♦⊱ Chapter 8 - Escape and Punishment ⊰♦

Ruka pov:

The first thing I noticed when I woke was the pounding headache I had that only increased from the bright light in the room. I groaned, turning to bury my face in the pillow. I remained as I was for several minutes, taking deep breaths to ease the throbbing a little.

I felt queasy again remembering what I had witnessed before I fell unconscious – Kichiro sama beheading the man who hadn't won his fight against the emperor Kichiro sama wanted to overthrow. I couldn't even call it killing – it was slaughter. It was exactly the same way he had done away with Tomo kun and Lady Kana.

How? How could he be so merciless, so indifferent about a person's life? How could he be so cold-hearted? How could he be an emperor when he had no compassion or forgiveness towards those around him? He should be helping them get back on their feet when they stumble. Why was he so cruel instead?

I sat up slowly and glanced at the two soldiers who were standing on guard. Kyo chan wasn't in the room though. I stood on slightly shaky legs and walked to the window to gaze at the greenery. The uneasy thudding of my heart eased even though what I had seen in the past day and a half of being here had not erased in the slightest.

I wrapped my arms around myself when I shuddered. I had been here for such a short period of time but I was sure that I would lose my mind if I remained here for any longer. I couldn't imagine living every single day of my life in fear. I was terrified of Kichiro sama and there was no way I could stay here where I would always be in close proximity to him. I wanted to live in a place that was peaceful, even though I knew it would never be the same as home or the dojo.

I frowned at the thought that went through my mind when I thought of home. Didn't I have my mobile phone with me when I was kidnapped? I'm sure it was in my pocket in my old clothes...where was it now?

I rummaged through the cupboards and searched in the bathroom and even between the covers of the bed. My phone was nowhere to be found though and I momentarily wondered if I had lost it. I highly doubt that was possible because my pocket was always buttoned to ensure my phone didn't fall out when I was working. Did Kichiro sama have it, perhaps?

I felt dizzy just at the thought of standing in front of him and talking to him, even if it was to ask for my phone. But I wanted my phone and once I had it, I would escape from this place. I didn't really care if I had to be a wanderer but I just knew I had to get away from this place, go as far away as I possibly could. The four soldiers guarding me would be a hindrance and I needed to find a way around them but for now, I had to get my phone back. I'm sure Kichiro sama wouldn't get angry because he had mentioned that I could ask for whatever I wanted, right?

I nearly jumped out of my skin when the door opened, snapping me out of my planning. Kyo chan walked in and rewarded me with a relieved smile when she saw me awake.

"I'm so glad to see you finally awake, My Lady," she said, taking a hold of my hands in hers.

I was a little surprised by her words. I frowned ever so slightly, "What do you mean, Kyo chan?"

"You were unconscious for two days, My Lady," she answered and my eyes went wide. "You were running a fever, perhaps from the stress of everything that happened to you recently. You were even calling out to your mother and father in your sleep."

"Oh..." I mumbled, not knowing what else to say. I guess I was quite stressed from everything that had happened, the shock of seeing people killed and losing the people I considered family being overwhelming. I didn't want to experience anything like that again so I had to escape. Gathering courage, I looked at Kyo chan, "Kyo chan, may I see K-Kichiro sama? I need to speak to him about something."

"Kichiro sama? Is that how you address His Majesty?" she asked in mild surprise.

"Yes, he ordered me to address him by his name," I answered. I thought people would be aware of his name and not just his title of Lord Kurai, but Kyo chan's reaction seemed to say otherwise.

Nonetheless, she nodded with a smile and instructed the soldiers to follow us to Kichiro sama's study. We reached there in about ten minutes after walking through the huge palace and stopped in front of double doors. The hair on the back of my neck stood when I heard Kichiro sama give us permission to enter after one of the guards knocked. Inhaling deeply, I stepped inside, taking in the simple appearance of the study.

There were high shelves here and there stacked with books and scrolls while Kichiro sama sat at a big desk in the center of the room. He seemed to have been looking through some papers but settled his blood-red eyes on me as I walked up to his desk. In actuality, my legs were trembling, threatening to give out under me but I did my best to not let that happen.

In the midst of the apprehension I was feeling, a strong desire to tie his hair properly rushed over me. His hair was in a ponytail though few strands were loose and fell over his face. I averted my eyes and bowed instead, mentally scolding myself for having such silly thoughts at this time.

"Did you require something?" he asked, no emotion in his deep voice.

"Um, I-I was wondering if I had something with me when I was brought here," I said carefully.

I looked up from my lashes to find him watching me with a narrow gaze. The instinct to forget about my phone and just run out of the room came over me but I resisted and remained standing where I was.

Kichiro sama reached into the drawer of his desk and pulled out my phone. He placed it on the table and pushed it towards me, "Is this what you are talking about?"

My heart skipped a beat and I nodded, "Y-yes, may I have it back?"

"Why do you want it back?" he asked and I met his eyes that held scrutiny. He was leaning forward on the table, his hands linked together.

