Love Thy Neighbor
The huddling pair's tight embrace did nothing to keep their blood from running cold as the demonic plaything's deep utterance resonated from its clicking, wooden lips.
"Throughout your time as participants in the Sekirei Plan, the two of you have gained a rather…infamous reputation for yourselves. Many refer to you as the…"Demon Ashikabi and The Reaper Sekirei" if memory serves correctly. I find your fearsome notoriety to be…slightly exaggerated…to put it bluntly…"
Yukari couldn't help but shriek her next words. "I knew it, Shiina! We're dead!"
"…today, I shall be putting this renowned distinction…to the test."
A spotlight buzzed on behind them directly over the area where Yukari had woken up. A dust-clumped sheet was spread over a long narrow table in the otherwise vacant space she had slumbered upon...or at least that's what it seemed to be at first glance.
Frozen in place, the couple stared at it for a bit until the voice on the monitor chimed in again, "Pull off the sheet."
Yukari glanced to her pretty boy and whispered, "Do you think we should listen to him?"
"I don't know," He whispered back. "but whatever is beneath that sheet isn't something we're going to like seeing, I'll tell you that much right now."
"If that's the case why don't we ignore it and look for a way out?"
"For all we know, what's under that sheet may be our only way out."
"Yeah, and it also might kill us!"
"If that was the case, it would have done so while we were knocked out. Whoever brought us here obviously has a use for us being alive. If they didn't we'd already be dead."
"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense."
He gestured his chin towards the illuminated surface. "Stay here, Yukari. I'm going to see what's underneath it."
He couldn't take one step before Yukari seized his shoulder. "No, I'm coming with you. We do it together. We're a team, and I'm no coward."
Shiina took a breath, not arguing the point knowing her mind had been made up. "Fine. But if anything happens-"
"If anything happens I punt whatever it is that lunges at us in the happy sack."
Shiina grinned and said no more. Yukari took a good grip of the sheet and whisked it off preparing for the worst.
Resembling a casket, it was easily large enough to fit at least two people inside of it comfortably. Three rust-caked pipes were grafted into each side, likely meant to pump some form of liquid or gas inside.
Sprawled across it in huge red lettering was one word: OPEN.
Preparing for the worst, Shiina unlatched the opening and slowly pulled the lid open. The moment air escaped the two were immediately taken aback by the relentless pounding from inside and muffled screaming.
"Holy shit! Someone's alive in there!" Yukari shrieked.
In a panic, Shiina immediately opened the casket.
The individual inside said confinement was an all too familiar sight for them not to recognize. Beyond several inches of almost soundproof glass, they saw it was a young teenager, male, with tattered pants and an expensive-looking shirt that both would have been completely white had they not been covered in dirt and faint tinges of his blood. He had brown, somewhat spiky hair that also had specks of dirt in it, and his youthful face wore an expression of utter terror. At an angle, he lay upon thousands of shards of broken glass.
With his mind void of any sense of rationality, the boy repeatedly slammed his cut, bleeding fists into the glass in a vain attempt to crack it open as he cried out for his protector. "MUTSU! WHERE ARE YOU MUTSU?! Get me out of here! I want to go home!"
"As you can both clearly see, the man in front of you is in desperate need of help. I must stress, however, that this fate was his own doing. Mr. Mikogami has committed the ultimate sin of any Ashikabi; winging a Sekirei by force. To my knowledge, this act is equivalent to that of rape, and he has done this to over a half dozen of them, eventually leading him to attain the title of…"Ashikabi of the South". Given his lack of love and adoration of the Sekirei, or… "toys" he has forcefully entered a pact with, all but one of them remains in his –dare I call it- "care".
The doll continued, inclining its head slightly.
"Hayato's life is out of his hands. The decision of whether or not he survives falls upon the both of you, though I implore you to do the opposite. Given your notorious reputation amongst the Sekirei Plan's participants, taking my advice and simply letting him drown should be easy. You are the Demon Ashikabi and Reaper Sekirei, after all. However, if you do choose to be merciful…"
A light then suddenly hummed on behind them, illuminating the same door Yukari nearly ripped her nails out trying to pry open moments ago.
The doll continued its briefing.
