Song for Chapter:
Zombie - The Pretty Reckless, Light Me Up
Chapter Sixteen: Torture
Pain skyrocketed up his back as the whip lashed down, tearing at both clothing and marred flesh. He hissed, but otherwise refused to let out any other noise in response to the lashing. He would not give them the satisfaction.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" When he refused to give a response, the whip came down once more. "Answer me, boy!"
His long black hair stuck to the wound, pale blue eyes closed in a silent declaration of where he stood on his torture. He would not give them anything, no matter if they killed him.
They might do it yet.
"Stop!" a female voice sobbed from the corner. Her tears had been going nonstop since her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could fully witness the horrors just across her cell. "Please!"
A cruel laugh followed and soon, the whip stopped completely. When the tortured demon had closed his eyes, he could not recall, but slowly they cracked open to view his assailant. The one with the whip had been smart and never turned to face the demon, instead keeping his back to him as he stalked heavily towards the girl in the corner.
He grabbed a lock of her hair and roughly tugged her up as far as the shackles would allow. "Speak, boy, or I'll start on this pretty friend of yours."
His jaw set hard, the chained demon refused to speak even now. It was not until the man moved into the shadows, unable to be seen, that the whip caught the sliver of light from the crevices in the dirty dungeon. Before he could strike, a pained voice ceased his movements.
"Stop now," he growled, his voice so feral the torturer froze mid-swing. "I will give you your answers." Even he could make out the vile grin that slithered across the other's face. It made his stomach flip and churn with such hatred, he was afraid it would consume him. If only the wind could reach him here... But alas, it could not.
"Well? Say something or the girl is next!"
Straining around a lump in his throat, the chained spoke, "Yuji... My name is Yuji. Do not harm her."
"Yuji who, huh? That name means little to me!" The demon ground his teeth together and stomped closer to the boy on the ground. He could see red eyes gleaming up at him.
After a hurried, calculated thought that barely made its way through the haze of agonizing pain, he said, "Takanari. I am Yuji Takanari." Lies.
"As in... No, that demon died nearly a century ago at the TouMa! I watched it happen!" The whip came down across his back once more and new rivulets of blood pooled around his feet. "Tell me lies again, kid, and I'll just take your head and be done with it!"
Yuji gritted his teeth, trying to find Izume in the darkness. Her hazel eyes met his and his jaw set once more. Unless she was in danger, he would give them nothing. He would, again, rather die first.
"Fine, you want to be that way? I'll let you suffer in this filthy cell until you beg for mercy." The man cackled and the pair heard the jingling of keys before a heavy wooden door slammed behind him. They were alone once more.
"Yuji?" Izume whispered softly. "Are you alright?"
No, he was not anywhere close to 'alright', but she certainly did not need to know that. "Yes, I'm fine," he uttered, trying to keep the hazy stutter from his tone. "We need to get out of here. Don't speak your name or any other in front of them."
"Yeah, I won't. What are we going to do, Yuji?" The Mazoku girl strained against her shackles, but her youki would not come forth. The markings that adorned her face when her prowess was shone had been invisible since she woke up, and she knew it from her lack of energy. "These cuffs suppress my youki."
"Mine as well," he confirmed, his sentences short to try and maintain his failing composure. He was losing consciousness and fast. Even as a demon, the lacerations across his flesh were too deep to heal alone. "I hope they are alright."
Izume knew what he meant. Shoichi and Avaron had been unseen and unheard since they arrived and it bothered the duo more than anything. "They are, I just know it. He's too stubborn to die and so is she. Don't worry Yuj, we'll get out of here."
'Yes, but time is of the essence now...'
~:.:{To All The People Left Behind, You Are Walking Dumb And Blind}:.:~
"Kurama, how is our war going?" Yomi did not turn his head towards the redhead. In reality, it would do no good. He could see a mental image of him just as well from this direction as full frontal.
Cautiously approaching the blind king, Kurama clasped his hands behind his back. "So far, we are pushing back our enemies forces. Nothing has changed."
"Have you figured out the source of the disappearances in our medical staff?" This time, Yomi did turn to face the fox, if only for a more intimidating appearance. He knew it would do no good on this stoic, calculating demon.
