Ainosuke
“You’re useless to me!” A lumbering figure screamed at the cowering ball of a boy on the ground. Slowly he waddled over to him and squatted down, roughly grabbing the collar of the boy’s shirt and with a rough turn dragged him out of the room, absent-mindedly tossing him against the side of the wall in what looked to be a large cage.
“N-No! Please… not here……” The boy begged as he crawled to the door, looking helplessly as the large hands of the man clasped a long chain and wrapped it around the chain link and secured it with a lock, sealing him into the small box of a cage.
“You’re staying in here for two days this time, you should be grateful I’m so generous.” The man snarled as he gave the fence a kick, knocking the boy back.
“Don’t make any noise, or ELSE.” He warned, receiving only a terrified nod from the figure in the dark corner of the room.
As the man left he shut the door and the room fell into darkness, the only source of light being a small trickle of light that streamed in from the dusty window in the door. By now the room had been so old that the thick layer of dust filtered away most of the light.
“Help… someone…” The boy whispered as he huddled against the corner of the room and pulled his knees up, shivering from the cold. He whimpered as he put his face into his hands and cried.
“Why are you crying?” A voice asked
“W-Whos there?”
“I’m here…. Who are you? Why are you crying?” The voice asked
“I-…I’m”
“Ah, you’re the new boy… aren’t you? What’s your name?” The voice continued
“M-my name is… Yuto… Nakajima Yuto. W-who are you?”
“My name… is Ainosuke….”
“Ainosuke?”
“Yes…I don't remember my real name anymore… but that’s the name that HE gave me.”
“Where are you? I cant see you…?” Yuto fumbled around in the dark, he reached out to one end of the cage and realized that there was another cage, made of the same chain link right next to him. He groped around in the dark but found no one, until suddenly a warm and silky hand reached out and touched his hand.
“Nh!” Yuto jumped in surprise. Slowly, Ainosuke moved into the small stream of light in the room. He was a beautiful boy, with dark brown hair, and a pale white complexion that seemed to radiate with a sort of heavenly glow. His eyes were framed with simple rounded glasses and seemed to be able to look into your very soul with a glance.
“Hello….” He whispered quietly.
“H-Hi” Yuto stuttered.
“You couldn’t handle your first “appointment” could you?” Ainosuke asked, as he blinked serenely, his voice somehow seemed so comforting.
Yuto merely looked at him and quickly looked away as he suddenly felt so ashamed. He could remember the feeling of the figure’s groping hands. He could only remember that the lumbering figure had told him he would be meeting someone important. Sometime after that, he felt himself get sleepy and drowsy as he passed out. When he awoke, he found himself on a soft mattress, dressed in nothing but a small pair of shorts. His body was so stiff, any small movement required intense willpower, as his muscles were sluggish. Suddenly a pair of hands emerged as they traced along his body. Starting from his chest, he could hear and feel the motions of someone in the room as they touched him, rubbing their coarse hands against his skin. Slowly downward the hands wandered, slipping against his smooth milky skin. He whimpered slightly as the hands found their way to the waistband of the shorts. With a sudden impulse, he swung his hand with all the willpower he could muster and felt himself hit someone, knocking him off the bed. Immediately he could hear yelling, someone was screaming at someone else, but from his position on the bed, he couldn’t tell who. The only familiar thing was the stench of the lumbering figure, just as some feeling began to return to his body, Yuto remembered something poking his arm as the world died out into darkness again. When he awoke, he was in the corner of the room, with the figure screaming at him.
“Hey… it’s okay…” Ainosuke’s voice brought Yuto back into the present as he looked at the boy’s eyes and something in him snapped. Tears streamed down from his eyes as he openly cried.
“It’s okay…” The other boy repeated as he held out his hand against the cold metal of the cage.
“I want… to leave here… I want to be free… I don't want this life…” Yuto cried as he reached out and clasped the hand of the only person who seemed to comfort him.
“I’ve been here… my entire life… being used, abused, beaten, sold and borrowed. He treats us as if we’re property… but I suppose to him… we are.” Ainosuke smiled weakly.
“W-Why are you in here?” Yuto asked as he sniffled, trying to collect himself but failing.
“I was… unable to get one of his appointments to pay more… it was my failure… and so I’m here…I’ve been here… for three days already…. Only two more to go, like you…”
“five days…” Yuto looked at the other boy, he felt so terrible for him. He wanted to cry for the both them, but Ainosuke’s unchanging pale face seemed to have already accepted his life.
“I want to get out! I want to be free! Come with me Ainosuke! We have to find a way out of here! We just have to!” Yuto crawled as close as he could to the edge of the cage.
“You know…. You’re the only one who comes here, still feeling like that… usually by now, the boys HE finds have been broken… they come here… crying, feeling so helpless.”
“Ainosuke…”
“It’s something so new to me… being here all my life… I’ve never seen the outside world. I want to see it… will you show me Yuto? I will help you, if you give me one favor.” The other boy tightened his claps on Yuto’s hand.
“I will, lets get out of here, together…” Yuto nodded.
“Take this… it can serve as a symbol of your promise, I will tell you what the favor is later… but Yuto, if we get out of here, promise me that you’ll show me…promise me.” The pale hand reached into the darkness of the cage, after a few sounds of jingling metal, it emerged again, this time holding a small necklace. It was pure silver, in the shape of a rectangle, with a what looked to be a two crossing bars in the center.
“I promise!” Yuto said as he took the necklace and put it on, smiling at the boy opposite him.
“Then we only have two more days to wait….”
