Disclaimer: I do not own X. The Prison is mine though and is based (in name only) on a prison over here. Pochi Project was something I saw on Oz. The Night Owls are a women a cappella group and have absolutely no connection to the plot; I saw their name on a Comedy Central show and loved the name for a group of black clad women.
And no, I don't know Evanescence's band member's names because I care, but because I Wikipedia-ed it for info.
Author's notes: The ranks of wardens here go by military ranks as it is over here anyways. Plus I've aged characters who in X are too young to fill in the roles of this story.
Author's Thanks: To Iwannasleep from (why is Kamui a bitch? Because he can), Tekoo from (sorry sweety, this fic will not have any lime or lemon), Amy Levi from (thank you!), Darh Angel of Fire Ice from (thank you!), Grey Wings from (thank you!), to Nancy from (are you right? Mmmmmaaaaayyyybeeeeee. Tee hee) and toNikkler from (thank you!).
I'm so sorry it took me so long to update this fic, but I needed to work on other things both in the life arena and in the fic arena. Also this fic experienced an attempted assassination so, yeah.
Warning: Language and violence. Hey, it's a jail, people; remember what Oz was like? Yeah, a little like that only not-THAT-bad.
Part 6
- - - - - - - -
Jailbird: Hello.
KattyKitty: ….hello?
Jailbird: How are you?
KattyKitty: Do I know u?
Jailbird: No. I found you through your interests list. I love Evanescence too
KattyKitty: OMG! I love them 2!1! They rock! They rule! They're teh bestest band eva!
Jailbird: It's so nice to meet other people who love them as much as I do; there aren't a lot of them where I'm at.
KattyKitty: O yeah headdesk a/s/l.
Jailbird: 19/f/Japan.
KattyKitty: Japan! That's cool! I'm 14/f/CO.USA.
Jailbird: Nice to meet you, Katty.
KattyKitty: So the ultimate question for Evanc Fans who's hotter John LeCompt or Amy Lee?
Jailbird: Hmm…tricky…John for sure. He's a man, the other three are ugly and Amy, well, she's a woman…
KattyKitty: I think they're both hot XXXD don't get me wrong pls I think Amy's hot in a kind of….like…'OMFG I want to be her' get me?
Jailbird: Got you. Shit, gatta 5.
KattyKitty: Sure C U later?
- - - - - - - -
"Please leave the computer station, Yatouji-san."
Satsuki spun her hips and turned on her feet to rise from the chair as smoothly as a well oiled piece of machinery. She gave second lieutenant Machita a blank glance and walked out of the small library's computer corner booth. Her steps were smooth and flowing so that she seemed to be hovering over the ground.
Machita followed the teen with her gaze and sighed, giving up on attempting to analyze or understand Satsuki.
She seemed to be a perfect asocial person of the silent type. She didn't try to upset anyone, her lack of social care and skills were expressed by being a cold-hearted alienated person and refusing to do anything about it.
"She seems happier this way." Lieutenant Hokuto's voice oozed into Machita's thoughts softly like creeping fog.
"Happy? Who would be happy in jail?"
"Not in jail, but with the way she's being treated by us and others. The other girls must read the 'don't talk to me, don't mess with me' sign on her forehead and leave her alone. I think that's what she wants; her own privacy and peace of mind. I'm very happy about it, she's very lucky to be able to find it here."
Machita folded her arms on her chest, "I have to agree with you, Hokuto-chan. Look at her; she's young, she's got a good body and she's so phased out of everything around her that anyone can jump her anytime without her knowing what hit her. She's very lucky no one's picked on her yet."
"That's what I mean. The Night Owls would make a feast of her, but even they're avoiding her."
"Oh, you've gone and woken Murphy-san up; look."
A convict about the same height as Satsuki and twenty years her senior, dressed in her gang uniform of a long flowing, velvet black dress, toned her steps so that she'd come into onto Satsuki's route to her cell.
Satsuki merely stopped her step short, moved herself sideways a bit, spun her shoulders away to avoid contact with the approaching woman and completely avoided crashing into her. She seemed to have smoothed from the woman's path like a gush of wind, curling away and moving on.
She didn't even give the jail gangster a glance.
The Night Owl spun around to walk backwards while keeping an eye on the withdrawing youth. A cunning smile stretched on her black painted lips as she turned herself forward again, swinging her arms at her sides and putting a spring of joy into her steps.
"Machi-chan?"
"Yes, Hokuto-chan?"
"Keep an eye on Yatouji."
"On Yatouji? Why on her when Shigama," the Night Owl, "is the one who approached first?"
"The time of approaching from any gang is inevitable. Its outcome depends on the one approached. Something tells me that even though she's cold as ice on the inside, if you poke her the wrong way Yatouji can burst out and become quite a fiend."
"I-it sounds reasonable, but…. her background and all….I think she plots her paybacks instead of handing them immediately at the moment of attack."
"Which only makes her more dangerous."
"You're absolutely right. I'll keep an eye on Yatouji. I'll go make a note to the other girls."
"Nah, don't bother. Yatouji's off to sleep now and the Night Owls never jump anyone without giving her three warnings. I'll mention it at the next staff meeting."
"Okay-dokey, Hokuto-chan! By the way, who's doing Karchan-sama's birthday cake this year?" 'Karchan-sama' being a short version of "Karen-chan-sama".
"Eeeeeh! Birthday cake? Already? Damn, I totally forgot!"
"Ha ha, don't stress yourself, it's in two months' time, but since last time we nearly had a civil war over who'd make the cake because we decided it on such a short notice and everyone wanted to do it, we're going to organize a vote about it and in advance."
"Clever thinking…"
"Thank you."
Hokuto wrapped her arm around the second lieutenant's shoulder and gave her a small formal squeeze before heading back to her office.
Satsuki did not ignore the Night Owl's warning; in fact, she picked it up and analyzed it so sharply that she knew what the older woman plotted before she even began changing her course to try and bump into her.
Her silence and lack of social connections did not at all mean that Satsuki was not perceptive of her surrounding. While her wardens were absolutely sure her mind was hovering at a different stratosphere, Satsuki was in fact very much here and very much alert to every change in the ward around her.
The gaping, snarling void of boredom forced her to open her eyes after a sleepy three week period which began when she entered Sharonza's sixth ward.
