[Yami no Matsuei] "Fair Mask" (PG)
Apr. 23rd, 2014 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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fic_promptly's Any, any, For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,/Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.. Featuring Tsubaki Kakyouin and her companion Eileen.
"He's such a kind man, coming out here to help people, leaving his fiancee behind to offer his skills here, in case anyone on the ship gets sick," Tsubaki said, as she and Eileen sat on the mezzanine of the dining hall, watching the crowd below.
"If he was really kind to his fiancee, he'd bring her here with him instead of leaving her at home," Eileen said, folding her arms on their table.
"It's better if she stays home in Tokyo: her health isn't the best and she's too frail to travel," Tsubaki replied, clasping her hands in her lap. "They've been sweethearts since high school: she helped him through a dark time in his life."
"Still, you'd think someone without a family wouldn't take a job like this," Eileen noted, watching as a tall, silvery-haired figured entered the dining hall below, following a waiter to a table below.
"Oh. Dr. Muraki doesn't have a family yet: his fiancee is too frail to give him children, at least now," Tsubaki said, her gaze following the silver-haired man below, her hands clasping and unclasping with quiet excitement.
"'Now'? Are they trying for a kid?" Eileen asked, trying not to glare down at the pale man, now seated at his table, talking with the waiter.
"Oh, he's trying to find a cure for her, something like the donor heart he's looking for, for me," Tsubaki replied, her hands quivering a bit.
Eileen noted that. "Your hands are shaking: I'd better take you back to your room."
"I think I can sit up for a little while more," Tsubaki replied, but the way she leaned back in her chair suggested otherwise.
"You look tired," Eileen said. Muraki's waiter had moved on and Muraki sat gazing up in their direction.
"Oh, well... if you think I should," Tsubaki said, her gaze seeking Muraki's, but the pale man had dropped his gaze to his water glass.
Eileen got up and lifting the brake on her friend's wheelchair, wheeled it to the elevator to the VIP deck.
* * * *
Late in the evening, after her shift in the casino a few nights later, Eileen had returned to the VIP deck and the cabin she shared with Tsubaki. A soft footstep rustled behind her and a wet rag slapped over her nose and mouth. Someone grabbed the back of her neck as they clamped the rag over her face: a sickeningly sweet aroma filled her nostrils. Her head felt as if it would float from her neck and she sagged in her captor's arms.
An hour or a day later -- she could not guess how long -- Eileen felt herself rising from the fog of anesthesia. She tried to move her limbs, but she found them pinned down to a table, restrained at her ankles and wrists and at her shoulder and hip joints. Forcing her eyes to open, she looked up into an overhead light.
A figure moved into view, a headlamp on its forehead concealing the face below. "Who...?" Eileen asked, wanting to ask "who are you?" but unable to get the words out.
"Who am I?" Muraki's familiar mellow voice asked behind the headlamp. "You know me well, perhaps better than the girl who will be receiving your heart. Tsubaki thinks of me as her angel of mercy, but for you, Eileen, I will be your angel of death."
"Whaa...?" she murmured, still unable to speak full sentences.
"You are the closest match for a transplant that I've found yet," Muraki said. "You share a similar ethnic mix as Tsubaki, to say nothing of... the fact that you share half the same genetics as your companion."
"What?" Eileen demanded, able to say a full word.
"You and Tsubaki have the same father: you never knew your birth father, did you? Didn't it seem a coincidence that Kakyouin would take in a street rat like yourself? It was too much like a Charles Dickens novel, the way it played out," Muraki said, reaching to adjust one of the lines taped into her arm. "Hold that thought, it's the last memory you will have."
