Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs

This is something like half or two thirds of the chapter, but it was getting long. So the rest will uploaded as the next chapter.

No editing or beta as usual

I reckon the next two to three chapters will be Sonaru

Thank you so much for awesome reviews, as well as favs and follows! Let me know what works, or what doesn't work for you, as well as any prompts for scenes you'd like to see.

Chapter 50 - Already Under Your Skin

My butt ached from hours of sitting in an unreasonably uncomfortable chair, as I stared at a wide range of images one after the other. Many were innocuous and barely registered any thought from me at all, others were pretty cute or amusing, and some were images I knew children shouldn't be made to look at.

Some sort of monitor was aimed at my eyes to measure movement of my pupil and the rate of my blinking, other things were attached to my nose to and mouth the measure breathing, one to my finger to measure pulse, and a whole bunch were attached to various points around my head.

A field of flowers.

A two story house.

A starving skin and bone family

A small child crying.

A bloody kunai.

A dog humping a big teddy bear.

A chained naked woman hanging from her arms as a man scalped her.

A tricycle.

A summons.

A battered and dead pigeon.

A strawberry cake.

An angry looking young man.

A Kirigakure headband.

On and on the images went, all the while the no-eyebrows man, whose name I had discovered to be Hiroshi, and his teenage assistant Kenta took notes on the readings. This was at least less hassle than the word association we had done the time before with the images, when I'd had less than two seconds each time to come up with a single word.

I still despised every moment.

My eyes were dry and sore by the time we were finished, hours later, fidgeting impatiently while they removed all the of the wires. I felt deeply weary and barely had the energy to smile when Kuchisake entered.

As usual, Kenta perked up at the sight of her, a light blush staining his grey tinted skin as he tried to catch her gaze. She only had eyes for me, though - ignoring for the moment the two other women in the room as well as Hiroshi and Kenta.

"How are you feeling, Sweet thing?" She cooed gently, bending down and wrapping her arms around me tightly.

I sighed into her warm sugar-sweet-blood-sex-musk-sweat scent as she swept me up and tucked me against her neck.

"Tired," I mumbled, with closed eyes.

She rubbed my back pleasantly, and I settled even further against her with a hum, "I know Sweet thing, I know. Once we get back home you can have a nice warm bath and then sleep."

That was doubtful. I was only getting on average a couple of hours sleep every night at this point, and I was exhausted all the time. My appetite was similarly diminished, but at least I could force myself to eat even if it made me feel nauseous.

Hesitant footsteps approached, lacking confidence and instantly marking them as belonging to Kenta, who didn't have the self assured air of the adults.

"Good evening, Kenta," Kuchisake greeted, a lightly breathy quality to her voice that made everything sound just bit erotic, "How are things progressing?"

Kenta's voice began an octave too high, "G-good, good," he laughed nervously and cleared his throat, "We think we're about ready to start the next stage. All the pre-tests are done and now we should be moving on to trials."

"Oh? Wow, you move fast, I'm impressed," her voice curled around the words sensually, despite the slight hitch in her breath at the news.

"Well," he chuckled bashfully, "I mean... it wasn't just me obviously. We all contribute... I'm just Hiroshi-san's assistant mostly."

"Please, I can tell you're the brains of the group," she teased, "Handsome and smart - I bet the fan girls go crazy for you."

"Um, I- well there aren't really any..." He stammered, his voice cracking.

"No? They're missing out, clearly," she lowered her tone into something pure sex, "I'd want you if I were them."

Gross. I resisted the urge to wrinkle my nose in revulsion at hearing a grown woman intentionally rile up a teenage boy like that. I could practically smell Kenta's hormones ramping up in desire as he swallowed thickly and failed to start a comprehensible sentence.

Shion laughed teasingly, "Hold that thought for me. I have to put Sona to bed. We can finished this next time though, hm?"

"Y-Yeah. Sure. That sounds... good. Great."

"I look forward to it," she purred, and sauntered out of the room without acknowledging the others as far as I could tell.

I was too tired that evening to do more than sink gratefully into Kuchisake while she washed me, barely acknowledging the still present discomfort at feeling her skin against mine in the water and her hands roaming every inch while she washed me - whispering sweet words in my ears all the while.

