บท 68: 68 Nothing Stays Buried Forever
After the happy reunion I decided to stay an extra day and leave the next morning so I can spend some more time catching up.
Though to be honest most of the time was spent in James' lab with him showing me all the fancy new drugs he's come up with and let me tell you, some of them are absolutely 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.
Like the one that straight up stops the body from regulating heat, causing the guy he used it on to show me to slowly overheat until his organs just failed and he died to room temperature, which is probably the lamest death I could think of.
Also, the guy in question was one of the two that were at the reunion because apparently they were both skimming a little too much of the top so he got them to come as a gift for me if I was hungry.
But I wanted to see what his drugs did more than I cared about overeating, so I guess it just sucks to be them, because I just would have killed them.
Suffice to say that would have been a mercy.
Ah well. Life's a bitch, and by that I mean I'm a bitch. Deal with it.
Eventually however, night came once again and I decided to go for a nice midnight stroll before bed for nostalgia's sake.
Because it sure feels like it's been longer than just a month since I've been here.
It's as I'm walking through some backstreets, just enjoying the night-time breeze, that I abruptly feel a group of eyes lock onto me.
Now I don't show any outward reaction to it, because where there are people there is usually a couple of people looking at me, so I've come to be able to ignore the sensation of eyes on me, but that doesn't mean I won't know something is up when I feel five sets of eyes suddenly gain an intense interest in me.
Luckily for me the wind changes to blow from behind me and I am able to catch their scent and vaguely tell how far they are from me by how strong it is.
It's also nice that it tells me that there aren't any capes among them, though I kind of wish there were.
It would certainly make it more interesting.
Either way, I turned down the meal James offered me and I'm still not really hungry, but I've learned that I can seemingly eat as much as I want without ever truly getting full.
So why not right?
If free food is going to offer itself up for me, I might as well at least take a bite. It would be wasteful not to.
As I'm thinking this, I sense the group getting closer and figure it would be a reasonable time for a woman out alone at night to turn to check behind her.
The five of them are all pasty white men wearing red so I assume they're from James' gang, or to be more accurate they are from Red Branch and just followed the changing tides, as it were.
Now I'm wondering if they know I'm somehow involved in the gang and this is something with more meaning to it or if it really is just them wanting to either mug or gang rape me.
I'm excited to find out!
Unfortunately I'm pretty sure I've already figured it out. Since they're wearing gang colours so blatantly it's unlikely that anyone within the gang sent them after me and no one who wasn't in that room when I got here should know anything about my involvement.
That sucks.
I hate figuring things out. It takes the mystery out of everything. It's why I prefer being stupid.
Oh how blissful life must be as an idiot. Nothing to worry about due to not understanding why things are problems, everything is new and interesting.
Speaking of idiots though, I pretend to be shocked by the sight of five mean looking men behind me and pick up my pace while keeping in mind to limit myself to 'scared human woman' speeds, rather than.. well, cape speeds.
As predictable as idiots are, it is no surprise to me when they pick up their pace and I have to remind myself that I should have to look back to realise that and I do so, immediately breaking out into a full sprint afterwards.
"Help!!" I scream as I run, mostly just to sell the picture to my pursuers rather than any real expectation for help to show up.
I also make sure to keep my speed at a level that seems reasonable while keeping ahead of them, until I spot a nice and cliché looking alleyway and slow down slightly as if I'm running out of steam.
In a miracle of coincidental timing, the first of the men just so happens to reach me at the perfect moment to pull me into the alley without breaking his momentum, almost as if it was planned or something.
I think I've just realised a downside of being terminally stupid. You can't tell an obvious trap when you see one.
I mean, it's not like I'm trying particularly hard to sell the image here. I only shouted for help once and have been keeping pace with them running for like, three minutes.
Ah well, I just want to see where this will go. I do love new experiences after all, especially when I can just kill everyone if I end up not liking it.
Me and Legs McGee crash into one of the alley walls with a yelp and a grunt respectively and he wastes no time in turning and throwing me to the ground.
I put a little bit of effort into selling the part, but just one look in this guys eyes tells me that it doesn't really matter how I act, so I don't bother myself too much.
I just crawl backwards with a vaguely distressed look on my face, even as I am paying more attention to my thoughts than the situation at hand.
Clearly they are planning on gangbanging me, the only question is, should I let them?
I mean, it's a new experience and it might even be fun.
'Sides, it's not like any of these retards are gonna leave this alley alive anyway. Might as well have some fun before they go right?
It's as I'm thinking this that the other four make their way into the alley, one of them seeming rather out of breath.
They all approach me in a manner I'm sure should be menacing but to someone who can rip a steel beam in half with her bare hands just looks like, basically nothing really.
"You can scream all you like girly. Ain't no one gonna hear ya." Mr Receding Hairline says, clearly having studied the book on how to be the most stereotypical creep ever.
"Heh heh, I like it when they scream." Another adds, obviously competing with his friend on who could sound more like a rapist.
