Disclaimer: I don't own RK

'Thoughts'

"talking"

XXXXXX-time/scene change

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Last chapter:

"We better stop before we kill him," one of the men sniggered.

"Aww…but I was just getting into it," whined another man with a smirk marring his face.

"Yeah, well if we let you keep going and you end up killing him, we're gonna end up died too," said the other man.

Kenshin felt himself being lifted up again and willed himself not to throw up because of the harsh, rough handling of the men. They savagely pushed him against the wall. His arms were thrust up above his head and locked in place by the manacles attached to the wall, and the hands holding him up suddenly left. Once again, Kenshin's knees buckled, unable to support his body weight after the brutal onslaught, but this time, he was held up by his bleeding wrists. After the men finally left, Kenshin allowed himself to slip into the relief of unconsciousness.

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Chapter 8:

Several days had passed and Kenshin was exhausted. For the past few days, the guards had come countless times to physically bully him and Kenshin was hurting everywhere. His wrists were rubbed raw and bleeding, and he probably had bruises covering his entire body. Heck, it even hurt to breathe.

Kenshin almost groaned when he heard the heavy metal doors open and the footsteps of what sounded like several men come in. Raising his head from its bowed position, Kenshin was slightly surprised to see that Shun was there too, though he didn't show it.

"Hello Battousai!" he chirped happily.

Kenshin glared at the cheerful man, his amber eyes glowing irately.

"I thought that we should move on with your…torture," Shun said ignoring the angry look coming from one of the most dangerous men in Japan. "Let's see, where were we? Oh yes, reason number three," he said revealing a long coiled up rope in his hands. Shun snapped his fingers and one of the guards in the room placed a western chair in front of Kenshin. With another snap of Shun's fingers, Kenshin was taken down from the wall and placed on the chair, his wrists tied down to the arms of the chair. Kenshin struggled against the bonds holding him down all the while glaring at Shun who was now scowling at the red-haired youth.

"It's useless struggling you know," he said. "I guarantee that you are going to suffer horrendously in this next phase and there is nothing that you or your friends," he glanced back at the four watching angrily, "…can do to stop it."

Shun held his hand out to one of his guards and the whip was taken, being replaced by a hammer and large metal stake. "I'm gonna make sure that I hear you scream in agony. You're going to wish that you were never born and maybe, if I'm lucky, I might even hear the great Battousai beg either for his life, or for an end to his life."

"Never," spat out Kenshin, his amber eyes glaring menacingly at Shun as he began to approach his right side.

"We'll see about that," he said with a sick smile on his face. "I suppose I should let you know what the third reason is. Don't worry, we're almost done, there's only one more after this one. Heck, I'm pretty sure that you can guess what my next reason is by the story that I told you earlier this week. But just in case you can't, that man that you killed, was my best friend, the older brother of the boy that died searching for you."

"Let's get started," he whispered. Two guards stood on either side of Kenshin and one grabbed his right hand, pulling it out so that his palm was hanging, face down. As Kenshin realized what was going to happen, his stomach clenched and flipped painfully while dread filled his whole being. Despite his feelings however, his face showed no emotion.

"What are you doing?" questioned Kaoru fearfully, her voice quavering slightly.

"You'll see," Shun mumbled glancing briefly at the young woman.

"Get away from him!" roared Sanosuke and Yahiko angrily.

Shun grinned maniacally as he stopped, inches from the guard holding out Kenshin's hand. "Are you sure you don't want to beg Battousai? I might consider showing some mercy later on if you do."

"Go to hell!" Kenshin spat, his impassive eyes watching anxiously as Shun placed the tip of the stake on the back of Kenshin's hand.

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure that you experience it yourself," he whispered raising the hammer in his right hand. Kenshin's eyes widened slightly as he tried to brace himself for the pain that was sure to come. "Now let's hear you scream Battousai."

"No!" screamed all four of the dojo occupants as they finally realized what Shun's intention was.

Bang!

