𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓 | ❏ 𝘒𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘪 𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

✘𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄✘

-BEGINNINGS-

THE FOREST THAT SURROUNDED THE VILLAGE WAS ANCIENT. It might have once been filled with bird-song and animals that roamed, but now it had aged far past its former glory. It was a horde of ill-maintained trees that were thick and old, embedded with roots which harboured the sticky smell of rotten honey sap. 

If a person were to pass through to do their daily chores, they'd find that the canopy was so dense that you could only see the occasional streak of sunlight that rarely touched the forest floor- and they'd sigh in defeat at how little it helped with the troubling terrain. But to many in the area, it was home-and its thick vines were slowly taking away the last remnants of a scrawny house that stood tucked away from the village below.

It was a broken little hut. It was far enough from the village that nobody could hear anything that went on there, but it was close enough for people to see it from afar. And maybe that was for the best. Because in that hut that stood isolated on its shaky support beams, hid a monster.

They would yell and scream, release their anger in the form of punishment. But just like the story of Cinderella, there was a suffering soul who had to put up with the evil mother. Or in this case, father.

----------

KAWAKI STIRRED AWAKE, his eyelids slowly peeling open to the sound of breaking clay. Ah, he remembered now, he wasn't back home anymore-if he could even call it that. He was sold, taken away, betrayed. Pain dwelled in the young boys head as his eyes got used to new-found the darkness. But if he was taken away, then why is he in this...

'Bag? What is this? Where am I!?'

Kawaki frantically looked around his tight restraints. He was stripped from his clothing and kept in what looked to be an artificial embryo. In it were three tubes that pumped some sort of strange orange serum into the base of his mask. He could breathe fine despite it being a liquid, and he couldn't taste anything from it even as he swallowed. Was this some advanced technology? He had never seen anything like it before, and by finally taking a look around his surroundings, observing the collection of children just like him, he was terrified of it.

Kawaki pressed his hands against the bags plastic surface, trying to break free like a chick emerging from an egg. He had to leave, this was really starting to scare him. But he couldn't, the bags material was too thick for someone as malnourished as him. Instead, Kawakis attention fell on the sounds below him, the very thing that woke him.

A man, no, two men. They were having a conversation with one another. From how high he was stabilised in the air, it was hard to truly make out their face, but from what he could tell, one was a professor. He had short snow white hair and a pair of orange-lensed glasses. Something about him felt familiar as Kawaki watched on, but his mind was simply too fuzzy to remember.

That was until he saw the second man. He was originally facing away from him, but as he turned to look at another child, his face came into view. The man had long raven black hair that was tied into a tight ponytail, it exposed his pale skin that was riddled with striped tattoos. Kawaki felt his hands shake with fear when finally recognising him. He was Jigen- the man who brought him here in the first place! He promised him safety, so why was he trapped in this bag? And what was he going to do with that child?

Kawaki watched as Jigen plunged his tattooed arm into the large brown pot. It held another child who was suspended in the air just like him, and he watched with horror as suddenly darkness crept into the tubes. It travelled up the pipes like poison in a bloodstream, and when it hit the base of the mask, suddenly the child started writhing in pain. They struggled against the mask as the liquid entered their body. Soon the black ooze birthed tattoos all along their skin- engulfing them whole before staining the bag a pitch black.

And just like that, the clay pot shattered before his very eyes. The serum that was once orange poured onto the floor, It was black and sticky like tar now, and under the dim light, the glimmer of blood caught Kawakis eye. At that moment, Kawaki knew that they were dead, and that he was next.

So he struggled more frantically than before, more than he's ever done in his life. Kicking and yelling through his mask, clawing at the tubes that would inevitably end his life- all to try and pry it off his face. He didn't want to die! Not like that! But no matter how badly he retaliated, it was sealed tight, and he simply was not strong enough.

All the effort Kawaki used wasn't wasted however, for Jigen was quick to notice the boys tantrum. With cold eyes he approached Kawaki. The only thing visible on Jigens face was frustration, not remorse or guilt; It was as if he didn't just kill someone and it made Kawaki sick.

'He's a cold-hearted bastard!' Kawaki thought with hateful eyes. He was a liar and a psychopath!

"So you're finally awake..."  Jigen approached Kawakis pot with a resentful look in his eye. "Try not to disappoint me Kawaki, I've had it with failures"

Kawakis "Go kill yourself, monster" was reduced to mere bubbles of water, a sad attempt of being heard. Though from the way he glared at Jigen with the utmost anger, he was sure he got the message. Jigen, unfortunately, didn't care. So much so that he plunged his hand into the pot while looking directly at him.

And it was excruciating. The moment the black tar crept up the tubes and infected Kawakis lungs, he felt his chest set ablaze. Pain in the form of tattoos dwelled from the base of his hand to the tip of his arm. They crawled up his body and wrapped around his neck like a snake, each progressive step burning him like a metal rod. It was red, whatever was causing him such pain tinted a shade of crimson.

Jigens eyes lit up with relief, hope even when watching Kawakis body grow weaker and weaker the more the tattoos progressed. "Finally, a success."

The professor met Jigens side and shared a look of contempt. "He is compatible with the Karma, what should we do next?"

Jigen was fixated on Kawaki as he spoke, as if he was reminiscing. "Have him healed by (Y/N), Amado. His chakra is unstable now"

Amado bowed respectfully and watched as Jigen began to leave the room. Perhaps it was dread that made him look back at Kawaki so. He was the vessel, and starting as of now, his life was about to be a living hell.

Kawaki was barely awake. His entire body was scarred with markings, each as sore and painful as the next. The only thing he processed before succumbing to unconsciousness was a name, a phrase.

"(Y/N)"