"Get up! It's time for morning training and there's a potential buyer interested in seeing you perform today!" Rei's eyes opened to find daylight streaming in through her cell's window. Morning…on the day of the escape. She had to fight hard not to let any of the excitement reach her face as Shoka opened the door, moving over to her and unlocking the manacles that held her up. He let her drop to the floor and then tossed her usual bundle at her feet. A few moments later, she was stepping out into the arena and the bright sun, clad in her shihakushou and wearing her daichou at her side. The sounds of clashing blades were already to be heard as the several gladiators owned by their master fought back and forth in the morning sun.
Rei hadn't seen her new owner that often. The only time she'd met him close up was the day he'd come to purchase her from her home. After the many other things she'd experienced since then, her memories of him had become faint and distant though the few distinctive facts were that he had been a shinigami of the Gotei 13…and he'd been a scary man. Just standing near him had made her shiver and need to run and hide. It was just another thing that made her fearful of trying to escape…what would happen when their owner caught her. Whatever harm Shoka and his guys had done to her, she had a feeling it would be nothing in comparison to what would happen to her when that man came after her.
The slaves were clustered around a pair of fighters. Between the heads and shoulders of the gladiators, she made out the figure of Reiko Hayashi. Among the slave fighters, he was meant to be the best, a strong figure whom the others looked up to. Even Rei felt some...connection to him as he extended a hand of assistance to her from day to day. She'd drawn in on herself and refused to open up to him but she'd acknowledged it was there. Another one who'd noticed her, thought of her as more than just an object to be bought, sold or used. As Rei watched the dark haired young man fight, she noticed something odd. The look on his face, the wild nature of his defense...he was losing.
Pushing her way through the ring to stand on the edge of the fight, she found the figure of someone else familiar who she hadn't expected to see either. Long dark hair whipped around as dark, cold eyes flickered from focusing on Reiko to her face, recognition flashing in them. That girl... The one she'd spared the other day. As if spurred on by this, the girl slashed wide with greater force than before. Reiko's posture reflected his surprise as a heavy blow threw him back. Then another and another, both the girl's blades slashing away at his guard, cutting deep notches into his katana. Then it was ripped from his hands and a return stroke opened up his chest, dropping him to the ground in a bloody mess. The girl's eyes once again flashed to Rei as she inverted her katana, raising it over her head and stabbing it down for his chest. No...!
Blood splashed across the sand. Rei looked up from beneath her bare forearm where the girl's katana had cut across the skin, the blood dripping from the blade above her head where she'd redirected the attack. Rei's hand snapped out, closing like a vice around the other girl's wrist, pushing the blade away from her, eyes locked with the other's. Behind her, she could hear the shallow breathing of Reiko. So he was still alive. She needed him to help get her out of this place. She spoke through gritted teeth, addressing the enemy facing her. "Don't..."
"Oh dear... If you don't mind, I have business to finish with that boy. Unlike some people, I intend to finish my fights properly. Though it seems you're not going to stand aside. I hope you're not going to make this as difficult as last time."
The girl grinned. Her second blade flashed upwards but it stopped dead, caught by Rei's katana, suddenly in her hand. Rei's wakazashi lashed out in her other hand, opening a line across the girl's stomach. That didn't erase the grin on her face, taunting and malicious. She stepped back from Rei, taking a stance. The other gladiators backed up, leaving them even more room to fight in, afraid to step into the range of their blades. Rei raised her own weapons, katana held before her and aimed towards the girl's heart, wakazashi behind, poised to slash down when the opportunity presented itself.
If this girl was trying to ruin her way out...she'd die. She'd been merciful once. It'd been the choice between letting a defeated opponent to live or die with no further consequences for her. But while this girl was trying to kill Reiko, the man who could get her out of this place, she wouldn't allow it. Freedom is too close...
Rei attacked first this time, katana stabbing forward, anticipating the parry and immediately rotating on the spot and rolling into the girl's katana reach and slashing to open up her stomach. Without warning, a foot kicked into the back of her knee, dropping her as a blade cut for her neck. She flipped backwards, letting it cut over her nose, a few strands of hair that were too slow in following her head down fluttering away in the wind. Even as she landed, a sandaled foot was driven into her stomach, throwing her backwards. Crashing down in a cloud of dust, Rei rolled aside as a katana was driven into the sand where she'd been a moment before, a rolling kick hurling her aside again as the girl landed before her.
