A/N: I've been in a very good mood lately, and I felt very inspired to write. So… I now present to you the third chapter of A Different Kind of Torture~ Enjoy!

CHAPTER THREE

Nightmare

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?"

While Aki fell asleep in her room, Feitan was still roaming around Aki's house, inspecting every nook and cranny with suspicion. Everything around him seemed so familiar, yet so different.

'Like Yorkshin' he silently thought as he took notice of the large flat screen TV that was placed on the wall. He turned to his left as he caught his own reflection in an antique half-body mirror, awkwardly taking in his features. As his eyes trailed down to the vanity table placed underneath the mirror, he caught sight of different kinds of jewels: some diamonds, some ruby, some sapphire; almost every jewel you could think of are extravagantly displayed. But what caught his attention the most was a Gothic cross pendant engraved with onyx stones; connected to it was a key pendant in the same fashion. His natural thief instincts triggered as he swiftly pocketed the cross pendant.

After getting fed up in inspecting the first floor, he decided to go upstairs, stopping in front of Aki's room. He contemplated whether to wake the poor girl and demand answers now or just leave it for the morning; well, he did more than enough damage to Aki, so it would be cruel of him to give her more pain.

But this is Feitan we're talking about.

He decided to demand answers now and just get it over with, and when he was about to open Aki's room, he suddenly hesitated for a minute, remembering how annoyingly dangerous the girl can be, considering how she fearlessly threw her arms around him and even gave him threats, let alone she was even blunt and sarcastic to him, despite the subtle fear her eyes were giving away. But at the same time, it also somehow amused him that she was the first person he came across who seemed so peculiar; the first person who didn't make a sound in one of his torture "sessions".

But then again, spiting the girl wouldn't be too much trouble for Feitan. And his blood lust for torture was creeping up his system with want.

He sent out a blast of his Nen and directed it at Aki, wanting to see if she'll wake up from fear. But as he opened the door, a pillow smacked him hard right in the face instead; everything happened so suddenly that he wasn't able to dodge the poor pillow, which in as a result of his surprise and annoyance, was swiftly turned into shreds before the clumps of feather and broken cloth fell down on the floor.

Annoyed at what has transpired and partly embarrassed at the same time, he swiftly went inside and woke up the girl by roughly grabbing her neck, glaring at her as she continued to sleep… and drool.

Feitan's eyes both twitched with disgust as Aki's drool slowly ebbed down his hand as he was grabbing her neck. It was a surprise to him that the girl still wouldn't wake up despite the rapid oxygen loss she might be experiencing right now.

Not satisfied, he tried injuring her broken arm; but still to no avail. The only movement Aki did was to lamely attempt to regain her oxygen and pull the covers up closer to her body, snuggling under a big plush toy.

After five minutes of ineffective torture…

"Stupid woman" Feitan angrily muttered as he let go of the girl's neck, finally giving up. It actually annoyed him to no end to discover that there was one living person who could not only withstand his painful methods, but also knew how to push the right buttons to make him go mad— and to think that Feitan almost never gets mad, at least not as mad as Phinks or Nobunaga. After giving the girl one last cold glare, he disappeared through Aki's window in a blur.

'Aki…'

'Aki run…'

'Aki.'

'AKIRA YOU SHOULD START RUNNING NOW!'

Aki woke up with a jump, feeling her heartbeat race erratically as she tried to replay the dream that was on her mind for days now. She dreamt of being in a dark room with nothing to see; it felt hard for her to breathe as she tried to remove the hands that were strangling her. But then as she was about to faint from loss of oxygen, someone miraculously relieved her of her pain and started screaming for her to run, even calling her by her real name.

Yes, her real name was actually Akira. But she thought that it was a name that was too masculine for her despite the tomboy she is, so she always stuck with the name 'Aki'.

The dream still continued to play in her mind; it was the similar to the past dreams she had for days now, but the only difference was that this time, the dream felt so real.

Finally waking up from her trance-like state, she glanced at the wall clock across her bed.

"It's 6AM. I guess I just woke up in time." She yawned and stretched her left arm before finally getting up, sloppily making the bed in process, due to her broken arm. Surprisingly, despite her tomboyish attitude, she was somewhat a neat freak. She really hated getting things out of place; not a single dirty particle was spared by her radar for pathogenic microorganisms.

And that was the reason why she really freaked out and shrieked in horror upon seeing one of her pillows torn to shreds, scattered on the floor.