During this time she either slept or performed the tasks she was forced to perform; waking up for roll call, attending meals, standing for roll call before bedtime.
She was assigned to the ward's kitchen and on her first day she fell asleep at one of the work stations, standing up and leaning her upper body on the cold stainless steel surface.
When she was forcibly awakened she was drowsy and unresponsive, her movements sluggish and clumsy.
Kotori took one look at her and sat for a very grave conversation with Captain Karen about how the shock of complete disconnection from computers, her trialing and jailing processes pushed her to the state she was in at the moment.
"I've been observing her," Kotori said with a matter-of-factly frown, "she's been eating less and less lately."
"Well, the girl's depressed about being caught. She was so sure she was this high and mighty computer genius and it hurt to be found wrong. It's a natural reaction to be a little bit depressed about it, isn't it?" Karen leaned her chin on her palm, trying to look the least threatening to the fragile looking girl before her.
"Depression is one thing and what she's doing is another. She is turning herself off; she's shutting the outside world out. She's passively trying to kill herself."
Karen straightened her back and stared at Kotori for a while, testing the other woman's seriousness. Finally she leaned back into her chair and wove her fingers together, staring at her computer screen, sunk in thoughts.
"What do you suggest we do with her, then?" she said finally.
"Is there a chance for her to receive a few hours in which she'll have computer access?"
"I'm afraid that's too much to ask. Yatouji-san managed to bend whole computer systems to her will; computers are off limits for her, especially for long sessions such as hours."
Kotori did not change her expression or her forward leaning position; she did not remove her assertive eyes from the captain. "Is it your final answer?"
Karen looked the counselor beyond her desk up and down. "It's not my decision. Yatouji-san is one of those convicts who come with a request list about the conditions in which she is to be kept. She's too much of a high risk prisoner to have petty officers such as me decide anything about her conditions."
She stopped to muse for a moment.
"I'll tell you what; you write down your diagnosis of Yatouji-san's condition and I'll make as many calls as I can. No one wants an inmate's suicide on his conscience, especially no one in higher ranks; I'm sure that if you describe her condition as worse than it is it'll turn a few cogs in the bosses' minds."
Kotori allowed herself to lean back into her chair and beamed a grateful smile at Karen, "Thank you so much, Captain!"
"Call me 'Karen-san'."
The first time Satsuki was allowed computer access she sat before the monitor and stared at it absentmindedly. She had only fifteen minutes per week and the whole wide world right there, at the tips of her fingers beyond the glass of the screen; the difference between what she could do and the time she had to do it numbed her.
The mouse and keyboard were no longer a part of her body as they often grew to be during endless glorious nights of hacking and surfing. They were an invitation to a murder, a poisoned apple, tempting her to bite it.
She played with magnificent toys such as the one before her and look where it had gotten her. Yet she knew, as she sat and stared at the peaceful blue and white desktop image of a lightly clouded sky, that the moment she reaches out to the machine she'll be sucked in again just as she was the first time.
Did she want to be sucked in? Satsuki didn't know and couldn't make up her mind about it. The more she thinks about it, the more she'll think of computers in general. The more she thinks about computers, the faster she'll be hooked again.
Then her mind snapped back to reality. Hooked? Her! Nonsense, she's not a computer addict, she's a computer master.
It wasn't the ultimate access to every source of every piece of information on the internet that dazzled Satsuki the first time she really got a good session on her computer back home; it was the way that even simple, not that updated, not that sophisticated and not that powerful machine she had at home abided with her every move.
For her it worked its internet connection into higher speed, forced itself to find software for her when she needed it, fought back viruses and spyware. When she kept it on during the night and when she was away in school the machine downloaded things for her without even being asked for it, it spellchecked her files, edited her pictures. It was enough for her to use the search engine to seek anything about anything during one surfing session and the next time she sat to work on her CPU she'd find everything that was out there, arranged and fully downloaded, in a desktop folder.
It took her a while to realize the power she had over computers.
At first she rejected it completely; 'powers' were something out of fairytales, out of childrens' animated programs, out of science fiction books and manga. Her logic told her that if powers are mostly myth-based then they are as ancient as these myths. If they're ancient then they do not apply to modern things such as computers.
Just for the heck of it, Satsuki attempted to control one of her school library's computers. It obeyed her. It refused any other users after her. What finally flickered on the torch of comprehension and accepting of her powers was that the one computer she touched connected the other library's computers and made them as obedient to her as it was.
Now, not only did she have the power to control one PC and to bend it to her command, but she could also make the one computer she sat to bring to her the leashes to as many computers as she pleased.
She could have been in much worse trouble than she got herself into if she had used the full force of her abilities. She could have become invincible, out of reach for the whole world's law, all powerful.
But she wasn't. She didn't use her full force. She kept her damage toned down.
Why?
If you'd have asked her before she was arrested, Satsuki would have said she kept herself from using all her might because she understood it hurt people. Though she was never a very social person and had suffered the random blow from witty or bitchy popular schoolmates, Satsuki still believed there was a place for her in this world of humans.
As she sat to her first computer session in jail, Satsuki's belief in humans was much smaller. The police's treatment to her, the press' cover of her story, her family's reaction, her neighbors' reactions, all those harsh experiences from other humans. Computers banned from her, just when she was finally easing into her status amongst them.
Finally, she reached out and placed her palm on the mouse. She opened Internet Explorer and typed her email account's address. It has been blocked, the police's arms reached further than she thought.
Very well then, she'll open a new account. She'll open a new email account and register as a brand new user in her favorite chat program. After all, thanks to the media, everyone knows what her old username was and will not believe her if she claims the same name again.
A new username is a new mask, a new blank page to write on, a new personality, a new chance at cyberspace.
Fifteen minutes a week, on the other hand, was beginning to grind on her nerves. Not enough time to check her emails properly; she managed to do so much and know too many people who wanted to know more of her.
Fifteen minutes a week was not enough to properly communicate with the computer she sat to, she was sure, so she didn't even try.
Fifteen minutes of one week over and Satsuki learned just how much she really didn't like her new restriction. She didn't notice how violent she got until Arashi's stun gun sent an electric blow into her stomach.
She reeled, stumbled backwards, blinking at private Kishuu in a stupor and collapsed to the floor.
