Chapter 2
Main Story line (Meika's perspective)
When I started waking up, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't laying up against the tree anymore. I wasn't sure how long I was asleep, but I was sure that Ms. Kocho must've taken me back to the mansion, since I could tell I wasn't outside anymore. I rolled over, and pulled the blanket higher, feeling content where I was. Then, as I started becoming more and more aware of my surroundings, I realized that I wasn't in the butterfly estate, I was somewhere I'd never been before. I sat up, and looked around the room, trying to figure out where I was, and why. My eyes stopped when they'd landed on a sword. Not just any sword, the Wind Hashira's sword. I got goosebumps, and shivered involuntarily. I stood up, quiet as possible, and tiptoed to the shoji doors. I cracked them open slowly, to make sure that he wasn't there, and once I saw he wasn't, I let out a silent breath of relief. I opened the shoji door just wide enough so that I could squeeze through, and closed it softly. I started tiptoeing through the halls, trying to figure out where the exit was.
Where the fuck is the damn exit?! And why does one man need so much space?!! I continued walking for a few minutes, hoping my presence wasn't obvious, or that he left. I believed that I had succeeded, because when I saw the exit, there was nobody to stop me from leaving. I quickened my pace to get to the gate faster, practically running. When I made it to the gate, I smiled to myself, and placed my hand on the handle. I tried to yank the gate open, but it wouldn't budge, not even a centimeter! I continued pulling, and pulling, but it still wouldn't budge. I groaned silently in frustration, and leaned my head up against the solid frame that was holding me here against my will… That's when it cracked open… Huh?! But- and then- and why- who…? Have I seriously been pulling on a fucking push door?! I looked around to make sure Mr. Shinazugawa wasn't watching, and opened it more. I slipped through the crack I had made, and re-closed it. I started my way back to the butterfly estate, keeping my head low, due to the embarrassment of pulling on a push door.
I hadn't noticed before, but it was nightfall, and just like my dreams, I was walking through the woods… the moon got covered by clouds as well… and I felt the suffocating auras surrounding me. I wanted to scream, but there would be no reason to, I doubt anybody would be able to hear me. I continued walking, hoping that I was just paranoid, that this was the lasting effect of my nightmare. I thought that if I didn't want to follow the same course my dream took, I should continue walking, and not turn around. It started getting colder, I could really feel that in my toes and fingertips. Then, up popped this menacing aura, right behind me. I froze, and felt it's eyes boring into my back. I slowly turned around, and saw this demon, 10 feet tall, long sharp claws, razor sharp teeth, and what appeared to be skin thick enough to withstand a gun shot. A smile crept onto it's face when it could see the terror in my eyes, and it slowly took a small, menacing step towards me.
Before it could take another, it's head was on the ground. I took a few steps back, and tried to find where my savior was. Who the hell saved me? I swear, I heard nobody approach… So who?! I continued looking around, hoping to thank them. That was the moment I felt somebody lift me off the ground, and into their arms. I immediately whirled my head around to see who had picked me up. Mr. Shinazugawa..? Mr. Shinazugawa?! Mr. Shinazu-fucking-gawa had picken me up. I should've known that he was the one that saved me, was the one that picked me the fuck up.
The second I saw him, I immediately tried to jump back onto the ground, but it was no use, he just kept me huddled up against his chest. I continued to struggle against him, making a few demands like, "Put me down!" and "I swear, if you don't place me on my feet, I will have you arrested!" But none of my threats worked. He just continued to carry me in the direction I believed to be towards the butterfly estate. When he finally placed me down, we were in front of the butterfly estate, almost everybody waited there for me. I immediately ran away from him, and to Ms. Kocho. I told her what had happened, and why I was sleeping up against a tree in the first place.
