A quick chapter before I prepare everything to go to class. Thanks for reading and like always, please subscribe and leave kudos :3

Karen continues to keep her distance, oblivious and careful. She sighs looking at her current state. She's thinner and dirty enough to make others feel sorry for her. She purses her lips looking at the food brought again: the usual rice accompanied with a light, somewhat hard bread. That stopped surprising her long ago.

"Karen?" That man always arrives at that time, just after her last mean of the day with a gentle look. He deceives her... He wants to understand her and above all talk to her.

Although there is nothing more than the name as progress.

He doesn't know why he doensn't give up... He doesn't understand.

"There you are again," she does not avoid saying, moving away from any approach, bitter and tired if this despite the fact that so many days have passed. How long has she been here? It has seemed eternal. The man makes gibberish and comments many other things in their difficult language.

Now she nows that his name is Hashirama. Not so strange considering the type of culture this is, focused on the ancient oriental. What surprises her is the fact that he says his name so casually and with such ease seeing the approach of wanting to communicate.

"This is getting tiring," Karen comments out of the blue interrupting what the man is saying and she looks at herself. She knows that this will not be easy considering the psychological damage that this will mean, not to mention the physical damage caused by the strong grip on her hands. She is undecided about what to do next.

Looking at her body, at the dirt accumulated by teh lack of hygiene, she thanks whoever makes fun of her that at least this situation didn't happen in those days, because it would have been another story... She has left her pride. She looks at the stranger who continues trying to understand her.

"I...", the woman points to herself, then makes gestures with her hands on her body. She urges to take a bath. Her hair is greasy, her underwear has not been changed... She tries to take advantage of the false kindness that the foreigner tries to show. At least the other person isn't here.

The faded one is worse only by analyzing her like a lab mouse.

She doesn't like him.

"Bath," she explains in a clumsy attemp to make herself understood, worse than when he tried to communicate with a Muslim on one of her trips. The communication gap is terrible, but this is worse because general gestures are lost at the bowing of her partner. She sits frustrated on the floor and curses under her breath at her bad luck repeating the procedure. "I... bath."

"[...]" Hashirama simply doesn't focus and scratches his chin as well, holding his excitement of her initiative. At least he hasn't launched into his point excitedly.

"Shower," she tries making other gestures that she considers common. It's ridiculous... she feels like it's a failed attempt at pampering. It's a good thing she doesn't make a living from this because she's terrible. She sighs and gives up after several seconds. "This will lead to nothing."

"Shawa," the man says strangely. She sees how he tries to accommodate the English pronunciation to his own language. "yu..."

"It's not shawa... it's shower," she hits her forehead with harshness and frustration. The man hits his hands as if coming up with a great idea, he looks at her and leaves without saying anything. Karen remains uneasy as she doesn't know what he understood and she is afraid to find out.

What she didn't expect is to suddenly be surrounded by women and forcibly taken out of her confinement, scaring her a lot... she hits and kicks with fright that perhaps they interpreted something else with her stupid idea of bathing.

She hates coming from a time where hygiene can only be endured to a certain point, although her sister always said that she could last more days without bathing than her, not that she was proud of it... but she's sure she broke the record time.

When she is thrown into a tub full of water she understands that despite everything, she was understood.

She is cold, she lacks soap and she clings to her sanity in the face of the aggression she feels from her point of view considering that the humidity is beginning to affect her clothes. They throw it away and rip them because they don't understand the function of the zipper in her pants or the purpose of her sneakers. "Wait it's my only change!", is what she says not so relaxed even though it's what she wanted.

"[...]" The woman who normally brings her food looks at her, silences her when she tries to allege the mistreatment and punishes her with a look that stops her from continuing to defend herself.

"This goes against my rights," she comments with a frown. Her bra is the only thing that remains next to her boxer shorts. She looks at them... her clothes are truly lost. "I'll take them off," she assures, stopping any action from who is supposed to be in charge of the matter.

She gets up leaving her dignity aside. These people are not willing to leave her alone. She sighs, leaving her shame to show part of her modesty in the eyes of the girls who, although they don't show it, judge her and analyze every part of her features. Her slight figure worked out in a gym that she now thinks would have been in something else.

She doesn't know, maybe martial arts or boxing.

She snorts and sits reluctantly noticing how the orders are given. She hates not understanding... Listening to what they say little caring if she listens they rub her, they stir her with certain suspicious liquids that she tries to fight off sometimes, and then when she sees the foam and understands that, although rustic, they have the basics.

She is cold and walking barefoot through the hallways being escorted. Her clothing is itchy due to the hardness of the fabric and the humidity still noticeable falling on her shoulders. Her long hair is not the best and was left like a broom because of the strangeness inverted.

The bath was a joy, but Karen doesn't know if it was for the best since she doesn't know what they put in her... at least she feels less dirty.

