Yoshiwara Chapter 32
They didn’t speak much over the time they were locked in the room, both of them too weak to actually even try to form an escape plan and Shime had told him that a risky escape would definitely cost their lives with Ryo and the other shinobi able to catch up to them.
When they heard people talking in the corridor though they exchanged a worried look. They were both sitting on the wooden floor, but a bit apart from each other which was on Shime’s request. As weird as it had sounded to Taiga at first it was definitely better to pretend to not be friendly with each other or they would definitely assume even more that Shime had to do something with Hokuto’s escape.
“Well, well both of you are still alive, means I might not have used enough force.”
Yamashita’s mocking made Taiga throw a death glare at him and while the other one looked at Shime and didn't notice, Ryo who had entered behind Yamashita had of course seen it, but for now he remained silent.
“Dono, I promise you I had nothing to do with this. I beg you, please believe me!”
It was a weird picture seeing Shime bowing so deep that his head was on the wooden floor while he was actually lying, but what else was he supposed to do?
“So what do you think?”
When Ryo kicked him against the leg out of a sudden Taiga finally looked away from Shime and realized that Yamashita had actually addressed him.
“What I think?”
“Yes, you came here to take Hokuto back, didn’t you? So tell me did Shime help you out?”
Taiga wanted to reply immediately and tell them that he didn’t, but he halted for a moment, fearing that a too fast reply could actually make them even more skeptical.
“I don’t think so,” Taiga replied hesitantly, trying his best to act nervous and stressed out. “I mean I came just with some other people from the district and I was out to distract the guards, I don’t know what happened.”
Shime didn’t seem surprised by Taiga’s words which made him relax a bit. After all he tried to make their story as believable as possible.
“I swear I didn’t even see them entering or leaving, I just heard the noise around the castle and wanted to report to you as fast as possible.”
Yamashita’s look didn’t change at all since he had entered the room and it was hard to tell if he believed them or not, also Ryo wasn’t actually showing any reaction.
“Shime, come here,” Yamashita ordered with a side glance at Ryo on which the latter stepped away from Taiga which weirdly made him even more nervous. Shime did as he was told and even though his injuries made it hard for him to walk he stopped in front of his leader.
“I believe you,” he started and first both boys seemed to relax, but something felt off. “If you prove that you have absolutely nothing to do with them.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Shime asked in confusion, but his question got answered immediately as Yamashita pulled out a knife and held it out to the boy. “Kill him.”
On the movement Yamashita made towards Taiga, Shime tensed, but didn’t dare to look over to Taiga. It was clear that his thoughts were racing and he looked up at Yamashita with a begging look, but the latter shook his head without even waiting for the question. “Either he dies or you do.”
There was another struggle visible in the boy’s eyes before he suddenly fell silent, his look completely emotionless and when he turned towards Taiga the boy automatically crawled a bit back.
Truth was that he didn’t know much about Shime and even though he had helped Hokuto it was different now. This time his life was at stake and he definitely didn’t have the same emotional attachment to Taiga which he shared with Hokuto, but would he really go as far as kill him?
“Hesitation doesn’t actually make your words seem trustworthy you know?” Yamashita said while he and Ryo kept waiting for the boy’s reaction.
Shime’s hands weren’t even shaking as he took a tighter grip on the knife before he looked up at Taiga and moved! He dashed forward so fast that Taiga couldn’t even think about backing off or stopping the attack. All he was able to do was somehow reaching out for the boy’s shoulders for balance as Shime had fallen almost on top of him as he had dashed into his attack.
Taiga couldn’t even remember if he had gasped or even screamed on the shock, but now his eyes were on Yamashita and Ryo who looked kind of satisfied. They couldn’t see Shime’s face and Taiga needed another moment to be able to move and he pushed the boy a little bit back on his shoulders before he took one hand down between them, grabbing Shime’s wrist with shaking hands.
“How could you…” Taiga whispered as he let out a clear gasp this time the moment he dared to push Shime away from him on which the Shoto dropped right next to him. Taiga’s hand landed on the red spot on his clothes around his stomach with a pained grimace. Now Shime’s hands were shaking bitterly as he fell back, crouching to the front and hiding his blood stained hands at his upper body as if he felt ashamed for what he had done.
