Trauma For Truth: Part III

"I'll fucking kill you!"

As the boy lept at the Black Sekirei with a fury raging in his torn heart, Mathis snatched him out of the air, squeezing his arms to his sides with the vice-like ensnarement of a boa constrictor.

"I'll fucking kill you!" Shiina shouted again, kicking his legs and squirming for freedom. He would have none.

As this happened, Karasuba couldn't help but stifle a giggle at his expense, just to rub salt in the wound.

Like her Sekirei, Yukari could hardly breathe. Kuu's killer was in the room with them; for all she knew, she was here to finish the job. She swallowed, cringing as she forced herself to stare at the still-healing gorges on her disfigured face.

"Gordon," she began, horrified and shaking. "w-what the hell is…she doing here?!"

Dr. Gordon looked just as surprised as she did, if not more so.

"Oh, I just came by to welcome our new initiates," the Black Feather began, withdrawing her blade. The same blade that put down so many in her path, Kusano included. "How long has it been since I last saw you two? Three months?" She started to cackle as she twirled the flesh-craving steel in the light, enraging the scorned Shiina even further.

"Let me go!" The Death Sekirei shouted, tears now flooding from his sinuses. "I'll reduce you to nothing but dust you fucking cutthroat!" Shiina's vitriol transformed into a roar.

Her grin deepened at his screaming, opening her wounds to resemble the gills of a slaughtered salmon. "Oh my, someone's cranky," she mocked. "Is it my new look?"

"Karasuba!" Dr. Gordon addressed. "I thought we had a deal! You promised to lay low until I told you they were settled and ready!"

"Wait, you knew about this?!" Yukari interrupted. "You've been working with her this whole time and didn't plan to tell us?!"

Dr. Gordon choked on his speechlessness.

"Hmph," the raven scoffed. "Last I checked, the only person I have to answer to is John…"

"Get off me!" The ferocious Shiina fought more. "I'll make you pay for what you did to Kusano you monster!"

"My, how flattering. We've upgraded from diapers to pull-ups, have we?"

"Please Shiina, stop!" his mistress begged. "She'll kill you!"

"Without effort at that," she uttered, a glazed film encrusting in her eyes. "Unfortunately, John has forbidden me from doing such." She sighed. "Sad really. It pains me not being able to reunite you with your beloved friend…"

"Karasuba, please!" Dr. Gordon demanded.

"Oh relax, doctor," she said. "That rule applies to them as well."

"Doctor, what the hell is she talking about?!" Yukari asked as she tried calming the reaper's blazing outrage. "Calm down Shiina! Please!"

"Let go of me! I said get off!"

"Oh, I assumed they told you by now," the Black Sekirei said. "If either of us lay a hand on one another, we'll lose any chance to regain what we're fighting for."

She tilted her head to them, smirking. "In other words, if you so much as lay a hand on me or anyone else without John's approval, your brother will never draw breath again."

Yukari's eyes became watery. "You…"

"I'LL FU-" Shiina began to slur his words. "I'll fucking-"

He began to go limp.

"Shiina!" Yukari called out, holding up his head by the chin. His eyes, although directed at her face, seemed to not notice a thing before them. "Are you alright? Talk to me!"

His surge of adrenaline winding down, memories flashed through him as his consciousness faded. Shiina succumbed to the hired muscle's grip. Numbness crept over his nerves for but a moment, but it wasn't long before he passed out.
"Oh no, Shiina!" she cried, swatting his cheek in desperation to help him stay aware. "Shiina!"

Mathis loosened his grip, letting the pretty boy fall into his Ashikabi's arms. The two collapsed to the floor in a heap with Yukari holding her fallen lover closer than ever.

Karasuba let out a loud, cackling laugh. "Was it something I said?"

Yukari turned back to the heartless harpy, teeth grit. She didn't say anything, she couldn't say anything.

"Get out of here!" Dr. Gordon shouted. "The two of them have been through enough already!"

Offering the Doctor a cold glare, she shrugged her shoulders. "Hmph, It's not my problem the Sahashi girl has such a weak Sekirei."

"Shiina is not weak!" she shouted. "His body was already weakened by what we had to go through today! He damn near froze to death!"

She laughed again. "So the Reaper himself falls from a little frostbite? Pathetic." She paused. "But not as pathetic as that worthless monkey you call a brother."

"Don't you DARE talk about Minato like that!" Yukari wanted to charge at the woman, but used all her strength to hold herself back. To fight another day when she could win.