The next two days, the two boys whiled away talking to each other, the whole time Yuto tried his best to make the other boy laugh, but each time only the same monotone voice returned his questions. He learned that Ainosuke had been found by the lumbering figure when he was a little child. He was separated from his parents at a shopping center. When he wandered off, the man appeared and snatched him up, he arrived here at the age of five, and had been raised by the man as his “property” for that entire time. Yuto learned that that necklace had been the last thing that Ainosuke had been able to keep from his past. Over those two days, he got to know the boy in the other cage very well and it seemed almost a shame that the days were coming to a close.
On the morning of the third day, the door to the room opened as the figured appeared.
“Did you learn your lesson?” He asked gruffly, kicking Yuto’s cage as the boy inside nodded.
“…Master… I would like to accompany this boy, on his next appointment, I promise, I will not fail you again, with the two of us, we can get your customer to pay three times the amounts for him alone.” Ainosuke said boldly.
“Oh? And you are certain that you two can do this?”
“Yes…” The boy looked down at the floor, as he bowed respectfully.
“Very well then… it just so happens that this boy’s next appointment is later today… you two will be put together then… but if you fail me again, your five days will seem like nothing…” The figure warned as two more men walked into the room and grabbed the two boys.
They were thrown into a room that looked like a small bedroom and told to clean themselves, they had two hours before their “appointment” arrived. After they had cleaned themselves, they sat on the bed, talking until only ten minutes remained.
“Yuto… I want you to hide here… okay?” Ainosuke said as he pointed to the closet. As he pulled open the door, he revealed that there was a secret compartment in the closet’s corner. He smiled weakly as he ushered the boy in.
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me… I can handle it… but you have to promise me… that no matter what you see… what you hear, you MUST NOT come out until it is safe okay?” The other boy grabbed Yuto’s arms and squeezed with such force that he scared the boy.
Suddenly the sounds of the door filled the room as Ainosuke looked at Yuto and received only a nod. Quickly he shut the door to the compartment, leaving only a small crack, big enough for Yuto to see into the room. He ran to the bed and sat down.
He watched in terror as a large man entered the room and smiled as he noticed Ainosuke sitting obediently on the bed.
“Well, your manager has said that I’m in for two treats today… are you one of them?”
“Yes… I am…yours to do whatever you want with…but the other boy… has run away.”
“What!? He was the reason your master charged so much!” The man sounded outraged.
“But so that you don't feel cheated, I am prepared to do anything… no limits.” Ainosuke offered as the man’s face changed from serious to sinister.
“Are you…? I can be very rough…”
“Yes… sir.” The pale little boy set his glasses down on the night stand and waited patiently for the man.
Yuto watched in horror as the man grabbed his friend, throwing him carelessly on the bed. He watched as Ainosuke’s clothes were torn off him and the man began touching him. All the while, the boy’s face was unchanged from its angelic state.
“You…” The man said, his voice turning to anger all of a sudden.
As Yuto watched, the man began to beat Ainosuke, throwing punches on the boy’s body, leaving black and red bruises. He bit his lip as he heard blow after blow land. Everytime he wanted to charge out to help his friend, Ainosuke’s eyes looked at him and he froze. Finally, the pain became too much for the boy on the bed as he began to cry out after each hit. Everytime one of the yells reached Yuto’s ears, he shut his eyes and clenched tightly, trying not to look. After a while the screams of pain stopped and Yuto worked the nerve to look out into the room again. Ainosuke was unconscious, his battered body still naked on the bed. He watched as the man crawled on top of him and unceremoniously had his way with the boy’s limp body. When he watched the man abuse the boy’s unconscious body he sobbed into his own hands, the warm tears were the only thing that his numb body could feel. He turned around, unable to look anymore and buried his face into the soft coat that was folded in the closet.
After a few more minutes, the man finished up and left the room. Immediately the lumbering man entered the room and grabbed Ainosuke’s body.
“Where is that other boy!?” He yelled as the unconscious boy shook in his hands.
“Wake up!” The figure slapped the boy awake.
“H-His name… is Yuto…. And he’s gone… he’s run away…” Ainosuke whispered weakly.
“Useless to me… you can stay here and die then… looks like you wont be of much use anymore…” The figure threw the boy’s body onto the bed again and left, slamming the door behind him.
Yuto waited a few seconds before charging out of the closet, he quickly ran to the boy’s body on the bed and as he took in the full picture, he cried harder than he had ever though possible. Ainosuke lay on the bed, covered with bruises, blood leaking from his mouth and his head, the man’s unceremoniously deposited liquid leaked out of his every orifice.
“Ai-Ainosuke! Ainosuke!” Yuto cried as he put his hand on the boy’s body. It felt so cold and lifeless.
“Y-Yuto… we did it…” The boy’s voice was weak and rasped with every syllable.
“Y-You didn't have to do this…. you didn't….” Yuto shook his head as he hugged his friend.
“But now… you’re free…. Yuto… remember that favor you owe me? I want you… to live without ever thinking about this place… these events, I want you to forget about everything…. Forget about me.” Ainosuke whispered as his body slowly slacked.
“B-But I promised! I promised to show you the world outside these walls! You cant leave before you see it!” Yuto’s tears dripped down and as they landed on the other boy’s face, they washed away the blood, revealing his pale white skin again.
“I’ll always be with you… whatever you see out thee…. Is whatever I will see... Just show me… a place where I can see everything… and I will be happy.” Ainosuke’s hand reached for the small pendant around Yuto’s neck, he squeezed it slightly, smiling before his hand fell, leaving a smear of his blood along the silver. With that his entire body gave up and went slack.