"Shit...bitch." Rei snarled as she came up to her feet, raising her wakazashi in time to stop a decapitating strike, punching her katana forward in a furious stab for the girl lunging after her. She slashed upwards with both blades again, throwing her back and then unleashed blow after blow that rang around the arena like heavy hammer falls. A blade opened up her cheek, blood splashing out again across her shihakusho but she ignored it as she drove onwards, slashing wildly in a web of metal.
"Not this time. Going to have to do better than that." The girl grinned still wider as her twin blades cut wide, knocking Rei's attacks aside and driving her blade for her gut. Rei raised her wakazashi to intercept but the tip of the approaching blade slipped around her guard and buried into her gut. She threw herself back to minimise the damage but blood began to run freely from the wound, soaking her left hand as she dropped her wakazashi and clutched at her side. A fist to the face and her vision swam, a following slash spinning her away. Rei collapsed in a heap, still clinging to her katana as she struggled to rise.
I can't...lose... Her vision was blurring, burning with a red tinge as she looked up through her sweat-soaked fringe at the advancing girl. Her hand closed on her katana and she dived forward, slashing for her, faster than before with more force behind the blade. It was parried as she slashed again and again, left then right with hammer-like blows. She snarled, teeth bared as she kept on going, hacking away, broken metal shards flying off the girl's blades as she blocked each attack as they came. The wind seemed to suddenly roar in her ears as she raised her katana over her head, letting out a scream of rage as she cut downwards, both hands cutting down to bisect the girl's head in two.
Then the girl was no longer there, hammering a kick into her stomach as she reappeared at her left side, an upper cut with the katana opening another bloody line across her chest, flipping her away, Rei's last second attempt to evade stopping her from spilling her guts all over the arena floor. Rei lashed out on instinct but the girl leapt, twisting in the air and landing behind her. She whipped around, katana at neck height but the girl stopped her arm with a kick to her wrist, then the heel of her palm driven under chin, hurling her backwards. She rolled onto her front, starting to push herself onto all fours but another blunt blow across her spine dropped her back down. Rei kept a grip on her blade, snarling into the sand. "Bitch..."
A foot stamped down on her hand, bone cracking. Her hand opened and the katana kicked away. A sandaled foot was pressed on her face, pushing it into the dirt. She was blacking out. "Who...are you?"
"Yugito Kosaka. Your replacement." Then the girl stabbed downwards, aiming to bury her katana through Rei's spine.
Then the blade stopped, pinched between the fingers of a black-clad figure. Rei found herself looking up at the dark hakama of the man identified as a shinigami who was often hanging around. Yugito looked around, eyes widening in surprise even as she drew back her wakazashi. In the blink of an eye, she was flying away, struck by an impossibly fast fist that hurled her bodily backwards to collapse several metres away. The man's fist gripped the front of Rei's shihakushou, holding her suspended in the air as he inspected her. She could feel his scrutiny through her half-daze, feeling the urge to attack him too but some kind of pressure holding her paralyzed in his grip. Sweat ran down her brow, her palms becoming clammy in her gauntlets.
"Yes...this one will do too. Tell your master we'll purchase these two after the final test. For now, take them to the infirmary and get them patched up. My master will not be pleased if they die before we can purchase them."
--
"So you're awake then...?"
Rei blinked groggily, struggling back to consciousness at the sound of the unknown voice. Her shoulders were bare, her shihakushou removed though bandages were wrapped around her torso and arms where her injuries had been patched up to a far better degree than Kaoru had ever managed. They were giving her better treatment, maybe in preparation of selling her off. It didn't matter... One master was as bad as another and she was not going to remain a slave any longer. She shook her head, trying to clear her vision to find herself in one of the other chambers usually reserved for the slavers, not the slaves, more sanitary and some measure of comfort. She pulled herself upright, which was difficult to do with her wrists chained to her bed to stop her running off. Sighing, she slumped back in her bed. "Yes..."
