Chapter 4- Punishment

I woke up in a pitch black room; my four year old body chained to the floor by a clamp on my ankle.

"Wakey wakey little girl." A man came in with a cart. He was a short man with a blood stained apron on.

I shivered at the thought of what was to happen and buried myself deeper into my arms. My eyes never left him as he opened the white blanket on the cart to reveal large knives and clamps.

"You know what is going to happen right?" he said smirking. My left hand fingered the necklace that had once been my mother's. Not answering I watched him as he picked up one of the knives and twirled it in his hands. "Stand up" he said as he came forth.

Slowly I stood letting myself be stretched to my full height.

'This is for my brothers so they won't have to go through this!" I said to myself, trying to convince myself that this was indeed the right thing to do.

'Kari? Are you okay?' I heard my brother ask me through our connection.

'Later.' I said closing off our connection completely. I looked at the man and just as I was about to finally answer his question when he slashed down with the knife. He cut a line across my face; right side of the forehead to my left side of my chin.

I cried out in pain holding my bloody face in my hands. Tears, blood and urine soaked my dirty dress as I screamed.

"Good! Scream more child! MORE!' The man cried as he took a smaller knife and plunged it deep into the eye sock of my left eye. I screamed some more as half of my vision turned black.

The last thing I saw was the iron blade of the knife before it struck my other eye causing me to lose sight in both eyes.

'This is for my brother's' I kept thinking to myself. 'For Shiro. For Ace.'

The man laughed at my screams and cries like he was having fun hurting me. I passed out soon after, the pain becoming unbearable.

Sometime later, I woke to metal scraping against each other. Thinking the pain on my face was just from the nightmare I just experienced, I opened my eyes. Panicking I saw nothing but black. I flexed my arms and tried to bring them to my face but they were attached to the cold metal that I laid on.

"Calm down child, you're only going to reopen your stiches if you continue struggling" he chuckled. I started to cry once again at the sound of the man's voice.

"You stayed awake the whole time I was blinding you last time, that's impressive. Not many can do that; even some adult men can't" the scraping stopped and I started to panic some more and the sound of his footsteps drew near.

"No! stay away!" I cried as I tried to figure out where he was.

All of a sudden a piece of rubber was tied to my wrist cutting off the blood circulation in my arm. A clamp was then place on the main artery that fed blood to my hand.

"STOP PLEASE JUST STOP NO MORE NO MORE!" I cried losing my control over my emotions once again.

I kept screaming for him not to do it way past the time that it took so that my wrist would become numb.

"Let's see how far we go today!' he said as I heard him shuffle.

"NO!' I screamed as his knife fell cutting off four fingers. "ARGGG" I screamed as he let the knife slide across my hand and cut off my last remaining finger; my thumb.

I don't remember must after that; my mind has blocked out most of it but I do remember a few things.

The man would cut joint to joint, till he got to my forearm where he split the ulna from the radius and cut them slice by slice. He did the same with my upper arm. Dissecting me like it was a class project.

"This is a vein this is a muscle.. Aww look how tiny and cute it is!" I could hear it despite my screaming and crying.

I remember my tormented screams and cries, a lot of fainting and reawakening and a lot of nightmares. Pain was always present throughout the year I spent there. Even after the wounds had mostly healed I still cried because of the pain.

I was traumatized like no other and flinched each time I heard a noise.

I was only able to open the connection with Shiro half a year after it the last bit of my arm had been cut off.

'Kari? When are you coming home?' my brother asked once again. I shook my head and curled further into the covers trying to convince myself this was all a dream.

"I don't know Shi. It hurts, it hurts a lot" I cried to him.

I was held in a cell on the lowest floor of Impel down the secret 6th floor. I was chained to my bed with nothing to do but feel sorry for myself.

But that all changed; one faithful day.

"Yo brat you have a new roommate!" One of the guards called to me. I flinched at their tone before listening to them drag a body into the cell, and clamping him onto the wall in front of me. They left soon after I heard the click of the chains around the man's wrists.

I stayed shaking under the blankets trying to hide from both the world and the new man until I fell asleep.

I woke later that day from the clinking of chain's. Scared I stayed still and silent not wanting to be discovered.

"HEY Brat Wake up." A guard called from the bars. He opened the door and plopped a plate of food and a something light on the bed. I didn't move as he lifted the blankets and unlocked my ankle so that I could move freely.

"The boss has determined that you're not a threat so you can stay without the chains for the next few months till vice admiral Garp comes to get you." He said before leaving the cell and locking it. He left soon after.

I stayed there shaking like a leaf for at least half an hour before I could pry myself out of the fetal position and sit down before looking for the light object that had fell onto the bed. When I found it I fingered it; realizing it was a fork I found the plastic plate of cold sticky substance that they called food and pulled it closer with my only hand.

I heard the jingling of chain's and snapped my head to the side freezing when I realized it came from my new roommate. I waiting for him to settle before starting to slowly try and eat the stuff they gave me.

'Kari~ you have to eat if you want to grow strong.' I heard my mother say. Remembering her, a small tear escaped my eyes as I place down the fork. I fingered my necklace trying to gain comfort, but found none.

"What happened to you kid?" The voice came from the chained person in front of me. Scared I hid under the blankets again trying to once again tell myself it wasn't real.

It didn't work.

"Kid what did they do to you?" the voice sounded male as I slowly buried myself deeper into the covers.

He stayed silent once again leaving an awkward silence between us.

"My name is Tatsuya, what's yours?" he asked taking a different approach.

"Kari." I didn't recognize my raspy voice when I had spoken, for I hadn't said anything in such a long time.

"That's a nice name who gave it to you?" he asked his voice urging me to keep speaking to him.

"My momma." I croaked, remembering her hurt but I could not stop talking to him. His presence felt almost comforting.

"Your mother seems like a nice women to be able to come up with such a beautiful name." he said. I nodded in response.

We didn't speak for the rest of the time. Both of us soon falling asleep.

~.~.~

So first things first...
HI guys. I'm so sorry for not updating this past year. School's been hectic, as was the summer. Hopefully you forgive me. ;(

Second, i believe that i am currently going through my hardest semester in school right now... out of 8 classes? i have 7 in which i have to do a essay which could be anywhere from 8 to 15 pages long. So once again i'm not sure when i will be able to update.
Sorry!
Anyway thank you so much for your support and hope you enjoyed the chapter and Kari and Tatsuya's first meeting.
Anyway feedback is always welcome and always motivates me to write more.
Have a nice night, and i will be in touch ;)

K.~