"No Escape"
The sound of metal scraping against metal was all she could hear as she cringed at the unpleasant noise. She had no choice but to use whatever sources she could right now, which was the cold, solid floor and the chains around her wrist.
She needed to get out of here. This man was dangerous, so she did not know what he was capable of. She had seen movies where men kidnapped women and sold them to other men to use them for sex. This Li Syaoran had to be one of them, so her instincts to get the hell out here was far louder than the sound of the metals rubbing together.
She could not believe she was tied up in a basement right now. She never even believed this stuff happened, until now. She never thought that she would fall victim to being kidnapped and tied in a basement.
What would he do to her? Who would he give her to? Would he use her for his own sick reasons? Would he sell her? Make thousands off her? Would he kill her?
The panic in her chest rose to the top of her lungs as her breathing became uncontrollable at this point. She knew what was about to happen, though.
The scraping became more vigorous as she began to tremble, thinking even further about the possible situations. She could hear the acceleration of her heart rate pick up, blocking out the vigorous scraping. Her heart was pounding against her chest so loud and hard that the sound of everything around her drowned out. And then, the shortness of breaths kicked in, scaring her even more.
She was about to have a panic attack.
"H—" She froze, stopping the metals from rubbing against each other as she focused on her breathing.
"Breathe in, Sakura," she heard a familiar, soft voice say, "…and breathe out. It's not the end of the world, yet."
She tried to do this, but almost found it impossible as her mind continued to tell her all the awful things the man could do to her.
"Sakura, my cherry blossom," she heard, making her breathing slow down a bit.
She took deep, shaky breathes, remembering how her mom would tell her to when she was little. She was never a dramatic child, but she would throw a few tantrums when she could not get her way. She would often throw fits, like any normal child, but whenever she would, her mom would tell her, "Sakura, my cherry blossom, breathe in…and breathe out. It's not the end of the world."
That would often calm her down, so when she heard that saying, things started to feel alright again.
She took a few deep breaths before exhaling them as her heart calmed down a little.
If this man wanted to kill her, he would have killed her by now. She told herself that a few more times before calming down.
After she calmed down, she closed her eyes, trying to make her breaths even again.
"Drink this," she heard a voice beside her say.
She flinched away, recognizing that nerve-wrecking voice from anywhere.
She winced, feeling the chains tear at her skin from the opposite side of where she flinched away.
"It's just water. I hadn't realized that you might be thirsty," he said.
She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
The man had lost his everlasting mind.
"I don't want anything from you," she said stubbornly, feeling herself become angry at him.
She wished that her heart would stop beating so hard from her earlier moment.
"Resisting is going to get you nowhere," he said coldly. "Drink the water," came the demand immediately after that claim.
She turned her head in his direction, glaring at him hard.
To hell with the fear, she thought.
"What do you want?" she asked, tone dripping with so much hatred for the man.
She could not understand why he would target her, of all people, in Tomoeda. She heard the man sigh before he sat the glass down on the floor beside her. He walked to the front of her before stooping down to her height as he stared in her eyes.
She could feel her cheeks warm a bit before snapping herself out of it by looking away. She could not tell what the man had over her, but she would certainly not fall under his spell again.
"I feel as though I've gone about this the wrong way," he said softly, surprising her.
Without thinking, she squinted at him to see if he was alright. He had never been soft spoke with her before, so the change in tone seemed so drastic.
"I'm chained up in a basement, I don't think there's anything more wrong than that," she said.
"Oh, trust me. Things could be a lot worst," he said, reaching his hand out to touch her face.
Her cheeks warmed as she felt herself getting lost in his amber eyes. "I-I," she stuttered, suddenly feeling weak at his close proximity.
"Instead, I'm not hurting you, nor do I have the intentions to. Do you understand me?" he asked.
Crap. Snap out of it, Sakura!
He caressed her warm cheek with his cold hand, making her breath stutter.
"Drink this water," he said, picking the glass of water back up and placing it between her lips.
For a moment, she thought to be stubborn, but her parched throat told her to do otherwise.
He tipped the cup over slightly and she drank the water as if it had been the first time she had water in years while living in a desert.
As if he knew she had enough, he pulled the glass of water back from her lips. She let out a sigh, turning her head over to wipe the corner of her mouth to get rid of the excess water.
"Water, huh?"
Her head snapped up in his direction at hearing his voice.
"Does it have a taste?" he said.
Her brows scrunched together; confused by his question. "What?"
"Does water have a taste? I can't really remember how it..." he trailed off. He stood up abruptly, making her flinch back at his sudden move. "I'll be back in the morning," he said.
