Pain. Intense pain flooding her.
"You must be perfect!" Impact as she tried to
breathe.
"Sir, control yourself!" Impact. She sobbed once
before she could catch herself.
"And you must not cry!" She was stricken several
more times. She did not cry out again before she was
thrown once across the gym and all went dark
with a terrifying crack.
"He...left me in gym?" the girl muttered as she
returned painfully to a light-headed consciousness.
She felt somewhat damp, especially about a foot
under her knees. Her leg, however, felt moderately
numb. She attributed that to lack of blood flow and
prespiration, and went to more obvious concerns.
The girl rubbed her neck where she had been grazed,
and craned it to release some of the tension. The
hand came back stained red, but a quick check proved
that the source had stopped bleeding a while ago, and
only sweat had pulled the red up. A couple of breaths
instantly convinced her that she at least had a
bruised sternum, if not cracked ribs. Her left arm
also hurt, probably a green stick break. She sighed,
realizing she wouldn't have to go to the doctor for
that. She knew enough to treat it without any
permanent damage. It was night, he'd be asleep in his
room by now.
The girl tried to stand up, glancing about
hurriedly for any sign of movement. Those stoped as
she tried to put weight on her leg and a flush
of pain railroaded to her brain. The girl tumbled
with an unvoiced cry of pain.
If she cried out, he'd hear.
She glanced down at the leg and saw a small of
blood formed around where her leg was bandaged.
Sloppily bandaged she noticed, but bandaged
nonetheless. She reached down to investigate the
binding and was shocked to discover the feel of bone
peeking out of flesh.
The girl's hands recoiled from the discovery and
shook uncontrolably.
If that break had occured in only a slightly
different location she would have bled to death by now
bandage or no bandage. She recognized the numbing
sensation now as well, it was one of her anithestics.
That was why she couldn't feel the pain unless she
tried to use the leg.
"He...must have known it wouldn't kill me" she
decided, wide-eyed. She cast her glance about and
nearly fainted at the sight of the video recorder
standing there mutely on its tripod. The girl crawled
over painfully and deliberately grabbed the hateful
thing. She quietly tipped the thing onto the ground,
ignoring the pain in her arm. She had a lot of
practice at that.
If weren't for her broken leg she could have done
everything just fine without seeming in pain at all.
The girl took one of the steel legs in her hands and
snapped it. A line of her ki extended from her hand
slicing the steel cleanly.
Using the leg as a cane she climbed to her feet and
started down the hall slowly, quietly, and without
shaming herself by admitting to the pain. No
sound but a slow disciplined breathing escaped her
until well after she had left her home. Not even the
improvised cane made the slightest click that she
didn't want it to.
"I should have fought back," she muttered. As
usual the other thoughts started in response. If she
had fought back, then he'd know, he'd know she'd
been teaching herself martial arts, of a sorts. That
wouldn't be so bad, but she couldn't beat him. She
knew she couldn't beat him. More than that, she
just couldn't do it. It had been her fault anyway, if
she could have just hit that last landing correctly.
He just wanted to make sure that she was the best
there was. "Fighting would have just made it worse."
The girl stopped in front of the small clinic and
walked up to the door. The lights were off, but she
knew he'd be there. He lived there after all. It
took little more than a couple of light taps before
the door opened before her.
"I hurt myself training again," she said shyly.
"Training," the man said gently and sadly, before
letting her in. She refused his unspoken offer to
carry her to the treatment room, hobbling over to the
herb counter on her own. Out of habit she began
mixxing the pain killers and anithestics. Her own
collection of medicinal herbs was not quite so varied
as this man's, but it was useful and well stocked
none-the-less.
"I tried a new routine," she explained. "And I
wanted it to be a surprise, so I didn't want anybody
to see me practicing it."
"And you fell," he obviously didn't believe her.
"A little embarrasing," she admitted. She sat back
on one of the beds and smiled quietly.
"That's a sloppy bandaging job," he noted. "You're
much better than that."
"Must have been the shock." He gave her a
questioning look as he unwrapped the bandage and
examined the break.
"This 'training' is going to kill you some day," he
told her.
"My brother wouldn't let that happen," she
retorted. "He keeps a good eye on my progress."
"Ready?" She nodded, still smiling, as he set her
broken leg. She did NOT cry out, she did not even
reveal any pain on her face. As the doctor began to
splint her broken leg, he looked up at the little
girl. There was only one patient he saw as often, and
even THAT little girl never had anywhere near the
severity of the injuries. "I'm calling the police
this time, this is the worse 'accident' I can remember
you walking in here with."
"Why call the police, Tofu-san?" she asked
politely. "It was my mistake, I was the only one
there. You remember last time you called the
police right?" He looked at her pityingly. She was
right on that unfortunately, his attempts to get the
law involved had been useless.
"You are at least staying away from home until you
heal," he took a moment to examine the fractured arm
she had been trying to hide. "Your breathing
is strained to. That was an odd fall, especially for
a gymnast as skilled as you. Did you hit every piece
of equipment in your gym."
