InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tsubaki's Revenge ❯ Broken ( Chapter 18 )

Disclaimer: This story is based on "Inuyasha," copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi. No infringement of copyright intended or implied.

 

Tsubaki's Revenge, Part XVIII: Broken

 

Tsubaki strolled into the yard, the sun well up. She felt better than she had ever imagined feeling. Filled with almost more power than she could imagine. And her body felt—if this is what men felt after a sexual experience, no wonder so many sought it incessantly, not caring what risk they put on the woman.

 

It had been a moment of pure inspiration, the day before, when a bitter thought had come up, as to how easy it would have been to humiliate the hanyo, had their genders been switched. Women were so easy to rape; so easy for a strong man to force himself on her, to laugh at her cries, and to walk away. It had been then that the thought occurred to her, that a clever, magically strong woman could surely figure out how to rape a man. It wasn't as if men couldn't be raped—she'd overheard some of her father's men talking once, though as a child, she had had no idea what they were saying. For that matter, with the proper knowledge and daring, she suspected that any two or three women, working together, could rape a man.

 

Depending on how they did it, there would, of course, always be the potential for—consequences. But she had been clever, creating her puppet, her duplicate of Kikyo. A shikigami that could be linked very closely to her own body, so that she could feel everything the shikigami experienced, if so she desired. A bit of a risk, if someone managed to destroy the shikigami while she was linked to it. But the results!

 

She smiled at the hanyo lying at her feet. He was curled on his side in a tight ball, his new tail tucked between his legs. Dried blood and bruises haphazardly decorated his body. Tsubaki wondered what the experience would have been like, if the hanyo hadn't discovered the illusions. It would have been amusing to see his reaction when he'd realized that he had willingly coupled with a fake Kikyo. But, she decided that she would probably still have preferred his screams.

 

“Wake up, puppy,” she said.

 

The hanyo's ears twitched, and then flattened as the rest of his body tensed. “Stand up.”

 

He whined as his body obeyed. He stood with his head hanging, and his right hand still off the ground, his tail still curled protectingly forward. “Come here.” Slowly, he obeyed. “Sit.” He did so. “Now, look at me.”

 

Slowly, slowly his head came up. He glared at her, baring his teeth and snarling. But she could see the fear he could no longer hide. She smirked. “The little puppy looks afraid this morning. Didn't he have a very good night?”

 

He sprang at her, rage flashing into his eyes. He bounced off her shields, tumbling onto the rain-soaked grass. Rolling over, he scrambled back to his legs and hand, crouching, snarling his defiance. Tsubaki only smiled. “Be still,” she ordered him, before calling out. “Kikyo. Bring the shouki whip and come out here.”

 

The duplicate came out moments later. Tsubaki watched the hanyo's eyes - about the only part of him that could move, widen as he stared at the duplicate and the whip, which was glowing a dull purple from the demonic miasma she had imbued it with. “Kikyo,” she said, not moving her eyes away from the trapped hanyo, “this puppy needs a lesson. Ten strokes, I think. Slowly.”

 

“Of course, mistress,” said Kikyo's voice. She walked over to the hanyo, and petted his head. “I do wish you would learn to behave, dear Inuyasha.” The hanyo shivered, trying to shrink away without moving. Stepping back, the puppet obeyed her mistress, delivering ten blows with an arm that was stronger than any human. Tsubaki watched as the hanyo shuddered under each blow, blood spraying from each cut, the welts turning purple as his flesh absorbed the poison. Finishing, the duplicate coiled the whip back up, ignoring the blood that smeared her fingers. Moving alongside the shaking hanyo, she stroked his head again, streaking the silver plush. “Be good, Inuyasha.”

 

When the shikigami returned to her side, Tsubaki ran through the same set of orders as before. Staggering, sweat streaking down his face and blood dripping from his back, Inuyasha obeyed. He looked up at her with eyes dulled with pain, but a bit of defiance remained as he bared his teeth at her, this time in silence. Tsubaki smiled down at him, savoring the next bit. “You know I've been tracking Kikyo, after having tricked her into going the wrong direction?”

 

His eyes widened as his snarl vanished, and fear flashed across his face. Slowly, he nodded. “I checked early this morning. The object I used to trick her hadn't changed position since yesterday. When I sent my scout youkai to check, it reported human blood, death, and miko power.” His face paled. “Kikyo is dead, hanyo. A pity it wasn't me who killed her, but well, I still have you. Don't I?”

