Chapter XIII
He felt the coldness of darkness surrounding him and it enveloped him like a welcome friend—one he wished to see for a very long time. Often he wondered what death would feel like and this was as close to it as he came.
But, he wasn't dead. He knew this. He was merely blanketed over with its presence.
And his first awaking thought was…
"Euphie…" he murmured under his breath.
Suzaku awoke to the hard sting of freezing water splashed into his face.
He grunted from the shock, coughed, and shivered from the cold as it saturated his bare skin. He blinked quickly and looked upon his captors who were standing before him, or rather it was two marauders. One man was holding a bucket.
"Wake up, your traitorous dog!" the man demanded. "You can't sleep all day."
The other chuckled next to the water bearer.
Suzaku looked around. One light shone above, bathing him in a circle of illumination, the rest was encompassed in darkness. His captors were masked, hence unidentifiable.
Suzaku expected to be dead.
I remember being shot with a tranquilizer dart, and Hachirou Chika pointing a luger at me, poised for a kill shot, then falling unconscious, and after that—nothing.
"Good, you're awake," said a familiar voice.
Suzaku recognized Hachirou Chika's voice immediately, but didn't see him. He was a disembodied voice within the surrounding darkness. Then the tattooed chest revolutionary emerged, but without his leather jacket on. He was almost naked except for a pair of black speedos. Suzaku could see that Hachirou Chika's dragon tattoo coiled around his entire body, like he surmised. It was of almost admiring artistry coloured in blacks and reds.
Suzaku suspected Hachirou Chika wanted to show him the full tattoo.
"You spared me? Why? I thought you wanted revenge for your brother's death?" Suzaku sat in a wooden chair, his arms bound behind him, wearing only his shorts.
"Most people would be happy, but you sound almost disappointed," said Hachirou curiously.
Suzaku sneered. "Where's Arthur?"
Hachirou stepped closer. "We left him behind. A beloved pet and his master parted. He's a remarkable cat, I must admit. When we were dragging you away, he woke up. There was enough tranquilizer in that dart to knock out five cats. He attacked me and scratched me on the arm." He displayed his left forearm. Three deep claw marks scarred it with dried blood.
"Good," Suzaku said with a devious smile. "I hope you get an infection."
Hachirou chuckled. "I should've just killed him. I know his death would have pained you, but I only shot him with another dart. You should thank me."
Suzaku curled a lip. "Thank you. But you're still going to pay for hurting him."
"Oh, I think you should be more concerned with yourself at the moment." Hachirou spread his arms out. "Look at me. Do you see my tattoo? I wanted you to see it. My brother was a beautiful artist. He enjoyed his artistry, and he was well renown for it in our circles."
Suzaku nodded. "I agree, and he should have stayed one."
"Daisuke snapped when he saw the injustice of Britannia on the Japanese, especially after the massacre at the Administrative Zone of Japan. He wanted to join the Black Knights, but I talked him out of it. Instead, he foolishly did what he did, and paid with it with his life."
"So what do you intend to do to me?" Suzaku stayed strong.
One of the two men with Hachirou stepped away and disappeared into the surrounding darkness, then soon returned, rolling a metal medical tray into the light with a white sheet covering hidden items. The cover was removed. There was a large bowl of ice cubes and an electro-shock stick.
Suzaku's eyes widened. "What are they for?"
Hachirou chuckled. "They are for you."
Hachirou gave a slight jerk of his head, a signal of sorts, and one of his men picked up the bowl of ice cubes. He went to Suzaku.
The man looked down at Suzaku, as Suzaku looked up at him. Then the man pulled open Suzaku's shorts and dumped them in, snapping the elastic band back.
Suzaku hissed from the sudden stinging cold, and flinched as the ice cubes began to numb his nether region. "You sick pervert!"
Hachirou snorted a smirk. "Allow me to explain," as he stepped over to the medical trolley. He picked up the electro-shock stick. "When electricity touches water, it's a shocking experience. You took something very precious away from me, now I will do the same. From this moment on, you will be the last of your lineage. I know you are the son of former Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi of Japan. It will be the price you pay for the power you have achieved in betraying your people and punishment for the life you stole away, namely my brother."
Hachirou ignited a spark on the electro-shock and a bluish white current danced between the two antenna rods.
Suzaku's eyes opened wide with fear, and he tried to move away, trying to inch the chair back. But it was bolted to the floor. He knew what Hachirou intended to do.
