Chapter Five:

Prison of Fear

Darkness. Kasumi knew only of darkness. She spent so much time in it, she didn't even know anymore if her eyes were open or closed. She had lost all sensation, of touch, sight, sound, even her sense of time. She was blanketed in utter darkness, surrounded only by a quietness that could mean death. Surely she must be dead. She had to be. It was a logical conclusion, given the immeasurable pain she experienced in her stomach that recked through her entire being, forcing her body to move loosely and slackly. She felt as if a weight was placed into her blood, keeping her plastered to the hard surface she knew was beneath her. She had to be in hell. It was torture in itself by not knowing anything.
The first few days she had cried and pleaded to be set free until her throat bled with her words. Eventually she lost her voice, and soon after, lost her will to speak. She was losing her will to do anything. Even the aching pains in her stomach and head began to become such a constant it no longer bothered her. After such a long time, Kasumi was curled up in the confined space she was held in. She sat with her knees to her chest, and her head tucked in, arms wrapped around her scrawny legs, face completely hidden from view. Not that it mattered, her prison was sightless anyway.
At least that's what she thought until a beam of white blinding fury clouded her eyelids red. The burning white singed her eyes even though they were not open, and suddenly she was being yanked from her entrapment and thrown into the outside world. It took only moments for sensations to come to her. She could feel the beating heat of the sun on her back, the damp grass she had been tossed onto, and hear the sounds of the wildlife around her. She marveled at the feeling of morning dew, and laid down on the moist carpet of green, uncaring as it dampened her attire. The fresh humid air filled her lungs, and she realized all at once that she hadn't been able to take a deep breath in so long. She cried out in joy, unable to hold back the steaming tears from pouring out of her eyes. Thank the Kami above she was alive. Thank the kami* above that her previous thoughts of death had been false.
Her reprise was interrupted brutally and abruptly. She was yanked from the ground by the ends of her hair, she could feel some of the oily strands pulled from her scalp. Her neck was left exposed to the sky, her head held back in an uncomfortable position.
"Hahaha, looks to me like we got ourselves a rich one." She could hear the gruff and ugly scratching sound of a man, right next to her ears. She was still regaining her senses, and was just now realizing she was surrounded by an abundance of vile human men.
She struggled in his grasp, her fingers wrapped around his wrists, trying to pry his hand from her locks, and only succeeded in getting them yanked further. "Release me at once! I am not a rag doll and I shall not be treated as such!" She was shocked at the sound of her own voice, raspy and cracked, gruff and uneven. If she didn't know any better, she would have assumed it was a hag speaking.
"Quiet, wench!" The gruff man yelled at her, purposefully pulling her hair even harder to get her to cry in pain. "Take the clothes from her. We can sell them for a pretty penny."
"Don't you dare lay your fingers upon my silk! They aren't meant for such filthy heathens." Kasumi huffed, trying to fight again, but her body was so weak from hunger her attempts were useless.
She could feel hands on her pulling at her robes and she stopped fighting long enough to draw the silken material closer to her body. "You mustn't! I cannot be seen in anything less outside my home!" She pleaded. The men around her quieted, and shuffled their feet.
"Just who exactly are you?" The man that held her questioned.
"Princess Kasumi Ishikawa. My father is Lord Ishikawa from the eastern lands. He'd send thousands of his men at you if he discovered what you are attempting to do to me now. More and worse if you chose to kill me." Kasumi said, gripping her clothes tighter.
The group of men chuckled, and she was released, roughly shoved into the ground and back to the damp grass. "Then we'll leave you here to rot." The man said. The grass rustled softly as their feet crushed against the small blades. "With how skinny you are, you will die before the night is over. Though if you were to join us, and not tattle tell like a brat, we'd be willing to share food with you. And water."
"Chief, what are you doing?" She could hear a harsh whisper, and tensed a bit.
"Quiet. We need a woman to cook our foods and wash the blood from our clothes. She'll have a use. When her body is strong enough, well have another use for her."
Her body was riddled with disgust at the suggestion, but craved the idea of food. Kami, how long had she been gone?
Slowly, she finally opened her eyes, adjusting to the morning sun as cautiously and as carefully as she could manage, keeping her gaze down cast. When she believed she had adjusted enough, she looked up, just as slowly. She saw four pairs of feet, clad in sandals or boots, one was even bare. Her gaze traveled up scrawny and muscular, hair cladded legs to the edges of tattered robes and beaten up armor, to the waistband that held up swords and weapons of each kind, to the oddly shaped armored chest, to the faces of her saviors. Bandits. They were all harsh to the eyes, scarred and grotesque, large brows, top knots and the like. There were four men and each just as worse looking as the next. Her gaze turned to the biggest man, brawny and gruff looking, with a dirty blue band tied around his head. She assumed he was the leader, he had to be. He was intimidating to look at.
She turned her head away, but could see from the corner of her eyes the men watching her closely. Kasumi took the time to look around her, in an attempt to gauge her surroundings. Behind her was the body of a large demon, in its true form most likely. The monster had an arrow in his back, the arrow still held remnants of a spiritual energy that she recognized as Kagome's. So the miko had fired an arrow into the monsters back just as it had slipped away. The smell of death was heavy in the air, telling her that she had been captured for quite a number of weeks. But how? And in what? She looked around further, and her gaze fell upon a shattered gourd. She could smell the bandits all over it, her own scent mingled in. She had been trapped inside that. She tried to pick herself up from the ground and felt the heaviness of hunger dominated her body once more, and she fell flat onto her belly. She couldn't even lift her hands up, her fingers shook with the effort to hold them straight. Her fear and the adrenaline that had come with it were gone from her body, and she once again could feel how sick she was feeling. The men were right. She would die by nightfall. She held back the tears that threatened to blur her vision, and choked out a strangled sob
"I-I will go with you," She managed quietly, though it didn't stop the sound of her sorrow from filling the morning air.
She didn't know how long she laid there. It could have been seconds, minutes even, and if weren't for the position of the sun, she would have assumed even hours. The reality was, Kasumi was only there for a few minutes before the chief threw her onto his shoulder, and began to carry her off. She cried further. She was pathetic in her weakness, clinging more onto the idea of life than her dignity. She would serve these men until she could free herself. And then she would return home, wherever that was, and find her father. See if he still lived, see how much of the estate remained. She would force herself to survive by any means necessary.

*
Kami: God