I cringed slightly. "I-it's really important to me – it was given to me as a gift by my parent and it's the only thing I have of them. Please let me have it," I requested and bowed.

"If it's a weapon you are planning to attack me with, I will kill you," he said threateningly.

Startled, I met his eyes and held up my hands in defense, "N-no! I-I promise you it's not a weapon!"

"Very well, take it." His voice was no longer sharp and he went back to what he had been doing before I interrupted. I quickly reached for my phone, bowed and hurried out of the study.

When I was outside, I clutched the phone to my chest and heaved, so relived to no longer be with that frightening man. I was sweating and I took a few minutes to calm down before I requested the soldiers to allow me to take a walk.

Racking my brain to recall the path we had taken when we first came here, I headed slowly towards the side entrance of the palace. My heart was racing as I darted my eyes around as unsuspiciously as possible. I began devising a plan to distract the soldiers and create an opening to escape through.

I saw no option besides doing something embarrassing – just as we were close to the entrance, I tugged on the ties of my kimono gown, letting the top slip off my shoulders slightly. I gasped and immediately fell to my knees in acting, holding up my dress with my hand on my chest. The soldiers, just as even the most serious men would be, got mildly flustered and averted their eyes.

"Could one of you please call Kyo chan to help me? And I would like it if you could turn around..." I barely heard my own voice over the hammering over my heart. My acting seemed to work well – while three of the soldiers turned around, one went to look for Kyo chan. I glanced at the men guarding the entrance and then to a tree that was close to the compound wall. It seemed easy to climb and I could jump over the compound wall without getting caught if I was quick.

I didn't give myself the chance to rethink my decision to escape. Tying my kimono-dress properly, I sprinted to the tree, climbed it and jumped over the compound. I landed roughly, tearing the dress I wore and scraping my palms and knees. I didn't care though and just ran as fast as I could away from the palace. I could hear the soldiers shouting and running after me but I dove into an alley and hid there until the soldiers passed without finding me. I waited for a few tense minutes until I was sure that the soldiers were nowhere close by before picking a random direction and running.

I bumped into people every now and then but didn't stop to even apologize for my rude behavior. I once again dove into the darker, deserted alleyways so I wouldn't get unnecessary attention from the commotion I was creating. I maneuvered through the crevices of the buildings and finally made it to a secluded courtyard in between. The voices of the soldiers looking for me were far away and I leaned back against a wall to take a breather. I was panting and sweating profusely, slightly exhausted from all the running.

I didn't get much time to rest though for I heard unsettling laughter. Looking to one of the streets that led to this courtyard, I saw two men walking up to me with sick grins on their faces. Three more appeared from the other roads and I was soon surrounded.

"Well, aren't you a little beauty?" one of the men said, his grin widening as he looked at me from head to toe. "You'd surely fetch a good price in the market."

I narrowed my eyes at them, in no mood to be dealing with them. I took up a defensive stance, ready to use the basic self-defense moves I had learnt in self-defense class and make a run for it again – not to boast, but I was the strongest in that class and I was sure I could take on these dirty geezers. They weren't intimidated by my show of courage and only laughed.

They didn't expect me to lunge at them, to make the first move. I concentrated on hitting weak spots – just elbowing just below their breastbones, their arm pits, their shin, and their neck. My movements were quick and two of them were soon unconscious on the ground while the other three were holding their bruised sides while groaning. I managed to land a few more hits to bring the three of them to the ground before I heaved and turned to run again.

However, a tight grip on my ankle prevented me from leaving and I was pulled back. I lost balance and fell to the ground, one of the thugs pinning me down under him the very next moment. I struggled, shouting and trying to kick him off me in vain. He was strong and he pressed his knee into my thigh causing intense pain.

"Get off me! Let me go, you creep!" I yelled but screamed in pain when my leg was crushed under his weight even more.

"You b****!! Who do you think you're messing with?!" the man yelled and two of the others too came to stand next to me.

"Let me go! Someone help me! Please!" I hollered, terror filling me at the thought of what they were going to do to me now.

"No one's going to come for you, sweetheart. We'll have some fun with you before we make some profits!" another thug said, his gin making me want to throw up.

"No!" I screamed. This couldn't be happening! I was so close to escaping but to get caught like this...why?! Why was this happening?!

I struggled even more with tears escaping my eyes when the man pinning me down leaned in. I shut my eyes begging the heavens to spare me only to notice that the man suddenly went limp and fell on top of me. The wind was knocked out of me because of his weight but I also felt something warm soak my clothes.

I managed to shove the man off me and I scooted back only to gasp with my eyes going so wide at the sight of the pool of blood he was lying in. I covered my mouth with my hand to stop from screaming and hyperventilating at the dark, blood stain on my clothes. However, my breath got stuck in my throat when I saw none other than Kichiro sama standing over the dead man, blood dripping off his katana. It wasn't just the thug who had nearly assaulted me who was dead – the other four men with him were dead too, all lying in pools of blood.

Kichiro sama's gaze was narrow and livid on me. As he stepped over the dead thug and got closer to me, I shifted back with violent trembles. "N-no, please," I begged, "stay away from me!"