“Good work, next time better stab him in the chest to spare him the suffering,” Ryo let out in a cold voice while Taiga let out another pained noise and fell to the front.
“I am impressed,” Yamashita said before he went over to Shime, but the boy was still curling up, unwilling to even look up.
“Shall I let him suffer or do you want me to spare him a cruel death?” Ryo asked as he was standing right next to Taiga.
“I’d say he deserves to suffer a bit longer, but I am not in the mood to sit hours and wait for him to die, so let’s get over with it.”
Taiga could hear how Ryo pulled out his sword he was carrying on the back and he also realized how he lunged out with it and that was the moment he moved. The Shoto was in his hand now after he had intentionally landed on top of it as he had collapsed to the front. With a fast movement he sliced it blindly to the side, luckily hitting exactly where he wanted to hit, on Ryo’s legs. The man hissed and was forced to pull back to search for balance. Exactly that opening Taiga used to jump up and attack the man directly with the Shoto this time and luck was with him as he succeeded in stabbing it in the latter’s upper body.
The shock was written all over Ryo’s face, but there was nothing he could do anymore, because the next moment he started coughing blood and when Taiga stepped away from him the man collapsed immobile to the front.
As much as Taiga felt conflicted about actually killing someone and relieved on the other hand about his sudden attack working out he knew he had no time to relax and he swirled around the Shoto already lifted in his hand as he searched for Yamashita, unfortunately when he faced him he was forced to stop dead on his tracks. His attack had surprised Ryo, but it took too long to do the same with Yamashita and the man had drawn his own sword now, pointing it directly at Shime’s neck.
“As much as I appreciate my followers to be ruthless I thought something is off here,” Yamashita said completely emotionless as if it didn’t even matter that he had just lost his best shinobi.
With his sword pressuring the boy’s neck he forced Shime to get up and that was when he got a better look on his hands. One of his hands was bleeding extremely badly after he had stabbed his own hand, letting it look like he had stabbed Taiga instead. Luckily Taiga had caught up to his plan immediately, playing along and making everything look as if he had been the one hurt.
“What a shame that I don’t give second chances,” Yamashita let out before he lunged out with the sword on which Shime let out a scream and crouched back down. Taiga knew he wouldn’t be fast enough so he threw the Shoto at the man and luckily it made him hiss and pull back long enough for him to take a run up at him and tackle him to the ground.
It was a miracle that he hadn’t ended up impaled by Yamashita’s sword on that move, because the blade was just centimeters away from his face as he tried to somehow make the other one let go of it.
Shime also moved and tried to get the Shoto back which had landed a few meters away from them, but unfortunately he wasn’t fast enough and Taiga not strong enough to win their struggle and he ended up being kicked off, landing in front of Shime as the clan leader got back up with a death glare towards both of them.
“You’ll regret this,” was all he said and the boys were already sure that they indeed would, but at least they had delayed their deaths for a while, because now Yamashita seemed ready to torture them instead of giving them the fast death he had promised at first.
***
Maybe a few hours, possibly already another day Taiga wasn’t sure anymore. He felt too exhausted to keep track of time and for the first time he was sure that he couldn’t free himself out of this messed up situation and all he wanted was to die fast.
“Taiga, are you awake?”
Shime’s question made him realize that he hadn’t been until now, which was not because he fell asleep, but because Yamashita had beaten him so badly that he had fallen unconscious at some point. He was trapped at one of the wooden poles in the room, with his hands tied on the back of it and he couldn’t sit down which made his whole body ache now that he had been in the same position for hours.
“Yes, all good,” Taiga replied on which Shime let out a mocking chuckle.
“All good, right…” the boy said on which Taiga let out a sorrowful chuckle as well. Shime was sitting on the other side of the room, but he was tied up so he wasn’t able to move and after Yamashita had gone out on both of them for what felt like at least a whole hour Taiga wasn’t even sure if the boy could get up even without the ropes.
“Shime I am so sorry for involving you in this trouble,” Taiga said in a sore voice on which the younger one shook his head immediately.