Ever since being examined within an inch of my life had become the daily routine, she had taken to kissing me far more often. I squirmed inside when she kissed me in the bath. I didn't like that she did it at all, but I had at least become mostly inured to her habit - sometimes even taking some comfort it in. But to feel her naked against me, hands and lips dwarfing me, I couldn't help but shudder inside that it was a step over the line too far.

I was no good at understanding the rules that existed between grown women and little girls. They were so blurred and ill defined in my mind and my personal experience had not helped to clarify things at all. I knew what was inarguably not okay, but beyond that I was walking blind.

The fact that I only recognised something was definitely wrong when the line had not only been crossed but trampled all over, had me second guessing and doubting myself when it came to my response to Kuchisake. She weirded me the fuck out, I didn't like that she always smothered me in physical affection without asking if she could lay her spitty hands on me. I didn't like that she kissed me the way that she did. I didn't like that she bathed me despite knowing I could wash myself, and always insisted on getting in the bath with me. I didn't like that she slept in bed with me with only a pair of knickers on.

And yet I doubted myself. She had set herself up as my mother and did everything she could short of demanding I call her Kaa-chan to play the role with me. I knew this meant she was ignoring all sorts of boundaries that non mother-daughter dynamics had. I questioned myself, though, that if I was her daughter and we lived in a one room apartment, and she was a single mother, would a lot of what she did be considered acceptable, if slightly odd, behaviour?

Of course on top of that, there was the added layer of her behaviour being influenced by her role in my kidnapping as having the intention of manipulating me into integrating here and staying forever - as far as I could tell. Additionally, she was pretty fucking crazy without all of that shit, with an obsessive and unhealthy relationship toward sexual boundaries as well as some sort of trauma regarding her dead daughter.

I was in a constant state of uncertainty about her, so when my options, regardless of whatever conclusions I came to about whether I was okay with how she behaved or not, were 'suck it up and deal', I tried not to think too much on my conflicting feelings and just accepted that this was how things were right now.

Though, not thinking was easier said than done when I was stuck during the long hours of the night, held tight against her bare breasts while unable to sleep, and my choices were think about how weird Kuchisake was or think about what 'moving onto trials' meant for me.

Still standing in just her underwear, she bent toward the mirror and carefully shaped her eyebrows, coloured her lips a vibrant red, her lashes a long sweeping black and did her best to minimise the scars on either side of her mouth. I sat by the bath, reluctantly admiring the curve of her spine as she arched forward and the lines of her strong legs, while she talked me unnecessarily through how to blend makeup into the skin so that it looked natural.

She smacked her lips together in a light pop and then quirked her lips at me past her reflection.

"How do I look? The lashes aren't too heavy are they?"

"You look lovely, Shion. You always do," I smiled prettily back at her as she beamed at the correct answer.

"Excellent!" She turned around and picked me up as my muscles tightened at the lack of anything she wore on her top half. My lips pressed together and my face contorted in discomfort, but I managed to rearrange my features into something more pleasant before she spotted it.

"Let's get dressed, and put you in something extra cute to make a good impression," she exited the bathroom as she spoke, something simultaneously hesitant and hopeful in her voice that had me instantly wary, "Nagao-taichou would like to see us today, Sweet thing. I know he probably seemed a little scary to you last time, but that's because he has to be very strict to make sure this facility runs as smoothly as possible. So let's make sure we're polite."

My chest seized and my stomach dropped. Fuck, I didn't want to see that man again. Every time I saw him it felt like I was placing my life in hands that were equally as inclined to do nothing as to murder me on a whim.

The only thing I really had going for me with him was that for some reason I was special. But until I knew why exactly he valued me alive, I couldn't manipulate that fact to keep me safe.

A lump formed at the base of my throat, painful to swallow over, while the rest of me went cold and numb. I forced the edges of my lips up into something innocent, but honestly I could barely feel my face enough to tell if I was doing it right.

I mechanically lifted and moved my limbs as Shion dressed me, watching her face while she chatted away like she wasn't about to walk me straight under that bastard's violent gaze. Resentment and contempt built in me toward her in order to combat the overwhelming feeling of helplessness, and for a brief bitter moment as she crouch in front of me to tie my shoes, I considered how perfect the angle was to strike her nose and kill her.

[Breathe]

I shook the thought away, though, and trained my eyes on the locked door to remind myself that I was stuck in this room without someone to let me out. Killing anyone until I had a method of escape was very likely signing my own death. Besides, if I had to choose between killing Shion or Nagao, I'd choose Nagao any day - he was who I was really mad at, Shion was a just a convenient outlet for my fear and anger because she was safer.