"I'm afraid not. A battalion has been stationed at the east end of the camp to watch for intruders. They've been told to kill immediately if intruders are spotted." The redhead knew who it was. He had been sending secret notes to the group as he received them from Kotone. Suzuka had left them, but Chu, Rinku, and Shishiwakamaru were still covertly making their way into their ranks. They had been in disguise as Gandara guards for over a week now, slaying whoever they could in the dead of night and only taking out those that would make a difference.
In other words, the medical unit healing the troops and sending them back to the battle field...
"I want progress, Kurama." Yomi frowned, ears twitching to try and catch any word from whomever it was that sought to destroy him. He did not know that the triad he searched for had been communicated via paper since they went incognito. After all, Yomi's superb hearing was legendary.
"I will see what I can find tonight on my own, if it is what you wish." Oh how his inner fox demon snarled at the thought.
'Soon, we will be the one to rip his heart from his chest. I want the pleasure, Shuichi.' Youko had grown to hate Yomi with every fiber of his being, and Shuichi's for that matter.
'Of course, Youko. Unfortunately for now, we must bide our time. I trust Kotone has something planned with the rare seeds I gave her in secret.' Inwardly, the human side of Kurama was smiling calmly. 'She'll reappear soon enough.'
'For now, continue to kill who you can when none are looking. If you can't, I will.' The threat hung in the jumbled thoughts of his mind even after Youko receded into the darkest corners.
"Yes, that is what I wanted to hear. You're dismissed, Kurama. If you find anything out, I want to be the first to know." As the redhead left, unseeing eyes followed his back until the fox was gone.
~:.:{All Of You Who've Wronged Me, I Am, I Am A Zombie}:.:~
A week had flown by and with it, progress was made, more than Kotone Kaze Tsukai had ever expected. The energy levels of her six undead comrades had jumped far more than she had ever dreamed was possible. The untapped ki within them was ready come out, and they allowed it.
They had just finished working in pairs, each switching off to a new partner at the midday mark, and were now beginning to try out a group attack. Unfortunately, things were not going as smoothly as she had hoped... Where there had been chaos with certain duos trying to work as a unit, absolute hell broke loose when they attempted it as an entire contingent.
"DAMN IT!" Kotone was sent flying as an erratic burst of reiki came flying her direction. Toguro was written all over the wayward blast that sent her careening into the air, one that was supposed to be directed at Raizen.
Perhaps their first day in this style should not have been attempted blindfolded...
Oops.
A body caught the sailing dai youkai, ceasing her free fall before she could get her wind to do so. She would have been perfectly capable of landing on her own, but apparently another party had decided an intervention was necessary.
"Careful, lovely little bird," came the coo and she knew who it was, blindfold or not.
"Karasu, I'm in no mood," she hissed. The pet name had grown rather old, especially considering she was nowhere near a bird. She was a wind demoness, not a damn bird! She figured it was some pun she had not caught yet in regards to him being a crow.
She really did not have time for him at this point.
"To your left," he said in his ever-calm voice. He had not broken his composure once, no matter how riled anyone tried to get him. It was irksome at best.
She dodged the kick, the blindfold making it hard to register anything, and her wind was pushed out around her to detect any other disturbances.
Well, maybe 'as a whole group' had been a bit of a lie. They had paired off, three against three with Yuji carefully overseeing the entire thing. They had started out on all corners of the island, alone, and were only told who their enemies were. Currently, it was Karasu, Kotone, and Raizen against Genkai, Toguro, and Kuronue. Obviously she did not have the choice of her teammates...
The wind rustled and she felt a movement, one that was not characteristic to the crow's bombs. (They had been surrounding the two since they met up by accident...) Sniffing the air came up to register not Raizen or Karasu's scent, but instead Kuronue's. No matter how desperately she wanted the crow to have some sense knocked into him, he was her teammate and she had to keep him safe just as he needed to for her.
"Duck!" she growled and the next gust registered Karasu jumping instead of ducking, only to receive a heavy blow to his legs. "Serves you right for not listening, you insolent bird-brain!"
