Determination: Chapter Five “Nightmares”

It had only been a couple of days since Ryuu and Ryouga had left the small village Ryuu once called home, but to Ryuu it seemed like weeks.  He was weakening by the day, his eyes bloodshot, the circles under his eyes becoming dark and discolored.  Since leaving his home for the second time in his life, Ryuu had not slept.  Every time he seized an opportunity to take a little rest the visions came.  They grew worse by the night, but he could never seem to remember what went on in his dreams.  He awoke in a cold sweat night after night.  Tonight was no exception. 

Ryuu sat up in a hurry his eyes opening with a start.  He was breathing heavily and was pale as a ghost, or as if he had just seen one.  One look around the campsite showed the fire still burning with a little black piglet curled up next to it sleeping soundly.  Ryuu stood up and paced the camp trying to make sense of his dreams.  Once again he couldn’t remember a thing but his heart was pounding, pounding like it never had before.  What just happened?  Why can’t I remember?  If I go back to sleep the nightmares will come again, but maybe that’s what I need.  I’m never going to get any sleep if I don’t put these visions to rest.  Ryuu sat back down on the bedroll he brought with him then pulled the sheet back and slipped back into bed.  He stared up at the stars for countless minutes as he tried to go back to sleep. 

Suddenly, Ryuu heard a crashing sound off in the distance.  He sprung to his feet and ran towards it, through the thick underbrush till he came to a clearing and a small run-down building in the center.  The noise had come from inside this building.  Ryuu stood in shock as he stared at the small shack.  It can’t be…  The building was obviously falling apart, it was leaning at such an angle it was amazing that it was still standing at all.  The noises grew louder and soon a small child came running out of the shack wearing torn and ripped clothes that had obviously not been washed in days.  The child stood at the base of what one could only assume was a stoop.  Dust came pouring out of the broken down door and the roof looked like it was about to give in.  A man seemed to be rushing out, but didn’t make it as the roof and entire building collapsed crushing him in the rubble.  The man writhed in pain, his anguished face one of the only visible parts of him.

“Otousama!”

The child rushed to the man’s side tears building up quickly in his innocent eyes.  Ryuu was also beginning to cry and would have rushed to the man’s aide as well but was somehow frozen in place.  Nor could Ryuu call out, he tried but no voice came.  The one thing he could do was listen, and it was easy because the ensuing conversation was loud in his mind as if it had been played over and over again.

“Otousama, please try and get out.”

“I can’t, my son, my body won’t allow it…”

The child hurried to try and clear the rubble but couldn’t manage to get his father loose.  He tried and tried but it just wasn’t working. 

“My son, please don’t…my life is nearing its end now, I want you to do something for me though,” he coughed a little blood up, “I want you to restore our dojo to its rightful glory, with this scroll this is possible.  Find the other half and our dojo will take its place in history like it should, find the umisenken, Ryuu…my son.”

With those final words, the man’s eyes closed and he became lifeless.  The boy cried and took the scroll from his father’s lifeless hand, then ran off away from Ryuu.  As soon as the boy was out of view Ryuu was suddenly able to move again.  He ran to the man’s side and pulled the debris away from his body, then held him in his arms and cried.  Why father?!  Why?!  The tears flowed, and then Ryuu thought of the boy, he layed the man down and ran in the direction of the boy.  He caught up quickly but the boy ran into a house, the house of his childhood friend, Kaoru.  Ryuu burst in the door after him, and stopped suddenly.

There was nothing there.  Nothing but complete and utter darkness.  He turned but the door he had come through was no longer there.  He was surrounded by the void with no way out.  Then a light shone as bright as he had ever seen one, and a figure approached him from it.  Ryuu squinted to make out the figure but couldn’t for the life of him. 

The shadow called out to him, “Ryuu, my boy, is that anyway to greet your father?”

“Otousama?  But that can’t be…you’re…dead.”

“Feh, would a little thing like death hold me back?  I’ve come to see how you’ve been.  I’m sure you’ve restored our dojo by now.”

Ryuu looked down ashamed, “I haven’t,” he said softly, “I wasn’t able to defeat Ranma Saotome.”

His father looked at him sternly then his face grew dark, “You…You’ve shamed the Kumon name!  You’re no son of mine!  You can’t even carry out the wishes of your dying father,”  his father approached him and raised his hand slapping Ryuu, with the back of his hand and sending Ryuu to the floor.

“Otousama!  No!  I tried,” tears formed in his eyes as his father walked back off into the darkness.  Ryuu called out frantically to him but got no response.  The room was now completely black again.  Ryuu curled up into the fetal position and cried softly. 

**** 

“Ryuu?  What is wrong with you?  C’mon get up, I know where Nodoka-sama is.”

Ryuu sat up in a hurry and looked up to see Ryouga shaking him.  Ryuu wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around for a moment before responding.  He was back at camp and his nightmare was over.

“You found her?  How?  We were at least a couple of days behind her.”

