Author's Notes: Urm...yes, what to say. This chapter is somewhat violent. Not as much as the previous chapter, but yea, slightly worse in different ways I suppose. Warning: This chapter contains some amount of torture, so don't read if you can't stand it. As usual, please review when you're done.
Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Card Captor Sakura, nor the characters within it. I do however, own this story, so be kind and do not steal it. No profit is being made from this work of fiction.
Summary: After ploughing through yet another battle, Li Syaoran finds himself captured and subject to interrogation and torture, only to be saved by the princess of the very country he is fighting against.
Justification
Chapter-01: Hime
'Your majesty.' A general bowed low as he knelt before his king. His highness gazed serenely from his throne, staring at the general.
'Yes?' The king murmured.
'We have defeated the man-killer, Li Syaoran. We have captured him, though he is still unconscious, we think we can force some information out of him.'
'At what cost?' The king asked, his head resting on his hand, 'how many were killed.'
'I'm afraid we have lost a lot of men,' the general spat bitterly, 'the Li bastard and his army of a hundred men seemed to pass through our army easily. Though his men were quickly defeated, Li took us a bit more effort, almost like he was some kind of super human. He raced through the battlefield slaughtering our men as if they were nothing, and suffered severe wounds yet did not even die. We found him much later on, with arrows and daggers stuck in him and gashes everywhere, yet he was still living. Sir, he is only seventeen years old, yet has such a thirst for blood. This really is the making of a devil.'
'Not just a devil, the devil.' The king's gaze was suddenly cold, 'I would like you to nurture him back to life, there is much we can learn from such a man.'
'Yes, your majesty.'
'I would also like to know, what is the past of this young boy?'
'Your majesty, the boy's past is unknown. He has been a problem to our kingdom and many others for several years. And if my calculations are correct, this boy has been working as a soldier since he was but ten years old.'
'Just ten years old and unafraid to kill.' The kill breathed, 'what kind of a demon did they make him into.'
'Yes sir, I quite agree.' The general sighed, 'but his actions have proved important to the Sapphirous Kingdom. However, now that we have taken their finest fighter, I'm sure we can defeat their kingdom in no time.'
'Yes, go on then general.' The king gave a wave of his hand, and the general left. Unknown to the two of them, a girl was hanging nearby, hiding behind the door. When she saw the general approach, she turned on her heel and ran the length down the corridor. Behind her, the long skirt she was wearing billowed out in one large pink thing. This was what you had to wear if you were a princess of course, but it didn't stop it from getting in the way.
'Mou.' The girl murmured, zipping outside. She had to position herself in a place where she could question the general, because whatever it was that was happening sounded pretty interesting to her.
Sure enough, the general arrived moments later with a few of his best men behind him. The girl smiled, leaning against the doorframe of the front doors of the castle. The general and his men didn't seem to notice, passing by quietly until.
'General-san.' The girl said sweetly, stopping the general dead in his tracks.
'Sakura-hime!' He exclaimed loudly, bowing deeply. Behind him, his men did the same.
'Did you bring me anything back from war?' Sakura asked innocently.
'No hime, we came across something unusual this time, hence was unable to bring you anything worthy.'
'Worthy?' Sakura asked, spring off the wall, 'didn't you bring back anything? A sword maybe? Or a person? Perhaps a hostage that you've captured, or maybe, maybe you brought back some fine jewelry.'
'I'm deeply sorry hime, but we did not come across anything.' Sakura pouted, staring intently at the general, looking for signs of guilt.
'You're lying to me aren't you?' Sakura asked, 'you did bring back something, so now I want to see!'
'Hime, I assure you, we did not bring back anything good.'
'So what?' Sakura asked exasperated, 'I just want to see what you did bring back. I know thousands of people died, now I want to see what their lives were given up for.'
The general looked like he was going to argue back, but decided against it. Sakura was a very persistent person, and it was useless to argue with her. Sighing his defeat, the general beckoned for Sakura to follow him, all the while cursing himself for being too soft.
Sakura knew she was going to be seeing the boy she had overhead her father and the general talk about, and she was extremely excited because of that. She really wanted to see a first hand killer for once, and not retired warriors who would only tell her how bad it was out in the battlefield. Sakura was impatient; she wanted some action in her life.
The general lead Sakura down to the dudgeons. Sakura has of course explored this place many times, though she never told anybody. The idea that she was expected to sit or bore herself with nothing every single day of her life boiled Sakura's blood. She needed some action, and has since explored the castle dry. She knew the place inside out, even the places where she was never suppose to go to.
However, it was to her greatest surprise when the general lead her to a dead end.
