Chapter Text
It was just the two of you in the room. Sabito went out to send Emiko to her training hall in the kabuki theatre at the end of the street.
"Do you wanna listen to the other song that I've wrote? It is part of a scene of a courtesan grieving the death of her lover whom died from drug overdose..."
Giyu looked at you, distracted at first, then he smiled and nodded.
-Angel-
Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There's always some reason
To feel not good enough
And it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh, beautiful release
Memory seeps from my veins
Let me be empty
Oh, and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There's vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It don't make no difference
Escaping one last time
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees
In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
You looked up to him, smiling softly through your tears. His gaze is searing as he got up and walked to you. He pulled you into his arms, aching to feel you close since the moment you walked in with Sabito.
The muscles in you slackened, moulding into his sturdy frame. Closing your eyes, as you relished the biochemical reactions igniting within you. Your cognitive function gave way to the euphoric feeling of his warmth enveloping you. You were sure that there is no cure to your addiction to his closeness and presence that you never seemed to have enough.
"This is where I find comfort..." you sighed deeply, nuzzling into his shoulder.
He pulled back to look into your eyes, then he lean down, brushing his lips on your forehead.
"I've missed you..." His lips puckered against your skin, fluttered over your eyelid, trailed down your cheek. And found it's way home, on your lips.
This is perhaps the thousandth kiss that you've shared with him. You've lost count, the days when you both kissed, some were passionate, some were tender, some held grief and pain.
It was never the same.
Today his lips were slow, and you could sense that he is feeling down.
"Why? Did something happen on your mission?"
You asked, tipping your head back to look at him in his eyes.
He shook his head, and you realised that he is worried for you.
"You are ruminating in what ifs again? I'll be fine, Giyu... It's gonna be safer than being in Yoshiwara... I'm not going to be staying in the Kamijo. Oyakata Sama had located a house on a quaint slope, called Muenzaka. It is surrounded by sewing houses, launderers and textile shops. Mainly filled with women of honest trades, you can rest assured that it would be more than safe."
He smiled, nodding his head slowly, his doubts clearing as he pulled you closer into his embrace.
"I can't breath!" You laughed, pushing him over onto his back, his arms are still around your waist, as you lied on top of him.
"Don't be silly... It's all within Tokyo and you can always drop by as and when... Way more accessible than how Yoshiwara is. Things will only get better..." you smiled reassuringly at him.
He reached into his pocket and brought out a piece of paper.
You gasped, it's a shiori ningyo, the washi paper kimono is exactly the same as your mother's cream and purple wisteria patterned one. It's hair is worn like how you usually do, side swept into a low side braid.
"You made it yourself?" You blinked slowly in disbelief, taking it from his hand.
He nodded, cheeks burning bright,
"I've practiced countless times. This is the best that I could achieve."
Holding up in the light, you took a closer look, the intricate details of wisteria petals were painted on with meticulous care. The brush strokes were delicate and clean, you are sure that even Yushiro and Masako Sama would nod in approval to this.
"It's so beautiful... I love it, Giyu... So thoughtful of you to even remember that trivial moment of us eye shopping together..."
He chuckled, his hands stroking the small of your back.
"You are really like a child... So taken by something so simple..."
"It's not simple! Spending precious time making something with your own bare hands. Learning a new skill just for your friend or beloved one. It's not simple. It's the best kind of gift to receive. I'll cherish it, and bring it everywhere I go..." you rolled off him, holding the paper doll gingerly between your thumb and index to prevent it from crushing.
He pushed you gently over onto your back, before you could react, he took the doll from you grasp.
"Hey!" You protested.
He place it carefully on the tatami lined floor above your head, and returned his smouldering focus on you.
"I could make you ten more if you wrinkled that... don't worry about it..." he murmured before taking your lips eagerly, parting them to seek your tongue with his. He was heedful that his weight rests on the floor, while his kiss continued to turn distressed and fervent with need.
You gasped as you feel his hand on your breast, palming you gently through the fabric of your clothes.
"Is that okay?" He broke away breathlessly, concerned with your voiceless triggers. You both had been experimenting on what feels good and not with your body.
It felt like navigating a mine infested field, but he always listened to your silent cues and stopped whenever your anxiety escalated. The action of him stopping mattered a lot, it made you feel in power of your own body again. And after several nights, he seemed to know your buttons better than you do.
Embrace is fine, lying on top of you is not.
Back hugs are off limits, you can't see his face.
Kissing on your face is fine, but not along your jawline.
It frustrates you that the limits were ceaseless and sporadic, but he never seemed to mind. Usually your time together with Giyu, ends up with you kissing his bare neck and chest, which you are eager to do so.
It excites you to see him aroused under your ministrations as his eyes glaze over with desire.
