Hiya guys!
So… I got some satisfactory reviews, and I must say that I am VERY ECSTATIC and touched. :`)
I would like to thank the following reviewers for giving me positive feedback, as well as inspiring me to make my 'supposedly-one-shot-fanfic' into a series:
Liz
SilverSapphire34523
Nyu (Oh, and thanks for the suggestion! I have actually used it, and I hope you find it acceptable. XD)
Sol
Your reviews were enough for me to push through with the story. Arigatou gozaimasu! This chapter's dedicated to y'guys. ^-^
Without further ado, here's the second chapter of A Different Kind of Torture!
CHAPTER TWO
Red String
Aki's eyes lightened up, returning to the twinkle they had a while back. She jumped in delight and rushed over to him, giving a bear hug in the process. "Yay! Thank you, finally I have a roommate! Goodness knows when my parents will be coming back. They haven't contacted me for a year already you know." She happily said, hugging Feitan as if he was a teddy bear.
Oh boy how different this experience is for Genei Ryodan's torturer— a different kind of torture.
She has just crossed the line.
And now she's digging for her own grave.
It taboo to hug, let alone touch, Feitan. Even his comrades from the Genei Ryodan are wary of hugging the small and huggable (well, he does look like an adorable little plush toy in his Pain Packer suit after all) torturer. And now, Aki is currently stepping over the boundaries of "being barely safe from Feitan's unmerciful killing and wrath".
As soon as her hands connected together from the hug, the next thing she knew, her world suddenly turned topsy-turvy; and now she was pinned down, her back pressing hard against the floor.
Grey eyes were glaring at her from the side; his right hand seemingly sharpened, ready to slit her throat, while both of her arms were placed above her head, her hands pressed down by the handle/hilt of his umbrella-like weapon. Feitan's body was strangely at a distance away from her.
"Touch me again and I kill you."
Aki gulped while a vein popped on her forehead, annoyed at his sudden assault. Despite the fear welling up inside her system, her pride and anger still got the better of her.
"Well pin me down again and I'm throwing you out of my house!" She shrieked, scowling at her assaulter.
Feitan's right eye twitched, feeling ready to kill and half-amused at the girl's audacity to pull a threat at him despite the current circumstances. He was honestly very, very, tempted to break her fingers then and there, and skin her alive as he enjoyed the pleasures of her agonizing screams of pain.
However, that idea was thrown out the window once he realized that this girl might be useful, no matter how he was severely close to ending her life and claiming the house to himself while looking for answers alone.
'But I could always use own methods for girl to help me'. His mind silently snickered at the thought.
Before he knew what he was doing, instinct got the better of him. His right hand soon left her throat and moved to her right arm, yanking it roughly. Without further warning too, he proceeded to break the said arm.
A sharp pain rapidly entered Aki's brain as soon as she heard the cracking sound emitted from her once good arm. However, her pride got the better of her as she gritted her teeth, mustering all of her willpower to not let out even a silent yelp of pain. Oh no, she wasn't going to give what he was expecting. Instead, she diverted her attention by glaring daggers at Feitan, silently wishing that her glares could have the strength of inflicting pain at the said male.
And much to Feitan's dismay, no sound of pain, let alone a whimper, was heard from the brunette woman.
'You mustn't scream. You mustn't scream. You mustn't scream. Dammit Aki, just shut your mouth as tight as you can, keep it up. You should never give him what he wants.' Aki coached herself, chanting the newly formed 'mantra' of hers over and over again while still glaring at Feitan.
Feitan scowled and let go of her now broken arm. His attention suddenly turned to the pot of curry that was now making a bubbling sound.
Aki groaned at the sound of the noise; she was honestly VERY unwilling to be a nice person and serve him food, after all that he has done to her. Her broken arm was simply unforgivable.
However, Aki's self preservation instincts were on overdrive right now, and thought it best to try to be as calm and nonchalant as possible.
At least until she tried to think of a way to get on his good side and hopefully kick him out eventually.
She slowly stood up while trying to put on a brave face, her right arm limping on the side, whilst Feitan observed her closely, suspicious of what she might try to pull off. She gritted her teeth at the pain, but proceeded to repeatedly chant her mantra in her mind.
'You are as calm as a flowing stream. You are as light as a leaf dancing with the wind.'
Then she started to talk in a sweet and annoyingly high-pitched voice.
"Well that was quite… an experience. Anyways, as you are a guest and I am your supposedly-gracious host, I shouldn't keep you hungry, should I?" 'I could actually poison you for all the hell that I care.' She silently added in her mind.
Feitan swiftly stood up and followed her to the stove, his eyes suspicious at what has become of the food she was cooking.
"What you doing?" he stonily asked, his hands twitching, ready for another round of torture.
Aki rolled her eyes, thankful that her back was facing Feitan, or else both her eyes might be gouged out, by which she wouldn't want her cerulean-blue irises losing its shine as it fell on the floor.
"I'm preparing your lunch, or our lunch rather, Dear Sir. Don't worry; the curry I'll be serving is far from poisonous, let alone tasteless. I treasure my life dearly, thank you very much." She said in that same high-pitched voice, cold sweat slowly trickling down her nape. Her gut feeling had told her that she just made a wrong move.
Enough was enough for Feitan. Being the natural torturer he is, he suddenly grasped Aki's broken arm roughly after getting irked by Aki's response, putting more than enough pressure on the crack in her bone.
Aki, who has 80% of her attention to the mouth-watering smell of chicken curry, was not physically and mentally prepared to withstand the pain. She gave out a yelp of pain and surprise.
"OUCH! Sonuva—" she suddenly bit her tongue, wary of getting another pain session. "—Sonuvaly! I mean, so lovely! The weather is so lovely today." She hastily added while trying to stare out the window in front of her, her sweet, singing voice was now forced.
