Two weeks in a row, go figure I managed to do this right in the middle of midterms. Thanks to the person who mentioned a battle of wits in a review. It got my brain going and I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going for the next couple chapters (which honestly hasn't been the case for awhile and is part of the reason I've been slow with updates). Hope you enjoy.
The Game
"Meggi," Raku said. She had slowly come to hate that nickname because it was always followed by something she wouldn't like. "I know this is painful for you, but why do you think your husband, er, ex-husband killed your family?"
It was the first time Raku had ever brought up the topic, it meant something, but she wasn't sure what it meant. "I don't know," she said softly.
"Maybe he went mad, people like him are all animals…" Raku trailed off.
She got the hint and finished the sentence, "Animals that need to be trained."
Raku smiled, telling her something was off, "And to tame an animal, sometimes force must be used. Since your new to having a slave, I figured you don't know how to punish them. My slave's been messing up a lot and needs a reminder. I figured it would be good practice for you."
She paled and mentally cursed herself, she had walked straight into this. Raku ordered Tau to get on all fours and then slid something into her hand. She looked down to see a whip, the end was a darker color than the handle. It had been stained with blood and not cleaned. It would probably cause infection on anyone it was used on. Raku grabbed her arm and pulled her over to stand over Tau. Her mind was numb, and she just stood there looking down at Tau.
"Go on," Raku encouraged when she didn't move, pulling her out of her stupor. She looked over at Raku and something in Raku's eyes caught her attention. Raku was excited and finally it clicked in her mind. Raku knew, or at least suspected she was communicating with Tau. This was another test. If she played this wrong, then Tau would be killed.
She raised the whip and started to bring it down but stooped herself, making her inner conflict known. She stood there for a few seconds, finalizing her rushed plan, before dropping her arm. "I can't," She said. "As a doctor, I swore an oath to never intentionally harm another human being."
"I didn't think you were a doctor," Raku purred.
"Well close enough to a doctor down there, but either way, I made an oath and I can't go back on it," she said. Now she needed Raku to follow through, so she could prove she was heartless and didn't care. Then all she could do was hope it worked.
"But how do you plan on punishing them then?" Raku asked and she mentally cheered, just the question she was hoping for.
She smiled, "There are ways to hurt someone without physically harming them."
She had Raku's interest now, "Show me."
"I need to grab something from my home," she said, turning and walking towards home. Kusanagi kept her face impassive, but she could tell the woman was angry. Kusanagi probably saw this as betrayal. She just hoped everything would work out how she wanted it to because if it didn't, it would be.
She grabbed the herbs Karou had given her, mentally thanking her friend for giving them to her and teaching her how to prepare them. Then she walked back out to Raku, passing by Kusanagi and slipping a leaf and a note into the woman's pocket. She pulled on the pocket so Kusanagi knew she had done something.
Grabbing a glass of water, she dumped in the right amount of leaves in and stirred. When she was done she gave it to Tau to drink, avoiding looking him in the eye. If her plan failed, this would really hurt him. Tau obediently drank and then silence fell.
"It takes about twenty minutes to take effect," she said.
Raku pouted, "That's no fun."
"You'd be amazed at the power fear has, not knowing when the punishment comes is part of it," She said, forcing a smile onto her face. Raku brightened up at this. "How about you show me the flowers in your garden you've been telling me about while we wait," she said, Raku nodded in agreement. "Come," she said to Kusanagi and then she held her breath.
"No," Raku said quickly, and she released her breath. "We don't need them."
She nodded and left arm in arm with Raku, leaving Kusanagi and Tau at the table. She had hoped Raku would want the opposite of what she wanted with the slaves. It was odd to bring them to the garden, so she had hoped Raku would think she was planning something and force the two to stay. That was exactly what she needed. They needed to be left alone so Kusanagi could get the antidote to Tau. Now she just hopped Kusanagi understood her message and that Tau was a good actor. If he couldn't pretend to have a stomach ache from hell, then they were all in trouble.
She oohed and awed over the flowers in the garden, but she didn't really care. Aside from noticing some plants Karou would be interested in, she really had no interest in plants, but her compliments were enough to appease Raku.
When they returned to the table, Tau was on the ground with both hands wrapped around his stomach. Raku raised and eyebrow and went over to the man, kicking him roughly in the side. He let out a whimper of pain. She was suddenly very worried her plan had failed, and she was now the reason Tau was in pain.
"What did you do?" Raku asked.
"Stomach ache from hell," she said, hiding her fear and putting on a look of smugness. "It causes quite a bit of pain but no vomiting and overall no harm is done to the body."
"How long will it last?"
"Only about thirty minutes. I gave a smaller dose because I didn't want to incapacitate your slave for too long."