Kenshin's breath hitched as the metal pike was driven through the palm of his hand and pain shot out like a wild fire from his busted hand, blood pouring out of the wound in rivers. An agonized scream tore out of Kenshin's throat, despite his earlier resolve to keep quiet, and all but Shun shuddered at the crude and tortured cry that didn't even seem human.

Kaoru fell to her knees, tears unconsciously streaming down her face, oblivious to the fact that Megumi too was crying and Yahiko was doing his best to be strong for his teacher, unshed tears shining in his young eyes. Sano tightly gripped the bars in front of him, his knuckles turning white as an uncontrollable rage filled him.

Laughter could be heard coming from a gleeful Shun, an insane spark in his eyes. Kenshin's arm trembled and his left hand clutched the wooden chair painfully, his knuckles a stark white. A cry was wrenched from Kenshin's lips as Shun roughly shoved the bloodied pike out of his hand and the redhead's right hand writhed in pain. His breaths came out in ragged gasps as he tried desperately to stop the trembling in his hand.

His eyes were clenched shut trying to shut out the pain that was running up and down his arm, so it was both to his surprise and affliction when the two guards untied his hands and brutally pushed him into the wall, face first. They roughly pulled his gi off of his shoulders so that it hung loosely at his waist, and then forcibly shoved his hands above his head, and into the manacles that were holding him earlier.

It took all of Kenshin's discipline and will power not to cry out in pain at their rough treatment.

"Now for phase two," whispered Shun watching the trembling form of the hitokiri.

"Leave him alone you jerk!" cried out Sano. He grabbed a tray that had held his food and flung it at Shun's head. Shun sidestepped and dodged the tray with a smug grin on his lips.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Now you better sit still or else I'll have my guards tie you up again and make sure that all of you over there are punished and don't get any food for a couple of days. After all, a little beating and some hunger never killed anyone." Sano growled, baring his teeth, but otherwise admitting defeat. If he fought back with the rest of the trays, he would cause his friends to go hungry for a few days, not to mention a beating from the brutal guards, and he really didn't want to cause any more suffering than he had to. Besides, Shun wasn't going to stop just because Sano was throwing things at him.

"Are you ready to scream again Battousai?"

Kenshin tensed, his forehead against the cold wall in front of him and waited for the onslaught of pain. His eyes showed slight fear now that nobody could see them and his teeth were clenched tightly in hopes of keeping himself from crying out, though he knew it was probably useless.

Shun's ki flared and a sharp intense pain tore at Kenshin's back. His head snapped back slightly as the whip collided with his back, leaving a large bloody welt across his back. A hiss of pain managed to escape his clenched teeth and his uninjured hand was fisted so tightly that his nails began to draw blood from his palm.

"How'd you like that Battousai?" whispered Shun evilly before moving to the other side of Kenshin.

A flare of Shun's ki was all the warning Kenshin had before the whip was driven into his back again, crossing the bloody line that was already there. Kenshin jerked back and this time, he wasn't able to keep himself from crying out. His trembling grew more violent as he tried to cope with the excruciating pain in his back.

Kaoru, tears falling freely down her face, looked away as Shun whipped Kenshin once again. "No! Please make him stop," she whispered weakly bringing her hands to cover her ears from the agonized scream coming from Kenshin. Beside her, Yahiko was struggling to keep himself standing. His hands were clenched tightly at his sides and his head was bowed, eyes shut tightly against the tears threatening to fall. Sano held Megumi, who also couldn't bear to see her friend in so much pain, giving her as much comfort as he could offer while trying to control his own rage and feelings of uselessness. 'He will pay,' thought Sano rubbing the back of a trembling Megumi.

After a few more blows, Shun finally stopped, breathing hard and his face splattered with droplets of blood from Kenshin's back. He dropped the whip and nodded towards Kesnhin before leaving the room without a second glance. The guards looked at the scene in disgust before grabbing the 'torture devices' and the chair and setting them beside the door. The two brawny men reached up and unclasped Kenshin's hands from the manacles, allowing his tired frame to crumple to the floor. They grabbed the chair and tools and left the room.

