Thoughts of Escape

Another argument, another day. Kaoru held her swollen cheek, trying to push back the tears

threatening to spill. Her futile attempts at changing her father's mind ended with another

beating. But things had not always been this way. There was a time when laughter walked

freely around the house, hand in hand with happiness. But the death of her mother unleashed

a monster that was lying dormant in Koshijiro. Having his only child be a daughter was a

thorn at his side. The fact that she was one of the most beautiful women in Japan didn't make

his shame of a girl child abate at all. It only surged him further to mar her face with dark

bruises and split lips. Kaoru moved around the kitchen, searching for cold meat for her new

bruise. But all the food had been eaten and money for food had gone straight into gambling.

Her hungry stomach growled and she clenched it tight. She sat on an old stool but it broke

from ill use and Kaoru held a bruised cheek along with a sore rump. She felt like giving up

right then. Time after time she would try to persuade her father to get a decent job. But he

refused to leave the gang of thieves called the Black Fists. His ambition to rise high overcame

any shame in robbing people. At nighttime gang meetings would occur, which consisted of

drinking, swearing, and picking which noble to rob next. Kaoru hid herself in the small barn

outside to stay out of the sight of the gangleader's lusty eyes. Those eyes terrified her

every time she saw them. She would draw her thin and torn shawl closer around her and tried

to find some errand outside to do. He had never tried to do anything yet, but the look of

those eyes cemented a promise for the future. Kaoru was starting to cry when her father

lumbered into the kitchen.

"Stupid girl, why are you crying! Useless piece of dung! Go make me dinner!"

"There's no food, father."

He slapped her on the cheek sharply.

"It's all your fault we're starving in this dump. If you didn't eat so much we would have

enough food to feed the gang!"

"Please, father, maybe if you tried to get a job at the-"

This time it was a hard punch onto her recent bruise. He started swearing under his breath

and stomped outside to look for the gang. Kaoru was almost frozen in fear and pain. The

swelling on her cheek inflamed her whole face with agony. More tears dropped as she realized

that dusk had come and that there would soon be a meeting. She slowly started to get up and

made her way to her usual hiding place. She melted into a dark corner in the barn and buried

her face in her hands. She tried to muffle the sobs as quietly as she could, but someone heard

them and opened the barn door. She looked up and whimpered with fear. It was the gang

leader and he had an evil glint in his eyes. He entered the barn and shut the door tightly

behind him. Kaoru pressed her body in the corner, trying to put as much distance as she

could between them. He grabbed her and threw her onto the small pile of hay. He started to

chuckle as he lowered his pants.

"I've been waiting a long time for this. You're such a temptress, you know that?"

Kaoru could feel her arm blindly reaching for something, anything. Her hand caught hold of

a wooden stick. Just as he began to lower himself down she grabbed the stick and thrust it

into his chest. To her horror, the wooden stick was a rake with four sharp tips which was now

protruding out of the leader's back. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish and Kaoru

quickly let go of the rake. He fell and the rake was push up even further. Kaoru backed away

with her hands on her face. *What have I done? What have I done? I've killed somebody!

What am I going to do? Father will kill me now!* Kaoru could feel her whole body trembling.

She knew that if Koshijiro and the gang found out about this, he would kill her. And he

wouldn't just kill her quickly but would make it last. She knew what she had to do, she had to

run away. She didn't know where but she had to leave this place. She wiped the tears on her

eyes and tried calm down her frantic body. Taking deep and even breaths she opened the

barn door and walked to the back door of the house. She crept in through the kitchen but

froze in her tracks as she heard Koshijiro asking where the leader was. She quickened her

pace and made it to her room with no one spotting her. She quickly put her long, thick hair

up and smashed an old farming hat on. She took a long cotton scarf and wrapped it around

her face. She was aware that many men paid close attention to her whenever she came out of

the house. If she wanted to escape with nobody noticing her, she would have to hide her face.

She had no other clothes except what she had on and no other possessions. She could hear

someone walking about the kitchen, her way out was blocked! Then she felt a cool breeze

coming from her window. *The window! I can slip out through there!* The steps that were in

the kitchen started to go towards her room. She climbed out of the window as quietly as she

could and pressed herself against the wall beneath her window. Her heart was beating so loud

she felt that the whole world could hear it.

"Damn girl, where did she go?"

Her father's words were slurred and she could hear him going through her things. After an

eternity she hear him leave and breathed a sigh of relief. She crept out the yard and started to

jog for the dense forest that surrounded her village. Japan was big and Kaoru didn't know

where to go. But if any place could hide her from her father, then she would blindly step out

into a new world.

*please review, this is an idea that just popped into my head and I'm wondering how it's doing