Soon after hearing those words I passed out again. The pain was still there but neither my body nor my mind reacted to it. I probably was out for a long while. I never knew how long it was. Naturally, the first thing my body tried to do when I woke up was to move. Oh, how I regretted it as an immense wave of pain shook my whole being. I did my best to endure it and managed to sit up. I had to move my weight from over my wings, after all. My jaw was clenched as I tried to flex them. A hoarse pained shout left my mouth. My wings were broken for sure and probably clipped, too. Trapped and with my wings clipped, I'd probably never be able to fly again even if I ever made it out of here. Such a horrible fate for a winged demon who cherished his freedom. That hurt even more than any physical pain I could be in. I sighed and covered my mouth as my head hung slightly, ignoring the aching sensations every single move I made brought.
"Don't push yourself too much."Said a female's voice behind me. I recognized it, it was this girl's voice. I didn't reply. I had no idea what to say, anyway. My sensitive ears picked in the sound of clothes ruffling followed by footsteps. The girl was now in front of me. She kneeled and looked at my torso. I followed her eyes and noticed my vest was gone and it had been replaced by bandages, ragged bandages. "You seem to be healing fast." She said with a light smile. I frowned at all this sudden concern from a girl I'd never seen before.
"You took care of my wounds, I take it..." My voice tone sounded harsher than I intended but she didn't seem to mind much about it and nodded. "Why?" In Makai, it was really odd to see someone who actually cared about the others in a selfless way which often makes you think people want something from you.
"It's just..." She lowered her gaze for a moment and then looked at me again. "...you remind me a lot of my brother." She added with a smile that reflected sorrow instead of happiness.
"Your brother?" She nodded.
"He was the one who always looked after me since I was a child. He died a couple of months ago." She explained clearly, hurt could be clearly seen on her features and I could notice she was being honest She covered her mouth and bowed apologetically. "I'm...I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to bore you with the story of my life." I could feel my face softening as she forced a smile, trying to hide her own pain. Again, I couldn't find something to say. "I'm sorry if I incommoded you with that." Her gaze was on the bandages again.
"These?" I ignored the pain as I motioned my hand at said bandages. "Of course you didn't. Thank you for doing such thing for me." I replied with a grateful smile.
"You're welcome." She smiled again, this time it was a happier smile but it didn't last much as she spoke again. "It always saddens me to see a new youkai here. It reminds me of the time when I was brought here..."
"Where are we exactly?"
"We're inside Lord Endo's fortress." It wasn't that much of a big surprise to me. Endo was the landlord of the fortress Kurama and I raided, this fortress. With everything that happened that night, after Kurama left, it was pretty obvious I was going to be brought here. Although, all that didn't prevent my face from showing certain shock. I was sure this place was going to be my grave someday. I had no real problem with that. I had already lost everything I had in this world, being the only concern in my mind how long would it take me to finally die and how would it happen. Nothing kind and peaceful, that was for sure. This girl noticed the shock on my face and spoke again. "Why did they bring you here? Did they trade you in the slave market or-"
"I was caught when I was trying to steal from this damn place." I cut her short. "I was caught by one of the bamboo traps...." I growled, my face holding a pained expression again at the memory of that night. That horrid night, the taste of blood, the mind numbing pain, Kurama leaving, running for his life, leaving me behind. I was happy about him leaving but that didn't erase the pain that came with the idea of losing him. Now I had nothing but the hope that he could made it alive out of this damned place. None of us said anything, apparently, we both were pondering about the consequences my daring would bring me.
"At least you made it alive out of that trap..." She said as if trying to make me feel better. Needless to say it didn't work at the moment. A deep sigh escaped my mouth before I could reply.
"As far as I've seen, it seems like being here is worse than dying." My spirits were lower than they had been in centuries as I glanced over the pile of what seemed to be fresh corpses with clear signs of violence on them at the back of the dungeon. She shrugged, a rather sad expression on her face again. Even her body had those signs as well. I looked away, feeling a little bad about what I just said. As angry and frustrated as I was back then with myself, it was hard to try and be nice even if I was usually known for being a lighthearted and easy going guy. How would you feel if you were in such situation? Anyway, trying to change the subject, I spoke again, making a huge effort not to sound rude again since she had been nice with me and I was being nothing but a complete asshole to her. "My name's Kuronue. What's yours?" She gasped which made me notice I took her by surprise.
"My name is Ayako. Nice to meet you, Kuronue-san." She smiled again and bowed.
"Nice to meet you, too, Ayako." I tried to bow, clenching my jaw as I did. She giggled softly and placed a hand on my chest, stopping me from moving more than necessary.
"You don't have to do that. Your body needs some rest. Let me help you." Ayako moved to my side, placing my less injured arm around her shoulders and helped me to stand up. Oh, such excruciating pain I felt. I felt a tad dizzy but, luckily for both of us, we soon reached the makeshift bed she prepared for me close to the wall. It was far from being really comfortable but it was better than the cold wet floor I had been laying on.
"Thank you..." I said with some effort as I laid down. A pained yet warm smile on my face.
"Sleep now, Kuronue." Ayako said with soft voice, pulling one of the blankets over me. Sleeping seemed to be the best thing I could do. Who knows? Maybe I could have a nice dream in which I escaped the cruel fate awaiting for me. My eyelids were heavier than ever and I fell asleep.
