Hearth

Mama's voice was precious.

She could not remember what the occasion was, but the amount of fish Papa had caught seemed to be abundant enough that Mama decided for them to eat outside, beside the hearth where she and her brother would usually play and camp while watching the moonlight shine over the palm trees. Mama would tell them stories under the hearth, the yellow-orange blaze becoming something that warmed their hearts with pure, large smiles while they feasted in silence.

It was a jolly occasion, yet she could no longer remember the specific words…

Nor even the voice of her Mama. It was a far cast-off memory, lost in time, lost in translation.

A world no longer reachable even if she wished to return to it.

Still, even with the muted tones of a memory long gone in regards to her Mama and Papa, she would always remember their warmth as she stared at the hearth. She would always remember the affectionate touch of her Mama as she stroked her hair and embraced her. The warmth makes the silence breathable and best of all, everlasting.

The cinder of absolute joy was always kindled as she remembered the face of her brother, laughing and giggling as their Mama and Papa sang. Their family, such a crucial part of her memories…

Memories that were steadily vanishing as the warmth of the hearth, its ever-present comfort, began changing into something else.

It was night, the hearth was no longer present. Snuffed out completely as she snuggled underneath the covers of her mat. She remembers smiling as her little brother offered her a drawn picture. It was crude. It was simple. Merely a portrait of their family in the most innocent, loving sense while colored with crayons of green, blue, and yellow. Smiles peppered their faces as she took the piece of paper and touched it briefly. A large grin appears on her face as she embraces the innocent creation before closing her eyes and opening them briefly again as she stares at their window where the palm trees lay.

Peacefully, they swayed under the breeze. Peacefully, she slowly drifted to sleep as she recalled imagining another day when they would sit in front of the hearth again, celebrating life at its most mundane and kindest sensibilities.

She always prayed for it. Silently. If not for a Kami or God up above, but just to the heavens to grant her another day to see it. To make her remember it for all time. To allow the warmth of the hearth to be the centerpiece of her dedication and love for her family.

The heavens did in fact grant that wish. For her to remember it. Vividly.

But not in the way that she desired.

"hhhhhhhhuuuuahhhhhhhhhhhh…" she recalled the sound of labored breathing as her brother's cries became morose, unfiltered, and painful. Her cheeks were also inflamed. Tears wetting it as if a perpetual sense of sorrow took hold of her completely. She did not remember if she cried out… or if she just laid there in silence as monsters held her down. The voice of her brother became hoarse as the labored breathing persisted. The darkness gripped the edges of her vision as she watched it all unfold…

THWACK! Said the noise. It was loud. Horrifically audible… and unforgettable.

Her brother continued to scream as the labored breathing became weaker with each strike as if it were a musical note.

THWACK! THWACKSH! Thundered the loud boisterous sound as she felt droplets hit her face.

Her brother was pleading as she continued to watch, stunned and perpetually shocked as Papa's voice, gone as her memory of it was, had finally joined the void of silence. Her brother was crying now. She sobbed as the puddle of darkness reached her face. Wetting her lips… wetting her tear-stained cheeks as she saw Papa's head gruesomely divorced from his body.

She remembers opening her own mouth as she tasted the iron within the puddle of blood dripping upon the floor. Her eyes were completely downcast as she sobbed. Cried with all her might as the monsters laughed in her face. All the while as the monsters continued that sound.

THWACKSH! THWACKSH! THWACKSH! THWACK! THWACKSH!

Laughter persisted as she and her brother cried. Their desperate, harrowing tones filled the cacophony of voices that seemed to strangle the world around them. They cheered, their cruelty unrivaled as they continued to erase Papa forever from their minds.

The cold, caress of wet blood touching their cheeks became so much that she wanted to close her eyes and wish that this was a nightmare. She begged. She prayed. She tried reaching out to the heavens, asking for anyone to answer for it all to end… but it did not stop.

The monsters only stopped when the cry of a very loud gunshot was heard.

The world silenced for a moment even as she and her brother continued to sob in full. One of the monsters stepped forward and threw Mama at their faces. Their mama weakened and bruised hastily grabbed them both in an embrace as she too cried. Within their hasty embrace, she weakly called out their name amidst the dark silence while she pressed into her bosom.