Kenshin stayed huddled on his side on the floor, slightly wondering why they let him down. 'Probably thought I was no threat like this,' thought Kenshin grimly through the haze of pain that was covering his senses, as his breaths came out in short ragged and painful gasps. His palm was still writhing slightly, his whole body trembling from the physical abuse it had taken and the blood streaming out of his body was forming a small puddle underneath him. He shifted slightly and immediately tensed as pain shot through his entire body, clenching his eyes shut against the tears of pain beginning to emerge. It was a few minutes later, that he realized that someone was calling his name.

"…-shin, Kenshin, can you hear me?" It was a deep male's voice. Sanosuke's voice, his mind supplied.

"Kenshin?" This time a girl, worried and scared. Kaoru.

"H-hai…I…I can hear you," Kenshin rasped out, his voice hoarse from his agonized screams.

A sigh of relief was heard before Kenshin heard the soft rustling of clothing as somebody moved about.

"Ken-san…do you think you can move?" asked Megumi quietly. Silence fell upon the already quiet room as Kenshin opened his eyes, a determined look in them.

"H-hai, I think so," he murmured.

"Can you come over here so that I can try and clean your wounds?" Megumi asked. "I don't want you to force yourself if you can't."

Kenshin took a deep breath, trying to calm his erratic breathing and then slowly began to push himself up with his left hand. He clenched his teeth tightly together and forced himself to a kneeling position. Sweat covered his body as he struggled to his feet and ignored the intense pain in his hand and back.

He slowly made his way over to the bars that separated the room, but just as he was about to get there, his knees buckled and he stumbled forward. To Kenshin's surprise, not only did he not fall, but his body was held up by not just Sanosuke's hands, but also Yahiko's and Kaoru's.

"Thank you," he mumbled as the three slowly lowered him to the floor.

"Let's look at your hand first," murmured Megumi grabbing the glass of water that the group hadn't drunk yet. "For now the best I can do is clean it with water. That's all we have." Her eyes were mournful; guilty for not being able to help much despite the fact that she was a doctor.

Kenshin gave her his hand and couldn't help but wince as she grasped it gently and began to pour the cool water over the wound, cleaning it as best as she could. After she was done, Kenshin pulled his gi from his hakama, and with a part of the end in his mouth and the other in his left hand, he crudely tore it apart. He picked up the scrap of cloth that he had made and handed it to Megumi.

"Use it for a bandage for now," he murmured, slightly struggling against the blackness that was slowly edging in for his consciousness. Megumi nodded and gently but firmly tied the makeshift band-aid around Kenshin's hand. It was quickly drenched in his blood. With that in place, Kenshin weakly turned around and Megumi proceeded to pour water over his back. The water provided Kenshin's burning back with a cool yet temporary relief.

After Megumi finished, Megumi gave the rest of the water that they had left over to Kenshin and he thirstily drank it. With his thirst satisfied and his sore throat at least somewhat soothed, his frame began to sway as his spirit finally gave in to the exhaustion that he was feeling. Sano carefully caught Kenshin, by the chest as he slumped forward, a thank you mumbled so quietly that the four almost didn't hear it. Kaoru grabbed Kenshin's bloodied gi and bundled it into a pillow for him to rest on

With that in place, Sano carefully lowered the worn out teenager onto his side so that he would not aggravate the wounds on his back. As the four of them gazed at the peaceful look on Kenshin's face, they suddenly realized just how young he looked.

"He's just a kid," murmured Megumi. "I mean I know he's really a 28 year old man, but right now, he's just a kid."

"And he's gone through so much hell," muttered Sano bitterly.

"It's not fair," said Yahiko.

Kaoru nodded in agreement. "Why can't they just leave him alone?"

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AN: Well what do you think? I know that this chapter was kinda…gory… and cruel. I feel so bad for making Kenshin go through all of that! Next chapter, Kenshin and his friends get a chance to escape. That's all I'm telling you for now. Anyway, please review! I really feel discouraged when I barely receive any reviews for a chapter and seeing as school is starting ...well tomorrow, encouragement would really motivate me to find/make time to write. So please review!