Here ye here ye the: Weeping Hollow Trial is now in session
A/N: This chapter won't be very long. It just shows you what is happening to Ryoko while she is being held hostage by the savage hunters…bwahahahaha
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Ryoko awoke with a sharp headache. She was in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar place. Her memory came rushing back to her and she knew that she was with the hunters. But if their intention was to use her as bait then why were they treating her so well?
She awoke in a fancy room, not high-class, but well furnished for that. She was laying on a large red couch that was actually quite comfortable, and the walls of this room were painted a vibrant yellow that brightened up the dark wooden floors. There was a coffee table in front of her that sat on a decorative red rug that seemed to match the couch. On this coffee table there was a glass of water and a bowl of some sort of soup.
Most likely poison, Ryoko thought as she sat up. No, they're using me so it's probably not tampered with. I am thirsty and that water would be a blessing, but I still don't trust it. Ryoko let out a sigh and scanned the room. The window on the other side of the room was open and there was a gentle breeze blowing the curtains. There's probably some sort of booby-trap over there. I know how hunters like to play. But, it is worth a try.
So she stood up and walked over towards the window. She staggered like a drunkard, but eventually she obtained her balance. She walked carefully and slowly scanning the ground with each step assuring herself that it was safe.
She made it all of the way to the window and still nothing had happened. She looked over the windowsill and everywhere around it carefully and found no traps, no trip wires of any sorts or lasers. It was just an empty room.
Carefully she leaned out the open window to see what there was beneath.
Gasping she stared at the long drop off, almost one hundred and twenty feet to where a series of sharp, metal spikes stuck out of the ground held in place by a cement plack. Each spike was at least six feet tall, and to anyone on the land they looked like a decoration. The hunters used this room often it seemed. Those spikes weren't brand new. They were old and a little bit rusted.
"Enjoying the view?" Said a voice from behind her.
Ryoko turned around quickly. If this hunter were to attack her she would have no where to run. She was a sitting duck. There was nothing to grip onto outside of the house where she could climb down and to jump would mean landing on those spikes and bringing an end to her life. She wasn't sure why she was worried about that now. She knew that she was going to die anyway.
"Well, now that you're awake we can finally put you to use," said a man with light brown hair and icy blue eyes. Ryoko glared at him, secretly wondering what he meant by that. His sentence could've meant a million different things.
Instead of questioning his sentence like he'd expected, Ryoko remained completely silent. This didn't seem to agitate the hunter at all. Instead he smirked at her.
"I don't think you'll try to run off if I put you to work will you?" Ryoko still didn't say a word. Her cold stare was fixated on this hunter. "I didn't think so. Right this way."
The hunter violently grabbed Ryoko's wrist and pulled her towards the door. She was a little off balance from the sudden motion and had a little bit of trouble keeping up with the hunter's fast-pace walking. She wondered exactly what kind of work he had in mind. You never knew with hunters.
"The others and I noticed that you cleaned up that boy's apartment pretty well. Isn't that right?" The hunter looked back at Ryoko who had gained her footing now. For a moment she thought of not responding, but noticing that his face became more and more cruel she decided to answer.
"I got bored," She said bluntly.
"Is that right? Well, we could use someone else to help his angel clean." His angel? Ryoko thought. What does he mean by that? Who is 'he?'
The hunter stopped pulling her when he reached a large wooden door. He pulled out a key and stuck it in the lock, twisting until he heard a quiet click. He stuffed the key into his pocket and swung the door open with great force.
It was indeed a very heavy door.
Once inside Ryoko noticed that this was a corridor, not a room at all. The hunter pulled the door shut behind them and continued pulling Ryoko along.
There was a sound that Ryoko heard besides the sounds of her breathing and their footsteps along with the silence of her thoughts. At first it was too quiet, too distant to make out what it was or what it was coming from. But the further they got down the corridor she could tell that it was a voice coming from a younger girl. It was either laughter or sobs. It was still too distant to tell. But the closer it came the louder it got.
Ryoko knew that the sound was sobs.
The pitiful noise seemed to swirl all around them in the echoing corridor. Although Ryoko was deeply disturbed by it, the hunter didn't seem to notice it at all. But how could he ignore it. The loud, mournful noise was never ending and so…so what? Ryoko thought to herself. So annoying? No, more or less, but not what I mean. It's so depressing. Yes, endless and very depressing. Why was that girl crying? Was she one of the blade children too?
But one thing was for sure about this girl…she was his angel.
That's when the thought hit her. That sobbing girl. She had to be that hunters daughter. His little angel. A lot of fathers called their daughters 'angel' and other little pet names like that.
"You will do whatever she tells you alright? She's younger than you, but here she is your boss. Got that?" Ryoko nodded. "Answer me!" The hunter gave her arm a violent jerk forward.
