"The miserable have no other medicine but only hope".
William Shakespeare – Measure for Measure
Sango woke with a groan and a pounding in her skull near the lump that was had risen under her hair. She was disoriented for a moment, wondering where she was, until the events leading to her present condition flooded back. She'd moaned and speculated briefly on how long she'd been unconscious.
With a small grunt she sat upright and the covers that had been draped over her slid down.
She frowned in puzzlement; she was lying in the middle of a rather large futon in a very lavish room, and for the life of her she couldn't seem to remember how she'd gotten there. Uneasy, she looked down at her torso and found to her vast relief that she was still clothed in her armor. Still, it didn't explain much. Waking up in a cell would have made more sense…she didn't like what waking up in a bed chamber implied.
"I see you've awakened taijiya. How fortunate. I had so hoped that you'd be up in time to enjoy our time together. I must say that I have been anticipating having you just this way so many times, that I do hope the reality can live up to the fantasy."
Sango's eyes went wide. Lord Toyotomi stood at the foot of the futon and there was no mistaking the lustful gleam in his eyes, nor the now apparent fact that it was his bed she was stretched out on.
She had no illusions as to his intent. Sango scrambled to her knees and attempted to scuttle away, but a jolt of power threw her back on the mattress. She gained her knees again and spat.
"What have you done? Release me at once!"
Toyotomi chuckled. "No, I don't think I will." He skimmed his hot gaze from the outline of her breasts, down her flat stomach, and he licked his lips when he reached the shadowed V of her thighs. Even though she was covered from head to toe in her armor, she still felt his gaze like an oily, distasteful caress. Bile rose in the back of her throat.
"You truly are magnificent."
"If you think for one second that you will ever touch me you are dangerously mistaken."
Toyotomi leered. "Oh, I plan on doing so much more than touch you. I plan on pounding my hard cock into your cunt until you're screaming for me to stop, and then I think perhaps I'll make you suck me off a few times until you're sick from the amount of seed I shall make you swallow. There will be other, less pleasant things I shall do, but I'm sure you get the general idea."
A sickened expression crossed her features and she snarled.
"I'll cut my own throat before I'll let you violate me, you fucking bastard."
He tossed her a Gallic shrug. "My dear, soon you'll be begging me to fuck you. I've given you a bit of my special elixir. I'll wager even now your body is starting to feel hot and uncomfortable. Soon, your breasts will start tingling and your sex will weep, urging you to find release. The longer you resist, the more painful it will become, until you'll do anything, fuck anything, just to make it all go away."
Sango could only stare at him in wide-eyed disgust. He couldn't possibly be telling her the truth. As far as she knew there was no herb that could act in such a fashion, but the longer she sat there the more her body started to itch and burn. With a dawning sense of horror she realized that she was becoming aroused.
The look that Toyotomi bestowed on her was decidedly self-satisfied. She gathered every ounce of her loathing and leveled it the man.
"I don't care what you've done to me. You will not touch me."
He smiled. It wasn't pleasant.
"I can be patient taijiya; after all, I've been waiting for you for a long time. I can afford to wait a little longer. I wonder if after you've tasted the pains and pleasures I can give you, if you would have ever been able to bare the houshi's touch again. Sadly, after I've had my way with you, you will never be able to find out."
Sango paused and frowned at him.
"What do you mean? What are you planning to do with us?"
He paced over to an ornate jade basin on the other side of the room and spoke briefly into the air.
"What think you? Should we tell her?"
Sango flinched in surprise when a disembodied voice answered.
"It is of no consequence now. Soon she will no longer be around to cause us any undue trouble."
She turned swiftly looking around the room to find where the voice had come from. She could see nothing.
"What was that?" She questioned harshly, and he chuckled at the hint of fear coloring her voice.
"Not so brave now, are we taijiya? And my friend is correct. After the ceremony you will no longer be alive to give us any trouble so perhaps I will enlighten you. You came all this way after all and thus deserve some compensation. Would you like to hear my story?"
Sango could think of nothing more repellant than listening to this disgusting man talk, but as he yammered on she'd accidental ran her hands over the hard square tucked in her sash.