She swiftly took out her mini broom and dustpan under her bed and started sweeping away expertly with one hand alone, ready to throw it into the bin once she got downstairs.

Her left hand magically becomes as comfortable as her right whenever it comes to cleaning.

Three words were stonily said by the girl as she was done sweeping, opening the door.

"Feitan you jerk."

While Aki was preoccupied in deciding how to approach and scold the culprit who torn her pillow to shreds, Feitan was doing his own 'business' somewhere in a dark alley not too far from Aki's house.

"Tell me how to go back York Shin." Feitan coldly said as he was slowly removing the nails of his newly-found male victim one by one.

"I-I-I ddd-don't know! P-please spare me it hurts. I-I already told you I ff-fucking don't know!" He yelped in pain, trying to pry off Feitan's hands away from him. But all he got instead was a now-amputated hand.

"You no answer you suffer more."

"I REALLY DON'T KNOW! T-THERE'S NO Y-YORKSHIN IN JAPAN! AUGH!"

Feitan twitched as he learned that he wouldn't be getting any more decent answers from the man. With a disappointed 'tsk', he bashed the man's head on the garbage-clad cement floor, cracking his skull open and spilling out his brain mixed with blood, particles of grey matter scattered as is they were petals of sakura flowers blown from the trees.

"I really am lost and in different world." He annoyingly said to himself as he walked away, the man's blood forming a thin trail from his dripping hands.

His thoughts started to dwell on his fellow comrades. By now they would have most likely realized that he was indeed, missing. It's already the second day since he arrived in this unknown place, which means that he is most likely missing for two days now.

Feitan was used to being alone; he actually enjoyed being in solitude, although he didn't protest whenever he and Phinks are partnered up during missions. And on most times, he would get annoyed at his comrades whenever they pestered him to join them in whatever they were doing during their free time. He once remembered Nobunaga giving him the cold shoulder just because he wouldn't participate in his supposedly-called 'birthday party'.

He actually suggested doing a killing spree as celebration instead.

He didn't want to admit it, but there was something in him that made him somehow miss the companionship of the Genei Ryodan. And being in this different world made him realize how he actually considered them as people whom he can fully trust, people who would accept him for who he really is, despite their differences. All he wanted was to come back.

But then again, here he was… in a world he was so unfamiliar with. He felt so alone, and was frustrated at that mere fact. He gritted his teeth as he tried to come up with an answer, wondering how he could get back to the world he originally was in— the world where his comrades were, for he was sure as hell that he wouldn't be getting any answers here; nor would he be able to get any answers from Aki.

"OH DARN AKI WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! WHEN D'YOU GET HURT?!" Momo, Aki's best friend, frantically asked while walking around her, inspecting other possible places she might have gotten hurt, aside from her broken arm that is.

Aki, on the other hand, was having cold sweats, embarrassed at the scene her best friend was trying to make. She sighed as she started to walk towards her seat, silently wishing that the ground would just swallow her up whole and put her out of her misery.

"Momo-chan, there's no need to worry about this arm. I'm tough, remember? A broken arm is hardly a problem for me you know." Aki chided, smiling. 'True, a broken arm is hardly a problem for me. A far more prioritized problem of mine would be that violent little devil that will most likely be back home once school ends'. She grimly thought, sending curses at Feitan, desperately wishing that her mental threats would actually hurt him from far away.

'Speaking of Feitan, I wonder where he is right now. He was nowhere to be found when I got downstairs a while ago. But it's a good thing he actually listened to me and put his dishes in the dishwasher. I definitely would flip if he didn't.'

"—ki"

Aki was still tuned out of reality by her thoughts as she contemplated on what to do.

"…Aki"

She started to cringe at the thought of having to go to the hospital this afternoon to have her arm checked.

"A-k-i-?!"

'Ah, such a pain' She mused in her mind; she really hated hospitals.

"AKI! EARTH TO AKI HELLO?!"

"Eh?"

Momo flicked her forehead in response. "You were spacing out again, dummy."

"Ouch that hurts, you meanie!" Aki cursed, rubbing her aching forehead; it most probably had a red mark by now, if only it weren't for the fringe that was covering it.

"Yeah yeah, I just wanna know if you'd like me to accompany you to the hospital later on. I know you hate hospitals and all, but we really must have that arm checked." Momo lowered her voice into a gentle tone, a far cry from her hysterics a while back.

