Chapter ten:

Mai, Akio and Kaoru are standing in their place that is their prison. They are planning how they might burn off some energy they have today so they can sleep well tonight.

Kaoru turns as the man comes back into the holding place.

Mai and Akio freeze not daring to look at hearing the man enter.

The man glances to Kaoru and Akio with a warning in his gaze. "Get to the opposite wall." He demands of them and in fear of what he will do if they refuse the two do as they are told. His gaze turns to Mai who keeps her head down obediently. "I have a proposition for you my girl." He informs her smirking to himself as those words surprise them all. "And you have to decide right now as I will not give you this opportunity again." He informs her and pulls out a bat from behind his back. "I will grant you and only you to go upstairs with restrictions obviously. On one condition. You kill the other two here with you with this bat. What do you say?"

Mai looks to the man with wide eyes at hearing this. She quickly looks away still clearly very afraid of him. She trembles as she is forced to weigh the options placed before her.

Kaoru glances to Akio who grabs onto him in fear that Mai is going to go through with it. He looks to the female of their group and thinks about how nice they have been to him in his time here. He looks down not really sure whether or not she will go along with the man's offer. He does think that if one of them could get upstairs they could find a way to get help and perhaps he and Akio could pretend to be dead. He just isn't sure how he could even begin to share his thoughts with Mai without alerting the man to the idea. He closes his eyes as he resigns himself to having to just wait for her decision.

The air is tense as there is quietness in the room while Mai mulls over the idea for a few good long moments.

"Well?" The man presses starting to look impatient with how long Mai is taking.

Mai finally just falls to her knees and lowers her head. "I cannot do it." She informs the man who narrows his eyes at her. "They don't deserve for me to do such a thing."

Kaoru's eyes snap open to look at her in surprise of hearing her deny the offer. He did believe that she might not do it though he still finds it to surprise him that she actually did say no.

"You bitch!" The man snarls striking her with the bat so hard that she is knocked hard to the ground. "You know I was planning on forcing you to be my wife if you had accepted. I thought I saw potential in you. Guess I was wrong." He starts striking her over and over again.

Kaoru wants to go to her aid though Akio's grip on him remains strong. He turns to Akio unable to look at Mai being struck so badly over and over again. He sees the other has his eyes closed tightly and is trying to block out what is happening. He wraps his arms around Akio closing his own eyes as they wait for it to all be over.

The man does this for a good bit, which feels like an eternity to the three before he finally stops panting from doing all that activity.

Kaoru peeks one of his eyes open to see Mai just laying there on the floor.

The man snorts before turning away and leaving the room slamming the door shut on his way out.

Kaoru tries to move but Akio is still too scared to move causing Kaoru himself to have some trouble moving. He turns to the other boy. "We have to check on Mai." He tells the other who lets him go only to curl up in a ball.

"I-I can't get up." Akio shakily tells Kaoru clearly still terrified as the offer alongside Mai's beating has truly shaken him really deeply.

Kaoru heads over to Mai and checks on her hoping that she is still alive. He notices that she is still breathing and she slightly turns to him. He can see the pain written all over her face as she struggles to stay conscious. He wants to ask her about her decision only to decide against it as she is already struggling. He is about to start checking her injuries when she manages a whisper to him.

"I-I didn't d-do it… B-Because there was n-no way I could d-do that to you two..." Mai barely manages to get out to which Kaoru turns to her. "I don't t-trust him… I f-figured that there h-had to be some ulterior m-motive… Which I-I guess I w-was proven r-right… Still… T-The idea of some f-freedom was tempting… I-I want to get o-out of here… B-But as I was faced w-with the option for it I-I realized I w-wanted to get o-out with you two… Or n-not at all…" Her eyes start to close as she struggles to stay conscious.

"Take it easy." Kaoru encourages her and realizes that her arm is broken. He isn't sure what he can do to help her as he isn't well versed in helping in healing. He isn't sure if he can even diagnose any more serious things that the beating did to her. He lowers his head feeling helpless to help someone he finds that he does care about. He would even dare to say that he is already starting to see them as family as they go through this horrible experience together. He fears that him being unable to do anything will end up in Mai dying. He isn't even sure if she could die from whatever the bat did to her or if she might be able to survive.

"I-It'll be okay… T-This was m-my choice…" Mai's eyes slip closed. "I-If I don't make it t-take care of Akio…" Her voice grows quieter until she has fallen unconscious.

Kaoru finds tears falling down his face as he wracks his brain trying to remember anything that might help her. He finds nothing as he was never taught enough to deal with anything on this scale. He opens his eyes to glance to Akio. He sees that Akio has finally managed to move at seeing Mai fall unconscious.

Akio hurries over and looks at her.

"What can we do to help her?" Kaoru inquires to which Akio closes his eyes and shakes his head with tears in his eyes.

"I don't think much. I can make a sling for her arm. She did that for me showing me how to do it. But there isn't much else we can do. Let's let her rest on a bed and we'll just have to hope that she can make it through."

Kaoru carefully moves Mai to a bed feeling bad when she winces in pain as he moves her. He turns as Akio comes over with the makeshift sling from mattress fabric which he puts on Mai's arm.

The two sit there looking to Mai and hoping that she will make it through this.

Kaoru brings an arm around Akio pulling him close to him. "No matter what happens we'll have each other. We're family and we won't turn our backs on each other." He tells the other who blinks up at him as he stares at Mai with tearful determination. He feels Akio gratefully lean into his hold.

"Thank you Kaoru. My brother." Akio mentions gratefully as the two of them sit there together.