Solitary confinement was worse than she had imagined. Nothing but the warden watching her to keep her mind busy. Such a small cell, walls so tightly closing down on her. Satsuki wrung her fingers, stroked her short hair, pulled at her hair, gnarled her fingernails, gnarled at the skin around her fingernails until they bled, and still she was absolutely bored beyond her wits.
She tried watching the man in the cage beside hers. As soon as he noticed her watching he stopped what he was doing (ironing his clothes) and sat down to read a book. Satsuki only realized that he stopped giving her things to watch when she noted he had been sitting in the same position and reading a book, while doing nothing other than turning a page, for six hours straight.
Even this man, whom she doesn't know at all, chooses to abuse her. Why? What had she done to him!
Hang on a second, Satsuki, this man's a criminal, a very dangerous one, obviously he's not the sanest of them all. He's not doing anything in particular against you; he's just being the psychopathic sadist that he probably is.
He looks pretty sane.
No, he's a psychopathic sadist. Leave him alone.
She had nothing else to do other than stare at the warden before her. Sergeant Arisugawa spent most of his shift leaning back into his chair, feet up on the table, flipping through sports and cars magazines. He did look up to inspect both his prisoners once every fifteen minutes or so, but other than that he did nothing interesting to watch.
Boring, boring, boring, boring.
God, she hated Private Kishuu, she hated her more than the policemen who broke into her small apartment and arrested her. She hated her more than she hated the prosecution's lawyer in her trial. She hated her more than she hated the reporter who dug out an ex of hers and made a huge mess of why he dumped her (too much time on the computer, not enough sex).
An image flashed before Satsuki's eyes; Private Kishuu's eyes gauged out by flickering electric cables. She frowned at it and brushed it away. She's not the type to think thoughts like that. Is she?
It's boring in here.
Later that week Satsuki had the pleasure of watching two very interesting wardens; Segawa-san and Saiki-san.
Segawa's shift was most interesting due to the fact that his personal life glittered before her and the other prisoner as soon as his shift began.
Keiichi came down to the basement to replace a Private Shiro (who spent most of the shift ignoring the both of them by reading yaoi). As the two exchanged small glances it was obvious that Segawa was pining for Shiro, who, on his behalf, icily ignored him.
"S-so, uh, how was the shift Ka..Shiro-san?" the young officer tried stalling Shiro's stay in the basement.
The private shrugged and shook his head a bit, pulling his uniform jacket off from the back of his chair. He walked past the officer towards the door.
"No trouble then?" Keiichi's voice was obviously on the brink of cracking under unshed tears.
"Nope. Bye." Shiro closed the door behind him while giving Segawa a short blank stare.
"Yes….goodbye, Kamui-kun…." Keiichi's voice cracked.
Satsuki noted the man in the cage by her shifted his position. He was busy seasoning the salad he got for lunch when he noted the shift change. As soon as he saw the young officer bowing his head to try and hide his emotions he stopped what he was doing and walked up to the spot in his cage closest to the wall facing Keiichi – the coffee table – sat down by it leaning his chin on his hand and watched Keiichi with a fake sweet smile.
Satsuki stared at the assassin's behavior with astonishment. He was behaving like a perfect villain. People like that actually existed?
She turned to watch Keiichi who was slowly making his way to the small equipment room.
He stood at its entrance, leaning a hand on the lintel, and did what was obviously crying.
Satsuki watched his shoulders shudder, his back slowly bending forward, his other hand reaching out to wipe his eyes and cover his face.
The man in the cage beside her produced a very deep, very clear chuckling. Again, he took Satsuki completely by surprise with his perfectly cold elegant cruelty.
Lt. Segawa waddled back to the main chamber some half an hour later. He looked a lot older, his face almost grey, and did not seem to be completely taking in anything around him. He poured himself a glass of water, dipping his fingers in it to wash his face and drank the rest in one go. He cuddled the empty glass to his chest, his eyes blankly staring at the floor before him.
Something tipped off the lieutenant of Seishiro's staring at him and he whipped his eyes to the assassin. Seishiro flashed a wider smile, cocking his head sideways a bit to seem like an tentative friend.
Keiichi's eyes flashed anger for a moment, taken aback by the prisoner's daring, but the storm of fiery emotion passed quickly; Keiichi walked behind his post's table and settled down, pretending to be busy reading a book he brought with him.
Seishiro was not so easily fooled. He stayed in the same position, with the same expression, until the lieutenant's shift was over. He did it because Segawa had to occasionally check on them and when he did, Seishiro's cruel grin was there to cut him.
Satsuki found that this was making her happy; the sight of someone being cruel to someone else. Why? Was it specifically aimed at Sakurazuka-san who pulled off his every act of sadism so perfectly, so cruelly, so elegantly? Or was it the mere idea of hurt inflicted on someone else for no other reason but the sheer joy of causing pain?
Satsuki pushed herself away from the corner and onto the wall facing the other cell. She folded her legs closer to her chest and wrapped her arms tighter around her legs, leaning her chin on her knees.
The next object of entertainment was Private Saiki. Satsuki loved his shifts. The man couldn't sit down for five straight minutes. He couldn't do the same thing for five straight seconds. He couldn't look directly at anything for more than three seconds. She found that watching him pace, fidget and twitch about the chamber was the most pleasurable thing she's ever experienced here other than Seishiro's abuse of Lt. Segawa.
The two pleasures were soon mingled as, during one of Saiki's shifts, Seishiro tapped the glass closest to Satsuki's cell.
Satsuki shot her eyes to him after her gaze was locked in fascination on Saiki trying to tune the radio and find a proper station for the god knows what time.
Seishiro beamed at her, his eyes as sharp and cruel as they could be, and pointed towards the warden completely engulfed by the radio mission. Seishiro walked up to the door of his cell with its mail slot and food drawer and kneeled by it, facing the little sofa standing closest to it.
He glued his lips to the slot and emitted a long wailing whistle.
Saiki jerked his back straight and cast frantic, near paranoid looks about him.
Yatouji-san was staring at him as she had been since the beginning of his shift. Sakurazuka-san was rummaging under his sofa. Nothing could have made that sound, could it? Saiki glared at his radio and dealt it a good slap.
Once again Seishiro whistled and once again it disturbed Saiki so much that he began leaping to his feet in search of the whistle's source.