“Don’t even start. You know I involved myself, I was completely aware of the chances of this outcome. I am the one who should be sorry that not all of you could leave together.”
“But they will come back and get us out.”
It wasn’t like Taiga didn’t believe in his own words, but the shadow passing over Shime’s face was passing his own face as well, because the problem was time and that was what they didn’t have at all. As much as Yamashita seemed to enjoy torturing them he would eventually get tired of them and at least kill one of them.
“Don’t give up,” Taiga tried to encourage the other one, but before he could receive a reply the door got slid open, revealing Yamashita once more.
“Give me that look one more time and I cut your eyes out!” Yamashita said immediately while Taiga hadn’t even realized the death glare he had obviously given the other one. “But the fact that you are conscious already means I am definitely going too easy on both of you.”
Without even saying anything else he walked up to one of the candle stands in the room and took one of them from it, walking over to Shime.
“You know I just got my precious Hokuto back and you took the opportunity to play with him away from me. Guess you’ve to take his place for a while.”
There was not even a warning before the man turned the candle around and Shime screamed out as the hot wax dripped down directly on his face. Taiga jolted on his reaction, but bit his lip to bite back a comment. It wasn’t like the same or even worse wouldn’t await him minutes later, Yamashita didn’t let off any of them even with the other one cursing and shouting so they tried to stay silent instead, maybe it would take away the fun for the clan leader.
“Oh by the way,” Yamashita said as he randomly let the candle drop to the ground and walked over to Taiga instead, revealing a weirdly formed half round and short sword. “Do you know what this is?”
Taiga shook his head on the view of the small object which was indeed unknown to him. With Yamashita’s next movement Taiga gasped as the latter grabbed his crotch and put the blade with such a force against the fabric of his hakama that it got cut a bit. “We usually geld our horses with this,” Yamashita whispered next to his ear as he tightened his grip on which Taiga couldn’t hide a whine. “It would be over in just a few seconds. I wonder what a hoe like you would do without any chance of feeling pleasure anymore?”
It was definitely fear Yamashita had hoped to find in Taiga’s eyes as he backed off a bit to have a better look at him, but once more Taiga had given him an arrogant look without realizing it. The punch he received seconds later made clear though that he had to watch out more.
“I warned you before, but I can also cut your eyes out with this, but I am pretty sure that it will hurt a lot more,” the latter said in annoyance as he brought the blade to Taiga’s face instead and stabbed him under his eye on which Taiga slightly panicked. Truth was that he wouldn’t even care for Yamashita gelding him, because he had become used to his job, but that still didn’t mean that he loved it and it would actually spare him a life at Yoshiwara, not that there were many other pleasant places he had left to go to. On the other hand he felt extremely scared of losing other body parts and it was clear that Yamashita wasn’t joking about his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Taiga let out almost pleading as Yamashita seemed to wait for a reaction as the blade almost touched his eyes.
“Oh and you think that’s enough?”
Had he reached his limit? Was his playtime over? Because this time Yamashita seemed to not know a limit and Taiga pulled back as much as he could before the blade could actually cause even more damage. That reaction made the latter curse and pull Taiga back on his hair.
“Leave him alone!” Shime was heard next as he couldn’t sit back anymore either, but there was nothing he could do. Taiga tried to somehow break free, but he knew it was impossible and he almost started hyperventilating as Yamashita forced him to stay still and lunged out with the blade towards his face.
Shime’s shouting and his own last tries of somehow getting away made him miss the shouting on the hallway before the door got harshly kicked to the ground.
“Stop this nonsense immediately!”
A strict and luckily familiar voice was heard out of a sudden, making Taiga relax enough to dare opening his eyes. The first person coming in his sight was Hiromitsu, his sword drawn and pointing at Yamashita. Right behind him was Aran with a few of his men rushing through the corridors obviously securing the castle.
When Hiromitsu wanted to make another step forward Yamashita moved again and the blade was still right next to Taiga’s face and as much as Taiga wanted to remain calm he let out a whine as the blade came closer again.
“How dare you march in here like this?” Yamashita shouted at Aran who remained at the door for now, but had his sword drawn as well.