And you know that he wants more. And it maddens you when you both can't go beyond a kiss and an embrace without you being petrified.
You nodded your head slowly, revelling under the pleasurable pressure of his palm on your breast. Clenching your thighs as you feel a pulsing tension building in your groin.
"This feels good, Giyu... Shin never touched me there... I was too young back then..." You smiled reassuringly, but his eyes begin to fill with pain, it hits sorely home how young you were back then when it happened.
"I hate him..." He muttered in despair, and a tear slipped past the bridge of his nose.
You kissed away his tear, and whispered,
"Thank you for replacing all those memories with happier ones..."
The shoji pulled opened and the both of you jerked up only to see Sabito shocked and his widened eyes strayed to Giyu's palm on your chest.
"Shit." You cursed, as you pulled back awkwardly, face burning up.
"Giyu?" Sabito's eyes narrowed at his friend.
You looked at Sabito, cringing inside but began to explain.
"I wanted it too. It's not his fault."
"I'm sorry." Giyu apologised, as he got up and pull out the futons for his friends.
"Why are you apologising?" Sabito laughed, he went to his futon and rolled it up, heaving it on to his shoulder.
"We don't know when we could die on our missions. Live your lives with passion, friends. I've just earned a birthday kiss from Emiko Chan..." his face beamed blissfully from ear to ear, clearly in high spirits.
You chortled at the juicy piece of news, and threw a pillow at his smug face, which he caught neatly with his outstretched hand.
"And you gave that judgey look just to spite us? I knew it! There is always something tense between you and her!" You laughed, you had noticed how Sabito's eyes never left Emiko throughout the song just now. That was your intention anyway, a present for your friend, there is nothing sweeter than a love requited.
He laughed and went to the door, and before he closed the sliding doors, he grinned with an impish glint in his eyes.
"Masako Sama has French Letters tucked in the small drawer beside the bath tub. In case you guys need any."
A flying pillow from Giyu hit the closed shoji as Sabito walked away in guffaws leaving the room sizzling with unfulfilled tension.
___________________
The days flew by quickly, it is Masachika San on duty with you again in the basement clinic.
As the both of you emerged from the steps of the clinic, a stealthy flurry of black danced in front of you. You felt a cloth clapped over your mouth, and then it was darkness.
When you came around, you were alone, your hands were bound behind your back. And your feet tied by the ankles. But what scared you wasn't the physical ropes, but how weak you felt, you were sure that you had been drugged.
You mustered up your mental strength and cut through the ropes with your diamond slash technique. You barely got up on your feet, when a dark, towering figure slipped into what looked like a shed.
You instinctively looked into the mind of your abductor, and you realised how the person managed to take you and Masachika down with such ease.
"A shinobi?" You gasped in disbelief.
"Smart girl. How did you undo your ties?" His unwavering red eyes were stoic, he walked over to you and easily pulled you up and slung you like a doll over his shoulder.
"Fuck! Let go of me! Where is Masa Kun? And what did you drug me wi-."
He slapped your butt sharply, silencing your words and struggles as you register how futile your efforts to escape would be within his iron grip.
You bit your lip to stifle the anxiety that is building from within. Focusing on your breathing, to ebb the effects of narcotics coursing in your system.
He moved stealthily towards a residence, you gasped as he leaped with ease through an opened window, landing silently with a graceful righting reflex that out rivals one of a panther's. You begin to search through his memories, and is relieved to know that Masa Kun had been knocked out cold, but well in the narrow alley.
But the rest of his past left you immobilised with fear. He is not much older than you, but he had killed. Unlike Tamayo Sama who did it under the influence of demonic instinct. He had killed with lethal intent.
Under the orders of his leader of a warlike sect, though similar to the corps, yet unstrung from humane morality. They are not trained to fight against evil demons, but to carry out assassinations, arson and espionage without emotions.
Assassinations of humans like yourself.
He walked into the next room separated by a shoji, the sudden ambient light of the indoors blinded you for a minute.
Your heart was rammed up your throat as he dropped you unceremoniously onto the tatami lined floor.
You read his mind again for his motive behind your ambush, and realised what it is.
"You needed a doctor?" You squinted up at him, as he removed his cloth mask, revealing a handsome, youthful face of a teen.
"You read the situation very fast, Sensei. Now, treat my wife, and I will give you the antidote for the poison running in you. You have 2 hours left."
Your heart sank, not because of the notion of the fatal drug in you. But because of the injuries the young girl had sustained in front of you.
Your eyes welled up as you shuffled forward towards her, she lied naked on a futon dyed with her blood. Every inch of her body is covered with a deep bruise or bloodied cut. Her hair had been shaved unevenly, revealing painful nicks on her scalp.
"Who the fuck did this to her? I would need sterile equipment! Why don't you bring her to the clinic?"
