Web of Lies (Naraku, OC, Kagewaki Hitomi)

Runaway

Annabelle woke up feeling a bit of pain in her head, the stitches made her feel dizzy and bewildered, but soon she remembered what happened. She tried to move her hands, they were tied, so she rubbed them trying to slide her fingers off the rope, yet the knot was too tight.

She folded her legs, thrusting her body back and leaning it against the wall. Then the young woman dragged herself to a sitting position and lifted her hands over her mouth, so she could try to break the rope with her teeth.

The rope was strong though and Belle failed, still she wouldn't give up.

Suddenly, the cell's door was opened by someone. The lass raised her face slowly, seeing the white pants with fine embroidery first, then the raven hair sliding over his chest, and finally she glimpsed the melancholy at the languid Hitomi Kagewaki's face.

Annabelle said nothing, just sighed sadly. She believed that, no matter what she could say to defend herself, he wouldn't listen. Everybody was the same at the end.

He kneeled down in front of her, and as silent as the prisoner, Hitomi took her hands and untied them. Surprised, Annabelle watched the young master releasing her ankles as well.

"Why are you doing this?" The ginger woman asked. "Now that you know what I am, aren't you afraid of me?"

"I don't know" He confessed. "I just know you have saved me once, and for that I owe you."

"My lord," She held his face in her hands unexpectedly. "Everything I've done was for your own good, believe me!" Anna begged. His brown orbs remained lowered, hiding from the blue ones. "Look at me!" The lass demanded and he timidly obeyed. "I..." she appealed for attention, yet didn't know how to express what she wanted to say.

"Why were you trying to attack my father?" Seeing her vacillate, Hitomi found some strength and questioned, putting her hands away from his face.

"That man is not your father, a yokai took over his body, you have to trust me!"

"Why should I? Since the beginning you was hiding who you really were. You are a yokai, are you not?" His voice sounded deep and bitter.

"No, my lord, I am not." Annabelle sighed again "I'm just a foreigner, a woman like anyone else".

"You're not an ordinary woman, you are a witch. It was you cursing the soil of these lands, wasn't it so?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "All this time, I've tried to find a way to save these lands, to save you! I can't believe you are suspecting of me, you're just like everyone else!" Anna tightened her bluish skirt and closed her eyes tightly. Finally, she has turned her head to restrain her anger and indignation.

"Anaberu, what are you talking about? Everyone who?" The suspicious came out and repentance consumed him at last.

"People... people who have passed through my life judging me and accusing me of witchcraft when they discovered the things I could do. It's always the same, and because of this I've been walking by myself around the world for years. I thought you were different though..." She looked at him again.

"If you are neither yokai nor witch, what are you then?" he asked in anguish. "Tell me the truth and I promise I will not judge you." And he caressed her chin gently. "Once you told me you trusted me, so share this secret with me".

"The truth is I don't know how to explain what I am, my lord. Disappointing, isn't it?" She showed an annoyed smile and sighed. Annabelle was visibly tired. "I know that I didn't choose it. I was born this way, with this thing - called for some as a gift and that I named as a curse - inside of me. I've earned this from my mother, who didn't die by a fever, my lord. She was sentenced to death by witchcraft. When I was still a child, I swore to my father to avoid using such power, and years after, when I was older, I made a new vow that I would never use this gift again, then the horse fell on your leg and crushed it. I broke my vow and saved you from an amputation. And after, I have tried to rid the castle and the lands from this sudden evil and you got ill. I thought you would die of fever and one more time I did what I shouldn't, I shared this thing with you a little, to help you getting better. It's not natural, it's not common and in this part I lied about myself. I am what your father had displayed in his hall, a freak." It seemed like she had put a weight out of herself telling him those things, despite of how he would deal with her story.