Seishiro rose from the floor and walked to the kitchen, straightening his jacket and tie casually.
Satsuki found she was smiling happily. She wanted to be like Seishiro; she wanted to be so flowing and elegant, she wanted to be able to know exactly what to do to torment people, she wanted to have the confidence to allow herself to do things like that, she wanted to be aloof enough to do it.
Has she got what it takes to be like Seishiro? Will she be able to physically hurt someone when the need arises?
The vision of Private Kishuu and the cables appeared before her eyes again. Yes, she wanted to see it happen, she wanted to make it reality, she wanted to be it worse than what she first imagined. She can do it and she will as soon as she'll be able to.
Fifteen minutes a week might not make it happen quickly but she's got time. She's got all the time in the world here in prison, has she not?
And so, without ever noticing it, Satsuki lost the last piece of mercy and love she had towards humanity.
Prison life became ever so easier now. Even the air felt lighter.
Whatever Satsuki looked at was empty and meaningless, everything was crushable, breakable, vulnerable. All she had to do was to reach out and snap it between her fingers because she had the power to do it and the lack of fear of its consequences.
The older, more powerful prisoners didn't frighten her, the wardens didn't frighten her, the ward commander didn't frighten her, boredom didn't frighten her. All she had to do when distress arose was to calm down and think about those fifteen minutes when she'll make another step towards sweet bloody revenge and her mind stopped buzzing painful complaints.
Satsuki was so relieved she felt like crying. She didn't. She found that proper emotions were subsiding in her; other than the cool smooth calm of her resolutions she was becoming very much emotionless.
The biggest proof of that came when she was watching a drama television show she loved back in her free days and suddenly found that she didn't care about the latest plot twist nor of her favorite characters' fate.
She used to skip classes to watch that show, she used to leave her computer to watch it, she used to close her eyes and imagine she was several of the characters; she even tried writing a fan story about it.
Look at her now, walking out of the television room so casually; she really lost interest in such things.
When she was finally attacked by the Night Owls she had absolutely no problem grabbing the nearest chair and swinging it at the closest gang member. Satsuki found her heart skipped a beat happily as she heard the woman's arm bone snap.
No, don't smile about your joy; that's not how a true cold-blooded psycho behaves, that's not how Sakurazuka-san would have done it.
Three more inmates neared her, wielding shivs at her, swearing so foully it took Satsuki aback a bit.
Three angry women charging you, they want to grab you, what will you do? Its simple isn't it:
Duck now. Charge at her legs. Sink your teeth in that shin. Scratch that thigh as hard as you can. Move away quickly before she stabs you. Charge headfirst at that woman, aim to the belly, push her against the wall. Move away before her friend yanks you away. Too late, squirm out of her grip. Kick your legs up. Try hitting her back. Try harder. Harder! There's no such thing as not being able to hit back. Fight them damn it!
Well, true coldhearted psychopaths don't care even when they're raped. Electric cables, ripping into that bitch, tearing her from the inside, giving her a good high voltage blow, think of that.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Ichan-san: Yo.
Jailbird: Hello who are you?
Ichan-san: Wanna have sex?
Jailbird: That is technically impossible.
Ichan-san: What are you wearing?
Jailbird: A tight red dress. It's got a really deep neckline…
Ichan-san: Really? How big are they?
Jailbird: D cup, 85.
Ichan-san: Oh yeah…
Jailbird: I'm crawling on all fours towards you.
Ichan-san: I'm opening my pants zipper…
Jailbird: I leap at you and sink my teeth in your neck.
Ichan-san: Into that kind of stuff eh? Don't leave a mark; I'm a married man…
Jailbird: I rip your main artery open and you start bleeding all over the place.
Ichan-san: No, I don't like that; let's go back to when you were crawling on all fours towards me…
Jailbird: And while you gag I grab your left arm. I snap it in half. I grab your right arm and do the same. Then I break your legs, one after another.
Ichan-san: Bitch! the user appears to have logged out and is unavailable at the moment
- - - - - - - -
"Please leave the computer station, Yatouji-san."
Satsuki turned around to face corporal Monou, her warden for that day's session. She beamed the sweetest smile she could, cocking her head sideways a bit, "Of course. Thank you for your patience. I apologise for taking up your time and bothering you with watching over me."
Monou Saya, a thin short frail looking woman with a mane of wavy hay coloured hair, gawked at Satsuki for a moment before breaking out with a delightful smile. She placed a soft palm on Satsuki's shoulder and escorted her out of the library chatting merrily about how she's glad Yatouji-san's in a good mood.
Satsuki ignored the cheerful woman and walked up to her cell, eyeing whatever Night Owls she saw on her way suspiciously, and crushed on her bed.
The walls around her were transparent which made the bored lazing out in bed session which took up most of her time a lot more interesting.
This time Satsuki chose to look at her neighbour, Kanoe, who had just woken up and was preparing for the new day.
When entering Sharonza, every inmate is allowed five items of each dressing article.
Kanoe pushed that law to the limit; she brought five of everything she could come up with:
She brought five dresses, five vests, five shirts, five pants, five skirts, five hair ribbons and five hairclips, five earrings, five necklaces, five bracelets, five pairs of shoes, five different patterned pantyhose, five rings, five watches, five coats, five scarves, five pins, five different pairs of cufflinks, five gloves, five belts and five hats.
There were no laws regarding personal items such as underwear, braziers and socks, which was immediately stretched by Kanoe in the same fashion as with the clothing items. She had a shirt made of black transparent fabric and a matching vest both of which she brought to life by wearing her ten different bras, each with its own daring design and color scheme.
There were no laws for women's makeup and so Kanoe, who wished to bring as much of her mask of power with her into captivity, brought a whole suitcase of cosmetics.
Kanoe now stood before the mirror in her room and matched the items for today's outfit. She was so engulfed by which earrings to match with which set of shoes, how to fashion her hair and how deep to pull her shirt to enlarge the cleavage, which shade to use for her eyelids and which to the arch defining her eyeball, she didn't notice Satsuki's sleepy stare.
When she did, Kanoe stared back at Satsuki as if she noted the girl's existence only now after three months of living right by her.