"I think I may have missed some," she tried to
joke.
"Listen, Kodachi, there's this other family that
comes to me," Tofu insisted. "The oldest sister even
shows your talent for healing. Maybe you could stay
with them. Then there'd be someone instantly on hand
when you have one of your 'accidents.'" She stopped
smiling as she considered that. "They run a dojo."
The chance to actually study martial arts under
people that taught for a living decided her.
"That's a good idea, Tofu-san," she settled,
cheerfully. "Then my brother could devote time to his
own training and not worry about me." Dr. Tofu
breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Good, then after we finish patching you up," he
told her. "I'll go talk to them."
"Hai."
It was several minutes after Dr. Tofu was gone that
the door caved in. Her brother stood there trying to
look as intimidating as a fifteen year old boy could.
He pulled it off wonderfully.
"You are not going to bring shame to our name by
staying with....peasants." He spat the word.
"But I do not even know that they are peasants,
they have a dojo," she pleaded terrified. "Maybe
they're samurai as well."
"You vandalized my property, come here to spread
your lies to that doctor," he shouted. "And now you
seek to further the spread of those lies by leaving my
protection."
"Brother," she whined as he got closer. "I don't
want to be in your way anymore."
"You wouldn't be in the way," he slapped her. "If
you performed PROPERLY!"
"But, I couldn't..." he slapped her again.
"You can't even die properly!" he slapped her, the
action hiding the wince she gave in reaction to the
statement. Her conscious mind didn't accept
it, but underneath that, in the depths of her
subconscious the same thought was running.
"He WANTED me dead?" She blinked. "Brother...I
could lea..." he slammed his fist into her face,
smacking her head into the wall. She stared
at him in shock, he'd always claimed she was an unfair
burden. Shouldn't he be happy.
"You little failure."
"He wanted me dead..." She still refused to
process that fact. Tatewaki didn't want her dead, he
wanted her to be perfect. He slapped her again.
"You are not a Kuno."
"He wanted me dead," she again worked successfully
to slam the thought down. Instead she told herself.
"I'm going to have another accident."
"Kuno's are perfect!"
"Perfect?" she asked doubtfully. Her head was
smashed back against the wall again. "HE WANTED ME
DEAD!!" Kodachi's eyes blinked open and she
watched as everything slowed down her brother's hand
whipped back and cocked in preparation for a blow she
recognized. Hand folded back, fingers curled, even
non-martial artists knew that technique. He was going
to drive her nose into her brain.
Tatewaki shouted something she couldn't make out,
and suddenly something clicked. Like the sound of
tinkling beads of shattered glass. Kodachi smiled
viciously, almost snarling. This was just more
training, he WANTED her to fight back. He wanted her
to be a better martial artist too.
At least this is what she told herself. This is
what she needed to survive, total and complete
illusion. Some corner of her mind recognized
the absurdity of the situation and released a slight
twitter of laughter.
Kodachi snapped out and grabbed one of her powder
mixes and swung it up into his face. Tatewaki's
started to lose all feeling to the rest of
his body as the anithestic did its work. He couldn't
even begin to resist when she pulled him down,
slamming his head into the counter.
"Brother-dear, did you have an accident," Kodachi
asked with an approximation of the sweet tone she had
been using before this relevation.
Then Kodachi started to laugh. The image of her
strong brother lying sprawled across the ground was
just too funny, and she couldn't help it.
She was still laughing when Dr. Tofu returned with
Soun Tendo.
"What..." he looked to the prone from of Kodachi's
brother and moved to check to see if the boy was still
alive. Having done so he glanced concernedly at her.
"My brother had an accident, doesn't he look
silly?" she chortled. "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"
"Kodachi," Dr. Tofu said. "This is the head of
that family I was telling you about."
"I'm sorry to trouble you sir," she tried to say
seriously. "But I've changed my mind, my brother
would never condone me living with peasants,
you know."
"You wanted to give your brother some space..."
"Its a big house, I'll have my space, he'll have
his," she insisted frantically. Another one of her
brother's lectures came to mind. "And no samurai
would accept such charity. It makes us weak."
"You'll be safe with..." Soun stopped as he felt
the waves of arrogance peal off her. If her brother
wanted her to be a perfect samurai, she would be, and
she had the perfect model. Dr. Tofu stared in shock
at the now maniacal girl that had only moments before
so shy and quiet.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" she laughed. "My
brother can protect me, why do I need YOU?" The
doctor sighed quietly, Kodachi was gone, at
least the Kodachi he had known.
Calling the police again proved useless, Sasuke was
their guardian, and Kodachi denied any charge of
attack. Tatewaki denied being struck by his sister,
as soon as he woke up anyway. Soon they were both in
their respective rooms, and Kodachi lay back in bed
giggling and trying to relax and let her injuries
heal,
"He's afraid of you now," her subconscious
whispered where she could not hear it. "You have the
control. You have the control. You have the control.
Control."
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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