Fan Fiction ❯ Chained ❯ Bound By The Past ( Chapter 1 )

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Author's Notes:

For those of you who follow the manga version of 'Chained' over on DeviantArt.com I apologize for the lack of updates but I've kind of reached an artistic block on the artworks. Not to fear, though, for here is the fiction version of the manga in question. If I can't draw it I might as well write it.

 

A few things have been changed slightly from the manga, but I'm staying as close to my original planned plot-line as I can muster. I don't expect everyone to like this fiction and to be perfectly honest, I really don't give a baboon's glowing red patooty. I write to keep my brain from imploding and to starve off schizophrenia (though we think it has already taken a hold on us...). I'm not trying to please anyone. I'm trying to tell a story.

Because that what fiction is. Story telling.

 

 

Warnings/ Disclaimers:

This fiction contains emotional turmoil, swearing, violence, mentions of rape and abuse. If you're of a nervous or weak-hearted deposition, I advise you to click back on your browser. It's not rated NC-17 for nothing, y'know. All characters are copyrighted property of Sarah Maguire. If you would like to use one or more EG: for fan art purposes, please ask permission first.

Plagiarists will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

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Chained

An original fiction by

Sarah Maguire

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Chapter One

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White muslin drapes fluttered gently in the cool night's breeze, the flowery scent of summer waifing through the darkened bedroom and mingling with the stench of sweat and salted tears. A series of low grunts penetrated the air, heavy breathing echoing off the crumbling wallpaper, mixed with the sound of flesh slapping against fabric.

 

The young girl struggled to suppress her tears, biting down hard on her lip as the hulking demon continued his fierce assault. Try as she might, she couldn't look away, emerald eyes wide with terror and wet with tears as she stared helplessly into the cold grey eyes of her attacker.

 

"Can you feel that? Do you like it?" the shadowed man gasped, beads of sweat pooling in the hollows of his cheekbones as he cracked a sadistic grin, hands gripping the sweat-drenched futon for support. His young victim could only whimper in reply as every thrust caused her to slide up the futon, the coarse fabric rubbing her bare skin red raw.

 

"Every time you refuse to give me an answer, I'll just fuck you harder. Now answer me, bitch. Do. You. Like. It?" Huffed breaths escaping a taunt, barrel-like chest, the evil creature grabbed a fistful of grubby pink hair, jerking her head forward. His grin widened at the sight of her tears, at the pain in her face.

 

"N-no..." she managed to whimper, trying in vain to wriggle her hands free from the thick electrical cord that bound them together. With a cry of desperation, she lost her last ounce of self control and let out a scream, twisting and jerking her body in a bid to free herself. But her actions only served to prolong her torment and as the vile pervert tore into her harder still, she could feel the last of her dignity striped away.

 

"Somebody help me!" she gasped in hopelessness, clenching her eyes shut as the pain became almost too much to bare; "Please!"

 

But her pleas were met only with the howling of the wind and as the monster let out one last grunt of pleasure, she slumped against the futon with anguish, feeling as though she'd died and been sent to the very deepest circle of Hell.

 

Shasta was dead inside. Nothing more than a shell, filled with an infinite void..

_______

 

 

 

 

"GYAH!!"

 

The almighty rumble of a passing train snapped twenty year old Shasta Musashi from her turbulent sleep. Eyes widening to saucers, it took several disorientating seconds for her to realize, with a sigh of relief, that she hadn't woken up in the midst of an earthquake.

 

Rubbing her tired eyes with one bony hand, she glanced around the cramped train carriage, filled to bursting with people from all walks of life. Young , old, man, woman, child. Just a seemingly endless sea of people crammed like sardines in a tin against the graffiti-splattered walls.

 

"-Next stop, Shinjuku Railway Station, Tokyo-" a robotic voice droned from somewhere overhead.

 

Gradually, the train slowed to a stop, its' long journey finally coming to an end at a platform surrounded by towering great giants of metal and glass, neon lights flashing in every direction. Famous singers belted out the soundtrack of the day from gigantic television screen billboards, only just audible over the buzz of the mid-afternoon crowd.