You asked, your voice was just a notch above scolding, as you still fear for your life.
"We can't. We are not supposed to divulge our identities, especially in Yoshiwara."
You frowned,
"And do you plan to silence me after I'm done with this?"
And your face paled as you read his mind before he replied.
"No. I'll take you in as my wife. It would be convenient for my family."
You bit your lip to refrain from an honest rebuke. You turned to the girl, and began to work on her with the instruments he had provided beside the bed.
"I can't promise that I could save her, she has broken ribs. I could set them back, but there is still a possibility of infection or worse, septicemia."
"Don't worry, kuinoichis are made of steel, we don't die from simple infections."
He scoffed haughtily at your presumptuous advice, you remained silent as you continued with your sutures, your fingers were nimble despite your quivering heart. Your mind is buzzing with conjectures and possible exit plans but you've found none.
This man is brazen and not like the people you've dealt with. But he seemed to still have an ounce of conscience, seeing how he don't intend to silence you in cold blood.
"How did she end up like this?" You asked for ease of getting an answer without a search.
"She was on a mission, infiltrated a Yakuza leader's household as a maid. And she happened to be discovered, thankfully she was still alive when I got to her."
"They've raped her." Your fingers shivered as you spoke, blinking back tears, as you tend to the injuries between her legs.
"It happens. My third wife guises as a courtesan in Yoshiwara, that's how I got to know about you."
You gaped at him in horror, at both the fact of his polygamy and his disregard for promiscuity.
"Third wife? You have three wives?"
He smirked smugly, and leaned forward over his wife's body towards you,
"Four. Counting you in." He tilted his head and peered at you with glimmering amusement.
You quickly dropped your focus back to his wife, feeling your cheeks getting warmer by the minute.
An hour has passed when you were done with your patient. You gently wet her parched lips with a damp cloth, and covered her with a fresh duvet.
"Her pulse seems fine, you are right, she's definitely made of steel..." you sighed with relief.
"Come."
You yelped when he pulled you up again, picking you up by your waist under his arm.
"I can walk!"
"Too loud. Too slow."
And he was right, his speed out best your father's. Before you knew it, you are in a bathing facility.
"Strip."
He placed you down on your feet, and began to take off his own black garb. You stared blankly at his bare chest and arms, his body is well built, tall, lanky and muscular. But even Giyu, had never gotten naked in front of you this thoroughly before.
"What are you doing?"
"You want your antidote? It's in the bath. I will help you purge the poison."
You read his mind for clarity and looked into his eyes to seek truth. And his gaze pierced through you, unyielding and cold. You know that it is non-negotiable, you are held hostage.
So you begin to remove your obi, you barely removed your date-jime sash, and he sighed in frustration,
"Slow!"
He closed the distance between you both and undid your sash deftly, he is definitely skilled with knots. You stepped back in shock as he grabbed the neckline of your kimono, pulling it off your shoulders.
"Stand still."
-Flashback-
"Stay still..." he grunted in your ear, he pulled your nagajuban off your shoulders.
You shuddered when his hand moved down to your bare crotch, and you felt his thumb on your clitoris.
"Please... I can use my mouth again..."
"You will enjoy this, Onii Chan promise... It would feel really good the second time..."
And he slid a finger into you, you gasped as the foreign sensation slowly turned into a pleasurable one.
"Onii Chan loves you... Y/n... Relax... That's my good girl..."
-End of Flashback-
And you froze, the low octave droning in your ears grew louder as you feel the cold winter air hit your bare skin.
"Shit... Is the drug working already?" He cupped your clenched jaws, you were grinding your molars together so hard that the squeaking of grating enamel echoed in the bathing hall.
Absently, you knew he had you in his arms, but you can't feel anymore, your limbs were dull and numbed.
"Shit... Hey, girl... Breath!"
-Flashback-
"Breath! You feel so good, Y/n... Do you like this?" He let out a low groan as he busied himself above you, his lips trained roughly along your jawline as you squirmed beneath his unyielding weight.
You wanted to cry, but you swallowed your voice. You were afraid that your father would kill Yuuto San. And you felt guilty for yearning Yuuto's affection despite his alternate personality's horrific abuse on you.
Onii Chan was the only person you had in the absence of your parents' love. You tried to forget him, but all that remained was darkness in the month's long time when he wasn't around.
You thought to yourself. In exchange for an hour, you will gain a day of Yuuto's loving presence. And you convinced yourself in that split second, that the trade off is justifiable.
You can learn how to endure the pain.
You are stronger than what you seem.
-End of Flashback-
You sight drifted as you faintly sense yourself being submerged in water. You can't tell the temperature of the water, as your head lolled back onto his shoulder.