"One of you must enter the dark cubicle behind you with the flashlight provided, while the other must stay behind with this waste of human flesh and enter the code to his freedom. Inside the room are various combinations scribbled upon the walls, one of which will grant Mikogami freedom."
"Be warned, however, that for every twenty seconds that pass, the person inside the cubicle will be met with a rather…"cold" indifference. I must stress, however, that breaking the pipes and utilizing Shiina's powers are not viable options, as that would be considered cheating...and I despise cheaters. If you do take this route in an attempt to sabotage the test and it will be game over for each of you. I'm sure you know what I mean by that."
The doll pauses, letting his words sink in before addressing Mikogami a moment later."Hayato, by the time this recording ends, you will have one minute to convince the two before you that you are indeed worthy of saving, for after that minute expires, the door to the cubicle will unlock, and your confinement will rapidly begin to fill with water, completely submerging you within two minutes."
Tears were now slithering down Mikogami's guise as he continued to scream. "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" he screamed. "GET ME OUT! GET ME OUT! GET ME OUT!"
The puppet gave them the ultimatum.
"Can you still find it in your hearts love thy neighbor and forgive this stain upon humanity for all the harm he's caused to so many? Make your choice."
*…Fzzzzzt…zzzt…!
The picture faded into static before a timer emerged in its place starting its countdown.
1:00...0:59...0:58…
For a moment, the pair just stood there in shock. Yukari always was one to live her life by the phrase 'karma's a bitch', but even she wouldn't have guessed this was how it would all play out: Kidnapped and forced to decide the fate of a past tormentor. The spoiled brat who preyed upon and stalked not only them but countless others in his quest to satiate his selfish need for attention. The brat who wanted to add Shiina to his personal collection of dolls was imprisoned right before their eyes and begging for his life and no one was around to save him.
Many bully victims would have jumped on the opportunity to give their past abusers a taste of their own medicine, but unless the said victim was pushed to the brink of insanity they would never have gone this far. But then again, Yukari wasn't exactly the most emotionally stable young woman out there.
Their inner thoughts were hammered away as Mikogami slammed his forearms into the glass again. "What are you two waiting for?!" he shouted. "Get me out of here!"
The reaper Sekirei and his unholy mistress slowly encircled their arms around each other's waists.
"Why?" Yukari asked, anger permeating from her voice. "Why should we give you freedom when you've denied so many Sekirei the opportunity to find their true Ashikabis?!"
"You bitch!" he swore instinctively. "Mutsu will have your heads for this! Now get me out!"
Not a millisecond later, Mikogami lurched back in fear as Yukari delivered a hard kick to the glass separating them, eyes burning with hatred. "Call me a bitch again, and see where that gets you!" she shouted. "You forcefully winged damn near every one of your Sekirei, and stalked us to no end in an attempt to add Shiina to your sick little collection!" She growled viciously, anger seething through her visage. "I should leave you here to die you craven little shit!"
Shiina gently pulled her back into his arms, still maintaining his soft expression. "Yukari, please calm down. He's going through enough as it is…"
0:39…0:38…0:37…
Hayato whimpered his next words. "Wait! Please!" he pleaded. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" His cries and thrashing intensified. "D-do you want money? I'll give you as much as you want! Just please, get me out of here! I don't want to die!"
"Ugh!" she groaned in disgust. "You have some nerve trying to bribe your way out of this after the horrible shit you've done!"
Mikogami was choked up, inhaling the river of tears he shed. "I'm so scared," he sniveled. "Please…don't let me die like this! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
Yukari couldn't help but face-palm and tense up. She so desperately wanted to leave this bastard to his fate...but what would her brother think? He wouldn't leave this slimeball to die, even if he deserved it. He'd be the hero, and right now, she had to be.
With that in mind, her palm-shadowed eyes peered at Mikogami's terror-stricken visage with a look of resignation on her face.
"I hate your guts," she spat. "…but I won't kill you." She turned to her Sekirei. "Shiina, you stay here and turn the lock; I'll find the combination."
0:23…0:22…0:21…
Mikogami was more than overjoyed by this change of heart. As the rich boy spoke his next words, he nearly lost his voice. "Th-thank you. Thank you!"