 

She watched his eyes glaze over, as a shudder ran down his frame. After that, he froze, eyes focused on nothing, not even his ears moving. Time seemed to stretch, as she waited for his reaction. Any reaction.

 

Without warning, he reared up with a howl. The howl turned into a scream as his youki pulsed, shattering nearly every spell in the collar. Screaming Kikyo's name, he jumped at her, his eyes utterly mad, claws suddenly sprouting on his right fingers. Her shields held as his golden claws sought to shred them, but just barely. She screamed out the words to invoke the choking spell, instinctively ducking as his claws struck again. The maddened hanyo staggered, hands clawing at the collar for a moment. Then, to her shock, he returned to his attack on her shields. They shattered under his blow, and she dove forward, the claws barely missing her. She hit the ground and rolled, hands flung up, crackling with power, though she knew it would be useless. Then she saw the hanyo stagger as the Kikyo duplicate landed on his back, driving her teeth into his shoulder, clawing at him. Pulled off balance, he fell backwards, pinning the puppet underneath. He went limp.

 

“Mistress, should I punish him?” asked the puppet, as she wriggled out from under the hanyo. “He was very bad, to attack you.”

 

“Not yet,” replied Tsubaki, getting up to her hands and knees. She released the choking spell, then half-walked, half-crawled over to the hanyo. She waited until she saw his chest heave as he gasped for breath, then picked up the right hand, verifying what she'd thought she'd seen. The claws didn't look nearly as long as she thought they had when he had leaped at her, but they were definitely back. She grimaced for that reminder of the hanyo's healing ability, and then checked the collar. The three strongest spells were still present, though they would not survive another such burst of youki until their shields were strengthened. She sighed. The hanyo was making so much work for her. Worth it, but still.

 

He stirred, eyelids fluttering. Quickly, she invoked the paralysis spell that stopped voluntary motions below the neck. He growled, ears slanting backwards. Reaching over, she forced him to turn his head to look at her. “Aren't you going to cry for your beloved?” she taunted him. “Or maybe a hanyo can't really love.”

 

The hanyo stared at her, momentary surprise turning to shock and then anguish. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

 

“It's just as well, you know,” she added. “Do you really think she would have loved you, if it hadn't been for my spell? Do you really think anyone could ever love a hanyo, without help? A filthy, disgusting mixture of human and youkai?” He made a small sound in his throat, and she smiled. “You ought to be glad Kikyo's dead, hanyo. Now she won't be humiliated for loving a hanyo. She won't be outcast, for being weak enough to fall a thing that could never deserve her. She won't be laughed at, for smiling at a hanyo. She won't be whipped out of the village when she's caught kissing a hanyo. She won't get her throat slit because she sullied herself by coupling with a hanyo.”

 

“Stop it,” he whispered, eyes filming over. “It's not true. It's not true!”

 

“Isn't it?” she asked, leaning over him, “You know you don't deserve to be loved, don't you? You don't deserve kindness. You don't deserve friendship.”

 

“You—you're wrong.” A tear trailed down from either eye, and she smiled cruelly down at his desperate, agonized expression. “I—Kik-yo—“

 

“No, I'm not,” she told him. “The only thing a hanyo deserves is pain. Humiliation. Fear. And if you don't believe that, then perhaps you need another lesson—Kikyo.”

 

“Don't call her Kikyo!” the hanyo screamed.

 

She smirked at him. “Why not? She's the only Kikyo you really deserve.” She addressed the puppet dressed in the white and red miko robes, without bothering to look up. “I think the hanyo needs another lesson, Kikyo. Take him into the west room and give him one. You did a superb job last night, I'm sure you don't need any suggestions.”

 

She caught a last glimpse of horror on his face as the puppet picked him up. Bearing the hanyo easily, `Kikyo' vanished around the corner of the house. Getting to her feet, Tsubaki watched the youkai swarming over the ruined section of the house for a few moments, then sauntered over and sat on the raised wall surrounding the well. Letting down the small bucket, she raised it back up and set it on the rim. She smiled at her perfect reflection as the muffled screams came. Later, she smiled again as the expressionless puppet returned for instructions, trailing faint sobs in her wake.

 

Breaking a spirit was so much more satisfying than simply breaking a body.