"I will need to prick your acupoints with these needles, bear with me." He murmured behind you, barely audible over the constant buzzing in your ears. You were unsure how many needles he had used. As you finally drifted into darkness, seeking solace in your unconsciousness.
It was day break when you come around. Your body felt heavy from the aftermath of drugs or perhaps your panic attack. Bile rose in your throat as you dry heaved into your palm.
"Are you alright? Here's some warm water." It is a lady, she has dark hair, and is wearing a skimpy kimono that barely covered her breasts. You looked away, embarrassed, your face burned as you took the cup of water from her hands.
You glanced at her, deciphering her mind, and took a sip as you confirmed that it is not drugged.
"I am Suma."
"His first wife?"
"Yea! Did he tell you already?"
"Can you let me go? I swear not to speak a word on what happened..." You found yourself pleading to her, she seemed more pliable compared to her husband.
"I'm sorry... We have our rules in our clan..." The apologetic look in her eyes felt genuine, but you couldn't care less, you leaped to your feet and made a dash for the exit. You are in your thin nagajuban robe, but your life mattered more than your modesty.
She was fast, catching your wrist, but it didn't faze you, you used the inertia of her pull, and shoved her backwards into the snow piled ground. You straddled on top of her torso, and clutched her by her neck.
"I don't want to hurt you! Let me leave quietly and I'll spare your life!"
Her eyes widened, and then she began to tremble with tears shimmering in her eyes.
"I would be killed too, if you walk off like this!"
You read her mind and realised that she's speaking the truth. Your heart clenched as you debated your next move, she looked younger than you.
"Why don't we leave together? I'll bring you to safety from this shit place."
You whispered lowly, your eyes darted towards the residence, the winter sun is still not fully up.
She gasped in horror,
"And leave Tengen Sama? No way! Please! Go back with me! I promise I won't tell Tengen Sama..."
"Tch!" You realised that she's totally nuts over her husband, so you struck her on her neck to render her unconscious. And scrambled on to your bare feet towards the woods ahead.
You sprinted for your life, that silver haired man is incredibly fast, possibly matching the speed of Douma from what you recall.
The branches of the woods had clipped your face and shredded your thin robe. But you could not afford to slow down. The train of thoughts in your brains were buzzing too, as you threw around the various outcomes.
You whistled for your Kasugai crow, Haru, he appeared almost immediately, and you commanded him,
"Find Sabito and Giyu and bring them he-."
A shuriken dart whistled past your cheek, and pierced into Haru's neck, he fell lifelessly onto the blinding carpet of snow. The crimson of its blood burned into the white of the snow. You tore your eyes away from your pet, breathing in deeply, as you concentrated on sending oxygen and blood to your legs, and you ran at a lightning speed you never knew you had.
Another shuriken swiped past your thigh, a searing pain radiated in your hip, but you blurred it out, focusing on the road ahead.
You pulled to an abrupt stop.
It's a dead end.
The edge of a cliff.
You looked over and know that you won't be able to survive that drop.
He appeared within seconds, not even breaking a sweat nor hitching a breath.
"What other options do I have other than staying your prisoner." You asked him outright, you hated uncertainties.
"Death." He replied coldly.
You refused to back down from his intimidating gaze, you glared back at him as intensely, widening your stance, you beckoned him with your hand,
"On desperate ground. Fight."
He smirked, you could tell that he won't show any leniency.
He launched at you with his fist, and you swiped his wrist away, delivering a punch to his opened flank. It knocked breath out of him. Before he could react, you rammed the crown of your head into his nose.
He staggered backwards in surprise, as blood began to drip from his bruised, pretty nose.
"Flamboyant." He murmured with earnest admiration, he knew you were trained, but didn't expect you to be this well trained.
You gulped nervously, you had successfully roused him up.
His actions blurred as he leaped into the air towards you, you somersaulted out of his descend, your feet skidded narrowly, inches away from the slippery edge. Chunks of glistening snow fell off the cliff, the lack of sound of it hitting ground sent a chill up your vertebrae.
"Stop. You could die from that fall."
"I'll fight till death then."
You pounced again at him, your fist missed his mandible by an inch. But you pivoted on your left foot, and gave him a round house kick in the back of his knees, it sent his tall frame buckling to the ground, not losing momentum. You hoisted yourself onto his back, pulling his forearm back into the small of his back, and elbowed him in between his shoulder blades, shoving him into the slushy snow.
"You are so sexy when you fight, what's your name?" He still had a cheek to flirt.
You dug your elbow harder into his back.
"Shut the fuck up. I won't tell a soul about you and your bimbotic wives. Fucking let me leave."
You gasped as your vision began to blur, and your grip faltered.
"Feeling it? The dart was laced with tranquilising potion." He sniggered beneath you.
Before you could blink, you blacked out once again.