"Come on then, sweet thing," Shion popped a hard sweet in her mouth, spit cleaned her fingers and then held her hand out to me. I resisted the urge to stare at it like it was a going to bite me and forced myself to place little fingers in her wet grasp.

My heart pounded in my ears all the way to Nagao's office, but I carefully counted my breaths and kept my face calm.

It was almost anticlimactic to see him open the door, once she knocked, with a relaxed and pleased tint to his mostly impassive expression; it was always the eyes that gave him away - pale blue and intense and fixed with knowing anticipation on Kuchisake.

His gaze flicked up and down her body briefly while we bowed, a satisfied edge to his otherwise blandly polite smile as he calmly welcomed us inside with an open arm. Despite having no other choice, I was reluctant to turn my back to him as I entered the room. Shion showed no qualms in doing so, however, and smiled at him from under her lashes flirtatiously before she walked past.

The door closed behind us, and he took a seat in the chair in front of his desk, leaving us to stand before him. He absently picked up a file from the desk and flicked through it, although I could tell from the lack of eye movement as he did so that he wasn't actually reading what was inside it.

"Medical has finished their examinations of the child, then," he hummed, almost absentmindedly- I wasn't fooled, though. I doubted the man ever did anything absentmindedly when he had an audience.

"Yes, Nagao-taichou. She was very well behaved so they finished a day ahead of schedule," Kuchisake smiled proudly, her hand briefly squeezing mine as though to congratulate me for the shitty accomplishment.

"Good. I'm very pleased. You know I don't enjoy being angry with you, so it always gives me...pleasure to see my faith in your ability to follow instructions rewarded," cold passion briefly seared across his expression when he looked at her, only to be immediately tucked away again.

Shion appeared uncertain at the sight of it, and smiled nervously, "Oh. Yes, that last... mistake - it won't happen again, I-"

"I know," Nagao held a palm up soothingly, "As I've told you, all is forgiven. We've had plenty of pleasant moments together since that unfortunate incident, you would know if I was still displeased over it. There's no need to apologise."

His eyes moved briefly over to me, and I carefully held myself as still as possible while he assessed me calculatingly.

"It will be a few days while medical collates all their results and double checks the dosages most appropriate for her. Now that examinations are over, she's not likely to be needed for such long stretches of time very often. Her physical capabilities are good for her age, but her chakra is where she shows the most promise - I want this developed further by regular exercise."

Dosages. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

Shion shifted slightly, looking discomfited and his lips ticked in cool amusement as he guessed the cause, "I promised she could stay with you. Regardless of whether she's trained or not, the child is yours. Do you doubt my word?"

"No! No, of course not. I just wanted to know if you want her trained with the other children," Kuchisake hastened to assure him.

He waved the question away, "She's too young for that to matter yet. I'll leave the decision up to you."

Shion's shoulders relaxed as gratitude suffused her entire body and she smiled at Nagao like he'd just told her he wanted to gift her the moon... or maybe not the moon if there really was some kind of insane powerful alien woman imprisoned in it with the intention of essentially ending the world.

Nagao seemed content for long seconds to just soak in the sight of Kuchisake's body appreciatively, the longer the moment stretched on the more the air between them changed to a charged and thick sexual tension.

"I have something for you," he abruptly broke eye contact with her, and reached behind him to pick up a dark wooden box with detailed etchings all over it and a pretty looking metal clasp.

Shion raised her eyebrows in surprise as he stood up with the box and walked toward us. Her hand slipped out of my grasp as she met him midway, excitement taking over her features.

"Something for me?" She gasped delicately, eyes pinned to the box in wonder.

"Yes. A token of my regard for you and your efforts this past week to please me," His lips pulled up into small self satisfied smirk as he absorbed every second her reaction without blinking.

He slowly opened the box, revealing a glint of metal to me, but the rest was blocked from my vision. Whatever was inside had Shion cupping her hands to her chest in awe.

"Nagao-taichou... they're beautiful. I love them," her eyes flicked up to him and I saw adoration for him radiate from her, her entire face softened into something that I never wanted to believe was love. Not for him.

But I also saw the way he watched her in return, possessiveness and greed and lust and satisfaction dominating him. For a man like Nagao, that was probably as close to love as he got.