She had me taken inside, and had a talk with Mr. Shinazugawa. I don't know what they talked about, but I was glad to not be near him anymore. I could feel the supposed 'love' he had for me, oozing out of him, it made me uncomfortable. Extremely uncomfortable. I was still made to do training the next day, but I was glad to have gotten away from Mr. Shinazugawa….. Or so I thought. He was the one training the Kakushi at the butterfly mansion, and I didn't know that till he showed up. Of course, I thought he must not be able to call me apart from anybody else, we all were wearing the same thing after all. That was what I fucking thought, and as always folks, I thought wrong.
When he started to approach me, I could feel my comrades' eyes on my back, practically burning a hole straight through me. They all were wondering what I was, Why is Mr. Shinazugawa approaching me? He doesn't know that I'm Meika, how could he, me and some of my friends share the same stature, so how would he know who is who? Not so much the second part, but you get my point... Of course, I wouldn't know if he could tell I was Meika until we came face to face. When he stopped, he was hardly a foot away, and as everyone continued swinging their wooden katanas, he shook his head. "Your form is all wrong, you don't have enough range of motion, and your shoulders are too tense to get a strong strike downward." He said as he adjusted my arms, "You need to have a wider stance." He criticized, kicking my feet wider apart, his hands still adjusting my arms.
I blushed a deep red hearing my comrades snickering at his criticism. I assumed he noticed, because he turned away from me, and faced everybody else "I don't know what you guys are laughing about, you're hardly any better than her! Now get your asses back to swinging, fix your stance, and put some real work into it you damn brats!" I felt a little better since he stood up for me, but felt a little bad that everyone had to face the wrath of the Wind Hashira because I messed up… I shook my head in an attempt to clear the space of what was supposed to be my mind. I still strongly believed he did not know who I was, and simply saw flaws in how I was wielding my wooden katana. He couldn't possibly be able to spot me besides everyone, even I could hardly do that and I've known them all for a little over a year, if not more! I shrugged it off, and continued swiping with my sword, feeling the improvement in the strength of my swings.
I hadn't noticed anyone staring at me until I glanced around, having done 5,000 swipes. That's when I saw a few of the taller, more bulky Kakushi staring at me, not so much at me, but at my chest. I blushed, and looked away from them. I continued with my swings, trying to ignore the men' s stares, but it was impossible. I knew that I had a nice body, but I didn't expect to have anybody notice, let alone the people I worked alongside! I felt as though I was quite literally the elephant in the room...
After we were instructed to put our katanas away, we had to run laps around the butterfly estate. Now this is fine for me, in fact, I am quite proud of how long I can run, except we had to wear weights around our ankles and wrists. Remember earlier, how I said that me and some of my friends shared the same stature, well I lied. Not about our build, no, about the friends part. None of the Kakushi liked me, none. It even got to the point to where they'd openly gossip about me while I was standing right next to them, like now.
"Did you see Mr. Shinazugawa?" One girl asked her friends.
"Yeah, he had to correct Meika's form instead of ours! How un-informed could she be?" One of her friends snickered, knowing full well that I was running right behind them.
"I know, she's so pathetic!" Another girl butted in.
After I'd had enough of their mindless comments, I sped ahead of them, leaving them in my dust. And I continued to run, despite the burning in my legs, and despite the ache in my lungs. I continued to run, and run, and run. I know, sounds pathetic, running away from my problems, but that wasn't it, I was about to finish my last lap, and I just wanted to sit down already.
When I made it to the end, everything hurt. I was allowed to sit down until everyone else finished, which took about 10 minutes. I was proud of myself. I was the first to finish! But, this pride was short lasted. When the group of mean girls finished, they took a seat, some still standing, only a few feet away from me. They kept on rolling their eyes in my direction, and whispering to each other. I don't know why they were whispering though, everyone felt the same about me and they knew it. And although I couldn't hear what they were saying, I got snippets of it if I was listening close enough. I heard them say "show off," "pushover," "try hard," etc. I tuned them out, and focused on the snail I'd been watching crawling over the dirt, leaving a trail behind it.