Aki smiled at her best friend, touched at the gesture. Momo was actually one of the very few people who knew about her secret. Through thick and thin, the girl has always been there for her despite the circumstances.

"No thanks, Momo. You still have kendo practice later on right? I can perfectly manage on my own." Aki beamed, letting out a toothy grin.

Momo stuck out her tongue. "Yeah, I do. And unluckily for you, you won't be able to attend practice because of that arm of yours."

Aki rolled her eyes and started to shoo Momo away once classes have started.

This was going to be a very long day.

Classes have ended, and Aki was grudgingly walking her way towards the hospital; all she wanted to do was to attend kendo practice with Momo, but no… here she was, on her way to the place she hated the most.

"Fucking fuck if only I didn't save that bastard or whatever he is, this wouldn't have happened to me." Aki grumbled, kicking a stray stone in the process.

This has been the worst day for Aki so far; in class she had to endure the curious and pitying looks of her classmates, eyeing the sling on her arm. At lunch, because she was clumsy with only her left hand to maneuver everything she used to do with her right, her bowl of ramen fell on her school uniform, earning a few dirty stares from the perverted upperclassmen of school.

And now she was wondering what she did wrong to not have the normal love story every teenaged girl like her should have.

"Darn, Taka. Why won't you just answer the damned phone?" Aki sighed, getting annoyed by the continuous beeping sound her phone was giving off as she entered the hospital doors.

Taka and Aki have been going out for three months now, but within those three months, never had she experienced a proper date with her boyfriend, let alone meeting up with him for even once a week.

He was actually a sophomore in Tokyo University, taking up Literature— one of the reasons why Aki was so keen on getting accepted at the said university, so she could spend time with him more.

Well, if he wasn't going to make the effort to do so, then she'll make a way herself, she always thought.

But then again, sometimes, in the back of her mind, she wondered why she dated him in the first place if he wouldn't make an effort to make their relationship work.

After calling him fifteen times without any answering from the other party, she sighed and gave up as she went towards the examination room.

As soon as she opened the doors, a bespectacled middle-aged woman smiled warmly at her.

"Why hello, Miss Asada. You're here for an appointment regarding your arm, am I right?" She asked, gesturing on her sling.

Aki nodded and anxiously sat on the examination table once she was prodded by the doctor to do so.

She winced as the doctor started inspecting her arm, mentally cursing the raven-haired man over and over again.

"My, that is quite an arm we have here. I must commend you for not giving out a sound right now, it must be very painful." The doctor frowned, before heading to the phone to call in the nurse.

Aki fiddled with her fingers, forcing herself to look calm. She really hated hospitals (A/N: How many times has this been stressed out? Kidding), and now she's really hating it as soon as she listened to the doctor who started explaining to her that she would have to do an x-ray and have her arm properly bandaged.

After a grueling two hours of annoyance and pain, it was now night time.

She felt too tired and drained this day that all she wanted to do was to sleep right away as soon as she got home; she was administered medications and her broken arm now felt less pain due to the proper treatment it received. She felt sick from setting foot at a hospital, which made her tempted to bathe herself in alcohol just to remove the gruesome memories it possesses.

'Akira. Run, run away now! Don't look back!'

'But…'

'NO! YOU MUSTN'T STAY HERE! RUN AWAY. NOW!'

'But wait, you might get killed if you won't run away too. Please don't leave me alone…'

'No, one of us has to live, child. And I'm really sure that this time it's gotta be you'.

Tears continued to slowly trickle down Aki's face as she silently wept in her dreams, the same dream she's been having for days, or rather, a week now.

Aki has never looked so fragile and breakable than the expression she's having on right now, curled up in a fetal position. It felt as if one single touch would break her completely.

And unbeknownst to the girl, a certain someone was solemnly watching her sleep, delighted at the pain and agony she's unconsciously showing.

A/N: Third chapter, done!

Baller2.0: I am glad that you enjoyed the story, hihi and yes I actually find Aki amusing, because of her guts. Thank you for the review! I definitely would be continuing this story. :D

Melon Massacre: Thank you! Will do. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

Nyu and Sol: Thanks y'guys! You both are really a motivation for me to write. :`)

Guest: Haha! Who knew Feitan would like Aki's cooking? (Although I'm pretty sure he would never admit it). And Aki seems really nice if she did that. But then again… you'll never know. XD

Comments, reviews, suggestions, criticisms and whatnot are very much accepted and highly appreciated, thanks. I'm actually a sucker for reviews. ^^

~ Juuno