“Ainosuke….wake up… please…. Please…” Yuto cried as he held his friend and rocked back and forth.
“You didn't deserve this….” He sobbed as he stood up and grabbed the coat from the closet, the same one that was stained with his tears and wrapped it around the naked boy’s body, giving him some sense of decency.
“I will keep my promise Ainosuke…” Yuto whispered as he quickly ran out of the room, with tears still streaming down from his eyes.
As Yuto ran out of the building, he found himself outside a large hotel in the middle of the city. The dark skies roared with the distant sounds of thunder as the small pitter patters of raindrops could be heard. With a last glance at the hotel that had been their prison, and Ainosuke’s grave, he turned and ran off into the infinite night.
He found shelter in a small park far off in a suburban neighborhood, he huddled under a small park bench with an overhang to ward off the rain. Solemnly he sat down on the bench and he looked up into the dark trees. They seemed to weep with him as his mind flashed back to Ainosuke’s body on the bed. The very sky began to cry as its cold tears began to fall.
“Rain…. I miss the rain…do you see the rain? Ainosuke? Do you?” Yuto said aloud. He stood up and walked out from the small overhang of the bench and from the moment the rain hit his body, he felt so cathartic. He ran to the center of a small group of tall trees. He screamed out loud as his body released all the tension of the days before. His head remembered all the events and his scream turned sour as horrifying thought after thought resurfaced and he collapsed onto his knees, the rain soaked ground cushioning him. He looked up into the skies as if to ask why all this had happened, and as he screamed his sorrows to the high heavens, he cried and sobbed, letting his hair fall in wet spikes against his face, his bangs clung to his forehead and framed his pained eyes.
“This… is the rain… Ainosuke… the rain….” He sobbed as his voice began to tire from his yells. Yuto looked at the pendant that he had received, somehow the rainwaters were not strong enough to wash away the smeared blood left on the metal. Yuto rubbed against the red streaks to find that they would not wash away. He held the pendant in his fist and sighed as he stood up again and dragged himself to the bench and weakly curled up on the bench. He closed his eyes as nightmares of the events he had witness haunted him. The turbulent night was unkind to him as he tossed and turned, waking up in the middle of the night crying or shaking in fear. Eventually, his own body gave way, not to his own desire to sleep, but to the sheer exhaustion that racked his body.
The next morning, Yuto was awakened by the sounds of kids playing in the park. He sat up slowly on the park bench and his eyes squinted as he tried to gaze through the bright sunlight.
“Nii-San!? Why were you sleeping on the bench?” One of the kids ran up to him as he tugged on Yuto’s shirt, still a little damp from the night before.
“I.. fell asleep…” Yuto smiled weakly as he gave the boy a pat on the head.
“Ohhh, would you like to play with us?” Another boy walked up.
“Yeah! Nii-san!” A girl approached.
“You’re such good kids, but Nii-san has got to go do something”
“What?” the kids asked in unison, their curiosity genuine.
“I have… to fulfill a promise… I have to… bring someone to a place where they can see… everything.” Yuto said as he looked up. The looming trees that had cried with him the night before seemed smile at him now, the bright sunlight streamed between the leaves .
“Ohh! You mean a the top of that Rei Cliff! With the temple!” One of the boys jumped.
“What do you mean?” Yuto asked, sounding confused.
“They say that if you stay at the top of Rei Cliff over there, at the temple, that you can see the entire city, the entire countryside and that you can see everything!” The girl nodded as the other boys agreed.
“Is it that one over there?” Yuto asked as he pointed to the side of the city. The kids merely nodded.
“Thank you…” he said as he stood up and patted the kids on the head. He walked to the road and began his trek towards the cliff.
Determined to get there soon, Yuto walked until his feet bled, the thin shoes that he was wearing were torn and tearing, his thin clothes barely protected him from the cold winds that blew through the streets. His body felt so tired and hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything the entire day, and his fatigue began to take its toll. Yuto shifted from side to side as his feet became unsteady with the pain. Slowly he hobbled up the cliff before he stopped abruptly, his body unable to move anymore. Sorrowfully he looked up into the clear skies and closed his eyes.
“Sorry… not yet… Ainosuke…” He whispered as he again collapsed onto his knees and fell forward, unconscious on the walking path.
(>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<)
“Hey… Hey… are you okay? Can you hear me?” A voice called out.
“Mnnh…” Yuto groaned as he tried to move but found himself too weak to do so.
“He’s awake!” The voice called excitedly.
Bit by bit, Yuto’s vision returned and he focused as he realized he was in a wood room and surrounded by candles. The room’s warmth soothed his worn body. He looked around and realized he was half naked on the bed, as women dressed in ornate clothing gently sponged his body. At first he felt scared again and tried to run, but his body would not have it.
“You are safe… you are at the Rei Temple...” A woman said, as she put her hand on Yuto’s shoulde. He looked at her and his anxiety melted away, The women helped him stand up and dressed him and a white and silver Kimono. As Yuto looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes widened as a completely different boy looked back at him. His skin was once again pure white, his eyes no longer looked tired, and his hair was brushed back.
“The head priestess… would like to see you.” One of the women said as she ushered him into the hallway. Yuto was led through hallways filled with twists and turns until they stopped before a pair of grand double doors. He was ushered in and knelt down as another pair of grand doors were closed before him. Slowly, they opened to reveal a lady dressed in a pure white silk kimono, her face seemed to possess a regal quality. She stared at him and smiled kindly as she gestured for a lady to approach. She set before Yuto a plate of food, its fragrance filling the air.
“Please… eat traveler…” The priestess said in a kind tone.