"Wai—" Before she could fully get it out, he was already out of the basement, leaving her alone in the cold, dark room.
This man had to be one of the cruelest men alive.
Three days had passed that Syaoran had her locked in the basement, yet he still could not formulate a better approach to convince her.
He wanted to do the right thing, the right way. It had been taking him a lot longer to figure out what he could tell the women.
Of course he kept her fed and hydrated, but keeping her down there was doing no good for her mental health. He almost lost it seeing her freak out like that the other day.
He had always tried to be there every time she was up in the air about something. He hated seeing her that way.
Yet you've put her in a stressful predicament right now.
He sighed, realizing how right his inner voice was right now. He was putting and keeping her in this stressful situation. He had to stop this nonsense right now. He had to control his temper, and he most certainly had to get them moving before the police sent out a search team to find her.
He had seen that the Daidouji family had gone down to the station the other day because Sakura had never returned home.
Just as he suspected, the system in their town was screwed up as well. The protection services did not care about their community. He could not believe what they had told the Daidouji girl. "Sakura is fine. She's probably just ran off to look for her dead family again like she's been doing since they died. The girl has no brains to see that they are dead."
Granted, her family was, "dead", but even Syaoran knew deep down inside that Sakura knew that her parents were not dead. She just could not remember the events that occurred that day.
He would fix this now, though. Sakura was not some mad woman. She was just lost and confused.
Syaoran pushed the door open to his basement, eyes encountering the broken girl. He almost felt a sting of guilt stab.
He cleared his throat, making her head turn in his direction. The frightened look in her emerald eyes shattered his nonexistent heart.
"I-I'm ready to go find my parents," she said, causing him to freeze in his tracks.
"What?"
"I've thought about it…" she trailed off, turning away from him.
He walked in her direction so he could look her in the face, but keeping a safe distance between them. His ears could not believe what they were hearing. "Why the change of mind?" he asked, raising a brow.
He could see her throat bob as she swallowed, almost making him want to devour her. It was beyond him how he had not sucked the girl dry yet.
Everything about her looked so…enticing. Her beautiful pale skin looked so smooth that he could almost feel the texture of it on his tongue. He found it nearly impossible to not study her every move whenever she would be in his presence.
And, her eyes…
The innocence that her eyes held made him stop whatever evil he had in mind. They looked like emerald jewels that no one could touch.
In all his years as a vampire, he never wanted to kiss a human. Her lips, though…
They looked so soft; like they were begging him to devour them.
Crap.
He could feel his control trying to slip again as he stared at them.
"I-I realized that you might be right. I mean, I don't know you, so I've never talked about my parents with you before. That picture really looks like them, so I don't see a reason why you would have to trick me. What they're doing in Brazil…I don't know, but if I have a person willing to help without me even asking, it must mean something," she said, interrupting his lustful thoughts.
He raised a brow, wondering if he should trust her.
The look in her eyes showed so much determination that he could not help but believe her.
"What are you asking me to do?" he asked, deciding to tread lightly.
"Take me to my family," she said.
"That would require me to release you," he said.
The plan was to release her regardless, but he wanted to see what she would say.
"Well, how else are we supposed to go to brazil if I'm tied up in your basement?" she asked.
He stared at her, looking for the lies. "How do I know you won't try to run?" he asked, giving her a suspicious look.
"Look me in my eyes and tell me that I don't want to see my family again," she said.
He could only see the determination in her eyes, so he nodded. "We'll make plans to start our leave tomorrow, then," he said.
"Tomorrow?" she asked.
"It's already late," he said.
Her brows scrunched together before she huffed. "Can I sleep in a bed tonight, at least?" she asked.
Seeing the desperate look in her eyes almost made him give in fast, but he knew better than that. "I know what you're trying to do," he said.
The look on her face made him feel like an idiot for saying that.
"What am I going to do if I run? You'll find me, right? Why put myself in danger like that? I'm not that stupid anymore," she said, looking at him pleadingly.
He stared at her, seeing her eyes water a bit. "Please, Li-kun. It hurt—"
"Okay," he interrupted, annoyed with that look. How could he reject that look she gave him?
She looked at him with so much hope in her eyes. It made him feel relieved to see he could make her feel better.
Even though you're the one who's put her in this situation.
Sometimes his subconscious could be annoying, like a fly buzzing in his ear.
He walked over to her, digging in his pockets for the keys. The way she looked at him, the more he wanted to make her feel better. He stooped in front of her and stuck the key in the lock and turned it.
The chain fell off one wrist to the floor.
