The boat ride lasted through the night. Satsuki's plans to find a new home were still under way, but for the time, she decided they would house in her mother's mansion. As much as she hated the building, as it held a terrible past, she had nowhere else to go.

Her elites had announced that they would go to their own homes or futures. Nonon had asked countless times if she would be okay to leave, in which the woman replied with a curt nod and reassurance that she would be okay alone.

Now, as they traveled across the dark ocean, most of the boat's residence had gone off to sleep from the day's troubles, all except Satsuki. She watched the sleeping blonde across from her, relaxed and unmoving. Nonon and Soroi had since fallen asleep, and she thought Rei had also joined them.

"Satsuki..." A voice, barely above a whisper broke out beside her, and the shorthaired woman looked to her right. Rei was sitting up, her arms wrapped around her legs.

"What is it, Rei?" Satsuki asked calmly, and the woman rose to her feet, stumbling a bit from the boat's uneven balance. She joined the woman next to her, sitting as she watched Nui sleep.

"What's really going to happen to her?" Rei asked.

"Pardon?"

"She had done so much bad, I would've thought she would have been executed by now. It's been at least a few weeks since the final battle," Rei turned to Satsuki. The woman's eyes narrowed, staring at the blonde.

"She's different,"

"How so?"

"She is not the same Harime Nui we had all come to fear, Rei. Both you and I know that because we grew up with her. She would have tried to kill someone by now, even with the lack of arms," Satsuki replied, and Rei looked away, thinking over her words. Silence fell over them, save that of the boat's motor as it continued through the water.

"What will happen now?"

"I'll keep her from her trial as long as I can. In that time, I'm going to try to prove to everybody that she had changed, and deemed a safe person," Satsuki answered and Rei nodded.

"Thank you," Rei then said, and Satsuki blinked, looking to her. She stayed silent, but was confused.

"She's the last person I really have in this world. All I've ever known, and your willing to give us both a second chance," Rei murmured. Satsuki's gaze softened and she smiled.

"That's what nonsensical people do,"

Upon arrival to her mother's mansion, she invited her elites to stay the night, but they all refused her offer. After explanation, they said that they needed to tart making way to their own futures. After a tearful goodbye, she watched them drive away, her face stern and hard, but on the inside, she wanted to break down.

"Lady Satsuki, please, let me bandage the wound on your neck," She heard Soroi behind her, and she obliged in his offer, now coming to realize that it did hurt. The blood had since dried, but the wound itself was still open.

Nui had been escorted into the mansion alongside Rei, the bare girl overlooking her old home. Here, she had grown up with Rei and Satsuki, although, she was much more isolated from the two so that she could be trained to kill. In that moment, she felt her blood run cold as she thought back to her past. Raygo had not treated her the same, in fact, probably more like a toy or pet than a human.

Rei had led her to a master bedroom, letting the blonde sit on the neatly tidy bed as the other woman went to go search for some clothes for her. Nui gazed around the room, feeling old memories start to come back to her.

"It's just a part of growing up, Nui. You must kill to get your way,"

"Don't fret, little one. I will make you feel so much better..."

"Nui?" Her eye snapped open when she heard Rei's voice break through her memories. Standing before her, the woman had a folded clothes in her arms.

"This is all I could find that would fit you," Rei replied, and Nui blinked. Of course, with her lack of arms, many of the outfits could not fit to her shape.

After a few minutes, with Rei's help, Nui was dressed in something a bit less revealing. A sleeveless, loose shirt and loose pants. It didn't fit her type of style at all, but she didn't care anymore. She was no longer cold, and was finally covered up.

Satsuki walked in a few moments later, dressed in a robe, her neck covered in bandages. She blinked when she saw Nui dressed in some normal clothes, but her gaze was soft, giving off no threatening vibes.

"It's best if we all get to bed. There's only a few hours left of the night, and we could all use some sleep after the day we've had," Satsuki spoke, and both woman agreed with her...

Nui lay in the bed that night, looking up at the ceiling. For all her worth, she could not sleep. She had tried, but had failed miserably. The memories from her past were starting to haunt her.

In all her life, she had never thought of them as bad. Now, she was slowly coming to realize that maybe that it was completely wrong. Raygo had always told her things that maybe weren't true. The deceased woman was mutilating, controlling, and overall, abusive.

How had she not seen it before?

Now that Raygo was gone, and Nui was freed from her grasp, she was finally coming to realize how abused she felt.

Had the other two felt this way?

In that moment, she couldn't stop her tears as they started spilling over, streaming down her cheeks. She rolled to the side, her tears staining the pillow.

Eventually, she cried herself to sleep...

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