YuRi Shipper: -growls- My damned asterisks did not appear in previous chapters – I apologize. This means that sudden scene changes occurred without them. My apologies, my apologies… please, don't hurt me for it. XD
To my reviewers and readers, I thank you. Yes, I was indeed aiming for 'disturbing', and no, this is not written from personal experience. (At least, not the part with Hitomi's father raping her and beating her mother to death.) Enjoy this chapter – it promises to be my longest yet.
Mr. Disclaimer: All bow before her holy un-owning-ness. –is killed brutally-
Special Thanks go to Ko-Chan. You've given me ideas and an excellent review – thanks a bunch. -
One of Those Situations
Her day had been the usual – go to work, get eyed by Kami knows how many perverts, then head home as early as she could. The letter was fresh in the brunette's mind as she crossed the street, walking through the chill to her little apartment. Kasumi said she would meet her at DOATEC, so at least Hitomi wasn't alone in this.
One has never seen someone change and eat so hurriedly as she did, racing out the door with more energy than anyone could possibly have. The girl had even neglected to take her car, choosing to run instead. Obviously she had forgotten just how far away DOATEC was, because as she arrived the girl panted and sweat, bending to catch her breath as her redheaded friend cocked a curious eyebrow, sighing.
"You did it again, didn't you?"
Hitomi merely nodded, as no explanation was needed – they knew each other well enough. Or at least, so they thought… Kasumi harboured secrets as did the younger girl. Neither had felt at liberty to share these secrets with the other. Or was it that neither woman felt safe enough to share them? Whatever the case, both said nothing of their pains.
"You're ten minutes early… that's a change." Her soft voice was accompanied by a giggle as Hitomi gave her an accusing look, the grey-blue eyes narrowed and a pout on her pale features. "That's not fair! I've been early plenty of times before…" Childish… but that's what everybody loved about her in this town. She got her job by being playful during the interview. Unfortunately, she had to dress like some form of whore, but that was alright. She hadn't been touched that way since she was sixteen…
"You're Daddy's little girl. Remember that." His voice was gruff and deep as he left the room that night. No, he never stayed, lest someone arrive during the night and find him with his daughter – that wouldn't go over well.
The girl, shivering and entirely nude, nodded, waiting until the door was closed before silently standing, slipping on clothing and grabbing a heavily packed bag from under her bed. This was it – she was escaping her hell.
"Hitomi? Hitomi?" Worry had returned to the older woman's voice as she gently placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, watching as the girl she'd known for over two year snapped back to reality, smiling at her friend.
"Ladies?"
A man in black had appeared at DOATEC's doors,
letting them inside. "Wait here."
That they could do with no problem.
Both stared in absolute awe, unblinking. The main lobby was large, with red
carpet floors and white walls, paintings in frames of gold decorating the
walls. Surely this was no company building? It must have been some form of
mansion or something like that... in any case, they
were where they were supposed to be. And still early to boot.
Time passed, and the pair couldn't help but notice as a pair of loud, laughing women entered as well. One was a rather busty blonde, her Texas drawl something rarely heard in Japan, causing both to tilt their heads curiously. The giggling woman beside her had dark skin, hair, eyes, dark everything. She seemed sweet, though neither had truly noticed either of the room's other occupants yet.
The blonde spotted them first, giving a toothy grin as she walked towards them, hips swaying. "Y'all here because you got some letters, too?" Hitomi smiled back, giving an enthusiastic nod as Kasumi barely gave any answer at all. "Well glory be! That's why me an' Lisa are here, too. Lisa, come 'n' see these two!" She motioned for her partner, obviously this 'Lisa' she'd been talking about, to come over as well.
"Hi." She waved, though it wasn't entirely necessary, considering she was standing right in front of the pair. "I'm Lisa."
"An' I would be Tina Armstrong – it's a pleasure to meet y'all." Her hand was extended, that smile still there. Was it Kasumi's imagination, or was this woman deliberately sticking her chest in her younger friend's face? To save poor Hitomi, she shook the hand first, smiling weakly – in all honesty, she felt no reason to greet her.
"I'm Hitomi." It figured the brunette would say that with such… gusto. A hand encased in a red finger-glove shook Lisa's hand first, then Tina's, not noticing as the blonde winked a bright, blue eye in her direction, gaze roaming over each other girl's body.
Lisa pulled a hand through her short, dark brown locks of hair, eyes of the matching colour shining in the light. Her outfit was far more… conservative than her friend's. She had chosen a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, while Tina was wearing barely anything at all – an extremely short skirt and a tube top that she had hastily thrown a leather jacket over.
"Oh! Do we have the wrong building?" A French accented voice rang out, and all four women in the room turned to see two more females enter – did everybody come in twos? Still, the speaker was another blonde, a fair height and somewhat on the skinny side, her long tresses held back in a low ponytail which flowed neatly to her buttocks. Her bangs, however, were considerably shorter, let out of the ponytail and framing either side of her face, falling just past her chin. She held an air of elegance about her, which the other woman did not seem to have. No, on the contrary. The second woman was shifting nervously, brown eyes that were slanted in the oriental fashion gazing about the room. Locks of mahogany were formed into braids and held in loops on either side of her head. Her breath was held as her eyes landed on what appeared to be the youngest girl in the room, standing beside the redheaded woman.
"If you're here about a letter, than I'd assume you're both in the right place." Lisa nodded, placing a hand on one hip, smiling.
Before any introductions could be made, yet another woman entered, this one with layered hair, all a snowy white colour, making her stand out. Her height helped too, as she seemed quite a bit taller than most of the others, though her bust rivalled that of Tina's, who was currently giving her a most approving look, tongue running over her lips once.