He could hear her heart beating faster than it originally was a few seconds ago. For a moment, he hesitated to unlock the other one, but he did regardless. He watched her grab her wrist as she quickly stood from the ground, rubbing her wrist to soothe scars. He winced, seeing the ugly red marks.
"We need to get that fixed," he said, staring at her wrist.
He reached for her when she did not say anything, but she flinched back, making him stop his movements. He could not blame her for fearing him one bit. He had her locked in his basement and chained her.
He had to fix this.
"P-please don't touch me," she said, sounding like a scared child.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said gently, slowly moving towards her.
"Don't!" she said, moving back again.
He stopped, realizing this would not be a smart approach. He had to keep reminding himself that he locked her in a basement. He had to build some form of trust.
"Okay, I won't touch you," he promised. "But we do need to get upstairs to fix your wrists."
She nodded slowly.
"Come on," he said softly, holding his hand towards the door for her to go out first.
Slowly, she walked towards the door, constantly looking back at him to make sure he would not do anything out of line.
He followed behind her closely, closing and locking the basement behind them.
To say the least, it was awkward.
Sakura winced as the man applied the cotton ball to her wrist gently. The way he handled her injuries was a huge contradiction to his character from earlier.
He had been so mean and cruel to her since meeting her and now here he sat, tending to her injuries so gently.
She watched him gently apply the ointment to her wrists after cleaning the wombs from the chains.
"I hold deep regret for chaining you in my basement like that," he said suddenly.
Her breath caught in her throat, hearing him talk for the first time in the last 30 minutes. She looked away, still feeling upset with this whole situation. She hoped he did not expect her to act as if none of that happened after everything he had put her through the last few days.
She just wanted to get out of here.
Yes, she did not actually plan to go out of the country with him. She was going to get out of here before they set plans to leave tomorrow.
It was a risk, but it was one she is willing to take.
"Kinomoto," he called sternly, making her freeze at the tone he used. "I'm talking to you."
She swallowed, nodding her head slowly. She did not want to push the wrong buttons. If she wanted to get out of here, she had to play cool and tread very lightly. "It's not okay, but...I'm willing to be cordial with you until we find my parents," she said.
She ignored the stab in her heart at that statement.
"My intentions have never been to hurt you," he said.
She remained quiet, not believing a word he just said. Instead, she just nodded to acknowledge that she heard him. She had to stick to the plan.
"Tell me you understand then," he said.
"I do," she said immediately, noticing his change of tone.
"I have some clothes for you to change into when you shower," he said.
She looked at him. "What?"
"I'm not a cruel man," he said.
Could've fooled me.
"I...would like to shower now then," she said slowly.
"Alright. Sit here while I go and get the clothes. Don't do anything stupid," he said, standing from the stool he had been sitting on in front of her.
She nodded, though her mind already told her to look for something to attack him with when she tried to escape.
He stared at her for a minute, making her cheeks warm at the attention of the man. "I'm serious," he said, giving her a deadpanned look.
"I know," she said.
He raised a warning brow before leaving her alone in the room.
She let out the breath she did not know she had been holding. "Think, think, think..." she said, looking around the room for a weapon.
The room was nearly empty, making her job that much harder.
She stood from the chair, looking around before her eyes spotted a pen lying on the desk by the bed. She grabbed the pen as she still searched for something else to use as an attack. She looked down at the pen, sighing softly. The pen would have to do for now.
Cautiously, she moved towards the door. She wanted to tread lightly, yet her instincts told her to make a run for it. She knew better than that, though. She grabbed the knob of the door, twisting it slowly before pushing it open. She stepped out, looking around the empty halls.
Where had he gone so quick?
She closed the door behind her gently as she walked out of the room as quietly as possible.
"Where do you think you're going?"
She jumped, surprised to hear a voice behind her.
She had just looked behind her and saw nothing!
"You were taking a long time and I—"
She was pushed against the wall before she could finish her sentence; face pressed against it tightly. She closed her eyes, fearing that this might be the end for her since he had her body trapped against it with his hard body.
He grabbed her wrist tightly, making her wince. "What are you doing with my pen, then?" he asked dangerously close to her ear, making her cheeks warm.
"I-I..." she stuttered, body suddenly feeling flustered.
Here it was again. He was doing the thing with her body again, making her feel heavily sensitive by his proximity.
"I thought we came to a conclusion on this," he whispered in her early ever so gently, pressing her against the wall by her wrist.
She gasped, feeling his cold, hard body pressed against her.
He was doing it again. Whatever thing he had done to her at the party to make her feel this way, he was doing it again.