As she motioned to get the flashlight, Shiina reached out and grasped her shoulder.
"Huh? What is it, Shiina?"
"No, Yukari, let me do it."
She glanced back at him. "Why?"
"If you die, I die," he reasoned. "I want to protect you, Yukari, and I don't trust that doll. It's safer for you to stay here... let me go instead."
0:02…0:01…0:00
The sound of an air horn went off as the timer expired. Mikogami gasped, shrieking as an adjacent row of pipes pumped freezing cold water into the casket, causing him to shiver and slosh about. The spoiled craven pushed into the nozzles hoping to slow the rate at which the casket was filling, but it was no use. Yukari nearly swallowed her throat as Mikogami began to hyperventilate and his whimpers escalated louder and louder.
The locks on the door leading to the cubicle unbolted and before long its undistributed weight gave gravity the incentive to have it lurch open. The darkness on the other side was all-encompassing.
2:00…1:59…1:58…
"I'm going in, Yukari."
The death god swiftly swiped the flashlight from the table and motioned to rush towards the cubicle. As he turned around, his mistress pulled him in and briefly locked her lips against his.
The angel of death's wings burst from behind him, dissipating in almost an instant.
Yukari pulled away from the kiss. "Stay safe."
Shiina nodded as he ventured into the cubicle. "Thanks, Yukari. I love you."
She smiled, nodding back as he disappeared into the darkness. "I love you too."
XXX-Shiina's Perspective-XXX
The cubicle was pitch black and bitter cold. Way below freezing temperature. Shiina was unable to see three inches in front of him, let alone any writing on the walls. The Death Sekirei clicked on the flashlight, shivering and puffing out clouds of fog through his chapped lips. The jittering beam drew a path through the darkness, shadowing over many numbers randomly strewn throughout the corridor.
I'll bet the code stands out in some way, his mind concluded.
Lowering the beam, the light flashed upon a set of numbers written in blue, making it stand out from the rest. The sequence also had double digits as opposed to just single numbers separated by hyphens.
[Saw OST: The Freezer]
Before he could inform his mistress of the combination, a strange loud hissing noise was heard from above, and a freezing cold mist of microscopic water droplets sprinkled down upon the pretty boy's frail build. He failed to suppress a scream of agony as he dropped to his knees, his body beginning to uncontrollably convulse from the shock of the extreme drop in temperature; the millions of tiny, tundra-like droplets of moisture stabbing into his bones like thumbtacks.
A 'cold indifference' indeed.
As he labored to suck in the air, Shiina shined the flashlight upwards. Above were hundreds of tiny sprinklers littering the ceiling like cockroaches in a rundown public restroom.
1:38…1:37…1:36…
The death god's mistress called out to him moments after his gut-deep cry, her voice echoing throughout the Arctic chamber. "Shiina! Are you alright?! What happened?!"
#107 staggered back to his feet, hugging at his shoulders in a vain attempt to keep warm. "I'm f-f-f-fine…" he stuttered. "Jussssssssssst a little cold water sp-sprinkled on me…I-I'm ok-k-kay…"
"Are you sure?! Do you need help?!"
Mikogami didn't take kindly to her question. "Don't you dare leave me here alone!" he shouted, the reverberation of him pounding his fist on the glass manifesting in Shiina's shivering eardrums. "Do you hear me?!"
"Don't you d-d-dare come in here, Yukari!" Shiina protested. "I f-f-found a s-sequence for you to try: 00-02-27-13-18."
"Okay, one sec."
A few seconds later, his mistress let out a high-pitched scream which wouldn't die down.
He cried out to her. "Yukari, what's going on?! Please, answer me!"
"It went right through my finger!" she moaned. "A fuckin' needle went right through my goddamn finger!"
Mikogami's whiny, feminine muttering stilted her agony. "Stop crying and stay focused, dammit! I need you now! Don't let a little pin prick keep you from saving me!"
Her anger overshadowed the pain. A thumping noise and a yelp indicated that she kicked the casket again. "Shut up! How about I stick a pin through your prick, you whiny little bitch?!"
Turning his back to the sound of their dispute, Shiina came across another set of numbers, this time etched in orange.