"Well that's a good thing. Apparently they want to purchase us as a package deal so if you died, well then..." She definitely recognised that voice. The black form before her resolved into the figure of Yugito Kosaka, the girl who'd put her in this place, sitting upright in another bed, also chained down. The malicious grin on her face was gone, replaced with a more cheerful and passive expression. Somehow, Rei couldn't see it as a trick and couldn't feel the killing urge she'd had before while fighting in the arena.
Rei frowned, staring up to at the ceiling. "You know...you're a lot of less of a bitch suddenly. What's changed?"
"I'm not really that bad. It's mostly for show. Back at my owner...my 'previous' owner's place, you had to be the most vicious bitch in all of Soul Society to survive. Kill those who fight you or they'll come back to try again until you die. That's how it always was. I'd seen plenty of people be killed because they were too stupid or 'merciful' and allowed people they'd crossed swords with to crawl away…who then return to stab them in the back when they least expected it. So why the hell did you do it? I doubt it's any different in this sort of place. Why'd you let me live when it would've been far safer to take me out when you had the chance?"
She considered this, thinking hard. It forced her to think back. "I wasn't always in this place...I can remember my life before being forced into this slavery. And I can remember my mother. She was a warrior but she raised me to know mercy and compassion for others...and I know she'd disapprove of me striking down someone I'd already defeated. Even if I had to fight them again later...well then that'll come then." A slight smile appeared on the corner of her lips, looking over at the other girl.
"You're a strange girl, Rei Mikihara..." Yugito gave a sigh of her own, lying back and closing her eyes. "You know...I heard in passing about a certain possible break out tonight. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you? If we had something like that, I reckon we'd need to conserve our energy before that time. And yes, I did say 'we'. I too have been a slave for far too long and if there's a chance to get out of here, I'm taking it. If I'd known that boy was key to the escape plan, I probably wouldn't have accepted his challenge this morning."
"Heh...fine. Alright... Let's just get some rest for the escape that might happen tonight... We're all getting out of here and that's that."
--
Several hours after they'd drifted off in the infirmary, they'd been taken back to the cells. She'd only been vaguely conscious as a guard tossed her onto her bunk, slamming the cell door shut. Opposite her, Yugito was thrown down in her own cell. Through the darkness, Rei could see the other girl's eyes gleam. So she wasn't sleeping either... Another hour passed…then another, as they waited patiently for the first sign of something happening. Then there was movement.
"It's time." She already knew. She'd already been staring out into the dark the whole time to prepare her night vision. Through the gloom, she'd seen the figure of Reiko emerge behind the guard outside her cell. His arm had wrapped around the guard's neck, driving an elbow into the top of his spine and dropping him unconscious. Pulling a ring of keys off the man's belt, Reiko unlocked the cell door and tossed her a bundle. Unwrapping it, she found her blades. They were comfortable in her hands as she slid her daichou into her sash. They were the final comfort she needed to feel confident enough to step out of her cell.
Yugito jogged over to her, sliding her own daichou into a sash at her side. It seemed strange to consider that earlier that day, they'd been about to kill each other...and now were allies in the same cause of escaping this hell hole. Reiko hadn't even given an indication that he felt any sort of hostility towards the girl, despite the fact she'd almost cut him apart. The clap on Rei's back as the other girl came to stand alongside her was more encouraging than anything.
Another door guard lay across the floor and Rei hopped over the body, coming out into the main circular corridor that all the cell chambers led to. The other gladiators waited outside, a dozen or so armed boys. Together with them, the slave girls, who'd been forced into the other half of services young females could provide, were also present, clutching at makeshift weapons; kitchen knives or wooden clubs. Kaoru was at the front of them, wielding a short staff that looked like it'd been taken from a bedpost. She waved in greeting to Rei as she joined the group. There were many of them now. They had to move fast before they were detected.
Reiko moved at the head of the group, leading them through the dark winding corridors. They seemed silent, the many of the guards mysteriously absent from their posts. The few they met attempted to make for alarms before they were cut down by blades honed within these very walls. Despite the suspicion this raised, it didn't leave them with many options. They still had to continue on with their route out; through the main battle arena and out the rear gate. Rei ran alongside their leader, left hand gripping her daichou at her side, ready to draw a blade if she needed. Yugito mirrored her position as they kept pressing onwards, taking a last left and then bursting out into the night sky and the chilly wind.