"Let me," he picked two long sharp things up that looked more like feminine-decorated instruments made for stabbing people's eyes out, and placed the box in his pocket

Shion lit up as she turned, and I knew I had all but been forgotten like always seemed to happen when Nagao and Shion were in the room together. With her back to him, Nagao gently but confidently grasped her hair and, with an easy finesse that I was immediately jealous of, twisted it up into a simple style which was then pinned in place with his two gifts.

Kuchisake's hair was unfairly silky and I just knew that the moment those pins were slid out, her hair would cascade down in a stunning display. The pins also very clearly doubled as weapons. Decorative and deadly. It was obvious that Nagao was making a statement about Shion.

I watched Nagao's face over Shion's shoulder as he contentedly assessed the gifts, before his eyes slid down and roved the elegant line of her neck that was now freely accessible to him. His fingertips followed lightly down the path of his eyes and Shion tilted her neck, sucking a breath in as her lids lowered to half mast.

His hand trailed down to her collar bone with a teasing caress as the other slid around her waist to grasp in a proprietary manner. He lowered his lips to her ear, and with avarice clear in his tone and expression, he murmured, "Beautiful."

She released the breath she had been holding, and then immediately sucked another in with a flush high on her cheeks as his fingers slid around the outside of her breast to curve underneath it and over the top of her stomach, holding her tight to him.

I looked forward with a thousand yard stare, averting my gaze from them but still able to see out the corner of my eye and certainly wishing I could be somewhere else. Until that point I was more resigned than uncomfortable - at least he wasn't beating the shit out of her this time.

But then then his mouth explored its way down her neck and she made a humming sound that was indecent with me still present. My tolerance for their actions grew thin as I felt my blood reacting against my will to the sound.

The sound of their combined breaths -increasingly loud, his lips and tongue against her neck, the light scrape of his skin on her clothes when he squeezed the handful of flesh he had in each palm.

The more-pain-than-pleasure tightening in my gut and the tingle of my skin had me gritting my teeth and harshly squeezing my palms together. I hated that I reacted this way to them. This almost but not quite arousal, this over awareness of their actions that had all my senses honed in on them despite my best efforts. I held my breath in fear that if I breathed in I'd be able to smell the creeping scents of sweat and arousal in the air.

Nagao's hand dragged its way quickly down her body to grasp at her hip tightly in my peripheral vision, his other hand lowering slightly so that he held both hips, and then he firmly pulled her back toward him.

The noise they both made when her body made contact with his groin had me biting into my tongue so hard that my eyes watered, my legs locked into place to prevent my running toward the door and uselessly banging on it in the hope that someone would let me out.

To my dismay, my own breaths seemed to quietly match theirs and my lower abdomen tightened to the point that I wanted to curl over and press my hand in the hopes to alleviate the painful discomfort.

He paused, his nose pressed against her neck still, his teeth worrying at the skin slightly and then he gave a sigh that seemed to release the building tension. He pressed a kiss to the dark pink mark on her neck and stepped back, his hands reluctantly releasing their hold on her hips.

"I have a meeting soon, I'm afraid," there was still too much breath in his words for them to be entirely collected, but he was doing a remarkable job otherwise as he easily flattened his hair back into its absurdly neat cut with a single movement of his fingers.

Shion sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, before opening her eyes and turning to him. She didn't seem very disappointed that things had been cut short and I hoped that it was because she'd never intended on going much further with me still stuck in the room.

She smiled understandingly at him, smoothing her clothes down slightly, "Do you want me to come by this evening?"

He nodded with a polite tilt to his lips, but it was easy to see the predatory hunger underneath that, "Yes. After dinner. And wear the hair pins."

He gaze flicked over to me, and I didn't know what I expected to see there: perverse enjoyment that I'd watched perhaps, or maybe surprise that I was still in the room. It was clear to me from his face, though, that he'd never forgotten for a second that I was there... he simply hadn't cared.

I was disgusted at them, but I couldn't help the relief I felt that this wasn't some kind of voyeuristic fetish for him - being watched by young children. It still didn't soothe the fizzing in my blood and the tightness in my gut that I just wanted to go away.

I swallowed, and avoided looking at him - avoided even a glimpse of where I knew an obscene bulge would be - tasting the sweet metallic salt of blood run down my throat from where I'd bitten my tongue and focussing with all my determination on that delicious taste in the hopes that it would calm the rest of my body.