XXX-Yukari's Perspective-XXX
1:25…1:24…1:23…
Yukari stood there teary-eyed as she nursed her wounded finger with the gentle swabbing of her tongue. The said "pin prick" went all the way through, and penetrated out the nail. Despite this, it didn't bleed much to her astonishment.
The casket was now almost halfway full and the water was still rising fast. His constant thrashing and fits of panic didn't help either, especially with the shards of glass scraping against his flesh…though it could be argued that he was more enamored with his clothes being torn and ripped instead.
Her pretty boy called out again. "Here's another! 00-02-27-…"
*Hiss…
The familiar noise drew another loud cry from Shiina as he was met with yet another ice bucket challenge.
"Shiina!" cried out his mistress.
"I'm fine!" He loudly declared. "…20-…13…!"
Yukari reluctantly went back to the tumblers and entered the combination given. These numbers seem so familiar… she thought.
Learning from her previous mistake she prepared herself by undoing her tie and balling it up to press the button as opposed to her finger... or so she theorized. She pressed into it a few times and nothing happened. No needle, or confirmation noise, nothing.
She kept pressing harder. "C'mon, what the fuck?!"
"They know you're cheating!" Mikogami exclaimed. "You need to use your fingers for it to work!"
All the demonic mistress could do was growl back at him. She flipped both him and the camera recording her actions off then pressed the same finger into the button and yelped as the needle drew blood and jousted through once more. While it was painful, the initial shock from the first helped her cope more with the pain as she anticipated it this time around.
"Agh! Goddammit! Motherfucker!" she cried. She slowly pulls her hand from the button and slips her finger off the needle, squeezing and caressing it in her palm before wrapping it up tight in her tie. "…fffffffuck…!" she sighed, biting her bottom lip and slamming her eyes shut. "Wrong combination again, Shiina. Keep searching… tsss…agh…"
1:03…1:02…1:01…
*Hiss…
Shiina's cries were becoming fainter and weaker each time the sprinklers activated, and this time was no exception.
More than half the brat's body was now submerged in the casket, and to say he was freaking out would be a massive understatement. But it kept filling despite his cries.
"Shiina…" she thought out loud. "God, please let him be alright…"
"Hey, don't pray for him, stupid girl!" the brat shouted, interrupting her train of thought. "I'm the one in danger of drowning, dammit, so urge God to show me love and mercy!"
Yukari then came to a realization. "…God…love…."
"…can you still find it in your hearts to "love thy neighbor" and forgive this stain upon humanity for all the harm he's caused to so many?"
0:54…0:53…0:52…
Love thy neighbor… "That's it! That's the combination!"
The spiky-haired prepubescent teen trying to stay afloat pushed into the glass, staring daggers at the demonic mistress. "What is?! What's the combination?!"
Ignoring the contained noise, Yukari shouted into the cubicle. "Shiina, by any chance, have you come across a set of numbers ending in 19-19?"
"N-no," he responded, voice shivering in the soul-stabbing cold. "why? I-is th-that part of the combination?"
"From what I gather, each set of numbers you've been giving me have been biblical verses. The one we're looking for is "love thy neighbor". It was given to us as a hint by that doll thing before the timer started. I don't know all of it, but I know for a fact that it ends in 19-19!"
*Hiss
Accustomed to the freezing rain, he didn't bother to shriek, holding in the expression of pain. "A-al-right, I'll try to look for it. I found another set of numbers, but n-none of them end in 19-19. 00-01-01-03-23."
"Thanks, Shiina, but I don't think we're gonna need it. I'm positive that the verse we're looking for is the one I mentioned to you."
Mikogami slammed his hands into the glass once more, leaving behind bloody prints thanks to having scraped them against the shards of broken glass. "What if you're wrong?! Stop being so full of yourself and try the combination anyway!"
She arched her eyebrows, clenching her fists as the blood continued to drip from the tiny puncture wounds in her fingertips. "Fine, if it'll shut you up, I'll do it."
A few seconds and a bitter shriek later…
"Gah…! I told you it wouldn't be right!"
"Would you have been able to forgive yourself if it was?!" the brat retorted trying to stay afloat with his nose touching the glass.
