Meeting the Youko Chapter 4
Hey everyone, sorry for the delay. The school semester is in full swing and I clearly underestimate how much studying I would have to do. It seems like when I think I'm going to have time to chill out (and write another chapter) I end up getting called into work or having to run an errand. As such, I expect my updates will probably only be once or twice a week. I would love to post sooner, but I'm simply not home to do so. Anyway, on to the next chapter…
START HERE:
Anxiety read clearly across Anna's face as she heard the scuttling noise of an approach to her cell door. The nekomata had mentioned that she would be visited by her captor, Youko Kurama, at some point the next day and Anna feared that the meeting was stepping closer.
She didn't know what time she had woken up that morning, but when she opened her eyes she hadn't felt rested. Throughout the night she had dreamt of Officer Saede's face sliding under the dirt as he tried to use his own chin to pry himself out of his grave. Images of his death intermixed with thoughts of her new rose tattoo burning intensely enough to melt the flesh off of her muscles. She had awoken a few feet from the platform bed with bit of stuffing thrown like confetti across the chamber room. Her threadbare excuse for a blanket was wrapped around her like a straitjacket and it appeared that she had tried to claw her way out of the demon world by burrowing through the mattress. Anna doubted very much that the next demon she would see would appreciate the mess at all. Now as the noise sounded louder from the other side of the door, she expected to meet a foreboding set of eyes.
The door opened to reveal an aberration closely resembling a naga, with only a male human head to prove he was anything other than a very large snake. His reptilian skin was painted shinning black with a white underbelly, but his human face was handsome in a dark kind of way with hair that hung in strings away from his face. Anna tried to not stare at him gape-mouthed, but didn't find that too challenging as she watched the demon scan her bedchamber. He frowned at the scene and let his eyes land on the white sack of a dress Anna was wearing. Anna was still seated on the ground with the mess of mattress stuffing around her and her blanket in a tightened whirl across her front. She lowered her eyes from the youkai before her and closed them to watch the light from the corridor outside fade to dark.
Anna heard the snake slither closer and winced as the braced herself for his coils. She didn't expect him to kill her, but a bit of pain was likely considering his disgust at the state of her room. Instead, she felt a human hand touch her cheek and push a bit of hair away from her eyes. Opening them, she saw the hand had a scaled path on the back and followed the limp up to see that the naga now had a humanoid torso, complete with a patchwork of human skin and reptilian scales. In legend, naga could assume humanoid shape; Anna was finding that the more she learned of the youkai world, the more it resembled the myths and legends she grew up hearing.
Anna saw the snake-man's lips curl into a smirk as he moved his fingertips to touch lightly at her lips. "Naga women's lips are much thinner, but I find I like my women to pout. " The snake's voice was much as Anna anticipated it would be. Even at a normal speaking volume, he almost sounded like he was constantly whispering. Anna quickly unwrapped herself of the would-be blanket and stood up from her half-sitting, half-kneeling position. As she rose, so did the naga so that his head almost touched the ceiling. He smiled again, and Anna felt a chill run through her spine as she set one foot behind her so as to push off to a run if necessary. She focused her gaze to the floor in front of her incase she needed to bolt past the demon in escape. When she did, she noticed that the youkai's snake end flooded past the door and out to the corridor outside. Even if he moved slowly as he circled around her to her back, she doubted that he lacked the ability to move at near light-speed.
The demon now had coils of snake flesh in front of her to block her exit, but stood with his human portion behind her. She dare not look back for fear of seeing his face transformed into a viper's head with fangs bared. Silently the demon eased closer and lowered his height to be level with Anna's. Leaning in, the naga hovered his arms on either side of her and dipped his head to be face to face with Anna's unkempt wild hair. Anna felt his fork tongue tickle the back of her ear.
Without thinking, she twirled on her outstretched foot to turn and face the snake youkai. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" Anna shouted, as she reached back with her hand to ready a right hook for the snake.
The aberration chuckled lightly, still sounding as if his voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm just offering you a promise, little human." He spoke. Anna watched the snake part his lips and flick his tongue suggestively behind his teeth. He smirked his snake-like smirk and raised his human section higher again to stand imposingly at Anna. As he did so, Anna became aware of the fact that she was a female standing before what was most likely a vision of masculinity in the naga population.
Anna steadied herself, setting her weight evenly between her feet and raising her chin to be parallel with the ground. Speaking softly she asked, "Are you to take me to the spirit fox?" Anna saw the snake pause as if he was remembering his reason for being there.
He closed his eyes and replied, "Youko has ordered me to fetch you to him…but not for some time now." He opened them to gage Anna's reaction. He hoped he saw the same signs of fear in her she showed before as he revealed the human touch he possessed. The aberration had to suppress an anticipatory grin at the thought of showing her that his lower portions could transform as well. "In the meantime," again the snake paused to watch Anna, "you are to be trained in the menial tasks assigned to you." With that finishing statement, the snake slithered his body around so that Anna could see the massive bulk of his well muscled snake section. He circled around so as to force her to step closer to the door. It was an unspoken command to follow, and Anna did so without hesitation. The further she ventured out of her stone-walled cage, the better her grasp of the guild's layout and the greater her chances of escape.