 

If Shasta thought the train carriage was cramped, it was nothing compared to the sheer claustrophobic feel of the Neon City. She let out a deep breath, wondering inwardly how in the world she was going to find her place amid all the chaos of the crowd. Swallowing back the little knot of fear in her throat, she hastily grabbed for her backpack-a pink and purple floral design- and hooked the slightly frayed straps over her shoulders, heaving herself with great difficulty onto the train platform.

 

Gazing up in awe at the many skyscrapers that seemed to scrape the very heavens themselves, the pink-haired woman felt an all too familiar ripple of fear trickle like icy water down her spine. Tokyo. Once, she had held it in high regards, even as a second home of sorts. Once a land of opportunity and good fortune, the dizzying skyline and the energetic buzz of the people only served to stir up a turbulent wave of painful memories in the young woman.

 

For a fleeting moment, Shasta contemplated turning on her heels and head home, but common sense stepped in.

"Stop it, Shasta. Stop it right now."she mentally scolded, a crinkle appearing between her thin brows. Adjusting her pack straps with unnecessary force, the young woman headed towards the platform exit, leading out into the very heart of the city she had grown to fear so much.

 

 

"Like a lamb to the slaughter.." she thought wistfully out-loud, pushing her way through the pulsating flow of passengers.

 

_________

 

 

 

Meanwhile, within the walls of a prestigious hospital somewhere in Ikebukuro, three nurses sat conversing over a pot of coffee and a large Bento boxed lunch. It had been a good month or so since Professor Okinojo's retirement, during which time resident nurses Jinn, Chiyo and Takayami had taken to regularly gossiping about who could potentially succeed him as the heir to the title of 'Chief Surgeon'.

 

Today, there was much more excitement in the air than usual, for today was the day when the mysterious newcomer would finally be unveiled.

 

Spearing a cube of roasted pork on her chopsticks, Jinn took an extra large gulp of her coffee and absently began counting the cracks on the ceiling.

 

"I sincerely hope the new guy's easy on the eyes. We've a serious shortage of hot doctors around here, y'know." she mused, mosey blond brows knitting in thought.

 

Chiyo nodded, the rolls of fat gracing her round face jiggling as she did so." Amen to that, hon'! I tell ya, after a forth-teen hour non-stop shift cleaning up hurl, blood and all other kinds of nasties, a lil' bit of man-flesh would be absolute bliss!"

 

"Ohhh, I really hope Dr. Shigeta is good-looking." Takayami sighed through her hopelessly tangled aqua-marine curls; "He sounded rather hunky on the phone-" But before she could finish her sentence, a pudgy hand slapped her shoulder hard enough to make her drop her chopsticks, raising a loud 'EEK!' of alarm from her chest as Chiyo suddenly leaned into her, nose to nose and looking very much like a deranged female sumo wrestler, eyes wide and mouth agape.

 

 

"You TALKED to him?!" she half-shrieked, causing Jinn to hastily retrain the burly nurse.

 

A beat of sweat about half the size of Canada rolled down Takayami's temple. Scratching her cheek bashfully with her index as they burned pink with embarrassment, she nodded slowly and adverted her gaze, feeling a slight pang of fear towards the rabid-looking nurse before her.

 

"Umm.. y-yes. This morning. He should be here any minute now." The aqua haired nurse giggled nervously, only to let out an almighty shriek of alarm as Chiyo, breaking free from Jinn's restraint, threw her arms up into the air as though praising the fluorescent light strip on the ceiling.

 

"Praise the lord!!" she shrilled, much to the bewilderment of the patients waiting on nearby couches; "We've got one foot in the door with the delicious, sexy doctor!!"

 

"'Sexy', huh?" A husky male voice interrupted the din, causing all three nurses to jump a good five feet or so in the air.

 

 

Spinning on their heels, three pairs of eyes practically bulged from their skulls and three noses exploded with a torrential gush of blood at the sight before them.

 

A tall man stood in the entrance to the A&E department, a bemused smirk etched upon his richly tanned features. Brushing away several stray locks of platinum silver, he lowered his thin-rimmed glasses a fraction of an inch, revealing a mischievous glint in a sparkling pair of deep sapphire blue eyes.