Kuchisake slid over to me, her hips swinging as she did, "Come on then, sweet thing. Let's go and eat some breakfast and then I'll show you the room with all the exercise equipment for children."

I knew that was a cue to bow a respectful goodbye, before we left. As I walked with a hand pressed to my abdomen in a futile attempt at alleviating the horrible sensation, I knew without a doubt that I fucking hated meetings with Nagao.

There was a loaded silence between us as Shion pretended what had just occurred in the room was perfectly normal and I struggled to play along. Desperate to forget what I had seen and heard - not that I could; I could never fully forget anything anymore. It was burned into my memories - I cast my mind about for a distraction.

Luckily I landed on one fairly quickly, as I realised with a jolt that Kuchisake had weapons on her for the first time since I'd met her.

"Shion?" I asked innocently.

"Yes, sweet thing?" She cheerful picked me up and placed me on her hip as she picked up the pace. I was immediately hit with the scent of Nagao on her neck and turned my head with a revolted swallow.

"You're a shinobi, right?" I frowned.

"Correct. I'm a kunoichi," she reach into her pocket with one hand and put a sweet in her mouth with a pleased hum, reminding me uncomfortably of the noise she'd made with Nagao.

"But don't shinobi have blades and things? All the shinobi I've seen always had kunai on them at least. You only have them now because Nagao-taichou gave you some. Nobody here has anything like it."

She tilted her head at me, before giving me an impressed look, "Well done, that's very observant of you, sweet thing. When we aren't on a mission, or part of security, shinobi here keep our dangerous tools locked away together to make sure no one hurts themselves accidentally."

She said it perfectly casually, but I was shocked. In this world, denying a shinobi their basic tools was for when they were arrested or under heavy suspicion. Other than that it just wasn't done. A kunai at hand could be the difference between life and death for a shinobi. Their blades weren't just blades, they were practically comfort blankets for most of them. Hell, they were almost considered a human right.

For such a system to be in place was not only ridiculously controlling, but it sent a message to every shinobi in the facility that their lives were not in their own hands - they were not trusted and they were not free.

"Will you have to put your hair pins with the other dangerous things?" I asked.

"No," she chuckled at me, "Since Nagao-taichou gave them to me himself I'll be fine to wear them whenever I want."

So essentially I was looking at probably the only available shinobi tools in the entire facility. Suddenly Nagao's gift became a lot more important.

"Good," I exclaimed, "I like them, you shouldn't have to put them away."

"Yeah?" She grinned, "Do you think I look nice in them?"

I nodded firmly, "You always look nice, but they make you look like a Hime. You should always wear them. I bet Nagao-taichou will like to see that."

She laughed, visibly flattered at my effusive praise, "Well who am I to argue with that?"

Considering Kuchisake carried me in her arms half the time, as long as she was wearing her hair pins I had equipment within an arms reach that played to my strengths - throwing weapons.

Being shown one of the training rooms for the kids and young teens in the facility, it was immediately obvious the age range of who spent their time in this room. It just smelt of the sweat and oil of children - it was a scent that was impossible to put a word to, but was instantly recognisable.

The place was empty, although there a was a heat and smell to the place that told me it had recently been used. Shion led me in by hand and sat me down on the floor, before she put a sweet in her mouth and then she knelt down in front of me, "This is where you're going to spend a lot of your time from now on, sweet thing. Sometimes I'll be here with you, but most of the time you'll have to supervise yourself. You will also meet some of the other children here when they use the room at the same time as you."

I nodded and asked, "Am I supposed to use the training equipment?"

The available training equipment was sectioned off into different age levels but I could tell immediately that my skill level was more suited to the equipment for the older kids. There were only a few things I'd use in the section that appeared to be designed for those my physical age.

As long as no one was watching me, I'd be able to keep my skills relatively sharp by practicing with the more difficult training equipment. It had been a mounting concern in the back of my mind, which had fed into the smothered anxiety that just seemed to build the longer I was here, that the lack of ability to exercise properly while trapped in our room would lead to my hard earned abilities atrophying to the point that it wouldn't be at the level I needed it to be if I came across chance to escape. I'd been able to stretch and maintain my flexibility, as well as occasionally risk practicing some of the ninjutsu I knew but it was difficult to do more than that.