"Yes, just sit there like a good little pet," she mocked, heels clicking as she took steps forward. "Wouldn't want my efforts lugging the boy's unconscious body halfway across the capital to be wasted, would we?"

"So it was you?" the demon Ashikabi whispered. "You brought him here."

"Enough, Karasuba!" Dr. Gordon begged.

The hired muscle crossed his arms as Karasuba approached the death Sekirei's bedside. He simply observed the Black Sekirei stare down into Yukari's devastated soul.

Karasuba pointed at a splotch of blood on her cloak. "Do you see this stain?"

Yukari stayed silent. So much so her teeth cracked under the intense pressure of her jaw.

Karasuba continued. "I kept it as a memento…from that day."

Yukari's stomach turned. "You're detestable."

The Black Sekirei's eyes narrowed. "How kind of you."

She leaned in closer, her stare swelled to something more deranged. "#108's demise was imminent. She was frail, weak…and too soft." She inhaled an orgasmic breath; her pupils dilating with the exhale. "Oh, was she soft… like a knife through butter she was..."

"How could you be so cruel?"

"A Sekirei's destiny endures in bloodshed. Only the strong can persist, and the soft are all but useless; their only purpose being that of meat puppets to be cut down."

The Black Sekirei tainted more of the air with her crowing. "Speaking of which, admirable work chiseling out the heart of The Ashikabi of the South."

"You saw that?"

"Indeed." Her smile sank deeper, almost to the depth of her wounds. "I was right next to my Ashikabi and we watched your little scuffle together on the monitors. The blood. The tears. The sorrow! The hopelessness! It was all so…stimulating. John certainly knows how to provide quality entertainment for a lady…even if it isn't premeditated."

"You actually got off to that? " The demon weakly whimpered. "You have no soul…"

...

"I'll give you…a tool…to discard the vices which have so corrupted your soul."

...

Karasuba scoffed. "I don't have a fucking soul." She pulled away, whisking her shawl into the air as she turned around and marched out of the doorway. "I believe this may be the beginning of a wonderful partnership. Try not to die before the real fun begins, okay?"

XXX-Takami's Game Continues-XXX

"Minato is still alive, though hardly safe." the grief-stricken and livid Yukari answered, crossing her arms. "No thanks to you."

"When I got word that my son never came home from work two days ago, I thought nothing of it-"

"Of course you didn't," the Demon Ashikabi taunted.

"Minato is a man now, and should be able to fight his own battles!" her mother said, raising her voice. "He also has the largest harem of Sekirei in the capital, so I figured they would keep him shielded from any threat!"

"Hmph," she scoffed. "I see, so in other words you wanted others to do your job for you? Why am I not surprised?"

"I don't have superpowers in case you didn't notice, Yukari!" Takami shot back. "Besides, he wasn't even gone for that long! I assumed he was out having fun for once in his life and would be back by the time I woke up!"

"And what would you have arranged if he wasn't?!"

"I would have arranged a search warrant, and if all else failed, enlisted the Discipline Squad to track him down…"

The Demon Ashikabi's skin condensed around her body like a sponged was sucking it in like it would water. "The…Discipline Squad?"

She clenched her fists, taking slight steps towards her mother.

"Yukari?"

Yukari slammed her hands on the table at full force as her bangs dangled in a frizzy mess; her mom jumped back. She elevated her head to meet her eyes. Takami did not recognize this person at all.

Eyes shadowed from view, she started, slowly. "Are you even…aware…of what they did to him, mom?" Yukari slurped the damp air deep into her nostrils. "Does the night of the bridge escape…ring any bells to you?"

"That was when Musubi was nearly terminated." her mother recalled. "But even so, they wouldn't harm Minato. They couldn't! Harming an Ashikabi is off limits for Sekirei! They know this full well!"

Her daughter lets out a frustrated sigh, swinging her head in disbelief at how aloof she really was. She pushed herself away from the table and reached into the black leather bag slung over her shoulder. She pulled out a smartphone and fiddled her thumb on the touchscreen for a bit before sliding it across the table, and into her mother's hands. A video was loading, and the preview image was too cloudy and blurry to make anything out.

Takami looked at it for a brief moment, then glanced back at her daughter. "What is this, Yukari?"

"Press the play button. Now. Or I willzap you again."

