A Tale of Two Torrents

By Dixxy

Chapter Eight: A Little Bit of Tenderness

(Sara)

The following day, I mostly stayed with Sue Lee and the Gruff (who, according to the nurse from the day before, was a male). Sue Lee and the Gruff were playing tag in a garden outside while I sat and watched idly from a bench placed conveniently next to a goldfish pond. I enjoyed watching Sue Lee play. I'd enjoyed it ever since out first war with Trulpa. I had lost a good deal of innocence then, and I liked to reminisce on what it was like before then.

Before I came to Boston, I knew about drugs and the birds and bees and all, but I didn't usually talk about them. I spent most of my time on the beach with my surfboard, a flower behind my ear. An old man who'd lived next door to us- an old Hawaiian native whose family dated back to the first Hawaiian people- used to garden and preserved a flower for me. I lost the flower the day we moved, which added insult to injury, since I hadn't wanted to move. I had loved my old friends, my old way of life, pig roasts ever Saturday night, and surfing on the weekends.

Boston is so different from Hawaii. I've grown to love Boston, but there are still times that I wish I had the Hawaiian sun, surf, and sand. Now, I swear on occasion (usually just a "damn", "hell", "bitch", or "piss"), have fought a war, and discuss some previously un-kosher topics. No, I'm not the same person I was. I never will be again. I think some of us have noticed it more than others, unless they're able to hide it better.

Sam, for one, was no stranger to loosing her innocence. Her father had taken so much from her. She had some serious emotional problems when we first met her, but things were improving. Still, there are times that one of us will catch her alone and she'll say something really cryptic and creepy.

The boys are pretty bad in that department, too, though I couldn't really blame them. For one, they'd been dealing with it longer. They'd seen the inside of more Dynasty torture chambers than they would've liked. Trulpa had kept them as prisoners- no, slaves- for many months. But I guess I have to admire them because they deal with it. Sage's easy going Flitteree nature does it for him- he's always so happy-go-lucky unless something serious has happened. He doesn't stay mad for very long (unless you do something really stupid, I suppose) and plays games with Sue Lee without question. Any chance he gets you can see Kento making some sort of a move on Keisha, either tickling her after pinning her to the couch or just randomly tossing her over his shoulder. The way he lights up as she's either having a giggle fit or demanding he put her down, it makes me happy to think about it. Even Cye has his own ways of dealing with it. The guy learned his old man was not only still alive but well over four-hundred years old and in the body of a twenty-one year old. . . he tries to joke around and enjoy life as much as he can.

My train of thought was ended abruptly as I felt someone sit next to me. I just about jumped out of my skin, then heard a familiar laughter off to the side. I knew who had done it. I turned to see who it was and nearly slapped Cye for sneaking up on me. "Bastard," I said.

Cye laughed. "I'll assume that was meant playfully," he said.

I cracked a grin as I stood up. "I'll show you 'playfully'," I said. Cye stood up, folding his arms as he looked at me skeptically. The devious little hamsters who live in my devious little head began to run on their devious little hamster wheels as a plan of revenge began to formulate in my head. Oh yes. I knew exactly what I was going to do to him, too. Remember how I said the goldfish pond was placed conveniently next to the bench I was sitting on?

SPLASH!

Now you know why.

Cye looked up at me, sputtering and shaking his head in surprise. He slightly resembled a down rat, his clothing hanging off of him oddly due to the large amount of water. I laughed, extending a hand to help him out. He gladly accepted it, closing his hand around mine. "Sorry," I said.

"Oh, you're going to be."

SPLASH!

Now I was in the goldfish pond, too. I picked a fish out of my hair, letting him swim off with the rest of his school and glared at Cye. My partner in arms and mock husband snickered at me, his eyes glancing towards the little fish. "That was a cheap shot and you know it."

"And yours wasn't?"

I splashed him and pulled myself out of the pond, though it WAS a difficult task with the large skirt of the dress I was wearing. Cye pulled himself out, too, looking for anymore goldfish. We found none, which was good- I didn't want the fish to suffocate because of our "game".

"Serena, you look like a drowned rat," said Cye. "Maybe you should go inside and change."