She now had her fingers curled around it and found that the burning, unnatural lust she'd been feeling was being overridden by the warmth of Miroku's magic. She inhaled softly, as if she could almost smell her houshi's unique scent, and a feeling of peace spread through her belly.
It centered her and gave her the strength to meet his gaze. Lord Toyotomi frowned, not sure he liked how steady her eyes seemed. They should be heated and unfocused by now.
"Even if I say 'no' you'll tell me anyway. Why make it seem as if I have a choice?"
He smirked. "You are quite right, you have no choice. Do you know taijiya; I've been Lord of this castle for almost one hundred years? Would you, perhaps, be interested in discovering how I've managed such a feat?"
Sango had to admit she was curious, and since he was in such a sharing kind of mood maybe she could get him to tell her something they might be able to use against him.
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me."
He inclined his head regally. "It all started with an argument. I had words with my weak-willed father about his feeble-minded polices for running our immense holdings. I had long become incensed by his stupidity and cowardice and longed for a way to take the throne from him, so I might rule these lands the way were meant to be ruled. The problem was that the people, those insipid sheep, were very fond of my father. Oh, he was most beloved for his generosity and diplomacy and because of this our holdings would never have grown beyond these mountains."
Snarling, he paced across the room and kicked a piece of furniture, startling her.
"So I went for a long walk to cool my temper and was in the midst of plotting his downfall, when I had the great fortune to stumble down a hole into a long buried cavern. There is where I found my destiny."
The disembodied voice returned and replied sardonically. "Really, must you be so melodramatic?"
Toyotomi lashed out and knocked a vase onto the floor. It shattered on impact. Sango was now tracing his increasingly unstable movements with a wary eye.
"I'm speaking," he roared. The voice chuckled with dark amusement.
"By all means…continue."
Angry now, he turned toward Sango and pointed to the sky. "Do not mock me! You need me to prepare the sacrifice. Without me you would still be stuck in that miserable stone prison that miko bitch sealed you in!"
The voice spoke again, amusement gone.
"You test my patience, Toyotomi! Enough of this ego stroking, fuck the wench and be done with it because as of tonight, she is mine!"
Sango had gone very still and her fingers were curled so tightly around the sutra Miroku had given her that her knuckles were turning white. Kami…he'd released it, he'd released the evil Midorikoand the monk had sealed away.
No wonder this land was choked in evil. She watched guardedly, as Toyotomi went from a controlled arrogant bastard to unhinged arrogant bastard. The light of madness that he'd previously hidden was well on the way to bubbling over, as he continued ranting at the being whose aura permeated the room.
"You do not dictate to me! No one dictates to me!" With a growl of rage he crossed the room and reached out to grab her wrist. She recoiled and he growled in annoyance.
"You stupid bitch!" He lunged for her, but when his hand touched her skin he yelped and pulled back in pain. Sango gazed at him in astonishment as his fingers blistered and Toyotomi looked back at her, equally amazed.
He narrowed his eyes and they flew to her hand. Snarling, he pushed the nearby table over when he realized that it was clutched around a sutra. His already black mood turned even darker.
"You reek of the monk. I knew that you'd spread your legs for him like a filthy whore, but now you've become tainted with his power! Useless cunt!"
He grabbed a spear off the wall and lunged at her. Sango, infused with Miroku's power, was now able to break the aura's paralyzing hold enough to duck away, but she was still sluggish from whatever drug lingered in her system.
Toyotomi growled and advanced on her. He swung the spear again and Sango blocked it with her forearm, but the next swipe connected with her head and threw her over a low slung table and into the wall. The back of her head bounced off a wooden beam and she felt blackness swim.
Must stay awake, she thought hazily. Toyotomi stalked up to her and delivered a vicious kick to her abdomen. She felt her breath leave her in a whoosh of searing pain and she curled in on herself.
"Fucking whore!" He screamed and kicked her again. This time his foot glanced off her already abused head and the blankness threatened consume her, despite her will to remain conscious. Toyotomi would have kept kicking her, but a loud roar filled the room and he was thrown away as if he weighed no more than a rag doll.
"Enough! You forget yourself Toyotomi! She is to be sacrificed at the full moon and I will not have you destroy years of preparation with a childish tantrum! I will have my freedom and you will have your immortality, and enough power to conqueror all the lands. But you WILL leave the girl alone until she is needed."