“T-Thank you…. But I don't have any money to pay…” Yuto looked down at his hands
“All travelers that come by our temple are our guests, do not worry about money, our nurses here say that you are suffering from severe malnutrition. You need it.” She said as she gestured for him to start eating.
Yuto slowly picked up the pair of chopsticks and took a small amount of rice, he put it into his mouth and his eyes watered as the simplicity of warm rice overwhelmed him.
“Is it good?” The priestess asked as Yuto nodded.
“Good…I was wondering.. eh…”
“Yuto…” Yuto quickly straightened up and bowed.
“Yuto-kun, I was wondering if you could tell me what you were doing on our cliff this late at night?”
“I… have to fufill a promise…” Yuto said as he set his bowl of rice down and his chopsticks rested on top.
“A promise…could you… also tell me where it is you received that necklace?” The priestess asked.
“The person I made a promise to, gave it to me... I”
“Gave it to you?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Where is this person?”
“H-He….He’s….” Yuto began to sniffle as he remembered.
“Where is this person… can you please tell me?” The priestess walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. It was then that Yuto felt himself freeze. Her eyes, were just like his… they pierced his very soul and saw into his inner most being.
“He’s… dead…” Yuto looked down, feeling as if he had disappointed her somehow.
“There there child, it is not your fault…” She patted him gently on the back as he wept.
“That boy… was my grandson…Takao… he disappeared shortly after his fifth birthday when he wandered away from his mother, my daughter. We never found him.”
“Takao…”
“Yes… what did you know him as child?”
“He told me… his name was Ainosuke…and that he couldn’t remember his real name anymore…” Yuto looked at the older woman’s eyes and saw the very same tearful look that Ainosuke… no Takao had.
“His name… was Takao?” Yuto asked
“Yes… Takao… Rei Takao… the heir to this temple…” She said as she stared at the flickering flame of one of the candles.
“I'm sorry…” Yuto apologized as he bowed again.
“It is not your fault…”
“But it is! He died… because he saved me… because he helped me.” Yuto bowed again.
“Then he died a noble death, no matter what… I… am proud of him… he must have been a great boy…” She smiled as she imagined what Takao looked like.
“He was…” Yuto said.
For the next few moments, the two sat there in silence as a mutual air of understanding surrounded them.
“I came here… because he said that he wanted to see the world. I heard that if you came here, you can see everything… I’d like to see it and witness it for him..” Yuto said as he again sat straight up. The lady smiled at him and nodded as she stood up and walked over to a set of doors to her right. Slowly he pulled them open and Yuto gasped as he found the sight to be breathtaking. The dark night air wafted into the room, bringing with it the scents of the clean air and flowers. He stood in awe as he walked forward slowly, only coming to his senses when he realized his bare feet were touching the grass on the cliff. He ran to the very edge of the cliff and looked out above the city. It was beautiful.
The subtle flashing and dancing lights seemed to play with his eye, the busy cars that swam up and down the river of highways seemed to be so beautiful and fluidic. And just as the city had attracted him, Yuto noticed along the outside of the urban area, the countryside was silent, peaceful, filled only with the nights of small houses, where a family was spending time together, safe and enclosed in their masses of tall and strong trees.
“It’s… beautiful…. Do you see Ainosuke?” Yuto whispered as he held the pendant again.
“Do you see it?” He asked again as he took the necklace off and smiled, holding it out in the air.
“Isnt it just like what we thought?” He asked the necklace as a gentle wind blew and the metal jingled its response.
Yuto smiled as he reached out to one of the trees beside him and on a lower branch be wrapped the necklace and clasped it on it.
“Now you can see this forever… for ever.” He said as he knelt down before the tree, closing his eyes he said a prayer for Ainosuke and smiled as he heard the soft jingling of the necklace.
“Ainosuke…Takao… did I keep my promise? Did I show you everything you wanted to see?” Yuto asked as his eyes watered and he looked at the necklace. The wind suddenly fell silent. His eyes widened as he looked. There was a figure… a boy standing where the branch was, he was smiling and waving.
“Thank you Yuto…” It said as it walked closer and closer. The face grew clearer and clearer, until out of the darkness a boy’s face emerged.
“A-Ainosuke…” Yuto whispered as the boy smiled, he looked down at the necklace, hanging around the neck of his transparent body, supported by the tree branch. The figure walked closer and closer and put his arms around Yuto, a sudden warmth overtook the slender boy’s body and soon the apparition vanished. When Yuto opened his eyes he saw the dried specs of blood left on the necklace had liquefied, and dripped down to the floor, leaving behind a pristine, shining silver pendant. He watched as the last bit of his friend dropped down and became one with the earth.
(>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<)
Yuto and the Takao’s grandmother went to the city to claim the body of an unknown boy. They took him back to the temple and prayed for him, arranging the proper funeral arrangements. Yuto cried as he saw Ainosuke’s body for the first time since that day. The ladies at the temple had cleaned him up, revealing a pure white boy with a peaceful look on his face. His glasses had been set beside him.
“He is finally able to rest properly…” The Head priestess said as she patted Yuto’s back
“He… was already at peace… but now… seeing him like this… has brought me peace…I don't want my last memory of him to be… what I saw that night… this Ainosuke… this Takao…. This is the one I want to remember.” Yuto smiled as he clasped the boy’s hand. It was cold and lifeless, but to him he still felt the warmth of another person’s touch, the same one that had reached out to him only a few days ago.
“Thank you for saving me… Ainosuke..”