“I am coming with a warrant against you Yamashita-dono,” Aran explained.
“For what crime?”
“For contract breaking with other clans.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Hiromitsu was the one to step back a bit this time and he pulled out a paper roll, opening it and showing it to the other one. “This is the contract you have with Hokuto’s family clan and we have copies of those you have for other clans as well. All of them say that you are not allowed to hurt the boys and you obviously broke that contract.”
“Which allows us to take all the boys out from your clan and still promise their clans to stay safe even without a contract to a Shogunate clan member,” Aran added.
The explanation made sense, after all they also had Hokuto back now and finally knew the truth and the way he treated Shime right in front of their eyes was also proof enough, but the clan leader still didn’t seem to be ready to surrender like this.
“Then take the boys away I don’t care about that. They are lying anyways,” Yamashita hissed at them, totally talking nonsense as he should realize himself that the situation he was found in was proof enough for all his crimes. “This boy though will get his deserved punishment. They broke into my property and need to get punished!”
Once more the attention was back on Taiga and the blade was lifted into the air again before another person spoke up.
“If you dare hurt him any further I will take more than just your hands,” Kamenashi was heard next as he stepped inside the room, followed by Taisuke. It was a weird picture seeing both of them in Hakama instead of Kimono, but Taiga was even more shocked about the fact that they had come to rescue him. That his friends would have come at some point was something he had hoped for, but that they had gone through all the risks and asked the owner and even the police for help made Taiga feel almost embarrassed.
“Boys which are the property of Yoshiwara need to be returned immediately when found after running away,” Taisuke explained.
“Running away? What nonsense are you talking about?” Yamashita yelled at him.
“We came to search for him as he ran away from our district,” Kamenashi explained in a calm voice. The perfect lie for this situation.
“If you let off him now I will spare you the punishment for the crime against a boy of Yoshiwara and we will just have a talk about the boys from the other clans,” Aran explained and Hiromitsu also hoped for the man to finally give in now that the situation was messed up enough already.
First there was no reaction from the clan leader until he lifted the blade once more and Taiga gasped as he brought it down, but then he realized that he wasn’t hurt. The man had cut his hands free from the pole and after cutting the other ropes holding him as well Taiga almost collapsed to the front as he was too exhausted to keep his balance.
On the man’s reaction Hiromitsu dared to slowly walk over to Shime and free him as well. Aran didn’t dare to let his guard down yet and just stepped aside, waving towards the exit. “If you don’t mind I would like to skip the escorting part and let you follow us on your own.”
Aran knew how to handle people with a lot of pride which was good, because like this he wouldn’t make the other one turn even more upset.
Yamashita’s look had turned to something that was even more dangerous than the weapon in his hand, but he still didn’t move when Hiromitsu lifted Shime up in his arms and made it next to the others.
“Taiga, come here,” Kamenashi said as calm as possible and Taiga bit his cheek from the inside as the pain of just walking was almost unbearable. He had barely made a few steps when he had to pass Yamashita to get over to them and he could feel Yamashita’s eyes on him, then he made the biggest mistake of his life. It was just one look, but exactly that look was enough to not just upset Yamashita, but to turn him into a beast.
“DON’T!” Aran was heard the moment Yamashita moved. Taiga hadn’t even seen the movement coming as the weapon in his hand hadn’t been lifted up. There wasn’t even pain, it was like a moment of emptiness and numbness before Taiga started screaming and hid his face in his hands as he sank to the ground.
“DESERVES YOU RIGHT, ARROGANT BASTARD!” Yamashita was heard shouting, but Taiga couldn’t care less for him anymore. When there were hands on his shoulders he started screaming even more, but didn’t dare to take his hands away from his face. He could feel how the blood was running between his fingers and his eyes felt like they were burning.
“Taiga, it’s ok it’s me, Aran!”
Aran made him sit up and soon Taisuke and Kamenashi were also heard next to him.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Taiga shouted to his own surprise as someone reached out for his hands. This time the pain got the best of him as he couldn’t stay calm anymore and all the shouting around him got even more intense through the loss of his eyesight.