For a moment, Takami's eyes floated back and forth between the phone and her belligerent daughter. Yukari's expression became more stern the more she stalled. Takami tapped the play button with her finger and braced herself for the worst.
It was twilight. The video was presumably being recorded from the top of a high building, as it looked down upon the now devastated overpass at an angle. It started to zoom in, pinpointing on what appeared to be a standoff between #88 Musubi, and #105 Benitsubasa.

The former was distracted by something but did not keep her eyes off of her adversary, who stood dangerously close to the edge of the broken bridge, her pink side-tail flowing wildly in the breezy night. She looked assured she was in control, however, despite being only inches away from the watery grave hundreds of feet below.

"Don't you move!" the red Sekirei threatened. It appeared she was stepping on something, or smearing the heel of her boot against it rather, but it was still too far to tell what.

It zoomed in closer. Takami's heart sank into her stomach; the urge to vomit it back up was overwhelming.
The Red Sekirei was grinding her boot into her son's hand. He was hanging off the edge of the destroyed bridge by his fingertips.

"Hurry, I can't hold on much longer!" Her son pleaded in agony. "I'm gonna fall!"

"Minato, hold on!" #88 called out to him in desperation.

"Come any closer, and I'll drop him!"

As her mom continued to watch in eye-twitching horror, Yukari despondently crept behind her and spoke directly into her ear whilst hanging over her shoulder. "Off limits, eh mom?"

All Takami could do was swallow.

"Who's that hanging off the bridge, mom?" Yukari asked.

No answer.

"Tell me," Yukari repeated, sternly. "Who is it?!"

Her mother set the phone down on its screen.

"No…" she denied. "No, thi-this isn't right…they weren't supposed to do this!"

"I wanna know," she takes a clump of her mother's hair and yanks back hard, eliciting a scream. "who the fuck that is mom?!"

She kept silent, shaking her head in a violent left-to-right sweep.

Tearing back her hair even harder, Yukari kept on the verbal abuse, a fitting act of karma for all the screaming she and her brother dealt with from her for all those years. "WHO IS IT?!"

Takami curled her neck towards her child, but not venturing to look her in the eye. Her eyes fell upon her lap and she began to sob.

"My son," she choked.

"WHO?!" she roared, nearly deafening her as she yanked her hair harder. She would have no pity. "SPEAK UP!"

"It's my son!" she squealed back. She paused for a moment, exhaling as she reiterated. "It's my son…"

"That's your son?" she reiterated. "That's your son?"

The Demon Ashikabi's voice lowered in pitch as she loosened her grip and distanced herself. "Like hell he is. You hurled him under the bus all for the sake of sustaining a madman." She glanced over her shoulder. "You chose to develop the Sekirei Plan over taking care of your own flesh and blood. If it weren't for the Sekirei Plan, the game you helped create, he never would have been there! You are responsible for that! You never gave two flying fucks about either of us!"

"How dare you!" Takami kicked the chair out from beneath her and stood up. "After everything I did for the two of you, paying for your college intuition, sending you money to feed yourselves when you were unemployed. I supported your sorry asses all the way, and this is the thanks I get from you?!"

"Sit your ass back down! You're not the one in control here not anymore!" She waved off these excuses with a swift fist to her mother's jaw, as well as another zap to ride home her point. "Oh, you paid to get us into college and gave us money from time to time. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo! What about being there for us?! Helping us when we needed you as emotional support?! You didn't raise us! You were never there!"

"You don't think I wanted to be?!"

"It doesn't matter what you wanted! You weren't there!" Yukari loudly objected, accompanying her screaming with a hard knee to her mom's gut to reseat her ass. "You weren't there! You were useless!" More knees followed each exclamation. "If we really mattered that much to you, you would have abandoned this sick Sekirei Plan battle royale bullshit, filed for child support, and came home! Everything that happened to Minato that night on the bridge is your fault! You caused it! You! You fucked up!"

She gagged as her gut recovered from the blow. She could hardly say the following without coughing. "The Sekirei Plan was Minaka's sick idea! If it's anyone's fault, it's his!"

"You're also a major part of its creation, mom!" Yukari shot back venomously. "If you weren't there to help him, the Plan may not have ever been created! You are in charge of it!"

Her boot slammed the mother's ribcage, making the accused capsize in her chair and fall to the concrete.

Takami moaned as the pain in her sternum grew.

"Besides," she continued. "All that does is make you look even worse. From the logic you're giving me, you'd rather spend your time helping set up Minaka's sick idea that can very well destroy countless innocent lives more than being there for your kids!"