"Now, was that necessary?" She could hear the huff in his voice, a haughty tone she sincerely disliked. "Raizen's arrived."
She had known that when he did, but by means of her wind instead of the eyes of his bombs. The former king was near her right and Karasu on the left while they fought. Obviously the Mazoku had realized who his allies were and who was not.
"Raizen, reiki to your right!" Kotone dodged a punch aimed for her throat.
"Hold still, damn it!" Kuronue had taken this fight seriously and she sincerely appreciated it. The more it felt real, the more her instincts kicked in.
She did not reply and instead ducked low, avoiding another of Toguro's blasts and taking the legs out from under the bat apparition in the process. She grinned, sitting on top of him and punching him square in the noise.
"Oh, you little...!" Kuronue rolled, bucking her off and attempting to pin her beneath him for the same punishment. Unfortunately, she was still stronger than him at this point and threw him into the air. A bomb exploded and his cry of pain was enough to send her to her feet.
"Karasu, those bombs aren't deadly, correct? Or anywhere close?" She felt another wave of reiki coming, though this one was different. Genkai. "Shit, she's found us."
"Perceptive wind demon," Raizen murmured somewhere close, a clawed hand shoving her in the opposite direction and both avoiding the blast with grace.
"As you asked, just painful and slightly crippling," replied Karasu, further off than she would have liked her teammate to be right now. The blindfolds were really a bad idea...
"Somehow I doubt that."
"I'm alive," Kuronue shouted in confirmation, "and not anywhere close to dead. Just keep fighting."
A mental sigh of relief later and Kotone was in hand-to-hand with a much taller man. From the way he moved and the scent the wind carried back to her, she knew it was the psychic Toguro.
"You're fairly strong as a human." Kotone dodged a blow headed towards her chest, instead taking it in the shoulder to properly use his arm for leverage. Grabbing mightily, she flipped him over and kicked him in the jaw. "But, I'm a demon and I'm much, much stronger."
"Or so you think." Toguro snatched her foot and twisted, spinning the woman in the air and using her body as a mallet to beat into the ground.
She sprung away from him, dirt now caking her body, and faintly heard the noises of battle nearby. Raizen and Karasu had engaged Genkai and Kuronue, but at this time she was still unsure of who would properly match against the other.
Unfortunately, Genkai did... Considering she was just as brilliant as before her death, it was an asset when pit against their enemies but a plague when Kotone was on her opposing side.
"Kuronue, take Raizen and let me have Karasu," she ordered. "Toguro, keep battling Kotone."
"Gladly," replied the human male and lunged at the dai youkai. Instead of grabbing her, as she had expected and dodged, reiki shot out of his hands and straight into her torso.
"Oomph," she groaned, but did not waste time in recovering. Instead, the wind swirled around her and literally threw the psychic into a nearby tree, his feet trying to skid across the ground to break the landing. It did little to help. "Damn good hit, Toguro."
"I try," he grumbled, springing straight back into action.
Before he could get close enough to hit her, a voice interrupted the six-way fight. "Kotone, we have a visitor. I feel him approaching now." Yuji had appeared directly beside her, as swift as his element, and Toguro ceased his attack from there.
"Who in the..." Kotone's eyes brightened and she ripped off the blindfold. "Everyone, continue what you're doing. Yuji, put this on and take my place." She thrust the scrap of cloth at him and took off across the hills, heading straight for the disturbance she had not felt in her barrier until proper attention was placed on it.
She met the newcomer at the ocean, though he looked fairly confident he had arrived first. His makeshift boat, propelled by some strange contraption she was sure he had created himself, landed just on the sand when he noticed her.
"Ah, lovely Kotone, what a pleasure!" He flourished, his hands stretching wide and his grin matching.
"Beautiful Suzuka," she embellished, trying to hide her eyes rolling at the silly name he had informed her to call him by. If it kept him happy, she would do it for the time being. She needed his skills. "I trust you brought your materials?"
"Everything I have or could use is in these," he gently patted one of the many metal boxes in the boat. It was a miracle the thing had held up with as heavy as that luggage seemed. "Now, why in the world have you called me back here of all places?"