Although she won't say anything about her clothes. Even her underwear is uncomfortable and her bra was replaced by a well-applied set of bandages, all being helped by the women who continue whispering behind her back. She growls... She wants to annoy them, but the insults are lost before the barrier that they still have not crossed.

"[...]" Someone can be heard tensing the workers who bow in respect. She frowns noticing that tinted haired man with contacts crossing his hands. He looks at her almost making her uncomfortable but she is too proud to show annoyance so she raises her gaze.

She feels the contempt of her companions, but they don't say anything. "[...]" The foreigner continues speaking with his sullen and harsh tone.

"I don't understand you but... yo momma," the woman blurts out bitterly with her equally insolent gesture.

"[...]" The white-haired man orders something to the women who simply get up to face him. She sees that there is a hierarchical line between her kidnappers and the women who helped her, noting that despite how rude they are there are basic etiquettes.

They aren't that wild... but as they have kidnapped her, she can't think otherwise.

"Hashirama?", she decides to ask awkwardly, noticing the silence of that hallway. She sighs... She wants to go to her figurative cell and get away from the gaze of that conceited guy. He looks at her and tilts his head firmly, saying many other things that she doesn't understand. "I just asked if Hashirama was here."

"Hashirama?", the stranger says more, which makes him sigh. "...Tobirama," he points at himself bitterly.

"..." She doesn't like the man so she doesn't repeat the name. Although she struggled at first she begins to distinguish at least his vowels are more in line with her phonetics, understanding him easily. "Hashirama?", she insists.

"[...]" The man orders to continue on his way. They pass next to him and he doesn't comment anything extra. She wants to say more, but she simply allows herself to be dragged under the hands of the women who whisper frantically as soon as the man disappears from their sight.

She says nothing of this intense exchange anymore, relaxing as soon as she's left alone... Seeing her room cleaned up and with more things added to do her hair with a hard dresser was amazing, seemingly leveling up from almost kidnapped to kidnapped with luxuries. Hurray.

At least she sees that this silly exchange turned out to be something positive. She hopes so.

However, this would only be the beginning of a series of comic and stupid situations. Karen is sure of it.

She has a rash. She grunts because of the type of reaction to what they gave her to bathe. She would appreciate some kind of talcum powder, now lying down with a very annoying itch. They watch her and whisper. Those assistants remain curious about her skin as it begins to redden and have light red spots.

She is not proud of her uncomfortable situation, but Karen is adamant about not showing her discomfort even though she has relaxed her alertness to strangers.

The faded man arrives, surely one of the women spoke to him to see her. He takes her hand without any permission. She tries to walk away, but his gaze chills her soul. He starts to whisper frantically alerting her.

It feels like an experiment... That man begins to observe her, every visible area where the rash was noticeable feels violated, but is firm in his hands. It hurts to the point of forgetting about her itch, turning her face away when his was sufficiently near.

The one called Tobirama is fierce and sees those unexcited eyes show a bit of light that makes her heart race and not in a good way, almost like a mad scientist finding the best mystery that alerts him. "I'm fine. Stay away!", she snaps, but is honestly not heard when he picks her up with little patience.

If it weren't for the fact that she isn't the romantic type, she would have noticed the position of princess in disress not at all worthy from her point of view. Like before, she tries to fight and kicks, but he squeezes his hands in warning around the areas taken for better access. "[...]" He gives her some words in a warning tone, which makes her angry.

"You don't have to take me like that!", she hits him but without any type of success as she is thrown to the floor without any care. Her butt hurts until ti goes up her back due to the sharp blow. She does not scream... nor does she rub the area to look daggers at the irritated man.

She has less patience than her assistants when they bathed her, you can tell that.

"You are so rude!", she growls scratching. Her anxiety remembered, Karen gets up. She wants to go back but the man takes her by the waist again. She wants to fight, but suddenly darkness comes to her body.

At least she was unconscious in all the disturbing tests she was subjected to, waking up with lots of ointment and leaves the next day.

It wasn't pleasant and Karen thinks it's not the worst of evils... especially if she confirms that this man is not her favorite person.

She is sure of it.

Author's notes:

It's difficult to adapt to such a complicated and rustic environment. Now that she took that step to understand and even take a bath in that world, Karen put aside her pride risking asking for it. However, it didn't go in the best way, reminding her that she is still trapped and that this place does not have shampoos, soaps and hygiene products as advanced as we currently have, which caused some type of reaction on her delicate skin.

Surprising her a lot, since according to her she was not allergic to anything, but the world changes and although we do not want to admit it, our generations have it very easy and our skin reacts differently to certain things.

Which means that for now she can concentrate better on other matters, without knowing what doors she opened with that initiative to communicate.

Now... things to mention: Hashirama spelled shower as 'shawa', a confusion taking into account the type of phonetics that I imagine in my crazy head. Typical errors in this exchange make the situation a little bearable. Although their accent is complicated, something that Karen will discover little by little.

Thank you for reading and I keep thinking: where will this take us?

Author-chan out!