'Mou.' Sakura mumbled, 'I thought you were going to take me somewhere interesting.'
'Hime, please step back.' Sakura did as she was told, knowing that something strange was about to happen. Sure enough, the general tapped on a series of bricks, and the wall slid apart like a door, both end going into the walls beside. Sakura gasped, she had never seen this before. Maybe she was wrong in thinking that she had explored the castle entirely, in fact, she knew she was wrong.
'This is where we keep our most deadly prisoners.' The general explained, helping Sakura down a flight of stairs. Sakura just nodded, too astounded to talk.
The descended for a long while before they reached solid ground. However, what met Sakura was what could only be described as a brick maze.
Before them was the opening to the maze in which Sakura, the general and the rest of the men entered. They followed the path for a short while before coming to a fork, of which the general took the left one, then the right one, then the middle fork, then another left fork, and another middle fork. Sakura was becoming more and more confused, but she made sure she memorized the path exactly.
They kept going like this for some time before reaching the exit, which was simply a long tunnel with brackets holding torches going down the tunnel. Sakura gasped in surprise, the whole place looked so dark.
'All this high security is for when a prisoner escapes.' The general explained, 'even if they manage to break out, they will loose themselves in the tunnel. If a complete stranger enters that tunnel, there would only be one chance in more then a billion of them going out. And even if they do find their way out, they would be greeted by guards who will put them right back where they belong again.'
'I see.' Sakura murmured. The general walked on forwards, proceeding down the tunnel while Sakura followed anxiously behind. The generals' men were following behind, completely silent safe for the clinking of their weapons, or the dull thuds of their footsteps.
They continued down the tunnel for some time; so long that Sakura lost track of time. The place seemed to go on forever, which she assumed was something that was obviously designed to break the prisoners.
Finally, when they reached the end, they came across what seemed like a hall. But unlike the beautiful halls above ground, this hall was no more than a dull brick-lined chamber. On the other side, there was another passage. Here stood four solders, each looking stony faced and dull. Sakura mused herself for a moment by what it would be like to prod one of them, but overcame that moment of humor as soon as they stood into the next hall.
This hall was not like the previous ones, instead, this one had a strong odor of death, blood, decaying flesh, sweat and excretion mixed with it. The smell made Sakura choke, and cover her nose and mouth with her hands. Her eyes were starting to water, though half because of the odor, half because of what she was seeing.
Cells were on either side of the passageway, each with some filthy looking person in it or another. Most of them were hanging near the bars, throwing dirty looks at Sakura. They were all exceptionally pale and skinny, with matted hair and mean faces. A few of them even threw things at Sakura, though they didn't seem to have enough strength to throw them very far.
'They are not fed very much, so as to not increase their stamina too much.' One of the men behind Sakura whispered. Sakura nodded, feeling a distinct hole growing in her stomach.
'Here.' They had arrived at the very end of the tunnel. On the other end, there was another door which was locked shut, but it obviously lead to some other place. But Sakura wasn't staring at the door; she was staring at the boy.
There, sitting awkwardly with his back against the wall was a young boy that looked no older then Sakura. His eyes were cold, and there were very obvious signs of cuts and bruises all over his face. His hands were bound together behind his back, and his legs were bound together in one ugly mess in front of him. His clothes were shredded and ripping in places, and blood soaked it completely. Where there was not blood, there was dirt, or openings to his insides.
Sakura knelt down at the bars, staring at the boy. He eyed her with a disgusted look, but didn't do very much else. But just his eyes were enough to kill, for they were burning with such hate and disgust that Sakura could not bring herself to keep looking. His hair was matted and messy, covered in a crusty layer of blood, much like the rest of him. He smelt terrible, though he didn't look as skinny as the rest of the prisoners.
'Li Syaoran.' The general said loudly at the boy who ignored him completely, 'Li Syaoran, is that your name?'
The boy stared disgusted at the general, but did not answer. Sakura looked up at the general who now had an angry look on his face. He barked at his men, and they opened the cell, dragging the boy out. Strangely enough, the boy did not struggle; all he did was stare at the floor with hate, or at a fixed person with anger.
'Hime, I think it best for you to go up now.' The general ordered. Sakura looked up defiant, then pushed herself off the floor.
'What are you going to do with him?' She asked sternly, even though she was quavering inside.
'You wished to see him, and now you have. You must leave young hime, this is not place for you.'
'I want to know what you are going to do to him.' Sakura said coldly, 'what are you going to do to him?'