(>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<)
Uwa~ I don't know why I wrote this story, I don't really know if it’s any good, but I wrote it when I was thinking about another sorta dark-tragic story I was reading… Please let me know what you think.
Gomenasai!
~Emmie
“N-No! Please… not here……” The boy begged as he crawled to the door, looking helplessly as the large hands of the man clasped a long chain and wrapped it around the chain link and secured it with a lock, sealing him into the small box of a cage.
“You’re staying in here for two days this time, you should be grateful I’m so generous.” The man snarled as he gave the fence a kick, knocking the boy back.
“Don’t make any noise, or ELSE.” He warned, receiving only a terrified nod from the figure in the dark corner of the room.
As the man left he shut the door and the room fell into darkness, the only source of light being a small trickle of light that streamed in from the dusty window in the door. By now the room had been so old that the thick layer of dust filtered away most of the light.
“Help… someone…” The boy whispered as he huddled against the corner of the room and pulled his knees up, shivering from the cold. He whimpered as he put his face into his hands and cried.
“Why are you crying?” A voice asked
“W-Whos there?”
“I’m here…. Who are you? Why are you crying?” The voice asked
“I-…I’m”
“Ah, you’re the new boy… aren’t you? What’s your name?” The voice continued
“M-my name is… Yuto… Nakajima Yuto. W-who are you?”
“My name… is Ainosuke….”
“Ainosuke?”
“Yes…I don't remember my real name anymore… but that’s the name that HE gave me.”
“Where are you? I cant see you…?” Yuto fumbled around in the dark, he reached out to one end of the cage and realized that there was another cage, made of the same chain link right next to him. He groped around in the dark but found no one, until suddenly a warm and silky hand reached out and touched his hand.
“Nh!” Yuto jumped in surprise. Slowly, Ainosuke moved into the small stream of light in the room. He was a beautiful boy, with dark brown hair, and a pale white complexion that seemed to radiate with a sort of heavenly glow. His eyes were framed with simple rounded glasses and seemed to be able to look into your very soul with a glance.
“Hello….” He whispered quietly.
“H-Hi” Yuto stuttered.
“You couldn’t handle your first “appointment” could you?” Ainosuke asked, as he blinked serenely, his voice somehow seemed so comforting.
Yuto merely looked at him and quickly looked away as he suddenly felt so ashamed. He could remember the feeling of the figure’s groping hands. He could only remember that the lumbering figure had told him he would be meeting someone important. Sometime after that, he felt himself get sleepy and drowsy as he passed out. When he awoke, he found himself on a soft mattress, dressed in nothing but a small pair of shorts. His body was so stiff, any small movement required intense willpower, as his muscles were sluggish. Suddenly a pair of hands emerged as they traced along his body. Starting from his chest, he could hear and feel the motions of someone in the room as they touched him, rubbing their coarse hands against his skin. Slowly downward the hands wandered, slipping against his smooth milky skin. He whimpered slightly as the hands found their way to the waistband of the shorts. With a sudden impulse, he swung his hand with all the willpower he could muster and felt himself hit someone, knocking him off the bed. Immediately he could hear yelling, someone was screaming at someone else, but from his position on the bed, he couldn’t tell who. The only familiar thing was the stench of the lumbering figure, just as some feeling began to return to his body, Yuto remembered something poking his arm as the world died out into darkness again. When he awoke, he was in the corner of the room, with the figure screaming at him.
“Hey… it’s okay…” Ainosuke’s voice brought Yuto back into the present as he looked at the boy’s eyes and something in him snapped. Tears streamed down from his eyes as he openly cried.
“It’s okay…” The other boy repeated as he held out his hand against the cold metal of the cage.
“I want… to leave here… I want to be free… I don't want this life…” Yuto cried as he reached out and clasped the hand of the only person who seemed to comfort him.
“I’ve been here… my entire life… being used, abused, beaten, sold and borrowed. He treats us as if we’re property… but I suppose to him… we are.” Ainosuke smiled weakly.
“W-Why are you in here?” Yuto asked as he sniffled, trying to collect himself but failing.
“I was… unable to get one of his appointments to pay more… it was my failure… and so I’m here…I’ve been here… for three days already…. Only two more to go, like you…”
“five days…” Yuto looked at the other boy, he felt so terrible for him. He wanted to cry for the both them, but Ainosuke’s unchanging pale face seemed to have already accepted his life.
“I want to get out! I want to be free! Come with me Ainosuke! We have to find a way out of here! We just have to!” Yuto crawled as close as he could to the edge of the cage.
“You know…. You’re the only one who comes here, still feeling like that… usually by now, the boys HE finds have been broken… they come here… crying, feeling so helpless.”
“Ainosuke…”
“It’s something so new to me… being here all my life… I’ve never seen the outside world. I want to see it… will you show me Yuto? I will help you, if you give me one favor.” The other boy tightened his claps on Yuto’s hand.
“I will, lets get out of here, together…” Yuto nodded.
“Take this… it can serve as a symbol of your promise, I will tell you what the favor is later… but Yuto, if we get out of here, promise me that you’ll show me…promise me.” The pale hand reached into the darkness of the cage, after a few sounds of jingling metal, it emerged again, this time holding a small necklace. It was pure silver, in the shape of a rectangle, with a what looked to be a two crossing bars in the center.
“I promise!” Yuto said as he took the necklace and put it on, smiling at the boy opposite him.
“Then we only have two more days to wait….”