Kanoe blinked a little, her jet orbs blank save for a touch of surprise, and then smiled a little. She nodded gently, reaching a small resolution within herself. Then she sent her neighbor an airborne glossy dark red kiss, batted velvet black dyed eyelashes in a wink and left her cell with a flutter of the light green satin scarf she fastened to her neck above the provocative neckline of the tight fitting brown velvet miniskirt dress she wore.
Visualizing the man she spoke with today and what she planned for him, Satsuki closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"Hello there, hot stuff!"
"Nice scarf, babe."
"I much prefer what's under that scarf. Come here, girl."
Kanoe flashed a toothy grin at the three black clad women sprawled on the little lawn covered hill at Sharonza's sixth ward inmates stroll court. She straightened her back, swinging her hips extravagantly.
"Oh yeah, baby, move that body!"
"Why won't you swing those hips towards us, girlie-girl?"
Kanoe walked on, turning now towards the high wall at the east of the yard; the wall belonging to the old ward of Sharonza.
The old ward, formerly reserved for policemen gone afoul, emptied once the women's ward was opened at it's feet, was now opened again to contain a small group of five male prisoners who manned the Pochi Project. Amongst these five men was Kigai Yuuto to whom Kanoe's extravagant appearance was aimed.
The noise the Night Owls produced acted as a sign for Yuuto to pop his hand out the window of his cell and communicate with his imprisoned partner and lover.
The hand, popping out of a sleeve of the brightest violet fabric from which a white sleeve of an elegant shirt with a glittering diamond cufflink, popped out about five minutes after the sign was given.
It waved a folded page rapidly before flinging it downwards as quickly as Yuuto could so that no warden, not in his ward and not in Kanoe's, could note the exchange.
Kanoe tensed, like a beast of prey preparing to pounce its victim, and followed the paper's lazy decent. She was always nervous during these critical few seconds; will it be noted? Will she be seen? Will Yuuto be caught? And if so, what will become of their relationship?
The folded paper's 'v' shaped structure caught on the wind like a tiny parachute and made its decent slower. It swung from left to right, making Kanoe shift her weight from one high heeled shoe to the other, trying to decide where to dash to and catch the paper and stuff it into her bra quickly before anyone would notice.
A Night Owl rose to her feet silently behind the giddy woman, stalking up to her while keeping her eye on the paper.
Kanoe noted this; the Night Owl was foolish enough to not note the sun cast her approaching shadow on the ground before her. She clenched her fists to assure herself of the sharpness of her nails; she might chip one, but when it comes to communication with Yuuto she will sacrifice everything.
The paper landed, as if in defiance, closest to the Night Owl who immediately shot forward and snatched it off the ground.
"What's this, sweet cheeks? A letter from your imprisoned lover-man?"
Kanoe's eyes blazed as she pierced the Night Owl's mocking ones with her glare, "Give that to me, now."
The black clad woman shifted her weight to one leg and cocked her head sideways, twirling the paper between her fingers teasingly. Her smile was more like a snarl, her gold-capped fangs were menacing, "Why, sugar plums, what're you gonna do for it?" she flickered her tongue out meaningfully.
"What I'll do for it?" Kanoe's smile sweetened into seduction. She was swinging her hips again as she walked towards the gangster, hands slowly waving by her thighs.
She walked all the way up to the other woman, close enough to feel the other's breath on her face. "What I'll do for this?" she purred, eyes like honey, seductive lips.
She sent her fingers into the Owl's black hair, running her palm up and down the side of her face. "What I'll do…hmmm….I'll do this." She smirked and, after digging her fingers in the black hairs again near the other woman's temple, she dug her nails into the slightly tanned skin and carved four lines from hairline to jaw.
The Night Owl hissed and reeled covering her wounds instinctively. Kanoe used the shock of distraction to snatch the paper from her enemy's fingers.
She turned on her heels to leave before the rest of the gang would be there for retribution when she changed her mind.
She sent her palm to the woman again, grabbing the hair above the scratches and yanking the face close to hers again.
"Dare to mess with me again, I want to see you try, bitch." She flickered her tongue out the same way as her opponent did a moment ago, and only then did she turn to flee from the scene.
In her haste, she forgot to hide the precious paper.
" Kazahaya-san, what was that right now?" Arashi placed herself between Kanoe and the entrance to the ward itself.
Kanoe's eyes blazed for a moment, her fingers clutching the folded paper so hard it wrinkled it. "It's nothing, Private Kishuu-san, nothing at all."
Captain Karen stopped strolling the ward behind the private and observed the interaction.
"Were they picking a fight with you, the Night Owls?" the warden's eyes were not demanding or accusing; they were searching, toned with subdued worry.
Kanoe blinked a little in shock, trying to keep herself from smiling in relief. "A-ah, yes, they were. They're always throwing these horrid remarks at me and, well, I've had enough."
The worry in Arashi's eyes vaporized like fog clearing from mountains, now they were only searching, "So, you attacked them?"
Kanoe mouthed a bit, cold prickles of alarm dancing down her spine. "A-ah….u-um….well…"
"What's this in your hand? I saw something falling from the air and caught by that Night Owl. What is it?"
Kanoe stepped backwards. The sun outside shone down on her back, its heat contradicting the cold shivers of dread in the woman. Her communication with Yuuto; so far it's been mostly affirmation of how they're still together, still in love, still partners in everything life brings them; it will be discovered now.
The Private opened her palm, hanging it between her and the prisoner demandingly, "Give it to me please, Kazahaya-san, now."
Kanoe's hand shook, her fingers refusing to let the paper go as she forced herself to bring her palm to the same level as Arashi's. "I-it's nothing, Private Kishuu-san, n-nothing at all….j-just something s-silly…."
How old is this kid, anyway? She must be at least ten years her junior, and why the hell is she afraid of her like this! Because one of them wears a warden uniform and the other isn't? This world is fucked beyond what she thought. Six months ago Kanoe could have easily brainwashed this girl into being one of her ladies.
Kanoe was shaken out of her thoughts when she felt the paper yanked from her grip. Her vision seemed to be swaying; Arashi remained where she was, only the prison behind her moved in a large circle.
Arashi's nimble slim fingers unfolded the page gingerly, her large dark grey eyes moving to observe the unfolding mystery like it was an extremely complicated mission to perform.
