xxxholic; barcode; doumeki, watanuki; r

Jun 04, 2008 16:33

First of all: I have no idea where this is going, but it sure as hell is fun to write.

title: barcode

summary:  like anyone else who does not have a soul, you cannot stand anyone who has too much of one [doumeki, watanuki,  violence, weirdness]


barcode, part one

"You think you can get away with it, don't you."

Twist. Arch. Shake. Move-

can't move

"You're a failure. You have free will. If only you were easy to kill-no, that would be too much work now, wouldn't it."

Scream-

can't scream

"Your friend is so much easier to control, so much-"

He laughs, the force control breaking from sheer mirth because that's wrong, wrong like nothing else is, because his friend is controlled by no one, is just as free as he is.

"You've gone crazy, haven’t you. Yet another sign of your failure." A sigh. "Take him away…lock him up, that's right."

---

Locking him up meant manacles and shackled and a collar around his neck. Meant stripping him nearly naked, removing the eyepatch.

He was glaringly obvious now, the barcode on his lower back, the empty hole, skin scarred and rough where a right eye should be, scraped and bloody.

Escape-out of the question.

----

"Better than rounds one and two."

Standing in the corner, ramrod straight. The door next to him so close, so easy to open with the keys at his waist, and so far away.

"You created a mass murderer and his enemy first-God knows where those two are. And the second round's both dead. You're too careless with them, Kyle. Out of six of them, only two of them still have both eyes. And one of those two's dead."

So close. His hands shake. Could so easily open the door, give him his coat-he's still in pants, he knows-he saw-ragged pants, yes, but they're pants-with a coat and a hat, the barcode and empty eye would be gone-

No. Can't.

Shakes.

"What're you gonna do with him?"

"Experiment, of course. I can't allow him to get away like the original two, and if he dies like the next two, he's worthless. But if we can make them without free will, then they're the perfect soldier for Ashura-ou."

"They are people, Kyle."

"Changeling children. Orphans. No one wants them. I can turn them into something everyone needs."

Shakes.

No. Can't. Stay here.

He doesn't move.

"You'll take away their souls."

"Since when do you care, Xing? You've helped me for years?"

"The one. Locked up. He cried last night. A nightmare. Or maybe-that thing you've got in there. I didn't check. Not even twenty, Kyle."

"They're grown up enough, Xing."

He hears a sniffle. A flash of pain from the barcode. He's trying to sit up further, scraping his back. The stone in there's rough. He knows from experience it hurts when you're shirtless in there.

"Ni-C."

Two-C. His name here. His old name-Shizuka, maybe. Something girly like that anyway.

"Sir."

"Why don’t you go comfort Ichi-C, hm? I think he got quite a pounding last night. Maybe you can make him feel better."

"Aa."

"Wait, though-give me your weapons."

Doesn't matter. Weapons enough without steel and gunpowder. Hands and feet and mouth and head. But he's his toy, his soldier. He's good. He's the first successful one.

But he's not.

Hands over the gun and katana, each shuriken and kunai, the daggers in his boots, the grenades. Everything's been given to him, and it'd be easy, so easy-blow up their fragile human bodies, runrunrun, but no. No. Can't do that. Not when they have the manacle key, soft metal that would melt in an explosion, on necklace around his neck, and not when there's an army waiting for them, when Ashura-ou wants his perfect soldiers-

"Coat, too."

Even if they don't think he's got free will, they're not sure yet. It's cold.

Take off the coat. Hand it to him. Cold air, everywhere-he's in hat and gloves and fur-lined cape, her hair covers her ears but she seems impervious to cold, heat, everything, always in the same clothing, always gloveless.

He takes his own keys and unlocks the door. He could unlock the collar too but not the shackles or manacles.

Closes the door.

-----

Door. Cold air. Open.

"Think I'm crazy."

"Sometimes I wonder if maybe you are."

"No. 'M sane. Saner'n you." Look up.

He looks no different, pale and still like always.

"You're scraped up."

"Fine. Just…cold." True. Yeah. Cold. No shirt, rough stone on his back. Fuzzy thinking, maybe they drugged him last night. Says it aloud.

He nods, steps forward. "Bet they did. They're gonna experiment on you."

"Ni-Shizuka-"

They look at each other. Haven't said that since, well-

They'd been children, hadn't they? Fuzzy.

"Kimihiro."

Thinks that's his name. Gotta be his name.

"I want out, Shizuka. Wanna get outta here."

Step forward, sit down. Share body heat. Collar's cold, sharp-blood in his nose, metallic, tangy.

"Me too."

freewrite, fandom: xxxholic, rating: r, char: watanuki, wip, char: doumeki, story: barcode

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