“No time for that if you want to save her.  Quickly, over that hill!”

Ryuu rushed over the hill as quickly as his legs could carry him and saw Nodoka below, surrounded by a group of men.  The men were all dressed in street clothes and carried weapons of all sorts, from knives to chains.

“Nooo!!”  Ryuu flared with anger and rushed down the hill even faster than he had scaled it.  The men turned to face him, then darkness came again and Ryuu collapsed to the ground.

**** 

His eyes opened slowly and he could feel a throbbing in the back of his head.  His wrists and ankles were also sore.  He couldn’t make out much through his blurred vision.  All the colors seemed to blend into chaos.  A man walked over and grabbed him by the chin and splashed some ice cold water in his face.

“Looks like you’re awake, just in time too.”

Ryuu spit some of the water back out and looked from side to side.  He could now tell that his hands and legs had been tied, he sat on his knees and examined where he was.  The men that surrounded him he could make out much clearer now.  They wore a variety of clothes, mostly jeans and torn t-shirts or tank tops.  They all looked like they fought a lot, Ryuu could see the toothless grins of a few of them.  Tattoos covered the bodies of the men, violence and torture depicted in them.  Across from him he noticed a smaller group of his captors standing around a tent like sentries.

“Boss, the boy is awake!”

A huge man emerged from the tent and the two sentries disappeared into it as soon as the larger man stepped out.  He carried a whip in his hands, and wore a white tank top, beaten black jeans and a pair of thick leather boots.  He was bald, but there were tattoos covering his bald head.

“We have a little show for you to watch, boy!  Bring out the pig first!”

The two sentries emerged with the little black piglet tied to a spit.  Ryouga was scrambling to get loose from it but it was no use, he was tied to tight.  The spit was then placed over a fire.

“Let him go!”

The men paid no attention to Ryuu’s plea, and one jabbed a knife in the side of the pig and laughed as he slowly stopped squirming, while the blood dripped from his body.  The man with the knife licked it clean and smiled at Ryuu.

“Nooooo!!!”  Ryuu got to his feet as best he could and tried to get at the man but tripped over the ropes that bonded him.

“Now the girls,”  the leader of the group commanded.

The sentries returned to the tent and came back with three girls tied together in chains.  The first one was dressed in a blue school girl’s jumper and had short black hair.  The next in line wore a blue wrap, leggings and a ribbon in her hair.  The last girl had red hair, and wore a red Chinese shirt.  She was trying harder than the other two to get loose and screamed at them.  Ryuu knew all three of them.

“What’re you going to do with them?”

The boss just shot an evil grin at him.

“P-chan! No, what’ve you done to him?!”

Akane noticed the little black piglet now roasting over the fire, and fell to her knees bursting into tears.

“Let us go you jackasses!  What’re you going to do to me and my Ranchan?”

“Boys, you’ve been good, now take your reward…”  The boss pointed at the three girls and they were soon swarmed over by the men in the camp.  All three of them tried to fight back but were overcome easily and forced to the ground then stripped of their clothes.  Ryuu watched in horror.

“Leave them all alone!  Don’t do this!  They’ve done nothing wrong!”

The swarm died down and the three of them lay beaten and worn, as the men all had smiles of joy on their faces.  Ryuu could hear their conversation, but could not bear to listen.  The sentries removed the girls from Ryuu’s view and came back a few minutes later their swords still dripping in blood.

The boss approached Ryuu once again and grabbed him by the chin.  “Have you had enough yet?  I sure hope not, the grand finale is still to come.  Bring her out boys!”

Ryuu tried to turn his head but the boss lifted his head and directed it towards the tent as a woman was brought out and tied to a stake in front of Ryuu.  One of the sentries took out an axe and put a black mask over his head.  Ryuu’s eyes grew wide with fury and the adrenaline filled his body.  The sudden surge was just enough and he managed to break free of his ropes and the men surrounding him.  He rushed as quickly as he could towards the woman.

“Nodoka-sama!”

It was too late, the executioner swung his axe right before Ryuu arrived and hit his mark.  Blood gushed as her head was cut clean from her body and flew into Ryuu’s arms.  Ryuu fell to his knees sobbing softly “okaa..sama…” as the maniacal laughter could be heard all around him.

**** 

Ryuu awoke in a cold sweat his heart pounding again.  His breath as uneasy and his heart was pounding again.  What the hell?!  Why can’t I remember?  He grabbed his chest and felt something resting there beneath his shirt.  He pulled it by the chain and noticed the pendant he had received in his village.  These visions all started when I got this!  Why is it haunting me so?  To hell with it!  He broke the chain and tossed it against a rock.  The pendant opened.  Ryuu picked it back up and looked at what was inside.  A small note fell from it and a picture was inside the locket behind that.  Ryuu’s stared at the picture in disbelief and then dropped the locket crying as the last flame burnt out on the fire.

~ by Kacie Cross on May 12, 2008.