The paper contained a single picture; a symbol resembling a few kanji ideograms combined. No text, no messages, just the symbol.
Arashi frowned a little. Kanoe blinked at the symbol and exhaled after holding her breath for far too long.
"What is this, Kazahaya-san?" Arashi's voice tore through the noise Kanoe's racing thoughts caused inside her head.
She whipped her eyes to the Private's, "U-uh…what?" stop stammering, idiot, she's only some kid in uniform!
Arashi brought the symbol closer to Kanoe's sight (Kanoe's naturally taller than Arashi and is even taller due to her shoes, so Arashi turned the paper a bit higher to make the woman see it clearly), "What is this?"
"This…." Kanoe reached out for the note, seeing the slight confusion her warden was feeling made it possible to claim the paper for herself.
She folded the paper and beamed a short embarrassed smile at the young woman, "This is something I doodled….I was always interested in the arts of Kanji a-and was always interested in creating my own letter s-so I doodled this a-and the Night Owl, you see, she snatched it from me and w-was throwing it up and down to tease me, s-so I had to, well, make her stop…" she bowed deeply, moving too fast due to her agitated mood, "I apologize for my violent reaction, but this hobby of mine is very private and I panicked from their teasing. Please forgive me for disrupting the peaceful atmosphere of our ward, Private Kishuu-san."
Arashi's reaction was anything but what Kanoe expected. She thought, no, was absolutely sure, the warden would dismiss it and uncover the note's true identity.
Instead Arashi allowed a tiny sweet smile to curve the corners of her lips. Her eyes warmed up a bit as well.
"Kanji writing, it is a very noble subject to study, the shapes of some idioms and their sources was always a subject I enjoyed learning. I'm glad you found yourself a harmless, educating pastime activity, Kazahaya-san. Please, don't let me get in the way of your research. And remember to inform us first the next time the Night Owls, or anyone else, trouble you, those are the procedures."
And with a small nod, the private turned away from Kanoe and walked out to the yard to calm the enraged Night Owls.
Karen walked away contently.
Kanoe allowed herself to breath normally again.
Kanoe's head was still spinning a bit as she walked to the library to claim a computer cubical.
She plopped into the chair, hit the keys to surf the chat room she and Yuuto shared, with such wrath she did chip a nail.
Whenever one of them was abroad on business, Kanoe and Yuuto would use the chat room to discuss the matters of their business and update each other on their doings.
Yuuto, the brothel's 'recruiter', would tell Kanoe of the lovely young girls he seduced and persuaded into joining him on a trip to exotic Japan and Kanoe would report on the existing girls' behavior and of the brothel's business.
Their girls would often 'burn out' during their job, some running away, some behaving badly enough to be rid of and some simply growing too old to be of the customers' interests and so new faces were always needed. The customers of the brothel would always enjoy the young east European or African beauties Yuuto managed to sweet-talk into the business and so, the more the brothel's business went well the more Yuuto spent abroad.
These chat room exchanges became Kanoe and Yuuto's main evidence of the crimes they committed as the police's computer experts traced their many chats and used the text there against them.
With them both in prison no one was interested in these chats anymore and once again Kanoe and Yuuto would communicate in their very own chat room at the Home and Gardening of North America forum.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NightMistress: What on earth is that supposed to mean!
PinkCupid: Ah ha ha, so sorry about that, but I didn't have much time to write anything and explain it. Libido wetted his bed blanket again and I had to tend to that, so sorry my dear.
NightMistress: Actually, it was very fortunate that you didn't write anything because a snot-nosed warden here took it from me and looked at it.
PinkCupid: Oh my, I hope all is well with my Kano-cake's nerves.
NightMistress: I was very much close to a panic attack, but I was saved in the last minute because you didn't write anything and I told this big story about it being some new form of kanji I'm trying to develop.
PinkCupid: And she bought it?
NightMistress: Think for yourself, stupid man, I'm here to chat with you, am I not?
PinkCupid: Ah, please forgive my testosterone-induced inferiority, my dear Night Mistress.
NightMistress: So…
PinkCupid: So what, my lovely?
NightMistress: God damn it, don't play stupid with me, Yuuto!
PinkCupid: But I'm honestly clueless as to what you're talking about, precious.
NightMistress: Goodness, you are blond, aren't you?
PinkCupid: >.
NightMistress: What is that symbol, Yuuto?
PinkCupid: It's a wall-breaking spell. You draw it on a wall using freshly drawn blood and it breaks the wall.
NightMistress: I think Libido chewed on your brain during the night instead of his chewy toys.
PinkCupid: I'm serious, Kano-cakes. Have you heard of the black wizard in the basement ward?
NightMistress: The psycho killer? What about him?
PinkCupid: He told us about this spell and you know the police themselves admitted the guy used magic to kill all his victims.
NightMistress: Holy shit…..you're not kidding are you? You mean this is a genuine spell? A real spell? Will it really break walls?
PinkCupid: I wrote it on a wall in my room during the night and when I woke up in the morning there was a crack around the symbol that was definitely not there before.
NightMistress: Oh mygod…oh my fod….So whatdo I do with it anyway? How do I use it? What do I use it obn?1 goddanit Yuuto, what the hell….how did he give it to you!
PinkCupid: Calm down sweetie, take deep breaths and don't hyperventilate. The psycho didn't give it to me, he gave it to Firebomb Fuma, have you heard of him? Never mind. This Monou Fuma was doing all sorts of evil stuff and I totally read on him that if there's one person in my ward that's going to try and break out of here it's him so just before I left to join Libido in the Pochi project I offered my help. Last evening I got mail from him with this note, telling me what to do with it. Are you calm now? Read what I just wrote again and tell me when you understand what I said completely.
NightMistress: I see. I'm calmer now….Shit, my hands were really shaking before. I need my calming medications…
PinkCupid: Kano-cakes, you can't do this on your own. You can't do your share of the breakage alone. Find a partner, okay honey? Find a partner.
NightMistress:My part of the breakage? What do you mean 'my part'? wait…shit, what's this! Hey….Yuuto….can you see me?
You have been logged out, please login again.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"What the hell!" Kanoe slammed the computer monitor angrily, blinking at flickering chat room window.
The browser's chat room window was shut down.
Instead, a new one, a Notepad window, opened. Kanoe did not touch the keyboard and yet the following message appeared on the window's background:
"Satsuki?"