He could hear Yamashita laughing, while Shime was shouting his name in panic and Aran tried to calm him down, but it was just too much and with another scream Taiga collapsed to the front, someone of the others around him catching him before he fell unconscious.
When they heard people talking in the corridor though they exchanged a worried look. They were both sitting on the wooden floor, but a bit apart from each other which was on Shime’s request. As weird as it had sounded to Taiga at first it was definitely better to pretend to not be friendly with each other or they would definitely assume even more that Shime had to do something with Hokuto’s escape.
“Well, well both of you are still alive, means I might not have used enough force.”
Yamashita’s mocking made Taiga throw a death glare at him and while the other one looked at Shime and didn't notice, Ryo who had entered behind Yamashita had of course seen it, but for now he remained silent.
“Dono, I promise you I had nothing to do with this. I beg you, please believe me!”
It was a weird picture seeing Shime bowing so deep that his head was on the wooden floor while he was actually lying, but what else was he supposed to do?
“So what do you think?”
When Ryo kicked him against the leg out of a sudden Taiga finally looked away from Shime and realized that Yamashita had actually addressed him.
“What I think?”
“Yes, you came here to take Hokuto back, didn’t you? So tell me did Shime help you out?”
Taiga wanted to reply immediately and tell them that he didn’t, but he halted for a moment, fearing that a too fast reply could actually make them even more skeptical.
“I don’t think so,” Taiga replied hesitantly, trying his best to act nervous and stressed out. “I mean I came just with some other people from the district and I was out to distract the guards, I don’t know what happened.”
Shime didn’t seem surprised by Taiga’s words which made him relax a bit. After all he tried to make their story as believable as possible.
“I swear I didn’t even see them entering or leaving, I just heard the noise around the castle and wanted to report to you as fast as possible.”
Yamashita’s look didn’t change at all since he had entered the room and it was hard to tell if he believed them or not, also Ryo wasn’t actually showing any reaction.
“Shime, come here,” Yamashita ordered with a side glance at Ryo on which the latter stepped away from Taiga which weirdly made him even more nervous. Shime did as he was told and even though his injuries made it hard for him to walk he stopped in front of his leader.
“I believe you,” he started and first both boys seemed to relax, but something felt off. “If you prove that you have absolutely nothing to do with them.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Shime asked in confusion, but his question got answered immediately as Yamashita pulled out a knife and held it out to the boy. “Kill him.”
On the movement Yamashita made towards Taiga, Shime tensed, but didn’t dare to look over to Taiga. It was clear that his thoughts were racing and he looked up at Yamashita with a begging look, but the latter shook his head without even waiting for the question. “Either he dies or you do.”
There was another struggle visible in the boy’s eyes before he suddenly fell silent, his look completely emotionless and when he turned towards Taiga the boy automatically crawled a bit back.
Truth was that he didn’t know much about Shime and even though he had helped Hokuto it was different now. This time his life was at stake and he definitely didn’t have the same emotional attachment to Taiga which he shared with Hokuto, but would he really go as far as kill him?
“Hesitation doesn’t actually make your words seem trustworthy you know?” Yamashita said while he and Ryo kept waiting for the boy’s reaction.
Shime’s hands weren’t even shaking as he took a tighter grip on the knife before he looked up at Taiga and moved! He dashed forward so fast that Taiga couldn’t even think about backing off or stopping the attack. All he was able to do was somehow reaching out for the boy’s shoulders for balance as Shime had fallen almost on top of him as he had dashed into his attack.
Taiga couldn’t even remember if he had gasped or even screamed on the shock, but now his eyes were on Yamashita and Ryo who looked kind of satisfied. They couldn’t see Shime’s face and Taiga needed another moment to be able to move and he pushed the boy a little bit back on his shoulders before he took one hand down between them, grabbing Shime’s wrist with shaking hands.
“How could you…” Taiga whispered as he let out a clear gasp this time the moment he dared to push Shime away from him on which the Shoto dropped right next to him. Taiga’s hand landed on the red spot on his clothes around his stomach with a pained grimace. Now Shime’s hands were shaking bitterly as he fell back, crouching to the front and hiding his blood stained hands at his upper body as if he felt ashamed for what he had done.