 

"I would've settled for 'cute', but I'll take that compliment!"

 

No-one spoke. All three women were colored stunned by the arrival of the new surgeon. And true to their wishes, he was nothing short of hunky. Taller than most, he towered over Jinn, who was a good five foot nine herself. Along with his height and pale hair, a physique on the muscular side of thin served to give him an almost elven appearance.

 

He winked at Chiyo, causing her to slump to the floor in a dead faint, but not before a tiny squeal of happiness escaped her pudgy lips.

 

"You must be Doctor Shigeta. I'm Nurse Takayami Yuichiro. We spoke on the phone." Takayami gasped breathlessly, trying hard to do her best Marilyn Monroe impersonation whilst at the same time stem the steady trickle of blood oozing from her nostrils.

 

Raising a hand obscured by one overly long shirt-sleeve, the silver haired doctor covered his mouth to stifle a chuckle and bowed politely.

 

"Ahh, yes! I remember! A pleasure to meet you!" he chuckled kindly, taking the blushing nurse's hand and gently kissing the palm. Five seconds later, Takayami joined her tubby colleague on the floor in a faint, a look of pure, blissful delirium pasted across her face.

 

Blinking down at the pair of completely spaced out nurses currently lying spread-eagle on the floor, Dr. Shigeta glanced at Jinn, one perfect silver eyebrow arched in bewilderment.

"Uhh.. are they always this professional?"he queried, scratching at the shaved down bristles on the back his head.

 

Jinn merely chuckled and wiped a bead of nervous sweat from her temple.

"They'll be fine in an hour or two. Let me show you around, Doctor." she said politely, hoping her ability to stay upright in the presence of such a handsome man would give her a head start in the race to get inside his pants.

 

The silver haired man smiled at this, nodding for her to lead the way.

 

Following Jinn down the corridor to the right of the A&E, he folded his arms behind his back and watched as patients and medical staff alike passed him by, occasionally nodding in courtesy. Soon, they had reached the end of the long hallway, where they now stood outside a private room.

 

A sudden expression of serious overcame Jinn as she examined the chart displayed in the rack on the door. Pulling it out, she handed it to the doctor and folded her arms over her chest, brows knitted darkly.

 

"Here's you're first patient of the day, Doctor. She's terminal."

 

"This should be fun.." the doctor said, half-sarcastically. Glancing at the chart, he frowned darkly, his smile dropping into a thin, grave line.

"What's... 'Cardio Osmolisis'? Sound like nothing I've ever heard of."

 

"I didn't expect you to know it. It's a very rare heart disease akin to internal bleeding, only on a much slower, agonizing scale. She's been heavily sedated since Thursday so she'll be a little disorientated. Your job is make sure she's comfortable and the morphine drip's working." Jinn replied, turning to leave.

 

"Uhhh, Nurse?"

 

"Yes, Doctor?"

 

"This disease... it-it isn't contagious, is it?" There was a note of panic in Dr. Shigeta's voice, one that caused Jinn to giggle in spite of herself.

 

"Relax. As evil as I can be at times, I'd never send you into the snake-pit without a shotgun on your first day. Don't worry. You'll be fine. Just press the call button if you need anything." But before the young doctor could say any more, the sassy blond nurse had headed off to tend to the people waiting in the A&E, leaving him alone outside the door.

 

Taking one last glance at the chart in his hands, he sighed heavily and pushed open the door, all the while wondering where all the fun had gone..

 

 

____________

 

With a groan, the pink haired girl sat down on a low wooden bench, toeing off her grubby black zori sandals to rub at her aching feet. "Owie! Why did I have to go and wear sandals today?" she groaned out loud, tenderly caressing her sore and throbbing toes.

With a sigh, she reached for her back pack and pulled out a packaged lunch. Unwrapping the grease-proof paper from her little stash of sushi, Shasta glanced wistfully across the cobbled street towards the handsome white building that stood proudly in the middle of a lush park avenue, several ambulances parked at the entrance.

 

Biting slowly into a piece of salmon roe, her thoughts wandered to the events that had lead her to the city she she'd fled.