She always asked herself, why… whydid she forget Mama's voice?

Why? When it was the only left to remember home by. Why…

She always knew the answer. She just did not accept it.

For they were all separated again. The monsters grabbed her and her brother as they screamed and sobbed in their arms. They were cast outside of their home, crying as their heads were forced to watch and hear as their house emitted noises of their mother crying out in pain…

Laughter of two monsters left with her in there.

She could not remember how long it lasted… for even as the two monsters exited their home, even as Kenji screamed out asking where their mother was, Kimiko only remembered the screams that came after as their home was set ablaze.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Heavy but increasingly weakening thumps were heard on the chained-up front door as Kimiko and Kenji cried out with their arms outreached. The screams were gone, becoming part of the blaze, as was the voice and memory of their mother as the searing heat became oppressive. Painful.

Heart-wrenching.

The flames in all their yellowish, bloodred color and chaotic, hellish aura had tainted each and every memory moving forward as if it was not there. The palm trees inevitably burned. The sky was no longer in its peaceful, bluish-black color. What was left was a searing red and orange against the darkness. The moon was nowhere to be seen as thick, grey clouds forced any illumination to just be the flames.

Kimiko had lost her voice entirely that night, that was for certain…

For nothing again would ever compare to the monstrosity of that memory.

To bury it deep inside of her heart. Never to be reopened and unlocked again…

For rage… sorrow…

And vengeance would never heal such a scar…

It would be burned forever, like the blazes of her home as the hearth became malicious.

They never left them alone…

How many years has it been? How many… days, months… or lifetimes had she lived?

Kimiko's memory had been foggy. For she and her brother had been sent all throughout different locations that she had no knowledge of or complete understanding of. Yet she and her brother were always together, never separated as they held hands, tightly as the downward spiral of days slithered on. It was always dark. It was always dirty.

It was always painful. For each smile was always reciprocated with a lash.

For each glimpse of hope, there was absolute agony.

It was a never-ending process, but her hold on her brother's hand was always there. It always persisted as their bond grew and increased. Their memories were always locked behind a painful embrace as it was far too agonizing to return to. Her brother would always speak to her, understand her, or communicate with her but Kimiko was too far gone…

The scar had just been too deep. Too deep that it left an unending gash that would always remind them both of that night. Her voice was lost in time as everything had, but Kenji knew deeply within himself that they … they just did not want to remember the voice of their Mama. It was a question that rattled in their minds whether Kimiko's own voice resembled their Mama's, but uncovering those pieces of the past only served to remind them of where they currently were…

And why they could not escape the monsters keeping them captive.

The loud thumping was also present in their minds as the hearth and blaze swallowed their home whole like a snake. The monsters were simply relentless. The struggle to sleep, eat, or even live at all was so difficult that the two wondered why they were still alive in the first place… when they could have easily been killed right then and there.

It was as if their suffering made the monsters entertained.

Even as they were forcibly trained into their ranks, with the scars and bruises to prove it, the two wondered why there was no hope in sight. Why they always felt as if their world was always shackled by the dark corners of fear and hopelessness like an ever-present phantom holding them down.

Lately, that entire matter became exhausting as the monsters beat Kimiko down to the ground emotionlessly while Kenji begged in tears once more for them to stop. Kimiko allowed them for she felt numb from all the darkness around her. They propped her up and stabbed multiple things into her skin as she numbly stared in withdrawn silence at Kenji as she was stripped to the bone…

And thrown into a cage.

The cage was rusty, terribly ill-maintained, but serviceable enough as the monsters stared at her like she was an animal being placed as a main attraction. None of them laughed, however, nor felt entertained as Kimiko silently watched them throw cigarettes at her bare skin as two of them chained her wrists and legs. One even spat at her face as the drool trickled down her eyes. Kimiko could not care less…

For she was tired of it all.

She and her brother had tried and tried again to escape. Some attempts often succeeded to the point of their freedom being assured, only to be betrayed as men and women, strangers they did not know, kept returning them to the monsters.