"That's not true!"

"STOP THE LIES! YOU'RE A LIAR!" she screamed, pressing the button again. Takami instantly began convulsing like an epileptic.

Yukari released the button, pressing the heel of her boot onto her cheek. "Quit denying it! You're in no position to tell me what is and isn't true! You don't get respect or consideration for simply having a desire to be there as if it counts for something! You have it ass-backward! Every time we needed you, you were off helping Minaka put the Sekirei Plan together, putting us under the false pretenses that you simply worked for a pharmaceutical company; doing something that was actually helpful for other people in the world, lying to us and leading us both on! But no! Instead, you spent more time helping create something that nearly gets your children killed than your actual children!"

"You're…a hundred years…too young…to sass me… the way you are…child…" Takami panted. "I never…meant…for either of you…to get involved in this…Yukari! Why else do you think I've…been so secretive about it?!"

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit about 'the Sekirei Plan is supposed to be held in secret' garbage! Do you really think for one minuscule fucking second that releasing 108 super-powered aliens out into the world and having them all fight to the death in a battle royal until there's only one left standing wouldn't get noticed?! Have you seen the property damage?! I think people have caught on by this point!"

She took a deep breath. "We were blaming the damage on terrorists…"

"Terrorists?" Yukari paused, then sneered. "Yes, terrorists. Terrorists that can shoot lightning from their hands, and jump more than fifty feet in the air at the most populated areas in the city in broad daylight. That ought to cover things up, right? Because it's not like anyone in this city has common sense, right? Oh no, we're all fucking sheep that believe everything we're told."

Takami pulled herself to her feet, doubling over. "All right, all right! Point taken! But I still never thought either of you would become Ashikabi…"

"And that's supposed to make what you're doing all right?!" Yukari objected.

"You're working with Jigsaw, Yukari! A serial killer! How on earth can you think that's right?!"

"Hmph, then I suppose working with homicidal maniacs runs in the family, then?" Yukari snarled. "Don't act as if you're any different! Hell, in fact, you're even worse! You helped enslave an entire race and forced them to fight to the death for the entertainment of a psychopath!"

The tension began to calm a bit. "How many people died because of the Sekirei Plan?! How many lives has Minaka torn apart?! Say what you want about Jigsaw, but at least he goes after people who actually deserve it. Minaka went into this knowing full well that there would be casualties, but he didn't give a shit about any of the innocent lives that would be lost! He could have simply let all the Sekirei go find their Ashikabi and live in peace without any battle plan, but no. He wanted to watch them tear each other limb from limb for his sadistic amusement, and you helped him put it all together! At OUR expense! You fucking whore!"

Slumping her shoulders, Takami hung her head with a heavy sigh. She sprawled her body over the table, defeated and vulnerable.

A moment of silence passed, and then she spoke. "And you don't think I'm ashamed of myself for it…Yukari?"

She raised her head to see at her fuming daughter. "Minaka is by all purposes…a genius. There is no denying that. I knew the Sekirei Plan would come to fruition with or without my help; he's dedicated to it more than his own health. If he didn't have someone watching him…someone there to make sure things didn't get too out of hand…things would be far worse. That's why I stayed; why I'm in charge of the plan. Someone needs to keep that maniac under control…and considering I was his wife…I knew I had to be the one to do it; not just for your sake, but for everyone's sake."

"Don't pin the blame of every tragic event that's happened on that slimeball, mom," Yukari said. "You yourself made a decision that cost Minato something far greater than his life; his happiness. Tell me, if you stick around just to keep him in check, why is the green girl dead?"

The Sahashi matron became confused. "Yukari, what are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, mom. You know exactly what I'm talking about," was the vicious reply. "Kusano is dead because of you."

Her mind went blank upon hearing that. "I am aware of what happened between her and Karasuba, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, Yukari!"

"Well, that's not what she said…"

XXX-Flashback-XXX

Karasuba paused at exit, not even motioning to look at the ridiculed Ashikabi again. "Oh, and be sure to give your mother my regards next time you see her. I've yet the chance to properly thank her for offering me such…" she exhaled an orgasmic sigh. "…easy prey."

XXX-Flashback End-XXX

"You actually believe what Karasuba said, Yukari?!" Takami panicked, knowing she had been found out. "She's playing mind games with you! I would never do such a thing!"

Yukari let out a laugh and shook her head at the suspected reaction. "All the cards are stacked against you, and still you lie."