“Good work, next time better stab him in the chest to spare him the suffering,” Ryo let out in a cold voice while Taiga let out another pained noise and fell to the front.
“I am impressed,” Yamashita said before he went over to Shime, but the boy was still curling up, unwilling to even look up.
“Shall I let him suffer or do you want me to spare him a cruel death?” Ryo asked as he was standing right next to Taiga.
“I’d say he deserves to suffer a bit longer, but I am not in the mood to sit hours and wait for him to die, so let’s get over with it.”
Taiga could hear how Ryo pulled out his sword he was carrying on the back and he also realized how he lunged out with it and that was the moment he moved. The Shoto was in his hand now after he had intentionally landed on top of it as he had collapsed to the front. With a fast movement he sliced it blindly to the side, luckily hitting exactly where he wanted to hit, on Ryo’s legs. The man hissed and was forced to pull back to search for balance. Exactly that opening Taiga used to jump up and attack the man directly with the Shoto this time and luck was with him as he succeeded in stabbing it in the latter’s upper body.
The shock was written all over Ryo’s face, but there was nothing he could do anymore, because the next moment he started coughing blood and when Taiga stepped away from him the man collapsed immobile to the front.
As much as Taiga felt conflicted about actually killing someone and relieved on the other hand about his sudden attack working out he knew he had no time to relax and he swirled around the Shoto already lifted in his hand as he searched for Yamashita, unfortunately when he faced him he was forced to stop dead on his tracks. His attack had surprised Ryo, but it took too long to do the same with Yamashita and the man had drawn his own sword now, pointing it directly at Shime’s neck.
“As much as I appreciate my followers to be ruthless I thought something is off here,” Yamashita said completely emotionless as if it didn’t even matter that he had just lost his best shinobi.
With his sword pressuring the boy’s neck he forced Shime to get up and that was when he got a better look on his hands. One of his hands was bleeding extremely badly after he had stabbed his own hand, letting it look like he had stabbed Taiga instead. Luckily Taiga had caught up to his plan immediately, playing along and making everything look as if he had been the one hurt.
“What a shame that I don’t give second chances,” Yamashita let out before he lunged out with the sword on which Shime let out a scream and crouched back down. Taiga knew he wouldn’t be fast enough so he threw the Shoto at the man and luckily it made him hiss and pull back long enough for him to take a run up at him and tackle him to the ground.
It was a miracle that he hadn’t ended up impaled by Yamashita’s sword on that move, because the blade was just centimeters away from his face as he tried to somehow make the other one let go of it.
Shime also moved and tried to get the Shoto back which had landed a few meters away from them, but unfortunately he wasn’t fast enough and Taiga not strong enough to win their struggle and he ended up being kicked off, landing in front of Shime as the clan leader got back up with a death glare towards both of them.
“You’ll regret this,” was all he said and the boys were already sure that they indeed would, but at least they had delayed their deaths for a while, because now Yamashita seemed ready to torture them instead of giving them the fast death he had promised at first.
***
Maybe a few hours, possibly already another day Taiga wasn’t sure anymore. He felt too exhausted to keep track of time and for the first time he was sure that he couldn’t free himself out of this messed up situation and all he wanted was to die fast.
“Taiga, are you awake?”
Shime’s question made him realize that he hadn’t been until now, which was not because he fell asleep, but because Yamashita had beaten him so badly that he had fallen unconscious at some point. He was trapped at one of the wooden poles in the room, with his hands tied on the back of it and he couldn’t sit down which made his whole body ache now that he had been in the same position for hours.
“Yes, all good,” Taiga replied on which Shime let out a mocking chuckle.
“All good, right…” the boy said on which Taiga let out a sorrowful chuckle as well. Shime was sitting on the other side of the room, but he was tied up so he wasn’t able to move and after Yamashita had gone out on both of them for what felt like at least a whole hour Taiga wasn’t even sure if the boy could get up even without the ropes.
“Shime I am so sorry for involving you in this trouble,” Taiga said in a sore voice on which the younger one shook his head immediately.
“Don’t even start. You know I involved myself, I was completely aware of the chances of this outcome. I am the one who should be sorry that not all of you could leave together.”