Feitan scowled at the girl, clearly annoyed by her seemingly happy disposition; it ticked him to the point that made him go into thinking, 'screw going back to my world, let's just kill her instead'.
He had to muster up every inch of miniscule patience and will power he had left in order to not further incapacitate the poor girl.
'Saving this bitchy little incarnation of all evil was the worst mistake I've made my whole life' Aki angrily thought, mentally banging her head on a wall as she continued to shakily transfer the food from the pot to the two bowls she got from the cupboard using her left hand— a non-dominant hand at that.
She then placed the two curry-filled bowls on the table; one for her, and another one for Feitan, which was placed across hers.
After another two long minutes of merely getting a pitcher of cold water from the fridge and two glasses, she sat down and started eating, trying to ignore Feitan glaring daggers at her.
But that silent staring-and-ignoring contest didn't last long.
"Uhm…" Aki awkwardly started, "The curry bowl will get cold if you don't start eating it you know."
Feitan shifted his infuriated gaze from Aki towards the bowl in front of him; the bowl that was apparently called, 'Chicken Curry'.
Aki gulped when he didn't respond, finally deciding to just concentrate on finishing her curry. No words were still exchanged even though she was finished and stood up to put her now curry-free bowl, glass and utensils to the dishwasher.
In all honesty, Aki couldn't take the tense atmosphere anymore.
"I don't want to be rude to you, but I'm going upstairs for a while if you don't mind. I also have to put my… er, chocolates in the fridge. So I'll be heading on. I... hope you enjoy the food." Aki cautiously said as grey eyes were glaring daggers at her again. She proceeded to walk out, but before getting out of the kitchen, she turned her head over her shoulder and added, "Oh and if you're done eating, you could just put the bowl, glass, and utensils over there in the dishwasher please, thanks."
Feitan heard her scurry from the living room back to the kitchen, hastily putting her purchases in the fridge before briskly walking up the stairs to her room.
It was quiet once again; there was a deafening silence between Feitan and the curry bowl before him.
He continued to glare at it, suspicious that it would suddenly come to life and eat the daylights out of him whole. He was on the verge of throwing it out the window, or at Aki's face rather, to spite the girl; but then he heard his stomach rumble at the savory scent of the chicken curry.
He cursed himself and everyone that came to mind as he was running towards of the decision of finally eating the curry; his stomach grumbled again in response.
A minute after, he was wolfing down the whole meal.
Even after finishing the meal, he was still hungry. He eyed the curry pot by the stove, and without further warning, swiftly went to the pot and served himself another bowl.
One bowl. Two bowls. Three bowls.
After thirty minutes of being left alone in the kitchen, the whole pot of chicken curry and rice in the rice cooker was free from any particle of food.
"Hey Shal, have you seen Feitan?"
Phinks was wondering at what has happened to his comrade and partner; it has been almost a day since he was last seen. His victim, the man he had interrogated, was left in the torturing room bleeding, his body shriveled up due to the effect of his nen skill.
Shal looked up from the game he was playing, his eyes with a hint of worry. "I don't know. He must've gone out to get more Trevor Brown books or something.
Phinks raised a non-existent eyebrow at Shal's response and wondered himself where Feitan could be. But then again, he thought that Feitan was one who didn't like telling to people where he goes and whatnot, so he decided to ignore the nagging feeling that was gradually growing inside him.
Machi, on the other hand, was not too keen on ignoring the fact the their official torturer was seemingly missing. Her intuition led her to the thought of Feitan actually missing.
"I think Feitan's missing."
Phinks turned to her, and proceeded to ask her. "How d'you say so?"
Machi simply shrugged. "Dunno, instinct."
Shalnark, his attention now fully away from the game, finally decided on a bet.
"Then let's bet on when Feitan will come back to headquarters. I bet he'll be back tomorrow."
Phinks boisterously laughed. "That's a half-assed bet. Well I bet he'll be back by midnight."
Machi stayed silent for a while, before fully putting her trust on her intuition.
"I bet that he may never come back."
The stars were now shining brightly on the indigo-colored sky; several hours have passed since Aki has spoken to Feitan and ate lunch. She was also already done putting a sling on her right arm.
'I might need to have this checked at the hospital tomorrow, it still hurts as fuck.' Aki grimly thought, cringing at the reminder of the hospital.
And she really hated hospitals. Probably next in line to how she hated bland answers.
She sighed as she attempted to remember the events that had occurred this day; it was actually a roller-coaster ride for her, since everything that she experienced today was totally new to her. In the back of her mind, she cursed luck for playing games with her. But then again, there was this small twinge of thinking that there must be a reason for this happening, that maybe fate decided to tell her which direction to go to, which way to pursue.
She was half-tempted to go back downstairs to check up on Feitan and arrange him with room accommodation, but her head was pounding like mad from the headache she developed, let alone the pain in her broken arm was making her feel so weak.
"Bah. I think he'll figure out his way around the house sooner or later; it'll also be safer for me to leave him to his devices right now. I honestly don't wanna suffer another round of torture from that brat, or teen… or ugh, however old he is." Aki sarcastically stated, glaring at the midnight blue ceiling above her, painted with silver stars that seemed to look like the night sky itself.
She silently wished that everything was back to the way it was a year prior to the present; life was far much easier back then.
She turned her head to the study table on her right and sadly smiled at the photo frame of herself with her parents under a sakura three, which was taken roughly three years ago.
"Ne, tou-san, kaa-chan, what would you do if you were in my position?"
A/N: So… that's it for the second chapter!
What do you think will happen next? Will Machi actually win the bet?
Reviews, comments, and suggestions are very much appreciated, thank you.