His cold hand slid down her wrist slowly to her hand where the pen is.
She released the pen from her hands before he could even take it himself.
"Good girl," he said in her ear, making her shutter at his breath brushing against her ear.
Crap.
She wanted to punch him right now. She wanted to scream, shout, kick—the whole tantrum package, but she couldn't find the strength to.
Her body wanted to yield to his silent command for whatever reason.
"I..." she started again, hoping, praying—wishing she could find her strength like she had last time.
This was the reason she never wanted to get close to him. He would always have this control over her body. She hated it.
"You don't want me to chain you back up in the basement, do you? I really don't want to have to do that to you," he said in her ear.
She whimpered, feeling his grip on her wrist tighten. She shook her head slowly, closing her eyes tightly. "I don't. I'm sorry," she apologized weakly, feeling the tears well in her eyes.
She heard him sigh before releasing his grip on her wrist. "Good," he said. "You don't understand how much danger you're in right now."
She wanted to let out an unladylike snort and throw a smart remark at him, but knew better. She is in danger right now.
There was a monster holding her hostage and up against the wall, and somehow taking away her freewill without doing anything.
She was a dead woman.
"If you understood...to what extent, I'm referring to...you would be a lot more careful than you have been," he said.
"H-how am I in danger? Other than the fact that some man is holding me hostage," she managed to get out.
"I'm not what you think I am," he said, moving back from her body to her relief.
She stayed facing the wall, except she took her face off the wall. "What do you mean?" she asked cautiously.
"It doesn't matter. Just don't do anything that could get you into trouble. I'm a dangerous man that you don't want to test," he said.
She swallowed, believing every word spoken. Something about him sent unnerving chills down her body, making her believe he was a threat to mankind.
"I'm thirsty," she said softly. "I just...wanted to get some water."
She had to somehow cover her tracks now.
"You could've just asked me, and I would have gotten it for you. Come with me," he said, grabbing her wrist again, turning her to him.
She felt that familiar pull towards him again when their skin made contact. She pulled her arm back from him immediately, not wanting to fall under his spell again.
"Don't...touch me," she said for the umpteenth time that night.
The man turned to her with a hard look in his eyes, making her fear he might just hurt her this time.
She stared him in the eyes, hoping he would not know how intimidated she felt by him. She wanted to stand her ground.
He looked like he might snap at any minute, but he turned away instead. "Let's go."
She let out the breath she didn't even know she had been holding before following a good distance behind him. She was at a lost for what to do now.
Trying to runaway didn't seem like such a good option now. Trying to trick him didn't seem like such a good option, so she was not sure what she should do.
It felt as though they were in a bottle of awkwardness together without a lid to let them out.
"I know you don't know very much about me, but I know a lot about you," he said, breaking the awkward silence.
She looked up, surprised to hear him speaking. "What?" she asked.
"I've known you since the time you were a very little girl," he said.
"How? I've never heard or seen you in my life," she said.
He shook his head. "Of course you don't remember a thing."
Her brows scrunched together. "What is that even supposed to mean?"
"We met when you were just 5 years old. You won't remember right now, but when we see your parents, you'll remember everything," he said.
She did not know what nonsense he was going on about right now. It was hard listening to him talk about her parents, but now he was talking about them knowing each other since she was five?
The man was clearly loony.
"Maybe I'm too young to remember—"
"That's not why you can't remember," he interrupted. "There's so much more going on here right now."
She could not understand what was going on. It was hard to follow along with the information the man was throwing on her.
"The man who has your family is a dangerous man to all kind. He wants to take over the world, but can only do so by keeping your family held hostage," he explained.
"What does my family have that he needs?" she asked. "Who is he?"
"His name is Nakata."
She froze, hearing that name again. For some reason, hearing that name made her believe the man in the slightest bit.
At the station, they had found fingerprints of this Nakata man in the scene of her family's disappearance. Maybe if she talked to the man, she could get some answers out of him.
"So, this...Nakata guy...is still alive?" she asked uncertainly.
"Of course. He's just...not in Tomoeda anymore," he said.
"I..." She stopped walking once they faced a door. "When I went down to the station, I was told that there were fingerprints left behind of a Nakata—"
"Yosuki," he finished, turning to her.
She tensed, looking away from him. She wanted to have a reasonable conversation without falling under anymore of his spells.
"I won't do it anymore," he said suddenly.
"W-What?" she asked, confused by that statement.
He sighed. "I won't...make you do what you don't want to do," he said slowly.
Her eyes widened, realizing he had been doing whatever voodoo stuff on her on purpose.