“But they will come back and get us out.”
It wasn’t like Taiga didn’t believe in his own words, but the shadow passing over Shime’s face was passing his own face as well, because the problem was time and that was what they didn’t have at all. As much as Yamashita seemed to enjoy torturing them he would eventually get tired of them and at least kill one of them.
“Don’t give up,” Taiga tried to encourage the other one, but before he could receive a reply the door got slid open, revealing Yamashita once more.
“Give me that look one more time and I cut your eyes out!” Yamashita said immediately while Taiga hadn’t even realized the death glare he had obviously given the other one. “But the fact that you are conscious already means I am definitely going too easy on both of you.”
Without even saying anything else he walked up to one of the candle stands in the room and took one of them from it, walking over to Shime.
“You know I just got my precious Hokuto back and you took the opportunity to play with him away from me. Guess you’ve to take his place for a while.”
There was not even a warning before the man turned the candle around and Shime screamed out as the hot wax dripped down directly on his face. Taiga jolted on his reaction, but bit his lip to bite back a comment. It wasn’t like the same or even worse wouldn’t await him minutes later, Yamashita didn’t let off any of them even with the other one cursing and shouting so they tried to stay silent instead, maybe it would take away the fun for the clan leader.
“Oh by the way,” Yamashita said as he randomly let the candle drop to the ground and walked over to Taiga instead, revealing a weirdly formed half round and short sword. “Do you know what this is?”
Taiga shook his head on the view of the small object which was indeed unknown to him. With Yamashita’s next movement Taiga gasped as the latter grabbed his crotch and put the blade with such a force against the fabric of his hakama that it got cut a bit. “We usually geld our horses with this,” Yamashita whispered next to his ear as he tightened his grip on which Taiga couldn’t hide a whine. “It would be over in just a few seconds. I wonder what a hoe like you would do without any chance of feeling pleasure anymore?”
It was definitely fear Yamashita had hoped to find in Taiga’s eyes as he backed off a bit to have a better look at him, but once more Taiga had given him an arrogant look without realizing it. The punch he received seconds later made clear though that he had to watch out more.
“I warned you before, but I can also cut your eyes out with this, but I am pretty sure that it will hurt a lot more,” the latter said in annoyance as he brought the blade to Taiga’s face instead and stabbed him under his eye on which Taiga slightly panicked. Truth was that he wouldn’t even care for Yamashita gelding him, because he had become used to his job, but that still didn’t mean that he loved it and it would actually spare him a life at Yoshiwara, not that there were many other pleasant places he had left to go to. On the other hand he felt extremely scared of losing other body parts and it was clear that Yamashita wasn’t joking about his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Taiga let out almost pleading as Yamashita seemed to wait for a reaction as the blade almost touched his eyes.
“Oh and you think that’s enough?”
Had he reached his limit? Was his playtime over? Because this time Yamashita seemed to not know a limit and Taiga pulled back as much as he could before the blade could actually cause even more damage. That reaction made the latter curse and pull Taiga back on his hair.
“Leave him alone!” Shime was heard next as he couldn’t sit back anymore either, but there was nothing he could do. Taiga tried to somehow break free, but he knew it was impossible and he almost started hyperventilating as Yamashita forced him to stay still and lunged out with the blade towards his face.
Shime’s shouting and his own last tries of somehow getting away made him miss the shouting on the hallway before the door got harshly kicked to the ground.
“Stop this nonsense immediately!”
A strict and luckily familiar voice was heard out of a sudden, making Taiga relax enough to dare opening his eyes. The first person coming in his sight was Hiromitsu, his sword drawn and pointing at Yamashita. Right behind him was Aran with a few of his men rushing through the corridors obviously securing the castle.
When Hiromitsu wanted to make another step forward Yamashita moved again and the blade was still right next to Taiga’s face and as much as Taiga wanted to remain calm he let out a whine as the blade came closer again.
“How dare you march in here like this?” Yamashita shouted at Aran who remained at the door for now, but had his sword drawn as well.
“I am coming with a warrant against you Yamashita-dono,” Aran explained.
“For what crime?”