She would rage before. Sometimes she became completely vengeful with violence as her main tool, but like her brother, she was weak. Too weak to do anything as the spiral of hell continued to push them all down the drain to never-ending suffering.

This cage almost felt like a symbolization of that state. For she and her brother would always be stuck in it, forever forgotten as hope no longer existed within their hearts.

"…" Kimiko sat up with a low groan as she covered herself while the chains clinked. She was shivering as the cold iron entrapments licked her skin. The bruises and scars peppered said skin becoming an itchy and painful rash as her frown worsened. Her hair covered her face as she bit parts of it with her tongue and teeth. She wanted to cover both of her ears as the dark silence continued to make her mad. She wanted to cover it and close her eyes, hoping for death to take her knowing that it would be better than this…

B-but she couldn't. Kenji was still here. Her brother was still there.

Small painful sniffles were cast against the loneliness as Kimiko once again began to softly sob. Her bare skin made her cold and chilly as she hugged her arms and legs. She wished to quickly drift into sleep so that she would force this day to finally end, until…

THLIK!

Kimiko's eyes opened slightly as she stared at a lone candle being lit by a single match.

She then saw Kenji, a small smile appearing on his face as his tired, withered form, pushed the candle placed on top of a small plate towards her. Kenji was on the other side of the bars of her cage as Kimiko's frown slowly curled into a smile.

The warmth of the candle's light became a central hearth as Kimiko's chains clinked with the feeble movements she created. She moved her entire body closer to the candle and despite the cold still being present, what warmth there was made the two contented.

It made the two smile for the little things as a similarly shivering and weak Kenji pulled out a piece of bread. He grinned at her as Kimiko's eyes widened. Wordlessly, her brother began taking apart the bread carefully and slowly before taking one piece from his lap and offering it to her.

Kimiko's expression said it all. The sullen sorrow and concern enveloped Kenji, but he simply shook his head as their bond progressively made them both understand a silent means of communication that would make up who they were, even into the future. A small accepting smile and grin said a thousand words as he gingerly moved the piece of bread toward her sister's mouth.

Kimiko tasted the bread, eating it completely but sedately as the two exchanged a small giggle.

Kenji then pulled out a water bottle from his rags and offered it to her. Kimiko accepted it without issue as they placed the bottle in the middle of them.

She then urged her brother, even against the chill to eat some for himself.

Kenji however, stopped completely as he stared into Kimiko's eyes. All of their burdens and memories came back to him as he reached out with his hand and meshed it with hers.

Kimiko closed her eyes even against the chill as that small gesture pushed them both to sigh.

Heavily… and steadily…

As they made the once oppressive silence become… peaceful even for just a moment.

Both their bodies were trembling, but the warmth of the candle's hearth made them feel as if everything was alright. That everything was protected under the small cinder that was illuminating their proverbially dark lives.

Sleep would take them both, at least until early morning.

THWACK!

The clinking of chains rattled her cage as she was forced awake when the cries of her brother began to occupy the silence again. The monsters were shouting. They were angry… they were so enraptured by wrath that they began hitting Kenji harder with their guns, batons, and sticks. Kenji begged for forgiveness as the language the monsters took, their vague tongue that none of them cared to understand was loud and vulgar.

They were accusing Kenji of a crime that Kimiko had no understanding of…

None of them were laughing as they continued to kick and beat him. His begging became less and less strong as Kimiko's chains startled to rattle in a chaotic fashion.

"RaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhH!" she screamed as the chains violently pulled her back. She tried reaching for Kenji as more of them came inside and seemingly watched in curiosity as her brother began pleading for them to stop, crying that he did not steal any bread…

Or any water as Kimiko's screams worsened in intensity. "Aaaarrrruuuuuuuuuuughhh!"

PRBLINK!

Unbeknownst to her, due to her building rage, some of the ends where the chains were attached began bending and breaking as her roars intensified.

Her little brother was all she had left as she forced her arms and legs forward…

CRACK! THUNK!

The gravity of the situation made her endure all of the pain even as her body screamed at her to stop, but the machinations that the monsters had forced onto her from the night before were starting to take hold.