"It's on purpose," he confirmed for her.
"Wha—how—why?" she managed to ask.
He opened the door, revealing the bathroom to her. "I'm not what you think I am," he said quietly.
"Wh-What are you then?" she asked.
"Shower first and then we'll talk," he said, motioning her to walk through the door.
She looked up at him; sure suspicion was written all over her face.
"There's a towel and clothes on the counter. I'll let you get to it," he said, stepping out of the bathroom.
She waited until he left the area completely before walking in the bathroom herself.
It was big and spacious, making her feel like she might just get swallowed whole by the entire room.
She closed the door, locking it. She stared at it for a few moments before turning away to look at the walk in shower. She wanted to get out of here a few minutes ago, but now she felt that she should stay.
This Nakata guy kept getting mentioned over the past week.
First, the detectives tell her that there were fingerprints of his in the crime scene. Now, this creep was telling her that he had her parents held captive.
There was no way that any of this could make sense, because apparently this Nakata guy had died hundreds of years ago. That is, what the detectives had seen, at least.
She groaned, feeling even more frustrated with this whole ordeal.
She wanted to bring this down to the station, but telling the detectives that her family is in Brazil would solve nothing. They would never believe her. They would look at her like a mad woman like the creep said they would. No one would be on her side if she told them any of this.
So she couldn't.
All she could do now was play it cool with the creep, find out more information about her family before finding them on her own.
The man had her captive right now. She had seen too many shows and movies where the girls would try to fight and fight until the capture would abuse and use them.
If she wanted out, she would have to play nice, so she would.
She looked around the room for any cameras that he could have possibly left behind. When she found none, she stripped herself of the clothes and stepped in the shower that had already been running.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the hot water beam down on her dirty skin.
She cringed at the thought of knowing it had been three days since she last had a bath. She could not believe the man had her chained in a basement for three days. Somehow, it felt a lot longer than that.
She scrubbed her skin of the dirt, using the sponge that he left.
Once she finished washing herself, she grabbed the towel on the sink after turning the shower off. She wrapped herself in the towel after drying her feet. Her eyes landed on the clothes he had left behind. It was just a pair of pajamas, making her wonder if he expected her to sleep with no panties on tonight.
She looked to her dirty clothes on the floor and refused to put the same ones on. She shook her head, deciding to just put the pajamas on. She rarely wore undergarments under her pajamas aside from that time of the month. Thankfully, it was not that time of the month.
She sighed, drying the rest of her body off before putting the green pajama suit on. Once she finished, she contemplated what she should do when she left this bathroom. What would he try to do? Did he have something planned?
He admitted to doing that weird thing on purpose, but would he try it again?
Of course not. He said he wouldn't.
He could go back on his word though. She knew not to trust anyone. There had only been a selected few people she trusted in her life and that was—
Her eyes widened, thinking about Tomoyo and her mom.
They must be worried sick about her. She knew that Syaoran would not let her see them. She couldn't even figure out where her phone had gone.
She couldn't stay here with him. She needed to get out of here to let them know she was okay. They were probably worried sick about her and—
A rattling sound made her freeze, eyes looking to the doorknob. Her heart felt like it dropped to the bottom of her butt.
"Are you finished?" she heard his voice behind the door.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. What was she supposed to tell him? She still didn't even know what he would try to do to her when she came out of here.
A knock followed after her "too long" silence, it seemed.
"A-almost," she stuttered, feeling herself begin to tremble.
He could take advantage of her if you wanted to. He was clearly much stronger than her and he already admitted to doing some weird voodoo stuff on her. She wasn't ready to give herself away to anyone like that yet. She barely knew the man!
"Well, hurry up so we can discuss our traveling plans. We are still heading out in the morning—"
She opened the door in the middle of his sentence, suddenly getting the courage. "I..." she started, unsure of what she should say; of what she could ask.
She knew one thing for sure. She needed to contact Tomoyo and let her know what was going on.
"Let's talk in the living room," he said, grabbing her wrist gently.
She could feel goosebumps glide down her body, and for the first time ever, it was not because of the weird voodoo he had been doing on her.
A/N: I know it's been a minute, but I've really had so much going on! I'm not here to give excuses, but just know I'm trying to get in the groove of writing again. Thank you guys so much for reviewing and showing your support for this story! It really means a lot to me! I'll get around to responding to reviews after I finish posting my chapters!
I know it doesn't seem like a lot has happened in this chapter, but next chapter the adventures will certainly begin in the vampire world!
Don't forget to leave a review!
Ja ne!