Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ The Secret of Despair ❯ The Enduring ( Chapter 7 )

They broke her. They had broken her like no other. Sometimes you were in so many pieces; the only thing left to do was to close yourself up. It is better to not feel at all when everything is hurting. At first Michi could endure the indifferent treatment of her, she went through the days with resilience she didn't even know she possessed. The house was a big house and although it was filled with many servants as well as Meroko with her daughter and baby brother, it felt empty and hollow, more than anything, lonely.

 

Nobody acknowledged her, not even the servants. Perhaps sometimes Michi was graced with a nod here, a slap there, but Michi was nothing. Sometimes she imagined she was a spirit, one that only temporarily graced this huge castle of a house. The times she felt most lonely was at night. It was so imaginably painful to not be able to dream, no memories to fall back on for comfort, or not even nightmares to remind her of a past. To dream about nothing was anguish. Each night when Michi would go to sleep, she would sleep into a black nothingness. Every inch of her felt as though she dreamed, yet every morning she would wake up as empty as she was the day before. No pleasant dreams to occasionally uplift her never ending depression. She would try to dream and dream and nothing would come. That hurt the most.

 

As a result, she hardened. Resilience began building up, stacking on pain and loneliness. Never again would the word “sorry” fall from her lips. At first she had nothing to do except menial chores, but they put an end to that. Meroko immediately enlisted her to work at the small bar/restaurant/motel that she owned. It had an unusual name with flavor that Michi didn't think possible of Meroko. It was named Exquisite Grace. Mostly men came and it was Michi's job to be a waitress. She had walked in that one day hesitantly peering beyond the doorway, soaking in her new environment. He had walked up to her stared at her, and then broke into a wide grin. He was amazing.

 

Daisuke was the manager that pretty much ran everything in Exquisite Grace. At once he took her hand into his and said, “We will take care of you here”. His smile made her want to do anything for him. Instead of shyly looking away, she looked back at said, “Okay.” They found a very pretty kimino, which was uniform there, to which she could comfortably waitress in. He opened the door for her and always gently led her. Michi didn't mind following. Never getting angry at mess-ups or mistakes, Daisuke would smile at her and it was okay again. Each morning she would wake up eagerly for work, after all it was the highlight of her day. Now she dreamt. She would dream each night about his warm smile and twinkling eyes.

 

The other girls there were nice to her too. She made some friends like Riku and Rei who were sisters, but somehow none of them turned into best friends. It was alright, her eyes were always on Daisuke anyways. The security and protection he provided made her feel like a person, like she was grounded.

 

The girls there weren't cleared of suspicious behavior. Michi would sometimes notice how they would follow a man into his motel room. And suddenly the next day the girl would have a lot more money to buy pretty kimonos and trinkets with. So Michi asked Daisuke about it, “Daisuke, how come I see many of our waitresses go into men's rooms at night?” He answered easily with laugh, “My, aren't you perceptive. The girls help the men, almost as an extra service. They come in show them around the room and help them get comfortable like turning on the bath or fluffing up the bed and they leave. I started this service; I discovered that men really like it. They pay big bonuses just to see a pretty girl help them into their rooms. Would you like to make some extra money Michi?”

Michi had been saving up every single dollar for the day she would one day run away. But after she had met Daisuke she no longer wanted to run away anymore. She felt trust and security with him. She was even suspecting that he felt the same about her too. On some nights he even walked her home. Meroko even loved him. Michi wondered what it would be like to marry Daisuke and finally have Meroko and her family accept her. In the meanwhile she tried to please Daisuke as much as she could. “Of course, I would love to.” She smiled at him with what she thought was her winning smile. He laid his hand on her arm and smiled back, “Thanks Michi, you won't regret it.”

 

Later that evening, after serving many rough, noisy men Daisuke came up to her and said, “I have a customer for you tonight Michi, remember to be polite and do whatever he asks.” She smiled back, no worries. She definitely knew how to handle men. After working at Exquisite Grace for seven months now; she knew how to handle them. Daisuke smiled back and kissed her on the cheek, and with that handed her the room key to 147. Michi turned away to blush. She nervously opened the door and walked in, immediately bowing. It was Taichi one of her regular customers. He was the son of a rich oil millionaire. She breathed in with relief. He was easy to handle, he was fairly young, pretty handsome but almost always cocky and arrogant. Although he flirted with her constantly, Michi would always put him down with a witty remark. She smiled at him, still she followed protocol. “So have you been enjoying Exquisite Grace?”

“I think I'm going to enjoy it a lot more now. I've been waiting for a long time for you to be available.” Taichi replied easily.

Michi smiled back, “Haha so what would you like me to do? Fluff your bed? Turn on the bathwater? Just say the word.”

She began fluffing his bed. Taichi got up and locked the door. “What are you doing Taichi? Wanted some privacy?” Michi remarked joking around. Taichi was always fun to mess with.

“Why don't you undress for me Michi?” he said with a look in his eyes. Michi was getting frustrated and a little angry.

“Taichi get over it. Just stop.” She said angrily looking away. Then Taichi grabbed her wrists flung her on the bed in an instant. Michi was paralyzed with shock with the sudden movement. “I said I wanted your clothes off. I won't repeat myself.” She was back to her senses, and she struggled hard. She bit him and dug her nails into his back and attempted to kick him off the bed. Her panic was making her jerk and kick with no avail. Yet in the end she couldn't compete, Taichi was in fit and easily overpowered her without much effort. Michi started screaming loud, hopefully Daisuke or one of the girls would overhear and walk in and put a stop to this. Taichi slapped her hard across the face that left her wheeling without a breathe. She stopped screaming. “You're much difficult than I thought. Good thing I brought a couple things to help.” He said as he started unraveling her kimono. “Taichi you don't want to do this. Trust me.”

“No you don't know how long I've wanted to do this. Trust me.” He said. Michi lay there limply as he slowly but eagerly took off her kimono. As he looked upon her bare body, she felt shame and mortification take over her. Never before had she felt so revealed and degraded at the same time. His eyes raked over her body with leisure and at his own pleasure, taking in her small full breasts and lean waist. He took out a strong rope and tied her wrists together at the head of the bed. He tied it so hard Michi felt her wrists burn. She felt so defenseless and helpless and never before had she hated that feeling so much. All she could do was silently cry and murmur “please no”. Taichi smiled at her gently and kissed her tears and her eyes softly. He then kissed her nose and then gently on the mouth. Out of spite, she bit him hard on the lip. Taichi slapped her hard across the face again. This time she felt as though her nose had cracked. He continued the kisses. He kissed her neck. He then kissed each nipple on top her breasts, and then her stomach. He was about to go down further, when Michi tightly closed her legs together. “Michi don't make this worse for you.”

She laughed sarcastically in his face, “how can it get worse?”

 

 

It can get way worse…