"Yes!" she spat, irritated.
The water was now up to his neck. It was rising faster than ever now. "Oh God! Oh God, please no! Help! Help!"
Yukari bit her tongue at the last words she shouted as her wish may very well come through if Shiina didn't hurry.
"C'mon, Shiina! He's about to go under!"
0:27…0:26…0:25…
Yukari was now starting to panic, ruffling both hands through her hair as Mikogami's tear-saturated visage submerged in the casket. He swam to the top, savoring the last bits of air he had as he unwaveringly gasped for his breath.
"MUTSU!" He shouted just as the water nearly reached the top, his words making the water bubble at the corners of his mouth. "MUTSU! Please help me! PLEASE!"
The rich kid was now completely submerged, holding his breath in his air-puffed cheeks as he pinched his nose. The blood oozing from his wounds clouded the water more and more. He wasn't going to be able to last much longer.
C'mon Shiina, please! She panicked, internally. We have to save him! I'll never be able to look my brother in the eye again if we don't!
XXX-Shiina's Perspective-XXX
The pretty boy's clothes were now entirely drenched. It was a wonder how Shiina was still standing, let alone firmly clenching the flashlight in his numbing grasp.
Then, a miracle happened. The light grazed over a combination written in red, and the final two digits were 19-19. "I f-found it, Yukari. The c-c-c-combination is 00-02-01-19-19!"
*Hiss
The final layer of moisture rained down upon his dainty stature. He collapsed to his hands and knees, his strength almost entirely drained from his body. This was it. If this wasn't the right combination, Shiina's efforts would have been all for nothing.
XXX-Yukari's Perspective-XXX
Without hesitation, Yukari rushed to the padlock and entered the verse. Please let it be right. Please let it be right. Please let it be right. Please let it be right.
Pressing the button half-expecting a final jab, she was relieved when the sound of an unlatching click was heard instead. "Yes! It worked!"
She wasted no time gripping the glass lid and heaving it upwards, the overflow of water pouring over the edges in all directions. She reached in and grasped the brat by the collar like a bully would demand lunch money from a victim and pulled him out.
After Yukari delivers some heavy pats on the rich kid's back, he choked and gagged on the water he inhaled after being unable to hold his breath any longer. The Demon Ashikabi and Reaper Sekirei had just saved someone's life…
"Th-thank you!" he expressed in adoration before puking up more water.
Yukari nodded. "You're welcome. You gonna be alright?"
"Just let me catch my breath. I'll be alright. I don't know if I can say the same for your Sekirei though, you better check on him."
With Hayato now saved, Yukari made a beeline towards the cubicle as Mikogami climbed out of the casket to his feet with his own power. The spike in temperature caught her completely off guard. Oh my God… she thought, huddling her arms around her body, rubbing up and down to establish friction heat. This is what Shiina had to deal with…?
If it hadn't been for the flashlight's beam, she most likely would have never noticed her pretty boy sitting on the floor hunched over by the wall, uncontrollably trembling as he wheezed in the paralyzing cold.
She rushed over and crouched down. Her eyes locked on his dark, exhausted gaze. The droplets of moisture and cold sweat on the pretty boy's pale, nearly blue visage and silver hair had all but frozen over. So much so, tiny icicles had begun to form on the thin strands of his bangs, frost collecting on his eyelashes.
His mistress reached for his shoulders and lightly shook him. "Shiina," she began, "talk to me. Are you alright?"
The Reaper let out a weak moan. "Unghnnn…Yu-Yukari? D-d-did we d-do it?" he asked, sneezing. "Did we s-s-s-save him?"
Yukari caressed his ice-cold cheek with the gentle stroke of her hand, smiling as a single tear slithered down her cheek. "Yes, Shiina…we saved him."
"Thank God." He coughed out a few clouds of fog. "Kusano would have never forgiven me if we didn't."
"Kusano would be so proud, Shiina..." she expressed in a soft, loving whisper.
He coughed out his next words. "Yeah...I suppose she would be..."
Shiina was going into hypothermia. Yukari needed to get him out of there and someplace warm right now before it was too late. She could tell just by looking at him that his legs wouldn't be strong enough to support his weight. But she had just the thing to remedy this.
