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We're beyond the halfway point of this year and I hope it's been treating you kindly. May these chapters help you recharge and relax.
Inhaling deeply, the steam surrounding Sakura as she washed away three full days' worth of dirt and grime from her body, able to see her skin's true complexion again, she realized how pale she was. Her hair was now uncomfortably stuck to her body. She listened to the other small splashes around her that came from the other children who were also bathing.
Sakura and the rest of the children had been taken to a washroom; a large steamed-up room with a big bath and not much else where they were able to clean all the grim and dirt that had become attached during their time at sea despite how many people there were there, everyone was silent, not knowing what to expect. Sakura didn't know what to expect either, she had seen Sinbad, and while his physical condition was better than anticipated, mentally she wasn't so sure. Sinbad was a human being with many flaws but he had many qualities and ambitions that gave him a strong sense of purpose that many lacked.
'So what could have made him surrender those ambitions?'
She hoped to get the answer soon.
"Alright listen up, you lot have been handpicked by me to become high-class slaves. From now on you are going to stay here with Lady Madaura to train and further educate yourself so you better not disappoint or I'll ship you off myself. You must do everything to please Lady Madaura, do not disrespect her, she is now your mother." Fatima said in a harsh tone, glaring down at the group.
Sakura bit her tongue to withhold all comments, the silver collar around her neck was annoyingly tight and she was sure when she removed it there would be a bruise, her new hair was irritating; always tickling her skin, and the simple worn-out dress she wore before was dirty but the replacement did not make her feel any warmer as it was two pieces of white material covering her, she was also shackled at her ankles.
Fingers wrapped around the shining collar, the metal was cold to the touch.
'Now, what should I do?' Sakura wondered
Fatima turned to Sakura, his eyes hard as ever "You; what's your name?"
Sakura looked up, emerald green eyes glaring back causing Fatima's expression to waver before it hardened again trying to hold face with her. "Answer me!"
Tight lips moved very little but an audible voice emitted from them "Sumire,"
"Lady Madaura wants to see you right away, get up."
Despite the urge to deny it, Sakura stood up without hesitance or fear on her face, she needed to know exactly what was going on with Sinbad and there was no better way she could think of than meeting the main instigator. She walked up to Fatima, her chains brushing against each other until she was a few inches away, continuing to stare right at the boy with hard eyes and a blank expression saying nothing…
"Ah, so this is one of my new children!"
Sakura observed, Madaura with a calm expression, the woman was seated behind a finely carved wooden desk with gold trimmings, her office decorated to give off a sense of elegance before nobility, the curtains straight and clean, and the walls appeared freshly painted but did not reek of the odor that came with it, the rug beneath her feet was plush and Sakura resisted to urge to scrunch her toes.
A boy was standing beside Madaura with an equally stoic expression on his face, looking at Sakura with a scrutinizing gaze, examining her every move as if he was ready for her to try and attack. It was good instinct but Sakura did not intend to do anything that would ruin her plans and put everyone else in danger including Sinbad.
"Sumire, what a beautiful name."
Sakura remained silent, staring at Madaura, her voice and expression, seemed contradictory to Sakura, unfitting for a woman who was a slave merchant. Sakura also did not enjoy the smile she was given, it was a stitched-on smile-fake and removable with a simple pull at the thread.
And Sakura was picking at them slowly.
"Tell me Sumire, where did you come from?" Madaura asked
While she was sure the silent treatment would give her a painful but possibly entertaining response Sakura decided to answer.
"Far,"
She also chose to be vague.
Madaura's hands there settled on the desk, intertwined together, they visibly tightened. There was a lot that Sakura discovered and observed about Sinbad, one of them was that he was incredibly charming but what she had witnessed down there was Sinbad the one being charmed.
She also knew that Sinbad was persistent and operated a certain way, he hardly ever became hostile unless the situation called for it. He also had no problem enchanting others to get what he wanted, but for him to be as he was now, it must not have worked. This woman called all of them her children, an interesting twist to define her slaves but she saw that Madaura knew how to charm the children, but Sakura wasn't going to get any answers from her like this.
"Oh and how did you end up here?"
"That should be obvious,"
Sakura's tone was unchanging, unwavering, and blank, sealing the hate within her words so they wouldn't seep out so it sounded.
The boy's voice cut through, sharp "Hey show respect to Lady Madaura!"