The next two days, the two boys whiled away talking to each other, the whole time Yuto tried his best to make the other boy laugh, but each time only the same monotone voice returned his questions. He learned that Ainosuke had been found by the lumbering figure when he was a little child. He was separated from his parents at a shopping center. When he wandered off, the man appeared and snatched him up, he arrived here at the age of five, and had been raised by the man as his “property” for that entire time. Yuto learned that that necklace had been the last thing that Ainosuke had been able to keep from his past. Over those two days, he got to know the boy in the other cage very well and it seemed almost a shame that the days were coming to a close.
On the morning of the third day, the door to the room opened as the figured appeared.
“Did you learn your lesson?” He asked gruffly, kicking Yuto’s cage as the boy inside nodded.
“…Master… I would like to accompany this boy, on his next appointment, I promise, I will not fail you again, with the two of us, we can get your customer to pay three times the amounts for him alone.” Ainosuke said boldly.
“Oh? And you are certain that you two can do this?”
“Yes…” The boy looked down at the floor, as he bowed respectfully.
“Very well then… it just so happens that this boy’s next appointment is later today… you two will be put together then… but if you fail me again, your five days will seem like nothing…” The figure warned as two more men walked into the room and grabbed the two boys.
They were thrown into a room that looked like a small bedroom and told to clean themselves, they had two hours before their “appointment” arrived. After they had cleaned themselves, they sat on the bed, talking until only ten minutes remained.
“Yuto… I want you to hide here… okay?” Ainosuke said as he pointed to the closet. As he pulled open the door, he revealed that there was a secret compartment in the closet’s corner. He smiled weakly as he ushered the boy in.
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me… I can handle it… but you have to promise me… that no matter what you see… what you hear, you MUST NOT come out until it is safe okay?” The other boy grabbed Yuto’s arms and squeezed with such force that he scared the boy.
Suddenly the sounds of the door filled the room as Ainosuke looked at Yuto and received only a nod. Quickly he shut the door to the compartment, leaving only a small crack, big enough for Yuto to see into the room. He ran to the bed and sat down.
He watched in terror as a large man entered the room and smiled as he noticed Ainosuke sitting obediently on the bed.
“Well, your manager has said that I’m in for two treats today… are you one of them?”
“Yes… I am…yours to do whatever you want with…but the other boy… has run away.”
“What!? He was the reason your master charged so much!” The man sounded outraged.
“But so that you don't feel cheated, I am prepared to do anything… no limits.” Ainosuke offered as the man’s face changed from serious to sinister.
“Are you…? I can be very rough…”
“Yes… sir.” The pale little boy set his glasses down on the night stand and waited patiently for the man.
Yuto watched in horror as the man grabbed his friend, throwing him carelessly on the bed. He watched as Ainosuke’s clothes were torn off him and the man began touching him. All the while, the boy’s face was unchanged from its angelic state.
“You…” The man said, his voice turning to anger all of a sudden.
As Yuto watched, the man began to beat Ainosuke, throwing punches on the boy’s body, leaving black and red bruises. He bit his lip as he heard blow after blow land. Everytime he wanted to charge out to help his friend, Ainosuke’s eyes looked at him and he froze. Finally, the pain became too much for the boy on the bed as he began to cry out after each hit. Everytime one of the yells reached Yuto’s ears, he shut his eyes and clenched tightly, trying not to look. After a while the screams of pain stopped and Yuto worked the nerve to look out into the room again. Ainosuke was unconscious, his battered body still naked on the bed. He watched as the man crawled on top of him and unceremoniously had his way with the boy’s limp body. When he watched the man abuse the boy’s unconscious body he sobbed into his own hands, the warm tears were the only thing that his numb body could feel. He turned around, unable to look anymore and buried his face into the soft coat that was folded in the closet.
After a few more minutes, the man finished up and left the room. Immediately the lumbering man entered the room and grabbed Ainosuke’s body.
“Where is that other boy!?” He yelled as the unconscious boy shook in his hands.
“Wake up!” The figure slapped the boy awake.
“H-His name… is Yuto…. And he’s gone… he’s run away…” Ainosuke whispered weakly.
“Useless to me… you can stay here and die then… looks like you wont be of much use anymore…” The figure threw the boy’s body onto the bed again and left, slamming the door behind him.
Yuto waited a few seconds before charging out of the closet, he quickly ran to the boy’s body on the bed and as he took in the full picture, he cried harder than he had ever though possible. Ainosuke lay on the bed, covered with bruises, blood leaking from his mouth and his head, the man’s unceremoniously deposited liquid leaked out of his every orifice.
“Ai-Ainosuke! Ainosuke!” Yuto cried as he put his hand on the boy’s body. It felt so cold and lifeless.
“Y-Yuto… we did it…” The boy’s voice was weak and rasped with every syllable.
“Y-You didn't have to do this…. you didn't….” Yuto shook his head as he hugged his friend.
“But now… you’re free…. Yuto… remember that favor you owe me? I want you… to live without ever thinking about this place… these events, I want you to forget about everything…. Forget about me.” Ainosuke whispered as his body slowly slacked.
“B-But I promised! I promised to show you the world outside these walls! You cant leave before you see it!” Yuto’s tears dripped down and as they landed on the other boy’s face, they washed away the blood, revealing his pale white skin again.
“I’ll always be with you… whatever you see out thee…. Is whatever I will see... Just show me… a place where I can see everything… and I will be happy.” Ainosuke’s hand reached for the small pendant around Yuto’s neck, he squeezed it slightly, smiling before his hand fell, leaving a smear of his blood along the silver. With that his entire body gave up and went slack.
“Ainosuke….wake up… please…. Please…” Yuto cried as he held his friend and rocked back and forth.