"No, wait! Please don't! It wasn't my fault!" Suzaku said. "I didn't sign the order!"
"It doesn't matter who gave the execution order, the point is he died because of you," Hackirou said defiantly. "As my brother said before he died: 'For Japan!' Get ready to feel justice!"
And Hachirou touched the electro-shock stick to Suzaku's shorts.
Suzaku screamed. It was a horrific, blood-curdling, ear-shattering scream. The ice cubes amplified the electricity, delivering pure agony—a pain he had never felt before.
Hachirou held the stick there for a couple of seconds, then pulled back. Then continued. And did this continuously. Tears rolled down Suzaku's cheeks and cried out for Hachirou to stop, the pain was just so excruciating!
For the first time since receiving Geass instructions from Lelouch to live at all costs, he truly wanted to die. The pain was so unbearable.
But he couldn't, and he was forced to live—and live through the pain he had to!
Hachirou tortured him, then placed the electro-shocked back on the medical trolley.
Suzaku whimpered. "You bastard!" he sobbed out, crying. His entire nether region burned with fire. He looked up at Hachirou with bloodshot eyes, and he actually felt the power of Geass surging through his body—telling him above all else to continue to live!
Damn you, Lelouch!
Hachirou leaned in and then asked, "While you may not have signed my brother's death warrant, you will suffer again and again for the consequences of the action." He straightened up. "But I doubt if you die the others of your fold will even care. They hate you, just like your own people do. You are a person without a home, unwelcome in both camps."
Suzaku's head slumped slightly. He knew this too well.
"So, then I'll ask you once. Just for the sake of it," Hachirou said. "Who signed the warrant?"
Suzaku knew if Hachirou knew that information then he would go after Anya Alstreim, the Knight of Six, and he couldn't let that happen. "Go to hell!" he spat out.
"Defiant to the last," Hachirou said, almost amused. "I expected nothing less."
"For someone whose name means 'wisdom', you're a very stupid person," Suzaku belittled. "Once the rest of the Knights hear about this, they'll hunt you all down feverishly and kill every one of you revolutionaries! If you're going to kill, then get it over with!"
"And when did I ever say I was going to kill you?"
Suzaku's brow folded. "But—"
"Again, you almost sound disappointed." Hachirou laughed. "I wonder, whatever happened to make you wish for death? Your father died when you were young, maybe that's it? Or perhaps it's the fact your dear princess, for whom you were knighted to protect, was killed by Zero on national television right in front of your eyes? That must have scarred your pride." The tattooed revolutionary leaned in closer, eye-to-eye. "Something in your eyes is tells me you hide a secret and I'm willing to do what it takes to get it out of you."
Suzaku clenched his teeth, using his pain as strength. "I'm going to kill you, Hachirou Chika!"
Hachirou Chika stood up straight. "Maybe, but before then I'm going to hurt you, and keep hurting you. Just like you did me." Hachirou picked up the electro-shock stick again.
Suzaku prepared for pain. "I swear. I will survive this!"
Hachirou smirked. "You might, but there are worse things than death, Sir Knight!"
Hachirou was just about to use the electro-shock stick, when a metallic canister rolled out from the darkness. It hit one wheel of the trolley and then exploded with a plume of smoke.
It was tear gas.
Suzaku coughed as the smoke filled the area, and his vision became blurred. With squinted eyes, within the smoke, he thought he saw a dark shadowy figure, assaulting Hachirou and his men. He heard grunts, and the sounds of impact, either from punches of kicks.
Eventually all was silent.
The shadowy figure came into view and placed an oxygen breather with a small canister attached to the bottom to Suzaku's mouth and Suzaku breathed in deep. But he also detected something else within the mixture, the slight hint of a sedative.
He looked at his mysterious rescuer and saw the mask of Zero.
But how could this be? Lelouch is still looked up.
"Who...are…you?" he slowly stammered out.
The impostor began to unmask and he set his eyes upon the face of Zero dreamily, tears in his eyes. The sedative was beginning to take effect and the once scourge of Britannia was bathed in an almost angelic hue by the overhead light.
Suzaku cried. Despite his friend's wrongs, he was very glad to see him.
Zero put a hand on Suzaku's shoulder, assuredly. "Everything's all right now, Suzaku. They can't hurt you anymore."
"Lelouch..." Suzaku said softly, smiling.
It was then that the sedative took full effect, and he fell into a deep unconsciousness. His head dropped to his chest, as darkness took him.
To be continued...