"I'm not lying!" she shouted, trying to desperately reason with her daughter.

Yukari tilted her head to her shoulder. "Oh really?"

The Demon Ashikabi reached into her shoulder-slung bag, extracting a manila folder.

She flicked it on the table. "Then mind telling me what in fuck's name this is?"

XXX-Jigsaw's Lair, John's Workshop-XXX

Yukari Sahashi stormed into John Kramer's workshop after her boot broke through the door's hinges. "What the hell is she doing here?!"

"That depends," John said, unfazed as he pivoted away from the monitor feeds in his swivel chair, and proceeded to read through the contents of the folder he was holding. He peered over the classified document like he was studying a newspaper at the kitchen table likea dad at breakfast. "Just who do you mean by 'she'?"

"You know damn well who I mean John; or 'Ashikabi' as she calls you!"

"I see." He shut the folder, tapping its base on the desk to arrange its contents before setting it back down to the desk and lacing his fingers together over it to discuss matters. "Doctor Gordon was supposed to take care of that small issue. I sincerely apologize for any hardship that beastly woman may have forced you to relive."

"Alright, cut the bullshit!" Yukari demanded, stomping her foot. "You have some explaining to do, right now! Why the fuck are we working with Kusano's killer, and why didn't you tell us?!"

"The sharpness of your anger is more than understandable, Miss Sahashi," John sympathized. "Rest assured, we had every intention of telling you of the presence of MBI's dog, though we wanted to ensure you were both settled first."

"Settled?! You're using Minato to blackmail us into helping you! There is no way we would feel comfort!"

"Ah, but were you not relieved to see that your brother was alive and breathing?" he questioned."I'm sure that put your troubled mind at rest somewhat."

"I would hardly call that being alive!" she argued. "He's in a fucking coma!"

"It is true he is incapable of speaking to you in that state, but Minato does, in fact, rest among the living…which is what I promised. I said you can see him anytime you wish. He is your brother, after all."

"Sure, he's still breathing now, but what happens when you no longer have a use for us?!" She wheezed. "I'm sure you'll have that fucking sword-wielding gore-hound cut him down just like she did Kusano, wouldn't you?! Wouldn't you?!"
John rose from his seat, stepping out from his desk, knowing he had to settle this right now.

"Come with me." he said, rolling his chair beneathhis desk. "I would like to show you something…A token of my sympathy."

"You've done enough, John! I'm going back to be with my brother and Shiina." She started to back up and turn around, only to bump into a brick wall head-on. Only it wasn't a brick wall, it was John's hired muscle.

The startled Yukari jumped back on instinct and lost her footing, falling back onto her rear. She peered back at John himself.

"What the-? Was he watching us this entire time?!"

"He was here before you stormed in."

"How the hell did he get here before I did?!"

"He…found a way," John snorted. "What I'm about to show you is quite important, and I doubt Mr. Mathis will allow you to leave before I have the chance to show it to you. Isn't that right?"

The One Called Mathis exhaled visible fumes through the nostrils of his mask.

"R-right," she stuttered. "What exactly do you need to show me?"

"You'll see." He motioned to the hired muscle. "Mr. Mathis, would you be so gracious as to help our indentured servant to her feet?"

"Indentured servant? Isn't that just a nicer way to call someone a 'slave'- er, wait, what?!" Yukari shrieked.

Mathis nodded at his superior's command. Before the Demon Ashikabi could even think, he pinched her temples with his thumb and pinky, deadlifting her by the head with one arm. Before the moment could even register, she was already on her feet and facing John.

She glanced up at him briefly. "Uh, heheh…um, thanks."

He nudged his chin towards John, and she more than willingly heeded his gesture.

"Come, Yukari," John said.

She followed the calm elder as the muscle stood guard by the door. He led her to the blood-soaked chair and knives she had seen upon arrival, with her standing to its left and John to its right. She tried focusing more on Jigsaw, as the gory scene reminded her too much of the struggle she had with Mikogami, as well as the aftermath of Kusano's demise. It made her sick just thinking about it.

"You have seen the relatively fresh scars on Karasuba's face, correct?"

"Um, ye-yeah…" She swallowed. "Is this-"

"It is as it seems."

"You mean-"

"Indeed, just yesterday in fact."

Jigsaw now had Yukari's full attention. Just how was this man able to subjugate such a major player in the Sekirei Plan, let alone the Black Sekirei, head of MBI's Discipline Squad? This she had to hear...