“You didn't deserve this….” He sobbed as he stood up and grabbed the coat from the closet, the same one that was stained with his tears and wrapped it around the naked boy’s body, giving him some sense of decency.
“I will keep my promise Ainosuke…” Yuto whispered as he quickly ran out of the room, with tears still streaming down from his eyes.
As Yuto ran out of the building, he found himself outside a large hotel in the middle of the city. The dark skies roared with the distant sounds of thunder as the small pitter patters of raindrops could be heard. With a last glance at the hotel that had been their prison, and Ainosuke’s grave, he turned and ran off into the infinite night.
He found shelter in a small park far off in a suburban neighborhood, he huddled under a small park bench with an overhang to ward off the rain. Solemnly he sat down on the bench and he looked up into the dark trees. They seemed to weep with him as his mind flashed back to Ainosuke’s body on the bed. The very sky began to cry as its cold tears began to fall.
“Rain…. I miss the rain…do you see the rain? Ainosuke? Do you?” Yuto said aloud. He stood up and walked out from the small overhang of the bench and from the moment the rain hit his body, he felt so cathartic. He ran to the center of a small group of tall trees. He screamed out loud as his body released all the tension of the days before. His head remembered all the events and his scream turned sour as horrifying thought after thought resurfaced and he collapsed onto his knees, the rain soaked ground cushioning him. He looked up into the skies as if to ask why all this had happened, and as he screamed his sorrows to the high heavens, he cried and sobbed, letting his hair fall in wet spikes against his face, his bangs clung to his forehead and framed his pained eyes.
“This… is the rain… Ainosuke… the rain….” He sobbed as his voice began to tire from his yells. Yuto looked at the pendant that he had received, somehow the rainwaters were not strong enough to wash away the smeared blood left on the metal. Yuto rubbed against the red streaks to find that they would not wash away. He held the pendant in his fist and sighed as he stood up again and dragged himself to the bench and weakly curled up on the bench. He closed his eyes as nightmares of the events he had witness haunted him. The turbulent night was unkind to him as he tossed and turned, waking up in the middle of the night crying or shaking in fear. Eventually, his own body gave way, not to his own desire to sleep, but to the sheer exhaustion that racked his body.
The next morning, Yuto was awakened by the sounds of kids playing in the park. He sat up slowly on the park bench and his eyes squinted as he tried to gaze through the bright sunlight.
“Nii-San!? Why were you sleeping on the bench?” One of the kids ran up to him as he tugged on Yuto’s shirt, still a little damp from the night before.
“I.. fell asleep…” Yuto smiled weakly as he gave the boy a pat on the head.
“Ohhh, would you like to play with us?” Another boy walked up.
“Yeah! Nii-san!” A girl approached.
“You’re such good kids, but Nii-san has got to go do something”
“What?” the kids asked in unison, their curiosity genuine.
“I have… to fulfill a promise… I have to… bring someone to a place where they can see… everything.” Yuto said as he looked up. The looming trees that had cried with him the night before seemed smile at him now, the bright sunlight streamed between the leaves .
“Ohh! You mean a the top of that Rei Cliff! With the temple!” One of the boys jumped.
“What do you mean?” Yuto asked, sounding confused.
“They say that if you stay at the top of Rei Cliff over there, at the temple, that you can see the entire city, the entire countryside and that you can see everything!” The girl nodded as the other boys agreed.
“Is it that one over there?” Yuto asked as he pointed to the side of the city. The kids merely nodded.
“Thank you…” he said as he stood up and patted the kids on the head. He walked to the road and began his trek towards the cliff.
Determined to get there soon, Yuto walked until his feet bled, the thin shoes that he was wearing were torn and tearing, his thin clothes barely protected him from the cold winds that blew through the streets. His body felt so tired and hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything the entire day, and his fatigue began to take its toll. Yuto shifted from side to side as his feet became unsteady with the pain. Slowly he hobbled up the cliff before he stopped abruptly, his body unable to move anymore. Sorrowfully he looked up into the clear skies and closed his eyes.
“Sorry… not yet… Ainosuke…” He whispered as he again collapsed onto his knees and fell forward, unconscious on the walking path.
(>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<)
“Hey… Hey… are you okay? Can you hear me?” A voice called out.
“Mnnh…” Yuto groaned as he tried to move but found himself too weak to do so.
“He’s awake!” The voice called excitedly.
Bit by bit, Yuto’s vision returned and he focused as he realized he was in a wood room and surrounded by candles. The room’s warmth soothed his worn body. He looked around and realized he was half naked on the bed, as women dressed in ornate clothing gently sponged his body. At first he felt scared again and tried to run, but his body would not have it.
“You are safe… you are at the Rei Temple...” A woman said, as she put her hand on Yuto’s shoulde. He looked at her and his anxiety melted away, The women helped him stand up and dressed him and a white and silver Kimono. As Yuto looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes widened as a completely different boy looked back at him. His skin was once again pure white, his eyes no longer looked tired, and his hair was brushed back.
“The head priestess… would like to see you.” One of the women said as she ushered him into the hallway. Yuto was led through hallways filled with twists and turns until they stopped before a pair of grand double doors. He was ushered in and knelt down as another pair of grand doors were closed before him. Slowly, they opened to reveal a lady dressed in a pure white silk kimono, her face seemed to possess a regal quality. She stared at him and smiled kindly as she gestured for a lady to approach. She set before Yuto a plate of food, its fragrance filling the air.
“Please… eat traveler…” The priestess said in a kind tone.
“T-Thank you…. But I don't have any money to pay…” Yuto looked down at his hands
“All travelers that come by our temple are our guests, do not worry about money, our nurses here say that you are suffering from severe malnutrition. You need it.” She said as she gestured for him to start eating.