Toyotomi rose unsteadily to his feet, his body shaking with rage. His eyes flashed and he snarled.
"You promised I could break the slayer, you PROMISED!"
"I promised you could satisfy your perverted sexual lusts, but you, in your uncontrollable paroxysm, almost killed her. Now you get nothing. I will not have her damaged. This ritual is too important."
He crossed his arms and frowned like a petulant child.
"What if I refuse to set up the ritual? What would you do then?" Another roar filled the room and Toyotomi found himself dangling three feet off the ground with an invisible hand wrapped around his wind pipe. He clawed at his throat, but he could not alleviate the pressure.
"Do not test me; you will not like the result." He was abruptly released and the Lord of the Southern lands found himself lying on his bedroom floor, gasping for breath. When he'd collected himself enough to draw air he hoarsely cried for his guards.
The demons lumbered in and he pointed to Sango's prone form.
"Throw her in the cell next to the monk."
Sango's head was swimming and just as the boar faced demon bent down to throw her over his shoulder she blacked out. Her palm loosened, but luckily the sutra was still clutched in her hand. It was the only thing keeping the Lord away from her. The guard adjusted his burden and headed down the hall, leaving his master muttering and whining on the floor.
Miroku shivered under his heavy robes and felt the boy huddle closer to him, trying to absorb his warmth. He glanced down at the lad, noted his flimsy yukata, and threw his arm and the folds of his robe around him. He smiled up at him, grateful.
"How long you think we've been here?"
Miroku considered the question carefully. There were no windows and no light to discern how long they'd been sitting in the dark, but the heavy shadows had ebbed and flowed at least twice. He and boy had also dozed at intermittent intervals and now the shadows seemed to be growing steadily more oppressive as the hours passed.
"A day and a half at least and right now I think it might be dusk or near it," he replied. Michi nodded and fell silent, rubbing his hands together for warmth and trying to ignore the rumbling in his stomach.
The silence stretched and Miroku found his mind returning to Sango. When they'd first been thrown into this cell he'd spent the first few hours trying to find a weakness in the construction, someway, anything that he could exploit so that they could escape. Sango had consumed his thoughts and he had been deathly afraid of what they might be doing to her.
He tried to assure himself that the sutra he'd left with her would protect her. He had a long held theory that whatever it was that bound her to him (Love, lust, spirituality…kindred souls) made them stronger. Thus, it stood to reason that his power would recognize her and act accordingly.
The problem was that he'd never tested his theory under such dire conditions.
Stop…just stop. You can do nothing about it now. Focus on the immediate problem. Focus on getting out of here.
Toyotomi was no fool. The cell he'd been tossed into was not only solid, but it was saturated with demonic aura. There would be no escape until someone decided to let them out. When he'd realized the truth he'd had a brief, insane moment when he simply thought of unleashing the wind tunnel and damning the consequences. It was only the presence of the boy that kept him from that bit of insanity.
He could feel a dull ache throbbing in his chest, but he resisted the urge to rub it away. He couldn't get they way Toyotomi had looked at her out of his mind and he could only imagine what he might be doing to her at this very moment. He knew his taijiya; she would rather die than let that bastard violate her.
He suppressed his shudder. He couldn't think like that, he couldn't, wouldn't think...
He sent up another prayer, begging Kami to keep her safe. As if reading his mind Michi asked.
"Do you think Sango is all right?" Miroku stilled and kept his face impassive. He didn't want to scare him.
"I don't know. I pray to Kami she is." Michi's gaze turned downcast as he contemplated the floor with sad eyes.
"I hope..." He didn't continue and Miroku instinctively knew the boy was thinking about his sister and what had happened to the other women Toyotomi had…
Miroku had to swallow past his suddenly dry throat and took a moment to blink back the moisture on his eyelashes, moisture that felt suspiciously like tears. He turned his head away.
"Michi," he said quietly, "give me the sutra I placed in your right front pocket."
Confused the boy looked down at his kimono and dug around, surprised when his fingers curled around the delicate gold leaf paper. He was even more shocked when he pulled it free.
"What…how…" The monk smiled.
"I'm magic remember?"
