[Warning: The following chapter contains mature themes of violence and torture that may be disturbing to some readers. I've ensured to write only what is necessary to set the scene. Some details may still cause a stir. Please be aware as/if you choose to read on.]
------
Hinata groaned to consciousness and instantly panicked when his senses returned to him.
He found himself in a cave of the forest. Bound to tree roots, protruding out of rock walls, with iron chains.
His kimono had been removed, so he was hanging naked in suspension. Water was dripping down his body to leave puddles at his dangling feet.
"Good. Awake."
A sinister cackle grated through his ears to make him shiver. He blinked in the silhouette of a soldier standing at the entrance. Daylight burned at his back with an intense glare.
The soldier stepped towards him.
Hinata recognized the secret police officer who had held a gun to his forehead. Instead of shooting his brains out as threatened, he had shot at the birds in the air then knocked him unconscious.
"There's this form of torture where we lock prisoners in a dry room for days with no water or food. Just heat and bugs to crawl all over their bodies. Then we return to trickle water on their backs."
He cackled louder with laughter. "They beg and squirm for the water that itches their back."
Hinata gulped, not about to give away his emotions. The man faced him, so he could see ugly scars on his cheeks and the madness in his dark eyes.
His laughter near deafened his ears. "Oh, but they can't. They can't!"
Hinata forced a deadpan expression. Not wanting to give the madman any leeway to his psyche.
"Your friends are dead. We caught them at the foot of the hills." The man soberly declared once his laughter had subsided.
He waited for Hinata to take the bait.
"Scum." He groaned when he realized Hinata wasn't going to crack as easily as he thought he would.
He unclipped a whip from his belt, released its length and commenced with slashes to Hinata's chest and groin.
Cutting, hot, pain surged through Hinata's body. He did his best to hold in the pain, and not let the man show how much of it he was feeling.
"You're brave now, let's see after a few rounds how you go." The man continued to crack his whip and lash at Hinata's skin to draw blood from deep, stinging cuts.
The water's dripping over the wounds made the stinging prominent. Tears welled in Hinata's eyes as he copped the excruciating pain.
Whip-crack!
"Tell me where the documents are!"
Hinata whimpered and shook his head.
Whip-crack!
"TELL ME!"
Hinata cried out from the pain.
The man held back his whip and stood over Hinata with a sickly grin.
"Where's your filthy lover?"
Hinata reactively frowned with perplexity.
The man was under the belief that he was Eiji father's lover? He wanted to spit out the foul assumption and internally cursed at his involuntary reaction.
"Interesting. I wonder how much you truly know." The man mused. "Nah. You're playing dumb."
He cracked his whip and recommenced with the harsh whipping, cutting down to Hinata's member to make it throb with pain.
"Where is Takaki?!" The man continued to drill into Hinata on each maddening whiplash.
"Where is that traitor?!"
The man repeatedly asked for Eiji father's whereabouts and some documents that he had apparently stolen. Constantly striking his body with rounds of whiplashes until he was no longer able to feel anything except throbbing numbness. Blood blurred his vision.
"He died fighting the war." His whimper was almost incomprehensible.
The man bellowed with mad laughter. "You continue to play dumb. Oh, I enjoy seeing you break under my whip!"
Hinata's heart burned with detest for Eiji's father. An emotion that gave him an inner strength to withstand the man's further assaults.
"I'm telling you the truth."
"LIAR!" The man yelled as he raised his arm to administer one damaging whiplash to Hinata's head.
Sounds of gunfire exploded behind the man's back.
It was followed with a dull thud and unnatural silence.
Hinata tried to shake off the instant ringing to his ears and onset delirium. His body was in too much pain to move. His vision was almost shot to pieces. It wouldn't be long until he bled to death.
Outlines of another man entered his vision. He felt shadows moving around him and gravity push his body towards the ground.
Rather than landing on the stone like a heap of flesh. He fell into a pair of strong arms. He was scooped up and carried out into daylight.