Ok, I'm posting again! This is where all the excitement begins! *points to the chapter title* Big cliffie, no? Hee hee. Enjoy reading! It's kinda gruesome, but I'm sure none of you will mind ^^.
18. Discovery of the Traitor~
Kinou was walking down a deserted pathway that seemed to go on forever. There was no light for her to see anything around her beyond five feet, and it was cold. She rubbed her hands together and watched her breath rise in small clouds. The end of the pathway could not be seen, nor the beginning, and Kinou felt extremely lost. She decided to keep walking to keep her body heat up, so she started walking in a random direction, but made sure she stayed on the path. Suddenly, a blood-curdling yell rang out through the darkness, scaring Kinou half to death and making her stop abruptly and stumble. Turning around quickly, she checked all around her, but she couldn't see anyone in the darkness. As the yell faded away, Kinou heard a man start to cry out in pain, and she could still not see any maker of the noise. Others began to yell as well; every so often a man would grunt and the one in pain would yell out again. Putting two and two together, she began to run down the pathway, hoping she could reach the man before he was beaten to death. A dim light faded into view in front of her, and the screams of pain got louder. She ran faster, praying she could save him… as the light became brighter, Kinou realised she was looking into the living room of Marik's house. The scene that reached her eyes made her gasp out in fright; she clapped a hand to her mouth, hoping no one in the room had heard her.
Kantugo was laying in the middle of the floor in a pool of blood, surrounded by the other Rare Hunters and Yami Marik. The Rare Hunters had stopped hurting him, and he was still alive, for Kinou could see his back rising unevenly in his weak attempt to breathe. Yami Marik was holding his Millennium Rod at his side with a cruel smile twisting his face.
"Did you honestly think you could get away with this, you fool?" he sneered at the limp form at his feet. "It was only a matter of time before something about you leaked out; we now know you were the one who helped the girl escape, and there's nothing you can do about it." He kicked Kantugo in the side and he rolled over, exposing his bloody face to the ceiling. "You will be sorry you ever came here. Get him up," he ordered the Rare Hunters.
Two roughly picked him up and set him upon his knees. He teetered dangerously, but he steadied himself and stared defiantly up at Yami Marik. His breathing became louder and slightly more even, but he was still having trouble; Kinou suspected at least one of his ribs had been broken. Yami Marik smiled even more widely and raised his Millennium Rod.
"Now, I'll ask you again: Where is she?" When Kantugo did not answer, he struck Kantugo in the side of the head with his fist. Kantugo fell onto his side once more, propping himself up with one hand while the other clutched at his face. "You realise that if you do not tell us, you shall be sent to the Shadow Realm, and we'll find her anyway through some other means, don't you? If you tell us now, I may decide to spare your pitiful excuse for a life."
Kantugo looked up and glared at Yami Marik with the utmost hatred burning in his eyes and replied, "Go to hell."
Yami Marik smiled darkly and shrugged his shoulders. "So be it. You're better off gone anyway. I'm sure your beaten corpse will make a fine trophy for me." He raised his arm right as Odion came barging in.
"Master!" he shouted, as several Rare Hunters rushed forward and pushed him against a wall. "Stop this madness! I know you're in there! Fight him, Master!"
Yami Marik stared at Odion for a few moments and then paused, as though he were listening to something. He started to laugh to himself and finally looked back at Odion. "Your master's attempts were very feeble, I don't even know why you encourage him. Now where was I?" He said, turning back to Kantugo, who was still glaring at him. He raised his Millennium Rod once again, and Kantugo sat up straight and stared right into the Millennium Eye upon the rod as Yami Marik tightened his grip on it. Kantugo slowly tilted his head back and opened his arms up before him; there was a flash of light and all the colours in the room turned negative for a second before Kantugo toppled over, lifeless.
"And as for you, servant," said Yami Marik, stepping over Kantugo's body to talk to Odion, as though nothing had happened. "I won't lock you up like I did last time you tried to help that weak master of yours, I'll simply banish your master from my mind so it won't matter what you try to do." He smirked at the look of shock that had spread over Odion's face as he stepped back slightly and spread his arms out to his sides and closed his eyes. His face twisted into a grimace and his chest suddenly lurched out and a strong beam of energy flowed out of it. It came straight for Kinou and she cried out as it hit her full-fledge in the chest and exploded in a flash of white light. The light soared into her open mouth and deep within her body as the ground on which she was standing disappeared beneath her and she began to fall. She jerked and twisted in midair as the light continued to rush through her. A loud cry escaped her lips as her body gave one final violent thrash and she woke up in her bed.
Sitting up, she realised her heart was pounding painfully against her rib cage and she was panting. Putting her hand to her forehead, she noticed it was actually dripping with sweat. She hastily wiped her bed sheets over her face to soak up most of the moisture before jumping up and running out of her room, screaming for Kaiba, not noticing she had a fresh band-aid upon her arm.
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Ok, now I have something important to tell all of you. *inconspicuously moves behind a chair and crouches behind it* I won't be posting for about two weeks *crouches down more as things are thrown* My mom's gonna be going to Canada next weekend, therefore making it impossible for me to post properly(my dad has an Imac XP; I HATE those!!!!). So yeah just keep hanging onto this cliffie and sit tight for a little while ok? Until then, I have a piccy from this chapter—it's when the beam of light hits Kinou. If you'd like to look at that while you're waiting, let me know ^^. Thank you all sooooo much for your reviews!