The Naga lead her down the same initial corridor that Anya had, leading Anna to believe that she was being kept at the very end of the hall. At first, Anna assumed that they put her there simply because the room was available…but Anya's personality towards her while in the stone cell proved otherwise. As she and the snake demon walked, several doors leading to what were likely similar holding chambers demonstrated that there very well could be other prisoners being held just like Anna. If that were true, it was very unlikely that Anya would have been so upbeat when they first met; she would have either taken her snobbish personality as she did in the bath chamber, or she likely would have been very gloomy to reflect the other prisoners' despair. That told Anna that she had been put at the very end of the long corridor, not for convenience, but to allow the guild to react if she tried to run for it.
Her snake-like guide flicked his tail impatiently as he urged her to walk faster. His temperament had become rather short since Anna had brought up meeting Youko. He had clearly been trying to approach a topic with her that Anna wanted to be far from when he had teased her earlier. Anna wondered if that frustration was due to being interrupted, or if he possessed a bitterness directly caused by the mention of the demon fox.
"You haven't asked what your services will be." The naga hissed in observation.
Anna nodded, assuming he would notice the gesture even if she walked behind him. "I assumed you would just be taking me there…not tasked with having to teach whatever 'menial' responsibility was assigned to me." Anna watched the naga stretch his hands in front of him and crack his knuckles. It was a clear sign of agitation that Anna hoped was due to having been assigned such a trivial job as escorting a prisoner.
"You were on my way, Little Human." The demon corrected, "I would gladly volunteer any service asked of Youko or Kuronue."
Damn, Anna thought. Apparently the snake was hardly a dense one; her hopes of agitating him against his commanders appeared to be futile. She had aspired to irritate him to a stupor with her underhanded insult. "Than may I ask you what I will be required to do?" Anna decided it was best to continue her innocent act and carry on the conversation.
The aberration slowed, waiting for Anna to get closer to walking beside him before speaking, "You shall be a gardener of human plants. Youko prefers to raise them without youki before harvesting." Anna saw his familiar smile play across his features. He glanced sidelong at her, making Anna instantly nervous to be alone with him. "Now you should ask my name, Little Human."
Anna practically curtsied her reply. It wasn't as though she was so femininely fickle, but a kind of Victorian age demeanor seemed to be her nervous habit. "Would you oblige?" Anna queried.
Now the snake demon smiled fully at her, keeping his eyes locked with her to cause Anna's face to pale slightly. "I am Tsuchinoko, called Tsuchi." He frowned as his sentence ended. Anna supposed that was to insure she called him by his proper name.
Nodding her acknowledgement, Anna continued answering, "Greetings Tsuchinoko, I am referred to as Anna. We've been walking quiet some while; I guess the garden is a far cry from my room."
Tsuchi laughed in a truly amused sort of way, "Oh we've passed several times now. I simply don't want to give you any chance to memorize our guild's ground lay. Anya warned me to watch how closely you pay attention to the turns of the corridors. It seems she heard your thoughts of hoping to find an escape route as she escorted you to wash last night."
Anna grimaced as her thoughts turned darker; Youko seemed to cover his bases. He had placed her in a cell far out of the way and difficult to navigate to and fro, arranged for a telepath to read her intentions, and then called in a very imposing snake youkai to insure she didn't try anything reckless. Anna even had the wild thought that he might have planned for her escort to be rather…vigilant about observing each of her more feminine characteristics. Maybe the fox was a bit of a sadist, or maybe the bat aberration just thought it would be amusing.
Tsuchi dropped Anna off, leaving her seemingly alone amidst a massive garden complete with every sort of tree or flower she has heard of, and many more she hadn't. The room was bright, illuminated seemingly be the sun, though the cave-top pattern of spiked stone continued across the mass of the garden. As Anna watched the naga close the door behind her, she noticed that it apparently didn't have a handle on the inside. When she heard the door lock from the other side, Anna was sure that it was yet another way of preventing her escape. She sighed, and blew a strand or two of hair away from her face before walking back to the door. I might as well try, Anna thought, and she readied herself to charge the door to try to shoulder it open.
Anna stood about twelve feet from the door and set her left foot back to push off. Taking in a breath, she charged forward at top speed and prepared herself for a jolt as she crashed into the door. The impact took the breath from her, but she did manage to rock the door just a bit. Fantastic, Anna thought, Now I just need to do that about a hundred more times. Speaking aloud, Anna continued, "And what am I even supposed to do here anyway."
Anna grunted in frustration, beat a fist against the door, and turned to walk away with an irritated sway to her stride. Walking through the sun-beds, Anna approached what appeared to be the shade garden of the human plants. Sitting amongst some Chinese lanterns and a variety of ivy she had never seen before, Anna jumped as she saw a tall shadow appear in front of her. Turning, she saw the spirit fox staring down at her with unreadable eyes.
"When you set foot in this room in the future, a task list will be made available to you." His voice was just as melodious as right after he killed the policeman, and still maintained the feint sound of a growl. "For now, I would like you to react as you please."