It was then too late for any of the occupied monsters to notice her as the last chain, the one holding her neck broke and exploded from its wooden contraption. This forced her forward against the bars as Kimiko grabbed the nearest man, the nearest monster, and started acting like a ravenous beast.

BRACGKSH! Flesh and bone were broken so casually that Kimiko did not notice it first as the occupants of the room screamed. Her mouth was filled with the iron taste of blood as she spat out what was within it and crushed the monster's head against itself.

Gunfire roared in her direction as the panicked monsters, for the first time afraid of her began tearing her apart with bullets, only for her battle lust to increase as she began bending the bars of her cage. Kenji watched in awe and fear as her sister began making the impossible happen.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNGGG!

There were screams of panic as their gunfire intensified… only for Kimiko to finally be free as she began rampaging at the monsters. Her eyes filled with red as she began tearing them apart. The tent where they were held was broken and ripped apart completely as Kenji was left to his lonesome in shock.

Kimiko began running around the camp, tearing apart any monster she saw as her body count steadily rose. She was completely relentless as bodies began piling around her wake, the most recent being a monster that she ripped their entire heart out as an unmitigated punch had collapsed their chest.

She roared without fail in a berserker rage only to stop when someone shot a loud gun towards the sky. Through her lust for battle and vengeance, she did not notice that the monsters had encircled her with guns and various other weapons as the chaos she created allowed them to regroup and recuperate.

One of them, perhaps their leader, stood with a gun that he shot earlier as he got her attention. She would not hesitate to run over their lines and kill them too, but she was stopped completely when they dragged Kenji and aimed a gun at his head.

Kenji yelled at her. Begging her to run away and leave him as the monster pressed his gun at Kenji's temple. Kimiko stood there, completely wrapped in blood as her breathing became slower from the amount of adrenaline she had consumed earlier.

She was… unsure of what to do as the burning and broken camp around them once more made her freeze, the unstoppable thought in her head making her realize that any hope of escaping again and killing them all was now…

…gone…

The leader of the monsters, seeing that she was now becoming docile, began smirking and grabbed Kenji's hair before dragging him to one of the fires created by her assault. He then called two other comrades of his and forced Kenji's arm to burn into the fire as her brother began screaming…

Kimiko once again roared in rage as she began running towards the leader with haste.

The leader forced Kenji back while the other monsters aiming guns at her fired.

Their ammunition was not simply bullets, but darts began peppering Kimiko's arms and body. She forced herself forward with each step only for her body, despite being enhanced, no longer taking the various drugs now coursing through her system…

Until she fell into the grass, her last memory being one of the monsters, standing before her as the heat of the flames behind him made an image that would burn itself into her memory permanently.

The least she could be happy about, was the leader of the monsters looking at her as if she was a failed experiment.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

Three heavy knocks were heard.

Kimiko was forced awake again as she was now in a dark, metal box of sorts. She began panicking, angrily, yelling, and groaning while she started banging against the walls like a feral animal. Her rage increased with each strike as her newfound strength made her dent some part of the walls as concern began dawning within her about what happened to her brother.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she cried out, her voice echoing within the metal box.

It was like its own form of torment as the entire scenario seemingly depicted how she could not escape her own suffering as the corners began closing around her perpetually.

Yet at that moment, her concern and fear for her brother overrode everything entirely as her rage deepened. Her perception became red and violent again as she reared both her legs back and kicked the end of the box with all the strength she could muster.

THWANNNGG!

The metal box's lid violently burst open as Kimiko rapidly ran out with as much rage within her heart as before. All for her little brother as she was now exposed to a burning town while some of the monsters in their panic began shooting at her. Their bullets were normal again, but they still stung as Kimiko brought them down one by one. Blood once more coated her hands as what appeared to be a broken caravan, she was supposed to be transported in prior to her escape had forced her to go into a never-ending lust for violence as she tried to find her brother.

Against the burning landscape of this small, isolated town Kimiko tore apart everybody in her way. She was never sated as her burning desire and hunger to find her brother worsened even as she was now unaware of who exactly she was killing.