Kanoe emitted an animalistic shriek, covering her mouth immediately.
The flash of epiphany hit her as quickly as her fear of the computer's strange behavior did.
Her fingers trembling almost beyond proper functioning, Kanoe answered the machine.
"You want Satsuki-chan/ She;s not here at the moment, I;m very sorry."
The little lights on the computer itself flickered, showing it was 'thinking'.
"Where is Satsuki?"
"She;s nothere I'm sorry but I'll tell her you whr looking for her okay? "
This time the computer actually vibrated, as if angered. Then it stopped and the alien window shut down.
Kanoe found herself leaping away from the computer and running away to her cell without control over her body. Then she stopped. She was standing at the entrance to her cell; to her left was Satsuki's cell.
The girl was sprawled on her bed, sleeping like she was dead, her renewed habit since the Night Owls began pestering her.
Will she tell Satsuki about the computer now? Nah, she must find the right time to do it, the right time to win Satsuki's trust and bind the both of them together.
She has her magic symbol and Satsuki has herself a new computer slave. Surely the escape plot will only become greater and more glorious if the Sharonza's computer system will come crashing down as well as its walls. But for that to happen a good, stable partnership must be constructed.
Yuuto's words might have been the sweetest poison for the adolescent girls who came across him, but compared to Kanoe's they were nothing but faint whispers.
Kanoe knew how to talk to the girls in a way that drove invisible nails into their palms and feet, grounding them until only a few were able to shake the spells off and flee the trap woven around them.
Kanoe knew how to combine horrid threats and intoxicating promises in the same sentence, she knew how to turn a girl's head around and blind her. She knew how to calm the most rebellious of girls if only to convince them to meet one more client.
She knew how to force the girls to stay despite their physical and mental pain; she even knew how to keep the girls' parents at bay.
For Kanoe, Satsuki was just another young innocent girl to enslave with sweet verbal chains.
The words themselves were only half of Kanoe's power; the other half was the timing in which to say these words.
The timing to say those words to Satsuki was approaching as Kanoe sat at a table at the very center of the ward's inner court, from which she could observe the whole ward to see who goes where to do what.
Kanoe saw Satsuki drag her feet from her cell; head dizzy with too much sleep and mind-numbing boredom, to the shower room.
Kanoe saw five Night Owls exchange looks between them and get up to enter the shower rooms after the girl.
Kanoe rose to her feet and slowly began walking towards the shower rooms, preparing a small speech for the girl.
"Taking a bath are we?" The head gangster surprised Satsuki just as she removed her shirt.
Satsuki turned around, scanning the women blocking her only escape routes systematically. There were two exits to the shower, both blocked by two Night Owls standing with their arms folded on their black covered chests. The leader of the women was advancing towards Satsuki.
Water. Shower head above you. Lamp dangling loosely from the roof after some idiot tried to hang herself here of all places some years ago and some idiot at the ward management forgetting to get it fixed.
Think clearly Satsuki and you'll be able to fight them back.
The young woman leaped backwards, landing on the plastic bench at the wall by the shower head and tap.
The Owl leader took a large step backwards, exposing bright white teeth in a wolfish snarl, "You're backing up against the wall, sweetheart, might as well give up and give in to us. If you be good enough we might let you join us one day."
Satsuki's hand snaked to the shower head, the other giving the cold water tap a large swing. The water came in a powerful arch, drenching the leader. Satsuki increased the flow and shook the tube-shaped plastic object in her hand until the four other women were drenched as well.
The water was freezing and her action came as a surprise to her attackers, so it took the Night Owls a few moments to recover and aim at her again.
Satsuki used these precious minutes to cover the smooth tiled floor with as much water as she could.
While one hand was busy with the watering task, Satsuki reached out her dry hand to her shirt at her feet on the bench and wrapped it around her hand.
Kanoe saw this as she walked to the shower room's left entrance and realized that if there's a time to intervene and stop what her girl's doing it's now or never.
Satsuki tore the lamp out of its socket and was ripping the electric chord out of the wall with such violence that she found a long loose end buzzing in her hand.
She was going to electrocute her attackers and she just might kill them in the process. The confinement time she'll do will dwarf in comparison to the extension of her imprisonment time as punishment. She will be taken away from Kanoe, taken to a different part of the ward where they keep the true psychopaths and maniacs and Kanoe will never see her again.
She must act and she must act now.
"DON'T DO IT, GIRL!" Kanoe flung herself on the two gangsters before her, grabbing a handful of each the women's hairs, drawing the heads sideways and then to the other direction, knocking the two skulls together.
With an almost operatic sigh of woe, the two women crumbled to the ground.
Satsuki was still yanking on the wire, her eyes afire with wrath, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was not in the perfect mental calm as she thought she was; she was avenging for all the things the Owls made her do and she was very much shaken by her emotions even if she did not recognize it.
Meanwhile, the leader of the gangsters was too intimidated by the crazed girl and the obvious threat she was waving at her to note Kanoe as the woman charged at her two remaining fellows.
Kanoe ripped her shoes off, risking electrocution by Satsuki, might the girl yank the wire low enough, and sent a spinning kick to the back of one gangster's knees, punching the second's chest.
With the slippery wet floor and the powerful swings, the women came flying backwards and landing on the hard surface on their backs, knocked into shock and neutralized.
Satsuki was still holding the wire though her eyes were not so crazed now; they were following Kanoe's moves, wide, clear and innocently surprised.
The Night Owl leader spun around and charged at Kanoe who swung a sharp-nailed slap at her face and carved another set of four lines onto a gangster's face.
"Back off witch, she's mine."
Noting her disarmed followers, the leader backed away. She kept her blazing eyes on Kanoe despite the flood from the scratch on her forehead leaking into her eyes. With a shrilling whistle she called her women to follow her out of the room.
The first part of Kanoe's mission went as planned, now to the second half.
She turned around to Satsuki with the calmest, most concerned expression she could pull. "Are you alright, Yatouji-san?"
Satsuki's wire-grabbing hand was shaking; her shower head hand was shaking a little less. Her face was red and her eyes were again crazed, though the tears had stopped flowing since Kanoe first charged at her offenders.