 

It had been three days since she first got the call from Ikebukuro General Hospital, but the fear she felt as she held the phone tightly in her spindly fingers still remained fresh in her mind. It had been almost four years since she last visited her mother. Four long years, and she regretted every day of her absence, knowing in her heart that her dear mother would lay awake all night, sick with worry.

 

But Shasta had her own reasons for leaving. Reasons she couldn't bare to divulge, even to herself. A secret she kept locked in a dark room deep inside her heart, festering away constantly like mold on a piece of old fruit. Tokyo was tainted forever because of it and as the days passed since her nightmarish ordeal, the pink haired woman grew so full of fear that she had to escape.

 

He was out there somewhere, watching her.

 

Waiting for her.

 

He always waited.

 

Shaking her head feverishly to rid herself of the thoughts she struggled for so long to suppress, Shasta wrapped up the uneaten sushi lunch and returned it once more to her pack, brows knitted with inner turmoil as she trudged wearily towards the hospital entrance, heart heavy with regret.

 

 

"Forgive me, mother. I have sinned."

 

_______

 

 

 

Aside from the faint hum of monitors and respirators, the hospital room was quiet and still as Dr. Shigeta entered. His patient, a near-skeletal looking woman with greying red hair, lay against a stack of pillows dozing lightly. Pulling a chair across the room, the youthful doctor seated himself by the side of the bed and watched her sleep. He knew she hadn't long for this world.

 

He knew as soon as he read the chart. Arailani Musashi, forty three years old, mother of two. Once so full of life, she was now a mere shadow of her former self, the sagging skin of her pale, ghostly face translucent and veined as it hung from her gaunt frame.

 

Rubbing his face with his hands, the silver haired man sighed deeply. Taigo had never been good at dealing with impending death. Considered the class clown at med school, he always shied away from the darker side of medicine, afraid of the Reaper's touch and of the emotional fall-out that came with it.

 

Grief, anguish, heart-ache, pain.. emotions he couldn't bare to see in anyone's face. Taigo wanted to save lives, not watch them float away with the wind. He wanted to push the pain aside, but fate worked in mysterious ways, often with cruel intentions that would steal away another hapless soul as he battled bravely to anchor it down. It was a tough job to do, knowing he couldn't save them all, but he got what he signed up for. "Take the good with the bad", as the old saying went..

 

"Mm... whuh? W-where am I?" a feeble voice broke the uneasy silence, snapping the good doctor from his less than happy thoughts. Blinking behind his glasses, he forced a smile and lightly petted Arailani's hand with his. Blinking in surprise, he was startled at how thin she felt, the skin her hand like crepe paper against his own.

 

So frail.. he thought with dismay, struggling to keep a happy face.

 

"You're in the hospital, Arailani. I'm Doctor Shigeta, but can call me Taigo if you wish." his voice was calm and soothing, just barely heard over the low hum of the life-support. Turning her head to one side, the magenta haired woman blinked, eyes unfocused and glazed as she struggled to recognize the man before her.

 

"Come closer, dear.." she wheezed through the oxygen mask strapped to her face; "Let me look at you."

 

Nodding, Taigo scooted forward a little in his chair, leaning in so the elder woman could see his face clearly. A wide smile spread slowly across her face, causing a sudden surge of color to rush to her skin.

 

With one fragile hand, she gingerly moved to trace the contours of his cheek with curiosity sparkling in her soft coral blue eyes.

"My, my! Aren't you a handsome one! And so young!"her voice was soft and full of mirth, contrasting starkly against her weak physique.

 

Chuckling in spite of himself, Taigo scratched at the back of his head and gave a toothy grin. "Why, Mrs. Musashi, are you trying to seduce me?" he cooed jokingly, his initial fears for her health melting away with her laughter. Leaning back against her stack of fluffy pillows, Arailani sighed contently and closed her eyes for a moment, as though gathering her strength.

 

"Oh, how I've missed having a good giggle."

 

"Well, it is the best medicine in MY book!" Taigo chuckled, moving to adjust some of the settings on one of the many monitors dotted around the room.

 

Good old laughter. The one thing that could vanquish thoughts of the inevitable. It was somewhat comforting for the young doctor to know that there was still life in the old woman yet, even if it was just for a fleeting moment. Folding his arms on the steel rail at the side of the bed, he watched as Arailani slowly produced a small purse from under her stack of pillows.