Yukari leaned in and brushed her lips against his. Shiina's wings of death emerged once again. As their lips parted, Yukari took a sigh of relief, seeing her pretty boy slightly liven up with a more straightened posture. He still came off sickly, and would no doubt be bedridden for quite some time after getting to safety but the energy he got from her should be enough to get out of this freezer.
After pulling the soaked sweater off his back, Yukari slung his arm over her shoulder, hoisting him back up to his feet. "Alright, Shiina, let's go." That little brat had BETTER be thankful!
They started taking their first steps forward and Yukari's eyes perversely drifted down to get an eye full of Shiina's bare abs. The sight wasn't as thrilling as she initially felt it would be though, as on Shiina's stomach was a fresh wound that had been stitched up. She knew for a fact that scar was not there before they were kidnapped, and it wasn't because she continuously spied on him in the shower by various means whenever the chance arose. The last time she did that was more than a week ago; ten days to be exact. A wound that large and fresh would have been a focal point of conversation ever since he got it. It had to have been administered by their kidnappers, but for what reason? Given the placement of the incision, she immediately assumed the worst as it was right where the kidney was supposed to be. Wasn't that just a myth though?
The steady rise in temperature felt like a Godsend as their legs passed through the doorway.
Once outside, the demonic pair took some well-deserved deep breaths.
Slouching over, Shiina turned to his mistress with a soft smile. "Well, we did it. Our nightmare is finally o-"
Shiina faltered on his last word as they heard a frenzied shriek from behind them.
Mikogami rammed the demonic mistress into the wall, knocking the wind out of her lungs. As she collapsed to the ground and painfully choked, he went after Shiina, eyes spinning wildly, face contorted in an expression that could only be called insane. He leaped at the defenseless Sekirei with a hysterical cry, slicing open the Reaper's cheek with a shard of broken glass, his tight grasp of the jagged shard being enough to cut his palm open deep. Mikogami teared up from the pain but kept on his assault as if his very life depended on it, using his free hand to grasp Shiina's throat and drag him to the ground and start to choke.
Shiina tried desperately to pull the kid's fingers from his throat. In any other circumstance, he would have done so with absolute ease. He was just too weak to put up any fight even against the biggest wuss. The grip became firmer and Mikogami went to the scar on his stomach, using the bloody shard of glass to shred through the stitching. Shiina screamed, his belly now gouged open.
"Please…stop…why are you doing this…?" Shiina weakly touted as Mikogami dropped the shard and went to pry open the wound wider then reach inside for...whatever may have been in there.
Mikogami hesitated simply sniveling, "I'm sorry…but it's the rules…agck-!"
Hayato's voice then cracked and his eyes bulged out of their sockets, hands grasping at his nether regions which Yukari had apparently kicked.
She jumped on top of him, rolling the brat off of Shiina and onto his back. Said Sekirei watched in horror as Yukari balled up her fist, and socked the spoiled craven across the face, knocking loose a few of his teeth. Enraged, she grabbed the shard he dropped, and with the strength that had earned her such infamy in the Sekirei Plan, Yukari began to stab Mikogami in the chest over and over again, her grunt-like shrieks becoming louder and more demanding every time it penetrated through his flesh, making him weakly cry and cough up blood with every elapsing strike.
"STAY DOWN!"
*SQUISH!
Those two words being shouted and the sound of flesh being penetrated by a sharp object were the only things that could be heard for what to Yukari seemed to last an eternity. In reality, it only lasted all of forty seconds. During which Shiina did everything in his power to bring her back to reality, but all that existed and all she could see for that eternal moment was red.
Even when Mikogami finally drew his last breath and went limp, she still couldn't stop laying into him, stabbing him past his death. She was too scared and enraged to stop her assault.
Her frenzied state of mind was then halted by Shiina's soft voice as he encircled his arms around her waist. "That's enough, Yukari…" he pleaded, lovingly. "It's over. He'll never hurt us or anyone else again…"
The shard slipped from his mistress' lacerated grasp. She began to break down into tears as it clattered to the cold ground. The Demon Ashikabi wrapped her arms around the brittle pretty boy's soaked, almost frozen figure, pulling him into her tight, albeit tender embrace with all her strength.
