This chapter contains trigger content for sexual abuse
The hot spring is that rare treat she gives herself once a blue moon. The timing has to be right, considering her need to extract herself from human company.
Part of being an introvert, a loner, is the quietude that exists within her surroundings. The influencing environment tames her muse and settles even the most virulent of thoughts. But such thing rarely exists nowadays, considering her recent ordeal with Shisui - or perhaps it pertains to her broken friendship with him?
Regardless, her life has taken a tumultuous turn, a fluctuation of both positive alienness and negative feelings she finds unfathomable.
In the dead of the night, Honoka takes her place at the village's furthest hot spring. It is often quiet - even by day, and as evening sets, the silence turns deafening. The trade-off is an evocative stillness she revels in, an unperturbed quietness that is discordant with the blaring sounds of her inexplicable thoughts.
But such pleasantness is excruciatingly transient.
The doors to the outside rattles. It plants a plethora of restless displeasure to the sombre ambience.
Her body startles with the appearance of two unwelcoming women she wishes to forget. They are her laboratory colleagues, who have decided to impede her privacy with their wicked glares and Machiavellian insults. Even their presence taints the air, and when they step into the waters, the hostility heightens.
"Ugh…a cockroach," Tsubaki sneers.
The other woman, Honoka forgets her name, and perhaps for the sake of her own toxic muse, sends a tidal wave of water in Honoka's direction as if to erase an unpleasant sight.
"Get out of our spot," Tsubaki snarls.
The hatred is so strong, Honoka can feel its physical manifestation against her skin. And though the animosity is something many would process as a sign to comply, Honoka does not understand the impending consequences of refusal.
"I do not believe you have legal ownership over this spot. The hot spring belongs to Konoha, and it clearly states on the signage that it is for public use. As members of the public, everyone is entitled to use the springs without feeling the need to vacate. I therefore, am unable to accept your request to 'get out' unless you provide me with some form of evidence that I cannot be here."
Honoka speaks fast, blunt and in a sensationally robotic tone. There are no feelings attached to her words; her comments are pure logic - it is the only way to explain the situation.
Unfortunately, her social awareness and perception of what is deemed as dangerous and provoking behaviour, is almost non-existent.
At her long, oral exposition, Tsubaki paddles close, until she is barely inches from her face.
"How dare you speak to me like that, you vile bitch," she snarls.
Her tone is low and threatening, a clear indicator of impending abuse.
"Respect your seniors!" And she spits on Honoka's face.
Tension escalates. Another tidal wave of hot water, and Honoka is pushed against the jagged edges of rocks.
The other woman, who can be heard sniggering with uncontrollable shaking, is now watching the commotion with euphoric intensity.
"I've also seen you lurking around Shisui lately. If I remember correctly, he looked very uncomfortable in your presence. So on behalf of our village prodigy, we feel it necessary to protect him from disgusting vermin like you."
Tsubaki's hard tone sends a chilling breeze of danger into the atmosphere. As she surveys Honoka with increasing incredulity, there seems to be a new kind of anger that fuels her exasperation.
"Perhaps you are parading this body of yours to him?"
The accusation stings, and for the first time, Honoka's composure is starting to crack.
"I hate bitches like you," Tsubaki breathes.
She peers closely at Honoka's face before reaching over and gripping her arms in a tenacious hold. And if use to such brutal treatment, Honoka does not flinch.
"I'm disappointed that someone like you has been gifted with such a nice body," Tsubaki says enviously.
There is anger etched into her gaze that rivals even the water's temperature. And when she reaches out to grab hold of Honoka's breasts, there is the sudden sound of suppressed wails that reverberates grotesquely into the darkened night.
Tsbuaki's grip is menacing, with every muscle in her hands used as a malicious weapon. And when those sharp nails dig viciously into her flesh, she lets out a whimper of defeat that gets Tsubaki hesitating.
In a futile attempt for escape, Honoka takes the chance to duck beneath the bloodied waters. The other woman blocks her way, and with agonising unease, Honoka's hair is dragged upwards and out the waters. Only inches away from her face, she sees the brutality that marks the pupils of Tsubaki's gaze.
Again, she scans Honoka's body with increasing inquisitiveness.
"Why do you have marks and scars all over your chest?"
The other woman, who's interest piques at Tsubaki's questioning, is now wading over to examine the various bruise and bite marks that are scattered across Honoka's breasts.
"Disgusting trash," Tsubaki spits at the realisation.
She releases Honoka and backs away in repugnance.