 

"Do you have children yourself, doctor?" she inquired curiously as she riffed through the worn compartments of the simple blue money-holder. Flushing pink in the cheeks, Taigo cleared his throat bashfully.

 

"Oh, no! I-I'm only twenty three, miss. Far too young to raise a family! Heh-heh!" he simpered, watching as she handed him a slightly worn, faded photograph.

 

Taking it from her shriveled hands, he stared at it for a moment, brows knitted in wonder.

 

Framed with a yellowing border, it was a simple Polaroid snap of two girls up in a tree. One, the eldest of the two at around eighteen- and something of a daredevil- dangled upside down by her ankles from a sturdy branch, raven black hair blowing in the wind and a look of sadistic laughter etched on her milky white face.

 

The other, a ten year old tom boy with messy pink hair cropped short and spiky had a look of sheer terror in her eyes as she reached for her sister, obviously worried she would fall to her doom. The silver haired man's eyes lingered on the pink haired girl for a moment, in awe of what he saw.

 

She and Arailani could've been twins! From the same china-doll features and messy pink hair to the tiny smattering of freckles across their cheeks-the resemblance was uncanny. All that separated the child from her mother was her eyes.

 

As green as polished emeralds and wide with childish innocence, they were fresh and alive, contrasting with the glassy death shrouds that had begun to veil the elder woman's own coral pair.

 

"Family is the most important thing in this world. Cherish it well, for you never know when you might leave it all behind." Arailani's voice, growing weaker by the minute, had died down to a near whisper.

 

A quiet sadness lay behind her gentle smile and as Taigo returned to her the photograph of her beloved daughters, she cradled it to her chest and closed her eyes in contemplation.

 

Four long years of worry and concern had taken their toll on her body, her heart aching for the daughter she'd lost.

 

Sighing heavily, she silently prayed that wherever her child might be, she would come home to her one last time..

 

 

_________

 

 

 

"Excuse me;" Shasta gently pushed the little bell on the reception desk of the hospital's A&E. "My-my name's Shasta Musashi. I'm looking for my mother."

 

Chiyo, who has since recovered from her recent fainting incident, nodded politely and thumbed through several large binders strew haphazardly across the handsome mahogany desk. After a moment of leafing through several pages, she stacked the binders neatly and adjusted her dark glasses on the bridge of her nose.

 

"Go straight down the hall to the left. She's in the private room at the very end. You can't miss it."

 

"Thank you very much."

 

Bowing kindly in thanks, the pink haired girl promptly followed the tubby nurse's instructions, heading down the cold white tiled hallway, the stench of sterility piercing her nostrils.

 

Standing outside the door, behind which the woman she'd abandoned lay dying slowly, Shasta leaned against the wall and stared down at her feet, a wave of shame washing over her. No letters, no phone calls, no visits, nothing. Just complete isolation from the one woman she could always confide in. This was no way for a daughter to behave, but to behave like this for four years...

 

Shasta could only pray her mother would forgive her.

 

 

Slowly, she raised a hand to knock on the door, but just as she was about to rap against the whitewashed wood, it suddenly swung open, causing her to loose her footing and fall through the door-frame, squealing in alarm. Or at least, she THOUGHT she'd fallen through. Something soft and warm had cushioned her fall, a touch of thick cotton fabric rubbing against her cheek.

 

"Oh! Hello there!" A male voice exclaimed in surprise.

 

Feeling a pair of large hands grip her shoulders gently, she blinked twice in confusion, slowly lifting her head to look at the hapless person she'd almost knocked over.

 

A soft gasp escaped her lips. Peering down from behind thin-rimmed glasses, a pair of the deepest blue eyes Shasta had ever seen her life gazed curiously into her own. Cheeks burning red in embarrassment, she hastily pulled away from the young man and adverted her gaze to her shoes, eyes wide with shock.

 

"My-my apologies!" she squeaked quietly, cheeks clashing vibrantly with her hair.

 

"You must be Shasta, right?" the silver haired man queried, cocking his head to one side. Taigo recognized her in an instant. There was no mistaking that shock of bubblegum pink hair, though it was now much longer than it had been in the photograph, trailing down her back in tousled waves.