It got so bad that as she tore apart a screaming monster within her grasp…

She froze completely when a soft, terrified voice was heard.

And then Kimiko's rage dissipated almost instantly.

For Kimiko saw a mother and child trembling close to her as the child cried out for the man, she had been tearing apart a second ago. The man had his arm ripped off as he begged Kimiko to stop.

Memories of that night came back as the mother and child pulled the gravely injured father away. Fear was present in their eyes as they ran away against the burning town, leaving Kimiko to her lonesome.

"…"

She stared at both her bloodied hands as the realization dawned on her.

Kimiko then closed her eyes and began kneeling in place…

Even as the monsters that captured her took her away later without resistance.

They chained her up again and put her in a cage.

Kimiko lay on its cold, uncomfortable surface in silence as she let her grief, guilt, and sorrow overtake her mind and soul. She was just… tired.

She was exhausted to every inch of her body as hope… hope no longer existed in her world.

She just closed her eyes, praying that Kenji was alive even as she heard thunder around her.

Even as she heard screams again…

Even as the camp was ravaged, she remained within the cage. Hoping to drown the sounds away she heard rain hit the surroundings of her form.

That was until she heard her cage being opened, and her shackles taken apart as she emotionlessly went through the motions as two men took her out of her cage carefully. They walked her outside amidst the ruins of the camp as thunder and rain began showering the burning remnants of her tormentors.

She did not care nor notice the aftermath of the violence around her wake…

At least until her eyes were cast on an image of a monstrous-like figure standing in front of her as a blaze burned bright behind them. The rain and thunder were slowly making the flames weaker, but the image still haunted Kimiko as the monstrous figure withdrew their large sword back to its scabbard.

"KIMIKO!" she then heard Kenji's voice yell as the weakened, tired Kimiko stared towards her left and saw her brother, looking concerned and horrified by her current appearance.

Kimiko then realized that she was going to be tortured, mentally and physically again as she returned her gaze to the monstrous figure again and took a step forward…

…and another as she eventually knelt and sat in front of the monstrous figure.

Then… she started crying. Sobbing with all of her heart for how exhausted she was.

Even as the rain washed all of the blood away, she sobbed, hoping her gesture, her will, and her complete love for her brother through her actions would convince the monsters to spare him from more pain. She cried as she trembled within the cold, shivering aura of the rain begging even without words to make it all stop…

To make it all… end.

B-Because she couldn't take it anymore…

She just wanted it to-

"You are safe… dear child." A voice said. Her tone was so loving and filled with such empathy and concern that it made the kneeling Kimiko stop for a moment. Her bowed head was raised slowly as she finally, after so many years heard words that belonged from her home.

Blinking her tearful eyes as the snuffed-out blaze was no more, Kimiko saw a woman…

Staring at her with similarly tearful eyes as a loving hand stroked the side of her face. Kimiko leaned to that small gesture as she began crying. Nobody….

Nobody had ever given her this much concern and care in years.

She started crying in exhaustion as the woman placed her into a loving, heart-filled embrace.

An embrace filled with love as Kimiko continued to sob silently…

And happily, for the first time in years.

The warmth of the hearth was once again restored within her chest, as she continued to lean into the embrace. The heartbeat of the woman's chest makes her feel comfortable, secure, and safe.

It was like she was reunited with home, once more.

After believing for so long, that it was impossible.

After believing for so long, that the world was devoid of hope.

"…you are safe…"

AN: First thing's first… this is a 1st person POV with an unreliable narrator at its core. Filled with emotions and a perspective so dark, that she believed within herself that any light was impossible to see once again. It's why I foregone any such dialogue to begin with and just let the actions, speak for themselves. I do hope that the thoughtful nature of this piece is felt through the writing as despite its very dark and bleak nature, I wanted to pull Kimiko out of it with a powerful glimpse of hope at the end, as it would strengthen her bond with Raikou and steadily make her believe again that the world is not just darkness and tears. The next time we see her, the chapters will be much lighter in tone as Raikou and Kimiko herself go into a journey of rebuilding their own selves back from the brink.

As to why events here have forced her to go into a V very early, well, I would rather let that plotpoint unravel itself hehe.