His command confused her; what did he mean when he asked her to react as she chooses? Youko raised his eyes and spoke, "Look behind you and you'll find the fruit baring trees of my garden. Go and fetch yourself nourishment."
Anna eyed him suspiciously, but decided it was best to follow his instructions. She turned heal but kept glancing back to insure the demon fox remained standing in the shade garden. As she walked through rows of sunflowers she found what Youko had indicated. Rows of dragon-fruit, apple, and pear trees organized beautifully to seem naturally placed even if they were perfectly coordinated. Anna bowed her arm and collected an assortment, making sure to get enough for a meal but no further. Still suspicious, she walked at a slower pace back to Youko.
He had chosen to relax against a nearby willow tree as he waited for her to return. Anna noticed with a smirk that he had clearly decided to follow her, seeing as he now had a peach in his hand to prove it. Youko glanced at her and shuffled his gaze to show her where to place the fruit. "I wouldn't eat that just yet. Wait until we're finished." Again, the fox was cryptic. He discarded the peach by manipulated a nearby plant to open its roots to him, allowing him to drop the fruit into the ground. The ground closed around the peach, and Anna heard rumblings as the earth took it deeper into itself. "Now, I want you to retrieve it. Dig the fruit back out with your hands." Youko commanded.
At first, Anna merely looked at him as if he was joking. The scowl across his lips told her otherwise, but Anna wasn't about to drop to her knees before him and start digging mindlessly in the dirt. As she started to part her lips to speak, near unbearable pain spread from the rose tattoo on her wrist. Anna stumbled in her attempt to remain standing, but was able to set a foot back to try and turn to run from the kitsune. In rhythm with her movements away, her heal burned just as the rose tattoo did, spreading a searing discomfort up through her limps to join at her center. Anna whimpered, earning a flick of the fox's ear in response. She glanced up to see the kitsune with a still unreadable expression, and one that showed her no signs of sympathy.
"Stop whatever you're doing. There isn't any point in torturing me to dig out a mud-covered piece of plant ovum." Anna spat out amidst her quickened and panting breaths.
Youko grunted slightly, indicating he clearly found the turn of events amusing. "I am not doing anything to you. Perhaps you should forsake your masochism if it displeases you."
Masochism? Anna took a step forward out of sheer spite. She was not likely to submit to him even if the youkai used burning pain as a means to an end. As she set her first foot down on the ground, the pain lessened. Anna's eyebrow arched in confusion, but she took another step forward anyway. Once more, the burning receded to where only her arm felt aflame. This pattern continued until only the rose mark burned as she stood directly over where the peach lay buried.
"Retrieve it, Anna." Youko commanded again, this time with more of the rumblings of a growl in his throat. Anna felt chills rise up goose-bumps on her arm. The sheer energy he emitted in the order was enough to make Anna's new psychic sensitivity tingle in apprehension.
As the words exited Youko's parted lips Anna felt the pain anew itself, this time worse than before. The strength of his command seemed to play an integral role in the level of subjugation she felt from the rose mark. She felt her knees weaken, and dropped the ground as she held her stomach to try and manage some of the discomfort. Hating herself, Youko's third and final command to dig prompted her to claw her hand and rake it across the dirt. This time, the pain did not ease. She dug more fervently until her hands and nails were painted black from the moist soil of Youko's garden.
"I can't reach it." Anna whispered allowed, utterly disheartened and anticipating the continuation of the torture. To both her and the fox's surprise, Anna shoulders relaxed as the pain faded completely.
As Anna panted and looked at the ground before her, Youko stepped silently closer. His voice sounded softly and just as Anna had immediately prior, he spoke aloud though not necessarily to his company, "If you obey, you will not be harmed. If you refuse, you will feel agony increasing to heights you never thought possible. If you are incapable of performing my commands, you will feel no discomfort."
Anna looked up with the corners of her eyes teared red from the tightness in which she had closed them before. Youko looked at her, calmer and absent of his earlier coldness. Still, he was unreadable, but he seemed to be seeing Anna for the first time.
Youko leaned down and reached one of his clawed hands to lift Anna's face to meet his gaze. Anna closed her eyes, thinking that it was better to not see him at all that to follow any nonverbal communication his gestures implied. Youko ignored it, "Now that I understand the nature of the subjugation crystal, I will know exactly what you are capable of and what you simply refuse. As such, your use to me has lessened and you must now work each day to earn keep in my guild."
He waited for Anna to register his words, correctly interpreting the slowness in which her mind currently operated. To Anna, clear thoughts were a jumble and the only thing she seemed to be able to focus on was the touch of Youko's skin against hers. He was a killer and a thief, but at the moment the smoothness of his pale skin against her and the feel of the point of his claw made her mind numb. She couldn't have answered if someone asked if she was attracted or repulsed, but she most certainly was impassioned in some sort of way.
Youko's eyes widened for the briefest of moments before her felt Anna pull away from him to fall asleep among the plants now writhing under the surge of his demonic energy. He stepped away from the sleeping woman to leave her to rest under the protection of his favored willow tree.