Disclaimer: Oh what's the use. You can figure it out without me telling you.

After the guards had beaten the shit out of Kuronue, they had chained him back up against the wall and left. He hung limply, thinking.

Flashback

"Kuronue!"

"I gotta go back for it, Yokou!" Kuronue ran back foolishly. Just as he reached his pendant, he felt something sharp run through his leg. For a second he was shocked. Then he screamed in agony. He saw Yokou running back toward him.

"No! Yokou! Go! Forget me! Save yourself!" Yokou hesitated.

"MOVE IT YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Yokou took a step back, nodding.

"Kuronue...I'll miss you." Kuronue watched him run off.

"I'll miss you, Yo..." Soon after, the guards had him. They yanked the bamboo out and cuffed Kuronue like there was something he could do to them. They dragged him off; if he lagged, they kicked or hit him. But the real torture was yet to come.

They beat him almost ceaselessly, trying to get him to talk. The questions were endless: Who are you? Do you have a partner? If so, where is he? Why did you come back? But Kuronue would answer no questions. They beat him, starved him, gave him little water. But he would not break. Never.

End Flashback

The King sat on his throne.

"No prisoner has ever lasted this long. I want him broken. I don't care how. Just break him hard so he'll never heal." The guard nodded.

"We beat him all the time, Sire. What more can we do?" The King leaned down until he was face-to-face with his guard.

"Whip him. Cut him. Do what you must. But BREAK HIM."

"Yes, Sire."

Kuronue looked up as the guards entered his cell. His eyes widened as he saw what they carried. He pulled desperately at his chains as they approached. It was no use.

In about two seconds they had unchained him and turned him around, chaining him up again so that his back faced them. They had taken the liberty of pulling his vest down instead of ripping it, but that didn't help his current position.

"Okay, scum, you've got about ten seconds to tell us what we need to know, or this thing goes into your back." The thief clenched his teeth. Ten seconds passed, and the whip connected with his flesh with a distinct CRACK. He managed not to cry out, or whimper as blood dripped down his back. Again and again he was struck. Finally his emanciated body was in so much pain that he could no longer hold his cries of agony back. The guards smirked at each other. They were getting somewhere. Or so they thought. Kuronue would never break.

They let him down after a while. He lay on the ground, blood seeping into the stones. A guard kicked him savagely in the stomach, causing him to curl up, gasping.

"Talk, scum. We can easily hurt you more." Kuronue's eyes glinted dangerously.

"Do your worst." The guards smirked.

"We'll take you up on that." They knelt next to the fallen prisoner. Two of them flipped him over on his stomach and held him down. He struggled weakly, unsure as to what they were about to do. The leader smiled wickedly.

"We're gonna make you bleed until you talk good." He pulled out his knife and positioned it over a whip mark. Kuronue felt the edge and struggled harder with the hold on his arms and legs. Nothing came of his struggles except harder grips on his limbs.

"Talk."

"No." The knife slid into his fresh whip mark. He screamed in agony as the shallow mark became deep.

"Has that loosened your tongue, scum?"

"N-no..." Another whip mark made deep. Kuronue's screams echoed throughout the caverns of the dungeon, heard by a certain sadistic King.

The King leaned his head on his folded hands, listening to the prisoner's screams with satisfaction. The boy wouold not last much longer. The King smiled, remembering the feeling of the prisoner's skin as his tormentor slapped him and the whimper he had let out. Oh, how he wanted that again. Hearing another scream, he chuckled lightly. He would get that again.

A/N If there was rape in this, how many of you would keep reading? Cause I'm not completely sure where this whole obsessive King thing is going.