"Now, now Kil," Madaura soothed "There are natural responses to new children and adolescents especially, they are in that rebellious faze right? They just need their mother's hand to guide them."
'Mother huh?' Sakura thought, wanting to scoff,
"After all look at Sinbad," Madaura pointed at Kil "He was my most disobedient child yet, always behaving like he knew better, as if he was grown up."
"Yes Lady Madaura," Kil nodded softly before looking at Sakura "After he received all that punishment he finally started obeying Lady Madaura."
One of the most frustrating feelings is when you are unable to act on them and Sakura is reaching a new level of frustration. There was a crack in her mask, she was beginning to put the pieces together, and with every piece that fell into place the more horrifying and vivid the image was becoming but it was still on the base of imagination. There were still other pieces she needed to put into place.
"But of course, a mother does not enjoy punishing her children," Madaura said looking back to Sakura, a smile graced her lips. "All I want is one word of apology and then you can return to your other siblings, the new ones like you especially."
It was a simple request and perhaps if she did it then she would be able to go back with the rest of the children, but Sakura wanted a clearer picture of what had happened to Sinbad, she wanted it vividly transparent, to work her way to figuring out how to bring him back-there was another reason but it was not one she would think about because it was a bit illogical.
"How about three words-No fucking way."
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..
A slam echoed through the large hallway, and the large silver door shut with a heavy thud, it was so finely sealed there wasn't a crack for light to pass through, and luckily the room had a small window high on top, too far for any human to reach without a ladder. Sakura waited until the footsteps were gone before she began inspecting the room, although there wasn't much to inspect.
The room was decent-sized, the walls made of iron. The chamber slowly filled with water but it barely passed her ankles before it stopped, so whatever methods of drowning torture Sakura thought were going to be inflicted went down the drain with the rest of the water.
Still, her suspicions did not waver as she remembered what Madaura said before she was taken to this chamber.
"HOW DARE YOU-INSOLENT BRAT, PERHAPS THE SAME PUNISHMENT WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON AS WELL."
'She said the same punishment,' Sakura thought, who else could she be talking about but Sinbad? The other children were all so young, they were easy to influence but Sakura was older and more aware. The case would be the same with Sinbad-especially with Sinbad.
A powerful shiver ran up Sakura's spine, she saw her breath coming out of her mouth and she realized how cold it was becoming.
"Now I get it," Sakura breathed looking at her bare feet touching the water. The water was going to drop her temperature and the build of this chamber was meant to insulate the cold while keeping the heat out. Having studied conditions of hypothermia Sakura knew that when you first plummet into cold water your body would go into a shocked response, people begin hyperventilating which makes it difficult to get air into your lungs leading to panic and further hyperventilation. This can trigger cardiac arrest, more so it causes major psychological stress.
'That must be the point though,'
After a few minutes, the muscles in the limbs become affected, and neuromuscular activity slows. The effects start in the hands. Sakura held up her hands, seeing them begin to shake.
It was honestly a genius method of torture because physically the body would become so cold a person would believe they were going to die but that wouldn't be very likely considering the water was so low, the effects would be prolonged but they wouldn't be able to tell the difference and it would cause more physical trauma than anything else. Even a mild case of hypothermia would diminish a victim's physical and mental abilities.
'She'll probably keep me in here for a while,' Sakura thought, sitting down with crossed legs she closing her eyes, the chakra was useful for a lot of things and it gave you more control over your body energies, so Sakura would be able to control her body temperature from dramatically dropping, slowing it down but more so it was for the sake of her mentality, she was not going to give into the psychological torture of this.
Eventually, she fell asleep.
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..
..
An image began to form, and as the darkness filled with light, she felt a warmth wrapped around her. A gentle stroke along her head woke her from her dreams. A fire burning widely in front of her and a tale with foot set, steam indicating it was still warm.
Sakura's eyes traveled up to Madaura's face staring down at her, smiling still. She hadn't noticed how much time went by before she passed out; she could only guess how many hours it had been but meditating had allowed her to keep focus away from the cold and keep her mind strong, preventing panic.
"Oh my dear, you are freezing," Madaura continued to smooth out her hair "You must have felt so helpless in there right, don't worry Mother's here now."
Pressed against Madaura's chest, a smile formed on Sakura's lips but it was not of amusement or anything about delight, only a conclusion with a hint of grimness. 'Now I understand…'
Pulling back, Sakura removed the blanket around her and stood up. "What crap are you babbling now, you damn hag,"
..
..