Raku smiled, "What plant did you use?"
"Caster oil plant," she said, it was the only plant name she knew that caused stomach aches. She had no idea what Karou had given her, only how it would work. It was dangerous for Raku to know about the plant, but it was a risk she would have to take. "The seeds contain a poison that in the right dosage can cause pain without killing. The wrong dosage however will kill rather quickly," She said. Hopefully Raku didn't start experimenting.
"Fascinating," Raku said, kicking Tau once more in the side before returning to the table.
They drank more tea and chatted idly, though she wasn't really in the mood for any of it. Not with Tau writhing in pain on the ground. But she forced herself to act normally and prayed that Tau was just an amazing actor. Eventually Raku had errands to run and so they said their farewells, leaving Tau where he was laying.
"Please tell me you got the note," she said to Kusanagi once they were inside.
"Yes. We would not still be alive if we didn't know how to act convincingly," Kusanagi said, not trying to hide the anger in her voice. She sighed in relief. "Why did you do that?" Kusanagi asked angerly.
"She knew. She knew I was communicating with Tau. It was a test. If I didn't hurt him, we'd all be in trouble."
"What?" Sano asked, coming out of the living room where he had been hanging all day. She quickly filled him in on what happened. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Do you think she bought it?"
"I hope so."
Kusanagi looked at her, "You're a better actor than I expected. I'm sorry for questioning you."
"You had every right to," she said and let Sano lead her into the living room.
The next day she went out again to have tea with Raku. They were chatting amiably when a slave she didn't recognize brought out the tea. Her heart sunk, where was Tau?
"Where's your slave?" She asked innocently. "I hope I didn't incapacitate him longer than anticipated."
"No. He was becoming defective, so I disposed of him and got a new one. What do you think?"
Her heart stopped, she had failed, Raku had been in control the entire time. She had read everything wrong. If she had refused to hurt him, been the Megumi Raku knew, then he would have been safe. But instead she had not acted like herself, so intent on buying Raku's trust. She had lost, and Tau would pay the price.
She looked at Raku's new slave, pretending to appraise him but not actually seeing him. "Nice," she said.
"Mam," Sano said, walking up behind them and her mind snapped to the one thing she could to. She had to believe Tau was still alive. She would believe it until she saw a body.
She rounded on Sano, looking angry. "I told you I don't need you today," she said to him. "Go do what ever you do on your free time." Now that she was facing him, Raku couldn't see her face, so she let her fear show. Sano looked around, registered the different slave, and understood what was going on. He sneered at her, turned around, and ambled back towards the house.
"Sheesh," she said sitting back down. "You'd think he was in love with me the way he clings to me."
Raku giggled and motioned for her new slave to pour the tea. It was then that she actually registered what the man looked like. He looked very similar to Aki, her murderous husband. That was why Raku had looked so annoyed at her earlier indifference to the man's appearance. It took everything she had to keep her impassive mask in place.
Why would Raku find a slave that looked like the man who killed her family? Her brain was racing. She was missing something. The man's appearance was a taunt, but why was Raku taunting her? Raku had never shown any interest in the man who killed her family. Her back straightened suddenly. Raku never asked what happened, because she already knew.
Her question yesterday, Raku wanted to know if she knew anything about the reason for her family's murder. Something had happened to put Raku on edge. But then she hadn't known, so now Raku was flaunting her superior knowledge by finding a slave that looked like her husband.
The murder of her family had caused the gap between the classes to grow and it also grew the slave trade. The same business Raku was part of. Raku was the one friend her parents hadn't chosen for her. The one friend who supported her marrying a commoner. And the one friend who never asked about what happened that night. She thought it was kindness and that was probably what Raku wanted her to think. Raku was the reason her family was dead.
The realization slammed into her and caused her to almost drop her tea cup. It was the missing piece. The one thing she had never understood. Her husband had been forced to kill her family.
She belonged to one of the most powerful families. Raku and her had become friends because they both had an interest in the lower class. Raku had encouraged her curiosity. Raku had been playing her since the moment they became friends. Even now, Raku was in control. She doubted she had ever once had control.
"Are you alright?" Raku asked. She looked into Raku's eyes but saw nothing that could calm the storm in her mind. The person she saw as her best friend had planned the death of her family, had panned everything. "You look pale."
"It's the tea," she said without thinking. "It reminds me of one my mother use to make." Raku looked annoyed again. It was only for a split second, but she saw it. Because she was so frazzled, she wasn't doing what Raku expected of her and it was pissing Raku off.
She mentally laughed, go figure, the one time she stopped thinking was the one time she got out of Raku's control. She just hopped that now that she knew, she could start taking the control from Raku without Raku finding out. She had to play someone who had been playing her since they were ten years old.