"For the time being, I only want you to use the equipment I give you permission to. I'll design a training regime based on the results medical gave me about your physical ability - but it will up to you most of the time to make sure you stick to it. That means no trying out anything you might see the older children trying, do you understand sweet thing?" She asked, a hint of firmness in her voice.

I nodded, with no intention of sticking to my agreement.

"Good girl," she bent down and kissed me, leaving a small but revolting smear of saliva on my lips, "I'm going to be teaching you how to make your chakra seem smaller than it is in the next few weeks, but until then we'll keep the exercise light."

[Timing of chakra training suggests that she doesn't want others to see my chakra reserves getting bigger. Why? Increased chakra increases risk of being taken away from her? Regular training and exercise will naturally increase chakra - frozen at one level will give impression of something being wrong with chakra coils to others. Potential risk of being viewed as useless and terminated.]

"But won't they notice my chakra not getting bigger?" I asked with a confused frown.

"Clever girl. Yes, they will - if anyone asks I need you to not tell them about hiding your true chakra reserve. Can you do that for me?" She stroked my face gently and watched me a fondness that always seemed just a bit too intense.

[If outside perception of Sona having faulty chakra coils is no problem, kidnapping could not have been in the hope to create a shinobi. Higher chance of being due to biology - valued as an experiment rather than a weapon. Decreased chance of remaining alive and whole being a long term requirement for Nagao]

I faced with a couple choices and only guesswork as to which was the better one. I could pretend to be unable to make my chakra seem smaller and see how their plans revealed themselves once my chakra began to increase at a faster pace with the regular exercise, or I could tell Shion that I had already begun to be trained to hide my chakra by my tutors back home and had almost succeeded -allowing a much faster time of 'learning' to freeze my chakra levels and facing the consequences of that.

Without a good idea of just why me getting training and increasing chakra was so important, it was an impossible choice to make with any certainty. In the end, I just had to place my faith in Kuchisake being desperately attached to me, and not wanting to me leave her side. I wanted to stay with her for as long as it got me preferential treatment and close proximity to the weapons she wore in her hair.

The news I told her had her in a relatively good mood with me for the next three days as she easily 'finished' teaching me how to make my chakra look smaller than it was, and spent the time she had with me in our room playing shogi (beating me at it, because despite playing it regularly for well over a year now, I was still completely shit) and go with me, reading to me, and started dressing me up and putting makeup on me to look like a 'big girl' as she 'taught' me about fashion and makeup and perfume - all the while often heavily criticising the cosmetic choices of any woman she had ever met.

She wasn't particularly good at keeping her criticisms about other women strictly PG - regularly dipping into harsh comments about their sex appeal and sexual choices, but I carefully pretended that the vast majority of those flew over my head.

Despite my disapproval at some of the topics she chose to share with me, I couldn't deny that I was well distracted during those three days. She always made sure I had something to do, and during the hours I was left to myself in the training room I threw myself into it with a desperately frantic passion as I tried to outrun the fears that grew in the pit of my stomach and to battle my dread with satisfyingly aching muscles. Shion seemed to be equally desperate for distraction during that time, as together we found a strange sort of solace in our combined scared anticipation for the day medical began trials on me.

She held me even closer than usual, stroking and kissing skin as though to reassure herself and me that I was fine. For the first time, I clung back with the same sort fervour, holding her fingers between small fists and hesitantly returning some of the affectionate touches. Sometimes I pressed back when she kissed me, taking comfort in the warm hand that slid up and down arms and legs and back when I tucked my face against her shoulder.

I ignored her almost total nakedness at night when she held me and wrapped little but strong arms around whatever I could in return. I ignored the sweet-spit stained hands leaving bigger streaks. I ignored that I felt the pressure of her lips against mine multiple times every hour, lingering just a fraction longer each time I kissed back in my chase for even fleeting comfort and safety. Even though I knew that the safety she promised me was a lie.

I'm trying to depict the steady degradation of Sonaru's mental well-being and how she's finding ways to cope being trapped in a single room with nothing to do for much of her day and only one person who shows her any kindness, while playing the role of someone who is fine with it all and doesn't know better. She knows this has been set up to make her emotionally need Kuchisake but that doesn't stop it from working - not as effectively or quickly as if she were a child, but it's still working.

What are your thoughts on the boundaries between women and children, whether mother and child or otherwise?

What do you think about the way Kuchisake treats/acts around Sonaru?