for me. But, after slapping me around for a while, he told me as he left the room that I would regret doing that. He was right, because a few minutes later he dragged Hibiki into the room and raped him in front of me. Hibiki cried and screamed. He thrashed around, trying to get away, but Izo only enjoyed that more. He took his time, and when he finally left, he told us that if either of us tried anything he would kill Takara. I couldn't even get off the floor to comfort Hibiki afterwards. All we could do was lay there and cry and pray Izo didn't come back."

"But he did," Sajin supplied when she paused.

Amaya nodded. "He did. Every night for the next month he came for Hibiki while I had to sit there and watch. He stopped for a while, and we hoped it was over. He and Takara were actually…not getting along exactly, but they were acting normal. It was easier for us to pretend we were just a family getting ready for a wedding. But a few weeks later they got into a fight. Izo had two of his guards hold me back while he beat Takara until she didn't try to get away anymore. The he took Hibiki right there in front of all of us, guards and servants included. No one did a thing to stop it. That was when we moved to Izo's manor. All of the servants were given a good sum of money to keep quiet. They couldn't afford to lose their jobs anyway. Then Izo was free to do as he pleased. After he and Takara were married, he still came to Hibiki's room. The worst times were when Hibiki would just walk by him during the day and Izo would just take him. I never slept in the same place twice so he could never come after me again. We had all sort of…given up."

Sajin remembered one of the first nights Amaya had stayed in his room at the manor, how he had heard footsteps in the hallway and seen how terrified Amaya was. He mentioned this to her.

"Izo wouldn't try anything while you were around. Hibiki told me he hated the thought of you leaving because then it would start all over again." There was a deep but not awkward silence before she added, "I knew they were going to kill themselves. Takara said she was just tired of fighting, and Hibiki was broken beyond repair. They both thought death would be a relief from their memories."

Sajin wanted to comfort her, to touch her, but following Hibiki's story it felt wrong, even if it was innocent and well-intentioned. "I have to tell you," he said suddenly, "that I don't think anyone would blame them for killing that monster."

Amaya nodded gratefully. "So, that's everything, I think. The mask you showed me was the one my mother had been wearing when she died. Hibiki wanted Izo to feel haunted and truly terrified before he died. That was when I knew."

Sajin nodded. "You should get some sleep." He stood up to leave. He knew he would be restless tonight, not just because of the horrors that would surely manifest themselves in his dreams tonight, but because he would miss that presence he had grown used to having by him while he slept. "Goodnight, Amaya."

"Wait." Sajin turned back. "There is still one more thing I need to tell you. Will you go somewhere with me tomorrow?" Sajin smiled, nodded, and started to leave, only to be called back once more. "Will you stay with me tonight? I'm not going to be able to fall asleep; I've gotten too used to hearing you breathe. Besides," she added with a coy smile, "it's not fair that you can't sleep in your own bed."

So Sajin lay down beside her and they both fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

AN: Okay, that was a little depressing. Sorry 'bout that. It was what I had planned to do all along, but still, very depressing.