'Koganei, lead the hime back upstairs.' The general ordered. One of the men nodded at once, grabbing Sakura around the arm and pulling her away. His grip was tight, and it was commanding, but Sakura didn't listen. She struggled against them in an all out frenzy, but he would not let go. Sakura yelled angrily, commanding for him to let go, but he did not.
Turning his back, the general opened the door on the other side and the boy was dragged in before he locked it behind him. Sakura struggled hard, finally ending the whole thing by biting Koganei hard on the arm. He let go, and Sakura dashed over to the door. She didn't open it, she didn't want the general to kick her out again.
'Koganei-kun, please!' Sakura pleaded desperately, 'I want to see what they do to prisoners.'
'Believe me hime, it isn't pretty.' Koganei murmured, 'you'd be better off going back to the surface.'
'No!' Sakura said firmly, 'I want to see.'
'As you wish.' Koganei knelt down beside Sakura, 'but we must leave as soon as I say, or else both you and I will be in trouble, okay hime?'
'Fine.' Sakura smiled, 'just one little look.'
Peeping through a crack in the door, Sakura could see the boy half sitting, half lying in the middle of a dim lighted room. She could hear the general yelling things at him, though they were muffled slightly. The boy did not reply, nor look at the general. Instead, he gazed angrily at the floor. Then out of nowhere, a whip smashed down on the boy's back.
Sakura's mouth fell open with horror, but she did not make a sound. Instead, she continued to watch the scene unfold itself inside.
The general was obviously asking questions about the boy, but he was refusing to answer. It was terrible to watch from her spot behind the door, because all she could do was watch the poor boy suffer. It also pained Sakura's heart to know that her kingdom used techniques like this to make their enemies spill secrets. In Sakura's point of view, this was just cruelty.
From whips, they moved onto using canes and boards, then needles and splinters that were heated until they were red. The boy yelled in pain, but he never cried. Soon, his entire body has been assaulted, though he never said a thing back to the general or his men, in fact, the only thing he did do was yell in pain when a piece of heated metal was stabbed into his flesh.
Sakura began to grow faint and sick. She couldn't stand watching something like this. Seeing her like this, Koganei told Sakura it was time to go, and lead her back to the surface.
'Hime, all kingdoms do things like this.' Koganei explained dully, 'I have to admit, I don't approve of torture very much either, but all kingdoms do this.'
'Can't they think of anything more…humane?' Sakura asked.
'Hime, think about it. You want information, but obviously if you just capture a troop, he isn't about to tell you anything. So you torture them, because that way, you can at least get some information if they crack. Besides, a hostage like that is worth very little after they have been captured. They either escape and run back to where they came from, or they don't go at all, it's as simple as that.'
'But, couldn't they do something a little more…' Sakura struggled for the word, 'humane?'
'Hime, no one is going to treat their enemies any better than they would to a diseased dog. The kingdom doesn't get anything, but only strengthens the opponent and weakens itself. A kingdom that shows kindness in these times would not survive. And I think the general will be extremely happy to see the boy suffer.'
Sakura froze suddenly, her face completely white. The general, happy to see the boy suffer. The general was not a monster, and Sakura could not think of anyone but a monster who would feel happiness to watch a younger man's life waste away in front of his eyes.
'Why?' Sakura asked.
'That boy you saw, he's no ordinary solder.' Koganei took a breath, 'that was the famous man-killer Li Syaoran. He and his small group of men destroyed ten of the fifteen divisions of foot-solders we had. Most of the work goes to that Li boy though; his comrades weren't that strong. But he certainly was an enemy you would never like to have holding a knife at your neck.'
Sakura's eyes began to water. She liked a bit of adventure, and she didn't really mind people dying since that was the reality of war. But something like torture, and this boy Syaoran. Combined together, they made Sakura's head ache dully. She couldn't stand something like this.
'Come on hime, I'll escort you to your chambers. But please hime,' Koganei was now on his knees, 'please keep this to yourself. If the general finds out that I let you watch on, I…he…I'd loose my job. No, I'd be sentenced to a lifetime worth of imprisonment.'
'Don't worry Koganei-kun.' Sakura smiled, wiping away the tears, 'I won't let you down.'
Koganei left when Sakura reached her chambers, and Sakura took it to herself to lock it tight so that no one would have any chance of entering. And then, before she could stop herself, she had plunged onto her bed, with tears streaming out of her eyes like rivers.
'I hope you're okay.' Sakura murmured, 'even if you're an assassin, you still don't deserve to die like that.'
To be continued...
Hope you enjoyed that. I know it was a bit cruel (just a bit) and violent, but somehow, I think this story is going to be mostly quite violent. Nonetheless, please review!
Assassin