The sand crunched softly beneath her feet as she walked out into the middle of the arena, looking around. The stands were all empty where previously hundreds of screaming fans had called for her spill Yugito's blood, where she'd been forced to kill over and over again to the applause of the crowds. If she closed her eyes, she could see them there. Scum...all of them gaining pleasure from teenagers slaughtering each other. Her hand turned into a fist. Bastards...
"We're almost there! I can taste the freedom!" The barely suppressed outburst of one of the gladiators made her flinch, snapping her back to the present. She whipped around to see one of the boys breaking off, dashing for the rear entrance at full speed. Maybe it was her imagination but the gate seemed to be swinging open. Minimal guards and now they didn't even have to break it down or pick the lock. It was too easy... There was movement in the shadows. Her eyes tracked the flicker before widening as she opened her mouth to call after him. "Stop, you idiot! Sto..."
The boy half turned, a confused expression on his face for a moment as he looked back at her. Then half his face disappeared as an axe carved through his skull, splattering the walls with blood and gore. Stepping into the light, Kyo Kazama reached down and cleaned the axehead on the dead boy's clothes, grinning widely as he raised a hand in a signal. In one instant, the entire arena lit up, burning braziers exploding to life all along the walls and revealing rows upon rows of guards, several dozen assembled, leering down at them with bared weapons and wearing leather armour.
"What the...hell?"
Curses and swearing erupted from the small group of teenagers as they formed a circle, gladiators on the outside and more vulnerable ones guarded in the centre. On all sides, the guards drew closer. Rei could feel her heart racing, a cold sweat running down the side of her face. She could hear crying from the younger girls, Kaoru among them. Yugito seemed to be muttering a string of curses in a chant as she drew her two blades, running them against each other. Reiko sounded like he was trying to organise some semblance of order among the group but his words were falling on deaf ears. Rei's right hand drifted across to her katana. So this was it... Their great chance of an escape would just end in another slaughter...
There was stillness in the night as both sides tensed for some unannounced moment...before the guards charged. The rumbling of so many feet made a roar like thunder in her ears. In a solid wave of blades and flesh, the two forces struck, blood spraying and body parts flying within seconds. Rei's vision seemed to blur, bleeding red as her katana cleared its sheath and beheading the first man to come within range of her blade, warm liquid splattering across her face.
Screaming... Dying... Rei barely knew what was happening as she bounded across the arena grounds, katana burying in another man's chest, ripping it free and then stabbing another through the chest with her second blade. Blood continued to fly, her blades cutting left and right, bodies spinning away from her, leather armour, flesh and bone failing to slow her attacks. No matter how many men came at her, she killed them. Faces flashed before her eyes, expressions of pain burning into her mind before they disappeared again, cut in half by her katana or wakazashi. The latter disappeared shortly after, buried in a man's chest and ripped out of her hand by the body's weight.
Then one more face appeared before her and it didn't go away. It was the shinigami again, looking down at her with cold eyes. Almost immediately, she felt her legs start to give way, dropping her down to her knees, holding herself up by her reversed katana stabbed into the ground. She tried to rise but some strange force kept her down, holding her there. What is this...? What's he doing to me...?
I won't...let him win... Her fist gripped tighter on the hilt of her katana, her arm quivering. Move... Move...! She grit her teeth, glaring at the man before her, looking down at her. The tip of her blade came loose. Almost...now! With a scream, her katana flashed in the moonlight, cleaving through the air for the man's face but her weapon cut through nothing...an after image. He was suddenly behind her. She whipped around, katana raised only to have her arm slapped away and then she was kicked backwards. The shinigami drew the blade at his side, walking closer and placing the tip at her throat. "Interesting...I can see why the boss was interested in purchasing you."
"And it's interesting what you're even doing here, Lieutenant Kurota... My captain said you were a sly bastard but I didn't see this. Disappointing..." The man's eyes widened and Rei saw a blade appear at his throat. Tilting her head to the side, she looked around to see another figure clad in black. A pretty woman with a cool expression on her face as she regarded the man who'd held her down with the force of his mind. Then suddenly a force far greater than even the man's presence exploded across the arena and Rei felt the life drain out of her limbs as she slumped unconscious to the ground.