Looking at my dress, which could have very well been ruined thanks to Cye pulling me into the water, I nodded in agreement. The green fabric had gotten darker, the skirt sticking to my legs. Lace was falling off in different places, several beads hanging on by a single thread. "You're probably right," I said. "I'll go get changed, the when I get back, you go get changed."

"Why?" asked Cye.

"Have you seen YOUR clothes? Because you don't look much better, " I said. The red outfit Cye wore was probably fairly new, since the water that dripped off him was the color of the dye. Cye cringed. "You watch Sue Lee and make sure she stays out of trouble, okay?"

Cye nodded. "See you later." With that, I headed inside of the estate.

Once I got into a new dress, a nice yellow one with short sleeves, I left our room and headed back to the garden so I could watch Sue Lee while Cye got a new outfit as well, though I had a feeling he'd need to take a bath, too. The dye was probably all over his skin by now.

Three minutes into my walk, and heard someone walking behind me. I took no notice, figuring someone was just going the same way I was for a little while. I calmly continued towards the garden, lost in my own thoughts. Had my armor been working right, it probably wouldn't have happened.

"Gotcha!"

I tried to scream as the person behind me covered my mouth with his hand and dragged me down an empty corridor. I tried to cry out, kicking and flailing, but the dress made it difficult to do so. My screams were muffled by my captor's hand, a strong arm around my breasts preventing my escape.

Soon, I felt a slightly poking sound near one of my breasts. I heard the man laughing to himself and I realized what he was doing. I reached a new level of panic and tried even harder to escape as he roughly shoved me into a small room lit by an oil lamp. I cried out when a pile of hay broke my fall, some of the stiffer pieces poking me.

I looked up at me captor, who closed the door behind him. He was a fairly large man, probably an officer in Termini's fleet or some sort of a servant. The man had gray hair, telling me he was older, and his arms and face were lined with some old scars. I tried to stand up, but he pushed me down. "Let me GO!" I screamed, only to have his hand placed back over my mouth. I started to cry, getting scared.

"My, my, pretty lady," he said, chuckling to himself. "Your husband got quite a nice catch, here." Holding my arms down with his hands and my legs with one of his knees, he looked me over with great interest. He bent his head down over my breasts, smelling them. "Very nice."

"Let me go!" The man hoisted me up and took out some twine. He shoved my face down into the straw, which smelled strongly of horse and other barn animals. I cried out as he tied my hands behind my back before flipping me back over. I growled at him in a mix of pure anger and fear.

"I will, but not until I get a taste of what your husband feeds on every night," he said. My eyes widened in fear. I knew what this man wanted to do now and I didn't like it one bit. Oh dear God, not this, not this! Cye! Help me! "Such a pretty young wife. Wouldn't it be a pity if you bore my child instead of his?"

I tried to scream, but he stuffed a rag into my mouth. While I tried to spit it out, he started to rip my dress off piece by piece until I left in my underwear. He giggled insanely to himself, reaching to fondle me again. I tired to pull away as he squeezed my breasts, moaning in pleasure. Tiring of that, he started to reach down to the more tender and private areas of my anatomy.

KA-ZAP!

My captor swore as he flew backwards into the opposite wall. Something had pushed him away from me. Even though I didn't know what had happened, I tried to free myself, only to have him stand up to advance on me again. I wailed from behind my gag, afraid of what he was going to do next.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

I looked up to see Cye staring down my assailant, pure rage in his eyes. My attacker, stunned, ran away despite the fact that Cye was about half his size. Cye watched him go, then turned his attention to me. Tears streamed down my face, Cye gently rubbing them away. "Dear God, Sara," he said.

I sniffled, still trying to spit out the gag. Cye pulled it out and I started to wail hysterically as he untied my hands. Once my hands we free, I threw my arms around his neck and began to cry into his shoulder. Carefully, Cye slipped a hand under my knees and another behind my back, then stood up.

My partner in arms held me close, constantly telling me it was going to be all right. I still cried, starting to choke on my sobs. "Shh. . . you're safe now, Sara. It's all right, it's all right, I won't let him get near you again," he said soothingly as he started to carry me back to the room.

