Yuki
present
I remember that night. I remember falling onto straight concrete and my bones shattering. I remember that man walking up to me and telling me in the softest voice that he was not my enemy. I remember him shooting what would've been my killer in the stomach. I remember him killing a room full of people to take over an army thousands strong. I remember the story Sora told me of X and Kaido's bond and the falling out of it. And now that I see his face, I wonder how I could've missed it until now.
In the shadow of men turnt to corpses, Scythe stands in all the might as the day I first beheld him. Straightening the hood of the coat menacingly traipsing down to his legs, his face becomes iron, all the injuries he bears not phasing his posture in the slightest.
X and Hidari stand on either sides, both wiping their weapons of fresh blood while Otoko-san stands with fear in his eyes.
Kaido tsks at the specks of blood that got on his cheek. Hidari hands him a white handkerchief to wipe it off and a cigarette already puffing smoke. Kaido inhales, not even glancing my way as I push myself up against the wall in shock.
"Here's what's going to happen, little man," Kaido says, X grabbing Otoko by the shoulders and forcing him to his knees while Hidari gets rid of the guards' bodies.
In a sudden reversal of positions, Kaido takes his time to talk just as he did as Scythe. He grabs Otoko by the hair, tugging it back till he groans.
"You're going to tell me where Yin is," he says, his voice low and threatening. "And if she's unharmed, I'll give you a nice quick death." His other palm heats as the cigarette dangles from his lips, glowing just as his eyes do like fire inhabits his veins. He chuckles a breath. "I mean, if I see a single scratch on her– well you'll still die, but– Hidari and X are so hungry for some action and I haven't given them a proper plaything in weeks."
Otoko is shocked, speechless, just as I am that he didn't see this sooner. But his shock turns to anger at Kaido's threats. He practically bites at him, shaking out of his hold.
"This organization made me a promise 25 years ago when I was sitting in the rubble with my family's dead bodies. I would get to kill her and her brother and now that the day is here, that promise won't get taken from me. You really think giving a man a choice between torture and death is smart when you don't have all the cards, boy?"
Kaido stares down at him, not a single change in his expression, not a single reaction for what Otoko has to say. He takes another drag from the cigarette, finishing it completely and tossing it on ground between Otoko's knees.
"You think you have a choice?" he asks, a curve lighting his lips. "Oh no, no, there's no choice in the matter here. You will tell me where Yin is. If you don't, Hidari and X will be so disappointed." Kaido pulls his hair again this time, shoving his face down onto the ground. The cigarette burns Otoko's cheek making him yell out in pain. "Because then I'll be the one to force it out of you."
"Kaido, stop, please–" I start to speak, but he shoots me a look, a look that honestly makes me fear I could be in Otoko's place if I challenged him.
Kaido sighs long and hard before tossing Otoko back. He wipes his hand on his side as if it disgusts him to touch another human being. X stands guard just on the other side with their sword in hand in case Otoko tries to run.
"Fire and ice are great conductors of pain, but I'm a simple man," Kaido says. He takes a knife from his pocket, one that looks old and worn, but at the same time cared for, sharpened to a hilt. "I think pain is best felt one slash at a time."
Otoko gets up on his knees again, scowling up at Kaido without a shred of fear in his eyes. He doesn't care if he gets tortured or killed. What he wants is revenge on my mother and her family for the war her brother caused. But Kaido has no intention of torturing him. I know that when Hidari re-emerges from the underground, the hatch groaning as he makes his way back up the stairs.