 

She still retained her boyish figure, though she'd swapped her grubby jeans for a simple lavender sailor uniform, her shirt ruffled from where she had grasped the front in a bid to steady her rapidly pounding heart. The silver haired doctor smiled inwardly.

Actually, she's kind of cute..he thought to himself, a tiny hint of a blush only just tinting his cheeks.

 

Clearing his throat loudly, he quickly let go of her shoulders and stepped aside, holding the door open like a true gentleman.

 

"Uh, your mother's resting right now. I'll be right back, I just have to get some more saline." he gulped, sparing no time as he ambled down the corridor towards the medicine supply room, mentally smacking himself for thinking such things.

 

Taking a deep breath, the flustered young woman quietly entered the room, seating herself on a lone chair amid the snake-pit of wires and drips surrounding the bed. Arailani, who had been dozing lightly, slowly opened her eyes at the sound of shuffling. Squinting against the harsh light of the fluorescent strip above her head, her face lit up with a mixture of shock and joy at the sight of her daughter.

 

"Shasta-chan?" she croaked incredulously, her smile so wide it threatened to split her face in half; "Is that you? My goodness, how you've grown!"

 

Forcing a weak smile, the younger of the two women seated herself on the chair next to the bed.

 

Leaning over the rails, she reached out a hand to gently stroke the sharp contours of Arailani's cheek, feeling the thin, translucent skin brush delicately against her fingertips. "Mommy..." Shasta whispered faintly, struggling to suppress her tears; "I've missed you so much. I'm so sorry. I-I-" but she was abruptly cut off by five long, sinewy fingers intertwining with her own..

 

"I'm so glad I finally got to see you one last time... before I go." Arailani's voice, softer than the faint rustle of wind against the window, had a note of finality about it, one that released the flood gates of Shasta's eyes, causing a river of tears to flow.

 

Leaning far over the rails flanking the hospital bed, she wrapped her arms lovingly around her mother in one final embrace, each clenched shut as she buried her head in the dying woman's chest, labored breaths fading into one continuous hum of the monitor.

 

Slumping back into her chair, Shasta stared at her mother's lifeless body for what felt like hours. "This is my punishment." she thought quietly to herself; covering her mouth with one hand to stop from screaming; "Mommy..!" she manged to squeak, the grief stabbing at her bruised heart with sadistic mercy.

 

It felt as though her chest was held in a vice, slowly being squeezed for all it was worth until only emptiness remained.

 

So consumed with guilt, grief and remorse, the pink haired woman completely detached herself from the world around her.

 

It have only been five achingly long minutes but it felt like an eternity and as Dr. Shigeta, alerted by the continuous, shrill cry of the life-support, battled to revive Arailani with a loud yelled of "CLEAR!", Shasta could feel herself slipping back into the deep pit of despair.

 

 

Slipping further down the spiral..

 

THUD!

 

The world turned to darkness...

 

___________

 

 

Taigo jumped at the sound of the noise- something akin to a sack of potatoes falling to the floor.

Hastily shoving the defibrillator back into their holders, he turned around and jumped at the sight of the young pink haired woman lying slumped on the floor, unconscious and bleeding lightly from a shallow cut on her forehead.

 

Crouching down, a knitted look of concern etched across his olive features, Taigo gently cradled her head in his knees.

 

Grief takes another victim; Taigo thought dejectedly as he wiped away the blood with his handkerchief. Sighing heavily, he leaned back against the side of the bed and closed his eyes.

 

"I hate this job.."

____________

 

 

Shasta knew this dream well, having dwelled on it for countless nights.

Actually, it wasn't a dream at all. It was a memory. Standing in a rain-soaked driveway, thunder crashing behind stony grey clouds in the distance, her eyes fell upon the house at the end of the cobbled path, which was lined with the empty shells of cherry blossom trees.

 

Had it been a clear and sunny day, with the trees in bloom, the house could have easily been described as 'charming'. But in the booming thunder and torrential rain, it looked foreboding.

 

Frightening, even.

