decipher reflections from reality. [quest/private]

[daisy]

Apparently, the darkness of my loss of conciousness compared nothing to the black of my time after awakening. I thought i was strong. I thought i'd seen it all, endured everything that could be asked of me. But i was wrong. Wrong about so much. The bullying, the violence, the degrading; i'd experienced that all my life. That was nothing. But the pain... I raised my hands, they hadn't stopped shaking for days now. At least the feeling in my fingers had slipped from excruciating to simply throbbing.

I coughed dully, dry and choking. It hurt. Everything hurt. How could i still be alive when it hurt so much? It made me think of you. When i'd started relating pain to you, i couldn't say. But everytime they hurt me, i imagined your back. The part of you i remembered best, since it turned on me. And god did they hurt me. If i had any feeling in my fingers, i knew i'd be able to trace scars across most of my flesh. I once had lovely skin. Soft, moisturised. I used to smell nice too. Roses and jasmine, i think. Maybe lily of the valley.

I couldn't begin to assess the damage. The one grace my stolen beauty had left me was numbness. The more they took, the less i felt. But when i'd watched my hair, dropping before my eyes... It was so blonde. So beautiful. And it was gone. Everything was gone. I hadn't a shred of pride left. Not an ounce of glamour or ambition. I was no longer Coco. What... what did she call me? So long ago now - my real name. I... I couldn't remember. Perhaps i didn't deserve a name. Perhaps they'd stolen that too.

I heard the noise as if from far away. From underwater. The shudder of my world. They'd come to take me again. My scruffy head looked up, slowly, my eyes, puffy from crying and bruising, opening ever so slightly to observe my tormentors. His words didn't make sense. I was... worth something? Release? ...Akira? I opened my mouth, cracked lips, dry with blood, and i tried to speak. I tried to make a sound other than screaming.

"I'm....

...free?"

[/right]

I smiled. I was so sure i'd forgotten how to. A rasping, hacking noise tickled my throat, growing louder and more painful. I began to laugh.

"H-how... fabulous."

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[King]

The giant of a man huffed. "Not as fabulous as you've been to me and my men," he chuckled while unlocking her cell. Stepping in, several guards followed him, all armed and ready to squash the spider if she tried anything slick.

Of course, they were anything but gentle in wrenching her to her feet. The chains used to bind her remained, engraving their intricate edges into her flesh; they'd been their so long one might've thought her body and the steel had fused together. She was drug from the room, letting her feet scrap against the hard floor, and then they were gone.

---

Outside the Gates of Kirigakure, Mizu no Kuni

Their journey had been rather long. Not difficult, but long. They were quite a while away from the Hidden Stone, and their transport wasn't necessarily the fastest. It'd taken them a day or so, give or take a few hours. But through the cracked sidings of the wagon she was in (still guarded, both outside and inside), she would be able to see the wondrous walls of her savior's village.

The sun washed through the darkness of the wagon like a tsunami, illuminating all within it. Again those large hands found Coco's slender throat, yanking her from her seat and throwing her to the rough floor before them. Uji placed his foot squarely upon her spine, pinning her there.

"You got my money?"

Were Coco to adjust her head, she would see a familiar figure. Tall and broad, dark skinned with contrastingly pale hair. There was a figure across his back - some monstrous silhouette of a sword, writhing with anxiety. "Let her go." The red of his right eye blaring, brighter than the sun. "Or I'll kill you all where you stand." His hand raised to the hilt protruding over his shoulder, gripping it tightly.

"Now now," Uji warned while grinded his heel into Coco's spine. "You make one wrong move and s--"

It all happened so fast. Coco would full a gust of wind buffeting against her back; she would hear the sound of flesh being torn asunder, shredded and shaved, and the cheer of utter delight permeating from Samehada's scales. Wood was splintered and ruptured into splinters, cloth was torn at the seams -- the gargles of death, as men choked on their own blood before falling against the ground with a barely audible thump. And then there was silence.

After what felt like no more than a second after the noise, she would feel two large hands resting on her shoulders. "Coco," Akira whispered while easing her up. "Are you alright?" What little clothing remained to cover her body -- nothing more than two rags -- did well to expose the brutality she'd endured. Bruises, cuts -- it was disgusting.

"I would have come sooner, but your shinobi were reluctant to release any details." Tenderly, Akira's thumb wiped away some of the grime from her cheek. "You're safe now, though."

[daisy]

I drifted. Between pain and numbness, between light and dark, between sleep and dull, aching wakefulness. They hadn't told me anymore since dragging me from my cell and bundling me unceremoniously into this rickety old wagon. I was thankful for the dark, i didn't think i could've beared to look upon my body in the light. The cracks let some slip through, casting horribly real light upon my broken form.

I don't know how long we travelled. The journey was simply an extended capture, more time for me to deteriorate, to collapse in on myself. Yet, i knew, at the end of it, there was freedom. The thought burned within me, deep down. Certainly not a light bright enough to rid me of the black they'd filled me with, but it was hope, hope i hadn't had in a long time. I felt the wagon stop. Another brutality, i could scarcely mouth a protest. But i heard an almost familiar voice, one lacking the derision i'd become accustomed to. Akira, right? That's right. The light scoured me, crashing into my senses, trapped so long in the dark. Sounds, more violence.

And then hands. Strong hands. I flinched away from them, before realising these hands wouldn't hurt me. A heavy tongue attempted to wet my cracked and broken lips before i spoke.
"I... I apologise for my appearance, d-darling." I croaked. And then i succumbed once again to the darkness. The merciful, blank sleep of unconsciousness.

Was i safe now?

Perhaps i should be grateful simply for life.

[Nujabes]

Even when death itself was knocking at her door, Coco managed to remain as fabulous as ever. It was something that I undoubtedly admired, though I wouldn't tell her that (just yet). But, honestly? I didn't care about how she looked. No matter how broken and bruised she'd become, she was still flawless; she was still that gem that had walked into my life all those months ago during the Chuunin Exams. It was our blossoming friendship that I saw when I looked at her; or, perhaps it was something more?

Regardless, I was just glad she was finally safe. I caught her easily, holding her close to my chest.

"There's no need to apologize," I whispered as she collapsed into my arms. I stood, surveying the chaos I'd left in the wake of my rage. I glanced over my shoulder to the unit of HYDRA operatives that had been standing nearby. "Search them for anything useful. One of you go find Hotaru and tell her to meet me in the laboratory - it's urgent."

With nothing further to say, I quickly and carefully pushed on toward the healing facility. While I wasn't worried that she would perish, I knew very well she wouldn't be pleased if I let her scar.

Exit to Kiri.

[Yox]

Daisy - 200 experience.
Storyteller - 175 experience.
King - 10 experience.

I've added the experience to the [M:####] under your forehead protectors in your mini profile.