Yoko's "Protection," Suichi's Suffering...

Yoko was half-napping in his little hideaway cave when the alarm plants he’d spread around the entrance went off. Immediately he was awake, and a second later he heard the startled yelp and eager rustle of one of his “guards.” Yoko rushed outside, having recognized the energy signal for who it was.

He dragged the plants off his friend and caught Kuronue as the bat fell against him. Yoko frowned, leading the trembling bat back to the cave. Something’s wrong…he’s much to thin, and he's bleeding, and where the hell did all his clothing go? Oh no…don’t tell me… Once they were safe inside the cave, Kuronue fell on the little pile of furs Yoko used as a bed. The fox pulled his friend into his arms.

“Y-Yoko, they h-have Suichi,” Kuronue said hoarsely.

Yoko winced. “I know, Kuronue. Did—did they get you, too?”

Kuronue nodded. Yoko looked him over closely. Kuronue’s silky hair was dull with dust and hung in snarls around his scratched, tear-streaked face. He was thin and weak with hunger, his bare feet bruised and scratched. There was an enormous, jagged tear in one wing, stretching from the bottom edge and running nearly the entire width of the wing. The only thing preventing the wing from falling in two was the thin bone that ran along the top edge. Yoko could tell infection was beginning to settle. Kuronue was covered in a thick layer of dust that came with running at least a thousand miles.

“Come on. There’s a stream nearby; let’s get you cleaned up,” Yoko said gently, helping Kuronue to his feet. They stumbled down to the stream in silence, other than the occasional whimper from Kuronue. I’ve never seen him this distressed…oh, Kuro, they didn’t torture you, too, did they? What have I done…?

Kuronue sighed in relief as the cool streamwater washed away the grime that coated him, but Yoko got more and more nauseous as the dirt cleared away. He’s definitely been tortured; there are lash marks across his entire torso and the welts from the ropes that bound him haven’t faded yet. This is all my fault…I wouldn’t be surprised if they both hated me at this point. I’m such a fool…

Kuronue stumbled from the water, and Yoko shrugged off his robe and draped it across the bat’s shoulders. “Thanks…fox…” Kuronue whispered. He looked exhausted.

“I want to see to those wounds, Kuronue. That wing looks like it might be getting infected and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Yoko kept his voice as gentle as he could, expressing none of the guilt he felt. “So why don’t I get you something to eat, and while you’re eating I can see what I can do…”

Kuronue nodded as they entered the cave, and Yoko settled him down in the pile of furs before opening a can of soup and heating it over a small fire. He found some cheese and a can of beans and heated that, too, before handing Kuronue the tray with a bowl of fresh stream water.

Kuronue ate ravenously, and Yoko set to work with a bottle of alcohol and some cotton. The bat jerked when the alcohol bit into the gash on his wing, but did not cry out. Yoko cleaned it out as best he could, flinching every time Kuronue did.

“I need to stitch this back up, Kuronue, so bear with me,” he whispered.

Kuronue looked over his shoulder at Yoko, his eyes trusting. “Believe me, I’ve suffered through worse,” he said dryly.

Well, at least he’s feeling better if he can treat this situation so lightly… Yoko boiled the needle in a clean pot of water and pulled a seed from his hair. He grew it into a plant with a thick, resinous stem. He split the stem and spread some of the resin over Kuronue’s wing. It wasn’t as effective as Novocain or some other human drugs, but it would help, and despite what Kuronue said, Yoko knew how sensitive that delicate webbing of his wings were.

Yoko sighed at the task ahead of him. “This may take awhile, Kuronue.” He glanced over and saw that the bat had just about licked the dishes clean. “Just sit tight for a while and then I’ll let you sleep, I promise.”

“It’s fine; there’s something I needed to tell you, anyway,” Kuronue whispered.

Yoko started stitching, using a vine to hold the edges of the bat’s wing together. “What is it, Kuronue?” he said gently.

“…I raped Suichi.”

Yoko froze, needle poised centimeters from Kuronue’s wing. “…What?”

Kuronue buried his face in his hands. “I’m so sorry, Yoko, I—they overstimulated me to the point where I lost all conscious control of myself and then threw me in a small locked room with him! I didn’t even realize what happened until after, I—“

Yoko let out a sigh of relief. “Kuronue, that wasn’t your fault and you know it,” he said, trying to soothe his best friend.

“Yoko, it wouldn’t have happened if I weren’t what I am…” Kuronue responded, his voice shaking. “Vampires have no self-control to begin with and then they stuck a vibrator on my cock and wouldn’t let me come and slaughtered something in the same room so all I could smell was fresh blood…” he shuddered, and once more Yoko nearly accidentally jabbed the needle into the non-torn part of Kuronue’s wing. “I-I bit him, too, Yoko… I nearly drained him dry…”

Yoko felt fear snag his heart. “You didn’t—he’s not—?”

“No,” Kuronue whispered. “But it was close. He’s not bound to me, Yoko, don’t worry. But—but he didn’t know I had lost control…he thinks I’m the one who ratted you two out! I never got the chance to explain…they dragged me away before he woke up…” Kuronue yelped as Yoko missed his target with the needle.

“Sorry, Kuronue,” the fox said. “You keep moving and it makes it hard…” He tried again, and got it right this time. “Kuronue, I’m not angry at you,” he whispered. “You did nothing wrong; this entire mess is my fault. I don’t know what was wrong with me; I could have easily defended Suichi from home. The plants would have made short work of most and then I could have just picked off any survivors. But I decided to run, thinking you’d be safer, failing to realize that they’d come after you two for information… How the hell did you escape, anyway?”

Kuronue snorted softly. “When you didn’t fall for their stupid trap, they decided Suichi and I were not needed anymore. Normally, they would have killed Suichi and let me go, but both my tormenter and Suichi’s decided they wanted us for themselves. Mine was going to make me his pet, but I escaped as he was taking me back to his house. And you’ll never guess who Suichi’s interrogator was, Yoko.”

“Who?”

“Karasu.”

The needle slipped from his shocked fingers, but Yoko caught it before it could hit the floor. “What!?”

“Yep. And he had the same plans for Suichi, only he can’t rebind Suichi to himself. I expect he has the boy at his house by now…”

That will make him much easier to steal away…once the entire region isn’t after my head, of course. Yoko sighed in frustration. “My poor Suichi…” he whispered out loud. “In the hands of that sadist…” He finished the last stitch and tied it off. With a sigh, he tugged gently on the end of the bat’s wing. “Well, it’s a good thing you couldn’t fly with these before, because you sure as hell can’t fly after that stitching job, but at least your wing won’t fall off now.”

Kuronue turned and fell into Yoko’s bare chest. “Stay here, Yoko?” he whispered sleepily.

Yoko sighed. “Of course, Kuronue.” He lay back on the pile and Kuronue curled up in his arms, trembling still. “Sleep now, Kuro. You’re safe now.”

Yoko’s mind was in turmoil and his entire body hurt with guilt. He stroked Kuronue’s hair absently as the bat dropped into a deep sleep. I never thought I’d see the strong, confident Kuronue reduced to a quivering mess like this…if this is what the TCC’s “interrogation” did to Kuro than I can hardly bear to think about how completely broken Suichi must be. Oh, god, this is all my fault. I’ll never forgive myself for this. Not ever. Yoko’s eyes filled with tears. His precious gem had been scarred, defiled, his spirit crushed and his angelic beauty flawed. The Suichi Yoko remembered and loved was probably gone forever. And it’s all my fault… Kuronue stirred fitfully as the fox’s tears dripped onto his head.