Michi gazed at him wide eyed and Miroku had to fight to suppress his chuckle as he rose unsteadily to his feet and started walking around the cell they'd been thrown into. He started methodically tapping on the walls yet again, looking for any sort of weakness.
Just as before, he could find nothing. He looked down at the golden paper and resisted the urge to crumple it into a ball and scream. He could feel the hum of the collected spiritual power of all those powerful monks, thrumming beneath his fingertips and right now it did him not one wit of good.
Could the sutra dispel the aura in the cell? Quite possibly. The problem was that he wasn't all together sure just what would happen if her were to lay this deceptively innocent looking paper against the stones and activate it. The monks had given them to him not only as a reward, but for one fairly distinct purpose.
They were a means to protect those around him if the worst were to happen. He'd already wasted on his journey here; dare he waste the other on such a slim chance of escape? Gods, he wanted to. Despite his better judgment he wanted to tear this cell to ribbons with his wind tunnel, find Sango, and get her and the boy as far from here as was humanly possible.
Ruthlessly, he crushed the feeling. That was his emotional reaction to Sango's possible distress talking, not the cool rationality of his strategist's mind. The facts remained that he was weakened by the aura, he didn't know how many guards stood beyond these walls, had absolutely no idea where they'd taken his taijiya, and would likely get himself and Michi killed if he attempted to put into to action the only plan he'd been able to come up with.
Patience Miroku, patience. You're opportunity will come.
Thoughts troubled, he started tapping the walls again. When he reached the far end of the cell he rapped his knuckles against the stone and pulled back in surprise when an answering knock responded to his.
"Who's there," he said, wondering if his voice would carry through the wall. A tentative, "Miroku?" was his answer.
He started and eagerly pressed his un-cursed palm against the wall. Gods, she was in the cell next to him. So close but so far she might as well have been on the next continent. Still his hopes stirred. This might be the opportunity he'd been waiting for, but first.
"Sango, Kami I was so worried. Are you injured? Where did Toyotomi take you? D-Did he…"
She hesitated for the briefest moment and replied, "I'm fine, Miroku. He didn't hurt me."
Miroku paused and narrowed his eyes. He knew she was being less than truthful with him.
"Taijiya, tell me what happened." Silence stretched again and even though he couldn't see her, he could picture her perfectly. She was probably biting her lower lip, debating how much to tell him, and he felt his tension mount with each passing second. His right hand twitched.
Calm monk, stay calm, don't do something rash.
"Sango," he almost whispered. "Please."
He could feel her relent and braced himself for the impact of her words.
"He…beat me up a bit, but I'll heal." Miroku went eerily still and felt a slow burning rage churn in his gut. His iron control thrummed and he knew he was on the verge of snapping.
"Did he…."
She cut him off quickly. "No!" And then quieter, "no. He didn't…he couldn't touch me because of the sutra you left with me."
His relief was instantaneous. His left hand convulsed against the stone and he rested his forehead against the wall.
Thank the gods, he thought. Praise Kami…I don't know what I would have…
To her he replied.
"Good…that's good."
His spiritual power had protected her. He had hoped that would be the case, but he hadn't been assured of his success. It was a vastly liberating to be proved correct in his assumption that their bond made him stronger, instead of simply feeling it.
He stayed like that a moment more, letting the feeling spread through him, and he'd just parted his lips to ask his taijiya if she had any idea how they were going to get out of this one, when he heard a door open. Sango screamed and his stomach dropped.
"Sango!" No answer. Frantic he pounded his fists against the wall, "Sango answer me!"
He heard a struggle and heard her say, "Get off me! Let me go!"
Michi had jumped to his feet and joined Miroku.
"What's happening! What are they doing to her!"
He ignored the boy and briefly thought of simply pulling down the wall with his wind tunnel but thankfully he wasn't so far gone that he'd willingly do something so vastly stupid and desperate. He was, however, gone enough to throw his shoulder helplessly into the wall, even though he knew it was fruitless.
Miroku's spirit snapped and he reached for his prayer beads just as the door to his cell burst open. With a snarl he raised his hand and would have opened it had not five demons rushed him. The first one slammed the butt of his spear against his head.
He crumpled to the ground, insensible, with the echo of Sango's screams ringing in his ears.