Yuto slowly picked up the pair of chopsticks and took a small amount of rice, he put it into his mouth and his eyes watered as the simplicity of warm rice overwhelmed him.
“Is it good?” The priestess asked as Yuto nodded.
“Good…I was wondering.. eh…”
“Yuto…” Yuto quickly straightened up and bowed.
“Yuto-kun, I was wondering if you could tell me what you were doing on our cliff this late at night?”
“I… have to fufill a promise…” Yuto said as he set his bowl of rice down and his chopsticks rested on top.
“A promise…could you… also tell me where it is you received that necklace?” The priestess asked.
“The person I made a promise to, gave it to me... I”
“Gave it to you?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Where is this person?”
“H-He….He’s….” Yuto began to sniffle as he remembered.
“Where is this person… can you please tell me?” The priestess walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. It was then that Yuto felt himself freeze. Her eyes, were just like his… they pierced his very soul and saw into his inner most being.
“He’s… dead…” Yuto looked down, feeling as if he had disappointed her somehow.
“There there child, it is not your fault…” She patted him gently on the back as he wept.
“That boy… was my grandson…Takao… he disappeared shortly after his fifth birthday when he wandered away from his mother, my daughter. We never found him.”
“Takao…”
“Yes… what did you know him as child?”
“He told me… his name was Ainosuke…and that he couldn’t remember his real name anymore…” Yuto looked at the older woman’s eyes and saw the very same tearful look that Ainosuke… no Takao had.
“His name… was Takao?” Yuto asked
“Yes… Takao… Rei Takao… the heir to this temple…” She said as she stared at the flickering flame of one of the candles.
“I'm sorry…” Yuto apologized as he bowed again.
“It is not your fault…”
“But it is! He died… because he saved me… because he helped me.” Yuto bowed again.
“Then he died a noble death, no matter what… I… am proud of him… he must have been a great boy…” She smiled as she imagined what Takao looked like.
“He was…” Yuto said.
For the next few moments, the two sat there in silence as a mutual air of understanding surrounded them.
“I came here… because he said that he wanted to see the world. I heard that if you came here, you can see everything… I’d like to see it and witness it for him..” Yuto said as he again sat straight up. The lady smiled at him and nodded as she stood up and walked over to a set of doors to her right. Slowly he pulled them open and Yuto gasped as he found the sight to be breathtaking. The dark night air wafted into the room, bringing with it the scents of the clean air and flowers. He stood in awe as he walked forward slowly, only coming to his senses when he realized his bare feet were touching the grass on the cliff. He ran to the very edge of the cliff and looked out above the city. It was beautiful.
The subtle flashing and dancing lights seemed to play with his eye, the busy cars that swam up and down the river of highways seemed to be so beautiful and fluidic. And just as the city had attracted him, Yuto noticed along the outside of the urban area, the countryside was silent, peaceful, filled only with the nights of small houses, where a family was spending time together, safe and enclosed in their masses of tall and strong trees.
“It’s… beautiful…. Do you see Ainosuke?” Yuto whispered as he held the pendant again.
“Do you see it?” He asked again as he took the necklace off and smiled, holding it out in the air.
“Isnt it just like what we thought?” He asked the necklace as a gentle wind blew and the metal jingled its response.
Yuto smiled as he reached out to one of the trees beside him and on a lower branch be wrapped the necklace and clasped it on it.
“Now you can see this forever… for ever.” He said as he knelt down before the tree, closing his eyes he said a prayer for Ainosuke and smiled as he heard the soft jingling of the necklace.
“Ainosuke…Takao… did I keep my promise? Did I show you everything you wanted to see?” Yuto asked as his eyes watered and he looked at the necklace. The wind suddenly fell silent. His eyes widened as he looked. There was a figure… a boy standing where the branch was, he was smiling and waving.
“Thank you Yuto…” It said as it walked closer and closer. The face grew clearer and clearer, until out of the darkness a boy’s face emerged.
“A-Ainosuke…” Yuto whispered as the boy smiled, he looked down at the necklace, hanging around the neck of his transparent body, supported by the tree branch. The figure walked closer and closer and put his arms around Yuto, a sudden warmth overtook the slender boy’s body and soon the apparition vanished. When Yuto opened his eyes he saw the dried specs of blood left on the necklace had liquefied, and dripped down to the floor, leaving behind a pristine, shining silver pendant. He watched as the last bit of his friend dropped down and became one with the earth.
(>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<)
Yuto and the Takao’s grandmother went to the city to claim the body of an unknown boy. They took him back to the temple and prayed for him, arranging the proper funeral arrangements. Yuto cried as he saw Ainosuke’s body for the first time since that day. The ladies at the temple had cleaned him up, revealing a pure white boy with a peaceful look on his face. His glasses had been set beside him.
“He is finally able to rest properly…” The Head priestess said as she patted Yuto’s back
“He… was already at peace… but now… seeing him like this… has brought me peace…I don't want my last memory of him to be… what I saw that night… this Ainosuke… this Takao…. This is the one I want to remember.” Yuto smiled as he clasped the boy’s hand. It was cold and lifeless, but to him he still felt the warmth of another person’s touch, the same one that had reached out to him only a few days ago.
“Thank you for saving me… Ainosuke..”
(>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<) (>’_’)><(‘_’<)
Uwa~ I don't know why I wrote this story, I don't really know if it’s any good, but I wrote it when I was thinking about another sorta dark-tragic story I was reading… Please let me know what you think.
Gomenasai!
~Emmie