I can't really be bothered to come up with a proper comeback that would be fitting of someone in my supposed position so I just go with the 'too scared to compose proper words' kind of thing and start whimpering incoherently instead.
They seem to rush to hold me down and I let them, still trying to decide if I should just kill them all now or later.
Another of the dumbasses chooses to rip my shirt off, which was just unnecessarily rude. He could have just taken it off, no need to rip it.
I liked that shirt too.
The guy on top of me leans down until we are face to face, both of our eyes blown wide, mine from 'fear' and his probably from drugs, which actually makes this whole thing make more sense.
Then he goes for my lips and I 'try' to struggle away but he doesn't let me. Only he doesn't just force a kiss on me. No, it couldn't be that simple.
Instead, he 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 my lower lip and suddenly I am not there anymore.
"-𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘶𝘴!! 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘶𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴!!"
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦.
𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.
𝘔𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴!!"
𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦.
𝘈 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯.
𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦.
𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘣.
"𝘛𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦!!"
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?
𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦?
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?
𝘔𝘺 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘭𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺.
𝘐𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦.
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯.
𝘈 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦.
𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵.
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴.
𝘋𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥. 𝘔𝘢𝘥. 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺.
𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘬, 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝘏𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦.
With a gasp I wake up from the memory and still feel residual fear flowing within me and acting purely on instinct I push everyone away from me and get to my feet before I can even process what is happening.
By the time I am back on my feet gulping down deep breaths of air I am back in reality, remembering what was happening and choosing to shove those memories back down into hell where they belong.
Glancing around I see that the guy who was on top of me is now slumped against a wall while the other four are getting back to their feet and glaring at me.
Yeah. I am not fucking dealing with this shit right now. I've always preferred being on top anyway.
Only, right as I am about to start ripping them into pieces and crushing the pieces into a pile of red sludge to be left for the dogs. I notice the familiar scent of a cape, one that I actually recognise.
So instead of engaging my desire to just kill them all, I just stop.
Stop moving, stop seeing, stop everything.
I just close my eyes and breathe, centring myself.
I feel a warmth wash over me and some faint noises that I ignore as I focus more on doing what I can to force myself to forget once again.
Some things are simply better left forgotten after all.
In no time at all, my breathing is back under control and I am once more feeling comfortable and generally amused, all thoughts of unpleasant memories shoved deep into a pit, never to be seen again.
With a deep breath I open my eyes and immediately smile at the sight as well as the smell cooking flesh.
In front of me, the men are now looking rather burned up and either have passed out from the pain or are too busy whimpering to themselves from it to really be paying attention to the world at large.
"Are you hurt?" I hear from behind me and I turn around without bothering to try and hide my smile.
Standing there at the end of the alley is a woman I recognise, with her foxy mask and mostly regular clothes Kitsune doesn't strike much of an imposing figure.
The fire burning around her however is another story entirely.
"Only emotionally.~ I liked this top.~" I respond, gesturing at me visible bra and as she follows my gesture I notice her face scrunching up momentarily before she turns back to the men to glare at them.
I kind of wanted her to question my casual response but I guess I forgot that a lot of victims of things like this tend to seem perfectly calm as a way of coping or something so she probably just thinks I'm deflecting.
"I've already called a pickup for them, while we wait for them to show up is there anything I could do for you?" She edges forward, clearly doing her best to not startle me, which I find funny.
"Something to cover up would be nice."
She doesn't hesitate to take her jacket off and walk up to me, wrapping it around me with a gentle smile.
I decide that now's a good time to reveal myself, because I really don't care about my identity being known anymore, and I think this could be a fun conversation.
"You know, this is the second time you've gone out of your way to get me some clothes~ thanks for that.~" She almost immediately becomes weary, but clearly not enough that she suspects my identity.
Instead she just moves to the wall next to me and leans against it.
"Have we met before?" She tries to sound nonchalant, actually she does sound nonchalant but I can cheat by having a vague sense of other peoples feelings. At least the negative ones like fear, unease and weariness.
"I guess you could say that." I start in a pondering voice, like I'm thinking out loud before I abruptly point at the burned men and continue while activating my eyes at the same time. "Are you gonna finish that?~"
Beset upon by my crimson orbs, she pushes herself away from the wall and rapidly backpedals a few steps away from me, summoning fire around her hand as she does so.
"𝘠𝘰𝘶." She growls at me.
My return is much peppier as I point both of my thumbs at myself and exclaim with joy.
"Me!"
-----------------------------
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Fuck you I wrote Yumiko too well and really enjoyed it so now we're gonna get another yumiko interlude, deal with it.
I didn't originally actually plan for things to go like this, I actually had something else in mind for Yumiko that was for much later but damn it I want her back now so here she is.
Honestly, she is my favourite person to write so far (other than Lusia obviously) followed closely by Uppercrust.
(5+)Advanced chapters with the links below!
pat/reon.com/user?u=41732867 (get rid of the first slash)
or
https://ko-fi.com/bored_works
Also, join the discord!
https://discord.gg/Pj3Dttwses
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