"You should be ashamed of yourself you dirty slut," the other woman adds.
"Lets leave. I wouldn't want to share this water with this dirty slut in it," Tsubaki says.
They disappear with remarkable speed, as if the desperation to escape overrides the inconvenience of travelling so far to this hot spring.
Honoka remains in the waters. The remnants of her blood has now diluted in a swirl of bubbling water and steam. Still, her chest continues to bleed from the punctured wounds, albeit the pain is no longer present in her conscious mind. Regardless, she is sure the bruising will impede her mobility for several days.
At the women's departure, Honoka is neither disappointed nor relieved. She is having trouble understanding their accusations, as if she has done something socially inappropriate and is finding it difficult to decipher what it truly was.
She struggles with being left behind. Her tireless attempts at reading and learning on ways to adapt to society has proven challenging, fruitless and undoubtedly painful.
With the occurrence of so many failed tries, she is certainly being punished for learning, yet if she does not pursue that desire to adapt and integrate, she is also punished.
The ridicule sits close on either side, and not for the first time, she questions her role, and the reason for her existence.
Perhaps she was born to serve, to comply with orders?
But she has learnt of her unprivileged position, and challenging it seems to send her into a spiral of deeper problems.
Her desire for freedom is unknown. But a small part of her knows the feeling of said freedom, yet she cannot draw links with this part of her inner self.
Her world takes the form of black and white. The brief and recent coloured world she saw has become synonymous with Shisui's acceptance of her actuality. His kindness far exceeds any form of praise she has received.
And only when Shisui decides to erase his presence from her, does she feel a savage loneliness that eats cruelly at her very own existence.
x
"You called, Lord Danzo?"
Her voice is oddly pitched, as if frightened of the looming figure that overshadows her tiny form.
"Honoka, do you remember the values instilled into Root members?" He answers tersely.
Honoka does not see his face. Her forehead has sunk low against the cold, floor of concrete. When she nods without speaking, the thudding sounds of wood against ground startles her into oblivion.
She lets out a terrifying squeak when faced with the long end of Danzo's walking stick.
"I cannot hear you," Danzo says quietly.
His voice is low and dangerous, the hard edge cuts like kunais across the dismal surroundings of Root's underground.
"Y-Yes, Lord Danzo," she replies tentatively.
"If you recall such values, why are they not being cherished? Practiced? Enforced?"
When she remains agonisingly silent, Danzo continues his didactic rants in that same deadly tone.
"You see, Root is there to provide Konoha what the Third cannot. We protect from the underground, and by that, it extends to all aspects of the work we do. I have been personally informed by Lord Mizuku that you have been absent during his visits."
His eyes narrow with passive hostility, each word is coated by a thin layer of subdued aggression.
"Honoka, my subordinates have also informed me that you have been getting a little friendly with someone - Uchiha Shisui perhaps?"
She flinches violently at the sound of Shisui's name, yet a large portion of those discomforting reaction stems from the fear of being punished.
"Would you care to provide an explanation?" Danzo continues.
Honoka is bizarrely still, as if tracked and cornered by a bloodthirsty predator.
"I-I…do not…cannot do so anymore, I do not understand w-why…"
Her stuttering is so severe, she wonders whether Danzo can comprehend a word.
"I will tell you why. Your emotions have infiltrated your ability to become a competent member of Root. Lord Mizuku brings in the largest proportion of economic prosperity into Konoha, against many other important personnels. You were his favourite, and yet you allow emotions to sabotage the village's prospect of survival? When you become a member of Root, you belong to Root. Everything, from your emotions, to your work, intelligence, mind, body, soul. If you cannot accept that then perhaps you are not cut out to be a part of us."
The explanation is deeply profound.
Honoka shakes her head vigorously, afraid of the consequences - a place she wishes to never re-visit.
"Please have mercy, Lord Danzo. I will continue to reinforce Root's values. I will cherish and preserve every part of it."
The silence is brief before he speaks.
"Seeing your desperation for redemption, I'll take your situation to good use. Perhaps you would like to accept the next mission on offer."
It was not a question.
Regardless of her answer, Danzo's disapproval of her recent actions have pushed her to the brink of accepting any mission - be it unreasonable or not.
She has little choice. Her existence in this village is reduced to a mere slave who works to have a roof over her head, food to eat and a village to keep her safe.
No one is there to protect her. Even if she disappears, she will quickly fade into the background with no legacy, no achievement - nothing.
Because in her world, she has no one.