He held her close, head resting in the crook of her neck and shoulder.
Panting heavily in conjunction with her off-pattern heartbeat, Yukari pulled away.
She looked into Shiina's eyes, passion blazing in her twitching, bloodshot gaze. "I've had it with you always protecting me, Shiina and not being able to return the favor!" she glomped him again, tightly embracing his shirtless masculinity. "From now on, I'm gonna be the one protecting you!"
As Ashikabi and Sekirei held each other closer than ever before, Shiina peered over her shoulder. Standing no more than a few yards away were two figures; one wearing a pig mask, and the other a dawning simple hood. The much shorter, hooded individual made his approach, while the lofty one just stood there in silence, arms crossed just above the waist.
Hearing the man's echoing, slowly approaching footsteps, the demonic mistress turned around, backing away with her beloved.
"Congratulations," he said, clapping his hands in unison with each step he took. Now in the light, he pulled back his hood, revealing his short-cropped blonde hair. "you've passed your test."
"D-Dr. Gordon…?" she questioned. A look of baffled disbelief was written on her face. The last thing she could recall before waking up in this frozen hell hole was being at the doctor's office for a routine checkup, and now her physician was standing there unnerved and clapping after she had just killed someone. What the fuck was going on?
The robed doctor crouched down to one knee, inspecting Shiina's pale visage and then the opened scar on his waistline. "He's going to die if we don't get him out of here," he concluded. "I'll need to treat him before his condition worsens."
Yukari threw herself in between the doctor and her destined one, encircling her arms around him, pulling him into a tighter, more protective embrace.
"Stay away from him…!" she demanded, scowling, trying to fight back shedding more tears. "You've brought us enough pain and suffering, and I'll be damned if I let you take him away from me!"
"Rest assured, Yukari, that is not my intention." He reassured her with calm composure. "In fact, it's quite the opposite. A mutual friend of ours would like to have a word with the two of you."
"Oh yeah? And just who might that be you fucking fraud?!" she spat.
"A person who wants to dispense justice on the man responsible for the death of #108." He stated, retaining his peaceful disposition.
"…The MAN responsible?!" she bluntly remarked. "Shiina and I were there! Ku was killed by that bloodthirsty Black Sekirei, not a man!"
"Oh, I think you know who I mean, Miss Sahashi."
XXX-Interpretation of Yukari's Imagination-XXX
A lone figure soaked in the landscape of his city-sized prison from the top of his tower. The rain pattered against his pure, snow-white lab coat, the wind blowing through his equally blinding white hair. The dry, almost calm moonlight glistened off his lenses, obscuring his maniacal glare as a psychotic burst of laughter erupted from his abdomen, sending chills through all the slumbering little birds in the concrete jungle as they prepared to soar off to their inevitable fate…
XXXXXX
"Tell me," the blonde doctor went on, snapping her out of her thoughts of the sicko in charge of the Sekirei Plan. "would you like to see your brother again?"
Minato…! Yukari's eyes flashed open, pupils dilating. "What the hell did you do to him?!" she shouted. "Answer me!"
"Mr. Sahashi is with us now. Don't worry, he is in safe hands, and is but simply sleeping. We have no intention of harming him." Extracting his cell from his coat pocket, he flashed a still image of said individual's tranquil, slumbering visage before the concerned sister's eyes. He asked her again as she took it from his hands. "Would you like to see him?"
"…Make your choice…"
Now having no other option, Yukari handed the phone back, accepting the doctor's gesture with a reluctant sigh.
"Fine, I'll go with you…" She said. "But if anything happens to Shiina or my brother, I'll sooner kill this "mutual friend" of ours, rather than speak to him."
"I appreciate your cooperation," he said, flipping his cell phone closed and pocketing it again. "He will be more than delighted to finally meet the both of you."
The pretty boy finally broke his silence as the selective mute tossed a scruffy dark blue blanket over to him. "Wh-where are you t-taking us?"
"Someplace warmer…" The doctor said as Yukari wrapped the blanket around her pretty boy's cold, clammy flesh. "…much warmer."
Yukari could only interpret that as them being chauffeured into the very depths of hell itself.