“For contract breaking with other clans.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Hiromitsu was the one to step back a bit this time and he pulled out a paper roll, opening it and showing it to the other one. “This is the contract you have with Hokuto’s family clan and we have copies of those you have for other clans as well. All of them say that you are not allowed to hurt the boys and you obviously broke that contract.”
“Which allows us to take all the boys out from your clan and still promise their clans to stay safe even without a contract to a Shogunate clan member,” Aran added.
The explanation made sense, after all they also had Hokuto back now and finally knew the truth and the way he treated Shime right in front of their eyes was also proof enough, but the clan leader still didn’t seem to be ready to surrender like this.
“Then take the boys away I don’t care about that. They are lying anyways,” Yamashita hissed at them, totally talking nonsense as he should realize himself that the situation he was found in was proof enough for all his crimes. “This boy though will get his deserved punishment. They broke into my property and need to get punished!”
Once more the attention was back on Taiga and the blade was lifted into the air again before another person spoke up.
“If you dare hurt him any further I will take more than just your hands,” Kamenashi was heard next as he stepped inside the room, followed by Taisuke. It was a weird picture seeing both of them in Hakama instead of Kimono, but Taiga was even more shocked about the fact that they had come to rescue him. That his friends would have come at some point was something he had hoped for, but that they had gone through all the risks and asked the owner and even the police for help made Taiga feel almost embarrassed.
“Boys which are the property of Yoshiwara need to be returned immediately when found after running away,” Taisuke explained.
“Running away? What nonsense are you talking about?” Yamashita yelled at him.
“We came to search for him as he ran away from our district,” Kamenashi explained in a calm voice. The perfect lie for this situation.
“If you let off him now I will spare you the punishment for the crime against a boy of Yoshiwara and we will just have a talk about the boys from the other clans,” Aran explained and Hiromitsu also hoped for the man to finally give in now that the situation was messed up enough already.
First there was no reaction from the clan leader until he lifted the blade once more and Taiga gasped as he brought it down, but then he realized that he wasn’t hurt. The man had cut his hands free from the pole and after cutting the other ropes holding him as well Taiga almost collapsed to the front as he was too exhausted to keep his balance.
On the man’s reaction Hiromitsu dared to slowly walk over to Shime and free him as well. Aran didn’t dare to let his guard down yet and just stepped aside, waving towards the exit. “If you don’t mind I would like to skip the escorting part and let you follow us on your own.”
Aran knew how to handle people with a lot of pride which was good, because like this he wouldn’t make the other one turn even more upset.
Yamashita’s look had turned to something that was even more dangerous than the weapon in his hand, but he still didn’t move when Hiromitsu lifted Shime up in his arms and made it next to the others.
“Taiga, come here,” Kamenashi said as calm as possible and Taiga bit his cheek from the inside as the pain of just walking was almost unbearable. He had barely made a few steps when he had to pass Yamashita to get over to them and he could feel Yamashita’s eyes on him, then he made the biggest mistake of his life. It was just one look, but exactly that look was enough to not just upset Yamashita, but to turn him into a beast.
“DON’T!” Aran was heard the moment Yamashita moved. Taiga hadn’t even seen the movement coming as the weapon in his hand hadn’t been lifted up. There wasn’t even pain, it was like a moment of emptiness and numbness before Taiga started screaming and hid his face in his hands as he sank to the ground.
“DESERVES YOU RIGHT, ARROGANT BASTARD!” Yamashita was heard shouting, but Taiga couldn’t care less for him anymore. When there were hands on his shoulders he started screaming even more, but didn’t dare to take his hands away from his face. He could feel how the blood was running between his fingers and his eyes felt like they were burning.
“Taiga, it’s ok it’s me, Aran!”
Aran made him sit up and soon Taisuke and Kamenashi were also heard next to him.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Taiga shouted to his own surprise as someone reached out for his hands. This time the pain got the best of him as he couldn’t stay calm anymore and all the shouting around him got even more intense through the loss of his eyesight.
He could hear Yamashita laughing, while Shime was shouting his name in panic and Aran tried to calm him down, but it was just too much and with another scream Taiga collapsed to the front, someone of the others around him catching him before he fell unconscious.