Kotone grabbed one of the boxes he offered her, letting the demon male carry the other two. She led him just a little further away from the shore where a bunch of fallen trees were scattered from previous training regiments. It allowed the perfect place for him to set up camp considering bad weather was rare around this island. Or, it could have had a lot to do with a wind demon and a lightning apparition tampering with the air around the secret base... Who knows!
"Well, I have a lot of explaining to do that you really won't believe, but you must swear something to me." Her look became grave, serious in all manners of speaking.
"I can't promise if I don't know what it is," he scoffed, turning his nose up in his usual show of 'superior'. (Kotone clearly remembered a play fight she had experienced with this particular demon, one where he was begging for mercy within minutes, yet he still stuck his nose up at her... Blasphemy.) The glare fixated on him aided in his next sentence, "But I'm sure I will!"
"To make matters short, I've brought back to life- in a backwards, half-life sort of way- four demons and two psychics that could sorely use your skills. We need all the help we can get, even if they are improving. I figured you could help speed the process up!" She grinned cheekily, clapping her hands together in front of her. "Well, what do you say, Beautiful Suzuka?"
He stared... and stared... and continued to stare. It was as if she had grown an extra set of limbs and a second head with how bewildered he seemed. She allowed the information to sink in, knowing a reaction of the most flamboyant of-
"How preposterous! Not even I, the most beautiful man in the world, have the power to do such a thing!" He laughed haughtily, covering his mouth to stifle the obnoxious giggles.
"For the love of Makai, I'm tired of you people! I mean it!" Kotone swiveled around and cupped her fingers around her mouth. "OH GENKAI! WOULD YOU COME HERE?! BRING THE OTHERS!"
"Silly, silly, lovely Kotone, there's no need to continue to make a fool out of yourself!" Suzuka giggled again and she waited patiently.
Sure enough, six figures emerged at varied paces from over the rolling hills of this part of the island, moving closer and closer to Kotone's position. Suzuka, eyes closed in his mirth, did not see their approach until she was facing him with all six standing around her.
He gawked, face blanching, and his jaw dropped lower than she thought possible for it to go.
"Do you believe me now, eh?" An eyebrow quirked at his question. "Beautiful Suzuka, you already know Genkai and Toguro, though he's rather human now, but you haven't met the other misfits here. Raizen, Kuronue, Karasu- though, you might remember him from the Dark Tournament-, and my older partner Yuji. Everyone, this is the Beautiful Suzuka."
"The damned clown." Genkai gave a lopsided smirk to herself, "I didn't think I'd see you again."
Suzuka, still motionless and silent, refused to even blink. His skin was paling and before she knew it, he had fallen to the ground.
Kuronue knelt next to his body and lifted his head by the golden mop of perfectly-styled hair. His grin was contagious, "He's out cold."
Kotone's palm met her forehead in exasperation, groaning. "You've got to be kidding me."
"And why have you called this pathetic excuse for a demon to our island?" Raizen crossed his arms expectantly, though she saw the tiny snicker trying to pull through him.
"He's rather useful when it comes to creating things," she explained, stifling her laughter. "He's just, well, pathetic."
"And should I assume you address him as 'Beautiful Suzuka' to suck up to him?" Yuji, eyes closed, folded his hands into his sleeves. "He seems a bit... Hmm... Ostentatious."
"That's a nice way to put it. He is the clown from the Dark Tournament?" Toguro was offered a nod from the female psychic. "He could be useful for his talents."
"Exactly why I called him. Now, we just need to wake him up!" Her grin was absolutely evil.
Several minutes later, each and every member of the undead team stared with varied degrees of shock at the image before them. Kuronue had doubled over in laughter, whereas Genkai, Yuji, and even Raizen were chuckling beneath their breaths. Toguro was pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to ward off the exasperated headache, and Karasu let his smirk show openly.
Because Kotone had decided to use her means to wake him up.
Which involved her sitting on top of him, shirt collar clenched between her claws, while the other hand mercilessly slapped him across the face and she shook him relentlessly.
"SUZUKA, YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP! WAKE THE HELL UP!"
Oh hell.
Next in 'Revelation, Defamation':