Those few short sentences were enough to get her thrown back into the same holding cell, water-filled to her ankles, and then the process repeated. Sakura sat in that prison, shivering as she thought about the methods this woman must've employed to break Sinbad. To make him subservient to her.
She figured out the method and reason for breaking her, wearing her down with 'punishments', Sakura came to realize the purpose behind them was for total submission not in the sense of fear but in the sense of total loyalty and devotion to Madaura. She had that influence on all of the other children, but they were young, more helpless, and very impressionable, their minds were not able to see things as clearly as she or Sinbad would because they were not quite 'children'; they were teenagers, rebellious children on the verge of adulthood, it was difficult to sway the hearts and minds of them, to show any kind of devotion to those they were not familiar with, especially someone who referred to them as children when they thought of themselves as adults. That was where Sakura pieced the punishment in.
Sakura smiled as she sat in the water with her legs crossed, her body ceased to shiver and that could only mean one thing…
"I'll see you soon, idiot king."
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A week had passed by and in that time she had been in a kind of solitary confinement, disallowed from interacting with anyone else except Madaura who would come to her chambers-a small room with a bed and a barred window. Her meals were brought to her and after she would sleep for a little while before Madaura would visit her in the morning, her voice as sickly sweet and a smile just as.
Sakura's eyes opened, showing very little emotion she watched as Madaura placed a tray on the bed.
"Look what your mother has brought you, my dear. I've had it specially made for you." Madaura said taking the spoon and stirring the delectable smelling food before holding it out to Sakura's lips. Sakura pulled her head back.
"I can feed myself,"
Just as Sakura expected the tray along with her meal was sent flying through the air, landing on the floor, Sakura stared blankly at Madaura who sneered, face twisted in fury.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT WAY," Madaura screamed.
Sakura heard the footsteps coming towards the room and that only meant one thing in her case.
'Guess it's time for my punishment,'
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It would be considered a bit sick, but a certain relief filled Sakura when she was punished, sitting in that isolated room alone, eating little to nothing, risking hypothermia, and so forth but with every mark, scratch, wound, loss of breath she had, another portion of relief settled in.
She had been away from so long, away from Sinbad when he was taken as a slave. The guilt that was eating away at her like a poison was being removed via the bitter cure that came through her punishment, every time she endured the torture she thought about what Sinbad must have gone through longer, while she continued, oblivious. She knew there wasn't any logic behind this, but at the same time, it made sense to Sakura.
Sakura winced as she felt herself being lowered from the restraints on her wrists, she had been forced to stand on the tips of her toes for hours for if she lost balance bonds would be painful supporting her weight, of course, she had held up but Sakura noticed a while ago that her punishments were varying to the point where it would be considered actual torture. Sakura had read up on the many different methods of torture but most of them included permanent damage however none of Madaura's methods seemed to fall under that bar.
'Because you can't make a profit on damaged goods,' Sakura thought.
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"Lady Madaura," Kil called his master, placing another pile of scrolls on the side of her desk. He looked at her, leaning over the table, her handwriting on a piece of paper with a fine quilt, but he could tell by looking at her eyes that her mind was somewhere else, she was troubled and that was not something he wanted to see. He cared dearly for his beloved 'mother' and wanted her troubles to cease.
"What is it, Kil?" Madaura asked
"You are troubled," Kil said
Madaura sighed, putting her pen down and leaning back in her chair, her long hair cascading down her back in waves. "It's Sumire, she is yet to be accepted as one of my children."
"Yes, but it has taken a longer time with Sinbad." Kil pointed out, that he hadn't forgotten how much trouble the former dungeon conqueror and merchant had been, it had taken weeks to break him and then for Lady Madaura to build him back up to become her child and now there was also Sumire to deal with who was about the same age.
"Yes but Sinbad had been doing his best to avoid punishment from the beginning while Sumire appears to welcome it, it feels as though she sees it as a purpose for herself and I cannot have that. This means she will not be broken by any form of punishment I give her. I need her to become devoted to me from the bottom of her heart."
Kil narrowed his eyes "What do you have in mind Lady Madaura?"
A sly smile spread across the woman's face "It is time to take another approach."
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
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-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia
-NEW STORY: Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (2, 3, 4, 5,6,7)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter 67, 68, 69
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
-Crossroads of Fate chapter 19, 20, 21, 22
-Through the Looking Glass chapter 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
-(SEQUEL) Through the Spyglass chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi
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