Torture

Pain.

It was all that he could feel. Ugly bruises littered his body, and his mind swam with dizziness. His throat was sore from screaming until his voice became hoarse. God knows how many times he had bit the insides of his cheeks to keep from letting his tormentors take pleasure in hurting him. Each time a session was completed, he spat a mouthful of red towards the door, hoping to at least dirty the filthy brutes. Today was just like any other day. Yet Rei wondered just when rescue will arrive. 'I doubt it,' he thought bitterly. 'No one's going to bother with someone insignificant like me.' Coughing, he slouched against the cold stone wall and lost consciousness once more.

__________________________________________

Again, he floats after a girl in all black. She was a bit older than Rei, but younger than Ran. Rei followed the girl as if tied to her by an unbreakable chain. He's been seeing this each time he was knocked unconscious. Rei wondered why he keeps having these visions.

Light footsteps padded the wooden floorboards as the girl moved quietly through the small house. She had only stepped a foot past the living room when a bottle crashed on the wall near her head.

"You AGAIN! You UNGRATEFUL little WENCH! How dare you still show your fucking face around here?! IF ONLY you hadn't been born, me and Erika could've been rich! She wouldn't have just dumped a miserable shit like you on ME! Get LOST."

The floorboards creaked and groaned under his stomps. Leaving the girl lying there, curled up on the ground. Hearing the door slam, she let loose a small hiss and endured the urge to whimper. Crawling back to her room, she cautiously locked the door and piled up some things against it just in case the man came back. Rei could only look on as he had done several times before, watching as she took out a disc and inserted it into a device, images and sounds coming from the small screen. As the song played, the girl let a tear slip while she whispered the lyrics to herself. Rei sat beside her, staring at the screen which encompassed a world not unlike his own yet with unfamiliar people.

Her song lulled him into a painless dream, void of anything aside for...

"

You say if you could fly, you would never come back

You searched for those white, white clouds

If you break through, you know you'll find it

So try until you break free to that blue, blue sky

.

.

That blue, blue sky

That blue, blue sky

.

Aoi aoi ano sora

aoi aoi ano sora

"

__________________________________________

Rei woke up struggling against a strong hold while his lips parted in a strangled cry. The smell of burnt flesh and dried blood hit him as his eyes widened at the sight of his braid being burned. Pushing away at full force and yanking his limbs to avoid being held down only served to fuel the bandits' raucous laughter.

"Ahahaha! Look at the little fucker scuttle like a bug! Fucking disgusting!"

"Little shit probably not even worth anything if no one's come for him at this rate."

"Ptew!"

A man spat out some chewed up tobacco as he glared at Rei. "You better open your mouth to the boss soon or else I'm setting the entire village on fire." This man was the scout who had told the boss that Rei was a good target. It had been a nearly a week yet no one had looked for Rei. He'd been on the receiving end of some nasty looks. Annoyed by the thought of the brat he caught being worthless, the man gave a few kicks to the bruised and battered boy, only satisfied when he heard a crack and a whimper.

Rei dry-heaved for some minutes but no bile came out. His body was littered with blemishes and cuts, and the fresh pain seared from inside out, causing tears to leak out from the corners of his eyes. He burrowed his head into knees, curled up on the ground, all in order to prevent any more satisfaction to his captors. He gripped onto his clothes tightly. It wasn't until there was complete silence that Rei looked up.

Hope flashed in his green eyes once he saw his sister running to him with her arms open wide. Feeling as though he was caught in a dream, he let himself be immersed in her warm hug a while longer until his eyes caught gaze of the men pouring into the room. His hopes were dashed and horror soon replaced them. Ran's words lingered by his ear. "Rei, you're going to be okay. I just got home when I found these men wandering by the village entrance. They told me they found a boy trapped somewhere and led me to you." She pulled back and smiled brightly. The men circled closer, leering behind her.

'Those bastards lied, she just got here, she doesn't KNOW-'

Rei felt sick.

A hand chopped down on Ran's neck, and she collapsed onto him.

Despair filled his eyes as the thugs pulled his sister away. He tried to cling onto her as much as possible. "Please stop! Beat me however you want but don't touch her! I'm begging you, please!"

He fell back with a cry of pain as the leader kicked him, igniting the pain in his ribs once more. Clutching his middle, he glared up to the man who leveled his own stare. "Kid, if you want to save your sister...You tell me the clan secrets and where the mines are right now." At this moment, for Ran's safety, Rei really wanted to blurt out everything he knew. But there was a seal placed on him as he was the clan's heir. Unless he undid it, there's no way he could tell outsiders.

"Figured you're still useless." The chief bandit muttered.

"Boss, hurry up. The fresh meat's gonna get wasted." The scout hollered. 'Finally we get something good out of this.' The men unbuckled their pants after binding Ran's limbs and covering her eyes.

They were making sure she doesn't use any ninja tricks on them while they had 'fun'.

__________________________________________

The nauseating stench and disgusting sounds overwhelmed him. Rei sobbed uncontrollably as his sister was taken repeatedly, her screams echoing in his head. He tried to block it out, his fingers caked with blood, lips pale and parched, his body curled up in a fetal position by the wall. The three gems Ran had given him before she left, hidden safely in his clothes, were cool to the touch. He gripped them tightly. Unbeknownst to him, they glowed faintly.

'Why am I so useless?!'

'I can't do anything to help!'

Everything hurt. Yet he couldn't do anything to change it.

After they were done, the bandits left for some time. Rei scrambled over to his sister's battered body as fast as he could with his own injuries. Her eyes seemed to have lost any sign of life, but her shallow breaths gave him some relief. "I'm so sorry, Ran. I let this happen to you. I'm so sorry!" Rei hugged her after wiping her body and tidying her appearance somewhat. Her clothes were torn and he could only make do. She stared at the ceiling blankly.

Ran's depondence scared him.

He grasped her hand.

"Hey," she called out weakly. He sniffled, burying closer to her side. "I'm here now. You're not alone." Rei miserably thought that it'd be infinitely better if he was alone than having Ran get hurt because of him.

The bandits came back and pulled the two siblings outside. There, they were forced into a wooden cart. "Tch, if the temptation wasn't so great, I wouldn't have stayed here for so long. At least they ain't bad-looking, we can still sell 'em as slaves." The scars on the man's face twisted with his glee. 'Finally, some good out of these two troublesome guests.' As the cart moved on, away from their home and down a hidden path in the mountains. Ahead of them was an overpass.

'Wait, that's not-'

Before Rei could say anything, an object was pushed into his mouth. Ran's hand covered his mouth and she raised a finger to her lips. "Swallow it." She whispered. She gulped one down herself and immediately fell down. He quickly followed just as the bandits took notice. "Dammit, they died just like that!" one of them exclaimed angrily. The scar-faced man's face hardened. "Throw them off."

Rei was barely hanging onto his conscious when he heard the words "dead weight" coming from the bandits.

'Hahaha...that suits me...'

Two bodies were thrown to the ground. The bandits reached the overpass, but suddenly all their throats were slit, blood spewing everywhere. A masked figure stepped out from the shadows as the overpass disappeared behind him. The mysterious person grabbed the two Suzuki siblings and sped to Yamauchi's entrance, his inu mask glinting in the moonlight.