"Yours am I?" she hissed. During her defense she unconsciously bit her lower lip until she opened a nasty cut in it, her wounded lower lip now trembled, spraying her chin with small dark red dots.
"I just said it to get them off your back. Besides, you got to have someone to look after you in this hellhole."
"I can take care of myself pretty damn well, thank you." Satsuki kept herself from screaming. She was still clutching the wire and the dripping shower head.
Kanoe stepped forwards, into the biggest pool of water, and turned the tap shut. She made her moves as smooth and calm as she could so as not to arouse the girl's agitated nerves into something they'll both regret.
"By electrocuting five people to death after all they've done is come to talk to you? Seems more like you're trying to add a death sentence to your punishment."
"They were not here to talk to me!" Satsuki choked on her words as she noted the desperate, hoarse tone they came out in. She was not in perfect self control, she was not a cold blooded killer, she was not like Sakurazuka-san.
Grabbing the shirt wrapped hand softly, Kanoe pried Satsuki's fingers off the wire and brought the hand gently down by the girl's side, making careful note not to touch her body while she's at it, "That's what the wardens would have seen. They would look at the facts and listen to evidence from other prisoners and decide that you attacked them."
"I want them dead, not just beaten."
"They will die, and by your hands, but all in due time." Kanoe now sharpened her eyes from sweet to malicious, her dark red smile holding a secret.
"You will use your charmed computer to kill them, won't you? You'll persuade it to electrocute them when they're sitting to it and then no one will think it's your fault. That's what you were planning, wasn't it?"
Satsuki blinked at Kanoe, letting the shower head escape her grip.
"How clever you are, Yatouji-san, how absolutely ingenious in your sadistic little games. I like that; a good, cold hearted killer like yourself is just what I like at my side."
Satsuki, who climbed off the bench and involuntarily drew towards Kanoe now backed away suddenly. "By your side! You mean like the Night Owls wanted me 'by their side'!"
Damn that girl's slippery, ah, but she still has a chance to twist this around.
Kanoe did not lose her cool. She shrugged, giving her head a small nonchalant shake while running her fingers calmly through her black hairs. "Nah, I'm not into those kind of kinks. I just like people who can act their plans with no thoughts of anyone else. I like smart, smooth people like that because I am like that, which is why I'm here and not out there in the free world."
She was losing Satsuki, the girl didn't want to hear about her, she didn't care about partnerships. Very well, if she doesn't want to know she's a partner in something, Kanoe'll find a way to team up with her without Satsuki's knowing.
But first, a bit of flattery; the verbal lubricator.
"You know who you remind me of? That black wizard at the basement ward."
Satsuki's eyes twitched involuntarily, widening. Bingo.
"You've heard of him?"
"Ah yes, my lover in the 3rd ward spent some confinement time in the cage by his side, told me of what a remarkable man he is. Both I and Yuuto, my lover, are very fond of people like you and Sakurazuka-san."
Satsuki was immobilized, paralyzed and enchanted by Kanoe's words. The older woman neared her now with silent, smooth steps on the wet floor.
Kanoe reached out and cupped Satsuki's chin, lifting it up a bit. Satsuki backed up against the wall, but her body language did not give a single sign of alarm or distress; on the contrary, she was too spellbound to note she was trapped.
"My lover received a small note from dear Sakurazuka-san. It's a symbol, a spell. You write it on a wall with freshly drawn blood," say 'freshly drawn blood' in the right hoarse lustful tone and the girl's yours, "and the wall comes crumbling down. Boom! Like that."
Satsuki's jaw came loose, opening her mouth a bit. Actually, she had really sensuous lips, especially now that the lower lip was swollen and red from the cut.
"I'm thinking, you draw the blood and I draw the symbol, or you'll do both, whatever you wish my dear. I'm here to help the likes of you, let's call it my kink. And while my lover and Sakurazuka-san bring their own wards' walls down, your beloved computer brings the whole system down."
She drew a little away from Satsuki, gathering momentum, "Imagine the panic, the screams, the utter complete delicious chaos. Why, just thinking about it sends shivers all around my body." Kanoe shook her shoulder symbolically a bit, throwing her head back a little and spreading the most demonic smile she could on her lips.
"It would be…" came Satsuki's hushed voice finally, "It would be…."
Kanoe drew back towards the girl, placing her free hand on the wall to Satsuki's side to completely block the girl's escape. "It would be….perfect…." she dipped her head forward into the other girl's.
Dark red lipstick mixed with dark red blood.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"Satsuki"
"I am here, 3D45893CMA"
"Welcome back Satsuki"
- - - - - - - - - -
Jailbird: Hello Yuuto.
PinkCupid: Kano-cakes, you've changed your nickname. I like it p
Jailbird: I am not your lover.
PinkCupid: Who are you? Identify yourself immediately.
Jailbird: Calm yourself down Yuuto. I am Yatouji Satsuki of the 6th Ward, where Kanoe-cakes lives.
PinkCupid: What do you want?
Jailbird: I'm in on the plan.
PinkCupid: Kanoe told you about it? WTF!
Jailbird: I repeat myself; Calm yourself down.
PinkCupid: Wait a minute, I heard about a Yatouji Satsuki, the computer girl. You're not her, tell me which warden you are, come on, out with it.
Jailbird: I'm not Yatouji Satsuki? Are you sure?
PinkCupid: Hey now, what's this?
Jailbird: I am not Yatouji Satsuki?
PinkCupid: Hey, our club's site is still active, cool! I thought the pigs brought it down.
Jailbird: They did. I brought it up again.
PinkCupid: You did! How?
JailBird: I want to hear you say it.
PinkCupid: o Kinky.
Jailbird: Say it.
PinkCupid: You are Yatouji Satsuki.
Jailbird: Cool?
PinkCupid: 8D Cool.
Jailbird: About Sakurazuka-san's spell, tell me more about it.
PinkCupid: With the great Yatouji Satsuki's hand in the internet, I guess I can tell you about it. Ha ha ha.
Jailbird: I'm running out of time here. Email me the details, every detail.
PinkCupid: Yes ma'am.
Jailbird: Goodbye.
PinkCupid: Bye, Libido sends hugs.
- - - - - - - -
The weekly fifteen minutes were quite enough for Yatouji Satsuki.
(tbc)
N.A: Muhahahahaha, buhahahaha!