Training went on, and I was mostly able to tune everybody out. Before we were sent to go back to our rooms, I got pulled aside by Mr. Shinazugawa. I, still believing he couldn't tell me apart from the other Kakushi, agreed to speak with him. When we were far enough for his liking, he spoke, his voice low and rough. "Are you seriously going to let them speak about you like that?!" I was taken aback by how he spoke, because I thought he might want to talk to me about my training performance... not the other Kakushi talking about me like I'm dirt.
"Well even if, hypothetically, I did approach them, and tell them to back off," I tried to make my voice sound different, a little more mature so that he wouldn't be able to 'know it was me.' "do you think they would? No, they would continue to talk shit about me, maybe even to me. But, you being you, I doubt you would ever have a problem with bullying, your explosive demeanor would probably scare anyone away.." I had said to him, avoiding his piercing gaze.
"Your voice sounds different." He mumbled, his arms crossed over his chest. But before I could respond, he spoke again "So are you saying you would like me to talk to them?" He said, removing his arm from his chest, cracking his knuckles.
I immediately shook my head. "What?! No! I'm saying that I don't want to do anything about, myself nor you. There's truly nothing we can do, they're persistent, they'll start talking more secretively if you approach them, and they'll start talking more... extravagantly when near me.. if I do..." I explained to the explosive Hashira.
He thought for a second before speaking. "But wouldn't it be better if you couldn't hear them speaking about you like you're a piece of shit?" He questioned, his gaze focused on the group of girls. I sighed and shook my head
"No, it wouldn't be better... When they don't make it obvious they're talking about you, it makes you think everybody's talking about you when they aren't, because you grow accustomed to people talking shit when making it look like they're talking about the weather." I stopped trying to alter my voice, since I knew he knew I was Meika. "So please, don't do anything rash..." I turned away to return to the butterfly estate, but I saw Mr. Shinazugawa storming past me and towards the group of girls.
I sighed internally, lecturing myself for believing he would listen to me at all. I watched him approach the group of girls, cracking his knuckles. When he reached them, I saw them stop their conversation, on what I could only imagine to be about me, to turn and face him. I sighed, shook my head, and continued on my way back to my room.
That night, Ms. Kocho came to my room with some news which she claimed to be neither 'good,' nor 'bad...' "Well... Mr. Ubuyashiki wants you to... come to the next Hashira meeting... Just so that we'll be able to work around how Mr. Shinazugawa drank a love potion, and so we could figure out what to do, who to place him with until the effects of the potion wear off, etc..." She stood where she was, waiting to see how I would process this.
Wait.... WHAT?! I HAVE TO GO TO A HASHIRA MEETING, WHILE MR. SHINAZUGAWA IS "IN LOVE" WITH ME??? Why me, Buddha? What did I ever do to you? I thought to myself, not excited to be in the presence of all the Hashira at once, I could practically already feel their piercing gazes burning a hole through me.
When Ms. Kocho saw I needed space to think, she left the room, silently closing the shoji doors behind her. I groaned, and collapsed onto my bed, going limp and complaining to myself. Those meetings usually last all day, right? So that means I have to be around him for A WHOLE DAY?! I practically cried myself to sleep that night, wondering what would be to come when the day of the meeting finally came. Again, that night, I had the same dream of me in the forest, but this time I didn't turn around.
I continued walking, even when I feel the feet of a demon pattering on the ground, even when I could feel the hundred suppressing auras around me, and even when I could hear the breath of the demon not 2 meters behind me. I did however start running, and I thank Buddha that I did, because I saw a clearing in the trees up ahead. I started pushing myself harder, running faster and faster just so I would make it in time.. And, I did. I stepped into the clearing, and immediately saw something that made my blood run cold. My old house. The one in which most of my family died. The one in which I watched it happen. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I walked a little closer. I saw light coming from inside, and I heard people laughing... Maybe this isn't a nightmare? I might be able to spend time with my family... right? I thought to myself, picking up the pace a little bit. When I made it to the door, I smiled and cracked it open... the lights flicked off, and nobody was talking anymore. My mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, they all just laid there, stilled, covered in each other's blood. I was hoping that I would just wake up already, that I could escape this. I thought I would never have to see this again? Why am I here? That was when I felt a hand on my shoulder spook me out of my spiral. A dark, rough, spine chilling voice spoke from behind me. "Found.You." I heard it say sinisterly. Then I shot awake, covered in a cold sweat. I sat up in bed, and caught my breath before I let the tears slip out of my eyes, silently though, because I didn't want to wake anybody and bring any unwanted attention to myself.