"Yes! I'll do whatever she tells me!" Ryoko glared at the back of the hunters head. Once again the hunter abruptly stopped causing Ryoko to bump into his back. He turned and gave her a sickening grin and Ryoko was afraid. What exactly was he going to do with her?
The hunter had stopped at another door where the sobbing was definitely coming from. Once again he pulled out his key and unlocked the door. It opened to a large white kitchen where a young blonde girl, maybe only twelve or thirteen stood washing dishes.
"I'm not done yet!" Said the girl with a sob following shortly after. "I need a little bit more time, please?" Ryoko saw how desperate the girl looked, and this hunter was smirking at her like it was amusing. How sick.
"Don't worry, you have another helper." The hunter forcefully and painfully through the door where causing her to fall onto the cold hard floor. She let out a tiny whimper, but only she could hear it. The girl laughed at her and the hunter smirked as he left the room not forgetting to lock it behind him.
Great, now we have adolescent hunters, Ryoko thought as she stood herself up.
"Are you alright?" The girl asked as she returned to washing the dishes which were overflowing one side of the double sided sink and the large counter top beside it. Like you care…Ryoko thought bitterly.
"I'm fine. What do you need me to do?" Ryoko stared at the girl with a cold expression.
"I don't really need any help," the girl's voice seemed sincere and not at all bitter or angry. It wasn't mocking her or teasing her. So different than the girl that was smirking at her when she was tossed onto the floor. "But if you want to, you can help me with these dishes. If we get done quicker we might be able to play games. Daddy normally lets me play games with my helpers if we get done early."
Ryoko, knowing better than to ignore the question for help that the girl honestly needed, found another dish rag and soaked it in the soapy water and began cleaning one of the plates that were in the sink. She could tell that the girl was grinning on the other side of her mouth, trying not to show it to Ryoko.
"So what's your name?" Asked the girl. "I'm Akiko, but you can just call me Aki." The girl turned and smiled at her.
"Ryoko. Why were you crying earlier?" Ryoko regretted asking as soon s the words passed her lips. She was thinking out loud.
"Oh, I cut my finger when I was cleaning a knife. It hurt, but it's all better now." The girl smiled at Ryoko and then continued washing the dishes. Ryoko passed Aki the plate to be placed on the drying rack on her side of the sink. "So you're one of the blade children?"
Ryoko nodded.
"I don't care what daddy says, but all of the blade children that I've met seem pretty nice. You know what his plan is don't you?" Aki asked as she looked Ryoko square in the eye. A look of seriousness crossed her face. "He's using you as bate for the others. He won't kill you until at least one other blade child shows up. That's what he always does."
Ryoko lost all trust in the girl after that. There was no way that she would spill her fathers plan. If she had any brain at all she would keep that kind of thing quiet and not speak of it.
"Is that so?" Ryoko handed Aki another plate and started on a bowl.
"Yes. I just hope your friends have the heart to leave you here and not get involved in this." Ryoko's pupils narrowed. What the girl had said was so cold, but yet it was exactly what she was thinking at that moment. She didn't Kousuke or Rio or Eyes trying to save her only to get themselves killed. She wasn't worth that much trouble. "It's not that I'm saying I want you to die. I'm just saying that I know how to get you out of here without you dying."
Ryoko looked at the girl with begging eyes, although she didn't really notice that she was doing it.
"But you're going to have to wash faster than that." Both girls laughed at the joke, although Ryoko did begin to wash faster.
After about ten minuets Ryoko glanced over at the drying rack. There was a place for the silverware and then the place for the cup and finally the other dishes. She was examining the contents while Aki was putting some of the dried dishes away. It was then that she noticed there was no knife in the drying rack. She hadn't thought that that was the reason that she had been crying in the first place, but that gave her the hint that something really was wrong.
"Hey Ryoko?" Aki paused from her work, still holding a large pot in her hands. "Just how many people do you think are going to come after you?" She seemed sad.
"Three, maybe four. But only three would be blade children. Why do you ask?" Ryoko scanned the girl. She was acting suspicious.
"I know this is putting me in danger to save you, but," She set the pot down into its place in the cabinet and pulled something out of her pocket. It was a cell phone. "Here, call your friends and tell them not to come after you. If they come they're going to die. I can get you out of here, Ryoko. You have to believe me!"
The girl was acting very untrustworthy. She was acting innocent, but the hunters could just want to keep her for something else while they go after the others on their own. But the very scary thing was,
Ryoko did believe her…
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A/N: Well, what did you think? It was supposed to be a short chapter, but I kind of got carried away waiting for the first episode of Paranoia Agent to download to my computer…it still has a while though lol. I'll just work on chapter 6 till then. I still need help deciding what kind of endings ya'll want. I have one happy, who wants tragedy? Who all wants happy? Now for the shocker, who wants both? Well, Review and enjoy reading other fics or writing your own…byebye