Eileen wanted to scream, to curse at Muraki, but she felt her head turn as heavy as a lead weight, felt it sink back on the operating slab, watched the darkness flood her eyesight like the darkness that flooded into her mind and heart. If she could, she would kill this man, kill the rest of the men who knew what went on down here, to protect Tsubaki and anyone else he manipulated and extorted...
fic_promptly's Any, any, For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,/Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.. Featuring Tsubaki Kakyouin and her companion Eileen."He's such a kind man, coming out here to help people, leaving his fiancee behind to offer his skills here, in case anyone on the ship gets sick," Tsubaki said, as she and Eileen sat on the mezzanine of the dining hall, watching the crowd below.
"If he was really kind to his fiancee, he'd bring her here with him instead of leaving her at home," Eileen said, folding her arms on their table.
"It's better if she stays home in Tokyo: her health isn't the best and she's too frail to travel," Tsubaki replied, clasping her hands in her lap. "They've been sweethearts since high school: she helped him through a dark time in his life."
"Still, you'd think someone without a family wouldn't take a job like this," Eileen noted, watching as a tall, silvery-haired figured entered the dining hall below, following a waiter to a table below.
"Oh. Dr. Muraki doesn't have a family yet: his fiancee is too frail to give him children, at least now," Tsubaki said, her gaze following the silver-haired man below, her hands clasping and unclasping with quiet excitement.
"'Now'? Are they trying for a kid?" Eileen asked, trying not to glare down at the pale man, now seated at his table, talking with the waiter.
"Oh, he's trying to find a cure for her, something like the donor heart he's looking for, for me," Tsubaki replied, her hands quivering a bit.
Eileen noted that. "Your hands are shaking: I'd better take you back to your room."
"I think I can sit up for a little while more," Tsubaki replied, but the way she leaned back in her chair suggested otherwise.
"You look tired," Eileen said. Muraki's waiter had moved on and Muraki sat gazing up in their direction.
"Oh, well... if you think I should," Tsubaki said, her gaze seeking Muraki's, but the pale man had dropped his gaze to his water glass.
Eileen got up and lifting the brake on her friend's wheelchair, wheeled it to the elevator to the VIP deck.
* * * *
Late in the evening, after her shift in the casino a few nights later, Eileen had returned to the VIP deck and the cabin she shared with Tsubaki. A soft footstep rustled behind her and a wet rag slapped over her nose and mouth. Someone grabbed the back of her neck as they clamped the rag over her face: a sickeningly sweet aroma filled her nostrils. Her head felt as if it would float from her neck and she sagged in her captor's arms.
An hour or a day later -- she could not guess how long -- Eileen felt herself rising from the fog of anesthesia. She tried to move her limbs, but she found them pinned down to a table, restrained at her ankles and wrists and at her shoulder and hip joints. Forcing her eyes to open, she looked up into an overhead light.
A figure moved into view, a headlamp on its forehead concealing the face below. "Who...?" Eileen asked, wanting to ask "who are you?" but unable to get the words out.
"Who am I?" Muraki's familiar mellow voice asked behind the headlamp. "You know me well, perhaps better than the girl who will be receiving your heart. Tsubaki thinks of me as her angel of mercy, but for you, Eileen, I will be your angel of death."
"Whaa...?" she murmured, still unable to speak full sentences.
"You are the closest match for a transplant that I've found yet," Muraki said. "You share a similar ethnic mix as Tsubaki, to say nothing of... the fact that you share half the same genetics as your companion."
"What?" Eileen demanded, able to say a full word.
"You and Tsubaki have the same father: you never knew your birth father, did you? Didn't it seem a coincidence that Kakyouin would take in a street rat like yourself? It was too much like a Charles Dickens novel, the way it played out," Muraki said, reaching to adjust one of the lines taped into her arm. "Hold that thought, it's the last memory you will have."
Eileen wanted to scream, to curse at Muraki, but she felt her head turn as heavy as a lead weight, felt it sink back on the operating slab, watched the darkness flood her eyesight like the darkness that flooded into her mind and heart. If she could, she would kill this man, kill the rest of the men who knew what went on down here, to protect Tsubaki and anyone else he manipulated and extorted...