"You foolish girl, did you think that you could escape me so easily?" he hissed, his eyes almost glowing menacingly. He glanced at the two soldiers who stood behind him, "Tie her up and we'll take her back to the palace!"

I attempted to get up and run but the soldiers were faster. They caught me, shoved me to the ground and tied my wrists and ankles with thick ropes caused the still tender skin to burn like it was set on fire. I was thrown onto Kichiro sama's horse in front of him and he tugged the reins to take us back to the palace.

We reached the palace soon and the ropes on my feet were undone before I was dragged back to the room where I had been staying in for the past few days. I was shoved to the ground by Kichiro sama but two soldiers were at my side immediately bringing chains around my bound wrists to pull my hands to the ceiling until I was seated on my knees with my back to Kichiro sama.

"P-please, Kichiro sama! Don't hurt me! I'm sorry I tried to run away! I-I promise to never do it again! Please, don't hurt me!" I begged but screamed in pain when a thick whip lashed my back.

It was so hard that my dress ripped and I could feel the coolness of the air on my burning skin. I coughed but glanced behind me when I heard the sound of furniture being moved. Kichiro same had taken as seat to watch me from behind as I went through the punishment. I screamed, turning forward when I was whipped again several times, each and every hit excruciating. After several whips, the soldiers paused. I was breathing heavily and crying, even more from the sight of the drops of blood that had fallen to the floor because of the severity of my wounds.

When I thought that Kichiro sama was done punishing me, I screamed in agony as hot, salt water was poured over my wounds. I choked on my breath and coughed before going limp in exhaustion. I shut my eyes and choked back sobs – I couldn't believe just how cruel Kichiro sama was being because I ran away. This agonizing punishment was more than enough for me to know now that he would not go easy on me even though I was being kept here as his privileged prisoner. He would not let me escape him unless in death.

I was whipped several more times and burned with hot, salt water two more times. My body couldn't handle the stress anymore and I threw up whatever I had eaten as light breakfast this morning. My thoughts were hazy, my vision going in and out of darkness. My entire body was numb from the pain and I could no longer remain conscious.

Exhaling deeply, my eyes rolled back and I fell into deep unconsciousness.

Kichiro sama pov:

The anger I felt at this girl for trying to escape was yet to quell even though she had been rewarded with several whip lashes and hot, salt water to increase the intensity of the punishment. She was now limp and unconscious after throwing up from the strain on her body.

"That's enough," I said to the soldiers who had been whipping her. He bowed and stepped back while I stepped up to her to look at her wounds. Blood stained her clothes, and the skin around the sharp lashes had begun to bruise. They weren't too deep but definitely enough to convey my warning, to make sure that she never disobeyed me again or even thought of trying to escape. I glanced at her personal attendant making her flinch and cower slightly in fear, "Clean this up and take care of tending to her."

I narrowed my eyes at the attendants as they shuffled about to clean up – that's right, it was obvious that they must fear me. They had to be submissive, dutiful and highly respectful towards me, for I was soon to be the emperor of all of Nihon. I was the law and every word of mine would be obeyed.

I walked out of the room soon after, clenching my fists at the audacity of the girl to attempt escaping me, defying me! When she had come in to ask for the strange object that had been found in her possession when she was brought here, I had assumed that she knew her place and was being obedient. She was scared of me – it was obvious – even trembling when I had asked her if the object she wanted returned was a weapon. I assumed that she would serve me, that she would follow every order without the slightest objection.

But I was wrong. She was just like everyone else. She was just like that foolish boy I had kept in my custody for the short period of time before I killed him when he tried to take my life. He and this girl were weak – pathetic, weak fools! This girl was so weak that she had fainted after seeing me deal with that useless general of mine who hadn't been able to defeat the enemy's army. She had fainted and remained unconscious for two days while whimpering for her parents.

I couldn't understand why she wished to be with her parents though. They were just people who wanted the perfect child who would not ruin their reputation no matter what. It was their fault that I was thrown away, I was an outcast, that I was mistreated! It didn't matter what I thought of my parents now though for they were dead and I was very close to achieving what they or anyone else could never achieve. I was going to show them in heaven and every person in this world that I was at a level much above them, that they were nothing more than puppets doing my bidding.

I wondered how long this girl would last though. She had already attempted to escape and surely there would come a day when she attempted to assassinate me, just like that boy. For a moment, I scoffed at how ridiculous all this was – I was only fooling myself into thinking that this girl would be any different from other people just because of the unexpected incident. I was expecting the opposite of the obvious.

Nonetheless, I was willing to give her just one more chance. If she had learnt her lesson from her punishment today, she would live but if she hadn't, it wouldn't be long before I took care of her permanently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

:|

Welp.

...

That was definitely not pleasant punishment. I cringed so many times when I was writing it and I'm quite sure you readers too cringed quite a bit. Kichiro sama was being a bit too harsh on her, don't you think?

Hang in there, Ruka! You can't do anything besides that!

Vote!

C'mon you awesome readers! Let's see some more comments!!!!! PLEASE *puppy dog eyes*

:D