That night, I couldn't go back to sleep, or close my eyes, because when I did, all I saw was them... Their blood, their lifeless eyes, and their unmoving bodies... So instead, I decided to light a lamp, and read this novel, a romance I think it was. The lovey dovey crap made me feel a little better, the light as well. I was glad that we didn't have any training the next day, because I would most likely be falling asleep standing up! When the sun started to rise, I knew that breakfast would be served soon, so I got dressed in my uniform, and made my way to the dining hall.
For the rest of the day, I stayed in my room, only leaving to eat, and to use the restroom. When it was time for supper, I sluggishly made my way to the dining hall, again. I kept yawning, almost falling asleep face first into my food. Once we were dismissed, I made my way back to the place where I had been all day.
I had the same dream again, except instead of stumbling upon my childhood home, I ended up at the children's camp I had been sent to after my family had been killed. It was the same place I got all my scars, running up and down my arms, and my legs, on my torso, just... everywhere. Again, like the previous night, the same hand grabbed my shoulder, and the same voice spoke next to my ear. "Found. You."
I had the same dream the next night, but that time, it was my aunt Ami's house I stumbled upon. The same aunt who beat me, broke my bones, and withheld food from me. Again and again, I kept on having these dreams, each time stumbling upon a different location from my trauma ridden childhood. And again, and again the same voice kept on forcing me awake. That same scaly and cold hand grabbing my shoulder tightly.
My sleepless nights started showing in me, eye bags, fatigued movements, etc. Just like the last time I was kept awake by nightmares, but worse. Much, much worse than the first time.During training, I started being last to finish everything, and people noticed. Those girls noticed. They started talking about it, and on the fifth day, they cornered me. I don't know where they got the confidence from, since I was sure Mr. Shinazugawa had 'spoken' to them about it. "Pretty nice stunt you pulled a few days ago, having Mr. Shinazugawa talk to us instead of doing it yourself." One girl said
"Nice stunt my ass, you're such a pussy, can't even tell us yourself, it's like you're better than everyone. How self centered could you be to have somebody, a Hashira at that, talk to us?" Another girl said. She was clearly the leader.
They said a few more things, but I stopped deciding to care, hoping they would just leave already. That they would let me go to sleep already. It was only when one of them slapped me across the face did I come back to the real world. I held my throbbing cheek, and looked at her in shock. She smiled smugly, and took a step towards me. Her goons followed suit. They each took turns beating on me for Buddha knows how long, before they were suddenly stopped. I could hear people talking, and somebody screaming, but I couldn't make anything out, it was all muffled. My eyes were blurry, and my ears were ringing. I couldn't tell when I got lifted off of the ground and into somebody's arms until I felt the wind stinging the cuts and bruises now forming on my newly exposed face.
I smelt something sweet, like candies, and felt a warm feeling spread through my body. I snuggled closer to the source of the warmth. I didn't even care who it was anymore, all I knew, and all I cared for was the fact that they were my saviour, and they smelled extremely nice. I felt the warmth move away from my side, and the scent with it. I couldn't feel my face, but I'm almost one-hundred percent sure, someone was looking at it. Ms. Kocho I assumed, she was probably surveying the damage. I gave up on staying awake and opening my eyes. I felt myself slowly drift into unconsciousness, and the stinging of my injuries fade with my awareness.