"You!" The French woman spoke again, looking at the albino accusingly, causing the tall woman with violet eyes to turn, glaring at the blonde. "I'm not exactly thrilled to see you, either, Helena." Her accent was not the most pronounced, though it wasn't as subtle as Kasumi's, or Hitomi's. An English woman? My, they had people from all over the globe in one room! More specifically, females from all over the globe.
"So what the hell's going on?" The French blonde, obviously Helena, flinched at the very slight use of vulgarity, practically spitting venom as she responded. "We don't know yet, Christie, though I'm sure the waiting would be far faster if you would simply – "
"Ladies, ladies, please! You attention, please!" A deep voice boomed over the loudspeakers in the room, a chuckle accompanying the silence that followed. "Very good… so, you want to know what's going on? Well, there are no secrets in DOATEC… at least, none concerning this. I shall tell you as soon as our last guest arrives. In the meanwhile, make yourself at home. I think you'll find the couches are rather comfortable."
The speakers fell silent, and Tina was the first to do exactly what he suggested, lazily flopping down upon a couch. "Ah, that's better!" For a moment, everyone's eyes turned to her, before everything started up again. Tina and Lisa were talking, Helena and Christie fighting, the Chinese girl that had yet to say a single word remained staring at Hitomi, and the brunette was giving her redheaded friend a somewhat frightened look, which was returned by a smile of reassurance.
That was, until, the doors swung open once more, revealing the last guest.
"Damn, it's freezing outside." Those were her first words, but as she looked up, they died on her lips, Kasumi staring at the woman oddly.
"Ayane?"
(A/N: I was going to leave it off here, but then I realized something – I promised a long chapter. XD This is… short, medium-length at best. So, for your sake, I continued.)
"Kasumi." A curt nod was given as she acknowledged the other's prescence, whirling about as a 'clang' sounded from behind her. Metal bars had fallen across the doors the purple-haired woman had just walked through, and amber eyes that matched Kasumi's gave a spiteful look. "I have a feeling we've just been suckered."
"Indeed, you have been. Welcome to my mansion, girls – I'm sure you'll have a good time. You don't really have much of a choice, seeing as how you're now stuck here." The voice stopped to chuckle darkly, as each woman glared at each speaker. "I am Donovan, as you may have guessed. You've all been chosen specially for a little… a little experiment."
"I'd love to chose you for a little experiment of my own – it's called hand-to-face therapy." Christie muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Don't think I didn't hear that comment, Christie – I have cameras and microphones hidden everywhere. You can't escape me – just like you cannot escape this place. It shall serve as your home, for now. How long, you may be asking? However long I choose. Now, on with what I was saying before.
Each of you were hand-picked by a team of experts spread across the globe. We found women of different races, cultures – I think we've covered most of the world. Japan, the United States of America, France, England, China… Germany…" He chuckled as he said the last bit, watching as Hitomi looked bewildered. "I know about each and every one of you – for example, Tina over there is a twenty-two year old who lives in Texas with her father, Bass Armstrong.
Have I proved to you yet that I'm not willing to just abandon this experiment? Maybe so, maybe not. Still, know that I am not.
Each of you will encounter… bits and pieces of your past. Of course, you'll be encountering it in front of everyone else here. That's right – Friday is viewing night. We've watched you for a very long time – we've even created technology that may have caused some of you 'nightmares' that trigger memories, which we recorded and verified as the truth. Every Friday, one of you will be chosen at random to have one memory seen – there are no secrets here." His deep-throated chuckle turned into insane laughter for a moment.
"Enjoy yourselves, girls – just remember, there's no way out." The grim message ended there, as each stunned woman turned to the other, some seemingly unfazed, others near tears.
"S'pose we should get to know each other a lil bit, then, if we're gonna have to see movies about one another on that viewscreen each Friday." The Texas Tina was the firs to speak up, smirking as leaned back on the couch. "Most of what I could say about myself was already told to y'all by him, so I guess we'll just go in the circle from now on, starting with Lisa." She nodded, to her friend, as everyone cautiously remarked that they were indeed in a circle, somehow. Had they unwittingly just moved into that shape? Or was this some sort of joke? Whatever the case, Lisa had started to talk.
"I'm Lisa, from the good ol' U.S. of A." A snort was heard, though no one could truly tell who had made the noise. Therefore, the dark-skinned woman turned to the brunette standing just a few paces away from her. "Want to introduce yourself now?"
"I'm Lei Fang… and I come from China." The others nodded, as one-by-one they went around, somehow landing in an odd sort of pattern – Tina, Lisa, Lei Fang, Helena, Christie, Ayane, Kasumi and, finally, Hitomi. "I'm from Germany." The others had deduced that simply by remembering the countries Donovan had listed – and, since no one before the petite girl had piped up and said they were from Germany, it was a mere matter of deduction to figure out who, exactly, the German was.
"Now that that's all done, what do y'all say to checking out our new home?"
"You've adjusted to this rather nicely." Ayane spoke, suspiciously, watching Tina shrug. "Well, you've gotta take whatever gets thrown your way, righ'? Well, I figure there's no reason to get all uncomfortable – may as well see where the rooms are, how many rooms there are, and where the grub's at." No objections were spoken this time. "Alright! Let's get a move on!"
YuRi Shipper: Had to end it sometime. Ugh, I know, I know – I didn't go into detail on some of the characters, yet. Don't worry, I will. R&R – the reviews fuel my creative flames.