 

Clear pools of rain converged in the grooved edges of the pagoda roof, spilling into the rusting gutter pipes with a hollow trickle, the occasional leak somewhere along the pipe spitting water onto the worn wooden porch, upon which a tall woman dressed in a long black kimono stood, her face as stony as the carved dragon guardians flanking the high wooden gates surrounding the courtyard.

 

"Why do you always run from the ones you love?"the woman's voice was as cold as the rain and laced with menace, hatred blazing in her deep grey eyes. A sudden flash of thunder illuminated her face, revealing Shasta's own, but it was twisted and warped, lined with contempt and loathing as piercing eyes glared upon her.

 

"Silly child. You can't escape your past."

 

Another almighty flash of thunder lit up the sky, so much so that the pink haired girl had to shield herself from the blinding light. The storm raged on around her, as though the woman in black controlled the very heavens themselves and sought to inflict her hatred upon her young ward.

 

As the wind raged and the rain battered against her bare skin, Shasta could do nothing but scream. She screamed loud enough to wake the dead, but her voice was lost in the howling breeze. Fog began to drift in from an unknown place and all too soon, the house was nothing more than a hazy outline glowing faintly through the mist.

 

It grew more and more faint as her screams died down to hysterical sobs, soon replaced with the silence of darkness.

 

For a long time, she floated in the void, halfway between somewhere and nowhere. Voices from days past echoed incoherently from all directions, clouding her mind and making it throb in pain. It seemed nothing would reach her, that she was once again lost on a stormy night. The voices seemed to grow louder and louder, buzzing like a thousand chainsaws.

 

"N-no! Stop! Please!"she cried, but the swarming relented. It seemed to go on forever, a perpetual roar of voices swamping her head until she could feel her temples throb under the strain.

 

"No!!"

 

 

 

Then a new voice joined the din.

 

 

A voice that was calm and soothing, piercing through the garbled echoes. It was a male voice, kindly and sincere, uttering a single word in the darkness.

 

 

 

"Shasta."

 

 

 

"Shasta."

 

 

 

"Shasta."

 

It was no longer dark. As a matter of fact, it was actually very bright indeed, a solid wall of white burning into her eyes as they slowly flickered open. Blinking against the harsh light, the young woman slowly rubbed her aching head.

 

Something moist and clumpy was stuck to her hair and a Band Aid graced her temple. As her vision focused, she realized she was lying on the floor of a hospital room, her head resting against something soft and warm.

 

"Whaa..?" she groaned, trying dizzily to find her bearings. It was then she realized she was resting on the knees of the very same doctor she had so ineptly crashed into earlier. Bolting upright with the speed of a bullet and the shock of a startled fawn, Shasta was instantly alert and wide-eyed, her cheeks ablaze with a fiery blush.

 

Holding out his hands in defense, a bead of nervous sweat trickling down his temple, Taigo laughed embarrassedly.

 

"Uhh, you fainted there about ten minutes ago. I was just about to send for a bed when you came around there.." Clearing his throat awkwardly, he took his glasses from the bridge of his nose and meticulously cleaned them with a handful of fabric from his white coat.

 

"I-I'm sorry! I-I just..!" The pink haired woman fumbled her words, hands firmly clutching the front of her sailor uniform. Her memory betraying her, she once again became aware of the sombre atmosphere.

 

Lowering her head, she let a tiny whimper escape her lips, hands trying fruitlessly to wipe away the salted pools that threatened to spill from her eyes. The same pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders with a feather-lithe touch.

 

Stealing a glance at the ashen-faced doctor, stormy green eyes met calming blue.

He felt warm and soft as she buried her head in his chest, spindly fingers gripping the back of his coat for dear life as she cried. Taigo held her in a soothing embrace, absently stroking her hair as her tears created a small, wet patch on his crisps white coat.

 

He felt so guilty, that he could've done more to spare the young woman from her agony. Pulling her closer, he struggled with his own emotions at the sound of her tears, brows knitted in sorrow behind his glasses.

 

"Let it out... let it all out.." he murmured quietly, closing his eyes in the hopes that when they'd open again, this would all be a dream.

 

"But I don't think life is quite that simple.."

 

__________________

End Chapter One

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