After we got back to the room, Cye sat down to the bed, me in his lap, and let me cry my heart out. For what felt like hours I just let it all come out, soaking his shirt even more than it already was. In return, he just calmly patted my back, rocking me gently in his lap. He gently clutched my hand, squeezing it just enough to comfort me.

I was confused. Why was he comforting me in this way when I'd been so cruel to him? I loosed my grip on his neck and looked up at him through my teary eyes. Cye just looked at me with a look of very deep and somber sympathy that I didn't expect. "Why?" I asked in a soft voice. "Why are you being so nice to me after what happened?"

Cye carefully pushed some hair out of my face. "Because no one deserves what you almost got. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I couldn't let that happen to you," he said. "And besides, we both apologized and forgave each other, remember? We're friends again, right?"

"I still don't understand why you're being so. . . caring."

"You are Sara, Torrent of the Ronin Senshi. I'm Cye of the Torrent. We're partners in arms. We share a title, have almost identical armors, and have just about the exact same range of powers minus my powers from my father. I'm supposed to protect you, and this is what I'm doing. Protecting you," he said.

"Even after-"

"Yes."

Cye put me down, wrapping the blanket from the bed around me. I leaned against him, still longing for comfort. Cye hugged me, still rocking me. I felt him close in to kiss my forehead, whispering words of comfort. Soon, he started to pull away. I clung to him, not wanting him to go. He gave me a reassuring smile. "I'm going to draw you a hot bath, all right? You'll feel better."

I wiped away a few tears. "How did you find me?"

Cye sat down, gently tracing circles on my cheek with the back of his hand. "I just got this sudden feeling of. . . danger, I guess. I told Sue Lee to get to her room and to bring our friend with her. My armor just reacted and told me where to go," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know, that's all," I said. Cye bent down, kissed my forehead again, and stood up. He started to walk towards the bathroom. I looked up at him. He looked over at me and turned to face me. I pulled the blanket tighter, still a wreck over what had happened. "Cye?"

"Yes, Sara?" he asked.

I sat up, holding the blanket tightly around me. "Thank you," I said.

"It's all right," he said calmly. So calm, in an almost motherly fashion. Well, he was raised by women. . . two women who obviously couldn't keep him away from inappropriate jokes, but still two women. "We're friends, and friends do that for each other. Even after one of them has been as bitchy as you have these past few days."

I weakly smiled. "I really am sorry-"

"Let's just forget about that already," said Cye, walking back over to me. "Put it behind us. We're friends again and that's all that really matters, right?" I nodded and Cye went into the bathroom to prepare the promised bath while I laid down to take a much needed and much deserved snooze.

An hour later, I was wrinkly as a prune after a nice long bath. I couldn't soak away all of my fears and anxieties, but I did feel a whole lot better. Cye had a good idea when he'd recommended the bath. Being surrounded by my element felt good and was able to let me regain at least some of my composure.

I dried off, then slipped into some night clothes Cye had left for me on the sink. It was pretty much the same thing as the night before, a floor-length long sleeved cotton gown. The gown felt nice and cool against my skin, adding a sense of security and I hugged myself.

I walked out into our room to find Sue Lee and Cye sitting on the bed, the Gruff beside the bed. The large gray beast dragged itself over to me, nuzzling my thigh. I reached down and pet it, feeling happy when I stroked the back of its ears. "Hey there, big guy," I said.

Cye turned to me. "Sue Lee and our friend here are going to be staying in our room tonight. You know why I'm doing this," he said. I nodded, seeing what he was getting at. If there was one sick bastard running around, who knew how many more of them were on the property? "Tomorrow, we're leaving. I don't care what Termini says- it's high time we left."

I sat down. "I agree. I've had just about enough of this place."

Sue Lee had been looking at me with great concern. She sat up and stared at me intently. "Sara, what happened? Cye seemed really worried when he went and got me. What, what happened to you anyways? You look really worried. Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"Something very, very bad happened to her after we started to push each other into that gold fish pond," said Cye. He gave her a tight squeeze, obviously trying to avoid saying right out that I'd nearly been raped. "I just wanted to make sure that it didn't happen to you."

Sue Lee blinked. "How bad?"

"Pretty darn, but Cye found me in time," I said. "It could've gotten MUCH worse."

Cye looked at me. We needed to discuss this after Sue Lee fell asleep.